The Adult Sunday School

Monday, November 4, 2013

On 11-10-13, Exodus 12:1-14 will be our Adult Sunday School/Uniform Series/International Sunday School Lesson herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as Beginning of Passover

Beginning of Passover

Exodus 12:1-14

International Sunday School Lesson

November 10, 2013

Commentary

Jed Greenough

For each of you I would imagine every week you have a routine for preparing for the coming Sunday School lesson. I hope that you begin in prayer and then read that week’s scripture taking the time first to listen to God.

That is rather how I do it as I try and feel the inspiration from God on what I should concentrate on each week. It determines what it is it that He would have me emphasize so that I can be the most benefit to you or to that other person or for the most people.

I bet like me, you have been in attendance when a particular sermon spoke only to you or to your family and maybe missed most everyone else. I know I have also been in attendance where it spoke to everyone in a different way. I feel confident that this is one of the ways that we can know we are reading and considering the true word of God.

Sometimes when we sit through a sermon and we first consider that perhaps the pastor didn’t knock it out of the park today it might be that it wasn’t for you but a brother or a sister.

This week as I read about this first Passover I just automatically thought about Communion which is natural since Christ is our Passover Lamb. So when I considered the parallels with this first Passover and our Communion I thought about how they were instructed to eat this first Passover, “with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.”

When you read those words you go into this knowing what is going to happen as you proceed through Genesis and you see that the Israelites will soon quickly be leaving Egypt. You can read those words in verse 11 and see that they were to be at the ready. They were to be prepared.

I partake of communion weekly, some partake monthly and others quarterly or some other schedule. I never trivialize it, minimalize it or take it for granted as it is the most important part of my week. But I know that many, no matter how frequent or infrequent, do partake in a less than worthy matter.

What came to me as I read today’s scripture is that many in the church are not ready or prepared for what is coming. They need to partake of Communion with their cloak tucked in their belt, their sandals on their feet and their staff in their hand.

Read the words of Christ concerning His return. When you have done so, does it sound like you should be going through the motions, like there will be time to go back and get that cloak? I urge you to be prepared and to prepare as many as possible so that when He comes your neighbor will not be among those who mourn but among the gathered.

For Discussion:

1. Discuss why God instituted this new calendar and began it with Passover.

2. Discuss the similarities to Christ as our sacrificial lamb.

3. Discuss why bitter herbs were eaten.

4. Discuss the similarities overall to Christ’s sacrifice.

5. Discuss modern Passover for today’s Jews as compared to what is described.

6. Discuss Communion.

7. Discuss being prepared.

Upcoming Lessons

11-10-13 Beginning of Passover Exodus 12:1-14

11-17-13 Beginning of Freedom Exodus 14:13, 14, 21-30 or 14:21-30

11-24-13 Beginning of the Tabernacle Exodus 40:16-30, 34, 38

12-1-13 The Angel Foretells Jesus’ Birth Luke 1:26-40

Sunday, October 27, 2013

On 11-3-13, Exodus 3:7-17 will be our Adult Sunday School/Uniform Series/International Sunday School Lesson herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as God Prepares for Deliverance

God Prepares for Deliverance

Exodus 3:7-17

International Sunday School Lesson

November 3, 2013

Commentary

Jed Greenough

If you had to, how would you tell someone who you are? You would tell them your name. But what does that tell them about you? How would you go about doing that so that someone knew who you really are?

That is a tough one because you have to come to know someone. To really know who someone is takes time. So when I see this scripture for today I notice how many words there are in giving Moses an answer to the question, “What is His name?”

Think about it this way. Do you have someone in your life with who, they or you, can simply say when calling on the phone or when walking through a door, “It’s me!”?

If you do, that person or you instantly know who is on the other end or in that space with you. If you don’t have that connection with someone its meaningless.

Yes, this is a bit of an oversimplification with regard to God and He is anything but simple. As we have come to understand His “name” we consider the factors of God. He refers to Himself as I Am and we would say He is. According to the NIV the Hebrew for His name can also be, “He will be”. So God’s name is that He always has been, is, and will be. I like the “heaviness” of all that when you consider His name and I find it fitting.

So did they, the people of Israel, know who God was? My gut tells me that they were not on an “It’s me” basis. Thus this explanation, “Say to the Israelites, The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.” Genesis 3:15a

I am further convinced of this, that they didn’t know Him as “I Am” in their lives because He went on to tell Moses that this name was how He was “to be remembered from generation to generation.” Genesis 3:15b

I think it rather akin to Jacob last week as I professed my belief that though Jacob maybe knew about God because of Abraham his grandfather and Isaac his father he didn’t have a relationship with God and neither have I felt did the people of Israel have much of one.

I believe we see this in the behavior of the people of Israel from the moment they face the first peril at the crossing of the sea as Pharaoh pursued them to their full transformation into God’s people as time went by. As time passed then they began to know who God was.

Can we claim to know who God is? Do we have an, “It’s Me!” relationship with Him? If not I guess we better get to work to know Him better. Without knowing Him well enough how can we be very effective in the work of the gospel?

For Discussion:

1. Discuss the figurative language found in verses 7-9 so it is understood that God wasn’t just now finally hearing the cries of the people or just now finally concerned.

2. Discuss that God told Abram about this period of enslavement found in Genesis 15:13-14

3. After reading the doubt Moses expresses about himself in 3:11, find and discuss three other verses where he continues to be hesitant.

4. There are three words very closely related to “I Am” do not miss them. They are “I will be” found in verse 12. They are worthy of a concordance search to see when and how God uses them in the Bible from beginning to end.

5. In verse 12 God is not just referring to Moses when He says “you will worship” but to the people of Israel. Because they will find themselves there worshiping Him and not still in Egypt.

6. Find and discuss when God first promised this land mentioned in verse 17.

7. I think a great commentary/lesson/sermon on today’s scripture could be made by combining it with The Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20. Discuss the parallels.