NASHVILLE (BP) — This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, Lifeway publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.
This week’s Bible study is adapted from the MasterWork curriculum.
Bible Passages: Exodus 14:30-31
Discussion Questions:
— How did the Israelites benefit from their narrow escape?
— Think about a difficult situation God has allowed you to go through. How did that build your faith for a situation you’re facing now?
— How are trials and troubles dumbbells and treadmills for the soul?
Food for thought:
We don’t always know why God allows problems, but we know He intends to use them to heighten our maturity and deepen our faith. Trials and troubles are dumbbells and treadmills for the soul. They develop strength and stamina. Faith has a cumulative quality to it. We amass and garner it. We grow it and lay it in store for future times. Our faith grows stronger through the seasons of life.
What exactly is faith? More than 25 years ago in Fort Worth, Texas, a gunman walked into Wedgewood Baptist Church during a youth rally. Among those killed was 14-year-old Cassie Griffin. I later read in a brief account of her life that she collected frog figurines, frog trinkets and frog jewelry.
According to her parents, the word FROG summarized her philosophy: Fully Rely On God. That’s an apt definition of faith.
In Luke 1, Elizabeth cried out when her relative the Virgin Mary visited her, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!” (v. 45 NIV). What a great definition!
Faith is believing that what the Lord has said to us will be accomplished.
In Romans 4, Abraham “was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised”(vv. 20–21 NIV). That’s a similar definition: being fully persuaded that God has the power to do what He has promised.
Every single day we live by faith in a hundred ways. Even the sincerest atheist lives by faith, not only in his atheistic philosophy, but in the very processes and procedures of everyday life. God created this universe so that the faith principle is always at work.
Masterwork
MasterWork is an ongoing Bible study curriculum based on works from a variety of renowned authors and offers pertinent, practical messages that adults will find uplifting and enriching. The list of authors and their books to be studied in upcoming months can be found at Lifeway.com/masterwork.
Other ongoing Bible study options for all ages offered by Lifeway can be found at Lifeway.com/SundaySchool and Lifeway.com.
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