7/10
Time: 10:00-10:35am
Passage: 2 Kings 25
What We Learned:
To me, v.27-30 stuck to me the most. I felt that Evilmerodach freeing Jehoiachin and giving him a seat above kings symbolized how Jesus graciously freed us and gave us seats next to the Father in heaven. V.29 states how Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. To me that represents how I took off my old self and put on Jesus. This reminded me of what I learned in the Cornelius meeting, a couple days before. I learned that the reason Adam did not feel naked in the Garden was because he had spiritual clothes on and he ruled as a king. However, that was taken away after he sinned, but, Jesus won it back for us. By wearing these spiritual clothes, we represent him and his spirit flows through us. And the way his spirit goes out is through our mouths. I talked about how, during the Cornelius meeting, we opened up the passage in Isaiah, where he sees the glory of God trying to go out of the temple. The temple represents our bodies and the entrance is our mouths. Therefore, by becoming aware of the power that my mouth holds, it helps me to be more careful as to what I say.
7/15:
Time: 10:00am – 10:35am
*Since, the first 9 chapters are mostly genealogies, we vaguely skimmed through it and started at ch. 10.
Passage: 1 Chronicles 10 & 11
What We Learned:
Ch. 10
I learned about seeking guidance from God. From reading about Saul, throughout most of his life, he always took action according to his own calculations and what he thought was best for himself. For example, when Samuel was late for the offering, Saul became panicked bc his army was ready to leave him, so he just offered the sacrifice for himself, instead of trusting God. Or, when he was told by God to kill all the people, he left the best alive. From this, I can see that he did not have a good relationship with God, because if he did, he would know God and trust him to come through. However, since he did not really know God, he thought that he had to do everything himself because God could not. This is something I am currently learning to do more: to develop a relationship with him so that I can learn to trust him and seek guidance from him.
Ch. 11:
On the other hand, God was with David, as v.9 states, meaning that David always trusted God and did his will. The reason he was able to do that was because he had a relationship with God and so by always talking with him, he knew what God’s will was. Therefore, he did not have to calculate because he knew that God would provide. I also desire to do God’s will and always be with him, currently right now, God has put me in the position to be a leader in the church in multiple areas, and what he has been teaching me right now is to speak my mind more and not back down from others even if they may try to shut me down or go against what I say.
Kanami shared how she believed that there was a reason that this passage, talking about David’s mighty men, was written down in the Bible. She believes that God provided and brought these mighty men together to support David. In the same way, God brought the Davar youth together, therefore, she believes that as God’s family, we should also come together as なかま、and support each other.
7/16
*We decided to have the second Bible reading on Wednesday bc tomorrow, I will be going to an orientation for my college with my parents.
Time: 10-10:16am
Passage: 1 Chronicles 12
What We Learned:
From this passage, I could see how much God was with David. Since David always stayed close to God, meaning he always trusted in him and did his will, God provided for everything else. This is something I want to be able to do, I want to be able to truly seek God first with no other motive other than wanting to really get to know him. Bc I have come to understand more that when you put God first, he will make everything go right. I have talked about in the past how it’s been difficult sometimes as the youth leader to bring everyone on board with things, but I have learned that instead of me trying to chase after everyone in this way, I can just focus on what God wants me to do and he will bring everyone to me. That’s what I believe was happening here in this chapter, David simply followed God and as a result, God brought all these people under him to support him.