Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Sacrifice is Sufficient, Isaiah 49:1-53:12

The lesson, “The Sacrifice is Sufficient” is taken from Isaiah 53:2-12.

Sample openings from selected comentaries:

James McCullen “A prominent lawyer, Jay Sekulow, currently serves as Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. He gives the testimony that this passage of scripture caused him to convert to Christianity from the Jewish faith. He could not explain these scriptures unless they referred to the sacrifice Christ made”

Leroy Fenton Regarding the current economic crisis: “Would it not be a good thing to look beneath the problem to the cause. Morality is related directly to the issues of faith in a Holy God who demands righteousness of his people. Where is God in all of this? Why should we have to suffer? How do we overcome this economic bondage and captivity? How do we reconcile the economist’s view with religious beliefs? How do we reconcile human freedom and irresponsibility?”

Mark Lashley “We all have lots of things going on in our lives. What if God showed up in your life in ways that simply defied human explanation? What would happen if God unleashed His power within you?”

David Self “In today's Bible Study we'll see startling clear specific prophecies about Jesus that were written hundreds of years prior to their fulfillment. The Hebrew was translated to Greek by at least 150 B.C.!”

Another idea for starting the lesson is to allow members to share about the hometown where they grew up. Ask what expectations the towns people had on those growing up there, for example, what should they become, or do in life? Ask, what do you think the townspeople of Nazareth would have expected of Jesus?

2 comments:

Tyrone Ferrara said...

Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"

For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them." Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.

- John 12:37-41

servingHim said...

Yes, Provident 360, and I also noted 1 Cor 2:14--The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.