Promotion Sunday Checklist:
- Room Changes: We have groups making room changes this week. If your group is one of those, be sure to communicate with your members so that they will not be confused Sunday. Click here to see a list of the room changes.
- Chairs: We have reconfigured the chair count for each room as well. If your room does not have enough chairs, please let me know so we can make additional adjustments.
- Carts: During the coming weeks we will be moving your supplies and other materials into a portable cart that doubles as a stand for your computer and other AV equipment.
- Class Rosters: Since we are beginning a new Connect Group year, your rosters may look different. We are adjusting the age-range of classes and shuffling some of the in-actives to appropriate age groups. If you see someone who needs to be added back to your roster, please make note so we can make the changes.
- Guests: Guests will begin showing up at the bottom of your class rosters each week if there are any assigned to your group for follow-up. I will explain this in more detail over the coming months.
Don't forget to continue to emphasize Neighbor Night for SUNDAY NIGHT. This will take the place of regular Sunday night activities.
I have set up a link to a blog site that provides ideas and a place for folks to record their experiences. Please email this link and a reminder to your groups. Here is the link:
Bible Study Session
Combining June 2 and 9 Studies:
We begin a new study of the book of Job this Sunday. Because we missed last Sunday, I have provided ideas for combining the two lessons along with an overall target for the lesson. We cover a lot of chapters this Sunday which will require you to be able to share content summaries and transitions between points. I hope the materials will enable you to effectively share the vital message we find in Job to your group this Sunday.
THE TARGET
Focus on what adults should leave knowing, understanding, and doing.
Adults will be able to identify why Job responded to difficult times as he did. They will understand what the proper response to God should be during difficult times.
Resources to Consider Using
MyStudyBible Links:
- Word Pronunciations: Uz; Eliphaz; Bildad; Zophar; Naamathite
- Job Background Information: Message and Purpose; Contribution to the Bible
- Overview of Satan's Evil Nature: Gene Getz Video. Since our Target is not a study of Satan's nature, use this video as a reference as you prepare.
- Part of the teaching plan suggests you discuss the recent tragedies that have plagued our nation such as the Oklahoma Tornadoes, the fires in California, and the Boston Bombings.
- You might want to search the internet for testimonies of people who survived to share in the context of the discussion.
- If you use video, consider showing some video clips from survivors of one of these events.
- Here is a link to some recent research you might find helpful. I will also reference this during the suggested teaching plan ideas. Click to Read.
The following links will direct you to a handout (I will have a copy in each Connect Group box Sunday) and a PowerPoint slide you can use with the "Look Up" activity and the "Look Out" application.
- Link to Handout: Responding to Disasters
- Link to PowerPoint: Responding to Disasters
- I recommend you read the ETB Commentary, pages 6-8 as it relates to Job. This provides a good overview of the book, the man, and the theological themes.
- The ETB Leader's Guide (p. 29) provides a list of verses related to why people suffer. It might be helpful to copy this to distribute to your group or use as a reference during the entire study of Job.
Look Up: "Soft Methods" to draw attention to the study as adults are visiting and gathering for Bible study.
In Advance:
Place the Handout: Responding to Disasters in each chair, or display the PowerPoint slide by the same title.
Discuss:
- Once most adults have gathered, ask them to share questions or responses they have heard related to the disasters listed.
- Call attention to the statistics. Are there any surprises? Is any response missing? How would you have responded if you had been in any of the disasters?
- We are beginning a new study of Job today.
- When he seemed to be at the top of his game, everything began to fall apart.
- Job struggled to understand what was going on and why. Yet Job was a man of faith who believed in God at the beginning of the story and still believed in Him at the end of the book.
- We want to learn from Job how to respond to our own personal difficult times and how we can help others as they go through difficult times.
- We will be covering the lessons for both June 2 and June 9 today as we look at chapters 1-14.
- Challenge the group to read the complete chapters that will be covered during the next week since only select verses will be highlighted.
The writer of the Book of Job is anonymous, and we don't know for sure when the book was written. There is a patriarchal setting which does help us identify the era in which Job lived. He probably lived around the time of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac. The land he lived in, Uz, was a tribal region located just east of the land of Canaan (Direct group to the last page of their study guides to locate Uz).
Transition:
Let's begin our study of Job as we become familiar with his life before he experienced so much disaster. This prologue sets the stage for the drama that will unfold throughout the book.
Look In: Supplemental ideas for unpacking the text.
Read: Job 1:1-3
Discuss:
- How was Job described?
- If Job were alive today and involved in our church, how might he be viewed?
- What would perfect integrity look like? Does it mean he never sinned?
- What did it mean that he feared God?
- Would people today think that his health and wealth were gained because of his righteous living? Is there any correlation between the two?
- Do we expect these types of blessings if we live like Job? What is wrong with this expectation?
- If using the Discovery Study Guide, direct the group to consider how they might answer the Personal Discovery questions, p13.
- In Job's day, as well as ours, material possessions frequently are a common standard by which people measure greatness and even spiritual maturity.
- People saw in Job a man of exemplary behavior.
- They considered his family as ideal. Many probably envied his wealth. He was equally well-known beyond Uz.
- He had been blessed with health and wealth.
- He had a reputation of possessing the highest integrity and was known as one who walked with God.
- Yet, all this was about to change.
Explain:
- The tragic turn in Job's life began as the result of an encounter between the Lord and Satan.
- The location was at the heavenly council meeting where Satan and other angelic beings (sons of God) had gathered.
- The Bible does not reveal all the details we might like to know concerning Satan's appearance before God at the heavenly council meeting or concerning the reasons behind God's decisions.
- Perhaps Satan had been roaming around earth seeking whom he could devour. Job was presented as one who would not give in to Satan's attacks and curse God.
- We do know that Satan was limited - in the suffering he was allowed to impose on Job; he was a created angelic being (sons of God); he was inferior and subject to God; and he is restricted to roam from place to place (see 1 Peter 5:8).
- As we will see at the end of the book, while God's evaluation of Job remained intact, each of Satan's accusations proved to be wrong.
Based on ETB Leader Guide, p16
Discuss:
- How did God describe Job?
- How was His assessment of Job like or unlike that of Job's peers?
- Did God mention anything about sin being the result of what was about to take place in Job's life? (no)
- Emphasize to the group that this is very important to remember as we move through the study and hear how his friends assessed Job's problems.
- What does God's description of Job say about what God looks for in his people?
- Consider the possibility of God bringing you to Satan's attention. How does that make you feel? How would God describe you to Satan? (based upon Discover Study Guide, p14)
The dialogue about Job's life continues between God and Satan in verses 9-11.
Read: Job 1:9-11.
Discuss:
- What did Satan say was Job's motive for serving God? (God's previous statement implied that Job's devotion was genuine, Satan assumed it was self-seeking.)
- Would you say that Satan accused God of buying Job's loyalty by providing blessings on His life? Do we sometimes view God in this way; our faithfulness somehow buys us prosperity and blessings?
- How would you react if you knew that Satan was making the same charge against you that he made against Job?
- What should our motives be for serving God?
- Are your motives genuine? (Consider silently). If not, what will happen when trials and suffering come? How will you respond to God?
The stage is now set for Job to face the most difficult time of his life. Satan was first granted permission to take everything of value away from Job - his children and possessions (his wealth).
Here is Job's response to God: Someone read Job 1:20-22.
Explain:
- Job's first response was a natural one. He mourned and was grieved. (v20)
- His next response was one of trust. He worshiped God. (v21)
- Even though there was great mourning and grief, he did not sin. (v22)
- How would you summarize how we should respond to such loss, based upon Job's response? (Mourning and grief is O.K. and is not viewed as a lack of faith; You can praise God even when you are hurting; etc.)
Having failed in his first attempt to elicit any bitterness towards God from Job, Satan sought another opportunity. He was still convinced he could get Job to curse God. Since taking his possessions didn't work, Satan now focused on Job's health. Surely this would lead to Job curse God.
Read Job 2:7
Explain:
- Job was afflicted head to toe with inflamed, ulcerous sores.
- Other symptoms described in Job included: itching (2:8); a haggard appearance (2:12), running sores that bred maggots (7:5); a loss of sleep (7:14); a sensation of choking (7:15); depression (7:16; 30:15-16); eye problems (16:16); putrid breath (19:17); emaciation (19:20); acute pain (30:17); darkened and peeled skin (30:28, 20); fever (30:30).
- The greatest man among all the people of the east was reduced to poverty.
- He sat alone in the community ash dump, scrapping his sores with a broken pottery shard! (ETB Leader Guide, p19)
If you have seen all this happen to someone of this standing in the community, what might you conclude about him? (he had done something wrong; pity; etc.)
Transition:
As we conclude today's study we want to look at four people who sought to give Job advice - His wife and three close friends. We also want to see how Job responded to each.
Someone read: Job 2:9-10
Discuss:
- Why would she respond this way? (she lost everything too; she was also looking at the possibilities of being a widow with no wealth; etc.)
- Notice Job's response (v10). How would you respond to his question if you were Job's wife?
- Job did not sin, but remained strong.
Read Job 2:11-13
Eliphaz's Advice: Read Job 4:6-7. What was his conclusion? (the innocent don't perish; therefore Job must be guilty of something.)
Job's Response: Read Job 6:24. Job did examine his heart. There was nothing wrong with Job doing this.
Bildad's Advice: Read Job 8:4-8. How would you feel if a friend said that your suffering was because of the sin of your now deceased children? This was terrible advice based on assumptions prevalent in the culture of that day.
Zophar's Advice: Read Job 11:6b, 13-15. Zophar heaped more condemnation on Job. He guaranteed that repentance would usher God's blessings back into Job's life.
Job's Response: Read Job 13:4. How did they coat the truth with lies?
Transition:
Job still searched his heart even though he did not know of anything that might have caused this calamity.
Read Job 13:22-24.
- There is nothing wrong with Job's actions or his feelings.
- When we experience sufferings we will probably do the same - grieve, mourn, examine our hearts, feel like God was not present in our lives, listen to the advice of friends.
- These are natural reactions.
- The one thing Job did not do was to blame or curse God. He remained faithful even though he didn't understand. He had to trust God.
- We will dig deeper into Job's life and his response to God during the coming weeks.
Summary:
Refer again to the Handout or PowerPoint slide: Responding to Disaster. Ask the group to silently consider what response they might have if they faced difficulties similar to Jobs.
Application:
- God looked at the heart of Job and knew that he could stand the testing of Satan.
- The Israelites had a Deuteronomic formula or idea of suffering. It was an "if then" view. "If I live a certain way, God will bless." Because of the laws outlined in Deuteronomy they believed that (1) those who keep God's commands will be blessed, (2) those who sin will be cursed. Blessings could take the form of long life, wealth, health, large families, and prestige in the community. Curses, came in the form of poverty, slavery, low social standing, sickness, and death.
- God was teaching the Israelites and us another way of looking at suffering - it is not always due to someone's sin, and being faithful to God does not mean we won't experience suffering.
- We know that suffering does come due to sin and requires a response of repentance as emphasized by Job's friends. But this was not the cause of Job's suffering.
- We also know that God is sovereign and must be trusted even when things aren't going so well.
- This was what Job had to learn. This is what we have to learn.
Refer again to the Handout or PowerPoint slide: Responding to Disaster. Ask the group to silently consider what response they might have if they faced difficulties similar to Jobs.
Application:
- Challenge the group to make a commitment to responding with trust in God.
- What are some ways we can show trust in the Lord during adversity?
- What are some ways we can help others trust the Lord during adversity?
- Maybe you know someone in our church who is experiencing trials or suffering. Contact that person to share a word of encouragement. (Discovery Study Guide, p16)
