Category: 2018/19 Weekly Readings

Week 7

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Memory Verse: Ezra 9:6

Reading #1: Genesis 11:1-9

Questions: Why did Noah’s descendants want to build a tower as high as the heavens? What do you think Moses meant when he wrote that “the Lord came down to see the city and the tower?”  

Reading #2: Nehemiah 9:1-25

Questions: According to Nehemiah 2:17-20, what are the Israelites doing at this time?  According to 9:1, how did the people respond after Ezra had brought out the long neglected Word of God and read it to all the people? After the Lord who “made heaven, the heaven of heavens and all their host…came down on Mt. Sinai” and gave them “right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments,” how did the Israelites sin according to verses 17 and 18?  What was the consequence of their sin in verses 17-23? 

Reading #3: Isaiah 14:12,13

Questions: How had the King of Babylon sinned and what was the consequence?

Reading #4: Obadiah 1-4

Questions: How had Edom sinned and what was the consequence?

Psalms and Hymns

Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens “Praise the Lord! ye heavens adore Him; Praise Him, angels in the height; sun and moon, rejoice before Him, praise Him, all ye stars of light.  Praise the Lord!for He hath spoken; worlds His mighty voice obeyed; laws which never shall be broken for their guidance He hath made.”

O Worship the King, All Glorious Above “O tell of His might, O sing of His grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.”

Praying Under the Same Sky

Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic

Week 6

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Memory Verse:  Isaiah 66:23

Reading #1: Genesis 2:1-3

Questions: Do you think God rested because He was tired or was He doing something bigger with this 7th day?  How does this institution of the Sabbath day of rest and its being consecrated as holy possibly answer those who say each day of creation was actually just a figure of speech for a much longer period of time?

Reading #2: John 9

Questions: What did Jesus do that was unheard of since the creation of the world?  How are verses 3-5 an explanation for why Jesus healed the man born blind?  What is the sad irony behind the Pharisees’ condemnation of Jesus for healing on the Sabbath?

Reading #3: Acts 13

Questions: According to verse 27, what would happen every Sabbath?  After the reading of the law and the prophets, what word of encouragement did Paul give to the Jews in Antioch in verses 16-41?  In verses 42-43, how did the Jews respond to Paul’s message? How did the attitude of the Jews change on the next Sabbath when “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord,” including many Gentiles?  What message did Paul have for them?  How did the Gentiles respond to Paul’s message?

Reading #4: Colossians 2:6-23

Questions: What reason does Paul give in verse 17 for not letting people judge you for what you eat or drink, or how you celebrate or observe the Sabbath?  How does his reasoning also answer the legal demands of circumcision and baptism in verses 8-14? How do verses 13-15 answer the inability of self-made religion to stop the indulgence of the flesh in verse 23?

Psalms and Hymns 

All Things Bright and Beautiful  “The purple headed mountain, the river running by, the sunset, and the morning that brighten up the sky All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful; the Lord God made them all.”

When Morning Gilds the Skies  “Sing, sun and stars of space, sing, ye that see His face, sing, Jesus Christ be praised!”

Praying Under the Same Sky

China, Columbia, Croatia

Week 5

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Memory Verse: Psalm 104:19

Reading #1: Genesis 1:16-19  

Questions: What  purposes did God give for “the two great lights?”  What would be different about every morning and evening from the fourth day on?

Reading #2: Psalm 136:1-9

Questions:  In what ways is David’s Psalm of praise echoing the creation account of Genesis 1:16-19?  What characteristic does David attribute to God when He made the heavens?  What do you think he means by that?  What conclusion does David draw from the existence of sun, moon and stars?

Reading #3: Song of Solomon 6:10

Questions:  What words would you use to describe the moon?  What words would you use to describe the sun? Why do you think God uses imagery like the sun in this passage and in Psalm 19:4-6, to describe brides and grooms, and by extension, Christ and His church?

Reading #4: 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

Questions: Which elements of creation does Paul employ to illustrate the idea of different “kinds?”  How does Paul further categorize the heavenly bodies?  Why do you think Paul is so careful to make these distinctions when talking about the resurrection of the dead?

Psalms and Hymns

Psalm 104C: “The moon You have set the seasons to show; the sun will its time for each setting know.  When you make the darkness, the night follows day, and beasts of the forest creep forth seeking prey.”

Psalm 136A: “Who placed the great lights on display; His mercy lasts forever; The sun to rule the sky by day; His mercy lasts forever; The moon and stars to rule the night; His mercy lasts forever; Who Egypt’s firstborn all did smite; His mercy lasts forever.”

Praying Under the Same Sky

Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile