Week 5 God Cares for You
“When I put God first, God takes care of me and energizes me to do what really needs to be done.”
David Jeremiah
Passage
7casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
8Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
10After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
11To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:7–11 (NASB95)
Background
Quote-Dr. David Jeremiah is an American conservative evangelical Christian author, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, California, a suburb of San Diego. The ministry engages in several live events regularly, including a study tour through Israel, conference cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean, rally tours hosted in major arenas nationwide, live studio tapings of the newest teaching series, and televised Broadway shows in New York for Christmas.
Passage-The book of 1st Peter is a General Epistle (Apostolic Letter). It was written to all believers in general. The author is Peter who wrote it about 60 A.D. The key personalities are the Apostle Peter, Silas, and Mark. Its purpose was to encourage suffering Christians and to call them to personal holiness; Peter’s central focus is persecution.
Opening Statement
Just like storms do to ships, the hardships of life can blow people off course. Once the difficulties are behind us we need to look around and take stock of not just where we are, but where God is too.
Ask: Do you believe God cares for you?
Point: Please read the following:
29“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
30“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31“So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:29–31 (NASB95)
Ask: What does that mean to “take stock in where God is?”
Point: If we’ve been “blown off course” it means figuring out where He is with His path and how far away from that we are.
Ask: Do you believe God has a path and purpose for your life in His plan?
Point: Please read the following:
2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
Romans 12:2–3 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we get away from God’s path and purpose for our lives?
Point: We get away from God’s plan when we let our plan be more important. Please read the following:
7Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:7–9 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we make sure we aren’t overwriting God’s plan with our own ideas?
Point: We trust Him. Please read the following:
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we show that we trust God?
Point: We believe in His Word that it is true. We agree to listen to His Holy Spirit who answers our prayers, and we agree to abide by what He tells us. Please read the following:
11And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him.”
12Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”
13Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:11–13 (NASB95)
Ask: How does this hope answer the question of trust and belief?
Point: The answer is in verse 6 and 7 of the Proverbs 3 passage. Please read the following:
6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
Proverbs 3:6–7 (NASB95)
Ask: What does it mean to “acknowledge Him” in the Proverbs passage?
Point: It means to choose God.
Ask: I’ve already chosen God by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord. Is that all?
Point: No. Re-read verse 7 from Proverbs 3. Please read the following:
7Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
Proverbs 3:7 (NASB95)
Ask: What does it mean when it says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes?”
Point: It means when God’s Word or God’s Holy Spirit presents something that is different from what you thought, you change or adjust to be more in line with God’s idea of what good and evil are.
Closing Statement
Hope. Hope is the key but hope only comes when we trust that our faith hasn’t been misplaced. We derail that hope when we decide our plan is better than God’s plan so because He didn’t answer our prayers the way we wanted Him to, He can’t be trusted. Maybe His answer wasn’t supposed to be in line with what we wanted. Maybe His answer was designed to make us stop, look around, and take stock of where we are. Only then do we see where He is in relation to where we are, and a clear road to get back on track with Him.
Questions for the Week
Question 1 What indicators do you have or look for that tell you when you are on God’s path?
Question 2 What indicators do you have or look for that tell you when you are on your own path?
Question 3 Do you have hope and trust in God today?
Question 4 Pray.
Question 5 Select one passage from scripture on the first day of your week you can take with you in written form all week to help strengthen your hope and trust in God
Question 6 Read Psalm 91 in your favorite translation as many times as necessary this week to remind you to trust and hope in the Lord.
Psalm 91
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”
3For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence.
4He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
5You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you.
8You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked.
9For you have made the Lord, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.
11For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.
12They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
14“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
16“With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.”
Psalm 91:1–16 (NASB95)