We're starting off our second decade as a church by spending some time getting to know Jesus even better. Use these study guides on your own to prepare for sermons and to discuss in our Community Under Development, which meets Wednesday nights at 7pm at the church office.
Getting to Know you:
What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done because you were hungry?
Getting to know the bible:
1) What state do you think you'd be in after going without food for 1 day? How about 40 days? What state do you expect Jesus to be in after going without food for 40 days?
2) Read Luke 4:1-5
What strikes you?
3) Read Deuteronomy 8.
Deuteronomy 8 heeds the Israelites to remember and obey. What are the Israelites told to remember? What do youobserve about the type of obedience the Lord expects from them?
4) what is similar between these two passages?
5) how do Luke 4 and Deuteronomy 8 help you answer, "what sort of man is this Jesus?"
Applying myself to this message:
6) What do you feel like you are entitled to that you currently have or think you should have? (Rights, privileges, possessions, etc. be specific). Take another minute, get honest and thoughtful. Try to answer the question again. Based on how Jesus behaves in Luke 4:1-5, how would you describe his sense of entitlement ? What do you learn about him and yourself in this comparison? How might you thank or praise Christ for who He is?
7) Luke 4:4 quotes Deuteronomy 8, "Man shall not live on bread alone.'" What do you live on? On what do you rely to getby from day to day? How is that different from what God was trying to teach the Israelites in the dessert? How is that different from how Jesus faced the temptation of Satan in his state of hunger and vulnerability?
Consider picking one "bread" (one thing you rely on to get by from day to day) and try resisting using it for one day, maybe one week, and as you struggle with that temptation, meditate on Christ as a man who knows that struggle withyou, and as the God that supplies your source of life (Deuteronomy 8:3 - maybe even read/recite/memorize this verse in place of consuming your "bread").
For further Reading:
Hebrews 5.7-9
Hebrews 4.14-16