Promised Land Discovery Guide: 5 Faith Lessons: 01 - Softcover

VANDER LAAN, RAY; SORENSON, STEPHEN; SORENSON, AMANDA

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310279577 ISBN 13: 9780310279570

Verlag: Zondervan, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

This five-session small group Bible study, Promised Land, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume one of the 12-part Faith Lessons series.

In Promised Land, Vander Laan illustrates how God guided his people to a specific place – the Promised Land – to impact the world both in ancient times and today. Just like the time and place of our birth shapes our journey, so the land and culture of the Hebrew people shaped their story. Promised Land provides wonderful context to the stories of that time. 

Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God's Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible's fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures' significance for modern believers.

This Discovery Guide includes five sessions. Each lesson…

- Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
- Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
- Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
- Include 30 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.

These illuminating "faith lessons" afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.

This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Faith Lessons Promised Land DVD (sold separately).

Lessons include:

1. Standing at the Crossroads –Tel Gezer
2. Wet Feet – Jordan River
3. First Fruits – Tel Jericho
4. Confronting Evil – Tel Beth Shemesh
5. Iron of Culture – Tel Azekah

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Ray Vander Laan is the founder of That the World May Know Ministries and creator of the Faith Lessons video series with Focus on the Family. An ordained minister, he holds the chair of biblical cultural studies as a religion instructor at Holland Christian Schools in Holland, Michigan. He and his wife, Esther, have four children and fifteen grandchildren.

Stephen and Amanda Sorenson are founders of Sorenson Communications and have co-written many small group curriculum guidebooks, including the entire Faith Lessons series.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God's Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible's fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals keen insights into the Scriptures' significance for modern believers. These illuminating "faith lessons" afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use at home, especially in personal and family Bible studies. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.

The five sessions include:

1. Standing at the Crossroads
2. Wet Feet
3. First Fruits
4. Confronting Evil
5. Iron of Culture

5 sessions; 1 DVD with leader's guide, 110 minutes (approximate).

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Promised Land Small Group Edition Discovery Guide

5 Faith LessonsBy Ray Vander Laan Stephen Sorenson Amanda Sorenson

Zondervan

Copyright © 2008 Ray Vander Laan
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-27957-0

Contents

Introduction...............................................7Session One Standing at the Crossroads.....................11Session Two Wet Feet.......................................39Session Three First Fruits.................................69Session Four Confronting Evil..............................97Session Five Iron of Culture...............................125Bibliography...............................................155

Chapter One

SESSION ONE

STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS

The people who lived in the land of Israel left behind an indelible record of their lives. An important part of that record lies in large mounds called tels, which are piles of debris from ancient cities that over the centuries were destroyed and rebuilt, one on top of another. As archaeologists excavate tels, they peel away preserved layers of history and bring to light evidence of the culture, architecture, art, diet, weapons, and even writings of the people who lived in those ancient cities. Their findings about the culture and people of ancient Israel stand as a testimony to the truth of the words we read in the Bible.

This video focuses on Tel Gezer, one of the greatest tels in Israel. To stand on this huge mound is to stand on the ruins of as many as five thousand years of human history! Today, Tel Gezer's location in a quiet, agricultural region gives little indication of its importance in history. But in ancient times, Gezer was a bustling crossroads.

Gezer could be described as a city "in between." To understand this, we need to zoom out and consider the geography of Gezer and the ancient world. To the west is the fertile, coastal plain that lies along the Mediterranean Sea. To the east are the foothills -the Shephelah-beyond which lie the mountains of Judea and, beyond them, the forbidding Arabian Desert. So Gezer lies "between" the desert and the sea.

If we zoom out farther, we see Egypt, a technologically advanced world power southwest of Gezer. Far to the east lies Mesopotamia, the home of civilizations the Bible refers to as Persia, Babylon, and Assyria. Gezer was one of three cities in the land of Israel that were located on the Via Maris, the main coastal road that ran "between" the mighty empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Via Maris bustled with activity as those powerful civilizations shared economic and cultural ties.

Gezer was also one of few points where an east-west road intersected the Via Maris. The road ran east from Gezer into the mountains of Judea to Jerusalem and on toward Jericho and the King's Highway, which was another trade route (more difficult to travel than the Via Maris) east of the Jordan River. So the people of Gezer literally lived at the crossroads of the ancient world!

This session reveals the connection between Gezer's strategic location and God's plan for Israel. Whoever controlled the city could, in effect, dominate trade on the Via Maris and greatly influence the people and cultures of the ancient world. So God placed the children of Israel in Canaan, and specifically in cities such as Gezer, where they could make a difference, where they could be a powerful, "flavoring" influence on the world. God wanted his people to live out his salvation in everyday life, to demonstrate morality, justice, and compassion in such a way that the whole world would see it and know that the God of Israel is the one true God.

But for the most part, Israel failed to wrest control of the land and cities of Canaan, including Gezer. They never exerted the powerful influence God desired them to have as his witnesses to the world. Instead, they allowed the pagan culture of the Canaanites to flourish and exert its influence.

This insight into ancient history has a significant application for Christians today. God calls his people to stand at the crossroads and to actively participate in shaping our culture and our world. He calls us to be a flavoring influence on others and to live in such a way that when people see us, they also see God.

Opening Thoughts (4 minutes)

The Very Words of God

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great ... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:1-3

Think About It

God carefully chose a specific people, the descendants of Abraham, to become a nation and take part in unfolding his plan of salvation for the world. He also chose a specific place for those people to live and fulfill their role in bringing about his plan of salvation.

Today, God still chooses people to do the work of his kingdom on earth. Think for a moment about where you live, what you do, and the people with whom you have contact. Can you think of why God might have placed you where you are?

DVD Teaching Notes (22 minutes)

Tel Gezer: geographic and cultural crossroads

City gates: focal point of defense and administration

Israel: placed at the crossroads to accomplish God's plan

The message of standing stones

DVD Discussion (6 minutes)

1. What was unique about Israel's location in the ancient world, and what made Tel Gezer particularly significant?

2. As inhabitants of the land of Israel, how much potential did God's chosen people have to demonstrate God's plan of salvation to their region and even the whole world?

What did God require the Israelites to do in order to fulfill his plan, and what did they do that diminished their effectiveness?

3. In the cities of the ancient world, what purposes and activities were associated with city gates?

THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

Even though the Israelites seldom inhabited Gezer, and thus allowed the Canaanites to wield much greater influence on the world's culture than they otherwise would have, the Canaanites living there did not have an easy life. In fact, the people of Gezer had a rough life. Consider:

When Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, Horam-the king of Gezer-attacked them, but Horam and his troops were all killed (Joshua 10:33).

The tribe of Ephraim allowed the Canaanites to continue living in Gezer, but used them as forced labor (Joshua 16:10).

Pharaoh, king of Egypt, attacked and captured Gezer and then set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife (1 Kings 9:16).

During King David's reign, the Israelites battled the Philistines at Gezer (1 Chronicles 20:4). Years later, Solomon rebuilt Gezer's walls (including its huge, six-chambered gate) using forced laborers (1 Kings 9:15-17).

Small Group Bible Discovery and Discussion (17 minutes)

God Chooses a People and a Place to Carry Out His Plan

For generations, God had prepared the Hebrews to be his people, to conquer the land of the Canaanites and make it the land of Israel, the nation of his chosen people. God clearly had designated a strategic region at the heart of the ancient world to be the land of Israel-a land with fertile soil and key trade routes-but why? Why did God choose these people and this particular place? What did he want his people to accomplish in the land he gave to them? Although these may seem like rhetorical questions to us, the Scriptures give us great insight into God's intentions.

1. Read Genesis 12:1-3 and 18:17-19.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Promised Land Small Group Edition Discovery Guideby Ray Vander Laan Stephen Sorenson Amanda Sorenson Copyright © 2008 by Ray Vander Laan. Excerpted by permission.
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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Zondervan
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0310279577
• ISBN 13: 9780310279570
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 162
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar