Hey Gang,
We continue in our series called Oneness Embraced
Oneness Embraced Book by Tony Evans
Click Here to Read the Book
I have purchased the eBook for you to read above, if you’d like to read along with the study - just click on the link above for the book.
Week 6: Oneness Embraced – Discussion Guide
FREEDOM and JUSTICE for ALL
FOCUS:
a) Freedom, justice and being under God’s divine rule are precisely linked.
b)
Getting right with God is critical to order in society.
Tony
Evans’ Video highlights:
- The lady with the torch beckoning the huddled
masses to freedom for all.
- Freedom is God’s goal. (John 8:36, Luke 4:18)
- Biblical definition of justice: the equitable and impartial application of
God’s moral law in society.
- Psalm 89:14 - Righteousness and justice are the
foundation of Your throne; lovingkindness and truth go before you.
- God is against injustice; prophets speak a lot
to this.
- Ezekiel 16:49. Sodom was judged not only for
immorality but for injustice.
- Freedom began in Genesis 3
- Leviticus 25. Jubilee could only occur after
the Day of Atonement. The nation of Israel didn’t get the Jubilee without first
getting their sins addressed by God. They didn’t get the social until they had
the spiritual.
- 2 Chronicles 15:3-6. Getting right with God is
critical to order in society…The further our culture gets away from God, the
more chaotic our society will be.
- Unless we take the spiritual seriously, the
social is in trouble.
- Removing God by illegitimate division based on
race or culture or class invites chaos into the society.
- Jesus holds up the cross and invites all to
come. God’s church ought to be
reflecting that.
For
Group Time
Icebreakers:
- Can you quote any part of the saying on the
Statue of Liberty? What does this represent about America?
Discussion
Questions Session 5:
- Read Luke 4:18. Why did Jesus come to earth?
(Note: The good news that Jesus preached was for those in economic crisis
<the poor>, those in political crisis <the captives>, those in the
social crisis <the oppressed>.)
- Review the biblical definition of justice that
Dr. Evans provides (above.) What happens when God is taken out of the picture?
- A strong biblical connection exists between our
knowledge and relationship with God and our concern for the poor and the oppressed.
Read Jeremiah 22:16, Matthew 25:34-40.
What does God call us to do in Micah 6:8?
- Dr. Evans mentioned that there is no freedom
without justice. What does it mean for
our fellow citizens who are not experiencing justice?
- Do you see injustice exhibited in the church
and society?
- What is the churches’ responsibility to help
bring about “liberty and justice for all” in our society? How can individuals
help bring about racial justice in our society?
Self-Reflection:
- When did you make a decision based on race rather than on the Word of God?
Challenge:
Discover a new way you can “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God”
as it relates to your relationship with people of a different race.
~~~
ONENESS EMBRACED
6th
Wayne's Sermon:
The Lost - Walls Torn Down - Nehemiah's Brokenness
Injustice - Walls - Where is our brokenness?
- Have we become ok with it? Is it too big a problem to do anything about so we just don't?
Freedom and Justice for All
FOCUS:
a) Freedom, justice and being under God’s divine rule are precisely linked.
b)
Getting right with God is critical to order in society.
Tony
Evans’ Video highlights:
- Ezekiel 16:49. Sodom was judged not only for immorality but for injustice. 49 “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
·
·
2 Chronicles 15:3-6.
3 For
a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and
without the law. 4 But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of
Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. 5 In those days it was not
safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great
turmoil. 6 One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another,
because God was troubling them with every kind of distress.
Getting
right with God is critical to order in society…The further our culture gets
away from God, the more chaotic our society will be.
·
Unless we take the spiritual seriously, the
social is in trouble.
- Removing God by illegitimate division based on
race or culture or class invites chaos into the society.
- Jesus holds up the cross and invites all to
come. God’s church ought to be
reflecting that.
For
Group Time
Icebreakers:
·
Can you quote any part of the saying on the
Statue of Liberty? What does this represent about America?
New
Colossus (Statue of Liberty poem)
Not
like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With
conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here
at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A
mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the
imprisoned lightening, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her
beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The
air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep,
ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With
silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Discussion
Questions Session 5:
- Read Luke 4:18. Why did Jesus come to earth? (Note: The good news that Jesus preached was for those in economic crisis <the poor>, those in political crisis <the captives>, those in the social crisis <the oppressed>. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, (Luke 4:18)
- Review the biblical definition of justice that Dr. Evans provides: What happens when God is taken out of the picture? Biblical definition of justice: the equitable and impartial application of God’s moral law in society.
- A strong biblical connection exists between our knowledge and relationship with God and our concern for the poor and the oppressed. Read Jeremiah 22:16, Matthew 25:34-40.
What does God call us to do in Micah 6:8?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
- Dr. Evans mentioned that there is no freedom
without justice. What does it mean for
our fellow citizens who are not experiencing justice?
- Do you see injustice exhibited in the church
and society?
What is the churches’ responsibility to help bring about “liberty and justice for all” in our society? How can individuals help bring about racial justice in our society?
Self-Reflection: When did you make a decision
based on race rather than on the Word of God?
To have
injustice based on race the color of a man’s skin rather than as MLK said the
content of a man’s character to want to be free from England but not want to
free people who live here is a travesty and an assault on God and when you
assault God that’s a fight you can’t win.
Lady
Liberty holds up her torch and invites all to come
Jesus
holds up the cross and invites all to come who are tired and weary who need
something different and God’s people ought to be reflecting that in the church
so that the culture sees what biblical justice is not based on a preference a
history or what my parents taught me but based on what God says because when
the Spirit is upon you:
· The
oppressed get set free
· The
poor have hope
· The
disenfranchised have a future
· The kingdom of God has its way
Challenge: Discover a new way you can “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God” as it relates to your relationship with people of a different race.
