Thanksgiving Lesson November 27, 2022

Three Reasons for Giving Thanks

Every November as the Thanksgiving holiday gets closer and closer, we see more and more reminders about giving thanks. It’s in the very name of the holiday! Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks.

Even those without faith in Christ are drawn into an attitude of thankfulness. But we may wonder: to whom exactly are they expressing thanks? While we can express thanks to various individuals for the roles they play in our lives, ultimately, our thanks should go to God, the source of blessing and all good things.

Thankfulness to God grows and deepens as we get to know God and see how He works. Psalm 107 helps us see that. In this study, we’ll see how graciously He has worked on our behalf to rescue, restore, and provide for us. And when we see that, our thanks moves from just a generic attitude of thanks to an expression that is genuine and heartfelt.

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Three Reasons for Giving Thanks

Question 1:

What past event in your life are you now thankful for?

THE POINT

Give thanks for the ways God is at work in your life.

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE

Whether it’s burned cookies or spilled coffee, no one likes a food mishap. Yet, one of our in-home conveniences resulted from a food accident.

Percy Spencer, born in Maine in 1894, went to live with his aunt when he was orphaned. To help financially, he quit school in the fifth grade and took his first job. The field of electricity fascinated him, so when the local paper mill converted to electricity, Percy, then sixteen, convinced the owners he could help. By studying “how to” books at night and installing wires during the day, he became a master electrician.

A company developing electrical products hired Percy in 1925. Later, while working on a microwave tube to improve submarine radar systems, Percy noticed that a chocolate bar melted in his shirt pocket. From this fluke, he went on to develop what would become the microwave oven.1

Sometimes good comes out of bad circumstances. Today we will study a psalm that described a time when God’s people experienced a crisis. How did God respond? How did the people respond? Would they grumble, or would they be grateful?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Psalm 107:1-3

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

Because they speak so deeply to our hearts on a personal level, we sometimes overlook the fact the Psalms were the songbook of ancient Israel. We can forget that centuries ago a music leader either sang these words himself, led a choir to sing them, or stood before an entire congregation and led the people to lift their voices in worship to God—using these very words.

Psalm 107 begins with a call to express gratitude to God: “Give thanks to the Lord.” In Hebrew, the verb translated give is plural and an imperative. Thus, this opening phrase was a collective call for all of God’s people to give the Lord thanks as they worshiped Him.

The words of Psalm 107 give evidence of a joyful heart; they ring with the authenticity of a testimony that comes from someone who has lived through what the psalm describes. Like concentric circles moving outward like ripples of water, the psalm’s opening phrases expand to reveal the reasons we are to be thankful. The central circle speaks to the very core of God’s character and being: “for he is good.” This reflects one of God’s divine attributes: His goodness.

Question 2:

How has God shown you that He is good?

Many of us affirmed His goodness in the blessing we said as children: “God is great; God is good. Let us thank Him for our food.” The fact that God is consistently good would have been a unique thought among ancient Near Eastern religions. The false gods that their adherents worshiped were fickle. These so-called gods were often cruel and vindictive. The fact that the Israelites’ God is good set Him apart from the false deities, gods, and idols that other peoples worshiped.

This brings us to our second circle. Out of His goodness flows “his love.” Other translations render love as “mercy,” “grace,” “steadfast love” or “loving kindness.” No one English word encompasses all the aspects of the Hebrew term. Like goodness, love is an inherent trait of God’s character. God’s anger may last but a moment, but His love endures forever.

The psalm then comes to the outer of the three concentric circles—how God has expressed His goodness and His love: He has “redeemed” His children. To redeem is to purchase, to buy back, reclaim, or deliver from danger. The image always involves people who are in a situation from which they cannot free themselves. More than once, God redeemed His people from an enemy. And what foes they were! The Israelites had been held captive by the most powerful people of the day—the Egyptians and later the Babylonians. Yet, regardless of the strength of the nation that held God’s people, God proved Himself able to deliver them.

Psalm 107:4-7

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

Whereas verse 3 indicates God had begun to gather His people from faraway lands, verse 4 introduces some of the hardships they experienced along the way. As we read this passage, we can easily imagine the children of Israel after they left Egypt. The desert wilderness between Egypt and Israel could be harsh. Because of their disobedience, the people wandered for four decades in this wilderness. The people may have felt hopelessly lost, “finding no way to a city where they could settle” (v. 4) since they were far from civilization and from any amenities.

However, these verses more likely are referring to God’s people centuries later as they traveled from Babylonian captivity back to their homeland, Israel. Coming from ancient Mesopotamia, travelers would follow the routes that arched westward, along the northern fringes of the Fertile Crescent before turning south to enter Israel.

Verse 5 described a situation that would have been familiar to peoples of the ancient Near East: the travelers had run out of both food and drink. Here is a strong sign that the psalm was referring to the Jews as they returned to their homeland from Babylonian captivity, rather than to those who fled Egypt.

To be traveling across the desert and run out of food and drink was not merely an inconvenience; it was a life-or-death emergency. Because of their desperate situation, “their lives ebbed away” (v. 5). This does not mean they were merely discouraged or sad.

Recognizing their dire straits, the people “cried out to the Lord” (v. 6). The Hebrew term translated cried out was originally used to describe the sound of thunder. Thus, their crying out to God was not some fancy prayer like one might compose ahead of time to recite at a public gathering. No, this was a cry that started deep within a person’s being and erupted forth in a desperate roar: “God! We need You!”

When the people could do nothing else, they could still pray. Although they were powerless, God was still able. Rather than allowing them to face death in the barren desert, God led them to an inhabited city where they could live—where they could establish homes.

The psalmist set up a parallel of opposites in verses 4 and 7. Comparing these verses, we see that God responded to the people’s desperate situation by meeting them at the exact point of their need—He led them to the needed resources.

Question 3:

How has God led you through adversity?

Psalm 107:8-9

8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Verse 1 had called the people to lift their voices in thanksgiving because God is good. These verses remind us to be grateful for what God has done: the psalmist recalled that He had done “wonderful deeds for mankind” and had met His people’s needs.

Earlier in this psalm, we saw God had satisfied the directionless wanderers by providing a path and a city. Verse 5 introduced people who were hungry and thirsty. Because God had provided, they were now filled. The people responded by giving thanks. When we are hungry, lost, afraid, in danger, or hurting, we typically focus on ourselves and the need of the moment. When we cry out to God in our despair and He answers that need, we can then look back with a grateful heart.

Question 4:

What are some results that come from a life of gratitude?

A reassuring principle is at work in these verses: God works at the point of our human need. Or stated another way, our needs are the places where God moves on our behalf. Certainly the Israelites didn’t see their predicament in a positive light while they were going through the crisis. Looking back, though, they could have thankful hearts because they saw God had blessed them.

All of us go through crises. In the difficulty of the moment, though, sometimes we don’t see how God is at work. Often, we recognize His hand only when we look in the rearview mirror. That is what the children of Israel were doing in Psalm 107.

Good can come from a crisis. After God responds, we then may be able to see a bigger picture. We realize that, even as God was working on our behalf, He was doing the same for others. Our gratitude grows, as we see all the ways He works.

If we can pause in a crisis and take a bird’s eye view, we are likely to see that God is “behind the scenes” working all things together for good (Rom. 8:28). We can respond with gratitude rather than grumbling. Our gratitude is because in those moments God reveals His goodness, faithful love, and ability to move mightily on our behalf.

Question 5:

How can our group create a better environment of gratitude?

GOOD THINGS

What are some “good things” you are hungry and thirsty for at this season of your life? 

Use the space below to create a list. 

Then write a prayer, thanking God for those good things.

Good Things:

1.

2.

3.

My Prayer:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

ROMANS 8:28

LIVE IT OUT

Psalm 107 reminds us that God can bring good out of bad situations. Choose one of the following applications:

• Recall. Can you think of crises in your life in which God was working all things for good, even if you did not realize it at those moments? Pray and thank God for His good work in your life.                                                                                                                                                                                   
• Write. Did God use someone to help you through one of those moments? This week, drop them a note; let them know how thankful you are for what they did.                                                                                                       
• Respond. God often uses people as a conduit of His goodness. Do you know people who are sick, grieving, hungry, or hurting? Reach out and offer tangible support or assistance this week to at least one person who is going through a crisis. Both of you will be thankful you did.

Percy Spencer had no idea of the good that would come from his melted chocolate bar. Yet all of us have benefited from his mishap. Even so, God uses many things we might overlook or misidentify to bring blessings to our lives.

 

Class Lesson November 20, 2022

 

6

Communicate God’s Word

Question 1:

What’s something you often find yourself telling others about?

THE POINT

Knowledge of God’s Word should not be kept to yourself; pass it on.

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE

I frequently must fly, so I am accustomed to hearing a flight attendant give the pre-flight rundown. Anyone who has flown has heard a flight attendant give the flight itinerary, go through all the safety features of the aircraft, and instruct you to fasten your seatbelt. The attendant will also tell you what to do in case of a change in cabin pressure. In that unlikely event, face masks will descend from the cargo space above. You are first to affix your own mask before helping others with theirs. The lesson is simple: you can’t help others very well if you haven’t taken care of yourself first.

This is a helpful picture of what’s involved in telling others about God’s Word. We all know others who could use a healthy dose of Scripture, but we can’t help others very well if we haven’t taken care of ourselves first. But as we take in God’s Word, we can share its truth with others. In fact, as we consume a healthy diet of Scripture and grow from it, we’re eager to share it with others.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Deuteronomy 6:1-3

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Forty years earlier, God had miraculously rescued the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. He gave them incredible promises, including a promise to return to and inhabit the land promised to Abraham. He also gave them His commands—commands to obey His way of holiness and commands to trust His incredible promises. Yet during their forty years in the wilderness, Israel often failed to obey and trust. Each time Israel failed, God extended grace and mercy. A constant source of Israel’s disobedience and distrust was a fundamental struggle to believe that God’s way was best or that God would do what He promised. In Deuteronomy 6, Moses sought to motivate the Israelites to understand the benefit of obeying God’s Word.

Question 2:

How has someone else benefited from someone sharing God’s Word with you?

Thousands of years later, there is still great benefit in obeying God’s Word. The point of Moses’s words in this passage are clear: follow the commands of Scripture. Moses shows us a three-fold benefit to obeying God’s Word. 

1. Obedience leads us to fear God. Moses said to obey God’s Word “so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live” (v. 2). The phrase fear the Lord means “reverence.” God’s Word reveals who He is, and as we follow all we learn about Him, we revere Him. Fear, then, is wise behavior.                                                      
2. Obedience leads to God’s blessing on our lives. Moses said to keep all God’s “decrees and commands … so that you may enjoy long life … so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly,” and because God “promised you … a land flowing with milk and honey.” For Israel, God’s blessings were both spiritual and physical. Whether or not we sense God’s physical blessing, we are blessed spiritually. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).                                                                                             
3. Obedience leads to God’s blessing for others. Moses intended the Israelites to pass on God’s promises to the generations after them. Here we learn an important truth: God never intends His blessings to stop with us. In whatever way He has blessed us, He desires for us to bless others. And there is no better way to bless others than to put God’s Word on display through our own obedience. Our own obedience can motivate others to embrace Jesus Christ and follow Him in obedience.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

As we’ve already noted, a constant source of Israel’s disobedience and distrust was a fundamental struggle to believe that God’s way was best or that God would do what He promised. The tension between Israel’s failures and God’s faithfulness fostered a roller-coaster relationship between the Israelites and God. But God in His mercy and faithfulness would not let go of His people.

We also may struggle to trust God’s promises or obey His commands. We too can easily find ourselves at a crossroads of belief. Thankfully, just as God mercifully held Israel, so He continually showers His grace upon those of us who believe Jesus’s gospel. It’s here that we find our ultimate motivation to continue trusting and obeying. God holds firmly to us, so we hold firmly to Him. God’s love relentlessly pursues us, so we lovingly chase after Him. His love for us propels our love for Him. And our love for Him compels our trust and obedience.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 is considered one of the most important passages in the Bible. These verses are called the Shema from the Hebrew word for hear, which is the first word in this passage. When Moses began verse 4 by saying, “Hear, O Israel,” he underscored the importance these words carried. By Jesus’s time, faithful Jews recited this passage multiple times per day.

Today, we can find motivation to trust and obey God in the Shema. In these verses, Moses provided examples of orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right living). 

• Orthodoxy. Moses reminded the people of just who their God is. He wasn’t like the pagan gods of the polytheistic Canaanites in the land the Israelites were about to possess. Instead, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (v. 4). In one simple sentence, Moses defined proper orthodoxy (right belief). Moses highlighted God’s unity and His exclusivity.  

• Orthopraxy. Moses also shows us orthopraxy (right living). In verse 5, we find the only fitting response to who God is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Love is to be our response to who God is; love for Him is to consume our whole being.

Every domain of life now becomes an opportunity for worship through trust and obedience, and it is this love and devotion that compels us to trust and obey Him.

Question 3:

What are some ways you demonstrate your love for God?

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Even as Jesus affirmed the Shema as the greatest commandment, he added a second one like it. He said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39). As we learn the benefits of God’s Word for ourselves, we should want others to experience those divine benefits too. If love for God compels us to trust and obey His Word, then love for others compels us to share His Word at every opportunity.

In order to communicate God’s Word effectively, Moses said these words “are to be on your hearts” (v. 6). Simply stated, we should have a heart that beats for God’s Word. This underscores the value of memorizing Scripture. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11). The more of God’s Word that resides in our hearts, the more others will hear His Word coming from our mouths.

Question 4:

Why do some people find sharing about God so difficult?

We must remember the heart of Moses’s words: we are to love God with every part of our being and share God’s Word in every part of our lives. Wherever we go is an opportunity to communicate God’s Word to everyone. Consider the following ways you might apply these truths. 

• Identify key Scripture verses, write or print them out, and place them in strategic areas around your home.                                                                                                                               
• Share an encouraging Scripture verse with a cashier, a waiter, or a hairdresser.                                                           
• Ask some friends to read the Bible with you. Select 3-4 others — and include an unbeliever — to join you.

Sin has left people desperate and hungry. You and I have God’s Word at our disposal—and we have it in abundance. We’ve been well-fed. Let’s help others find the sustenance they are yearning to find. His love compels us.

Question 5:

How can we practically impact our home and community with God’s Word?

SHARING THE TRUTH

Where do you have opportunities to teach or promote the truths of God’s Word? Use the categories from verses 7–9 to identify opportunities in today’s world for talking about Scripture.

How can you promote the truth of Scripture …

When you sit in your house:

When you walk along the road:

When you lie down:

When you get up:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

ROMANS 1:16

LIVE IT OUT

You can communicate God’s Word in numerous ways. Choose one of the following applications:

Inward communication. Are you anxious in a particular area? Struggling with a specific sin? Or do you perhaps need to remember one of God’s promises? Identify a relevant Scripture verse, write it down, and take it with you wherever you go this week.

Upward communication. As you read the Bible regularly, combine your Scripture-intake with prayer. Incorporate the words of Scripture into your prayers. As you do this, you will learn how to communicate God’s Word back to Him as worship.

Outward communication. Ask some friends to read the Bible with you or to join you for Bible study.

Remember the lesson of the flight attendant instruction? Let’s love God by applying His Word to our lives. And let’s love others by showing them how to do the same! 

Teacher's Notes:

Click Play to Watch

College. Job. Marriage. House. Kids. Comfortable income. Retire.

 

John Piper warns of the temptation of wasting our lives on our own version of a flashy thing with shiny ribbons on it and being hooked into missing the greater purpose that God has for our lives. He highlights a story from Readers Digest about a couple who the world might describe as living the American Dream, but Piper calls it a “tragedy.”

 

“Their names are Bob and Penny . . . they took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty-foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.”

Piper says, “People today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace this tragic dream. Don’t buy it. With all my heart, Piper says - I plead with you: don’t buy that dream. The American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells as the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account of what you did: “Here it is Lord — my shell collection! Oh…and look at my boat!” Piper ends with, “Don’t waste your life; don’t waste it.”

 

Is the “American Dream” a wasted life?

 

The American Dream beckons people to spend their lives on trivial diversions, slipping through life caught up with seeking success, comfort, and pleasure above all else. But God designed people for far more than this.

 

What are we teaching our children?

 

“I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.” - John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

 

 

God’s Word is a treasure, but it is not something to be kept to ourselves. All that we have learned in the previous five lessons on building our lives on God’s Word brings us to this final truth.

 

Knowledge of God’s Word should not be kept to yourself; pass it on.

 

Moses gives us the foundation of God’s “World Dream” this morning!

 

Deuteronomy 6:1-3

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

 

What is the context of this passage – what is getting ready to happen? Why is Moses saying all of this?

Moses’s farewell treatise to the people who finally were about to enter the land of promise. The book was intended to provide guidelines to this covenant community for living obediently before God and to prepare them to live as His people in the land.

Forty years earlier, God had miraculously rescued the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. He gave them incredible promises, including a promise to return to and inhabit the land promised to Abraham. He also gave them His commands — commands to obey His way and to trust His incredible promises. Yet during their forty years in the wilderness, Israel often failed to obey and trust. Each time Israel failed, God extended grace and mercy. A constant source of Israel’s disobedience and distrust was a fundamental struggle to believe that God’s way was best or that God would do what He promised.

God’s purpose, plan, and promise to the people would come as they trusted and obeyed Him. 

 

How does this relate to us today? What is our fundamental struggle with obedience?

Andy says that “wrong ideas come packaged in so much glitter, it’s hard to convince them that other things might be better in the long run” and “All a parent can do is say wait – trust me and try and keep temptation away.”

 

 

I.         Obedience Brings Blessing and Joy  

 

We’re immersed in a culture where people want to live by their own rules — or ignore rules all together. They want to live by their own way not God’s way. That’s sad because they don’t realize that the rules — the commands — God has given in His Word are for our benefit. Yes, they keep us from harm, but I’ve discovered that, when I follow His rules, life is more enjoyable.

(Personal experience in the last 2 years)

 

We miss out on the abundant life Christ intended when we fail to follow the rules. If you want to know joy and abundance, live in obedience to what you discover in the pages of God’s Word.

 

How is this a generational blessing?

 

  

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 is considered one of the most important passages in the Bible. These verses are called the Shema from the Hebrew word for - hear.

 

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. (Orthodoxy – Right Belief) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Orthopraxy – Right Living)

 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

 

II.         Obedience Blesses Us and Others – If we pass it on!

 

What does loving God with all our heart, soul, and strength look like?

Does the American Dream look like this?

Jesus affirmed the Shema as the greatest commandment, and then He added a second one like it. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39). As we learn the blessings of God’s Word for ourselves, we should want others to experience those divine blessings too.

 

 

How are we to Communicate God’s Word?

 

What responsibility do parents have in relationship to their children concerning the Word of the Lord? 

What are we teaching our children?

Remember, if you don’t teach your children to love God, the world will teach them not to.

How do we display our love for God?

Display your love for God.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Jewish families often place a mezuzah at the entryway of their homes. It is a small case, usually made of metal or wood containing these very words from Deuteronomy on the inside. That is a strong display that says, "God is honored in this home."

Growing up, my mom had a picture that had Psalm 118:24 stitched into it, "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Of course, we had many days when we weren't always rejoicing, but many days we were. That simple picture served as a visual reminder that we can rejoice in the Lord always and that He is in control each day. 

 

What is Responsive Stewardship?

Recognizing God’s ownership of all of life and living in a responsive posture before the Spirit with everything God has placed in our hands (time, talent, treasure, relationships, etc.) to carry out His purposes for our lives and the world.

 

1 Corinthians 10:31 - So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23-24 - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Romans 11:36 - For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

1 Peter 4:11 - whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.

 

Rick Warren Purpose Driven Life - We are here to serve the Lord - God wants to use us for His glory. We are here to serve the God who created us. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). You were made by God, and for God. Until you understand that, your life will never make sense. You’ve got to start with God. The only way to know the purpose for your life — why you’re here on this planet, and what on earth you’re here for — is to talk to your Creator, God, and to read his Word, the Bible.

There’s almost nothing that God won’t do for the person who wants to help other people. Your spiritual gifts were not given for your benefit but for the benefit of others. God blesses you to be a blessing to others.

 

What does the Bible say about the American dream?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV)

 

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6: 17-19 NIV)

 

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)

 

Conclusion

The Word of God should be the driving force influencing all we do and who we are. Parents have a responsibility to teach the Word of God to their children. Believers have a responsibility to always share the Word of God with all people in all settings.

 

Moses said: We are to love God with every part of our being and share God’s Word in every part of our lives.