July 9 - Rules - Jeremiah 23:1-12
OVERVIEW OF JEREMIAH
The overview will be uploaded shortly.
VIDEO LESSON
Listen to the Audio of the Lesson
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Intro - Focus Attention
- Q. What does it take to be a leader?
- Give time to answer
- Q. What disqualifies someone from being a leader?
- Discuss
- Incompetence, doing what is wrong, hypocrisy, etc.
- God is the good shepherd who leads His people but He also appoints shepherds over His people. In our passage today we are going to see how the leaders in Jeremiah’s time not only failed to lead His sheep they actually destroyed and scattered them.
- Context:
- Today’s passage comes in the middle of a section that deals with the corrupt and evil leaders of Judah. Jeremiah 21:1-25:38 shows how God was bringing judgement on the rulers because of their failure to follow the Lord and lead the people toward Him.
- Thus, as we read our passage today we are going to see how God holds leaders accountable and how we must follow Jesus as our righteous King.
Truth - Explore the Text
Q. What does this passage tell us about God?
- God sees everything. We can’t hide our actions from the Lord (Jer 23:1-2).
- God holds all people accountable for their actions (Jer 23:2).
- God is the Good Shepherd who restores and cares for His flock (Jer 23:3-4).
- God promises deliverance through Jesus, the Righteous Branch for David (Jer 23:5-8).
- God will judge false prophets and ungodly priests who reject His ways and hurt His people (Jer 23:12).
Q. What does this passage tell us about man?
- Man fails to follow God and to lead others to Him (Jer 23:1-2).
- Man’s only hope is in the Lord (Jer 23:3-4).
- Man longs for God’s righteousness (Jer 23:5-6).
- Man rests in the care of God (Jer 23:7-8).
- Believers are broken over the sin of the world (Jer 23:9).
- The world rejects their creator and causes chaos by their evil deeds (Jer 23:10).
- Man is led astray by the sins of false prophets (Jer 23:11).
- Man’s sin leads to destruction (Jer 23:12).
Q. What does this passage mean FOR my life?
- I am responsible for my relationship with the Lord and for how I lead others to Him or away from Him.
- My only hope is in God’s promise of restoration through Jesus. I can’t earn my righteousness, but I can trust Jesus as my Savior.
- I need to be broken over my sin and the sin of the world. It doesn’t matter what those around me are doing, I must follow God alone.
Personal Challenge
- Read through Jeremiah 23 today and use it as a model to pray for your community and church leaders.
- Q. Who are the people you influence? Are you pointing them to Christ or away from Him?
- Q. How should knowing that Jesus the Messiah will reign with wisdom and justice affect the way believers think and live today? How does this change the way you live?
LIFEWAY RESOURCES
Quicksource
Lifeway’s Quicksource is a quick and simple tool that dives directly into the biblical text. Furthermore, it provides a simple outline of the lesson with “Talking Points” and discussion questions for each section. This resource is extremely helpful for facilitating a discussion.
Explore The Bible Podcast
Lifeway provides a podcast for teachers as they prepare to teach each lesson. These podcasts are available on the Leaders Helps webpage (look below), Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Leader Helps
Lifeway has a blog where they post Leader Helps for teachers. These range from articles on leading online groups to Extra Ideas for introducing and concluding the lesson with a current news story. You can check it out using the link below
QUOTES / ARTICLES / MEDIA
In Philippians 2:6-11 Paul quoted an early Christian hymn that testified of the work of Christ. The following article was produced by Lifeway and discusses how early believers used songs.