Alice Drive Baptist Church Podcast Alice Drive

●      How can we honor our country, with all its success and failures, while living as kingdom citizens?

●      Romans 12:1- I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

●     Your most important citizenship is in God’s Kingdom.

●    13 Let everyone be subject to the governing
authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right
and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be
afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

●      Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, there is no authority except that which God has
established. Romans 13:1

●      whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so
will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who
do wrong. Romans 13:2-3

●      The one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear
the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

●      Those in authority should promote the good.

●      Proverbs 20:28: Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.

●      Those in authority should reprimand the bad.

●      Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord. Romans 12:19

●      5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. Romans 13:5

●      18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18 

●      6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Romans 13:5-7

●      Is prayer the defining factor in your view of authority?

●      15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the
imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”

●      18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”22 When they heard this, they
were amazed. So they left him and went away. Matthew 22:15-22

●      Give to God what is His…your life!

●      Are you living as a responsible, godly citizen?

●      Do you pray faithfully for those in authority? 

●      Does your life reflect the image

·      The average American will earn over $1.7 million over his or her lifetime. 

·      You are richer than you think!

·      The average American spends about $3.3 million over his or her life. 

·      Who teaches you to make decisions about money?

·      Proverbs 3:9-10 – Honor the LORD from your wealth; and from all your first products.  Your storehouses will be filled with plenty and new wine will burst open your wine vats.

·      Involve God in all your financial decisions. 

·      You can earn it. 

·       Proverbs 14:23 - All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

·       What did I gain by working today? 

·       Proverbs 28:25 - The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper.

·       Heavenly Father, guide me about earning decisions.

·       You can spend it. 

More is not better; contentment is.


·      Proverbs 19:23 - The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble. 

·      Heavenly Father, guide me before I spend.

·      You can save it. 

·      Money cannot buy happiness, but it can provide margin. 

·       Proverbs 21:20 - The wise store up choice food and
olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down. 

·       To save, spend less than you make. 

·       Heavenly Father, give me the strength to save money.

·       You can borrow money. 

·       Proverbs 22:7 - The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. 

·       Heavenly Father, is it wise for me to borrow this money?

·       You can give it. 

·       Proverbs 3:9 - Honor the LORD from your wealth; and from all your first products. 

·      Giving is the #1 way we attack selfishness in our lives. 

·      Giving reminds you that God is first. 

·      Proverbs 3:10 - Your storehouses will be filled with plenty and new wine will burst open your wine vats. 

·      You cannot put God first until you are humble. 

·      Would you rather: a) Have $10,000,000 a year for the rest of your life? Or b)Have peace with God? 

·      Matthew 6:24b – You cannot serve God and money. 

·      Are you honoring God with your money? 

·       Do you choose God over money? 

·       PIX:
William Borden

·       No reserves

·       No retreats

·       No regrets       

LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 

Starter Question: There are five things you can do with
money: earn it, spend it, save it, borrow it, and give it.  Which one of these is easiest for you?  Why? 

1.      Read Proverbs 3:9

2.     Who in your life have you seen put God first in their financial decisions?  What was his or her life like?

3.     Read Proverbs 14:39

4.      How would you define hard work?  How would define the benefit of hard work?

5.      Read Proverbs 28:25

6.      Have you ever seen a greedy person stir up conflict? 
What happened?

7.      Read Proverbs 19:23

8.     What does contentment look like to you?

9.      Read Proverbs 3:10

10.      What would you say are the top three ways God could bring abundance into your life?

11.      What would it mean for you to honor God with all your financial decisions?

PIX: Jessica Rocha. 

Exodus 20:12 - 12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your
God is giving you.

Attachment is the secure bond you have with someone. 

Honor what you can and forgive the rest.

How to be parents worthy of honor and how to honor our parents. 

Proverbs 1:8-9 – Listen my son, to the correction of your father; and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.  9For they are a garland of grace for your head; and a necklace for your neck.

Proverbs 15:20 – A wise son causes joy for a father; but a stupid man despises his mother. 

Martin Luther – There are few things wholly good or wholly evil. 

Do you bring joy to your parents or are you stupid? 

Proverbs 20:20 – One who curses his father and his mother – his lamp will be snuffed out by deep darkness. 

There are no perfect parents. 

Forgive your parents. 

Proverbs 30:17 – The mocking eye toward a father, and the eye that despises a mother, The ravens of the valley
will pick out that eye and the son of a vulture will eat it.

More curiosity, less judgment. 

Proverbs 23:25 – Your father and your mother bring joy and the one who gave birth to you rejoices.

Be parents of joy. 

Dallas Willard: Joy is a deep, pervasive sense of well-being. 

Are you honoring your Father and your Mother?    

Are you forgiving your Parents for not being perfect?

Do you have a strong relationship with our Heavenly Father to fill in the gaps your parents couldn’t fill?            


LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

 Starter Question: What is one positive thing your mother gave you in life? 

1.    Read Proverbs 1:8-9

2.   What instruction did your parents give you that turned out to be a garland of grace?

3.    Read Proverbs 15:20

4.    What advice did your parents give you that rejected, but it turned out they were right?

5.    Read Proverbs 20:20

6.    Have you known someone who stayed angry at their parents?  What was his or her life like?

7.    Read Proverbs 30:17

8.    Have you mocked your parents?  Do you need to ask
forgiveness?

9.    Read Proverbs 23:25

10.  What do you need to do to be a parent who brings joy to your children?

·      What do you do when you don’t know? 

·      First option: you construct a story. 

·     Second option: Walk away. 

·      God punishes the wicked.  Job, you are suffering, therefore, you must be wicked.

·      Beware of people who have a story about God that is not big enough to include your story.

·       Job 31:35-37 - 35 “Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. 36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.37 I would give him an account of my every step; I would present it to him as to a ruler.”

·       Job 38:1-7 - Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the
storm. He said:2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted
for joy?

·       Beware of a one-dimensional God. 

·       God invites Job to get the bigger picture

·       We will never know all the reasons “why.” 

·       Job 40:1-14 - The Lord said to Job:2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”3 Then Job answered the Lord:4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.5 I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.”

·      6 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm: 7 “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.8 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? 9 Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
11 Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, 12 look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand. 13 Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave.14 Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

·      Do you understand what is like to be God? 

·      Can we save ourselves? 

·      God does not abandon those who suffer. 

·     Job 42:1-6 - Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.  4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” 

·      When you meet God personally, he changes your
life. 

·      I know you are God, and I am not. 

·       Third Option: When you do not know, you can choose faith. 

·       When you do not know, do you choose faith? 

·       Heavenly Father, help me have faith that you are
enough, you are better than answers.

LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 

Starter Question: Do you know someone who has had a powerful encounter with God?  What was their experience
like? 

1.    Read Job 38:1-7

2.    How does God’s reply strike you?  Is he angry?
Aggressive?  Forceful?

3.     Can you think of a time when you spoke about God without knowledge and later realized you were wrong?  What made you come to that realization?

4.     Read Job 40:1-14

5.    If you we

·      Are you all in? 

·      Do we serve God because of what he does for us, or because we love him? 

·       Job 1:4-5 - 4 His sons used to hold feasts in their
homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

·       If you serve God to cover your bets, do you really have a relationship? 

·       Religion is about being “good enough; ”relationship is about “the with-God life.” 

·       Job 13:20-22 - 20 “Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from you: 21 Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your
terrors. 22 Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me.

·       Job 29:1-5 - Job continued his discourse: 2 “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness! 4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s
intimate friendship blessed my house, 5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me.

·       Job 30:16-23 - 16 “And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me. 17 Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest. 18 In his great power God
becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment. 19 He throws me into the mud, and I am
reduced to dust and ashes. 20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. 21 You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me. 22 You snatch me up and drive me
before the wind; you toss me about in the storm. 23 I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

·       Deeper faith is being more real with God. 

·       Job 31:7-8 - 7 if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, 8 then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

·      Job 31:35-37 - 35 (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. 36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. 37 I would give him an account of my every step; I would present it to him as to a ruler.

·      Are you all in with God? 

·      Heavenly Father, I am all in.

LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Starter Question: Has there been a time in your life when you were desperate for God?  What was going on?

 1.     How do you think Job feels after arguing with his friends? Is his suffering better or worse? 

2.      Read Job 29:1-5

3.      Why do you think Job is remembering the “good old days?” 

4.      Read Job 30:16-23

5.      This is Job’s description of how God has treated him. 
Do you feel Job is right?  Is it right to blame God when things go wrong?

6.      Read Job 31:35-37

7.      Does Job sound prideful in these verses?

8.      If you were God, how would you react to Job’s demand to answer him?              

9.      In your opinion, why has Job reached the point of being desperate for God?

·    How you think about God determines how you respond to a crisis.

·       How you think about life, how you think
about God determines what you build.

·       Do we worship God because of what he does for us or because we love him?

·       Just because a person speaks in God’s name, doesn’t mean they are speaking for God.

·       Job 42:7 7 After the Lord had said these things
to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

·       Wrong thinking about God is dangerous! 

·      Job 4:7-8 -7 “Consider now: Who, being innocent,
has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?8 As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.

·       Suffering does not equal “You deserve it.”  

·      Consider: Instead of “You deserve it,” say “I don’t know why.”

·       Job 5:8 - 8 “But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.

·      Beware of thinking you knowing how God will answer prayers

·       Consider: Instead of saying “Pray (and I know how God will answer),” say “God, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

·      Job 5:17: 17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”

·      Beware of thinking suffering equals God’s correction. 

·       Consider: Instead “Suffering is good for you,” think
“Where is God at work in my suffering

·      Job 8:3-4 - 3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?4 When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

·      Beware of simple cause and effect theology

·      Consider: instead of judgment, understanding.

·      Job 11:5-6 - 5 Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you6 and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom
has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

·       You deserve more suffering than what you are going through.

·      Consider: Instead of you getting what you deserve, God gives grace

·       Job 35:13-14 - 13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it.
14 How much less, then, will he listen when you say that
you do not see him, that your case is before him and you must wait for him,

·      God is too big to bother with you. 

·       Consider: Instead of “God is too big to care about
you,” remember “God cares for the sparrows.” 

·       Matthew 6:26 - 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet
your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 

·      Job 13:1-4 - “My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.4 You,
however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!

·      To seek God is better than just talking about God.

·      Has your faith grown? 

·       There is a God who loves you and wants you to be his child. 

 Starter : Have you known a person whose faith was not big enough for the crisis in his or her life? 
How did they get through the crisis? 

1.     Read Job 4:7-8.

2.    In your opinion, how can you distinguish between suffering a person deserves versus suffering a person does not deserve?

3.     Read Job 8:3-4

4.     Have you ever seen someone “blame the victim?” 
Why do you think someone might do this?

5.      Read Job 11:5-6

6.      The phrase “God has even forgo