Week Four

Part 4: God Cannot be Contained in a Building — the Prayer of Everyman

Read 1 Kings 8: 22-43

Here Solomon gives us the insight to understand that God is the God of everyman not just of Israel. This idea is developed further in the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah. And Simeon makes this clear in Luke 2: 32 when he talks of Jesus as “the light to lighten the gentiles and be the glory of Israel”. How should this affect the way we respond to people of other faiths?

Read Joshua 24: 14-21

In this passage we learn that ‘everyman’ has choices to make. There is a power that comes from a prayer of commitment. A moment of choice that becomes a signpost for the rest of life. 

Can you think of your moment (or moments) of commitment. How has it affected the choices you have made in life?

Read Ephesians 6: 10-20

In life we have our own personal choices to make. Following Jesus is not just about making the right physical choices. The physical world in Paul’s mind is tied up with a spiritual world that we cannot completely understand. However God has given us spiritual clothes to protect us from the spiritual storms of life.

How would you translate and contextualise the military analogy Paul uses into a 21st century context? What is the significance of the phrase “stand firm”?