{"id":13465,"date":"2013-07-24T01:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=13465"},"modified":"2013-07-23T22:43:46","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T02:43:46","slug":"i-am-chapter-3-day-3-gods-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/24\/i-am-chapter-3-day-3-gods-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI AM\u201d Chapter 3 \u2013 Day 3: God\u2019s Judgment"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Memory Verse<\/em><\/h2>\n<h3 id=\"p34001007_01-1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #800080\"><em>The Sovereign\u00a0Lord\u00a0is my strength;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080\"><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080\"><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he enables me to tread on the heights.<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #800080\"><em>Habakkuk 3:19<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p align=\"center\">________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\" align=\"center\">Three different prophets&#8230;yet all three present similar messages of judgment to the people.<\/p>\n<p><b>Obadiah<\/b> \u2013 He shares with the Edomites that disaster is coming, due to their blatant arrogance toward God and persecution of God\u2019s children. He told them in verse 15 that all their evil deeds will fall back on their own heads.<\/p>\n<p><b>Micah<\/b> \u2013 He shares with the people of Israel that judgment will come because of the sins and rebellion of Israel and Judah and he lists their sins (fraud, greed, debauchery, oppression, hypocrisy, heresy, injustice, extortion, lying, murder and many others). Micah does give them hope and consolation as he describes God\u2019s love, when he says the truth is that judgment comes only after countless opportunities to repent, to turn back to true worship and obedience. His message to them was simple:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i>Do what is right<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Love Mercy<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Walk Humbly with your God<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>God shows His anger in action as He judges and punishes sin, but He also shows His love in action as He offers eternal life to all who repent and believe.<\/p>\n<p><b>Nahum <\/b>&#8211; Nahum\u2019s message is one of judgment against Nineveh and the Assyrians. The Assyrians were a continual thorn in Judah\u2019s flesh. The oppression Judah experienced seemed never ending. In the midst of Nahum\u2019s pronouncement of judgment came a word of comfort, a vivid reminder to Judah of God\u2019s relationship with them.<\/p>\n<p>As I studied these three books dealing with this lesson today many thoughts were racing through my mind, but the one for us to focus on today is this word \u201c<em><strong>judgment.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Most people don\u2019t like this word.\u00a0 They find it harsh and basically a \u201cfinger pointing\u201d kind of word.<a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Judgement.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"margin: 5px\" alt=\"Girlfriends Coffee Hour\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Judgement.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This word <em>judgment<\/em> is used in many different ways in the Bible.\u00a0\u00a0 Some references teach us it has to do with being judged for doing bad things to other people. Other references pertain to exercising sound judgment or showing a lack of judgment.<\/p>\n<p>This word <em>judgment<\/em> has a function:\u00a0 the Bible says that, &#8220;When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world,&#8221; <em>so judgment is actually to save us rather than to condemn us<\/em> (1 Corinthians 11:32).<\/p>\n<p>This word <em>judgment<\/em> also gives us caution\/warning: \u00a0we are warned in the Bible to be careful about judging others. When we do, we are condemning ourselves because we do the same things to others whom we are passing judgment onto (Romans 2:1).\u00a0 Society typically judges by appearances rather than by the things that truly matter (John 7:24). The Bible says that &#8220;God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil&#8221; (Ecclesiastes 12:14), so we do not need to sit in judgment of one another.<\/p>\n<p>This word <em>judgment<\/em> will also provide us with solutions\/remedies: \u00a0It tells us to &#8220;stop passing judgment on one another. Don\u2019t put stumbling blocks or obstacles in our brother&#8217;s way&#8221; (Romans 14:13). Instead, we should judge ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:31).\u00a0 Mercy triumphs over judgment: \u201cSo whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you. (James 2:12-13).<\/p>\n<p>I studied a little deeper in the book of Nahum during today\u2019s lesson probably more than others, as this prophet of comfort gave us three truths in Chapter 1,\u00a0verse 7 about God\u2019s relationship with us:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0<i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">\u201cThe Lord is good\u201d<\/span> \u00a0 <\/i>I believe Nahum wanted the people to remember that God knew what they were experiencing. He wasn\u2019t oblivious to their sufferings, and He had always been and would continue to be faithful to them. God is not oblivious to what is going on in our lives either, and we must remember that God is absolutely faithful to us <strong>everyday<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">God is \u201ca stronghold in the day of trouble\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 The phrase \u201cday of trouble\u201d is a reference to any tragic experience of life we will face. Nahum is reminding us that God is our stronghold, He is our fortress behind whose walls we can find our only real security in life. There will be tragedies and problems that creep into our lives but, what God promises is that when that \u201cday of trouble\u201d comes, we are so secure in Him that no situation in life can change His love for us.<\/li>\n<li><i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">\u201cHe knows those who take refuge and trust in Him<\/span><\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Nahum points Judah to a relationship of trust in God and that God is completely sufficient to those who take refuge in Him. God knows each of us as intimately as He knew Judah and is fully sufficient to meet us when our life explodes out of control.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nahum gave a message of hope for God-followers and yet a message of doom for those who oppose Him.<\/p>\n<p>God gives a message of hope to those who repent, believe &amp; receive: \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0&#8220;At one time we, too, were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life&#8221; <i>Titus 3:3-7 NIV.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>And yet God also gives a message of doom to those who oppose Him: \u00a0 \u00a0You will ultimately stand before Him on the day of <b><i>judgment<\/i><\/b>, and when your name is not found in the Book of Life, you will be thrown into the lake of fire <em>Revelation 20:15<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This word \u201cjudgment\u201d begins in our life from the day we are born and will follow us all the way through to our moment standing in front of our Father.<\/p>\n<p>Is there anything we need to change in our life today that will affect the outcome of our coming judgment?\u00a0 If so, will you make the choice to follow God and live? Or disobey and face the coming judgment?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u00a0<b>It is God\u2019s will for everyone to experience His love and mercy. None should suffer needlessly unless they choose to.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">*****<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><b><\/b><strong>Let\u2019s Pray:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>God, I thank You for each person who reads this lesson.\u00a0 As they seek the stories of Your judgments in Your Word help each one to see and know that they have a choice: one of hope or one of doom in the decisions about following You\/choosing You. Guide them, Lord, to \u00a0\u201cdo what is right\u201d to \u201clove mercy\u201d and to \u201cwalk humbly with You, Lord,\u201d instead of seeking revenge and wanting to make judgments ourselves on others or situations.\u00a0\u00a0Help us to fall at Your feet for You, O Lord, are the only one in a position to judge the actions of others. In Your Holy name I pray.<\/p>\n<p>Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Memory Verse The Sovereign\u00a0Lord\u00a0is my strength; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he enables me to tread on the heights. Habakkuk 3:19 ________________________________________ Three different prophets&#8230;yet all three present similar messages of judgment to the people. Obadiah \u2013 He shares with the Edomites that disaster is coming, due to their blatant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[3006,3000,425,2998,3002,3007,680,3003,3004,2990,3005,723,2996,2999,3001,1052,2997,1135],"class_list":["post-13465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-womens","tag-1-cor-1131-32","tag-ecc-1214","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-james-212-13","tag-john-724","tag-judgment","tag-mercy","tag-micah","tag-nahum","tag-nahum-17","tag-obadiah","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-rev-2015","tag-romans-1413","tag-romans-21","tag-teresa-bolme","tag-titus-33-7","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3vb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13465"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13481,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13465\/revisions\/13481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}