Bible Study for February 18, 2024

Bible Study for February 18, 2024          

Opening Prayer:

Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mark 1:9-15 How do you use the present time to prepare to meet Christ? Does this remain a living hope in your life?

Jesus returned to the desert to the villages of Galilee to preach the Good News. Note that the Christians did not invent the word “gospel”; rather, this term had been used to describe the ascension of the emperor Augustus. Jesus’ message was an apocalyptic one: God’s reign, which would succeed all earthly kingdoms, had come near (see Daniel 7 and Mark 13:14, 26). Now it was imminent. Its assumed proximity made the present time a critical opportunity for preparation by repentance and the renewal of righteousness in the land.

Genesis 9:8-17  What is your response to the oppression, violence and abuse around our globe? How would the spirit of Jesus address this?

The story of Noah and the Flood is one of the most familiar stories of the Bible, especially to children. But it is not a children’s story. As the story goes, human wickedness had piled so high that God threw in the towel, made a new beginning, and forged a new covenant with the people. The covenant promised the maintenance of the natural order as long as earth endured, but this was not “forever.” The passages interpret this covenant in the context of another day breaking in against human injustice and evil. This time judgment would not be merely an interruption of the natural order by flood, but the destruction of the natural order by the end of time.

1 Peter 3:18-22 From your perspective, how does this interpretation of the ark relate to your baptism?

The Flood story in the OT reading for this Sunday (Genesis 9:8-17) provides an interpretive framework for understanding the believer’s situation. Noah obeyed God and thus his family was “saved through the waters” of the Flood; similarly, the believers have joined themselves to God (and removed themselves from a godless world) through baptism, which supports their plea for vindication and deliverance.

Closing Prayer

God of our salvation, your bow in the clouds proclaims your covenant with every living creature.

Teach us your paths and lead us in your truth, that by your Holy Spirit, we may remember our baptismal vows and be keepers of your trust with earth and its inhabitants. Amen.