Bible Study for February 9, 2025

Hi everyone,

In the readings for this Sunday, we see Isaiah, Paul and Peter all encounter God's awesome glory, are forgiven and cleansed, and then are sent. We learn how God brings life and purposeful mission out of sin, failure and death.  

For each of us, by the power of the Holy Spirit that Gospel comes to where we are assembled.  We hear the Word, encountering the risen Christ, and we are forgiven and made new.

Pastor Tim

"God has led you to the desert, and spoken to your Heart."

Mount of Olives Lutheran Church

3546 E. Thomas Rd

Phoenix, AZ 85018

602-956-1620 office

Bible Study for February 9, 2025

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.

Luke 5:1-11 When, where, and how have you experienced God’s salvation and call in the ordinariness of daily life?

Here, Luke gives readers another story of call and response. In fact, the call of Peter in Luke, of Paul in Acts (recalled in First Corinthians), and of Isaiah closely mirror one another. Confronted with the holiness of God as seen in the piercing, caring eyes of Jesus, Simon’s first response was to confess his own sinfulness; for what other reaction could one have, standing in the presence of the Lord? Like his ancestors before him, Simon, going about his daily routine, stinking of work and the sea, was about to be invited to help change the world. Readers of the story are reminded of Simon and his partners, James and John, are told nothing about their merit or qualifications. They were ordinary men, at an ordinary place, doing ordinary things on an ordinary day. They went to the shore and followed Jesus into the extraordinary salvation history we call the gospel. No wonder Jesus began with, “Do not be afraid.” 

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 What are examples of “vain belief” in the church today?

The fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians reminds Christians of the centrality of the resurrection of Christ. As proof, and in the tradition of Isaiah, Paul listed those to whom the risen Christ appeared: Cephas, the Twelve (one wonders at the omission of Christ’s appearance at the tomb), more than 500 brothers and sisters, James, all the apostles, and then to Paul himself. Again, like Isaiah, Paul’s vision of the risen Christ revealed to him his own sinfulness. Paul recognized that because of his own persecution of the church prior to his conversion, he felt himself to be an unfit choice to spread the gospel. Yet through God’s grace, even he was entrusted with this precious gift. Perhaps the Corinthian church denied the Resurrection. Perhaps they relaxed their main beliefs to conform to the world around them. Perhaps they began to “believe in vain,” and their faith was only superficial, not stable. Whatever the reason, Paul deemed a restatement of Resurrection, the core of the Gospel, as necessary to bolster the faith of his readers.