Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Zechariah 4:1-14.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!
 
Zechariah 4:1-6 (NLT2)
1  Then the angel who had been talking with me returned and woke me, as though I had been asleep.
2  “What do you see now?” he asked. I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven spouts with wicks.
3  And I see two olive trees, one on each side of the bowl.”
4  Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my lord? What do they mean?”
5  “Don’t you know?” the angel asked. “No, my lord,” I replied.
6  Then he said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
 
On verses 1-6:  The same angel that spoke to Zechariah earlier wakes Zechariah from his slumber (v1) and Zechariah sees a fifth vision.  In this fifth vision, Zechariah sees a golden lampstand.  Usually to keep a lampstand burning, priests would have to keep coming back to that lampstand to fill it with oil.  However, what Zechariah sees is a lampstand that keeps burning without stopping and without needing people to refill it with oil. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Zechariah 2:1-13.  There are so many rich and powerful lessons we can learn from this passage.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!
 
Today’s passage is Zechariah 2:1-13.  Let’s go!
 
Zechariah 2:1-5 (NIV)
1  Then I looked up–and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand!
2  I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
3  Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him
4  and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it.
5  And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’

On verses 1-5:  Here Zechariah sees a third vision.  It’s of a man with a measuring line (like a measuring tape) who is trying to measure how wide and long is the city of Jerusalem (v1-2).  The angel who was earlier helping Zechariah to interpret the visions (1:19-21) leaves and is met by another angel who tells the interpreter angel a message to give to “that young man” (v3-4a). 

Hi GAMErs!

Today we begin the book of Zechariah.

Here is some background on the book of Zechariah: 

– The book of Zechariah was written approximately in the 6th century B.C., probably around the same time as the book of Haggai (which we finished looking at together yesterday).  Haggai and Zechariah served God around the same time.  In fact, Zechariah started his own public ministry just a couple months after Haggai preached his first sermon.  

– Zechariah was one of 50,000 Jewish exiles who lived in Babylon but who were later allowed by the Persian empire to return to Jerusalem.  

– In Jerusalem, God used Zechariah much like He used Haggai: as a prophet to encourage the Jews to finish rebuilding Solomon’s temple and to get them ready for a king, a Messiah, to come.

– Zechariah’s name means “the Lord remembers”.

Today’s passage is Zechariah 1:1-6.  Let’s go!

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Haggai 2:1-9. As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself and see what you can glean from it with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Then read this GAME sharing below. 
 
Haggai 2:1-5 (NIV) 
1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 
2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 
3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 
4 But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD. ‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty. 
5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’

On verses 1-5:  Over a month has passed since Haggai gave the Jews his first message found in chapter 1.  Now the Jews are a month into their mission of rebuilding the house of God in Jerusalem and are experiencing some challenges.  Haggai comes to them again with a word from God.  First Haggai acknowledges that the problem before their eyes seems great: after so many years God’s house does not seem to be anything compared to its former glory (v3).

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is 2 Peter 3:10-18.  Let’s go!  As usual, I recommend that you read the whole passage by yourself first and see what you can glean on your own.  Then take a look at this GAME sharing below. 
 

2 Peter 3:10-14 (NIV) 
10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 
11  Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 
12  as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 
13  But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14  So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

On verses 10-14:  In these verses Peter is talking about “the day of the Lord” (v1)?  The “day of the Lord” is a term found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  It refers to the end times, or more specifically as we see in the New Testament, the time when Jesus will return to earth, physically raise Christians who have died back to life, gather His people, establish His kingdom and issue His final judgment on those who have rejected Him.  For this reason the New Testament writers sometimes refer to the day of the Lord as the day of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:14; Philippians 1;6, 10; 2:16).