Have you ever made a bucket list? Did it include trips? Even if you don't have an official bucket list, there are some things you would like to do during your lifetime. As you look at LifeWay's Explore The Bible Study: Compelled and the study of Roman's 1:1-17, you will discover that the Apostle Paul had something on his bucket list. It was a desire to visit Rome and minister to the believers in Rome and to preach the gospel in Rome. 

As you guide the study of this passage, move your group toward considering a "gospel bucket list." Paul uses some powerful words to describe his passion for the gospel such as:

• Set apart for the gospel of God - Romans 1:1

• Obligated to share the gospel - Romans 1:14

• Eager to preach the gospel - Romans 1:15

• Not ashamed of the gospel - Romans 1:16

Research: The Term "Apostle"
The following links take you to information that you might find helpful in explaining Paul's use of the word, "Apostle."

• Got Questions: Matthias-Judas-Paul – https://www.gotquestions.org/Matthias-Judas-Paul.html 

• Got Questions: What is an Apostle? -- https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-an-apostle.html 

• Grace to You (John MacArthur): What is an Apostle? – https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0298/what-is-an-apostle

The Complete Gospel Message
The following can be used to help guide the discussion of Romans 1:2-4. In these passages, Paul lays out the complete gospel message which also emphasizes the resurrection. This can help your group understand the importance of presenting the entire gospel message and could be used to encourage them to begin having gospel conversations.

Illustration:
Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church, West Palm Beach, Florida, shares this story regarding the importance of the resurrection. He was on a mission trip and was witnessing to a group of people. He says, “People were engaged. I told them about Jesus and the perfect life he lived and the death He died. I explained how He died on the cross for my sins and their sins. I told them that if they repented and believe in Jesus, God would forgive all their sins. People responded.”

He goes on to explain what took place following this powerful experience when he sat down with the missionary with whom he was working: “He thought I had given a great effort. He told me he was proud of me and that my passion really showed. There was just one problem, he said: I had failed to preach the gospel. He went on to explain that I didn’t tell the Filipinos that Jesus rose from the dead. I preached part of the gospel, but not the whole gospel.”

Source: Turning Everyday Conversations into Gospel Conversations, LifeWay Christian Resources, pp. 34-35.

Video:

Moses is 120 years old. He has seen the best of times and the worst of times, both personally and as the leader of God’s people, during the 40-year journey to the Promised Land. But now it is time for Moses to die, and God gives us an amazing account of all that took place. LifeWay's Explore The Bible Study: Promised, examines God’s promises and presence with someone who walked with the Lord as he came to the end of his life. As you look at how Moses’ life ends, consider what God desires for you and your group to learn about a “life well-lived” for Him.

Deuteronomy 32:48-52 Points to Consider
The points below are included in the downloadable teaching helps. Other points are included for Deuteronomy 34:4-7.

• Moses recognized how his choice to rebel against God in the wilderness had long-lasting effects on his personal witness before the people and on what he would get to experience in the future. 
• Every death and burial during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness reminded the Israelites and Moses about the impact of sin. They knew the rebellious generation would have to die before they could move forward. Yet, he and the Israelites continued on, pursuing God’s plan.
• Every cemetery is a reminder that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). No matter how good we strive to be, we are all destined for physical death because of sin. How should this change our perspective on living for God?
• Jesus and the salvation He offers is the reason we no longer need to fear death. It can bring peace, much like Moses experienced. He knew that his PROMISED LAND was not across the Jordan! As believers we can live now with the promise that, one day, we will spend eternity in heaven with the Lord.
• Some Christians are fortunate enough to come to the time of death with no memorable, life-wrecking sins in their consciousness. They can die with no regrets. This is the fruit of a life well-lived before God.  Others are not so fortunate. They do have regrets, and they know that many of the sorrows they have had through the years were the direct result of their own actions. This does not mean, however, that their deaths have to be grim, without peace or grace. 
• How could this passage help a believer, who is constantly living with regrets to overcome his or her feelings of guilt?

Image
View from Mt. Nebo looking out over the Promised Land toward the city of Jericho.

Whether we know Christ or not, our flesh is always in a state of rebellion against God. While believers are forgiven and are in a process of being made new, we still face a constant battle with our old fleshly desires and seem to continuously seek ways to thwart God's law or subvert its righteous requirements. LifeWay's Explore the Bible Study: Choose, addresses this as it examines Moses' exhortation to the people of Israel to remain faithful to God.

Illustration
Be sure to check out the opening illustration using a styrofoam cup that is a part of the Downloadable Teaching Ideas.

Passage Points

Deuteronomy 30:1-5

• Moses knows the Israelites won't consistently pursue living for God, which would lead to them to experience consequences as described in Deuteronomy 28:15-68.
• However, Moses did predict a change of heart among the people, which would lead to them being restored.
• Restoration would take place when the people of God would "come to their senses" (Deuteronomy 30:1), return to God, and "obey Him with all their heart and soul." (Deuteronomy 30:2)
• This is called repentance.
• This passage tells us what true renewal looks like. There must be a work of God that brings about repentance and faith. Individuals and churches continually battle the temptation to compromise beliefs and embrace ungodly behavior. This leads to God having to do something to get our attention. When that happens, we must come to our senses and repent. Then God will restore us.

Moses' warning to the people of Israel is also a warning to believers as they strive to live their faith in a world that is increasingly rejecting Christian values: "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations." (Deuteronomy 18:9) LifeWay's Explore the Bible Study: Revealed, will help you guide a discussion on how we can follow these instructions.

As you study Deuteronomy 18:9-22, consider what believers today face, compared to what the Israelites were about to face as they entered the Promised Land. This is how Moses described, in Deuteronomy 18:9-14, the ungodly customs to which they would be exposed as they crossed over the Jordan into the Promised Land and how they were to respond:

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations. No one among you is to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire, practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery, cast spells, consult a medium or a spiritist, or inquire of the dead. Everyone who does these acts is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable acts. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. Though these nations you are about to drive out listen to fortune-tellers and diviners, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do this.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-14)

A Greater Threat Than Strength and Size
You might recall that, when the 12 spies returned from the land of Canaan, the greatest fear was not their moral and religious practices but their size: "but the people who live there are strong, and the cities have walls and are very large." (Numbers 13:28). The perceived threat was the strength of the people and their fortified cities that seemed impossible to conquer. Yet, we see from Deuteronomy 18 a very different threat – the ungodly practices of the culture they were about to enter. This was more dangerous than any army. The greater danger was in what they believed and practiced, not how numerous, big, or powerful they were.

Moses warns the people of what they would be facing. They would enter a land that had rejected God. The cultural practices had brought about their judgment because they were “detestable to the Lord.” (v.12)

Because of this, God leads Moses to give them instructions regarding how to avoid compromising their faith as they took possession of the land.

The Lord Your God
Throughout the verses we are studying today, the phrase, “the LORD your (our) God” is repeatedly used. God Almighty was Israel’s God. The One True God, the LORD, was their God! This is in contrast to what everyone else in the land believed. They either didn’t believe in God, but worshipped idols and false gods. This led to ungodly, and unimaginable practices. They did not know the God of Israel, “the LORD God.”

If we look around us today, we need to realize that we are in a land that doesn’t embrace our God. Most don’t know “The LORD our God”; therefore, we must realize that, it isn’t the threat of persecution, or the creation of laws, or the power of people that will cause us to fall. It is the moral and spiritual compromise that we embrace as believers and as the church body, that will destroy us.

Who is a False Prophet Today?
Practical Application of Deuteronomy 18:20-22

Moses explained that people claiming to be prophets would be validated when what they spoke came true, or in our case today, is not validated in Scripture. The people were told that if a person’s message wasn’t validated, then they were to consider that individual a false prophet to be ignored.

Colin Smith in an article from The Gospel Coalition entitled, 7 Traits of False Teachers, provides a great way to evaluate based upon 2 Peter 2. The following is a summary of his list (Note, the list below only includes 6):

• They will claim additional revelation other than Bible (i.e. the Mormons claim to have “another revelation from Jesus Christ.”) – 2 Peter 2:3 states that false prophets will "exploit you . . . with made-up stories."
• They will preach a different message – They “will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them” (2 Peter 2:1, ESV). Notice the word "secretly." The false teacher will speak about how other people can help change your life, but if you listen carefully to what he is saying, you will see that Jesus Christ is not essential to his message.
• They will preach different lifestyles other than striving to live a holy life – "For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them." (2 Peter 2:18-19)
• They will promote a different character – The false prophet is marked by arrogance and slander (2:10). They have “hearts trained in greed” and “their eyes are full of adultery” (2:14). They also “despise authority” (2:10)
• They will produce different fruit – These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them (2:17)
• They will have a different end – Verse 1 states that they “will bring swift destruction on themselves” and verse 3 states that, “Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.”