The fact that God saves should give us hope in our current circumstances. It should give us the faith to press on and continue to praise God for all He has done, is doing, and is going to do in the future. Yet, many of us continue to struggle with trusting God with our current circumstances and our future. If we could only trust God, how would that change our perspective on all that we are currently facing or will face in the days ahead? LifeWay's Explore the Bible Study: God Saves, will enable you to replace fear with hope because God's sovereign plan includes providing a way of salvation for those who believe in Him.

How would you complete these statements?

• If you knew the outcome of the Presidential election, how would that impact your faith in God?
• If you knew that our country will never cease to exist, how would that impact your faith in God?
• If you knew that our country, as we know it, would cease to exist how would that impact your faith in God?
• If you knew you were going to get Covid-19, how would that impact your faith in God?
• If you knew you were NOT going to get Covid-19, how would that impact your faith in God?

The reality is this: we don’t know the future, so we have to place our trust in something (or someone) outside of ourselves. This is why having a full understanding of God’s salvation through Christ is so vital if we are to live lives that are not consumed by fear. This only comes as we realize that the God who saved us is also the God who continues to save us. We are under His mighty arms of protection, no matter what we face. 

Considering all we are currently facing in our country and our world, our song of hope should be the song of Isaiah 25:1, Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. If we have been saved, then we should honor God as stated in Isaiah 25:3 and rejoice and be glad as stated in Isaiah 25:9. 

Exaltation, praise, honor, rejoicing, and gladness are all responses from someone who realizes God saved them according to His perfect plan. As you examine Isaiah 25:1-10, celebrate the hope you have because God’s sovereign plan includes providing a way of salvation for those who believe in Him and enabling them to face any circumstances with hope and trust.

Countless movies and TV series have been made that depict the destruction or partial destruction of our country or major cities. For example, the 2015 ABC series, Designated Survivor, dramatized what could happen if most of our key leaders were taken out. Then there are the movies whose plots were based upon an invasion from other countries such as Red Dawn which dramatized what the western states would look like after being invaded by Russia. These are just a few of the “what if” situations used to capture our viewing attention and question how we might respond if one of the scenarios were to really take place in real life.

Most Americans can’t imagine this taking place because we tout ourselves as being one of the greatest countries in the world. This week's session takes a hard look at the reality that God is entirely in control of all nations. There is nothing that catches Him by surprise and He has a plan that is continually in play and that never changes. 

This session will prompt questions regarding God's love and the issue of God's judgement. The teaching helps provide guidance on the discussion. Challenge your group to consider these questions:

• What are some things that may cause a person to question if God is really in control?
• What actions would indicate that someone trusts in a nation, government, or some other form of security more than they do God? How can we avoid shifting our trust away from God?
• Can you imagine what it would be like if the United States ceased to exist? How would you respond? How would the loss of our country as we know it today impact your trust in God?
• Do you truly believe that God is sovereign over every nation? How would believing this shape your response to the current issues we are facing in our country?

Trusting God’s promises before they come to pass is always a challenge, even for the most faithful. When we see difficult circumstances or “enemies of the faith” staring us in the face, we all have a tendency to look elsewhere for our strength and guidance. How we respond truly does demonstrate what we believe about God.

Think about the situations we are facing today. There are enemies of the Christian faith all around the world. Those enemies seek to destroy our faith. Even in our own country we have seen the challenges to our faith swell in recent years. Not only are there enemies of Christ, but we face difficult circumstances as well. Those circumstances can be equally destructive to our faith if we don’t trust Christ for the outcome.

GOD'S PROMISES ARE GIFTS TO US

Imagine how God feels when we reject His offers of salvation and we determine we are going to navigate life on our own using our own solutions. Imagine how God feels when believers refuse to trust God for solutions and seek to solve life’s problems without Him. Both break God’s heart because the outcomes could be avoided.  

God gave Isaiah some powerful words to share with King Ahaz that we would do well to embrace in our current cultural climate. These can be found in Isaiah 7:4 and Isaiah 7:9:

• Calm down.
• Be quiet.
• Don't be afraid or cowardly.
• If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.

The video Bible study and the downloadable study ideas will help you personally and help you guide your group as they examine the Truth in God's Word this week.

Isaiah's question to God, "Until when, Lord?" (Isaiah 6:11) was the result of an amazing encounter he had with holy God (the Lord of Armies, Isaiah 6:3). This amazing encounter led to Isaiah realizing his sinfulness while in the presence of holy God. This realization led Isaiah to confess his sinfulness, to recognize that he lived in a world broken by sin, and to experience God's response of forgiveness. 

Isaiah's response to the amazing forgiveness of God was to obey when God asked, "Who should I send? Who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8). He responded to God's call by enthusiastically and humbly saying, "Here am I. Send me." (Isaiah 6:8). 

This is where Isaiah was shown by God the reality of the task. God already knew when Isaiah went to share the message of repentance that it would only harden the hearts of the Israelites even more. This demonstrates God’s never-ending appeal to all men to repent, even though He knows many will respond with deaf ears and defiant hearts. In addition, they would have no excuse when God’s judgement would come upon them because of their rebellion. They couldn’t blame God for not warning them of impending judgement.

Then Isaiah asks the question, "Until when, Lord?" (Isaiah 6:11). This is a question we would most likely ask as well. God basically said, “until My plan is complete.” One must wonder if any of us would continue to serve if God gave us this kind of response. Yet, this is the response God is giving all of us who follow Him. 

Serving on His behalf doesn’t always guarantee a positive response or experience. When we obediently share and show the good news of Jesus, we will most likely see people defiantly reject the message of repentance and salvation. This is a fact we all must face. 

• We don’t quit serving and telling the good news of Jesus because of this. 
• We don’t quit telling others just because the culture is plummeting into ruin. 
• We don’t quit because we have loved ones who willingly reject Christ. 
• We don’t quit because we have to wear masks or don’t gather like we once did on Sundays. 
• We don’t quit when our own circumstances become difficult. 
• We don’t quit because of mandates imposed on us regarding how we can speak about our faith. 
• We don’t quit because culture says our message is a message of hate. 

I pray all of us who have experienced Christ's amazing forgiveness will respond as Isaiah did, “Here am I, send me,” no matter the circumstances or the response of others.

EXPANDED STUDY HELPS

We all have private and, sadly, public sin battles we fight in order to remain faithful to Christ. Succumbing to sin not only hurts us and others, but it hurts God. He created us in His image; therefore, the feelings we have when someone has succumbed to sin are feelings that He, too, possesses. God’s heartache due to sin is the reality believers need to remember as they begin the LifeWay's Explore the Bible study of the book of Isaiah. God Confronts Sin in these passages because of His broken heart, yet offers redemption if His people will simply repent and turn back to Him.

The book of Isaiah gets straight to the point regarding the sin of God’s people. The prophet Isaiah is given a vision by God concerning Judah and Jerusalem (Isaiah 1:1). At this time in history, the nation of Israel, which was united under King David and his son Solomon, had divided into two kingdoms – the Southern Kingdom (Judah; Including Jerusalem) and the Northern Kingdom (Israel). 

Isaiah, whose name means “the Lord saves,” is speaking mainly to the Southern Kingdom of Judah regarding how they had broken their covenant with God. Isaiah pronounces God's judgment and reveals the path to redemption that God provides.

THIS SESSION - ISAIAH 1

EXPANDED STUDY HELPS