Click the passage below for this week’s audio resource:
Deuteronomy 17:1
Remember, this is just a resource to help you as parents spend time listening to and reading God’s Word with your families!
Passage for this week: Deuteronomy 17:1
Resource: Pray The Word Podcast by David Platt (see link below)
How to use this resource: The questions below should be read after you and your family have spent time listening to the resource, and after you have had time to read through the passage carefully and slowly. Following your family time discussion (using the questions below, or your own questions regarding this text), close in prayer and ask your kids how you can be praying for them and let them know how they can be praying for you as parents.
Family Devotional Questions For This Week:
1. What stands out to you the most from reading this passage? What did you learn that is new to you from this passage? What did you learn that caused you to remember something you’ve known, or reinforced from reading this passage?
2. Why did The Lord require sacrifices without blemishes in the Old Testament? What is it about a sacrifice without blemish that would be more pleasing rather than a sacrifice that wasn’t ‘perfect’?
(Potential answers: Because of our sin, a payment must be made in order to set us free from a sin debt that we have incurred against a holy and righteous God who does not tolerate sin. Much more can be said about this, but mainly this should be striking for us to see the contrasts between the OT requirements for sacrifices to be pure, blameless, without blemish and so on… there is a direct correlation to the purity and perfection of Christ in order that He would be our ultimate sacrifice, dying for as many who would trust in Him for eternity! His perfect sacrifice causes us to be made right with God forever, never needing to sacrifice again for the covering of our sins. Leviticus 17:11 is the passage that states God’s requirement for sin to be atoned for in the shedding of blood by an animal that is blameless, but this system would be reiterated in many different renditions throughout the years for the people of God. this all comes to a head when Jesus, Gods perfect Son, offers Himself up on the Cross as our propitiation, our payment for our sin, forever as Hebrews 9:11-18 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 describe to us. it might be best to read those passages together as a family in relation to the Leviticus 17 passage.)
3. Because of the sacrifice God has made for us in sending His Son Jesus Christ to die, not just instead of us, but BECAUSE of us and chose to do so, taking OUR place on the cross, HOW can we live in a manner that (as David prayed) does not settle for impurity in our lives?
(Potential answers: Think about personal ways we can, as a family, bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matt. 3:8) and how we can be accountable to one another and to other christian brothers and sisters who care for our purity. remember, though we fall short every day, Christ did not. His work was finished on the cross and secures our position if we trust in His sacrifice and are devoted in obedience to what He asks of our lives. )
Prayer Prompts For This Week:
– Pray for purity of mind, that God would purify our hearts as He has promised in His word (Ezekiel 36:26).
– Pray through Romans 12:1-2 as a family, by reading it, and then praying through it as David has exemplified in these podcasts. Pray for the Holy Spirit to continue His work in us, and make us aware of how He is working in those around us as He is the one who saves, transforms lives and renews our minds.
– Continue to pray for one another and write down or remember the requests of each person. Either have one person pray over each request, or delegate those prayer requests so that each person prays for something or someone specific.