Date: August 25, 2024
Baruch
The Point: God will reward your faithful service.
Get Into the Study
As further discussion for “Get Into The Study,” ask if anyone knows about the most prestigious gardening award?
Share the following article from The American Horticultural Society titled The Great American Gardeners Awards (accessed 8/5/24). Explain details about the prestigious awards by pointing out details about the society and the titles of the awards given. For example, consider sharing: The AHS Awards Program was initiated in 1953 and originally offered four awards: the Horticultural Writing Award, Professional Award, Teaching Award, and Scientific Award.
Emphasize a few of the awards that are given out each year. For example, explain the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award: The AHS’s highest award, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award is given to an individual who has made significant lifetime contributions to at least three of the following horticultural fields: teaching, research, communications, exploration, administration, art, business, and leadership.
You may wish to note a few additional awards and why an individual received the award. To bring the illustration home, say: God rewards faithful service. It takes faithful work to be a gardener. Emphasize that a gardener diligently tends to a garden every single day. The gardener wakes up early, waters the plants, pull out weeds, and make sure the garden gets enough sunlight or shade.
Faithful service is like a gardener’s daily work. A gardener rises early, waters the plants, pulls weeds, and ensures the garden receives proper sunlight or shade. The gardener doesn’t see immediate results—the garden doesn’t bloom overnight, and fruits don’t ripen in a day. With time, weather, and care, the garden flourishes. The reward is not just in the garden’s beauty but in knowing that diligent service brought life and beauty into the world.
Similarly, God rewards our faithful service, even when results aren’t immediate, promising eternal satisfaction for those who serve Him diligently. Share the point of today’s session: God will reward your faithful service. As we’ll see in this session, as the faithful gardener will see his reward, God will reward his faithful servant.
Get Into the Study [Option from the Advanced Bible Study Teacher Guide]
Per the directions in the Optional Activity, download and print a sign with a monetary reward for something lost such as a dog or a piece of jewelry. Click here for missing pet sign examples.
Study the Bible
As you discuss Question #2, share the following the news story of a firefighter who rescued a child from a burning building to bring home the point. From the Daily Dispatch, Massachusetts news related to a Firefighter who rescued a 3-year-old girl from burning building (7/3/24).
Point out the idea of faithfully representing those you serve, in this case, involves a firefighter serving a three-year-old girl caught in a fire. Summarize the news story as follows:
- On July 3, 2024, a firefighter in Everett, Massachusetts, heroically rescued a three-year-old girl from a burning three-story building.
- Despite the intense smoke and flames that made visibility and breathing difficult, the firefighter carried the child to safety after two workers were forced back by the conditions.
- Both the child and the firefighter were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to recover.
This story showcases the firefighter’s commitment to serving another person, even at great personal risk. This firefighter represents what it means to faithfully represent and protect those who cannot help themselves. If time allows, you can share more details from WHDH 7 News titled Child saved from burning building in Everett (7/3/24).
Faithfully representing those you serve requires selfless dedication. Point out that, like the firefighter, we’re called to faithfully carry out difficult tasks for others, focusing on our responsibilities, especially when others rely on us—at home, church, and all around us.
Continue with your discussion of Question #2.
EXTRA was written by Ryan Sanders. He holds the ThM and MDiv from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ryan is married with three children, and lives in Washington, DC. Find more about Ryan at RyanJSanders.com.
Additional Questions
Icebreaker
- Why should Christians remain steadfast in their service to others?
- How can you demonstrate faithful service to God?
- Who’s someone in our church everyone knows they can count on?
- Who’s someone in our community everyone knows they can count on?
- Who do you see as an unsung hero in the church?
Jeremiah 36:4-8.
- When have you completed a difficult task for someone who couldn’t?
- What have you learned about yourself from serving others?
- What does it look like to serve faithfully?
- What are some ways we might misrepresent God or our leaders to others?
- When have you represented something or someone bigger than yourself?
Jeremiah 36:16-18
- What does it look like to give credit to God for what He is doing?
- Why do you think it is important to give credit to others when it is due?
- What are some practical ways we can give credit to others?
Jeremiah 45:1-5
- How can God turn our discouragement into a blessing?
- How does Christian service challenge you to grow spiritually in your relationship to God?
- What can we learn from Baruch about being honest with God when we’re discouraged?
- How might an eternal perspective change your current goals?
- What are some ways God rewards His servants?
For Those in Your Group
Send the following link to your group members as either a teaser before the group meets or as a follow-up thought:
Magazine Article
This article complements the study. Share this link with your group members.
Mature Living – Comeback Stories
Podcast
Click here for a 20-minute podcast for both the group member and the leader.
Podcast (adultsleadertraining): Play in new window | Download
This lesson, and this podcast, could not have been better timed. We have started a new women’s Sunday bible study class during both our Traditional and Contemporary Services. God put on my heart over a year ago the need for a bible study, on Sundays, for women who come to church as a “single.” It began with my heart hurting for women who become widows and are facing coming to church as a “single” after so many years of being “two as one.” Being involved in our grief ministry at church, this has been a consistent spoken concern for women who face this situation. God took that prayer of mine and turned it into 2 classes, meeting during both services, leaving no woman out who comes to church alone. Whether by widowhood, divorce, or come to church without their spouse, or never been married, this class will fill that need. God, without a doubt, provided and guided, and we are meeting every Sunday. It can be discouraging, however, when the class has only one or two women show up. We are a growing church with well over 600 members, most active church attenders. We live in a retirement community where there is a need for a class like this. And, God truly plowed the road for that to happen. We have been meeting for 3 months, and we have not added one member since our first class. There are several reasons for this, I know. Yet, with it so clearly being the will of God and His plan for these beautiful women, it can be discouraging to prepare a lesson and one or two show up. Both the classes are having the same issue. I am in no doubt this class is God’s class. I know this. We are now working on a way to effectively “get the word out;” yet, waiting is not my strong suit. So, thank you for this lesson. I will block out the “noise” that maybe this class needs to rethink its existence. God has a plan and He will do this in His way and in His time. I will continue to pray, and do my part to reach the women God has per-ordained to be in this class. Not my will, His. And, to Him be all honor and glory and praise for what He is going to do!
May God bless! And thank you for letting us be a part of your Bible study.