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                    ||                       How beautiful on the mountains
                    ||                       are the feet of those ... who
                    ||                       proclaim salvation, who say to
                                             Zion, "Your God reigns!"
          Pastor RALPH & GENE ANN WOOD                  --Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)
          E-mail:  randg.wood@encode.com
          BIBLE STUDY QUESTIONS, 14/12/1997 ................... LUKE 1:5-17
          Background:--  Please see MALACHI 4:1-6, for the Old Testament
          prophecy about John the Baptist, quoted in LUKE 1:17-- "And he
          shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the
          heart of the children to their fathers ..." [MALACHI 4:6 (KJV)].
          The whole book of PROVERBS teaches "the wisdom of the righteous".
          Please see, PROVERBS 4:1-9, for a good example of this.
          1)  The angel Gabriel told Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would
          have a son, to be named "John"; "And many of the sons of Israel
          he will turn back to the Lord their God" [LUKE 1:16 (RLW)].  How
          does turning back to God- confessing your sins and repenting- get
          you ready to receive Jesus as Saviour?
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          2)  Gabriel also said John would "Turn the hearts of the fathers
          to their children".  Scholars see two meanings, here:  (i) good
          relationships will be restored, within individual families; and
          (ii) an apostate generation will turn back to the faith of their
          fathers.  How would these things contribute to preparing people
          for the coming of Jesus into their lives?
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          3)  And Gabriel prophesied that John would turn "the disobedient
          to the wisdom of the righteous".  The book of PROVERBS shows what
          "wisdom" means here:  --knowing the will of God and doing it!
          How would seeking and applying this wisdom help prepare people to
          receive Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives?
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