A Few Good Men … and Womenstorage.cloversites.com/ferndalefreemethodistchurch/documents/SESSION...
Transcript of A Few Good Men … and Womenstorage.cloversites.com/ferndalefreemethodistchurch/documents/SESSION...
THE STORY: FFMC Sunday Study @ 6:00 PM
SESSION 8
A Few Good Men … and Women
God is in the business of bringing sinful people back into relationship with him; sometimes to accomplish this goal, he calls on surprising and unexpected people to help in the process.
Introduction Albert Einstein once said that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If we use this definition, then the people of Israel look pretty crazy in this chapter of The Story. In the time of the judges the people of God went through the same cycle over and over again. Each time they rebelled and turned away from God they would face the same results: a foreign army would invade and they would end up an oppressed, occupied, and broken nation. You would think that after living through this cycle two or three times they would have caught on. But this chapter of The story makes clear that they did not learn from past experiences. Every time they ended up oppressed and abandoned, they were shocked! As we read these Bible accounts, it would be easy to wag a finger at our ancestors of the faith. But when we look into a mirror and examine our own lives, we just might see ourselves acting a lot like the people of Israel, wallowing in the same cycle of sin month after month and year after year. Talk About It If you could talk with an angel and nave one “why” question answered, what would you ask? Watching our Video Session Discussion 1. Through our Old Testament survey we have discovered that God loves to use surprising
people to accomplish his will. As you read about Deborah, Gideon, and Samson in today’s session, how is each of these a surprising choice to be a leader for God?
THE STORY: FFMC Sunday Study @ 6:00 PM
2. Contrast how God saw Gideon with how Gideon saw himself (Judges 6:11 – 16). How
does this breathe hope into our hearts in the moments we feel God could never do great things through us?
3. In the continual cycle that occurs in the time of the Judges, God’s people kept embracing
their sins, religion, and behaviors of those who lived in the land before they conquered it. In what ways do Christians today embrace the sin, practices, and culture of our day and end up sinning and feeling distant from God?
How can we identify the temptation to be conformed to the world’s sinful ways and avoid the pitfall?
4. One of the recurring themes in this chapter of The Story is that a new generation would
rise up that did not know God and what he had done for his people in the past. When they forgot, they wandered. This same tragic thing can happen in our generation. What practical tings can we do in our homes and in the church to help the next generation know and remember what God has done in the past so they will hold on to him in the future?
5. There seems to be consequences when we refuse to follow God’s way. Why do you think
we continue to repeat the same sin patterns even though we know the outcome will not be good?
6. Where would you be today if God had never allowed his discipline to wake you up to the
reality of sin and drive you into his arms?
God often selects the most unlikely candidate to accomplish his Upper Story plan. Why? So when it is accomplished everyone will know it was God.
Then they will turn to him.
As Christians, we get ourselves into all sorts of trouble because we want to live life the way we want, not God’s way. In the Lower Story we think that God has abandoned us. But in the Upper Story God is waiting for us to return to him. His arms are wide open.
THE STORY: FFMC Sunday Study @ 6:00 PM
7. How did God strengthen Gideon and help him press through his fears as we faced the mighty armies of Midian? How does God do this same thing today when we fell inadequate and fearful?
8. Have you faced a situation when the odds were against you, and others said, “No way!”
but you held God’s hand and pressed on? How did the situation turn out and how was God glorified?
What area in your life is God presently trying to get you to the place where you embrace the fact that he is enough?
Closing Prayer As you take time to pray, here are some ideas to get you started:
• Confess the tendency we have to forget the great things God has done in the past. Ask him to help you remember his faithfulness each day.
• Thank God that when his people repent and cry out for help, he always sends a
deliverer. Give special praise that Jesus came as the One who offers final and absolute deliverance.
• Tell God that you are ready to follow him and seek to do his will, even when you feel
inadequate for the task.