Judges - Activists, Leaders & Liberators

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SUNDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2017

The Old Testament is full of people - real people; whose lives are messy, their families dysfunctional and their obedience not always full or immediate, yet God used them.  Our study of their lives is to bring perspective, hope and instruction to ours - to recognise that at times we are tempted to sanitise or selectively interact with their stories and in that way make them heroes.  The reality is that their stories are powerful because they are human like us and face the same temptations and frailty that we do - yet God used them.

Judges 2:7, 10-14
One generation is all it takes to lose the awareness and heart to follow God.

Ehud
Judges 3:12,15, 20-22,30
The hero is a left-handed man - in those days left handed ness was considered a disability...you might have something you or others who regard as a disability...they weren’t expecting it - God can use anyone, don’t write yourself off

Deborah & Jael
Judges 4:1-4, 6-7, 14-15,17-18, 21-22
Many of us don’t appreciate the change the early Church brought to societal structure- in Galatians the coming of Jesus all 3 societal structures turned upside down: slaves led churches, gentiles led Jews and women led in their gifting - gifting not ministry is what defines leadership in the NT culture of Church.

Gideon
Judges 6:1,12-16
Low self image - lowest tribe, and the weakest one of them.
32,000 down to 300 - it’s a picture of what God can do with a small group of committed people.

Samson
Judges 13:1-5,24, 14:1-3
Great weaknesses: weakness for beautiful women, wouldn’t take advice, hothead

Judges 15:9-15
Lone operator - did all the things a leader should not do

Judges 16:1-3
Phenomenal strength - that is the gift of God, morally he loses the plot...that became his undoing

Judges 16:4-6,17,21-23, 28-30
Sad story of what might of been, so much promise of what could be.
Amazingly gifted, great heart, but couldn’t control himself and missed out in the end
The key contrast between GIFT & FRUIT
The gift doesn’t say anything about the recipient- it says something about God
Jesus said, it’s not be your gifts you’ll be known, it’s your fruit...
Gifts given spontaneously/instantaneously by God but fruit takes years to grow and at the end of the day it’s the fruit that counts.

The love that will not let go

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SUNDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2017

The Old Testament is full of people - real people; whose lives are messy, their families dysfunctional and their obedience not always full or immediate, yet God used them.  Our study of their lives is to bring perspective, hope and instruction to ours - to recognise that at times we are tempted to sanitise or selectively interact with their stories and in that way make them heroes.  The reality is that their stories are powerful because they are human like us and face the same temptations and frailty that we do - yet God used them.

Continuing our series on the 'not so Sunday School version of the Old Testament', John Cadigan brings us a powerful word on agape through the story of Hosea.

Setting the Culture

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SUNDAY 05 NOVEMBER 2017

The Old Testament is full of people - real people; whose lives are messy, their families dysfunctional and their obedience not always full or immediate, yet God used them.  Our study of their lives is to bring perspective, hope and instruction to ours - to recognise that at times we are tempted to sanitise or selectively interact with their stories and in that way make them heroes.  The reality is that their stories are powerful because they are human like us and face the same temptations and frailty that we do - yet God used them.

One of my all time favourite Bible stories is found in Daniel 3 - and most of us will be very familiar with the Sunday School story.

My adult question is:  how did these three men stand up - to the point of death - against the prevailing ruler, culture and law?  AND... what is our equivalent today? How do we live in a culture and not be shaped by it, but rather shape it? 

As part of investigating that question - I’d like to show you a video clip that I think captures the one of the prevailing rulers, or culture and norm of our day...

The king was looking to change the culture of the people he had conquered and he did by intentionally going after their:  Language, Literature, Food, Names.  This is genius - modern day sociologists say:

“The observable aspects of culture such as food, clothing, celebrations, religion and language are part of a person’s cultural heritage...the shared values, customs and histories shape the way a person thinks, behaves and views the world.”

By intentionally going after the Literature, Language, Food & Names the king was seeking to completely swallow and rewrite any previous culture. We too live in a world that is seeking to do that to us - the prevailing culture we live in has a ruling power of consumerism, personal preference & pain avoidance. 

The powers of the age seeks to call us to worship, surrender and be owned by it all at the same time,  and spends trillions of dollars doing so!  So what can we learn & how can we resist?

Let's unpack three intentional practices - cuisine, connection and clan - that can be used to create a culture that empowers us to live in such a way that the world around us notices a difference - that sees the God in our midst - and has the opportunity to then change and join in! 

What is the space that most connects with you?