Week of May 8, 2016: Gideon

Bible Passage: Judges 6–8

Main Point: God gave Gideon victory over his enemies.

Key Passage: Isaiah 33:22

Big Picture Question: Whom does God use in His plan? God uses people in His plan.

Christ Connection: The people of Israel needed help. They asked God to help them. God used Gideon to help the people, and God fought for them. We need help too. We need God to save us from sin. We cannot save ourselves. God sent His Son, Jesus, to save us.

The period of Judges was not a good time for the Israelites. Their cycle of sin, bondage, deliverance, and peace clearly showed they had not learned from their past mistakes.

The Israelites were oppressed by the Midianites, and they cried out to God for help. God chose a man to save them, and his name was Gideon. Gideon was an unlikely leader, and he knew this. God doesn’t need the biggest and the best to accomplish His plan. In fact, He often uses the weakest and least of people to fulfill His plans because that is what gives Him the most glory.

Gideon and an army of men assembled. God told Gideon he had too many men. God didn’t want the men to think they had the power to defeat the Midianites themselves. When the army was reduced to just 300 men, they prepared for battle.

The men ran toward the Midianites’ camp, blowing their trumpets and shouting. God turned the swords of the Midianites against each other. They ran away, but Gideon and his army chased after them and killed them. God was with the Israelites when they went to battle. The Israelites did not win the battle themselves; God fought for them. Gideon alone was not enough to save the Israelites.

Only God could win the battle. In the same way, we are unable to save ourselves from sin. Jesus came to save us from our sin because He is enough. Only God, through Christ, can save us.

Week of May 1, 2016: Deborah and Barak

Bible Passage: Judges 4–5
Main Point: God sent judges to help His people.
Key Passage: Isaiah 33:22Big Picture Question: Whom does God use in His plan? God uses people in His plan.

Christ Connection: Everything God does is for His glory and our good. (Psalm 115:3; Romans 8:28) God used Deborah, Barak, and Jael to help the people of Israel win battles against Canaan. God also uses people to help us and teach us about Jesus. God sent His Son, Jesus, to do what is very good for us: to save us from sin.

During the time of the Judges, the Israelites fell into a continuous cycle of sin, bondage, deliverance, and peace. The people of Israel were oppressed by the king of Canaan. At this time, Deborah was the judge of Israel. Deborah sent for Barak and encouraged him to take up an army and fight the army of Canaan and its leader, Sisera.

Barak agreed to go under one condition: that Deborah would go with him. Deborah went, but she informed Barak that he would get no glory for the battle; God was going to use a woman to defeat Sisera.

When Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men, “The Lord threw Sisera and all his army into confusion with the sword before Barak”. Everyone in the army died, but Sisera escaped on foot

Judges 5 records a victory song Deborah and Barak sang on that day, praising God for defeating the Canaanites. The land had rest for 40 years.

Deborah and Barak willingly served God and used their gifts for His glory.

Week of April 24, 2016: The First Judges

Bible Passage: Judges 3:7-31

Main Point: The Israelites forgot about the one true God.

Key Passage: Isaiah 33:22

Big Picture Question: Whom does God use in His plan? God uses people in His plan.

Following Joshua’s death, the Israelites were without a leader. They fell into a cycle of sin that can be seen during each reign of the judges. The cycle is marked by an A-B-C-D-E pattern.

First, the people fell into Apostasy. They turned away from God and served other gods. (Judg. 3:7) Next, they experienced a period of Bondage. God was angry with the Israelites, and He gave them into the hand of the king of Aram. (v. 8) Third, the people Cried out to God. (v. 9) God sent a Deliverer to save them. (vv. 9-10) Finally, they had Ease in the land. (v. 11)

But the deliverers (judges) would die, and they would need another judge to lead them. The Israelites needed someone better than a judge; they needed a king who would save them not only from the consequences of their sin, but the sin itself. That was all part of God’s plan. God sent a true Deliverer; His Son, Jesus, died for our sin and delivered us forever from the oppression of sin and death.

Week of April 17, 2016: Joshua’s Final Encouragement

Bible Passage: Joshua 23:1–24:28

Main Point: Joshua told the people to worship God.

Key Passage: Joshua 1:9

Big Picture Question: Whom can we trust? We can trust God.

Christ Connection: Joshua talked to God’s people and told them to obey God even after he, Joshua, died. After Jesus died and was raised from the dead, He talked to His friends. Jesus wanted them to tell other people about Him. Now Jesus lives in heaven, and He wants us to tell other people about Him too.

Joshua was “getting on in years”, so he gathered together the people of Israel to give an exhortation. First, Joshua reminded them that God had fought for His people, and He had kept every one of His Joshua wanted the people to remember and to live their lives based on what they knew to be true about God: God can be trusted. He is good, and He is faithful.

In Joshua 23:6, Joshua issued a challenge: “Be very strong and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses. Finally, Joshua gave the Israelites a warning. Just as all the good things God promised had been fulfilled, so would all the bad things He promised if the Israelites disobeyed Him.Joshua reminded the leaders of the past—from the birth of Isaac to Israel’s escape from Egypt. Joshua said, “Choose for yourselves today the one you will worship … As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh”

Week of April 10, 2016: Achan’s Sin and the Defeat of Ai

Bible Passage: Joshua 7–8

Main Point: God punished Achan for his sin.

Key Passage: Joshua 1:9

Big Picture Question: Whom can we trust? We can trust God.

Christ Connection: God punished Achan for his sin. The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death. (Romans 6:23) Because we sin, we deserve to be punished. Jesus came to take the punishment for us. God forgives our sin when we trust in Jesus.

When the Israelites conquered Jericho, God told them not to take anything. Everything in the city was to be destroyed and set apart for God. Achan must have assumed no one would notice if he kept a few things for himself. The cloak was beautiful, and he sure could use some pieces of silver and a bar of gold. No harm, no foul. Right? Wrong. God had commanded complete obedience from the Israelites.

Imagine Joshua’s surprise when a few men in Ai defeated his army of a few thousand men. Had God failed to keep His promise to protect them from their enemies? The next morning, God revealed that it was Achan who had sinned. Achan and his family were stoned to death.

The Israelites faced the people of Ai again. This time, God was with them. He had helped them destroy Jericho; now He would help them destroy Ai.

The story of Achan demonstrates that God hates sin. (See Prov. 6:16-19.) God is just to punish sin. Here’s the bad news: We are all sinners, and “the wages of sin is death,” but here is the good news: “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Week of April 3, 2016: The Promised Land and Jericho

Bible Passage: Joshua 2–4; 6

Main Point: God led His people into the promised land.

Key Passage: Joshua 1:9

Big Picture Question: Whom can we trust? We can trust God.

Christ Connection: God led His people into the promised land. He gave them the city of Jericho. In a similar way, Jesus leads believers into heaven and gives them eternal life.

Only one geographical barrier separated the Israelites from the promised land of Canaan: the Jordan River. When Joshua and the Israelites arrived, the Jordan River was flooded due to spring rains and snowmelt. Like He did at the Red Sea, God dried up the waters so the Israelites could cross.

The Lord brought His people into the promised land. Now their task was to conquer the people living in the land. The Israelites came to Jericho. The people of Jericho had heard about God and what He had done for the Israelites. They understood God’s power and wanted nothing to do with Him.

Joshua sent spies into Jericho. A prostitute named Rahab hid the spies and kept them safe from the people of Jericho. Rahab wanted to be on God’s side. In return for her kindness, the spies promised that Rahab and her family would be safe when the Israelites conquered the city.

The Israelites fought the battle of Jericho by faith. They obeyed God’s direction, even when it seemed nothing was happening for six days in a row. On the seventh day, the trumpets sounded, declaring, “The Lord is near!”

The Israelites were not to keep anything for themselves. The Lord was going to provide for all of their needs.

God fought for His people and led them into the promised land. Just as the Lord defeated Jericho for the Israelites, Jesus defeats His enemies and leads believers into the promised land of eternity.