Sin in the Spotlight Part 1

Fall of Israel

What goes up must come down says the old saying... and sadly that is the way it is for most things. Sadly, that was true for Israel. They had reached glorious heights under the reign of King David. And it looked as if the people God had chosen to be his own had finally made it. They had land, a king, peace and - best of all - a special relationship with the one true God.

But, as we shall see in our studies this week, the Israelites couldn't resist the temptation to disobey God's Law and to pursue the worship of idols. As a result, God allowed the Babylonians, Israel's ruthless and powerful neighbours, to inflict severe punishments on them.

But before we get too smug, we must admit that we have the same problem. As the saying goes "I can resist anything but temptation". It's one of the great lessons we will see this week, that we all need God's help and the help of fellow Christians, to avoid giving in to sin.

The Rise of Israel

Who would lead the people of Israel now that they had settled in the Promised Land? That's the big question being worked out in our readings and study this week. As we've seen God's plan was to form Abraham's descendents into a "great nation" and through them to bring about "great blessing" to all people (Gen 12:2,3). That blessing would be a Saviour for the sins of the entire world - Jesus Christ.

Becasue of their unique place in his plan, the Israelites experienced God's direct help and guidance over the years. It was God who free the children of Israel from captivity in Egypt; God who led them through the desert with pillars of cloud and fire; God who brought them to the Promised Land. And along the way is was God who took the initiative to reveal his priorities by giving them the Law at Mount Sinai. Since the very beginning, God had been powerfully and miraculously leading his people.

THE JUDGES

Welcome to tonight's Christian Chat Bible Study!

How has your week been?

Has anyone read the Christian Chat Bible Study notes this week?

They can be found at www.christianchat.co.uk/bible/blog.html - however I have had a problem this week and they have not been updated much - basically I am using an alternative pc and cant update the blog on this - it will be back to normal this week though

SO tonight we are looking at "Judges"

The book of Judges is a part of the Old Testament that is often overlooked.
Genesis and Exodus were new and exciting. The miracle of creation followed by the adventures of Abraham, Isaac , Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Joshua - we have looked at most of them over the last few weeks...
Coming up are Samuel and Kings where we meet two of Israel's greatest kings, David and Solomon.

But wait we missed something! What happened to god's people between the time of the Patriarchs and the time of the Kings? That's what the book of Judges is all about and tonight we are going to have a whistle stop tour of the book! so hold tight!

Ok so to set the scene we need to look at Judges 2:10-19 its quite long but would you like me to post it for you to read?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=judges%202%20:10-19;&version=31;

So we are going to look at three of the Judges that God raised up

The first is "Deborah" what do people know about Deborah?

The story of Deborah is in Judges 4 and 5 she was the only female Judge - an unlikely choice in a male- dominated culture, yet with great courage to fulfil God's call

She showed great courage in the face of adversity

She simply listened to God's voice and followed it, and she did not want to take charge or be upfront - see Judges 4:9-14

Would some like to post it for us please

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=judges%204:9-14;&version=31;

As we saw in the life of Joshua a spiritual leader is someone who follows orders from God.

Our second Judge is Gideon. What do people know about Gideon?

Judges 6 and 7 covers his life.

Gideon was a reticent leader who wanted to be doubly sure that the call was really from God, placed his total trust in God's ability to win the battle, not simply the size of the army.

Some question Gideon asking God for a sign was lack of faith.... can we ask God for a sign today?

How do you listen to God?

Is there something you need to confirm for you?

Our third Judge is Samson... what do people know about him?

Judges 13-16 is his story

I think Samson can be summed up in a great start with a supportive and committed family, yet he had areas of weakness that hampered his work

He was the classic example of a talented but flawed leader. But deep down he knew he had been running from God

I believe the greatest victory in his life was not destroying the Philistines it was the fact that in his brokenness he finally turned back to God (16:28)
Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

So as we think about what we have looked at tonight I have a few questions:

Which is harder: discovering God's will or obeying it?
What appropriate methods should we use to know for sure that it is God who is calling us to pursue a certain path?
Think about Christian families that have experienced children or young people going off the rails or turning their backs on God. Why might this happen?
How should we as a body of Christ support these families?

How do you view those who have gone off the rails?
Do you need God to soften your heart towards them?

Lets close by spending some time bringing those who have turned their backs on God

This is the chat transcript prepared for the event called "New Year, New Years Resolutions, New Life" for those that missed it!

Welcome to "New Year, New years resolutions, New life."

So Firstly I would like to wish you a Happy New Year!

Secondly who made a new years resolution this year?

Well I understand as making "new years resolutions" has gone out of fashion hasn't it - probably because most people don't keep them...

However this year in chat we have a special new years resolution ... we want to be purposeful in seeing people come to "new life" in Christ.

Hence tonight's New Year, New years resolutions, new life.

I would like to share with you the vision for chat for the coming year.

Has anyone heard of Israel Houghton?

I have been listening to some of his songs in my car over the last few days and a couple that have really encouraged me and made me think of some of the things I wanted to share with you tonight.

There is a song called "Take the limits off": No limits no boundaries I see increase all around me stretch forth break forth release me enlarge my territory

I guess this is my prayer for Christian Chat this year, for the website, for the people who make chat worthwhile - you the users, for the monitors, for the guests to chat...

That God would prosper you in 2008 in every area of your life.

So this year we are having a year of mission - of reaching out to people, as part of that there are three things I would like to share with you:

Firstly this year we will be joining with the Global Day of prayer on 11th May 2008

Also leading up to that we will be having 10 days of prayer

You will be able to find more information about that in the meantime at http://www.globaldayofprayer.com

However we will be providing resources to help you in this. It may be you also want your church to join in with this so these resources will also be able to help you.

Secondly we will be having a specific week of mission in chat from 7th July 2007

Did you know we have people from over 186 countries of the 194 countries in the world visit Christian Chat last year?

This mission will be helping us to reach out to people all over the world,

To reach out to our friends and neighbour etc but also to reach out to people in different countries.

As part of that we will be releasing resources and various events in the run up to that week.

Then during the week we will have a number of events and different things online to reach out to people that week.

Thirdly we are looking into having an evangelist in Christian Chat this year.

The post currently would be unpaid but the persons role would include reaching out to people in chat, developing our evangelistic mission, encouraging people to reach out online and possible developing the ministry offline.

Up close and personal

PRAY: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23,24)

READ Exodus 32-34

REFLECT

In this passage Aaron delivers one of the funniest lines in the Bible (32:23) " They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.' Talk about lame excuses! Put him in charge for a few days and he lets the people run wild and go crazy!

But before we laugh too hard at Aaron, we need to look at ourselves. With all we know about God, after all He has done for us, how quickly do we turn our backs on him to binge on wrong thoughts and actions. Even Paul struggled with his tendency (Romans 7:15-20). Being a Christian does not make us except from temptation and sin. But through Jesus God has given us the only way to break its power over our lives. (1 John 1:9)

APPLY How would you describe your relationship with God at this time? What things pull you away from God? What things draw you closer?

Top Ten Lists

I don't know about you but I like watching programmes with top ten lists of things... here is the top of my list of funny thngs about George Bush:


READ Exodus 19:1-20:21

People like to argue about the ten Commandments. How relevant are they today? Can life really be that black and white? Isn't it just too simplistic?

But in all the arguments, most people miss the important point. The Ten Commandments are not just a list of "thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not". Perhaps that's the kind of prescribed religion many people want. But God isn't trying to start a religion; he's trying to build a relationship with his people (19:4-6)

It may help you to divide the commandments into three groups: The first four commandments centre on our relationship with God. There is only one God (20:3) and he wanrs us to accept no substitutes (20:4-6). We mustn't be too casual, or worse in refering to Him (20:7) And we must regularily honor and obey Him.

The second section is that He cares about our relationship with others. Before we can "love everybody" we need to start with our nearest - our parents (20:12) and spouses (20:14). Th patterns we develop here will affect all our relationships. Our challenge is to be truthful with our neighbours - easier said than done in a world of manipulation and compromise.

Finally God cares about our relationship to things. A willingness to steal (20:15) begins when we aren't content with what we have (20:17)The desire for more is a strong motivator that can pull us away from God (1 Timothy 6:6-10). If people had a right relationship with God, others and things the world would be a different place.

The Law and the Land - Introduction

For those who have been following the Bible studies both on here and during our weekly online study we have come quite a way on our journey through the Bible.

Now that the Israelites have broken free of their bondage in Egypt (see the lego clip to see the final instalment in the last post, their priority is to find a home. Land has always been an important issue for the Jewish people, not only because they wanted a place to call their own, but also because god had promised it to them. It's the quest to reach the promised land that animates this weeks studies.

Sometimes people say, "The journey is more important than the destination". Perhaps there is some truth in that saying for the children of Israel, because God does some incredible things while they wander the desert. We've already seen how he parted the Red Sea and destroyed the Egyptian army. Now we'll see God thundering on Mount Sinai and giving the Ten Commandments. He'll also part the River Jordan and give the Israelites a tremendous victory at Jericho. As they enter the promised Land, the Israelites have momentum on their side.

There is an important theme running through these readings that you want to look out for. Any success that Israel had was not due to their large army, effective strategies or good luck. It was as a result of their willingness to listen to and obey God. Simple as that. Moses took many years to learn that lesson, but once he finally got it, God really used him. Joshua had the advantage of watching Moses, so he learned the lesson faster. But you'll see that developing a willingness and ability to hear the Word of God and put it into action is the key to growth and effectiveness in the Christian Life.

The Escape from Egypt....

This coming week we will be looking at the next part of the journey in the Bible - The Law and the Land. Come back this week to find out more.

Do you know the 10 Commandments?

Christian Chat Communion & Vision 2008

We have a few dates for your diaries.

The first Christian Chat Communion 2008 will be held on Friday 11th January 2008 at 9pm GMT at http://www.christianchat.co.uk/ - All welcome come and share with each other as we break bread.

We would also like to share with you the vision for Christian Chat 2008 as part of "New Year - New Years Resolutions - New Life" Chris Director of chat will be there to share the vision. We are looking at various prayer days, and a week of mission and much more.

Plus Online Bible studies have resumed Sundays at 9pm GMT All welcome no password needed.

Plagued by doubt?

PRAY You are worthy of all my praise, Lord God. I begin this time by worshipping your from the depths of my heart.

READ Exodus 6:28-11:10

REFLECT

Here we are looking at on of the absolute classic battles between good and evil - better than any Hollywood movie could come up with. Ten times Moses confronts Pharaoh with a plague and a message from God, "Let my people go..." (7:16). But Pharaoh's incredible stubbornness proves to be his undoing. Outright rejection of God isn't the only way our hearts can become hardened. It can simply be the result of gradually doing things our own way over a period of time. Int he end, the result is the same : A BROKEN RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

Why did God bother with the ten plagues? I mean he could have saved the ecosystem and gone straight to number ten?! Or he could have caused Pharaoh to keel over and given power to a more tolerant successor. The answer really has two part. 1. The broad answer - God wanted to proclaim his name, to let the people know that he was the Lord (9:16; 10:2). he wants everybody int he whole world for all time to know he is God and that He is powerful and worthy of our worship. 2. Is a more personal reason; God also works in the lives of individuals, shaping and preparing them for the work he has called them to do. Consider Moses: he wasted the best years of his life when God tried to give him a second chance he resisted and rejected God's plan. Moses needed one of those badges for his robe: "Be patient... God isn't finished with me yet". The ten plagues were not just for Pharaoh it seemed Moses needed convincing the God alone was the Lord.

If you want to know God, the starting place is to believe that he is the Lord over the entire earth. but to really know him you must make him the Lord of your life as well, that's what being a follower of Jesus is all about.

The Life of Moses

So, its a new year and we are continuing with our studies.

This week we are looking at the life of Moses. He is one of the most famous and exciting parts of the Bible. Both Christians and Jews look to Moses as an example of spiritual strength and godly conviction. And because of its emphasis on liberation, this saga has given inspiration to oppressed people - expecially those trapped by the evil of slavery - for centruies. The lif of Moses has come to symbolise the humane quest for freedom.

But there is more to the life of Moses thaan what we see in the movies as you will discover this week. For the first 40 years of his life Moses was part of the rich and famous in Egypt. Then he blew it all losing his temper and spent the next 40 years in "nowheresland" living with his in-laws tending sheep.

Moses would have dies in obscurity if it was not for one thing... He had an encounter with God (Ex 3:1-4:17) and that changed everything... for the last 40 years of his life Moses was a man on a mission - staring down the Pharoah, unleashing plagues, parting the red seam receiving the Commandments and leading the chosen people to the brink of the promised land.

Read on this week to find out more!