The Day God Ran Out of Patience

Judges 10 – 12:7

Introduction
If you are familiar with the book of Judges there is a repeating theme: Israel does evil, God becomes angry, they are oppressed, they cry to God and God raises up a deliverer.  Our lesson subject today follows this pattern but this time there is a new wrinkle.

In chapter 10:6 Israel drifts away from God to act like the world around them.  In this case, at this point in time, it was worshipping the false gods of Baal and Ashtaroth to name a couple.  If we can set aside the specific sin and see it generally as acting like everyone else around them I believe we would be better served.  When we think of them bowing down to a stone or wood image we tend to think of it as not applicable to us whereas when we substitute the specific act with wanting to fit in then it applies to us today.  We can all relate to the drawing power Satan has against us to fit in.  The specifics of those temptations are different but the basic temptation is the same, wanting to act like, and fitting in with, the world.

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No Revival without Reformation

The following is an excerpt written by A.W. Tozer which I shared with a few men of God a while back but felt led to share with you all now. It sums up what is truly the dire need of today among Christians.

No Revival without Reformation – A.W. Tozer

“WHEREVER Christians meet these days one word is sure to be heard constantly repeated; that word is revival. In sermon, song and prayer we are forever reminding the Lord and each other that what we must have to solve all our spiritual problems is It “mighty, old-time revival.” The religious press, too, has largely gone over to the proposition that revival is the one great need of the hour, and anyone who is capable of preparing a brief for revival is sure to find many editors who will publish it…

…I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with causes rather than with consequences, with the disease rather than with symptoms. It is my considered opinion that under the present circumstances we do not want revival at all. A widespread revival of the kind of Christianity we know today in America might prove to be a moral tragedy from which we would not recover in a hundred years.

 

Is This All There Is? Is there nothing more?

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Introduction
Have you come to a point in your life when you are asking “Is this all there is?” “Is there nothing more?” A very rich and powerful king asked the same questions and recorded his pursuits for our reading. This man’s vast wealth allowed him to try anything his heart desired in his quest for the meaning of life. I hope you will join me as we look in on his journey to the meaning of life.

What we find in the book of Ecclesiastes is not God’s conclusions but rather man’s conclusions about the vanity of life when God is not the driving force. I am going to spill the beans a bit and let you in on the main theme…Life without a relationship with God is empty.

What do we really want out of life? I suspect I would get many answers to this question but they usually boil down to a few things: we want to feel secure, we want a purpose, we want to be happy and we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

 

The Cain Mutiny – Genesis 4:1-16

Introduction

Our lesson title comes from a book by Herman Wouk, published in 1951, chronicling the mutiny aboard the USS Caine, a Navy minesweeper in the Pacific during WWII.  This is not to be confused with Mutiny on the Bounty with Mr. Christian and Captain Bligh.

As you might expect we will not be arguing the merits of Captain Philip Francis Queeg or the actions taken by Steve Maryk.  We will be examining a mutiny of sorts that took place by Cain, son of Adam and Eve.