Failure: Character Overcomes Failure

Focus passage: Numbers 12:1-16

Moses takes a whipping from his siblings. He hadn’t done anything wrong. His wife was not of one of the tribes of Israel. It is likely that Zipporah had died and Moses had taken a second wife. That wasn’t the real issue, however. It was jealousy. Moses was their little brother and God had made him the boss. Did this little brother forget that it was Miriam who had put him in the basket so long ago? Did Moses forget that it was Aaron who had spoken to Pharaoh when he was afraid to? Who did he think he was? There are times when even our friends and family seem to turn against us because of our success or God’s favor. We are hurt and wonder what we have done wrong. What is just as important is how we react when we are wrongly accused.

Moses shows true meekness in this situation. It would be only natural for Moses to yell and scream at his siblings in order to protect himself, but the text never says that he uttered a word. Moses never seemed to be protective about his position. Moses was comfortable sharing leadership first with Aaron during the plagues and then having Joshua at his side. When God made Aaron high priest instead of him, Moses obediently prepared his brother and his nephews for this high honor. Meekness is often seen as a weakness, but it is a strength of those who truly rise to the top. The meek are so comfortable with who they are that they don’t need to protect their position. They don’t covet other’s happiness. They are happy with whatever position or honor that the Lord wants to give them. 

Moses is merciful and loving. Many people would have been glad to see Miriam suffer for what she had done. Moses sees his sister as a leper and begs for her healing. He comes before the God he knows so well and asks for mercy. He loves her and her pain is more important than his own honor. Moses knows how merciful God really is. He asks for mercy without a second thought. He is not worried about getting God angry. He has spent time with God and knows God’s heart and thoughts. Mercy too is strength. Merciful people see the pain of others rather than their own hurt. You feel in your core what the punishment will do to their lives. You fear their future instead of needing to protect your own. God’s heart has touched yours and so you care just like he does. 

Moses has a deep relationship with the Lord. Several people in the Old Testament had visions or dreams with the Lord. Abraham, Jacob, and Daniel were a few who had such connections. Moses was even more special. He spent time face to face with God on Mt. Sinai and at other times. He was one of the few that can plead with God directly to change his mind. The relationship of God and Moses was deep and close. It made Moses who he was. He had God’s heart for the people. It takes strength to not be brought down by the insults of others. Those who are close to the Lord will be shaped and strengthened by the Lord. They will spend time with the Lord in word and prayer and know that they are loved by God. It will give them comfort and strength when they are hated by the world. 

God will protect those whom He loves. Moses doesn’t have to protect himself. God will deal with those who dishonor others. When the cloud lifts, Miriam finds herself a leper. As such, she will be excluded from the congregation and not allowed to live with them lest she infect others. Instead of being a leader, she will be an outcast. God strikes quickly here lest others join her refrain in speaking against Moses. Her attacks were tools of Satan. Instead of letting the Lord lead, she wanted to lead and to have the honor that was not hers to bestow on herself. The people who promote themselves will not stay on top for long. God will lift up the meek and merciful in his time and will bring down those who seek to promote themselves. It is the meek who will survive and thrive. 

There will always be bullies, but their rise to the top will not last for long. There will soon be a bully who begins to plan against them. You can’t be a leader by your own strength or cunning. Those who rise to the top will have three things in common with Moses. The first is a strong relationship with the Lord. God taught his mind and touched his heart in those times of closeness. People who are connected to the Lord rise to the top because they have God’s wisdom and power. Second, Moses was meek. He had nothing to prove. He put his life in God’s hands and was comfortable with whatever the Lord wanted for him. The meek are humble and kind. People respect them for it. Finally, Moses was merciful. A lot of people hurt him over his ministry, but he asked God to forgive them. He saw the pain of punishment and cared about others more than himself. When you have the qualities of God, others may think you are a failure, but you have the qualities of success that will stand the test of time.  

Faith's Challenges: Fighting Guilt

Focus Passage: Psalm 51:1-13

 Pam got an “A” on the final project for an important class, but she couldn’t share it with her family. She had stolen her sister’s project written it for a different university. Now the professor had come to her and asked to publish the paper in a professional journal. How could she say no, but surely someone would figure out what she had done. No one could know what Pam had done. It had to be a secret and that made her feel isolated. Her guilt started on the inside, but it soon tore her whole life apart.  Such is the story behind this psalm for King David. He had committed adultery and for a whole year thought that he had gotten away with it. Then the prophet Nathan comes and accuses him of adultery and murder. He had been exposed. The sin that he thought was secret was out in the open. Adultery and murder were punishable by death. As king, he might escape the punishment by asserting his royal rights, yet he could not undo the damage to his relationship with God. This psalm is his plea with God to make things right.

Take full responsibility v.2 Healing begins with owning up to our sin. Confronted by Nathan the prophet, David admitted that it was his iniquity and his sin. He made no attempt to deny the sin or excuse it. He did not use his kingly powers to silence the prophet. Admitting the sin is always the starting point for restoration. We can’t deny the sin or claim that others are more sinful. Real healing begins when we admit that we did something wrong.

Recognize the damage v.4 David recognized how his sin impacted others. He had caused Bathsheba a lot of pain. He had killed the innocent Uriah. He had done a lot of damage to the kingdom. He also knew that his relationship with the Lord was damaged. David had damaged the bond that he had with God. No sin is without its victims or its hurt. Sin affects the people around us and leaves victims in its wake.

Ask for His forgiveness and cleansing v.7 David throws himself on the mercy of a God who loves him. He throws himself on God’s grace and asks for what only God can do. In the temple, God took the sin of the people and put it on the lamb. David was asking that God would wash him with the blood of the lamb so that his sin was totally gone. You cannot take your sin away, only God can. Having admitted your sin, ask forgiveness from those who you have hurt and from God himself.

Ask for a new heart v.10 The past would be forgiven, but David knew that he needed one more thing. David asked God to give him a new start. Teach me. Lord so that I may never make this mistake again. He did not want to disappoint God or lose the future that the Lord had promised him and his descendants. Why be forgiven if you are going to do the same sin over and over? True repentance is not just the desire for the penalty to be gone, but for the chance for things to be different.

With the guilt gone and forgiveness given, David could recapture the joy that he had lost with the sin. He had watched his life wilt away over the last twelve months. He hadn’t lost his salvation, but he had lost his self-worth and his dignity. He had been God’s man before and he would be again. He had felt anything but a child of God. His life had been overwhelmed by guilt. Now he would feel joy again and would come to the Lord for help with the consequences of his sin. God would triumph and make the future sure. Happy is the man or woman who is forgiven. God has taken away their sin and recaptured their future. Guilt is not just fear of penalty. It is fear of having messed up our future and the future of others. Thanks be to God that he forgives and restores. He brings sin out into the open so it can heal.

The Story: Ezra - God Rebuilds a People in Love

Focus Passage: Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi

Have you ever felt lost in life? You have a job. You have a house and a family, but you feel like you are just treading water? A lot of us have had that feeling. We have moved in the direction that we think we are supposed to be, but we just feel empty and feel like nothing good is really happening. It must have felt like that for the Jews who returned from Babylon. Our story today is about eighty years after their return to Palestine. The nation is dirt poor and is under the Persian Empire whose kingdom is far away. The people feel lost. God’s answer is to send three people to help rebuild his people. Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi all have a part to play in the rebuilding of the nation. Their work will end the Old Testament record 400 years before Jesus is born. They are our last stop in the Old Testament as we see a loving Father care for His people.

A. Rebuilding Worship Ezra 7:17 60 years after the temple had been rebuilt, God opened the heart of a man named Ezra to bring spiritual renewal to the people of Judah. Now Ezra was a direct descendant of the line of Aaron and the high priests who had devoted himself to the study of the Law of the Lord. He gathered priests and Levite descendants to help him bring the worship of God to the people who were largely just going through the motions of worship. God wanted His people to know Him.

B. Rebuilding Righteousness Mal 2:11 Having taken on the ways of the pagans around them, the people are helped by both Ezra and Malachi to live like children of God. The times were tough in those sixty years and the people slowly adopted the practices of the people around them. God would reinstruct them in righteous life. He would show them how to have a better life by having values and character. He would help them to see that they should respond to his love by honoring him with their gifts.

C. Rebuilding their home Neh 6:15-16 God realized that if His people were going to keep their values and character, they needed a safe place to live as His people. For that reason, God put it on the heart of a man named Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so that the people could worship God in peace. He went before the Persian emperor and asked for time and the resources to rebuild the walls. God moved the emperor’s heart to grant all that Nehemiah asked. God’s people had a home.

D. Rebuilding Faith Neh. 8:3 Four or five days after the wall was built, there was one more thing to do. God’s people had to understand God’s ways so that the people would live Godly lives in this new found city. For one whole morning, Ezra read the books of Moses to the people. Then a group of priests fanned out and explained the words of God to the people. It was God reclaiming the hearts of his people. God wanted them to understand His path for their lives.

The pieces are in place, but now the real challenge of rebuilding is whether the people will actually rebuild their lives. Some argued with Malachi, Ezra and Nehemiah about what it meant to return. Malachi offers a simple test. Are you giving of your time and resources to the Lord? People still struggle with giving God control of their lives. God offers a simple test. Give yourself to me and see if I don’t provide for you and take care of you. God is ready to commit to those who commit to Him. He is ready to bless those who open their lives to Him so that they feel His love and have their needs met. Those who only half build their lives will have only some of the blessings. God wants us to have the full joy and He is ready to do anything that it takes for those who trust Him to have that joy.

The Story: Esther - It Is My Problem

Focus Passage: Esther

Bombarded with the problems of the world each night on the news and problems of people we know, we can easily feel overwhelmed. There is an earthquake or snowstorm burying a city. A family is hurt in a car accident. A friend has just come down with cancer. Our expectation is that others will take care of it. Let the government send them food. Let the family take care of the accident victim or the cancer patient. We just can’t deal with all the pain. But someone needs to help. We would want help if it was our family member with cancer or our home hit by a flood. We may not be able to help everyone, but we need to help someone.

A. Opportunity – Esther becomes queen Esther 2:17 Having deposed his wife and lost an important battle, the lusty king Xerxes starts looking for women for his harem. Esther was taken in this sweep of the countryside, but something happened. The king was attracted to her and so he made her queen and not just another one night stand. God watched out for her and turned disaster into opportunity. She was now in a position to help others. She just didn’t know what God would call her to do.

B. Need – The Jews need someone to speak up Esther 4:8 It doesn’t take long for trouble to arise. An evil man named Haman convinces the king to sign a decree that will begin a slaughter of the Jews not seen again until the days of Hitler. Esther is encouraged to speak to the king to protect her people, but she knows that she will be putting her life on the line. To speak to the king when you are not spoken to can mean death and so she asks everyone to pray so the Lord will protect her and help her.

C. Courage – I am a Jew Esther 7:3 Esther needed a favor from the king. He was the only one who could save her people. What was hard was that she needed to ask the favor in front of the man who wanted all the Jews to die. It took courage to stand up and tell the king that she was a Jew. It required that she trust the Lord to make things work. She put herself on the line for her people. If she was found out, she was going to die anyway.

D. Answer – Protection for the Jews Esther 8:11 Oddly God is never mentioned in the book of Esther, but you can see God’s hand throughout the book. Evil Haman is disgraced and hanged. Esther is rewarded for her courage as the King is moved to help the Jews. Mordecai is even made Prime minister in Haman’s place. In the end, the Jews turn on their enemies at the moment that the enemies were supposed to destroy them. Ready for battle, they are able to protect themselves and keep the slaughter from happening.

If there is anything that we can learn from Esther, it is that when we see a neighbor who is struggling that it is our problem. It may be a need in our church or school. It can be a problem with a close friend or family member. We need to help and we need to find others who can help us help this person. The important thing is to know that we are not alone. God will work through us. He put us in a place where we have the opportunity to help and He will provide the resources that we need to do the task because God cares and God wants that person helped. We need to have courage, not because we are a fool, but because we know and believe that God is standing at our side helping in ways that we cannot even see. We go forward trusting that God will help us to help other people. We may not be able to help everyone, but we need to help someone.

The Story: Return Home - Just Do It!

Focus passages: Ezra 1-6, Haggai, and Zechariah

We start, but don’t finish. How many half-finished projects do you have around the house? Maybe there is a sewing project that was supposed to be done for last Christmas. Maybe there is a yard project that is hoping to be done next spring or summer. We all have them. We started something and just didn’t finish it. Why is that churches have the same problem? We say that the parking lot needs to be fixed, but just never get around to it. We say that someone needs to organize Sunday servants, but no one ever does. Churches today are not the only ones that have half-finished projects. As the people of God came back from Babylon, the temple needed to be rebuilt and the project got bogged down for fifteen years.

537 BC They started, but then they stopped Ezra 4:24 The exiles return from Babylon to Judea and after a short time, they begin to rebuild the altar and the foundations of the temple. Yet, the people around them did not want God or a rebuilt Jerusalem in their midst. They wanted the Jewish people to go back to wherever they came from. Rather than fighting for what they thought was important, the people just gave up. They had a letter from King Cyrus that they could build a temple, but they found it too hard and started doing other things.

520 BC You forgot God as you cared for your own needs Haggai 1:4 Fast forward about fifteen years. God sends two prophets named Haggai and Zechariah to the people to lecture them and give them hope. God is tired of waiting and knows that the people will never become a Jewish nation if they don’t start putting God first. The people have paneled homes, that is finished homes that are warm and snug. God’s house is still a pile of rubble. It is past time to get busy.

520 BC Putting God second has given you less Haggai 1: 6 What the people have failed to notice is that putting God second or twenty second in their life has had a negative impact on their lives. They work hard to harvest or pay the bills and they never have enough. They are never warm in their fancy clothes or paneled homes. The prophet reminds them that their priorities are wrong and that they have taken away the great advantage that they should have compared to their neighbors.

520 BC God fulfills His promises Ezra 5:5 The messages of the prophets spurred on the people and the work began again. Immediately the workers again faced opposition from the nations around them. Yet they did not stop working, but continued to build the temple. After four years, the temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem and the people celebrated the dedication of the temple. God was now at the center of the kingdom because the people trusted the Lord to remove the obstacles.

Do we see the value in ministry? The people let the building of the temple slide because it just didn’t seem important. It was more important for them to have warm homes and fields full of grain. From the earth’s perspective that would make sense. From God’s big picture, we see that it is short sighted. I see that the stress people feel and many of the problems they face come directly because God gets put last. They expect him to fix their lives and make things easy while they pursue happiness and prosperity outside of God. It doesn’t work. God won’t fix lives we don’t give Him. Even more important is whether we include God in our plans. How many ministries have not been undertaken or have stopped because we didn’t think that we had the money or the people to do them? If the church would spend as much time asking God for help and for direction as we do in making excuses or in wringing our hands, the church could do the impossible.

The Story: Daniel - The Blessings of Obedience

Focus passage: Book of Daniel

It had started as a simple Boy Scout camping trip, but things had gone all wrong. The weather turned violent with high winds and blowing snow. The scouts and their leaders panicked and things looked hopeless. Yet, Tom kept his head. He relied on his scout training and built a shelter with a campfire near to the van. Others started calming down and the smoke showed the rescuers where they were. One scout made the difference between life and death. So it was with Daniel. He was taken in the first wave of captives and never gave up his faith in God. He didn’t picket or hold protests, He just stood firm in his faith in God. This man of faith had a big impact on the people of God and on the nation of Babylon. We think that it takes an army to change a world when all it takes is one Godly person.

605 BC – A Young man with a conscience Dan. 1:8 He was just a teenager taken hundreds of miles from home as his home nation became a vassal to the Babylonians. He would learn their language and culture, but he would not break God’s food laws. This shows the first reason that he was great. He would not compromise the ways of the Lord. He stepped forth and his friends were willing to step out with him and all benefited.

604 BC – Faith turns disaster into opportunity Dan. 2:24 The king has a dream and doesn’t trust his advisors. He wants them to interpret the dream without telling them what it was or he will kill them all. Daniel is facing death so he turns to prayer. God answers the prayer giving Daniel the dream and the meaning. What had been a disaster became an opportunity to witness to the power and majesty of God. The whole kingdom sees the power of God.

538 BC – An exemplary life promotes jealousy Daniel 6:5 At the age of 80, Daniel’s reputation of being trustworthy and extremely loyal to His God is known by all. Those jealous of him can find no fault in him. They set a trap that will put him in a lion’s den for worshiping the true God. Daniel sees the trap and worships God openly. God is more important than life. His values and faith have a great impact on Jew and Gentile alike and glorify the Lord because of Daniel.

538 BC – A leader prays for his people Dan 9:2 In the year Daniel faced the lion’s den, Daniel is on his knees praying for his people. 70 years have passed and it is time for the people of God to return to the Promised Land as Jeremiah had foretold.  Daniel had on his heart, the needs of his people and the future of the Jews. He was too old to return, but he called upon God to show mercy to His people without delay. God listened to his prayer and within a short time, the Jews could go home to Israel.

In Daniel, we see the power of one Godly man. At the same time that the Kings of Judah were leading people from God, the teenage Daniel was standing up for the Lord before Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He refused to deny his God and God used Daniel to bring glory to God’s name. Here in this pagan place filled with idols to the gods of Babylonia, Daniel worshiped God and was used by God to do miracles so that the pagan kings acknowledged the Hebrew God as the God of Gods. He was willing to die for his Lord and led others to the same level of faith. One person can be powerful if that one man or woman is willing to give the Lord their heart soul and mind. They can influence nations and rulers. They can defeat the demons and the false gods of the world because by prayer and obedience, they harness the power of the one true God. We think that it will take an army to change the world. Daniel shows us what one man or woman can do if they are willing to keep the values and worship of God central in their life.

The Story: The Kingdom Falls - God Gives Tough Love

Focus passage: 2 Chron. 36, Jeremiah and Ezekiel

How many warnings does it take? Watch out for rattlesnakes! Stay away from the fire! Wear your seat belt when driving! We hear the warnings all the time and ignore them. How many warnings does it take from God before people start to listen? The last forty five years of Israel’s history were filled with warnings from people like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. No one seemed to take the warnings seriously. In the end, they paid the price. Yet mixed into those warnings was a parent’s love. God wasn’t angry with the people of Judah, he was just concerned for them. Like any parent whose kids misbehave, you know that someday your child will get hurt. They may not always listen, but you warn them again and again because you care that much.

 

Countdown to Oblivion

A. 50 years away – Words of warning Jer. 3:6 The first set of warnings would come from Jeremiah and start over 50 years before the captivity would be final. The people talked about God, but worshipped the gods of the surrounding nations. Jeremiah would continue to warn the people through five kings and three attacks by the Babylonians. He would be arrested, beaten and thrown in a well to die. Yet, God would not stop warning the people through this prophet even if his warnings made him a thorn in the side of the kings of Judah.

 

B. 20 years away – First Captivity warning 2 Kings 24:1 Jeremiah had warned of the “boiling pot facing north (Jer 1:11), but King Jehoiakim refused to listen. In his fourth year of kingship, the Babylonians came and conquered Judah. They took Daniel and the best of the young men. They took the gold of the nation and the temple and made Judah a vassal of Babylon as a warning of things to come. It should have made them turn to the Lord, but they still ignored God’s warnings.

 

C. 11 years away – Second captivity and more words of warning Ezekiel 6:3-4 After four years of rebellion, the Babylonians had seen enough and came and attacked the nation for a second time. All of the treasures and leaders were taken leaving Judah desolate. They had been a separate nation, now they were a conquered state with a puppet king put in place to rule them. All that Jeremiah had prophesied was coming true. God even added another voice at this time. Ezekiel began prophesying to the Jews in Babylon, but the Jews in Palestine refused to listen. 

 

D. O years - 586 BC – Judah is taken 2 Chronicles 36:19 After eleven years of the Jews trusting Egypt to save them instead of the Lord, the Babylonians came the last time and laid siege to the city. In the end, they would break down the walls of the city, capture and maim the wicked king and destroy the temple. Judah ceased to exist as a nation for a time. The Jewish people would not have their own nation again for 400 years and would lose that nation to the Romans in the years before Jesus. The powerful nation of David seemed to be gone or was it? The people would not listen so God found another way to teach his children.

 

Destruction is not God’s final word (Ezekiel 36:24-25). The Lord through the prophet Jeremiah had promised that the people would return to the Promised Land 70 years from the time of the first captivity. In Ezekiel, God promises to bring a revival in the nation of Israel. Not only will he gather them back, the people who come back will be forgiven and taught to put away their idols. In common language today, we would call it tough love. You can talk all you want, but sometimes you have to give tough love. Such is the depth of God’s love for His people. Many will not listen to the Lord even today, but there will always be a remnant who will find the Lord at their side caring for them and loving them no matter how far the nation has fallen. God can’t stop loving even when so many don’t love Him back. He loves even when it gets tough, because He wants as many as possible to be saved.

The Story:Judah's Downfall - Watered Down Faith

Focus Passage: 2 Chronicles 29-33 

Judah was warned. The year was 722 BC and the Northern Kingdom was captured never to be seen again. The Assyrians swooped down from the north and after a three year siege destroyed the nation and carried its people off to foreign lands to be assimilated into other nations. 208 years had passed since the death of Solomon and now ten of the twelve tribes were gone. During that time, the people had never worshipped the Lord. They had worshipped the gods of their neighbors like Baal. They had sacrificed their children to Molech. Their evil was so bad, God abandoned them. This is a story to warn what will happen when people forget their Lord. When a nation abandons the true God, they leave themselves defenseless and open to pain.

Hezekiah gives his heart to God 2 Chronicles 29:2-3 At first, Judah was exempt from the destruction of the North. A good king reigned on the throne of Judah whose name was Hezekiah. He began his reign, even as the Northern Kingdom was under siege by reclaiming God’s temple which his father, King Ahaz, had closed down. He also wanted to claim the hearts of the people and so he dedicated fourteen men to teach the people about the God that so many of them did not know. He wanted revival in Jerusalem. He wanted the hearts of the people to be lifted up to the Lord and refused to have empty worship.

In time of danger, God will answer the prayer of the faithful Isaiah 37:14 It has been perhaps ten years since the fall of the Northern Kingdom and Assyria has decided to expand its kingdom again – this time into Judah. They conquer the western part of the nation and then the south leaving Jerusalem as the last bastion of the kingdom of Judah. Yet, instead of fearing the Assyrians, Hezekiah takes the letter and spreads it before the Lord in prayer. Hezekiah and his officers humble themselves before God and seek His protection. Because of their prayer and their submission to God, an angel of the Lord was dispatched who put to death 185,000 troops camped around the city of Jerusalem in a single night.

Forgetting God leads to punishment 2 Chron. 33:10-11 You would think that a miracle like that would cement the people to the temple and to the worship of the one true God. Yet, Manasseh, the son of this Godly king would lead them away from God only fifteen years or so after their salvation. He would rebuild all the false altars that his father had gotten rid of. God sent messengers to warn Manasseh against what he was doing, but the king and the people did not listen to the Lord. The mighty Assyrians came again and they captured Jerusalem and the king. They led him off with a hook in his nose and bound him in shackles. God will not be mocked.

Are halfhearted reforms enough? 2 Chronicles 33:17 God didn’t give up on Manasseh. As a captive, he called out to the true God and was freed by the Lord and brought back to Jerusalem. He then began to prove that his conversion was true as he tried to undo all the evil that he had done and reestablish the worship of the Lord. Yet, the revival was not as full as the revival of Hezekiah, his father. Manasseh allowed the people to continue to sacrifice at the high places. He accommodated the worship of God to the customs of the people. In a sense, he watered down the faith. They worshiped God, but they did so in their own way.

Halfhearted reforms are the beginning of the end. One of the reforms that Manasseh could not make was the reform of his son’s heart. All those years of idol worship had left an impression on his son Amon. The text says that Amon worshiped at the idols that his father had made and that were still up. The watered down religion never touched his heart. He did not humble himself before the Lord, but rejected the Lord and began to re-institute pagan worship the way it was through most of Manasseh’s kingship. The father and son team of Hezekiah and Manasseh ruled Judah at the height of Assyrian power. The revival of Hezekiah brought 100 years of God’s mercy. The halfhearted worship of Manasseh had little impact and the nation was soon on the way to destruction. A nation of halfhearted worship will find that God’s blessings will not last.

The story: God's messengers - Come Home, Israel

Focus Passage: 1Kings 1-11, 2 Chron. 1-9

It was a Father’s heartache. Tom had been the apple of his father Jim’s eye. Tom was smart and very athletic. Father and son had been so close throughout his high school years. When he got to college, Tom got caught up in a bad crowd and soon he had dropped out and Jim didn’t hear from Tom for a while. Jim finally heard that Tom was out west somewhere and had run on hard times. His friends had deserted him and he was on drugs. Jim called the cell phone that he had given his son in college, but no one ever answered. He finally heard from a friend where Tom was living and went to see him. In the days of David and Solomon, Israel had been the envy of the world. It was powerful and had enormous wealth. It showed the greatness of God to a world that wished they could belong to Yahweh. In the last days of Solomon, the nation ran away from God and worshipped others. God would send prophets to them to demonstrate His power through miracles. He called them and prophets spoke of His great love for them. The message was always the same. Return to me and I will restore you. Here is the story of God’s heartache with His wayward son.

I will show them my power 1 kings 18:38 Fifty years have passed since the days of Solomon and the wicked King Ahab sits on the throne of the Northern Kingdom. Elijah calls a meeting with Ahab and proposes a challenge between the true God and Ahab’s false gods to see who the true God is. 450 prophets of Baal called on their god for hours with no response. God sends fire down from heaven that consumes the water, the sacrifice and the wood. The people cry out that Yahweh is the true God, but sadly their faith doesn’t last.

I will show them the depth of my love Hosea 3:1 Now, a 180 years have passed since Solomon and God calls the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute. It is a visual message showing how much the Lord loves the nation of Israel which has prostituted itself to the false gods around it. Sadly, Hosea would love this woman and have children with her, but she would run away. Hosea was commanded to buy his wife out of the prostitution that she was now enslaved in. It was a visual message about how God had bought Israel out of slavery and sin again and again.

I will give one last warning Amos 9:8 The end is near. Israel is on the verge of destruction and so the Lord sends the prophet Amos. His message is a message of punishment for Israel and Judah. If Hosea shows gospel love, then Amos shows law justice. Israel is within a generation of being destroyed. It is time to repent before it is too late. Yet, the people see no reason to repent. In the end, their rejection of the Lord will put them out of God’s protection and their evil living will bring its own destruction.

This is the story of a God who stuck with His people for over 200 years. It would have been easy to have just destroyed Israel or to have allowed it to fall quickly to its neighbors. Yet God loved them and sent prophets to them with demonstrations of power and a visual demonstration of love. Neither worked. Our God does not give up on His people. He shows them His power and His love. He is a heavenly father who loves his children even when they are in the midst of sin. It is never too late to cry out to the Lord and seek His mercy and His help. His love never ends and never fails. The message of the prophets is still the message of God today. God is calling His people to return to Him so that He might restore them. He loves His church and will not give up on it. Regardless of how far you have strayed, come home! It is the message that God says to us and that we have to be saying to others. It is the message that can change America as it builds families, ends violence and gives people lives that work.

The Story: Divided Kingdom - Leading People From The True God

Focus passages: 1 Kings 1-11, 2 Chron. 1-9

 Strong and weak presidents have changed the course of our nation’s history. Washington would be one of the great presidents in almost anyone’s book. Buchanan is often rated as one of the worst presidents. He sat and watched the country fall apart in the years before the civil war. As we look presidents and other leaders, we can see how they are instrumental in the shape of a country or a company. The same is true of the kings of the Jews. Solomon got the people started on the wrong path and his successors made things even worse. Yet the constant in the time of the kings was the Lord. He had made promises that the nation would continue and He worked to keep Israel as a nation. He brought the people through this time so that the Messiah could be born among them and could change the world.

The Story: Solomon - Throwing God's Blessings Away

Focus: 1Kings 1-11, 2 Chron. 1-9

Solomon’s annual income was 25 tons of gold a year and the riches were all around him. He sat on an ivory throne overlaid with gold, received tribute from kings and merchants and drank from goblets made of gold. He was so rich that silver had almost no value in the days of Solomon. Yet it was all thrown away in a generation. The kingdom would be torn in two. The riches would disappear and the peace would never be seen again. Solomon had it all, but threw it away for lust of women and because he forgot the true God.

The Story: King David - A Humble Heart

Focus passage: 2 Samuel

Was David really a Godly man? The young David surely followed the Lord. Yet, as we follow him through life we see a man who seems more evil than the king that he replaced. Saul never committed adultery, murdered a man or allowed his children to do the evil that David did. Yet, David was honored by God and Saul was discarded. On the surface, it doesn’t make sense. What David had was not a perfect life, but a humble heart. He sinned, but was open to the Lord’s rebuke. As you follow David, you see the power of being open to the Lord. No one is without sin, but how you react to sin can make all the difference. David repented when he sinned so that the Lord might restore him.

The Story: David - The Man Who Had God's Heart

Focus: 1 Samuel 16 – 2 Samuel 7

When we consider who to hire as our doctor or mechanic, we often consider their skill and knowledge. We want a doctor who has done this procedure dozens of times and was at the top of their class. We want a mechanic who has worked on this model car with years of experience. They need to get it right. When God looks at a person, he is not impressed with their skill or knowledge. He can give both to any fool. What he cares about is the heart. Is this a person who will be honest and have values? Is this a person who will follow God and believe in God? What stood out with David was his heart. He was a man of character who loved the Lord more than anything else. His early life was dedicated to the Lord.

Overcoming Problems: Planning - It Takes Time

Focus passage: Nehemiah 2:1-10

Our family motto for vacations is “We plan to be spontaneous”. It is our way of saying that we plan out the details of a vacation so that we can be impulsive if we see something that we really want to do or make changes if the weather doesn’t cooperate. We like to have reservations for our campsites and a plan of what we might do at each place we plan to stop at on any vacation. Prayer can be a great time to plan how you are going to tackle a problem or make the most of an opportunity. If you ask questions of the Lord, He will help you see details you might have missed or have everything ready if you get the right break occurs. The planning that Nehemiah prepared him to take a once in a lifetime opportunity. He needed three things if he was going to rebuild the walls.

The Story: Samuel and Saul - Be weird!

Focus: 1 Samuel 1-15

A weird lesson from Dave Ramsey - Dave Ramsey has made me weird. I am not in debt and have a budget so that my wife and I manage our money instead of it controlling us. God’s people are weird, too. They aim to be married for life, are willing to make sacrifices for others, and have a set of values that make them the friend you always wanted to have. That makes them weird in an age where people justify bad behavior by saying that “everyone else is doing it”. The story of Samuel and Saul is about a time when everyone wanted to live just like the people around them and God’s battle to make them different. God wanted them to be a moral and godly people who would lead others to a better life.

Overcoming Problems: Compassion - Attitude

Focus passage: Nehemiah 1

With God, attitude is everything. 

I think of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke 18. One man came before the Lord boasting about his stature before God, the other man came with head bowed to humbly seek his Lord. I have watched people in trouble shake their fist and pray to the Lord as if He owed them answers. I have seen people come meekly before the Lord knowing that they don’t deserve His help, but that this loving God will come to their aid. Nehemiah is a man who has stood near the glory of God. He comes humbly to God, but also is confident that God’s character and promises will drive the Lord to help His people. He shows the right attitude for overcoming problems.

The Story: Ruth - When You Feel Like God Gave Up On You

Focus: Book of Ruth

We have all met people like Tina. 

In her freshman year of college, she was free of her parents and free to make a lot of bad decisions. There were the parties filled with alcohol and there was the wild boyfriend. She was having the time of her life. Then suddenly she was pregnant and the boyfriend dropped her. All the promise of a great life seemed gone. Seeing no place to go but home, she packed her things and hoped they would accept her. Her parents cried, but they embraced her and welcomed her home. Life could be rebuilt with their love. Ruth is the story of a heavenly Father who embraces a lost family and gives them a future. It shows that our loving Father is always ready to help repair and renew lives.

Overcoming Problems: Compassion - Approaching God

Focus passage: Nehemiah 1

One of the most compassionate things that you can do is to pray for others. 

The question for many people is “what do I pray?” I remember talking to a member of my congregation whose best friend was in the hospital. She desperately wanted the Lord’s help for her friend, but she didn’t know where to begin. Nehemiah gives us some direction on compassionate prayer. Overwhelmed by the problems that the people of Judea were facing, he turned to the Lord. He makes the problems of the Jews his own and reaches out to a God who he knows well. His prayer gives us a pattern for turning to the Lord when problems occur.

The Story: Judges - Downward Spiral

Focus – book of Judges

There are times that we are doomed to repeat failure again and again. You work out, eat better, and lose 25 pounds. Yet, little by little it came back. Now you have to work at it all over again. The same is true with other behaviors like getting up early, stopping smoking, or cutting back on television. It is easy ot commit to something drastic when there is a crisis, but when things start going well, we fall back in the old habits. Doomed to repeat our failures is the theme of the book of Judges. Over this 330 year period, the people fell away from God, were conquered by a neighboring people, and helped by God only to do it all over again. They just couldn’t remain loyal to God.

The Story - Joshua- Do We Dare?

Focus – book of Joshua

For forty years, the people have followed Moses. Now Moses is gone just as they are ready to enter the Promised Land and claim the promises given to Abraham long ago. The giants are still in the land like they were forty years before. How will they go and claim the opportunity that the Lord has given them? Who will lead them into the Promised Land? Joshua is the story of God building a people so that they can go and do the impossible. He will build up leader and people so that both are ready to claim His promises. He will show them that they will succeed if they follow Him and fail when they try to move forward without Him.