Broken People - Faithful GOD

Broken People - Faithful GOD Time Line: 1050 – 950 BC Author: Unknown. Some suggest Samuel. Judges: This means leader as well as judge. 12 main judges. Raised up by God to deliver his people. Purpose: To show that God remains faithful to his people despite their unfaithfulness to him.

Outline of the Book of Judges: • Failure to conquer Canaan 1:1-3:6 • God’s judgement on disobedience 2:1-2:5 • God’s compassion & forgiveness 2:16-2:18 • Israel Under the Judges 2:6-16:31 • Abandoning the true God 17:1-18:31 • Moral wickedness, civil war and its consequences 19:1-21:25 God’s plan for his long term salvation goes on from Abraham to Jesus: Ruth 4:13-22

PERSONAL The Individual NATIONAL The Nation GENERATIONAL Sons & Daughters

Broken People - Faithful GOD Judges 2 6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

Broken People - Faithful GOD 10After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

Broken People - Faithful GOD Then the LORD raised up judges,who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the LORD’s commands. Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

Historyrepeats itself.Has to.No-one listens. Steve Turner – Poet ‘History Lesson’

Joshua 24 14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

They went from this: 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”

To this: Judges 21 25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

Israel worshiped Baal and AshtorethsThen the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. Judges 2:11-13 Baal was the primary god of the Canaanites and the male counterpart to Ashtoreth. The Canaanites believed Baal oversaw livestock and crops and regularly offered sacrifices to Baal. Ashtoreth was the primary Goddess of the Canaanite people and the female counterpart to Baal

SIN HAS CONSEQUENCES! They aroused the LORD’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. GOD is forgiving, patient and loving BUT Never forget that sin has consequences THANK GOD FOR JESUS!

PERSONAL APPLICATION We have choices: Can sin & holiness co-exist?

OUR INDIVIDUAL CHOICES OBEDIENCE But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15 v22 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Mathew 28 v19-20

OUR INDIVIDUAL CHOICES HOLINESS I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. Leviticus 11 v45 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”1 Peter 1 v16

PERSONAL APPLICATION We have choices It’s a daily battle following JESUS Can sin & holiness co-exist? Can we succeed without the power of His spirit working in our lives? Reflect for a moment – Is God speaking to you?

Historyrepeats itself.Has to.No-one listens. Steve Turner – Poet ‘History Lesson’

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THOSE GUYS ?

Prophetic Word For Great Britain Lance Lambert Saturday 6th August Hear the voice of the Lord, O Isles that I have so greatly loved and favoured. I the Lord the Almighty, I took you when you were nothing, clothed with skins and woad, and through My saving power, I made you great. When you were nothing, through My Word and your faith in Me, I lifted you and made you Great Britain. Through many awakenings and many revivals, stage by stage, I took you until you became a great power with the greatest Empire in the history of the nations. From you My Gospel and My Word went throughout the world, and tens of thousands came into an experience of saving faith! That Empire with all its many failings and weaknesses was still one of the most just and righteous Empires of history.

Those Isles of yours were soaked with the blood of My faithful martyrs and its soil received the burnt ashes of those who would not renounce My Name, My Truth, and My Word. I, the Lord have not forgotten those who gave their all for Me! But now the whole nation that I created and sustained has turned from Me. They paganise their land, state and institutions; there is no voice heard to warn the nation. False religion, the work of world rulers of darkness, cover your Isles; A Laodicean church, neither hot nor cold, rumbles on like machinery. It is a church where I am outside of its routine; its organisation and its methodology. It is Christianity without Me: Religion without Me! My being is seared with pain, for judgement is determined against your land. I can do no other. I will destroy the vestiges of her greatness; I will return her to her first estate. I will wreck her economy, destabilise her in every way. I will change her climate, even her weather. I will prove to her that the way of the transgressor is hard and terrible. I will allow demonic forces held in check erstwhile by My Word and Gospel, and the living faith of so many, to become rampant in her social life, to the destruction of her society.

Will you who know Me and love Me go blind and dumb and deaf into this judgement? It is time for you who love Me, who are faithful to Me, to take action! Stand before Me and plead The Finished Work of My Son. At least cry out to Me, that there will be those who turn from darkness, from sin, and be saved. For whosoever shall call upon My Name in the midst of these judgements, I will save! It will cost you everything to stand in the gap, but you will enter into My heart, and know deep fellowship with Me. Such travail conceived in your heart by My Spirit will cost your deeply, but it will end in My Throne and Glory.

GOD’S QUESTION “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. Ezekiel 22 v30

OUR RESPONSE? Who will pray for our Nation, our community, our land?

GENERATIONAL FAILURE After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Judges 2 v10

GENERATIONAL SUCCESS I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1 v5-7

Since my youth,God,you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvellous deeds. Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come. Psalm 71 v17&18

Personal ApplicationLIGHT THE FIRE! For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1 v5-7

Personal Application Prayer for the next generation Discipleship in the home Prepare for crisis points – Main School, University Reality check – Know about or know? Walking in the Power of the Spirit Reflect: Is God speaking to you?

Broken People - Faithful GOD