A TRUE KING SHOULD…
1) ... BE A SERVANT LEADER (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) Who desires a human king? The Israelites What kind of king does God want for them? Not greedy or looking out for himself. A person who loves God through obedience, and is not afraid of people's judgment. Why is it important for someone in authority to know their power is not supreme? What ways can power tempt us? 2) ... BE SET APART FROM OTHER NATIONS (1 Sam. 8:4-9) -Is it good to ask God for things? -Have you ever asked God for something good, but with the wrong motives? -These are the two reasons why Israel was in the wrong when approaching God... Israel wanted to be like the other nations. Israel did not want God to be their king. -They were outsourcing their authority to someone else and removing God as their authority. -The Israelites wanted a king to determine their morality (“judge us”) and a king who would also fight for them. The reason their motives were in the wrong place is because they didn’t realize that this is what God was doing for them all along. The nation that was set apart, unique in that they alone were the representatives of God, became jealous of other countries who followed other gods. -Where is your fulfillment found? -Who are your modern-day kings and how have they failed you? 3) ... BE PLEASING TO GOD (1 Samuel 15:20-28) -Saul was a man with great promise, who eventually failed. -Why is it dangerous to place all your trust and hope in a human leader? -Why is it good to place all your trust and hope in God alone? -As future servant-leaders, are you more concerned about being a people-pleaser, or do you know the acceptance you have in God because of what Jesus did on the cross? -It is better to fear God than to fear men.
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1. PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY WANT
(Judges 21:25) -Anyone read Lord of the Flies? Imagine a society without any authority or rule. Would this society be free? Why or why not? -What is moral relativism? Moral relativism is the belief that all truth is subjective, that there is no such thing as morals being objectively right or wrong. i.e.: “What might be true for you, isn’t exactly true for me.” -Ex: Is murder a good thing? How do you know? What makes it bad? Says who? -In this session, we’re going to see how moral relativism is destructive. In the book of Judges, the Israelites did what was right in their own eyes, which led to ongoing sin, to judgment, and then how God raised up certain people to bring a time of peace. -Judges 21:25 says “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes?” What does this mean? Just so we understand the context, go back to Judges 2:11-13. -Is there a danger when we decide on our own what is right or wrong? 2. JUDGMENT COMES (Judges 3:7-11) -God often uses the very thing we desire to discipline us, so that, we might turn to God. Because God is faithful, He will never leave us in our idolatry. -Consider that even in light of the Israelites turning their back against the Maker, I want us to know how that effects us, but also how God responds to our continued rebellion: *God will not tolerate His people rejecting His Kingship. *Repeatedly rejecting God will harden us and cause us to refuse repentance more and more. *God longs to keep His promise to His people. *God’s grace is always greater than our sin. 3. ULTIMATE DELIVERANCE IS NEEDED Judges 16:21-30 -Does everyone know the story of Samson? Samson was an important man in his day, he was a famous Nazirite, he was respectable and well-known for his great strength, and he was also appointed as a judge, therefore, was expected to kept three vows: *Never defiling oneself by touching a dead body. *Never drinking alcohol or fermented foods. *Never cutting his hair. -Even though he was a Nazirite and was expected to keep these vows, he actually had a history of killing a lot of people, and he was known to drink a lot of alcohol. The only vow he kept was never cutting his hair. -This all changes in verse 6 when Delilah tempts him to cut his hair. -We’re a lot like Samson in that we fail to take sin seriously. We run back to our sin over and over again, we like the way it lies to us. Because Samson is used to escaping death, he eventually thinks he’s immortal! -We fail too, and God knows it. But know that it is in those failings, that God has already provided someone who is enough. Notice that Samson, as strong as he was, became weak, and when he became weak, was when he was truly made strong. -It is in our weakness that we see more of Jesus. If we don’t recognize our need, then thats what blinds us from God. |
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