Yo-Yo Effect: Lessons from the Book of Judges – Message 1 Appropriate

If you missed the first message in the series here is a synopsis.

Judges starts off with the statement from God to the people … “”I have given the land into your hand” (Judges 1:2). The point – God had provided the victory to the people and all they had to do is go in and take the land. But we read in the first chapter that the people “could NOT drive them out …” (Judges 1:19,21,27,29,30,31,33).

The people had been given the victory but they could not appropriate this victory in practice. The passage explains the basic reasons for this.

First, we find that they have half-hearted worship (Judges 2:11-15). The people thought they could have victory over their enemies by mixing worship – that is both to worship other gods and to worship the one true God. Reality check – this is half-hearted. We are either all in or not. We need to be on the same page as the one true God or we will face difficulties in our walk with the enemies of our faith. The result is the inability to appropriate the victorious life that has been promised us in God.

Second, they sought to please themselves. They saw the women of the people and saw that they were nice looking. Instead of staying true to the Law per the covenant agreement that they agreed to they sought to please their own eyes and flesh. There is no doubt that the women were nice looking and some, if not the majority of them, were nice people. This is not about the women but rather about the agreement that was made that the people had agreed to. They gave in to the physical desires rather than the spiritual truth and did not appropriate the victory that was promised in and through the work of God.

The point … the book of judges is about the yo-yo effect of the ups and downs of life. Life is not easy but rather can be rather difficult even in the face of the good days. Initially the nation of Israel was facing good days. They had victory and were seeing God’s blessing but they did not stay the course. Just like we face the yo-yo effect of the ups and downs of life they did and there is much that we can learn. Thus, let’s first step out into this life by living in faith and receiving or appropriating the truth of the victory we have in the Gospel.

WE HAVE LIFE ETERNAL

Let’s appropriate this truth and examine the lessons from the book of Judges that will help us to stand firm in our faith.

This next Sunday (9/16/2018) and the following Sunday we will examine the judges that God selected to help the people rebound from the inability to navigate the yo-yo effects. Join us and if you would like to be prepared – who is your favorite judge? Why?

Come and let’s grow together!

Blessings … Pastor Mark

Here are the messages: Message 1 Part 1: https://youtu.be/pewD96UKjgQ ;  Message 1 Part 2: https://youtu.be/Q0M8Fv_3wCs