We are excited to confirm that Life Groups Notes are now in Video Form
The first Video Notes are from Simon Benham from the Bless Series where he takes Life Groups through some questions relating to Ezekiel 47 comparing the River of Life to the Dead Sea.
Please Click on the Link Below:
https://youtu.be/nYykFDepjiI
Life Groups at Kerith
This is the Blog site for Kerith Community Church Life Group notes - summaries and questions to help understand our Sunday messages and apply them to our lives in our Life Groups midweek.
Latest YouTube Video
Tuesday, 24 April 2018
Sunday, 28 January 2018
28th January 2018 - Simon Benham Don’t hold back – Matthew 25 v 14-30
28th
January 2018 - Simon Benham
Don’t hold
back – Matthew 25 v 14-30
The Parable
of the Bags of Gold
14 “Again, it
will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted
his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags,
and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his
journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his
money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of
gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a
hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a
long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’
he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five
more.’
21 “His master
replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a
few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your
master’s happiness!’
22 “The man
with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two
bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’23 “His master replied, ‘Well done,
good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put
you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the
man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you
are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have
not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the
ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked,
lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where
I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on
deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back
with interest. 28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who
has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an
abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
We can learn four principles about how God wants us to
interact with him.
1. We all have
bags of gold! We have gold in our lives. This parable is known as the parable
of the talents but in ‘talents’ means money/gold. Hence we should look at this
parable from a physical and skill basis. We all have abilities whether
physical, creative, mental abilities, we have different passions, different
holy discontents (injustice in the world that spurs us), different finances,
possessions, time, influence, past experiences, qualifications, languages,
ethnicity, jobs.... that are all part of the gold that God has placed in us. We
need to believe that God have given each of us unique skills and life
experiences and situations to be used for Him and by Him. Our unique situation allows us to uniquely contribute
to life. However we need to stop comparing ourselves to others. Use what God
has given us as individuals.
2. Faithfulness.
We think of the word ‘faithfulness’ it as being loyal. However God sees it as
doing the best with what He has given you as an individual. He wants you to be
faithful with the use of the ‘gold’ that God has sown into you.
3. Fruitfulness
and willingness to take a risk. We should not be afraid of God but should fear Him.
Being afraid means we won’t step out, but God actually is cheering you on and He
wants you to succeed. He is encouraging you on even when you stumble.
4. If we are
faithful with what we have, there is a reward. The servants got a commendation of
‘well done good and faithful servant’. Then God gives more. He says ‘come and
shared His happiness’
Simon interviews Shona and Darren: They have both taken the
steps to stretch out and be used by God:
Darren introduced himself and how he set up ‘Who lets the
dads out!’ which provides a space for dads, grandfathers etc to bring children
and have bonding time. Darren originally started organising walks at the Lookout
and Dinton Pastures. After hearing about
what was starting, the council made contact to showing interest. After many discussions, from April 2018
Bracknell children centres will now be sending someone each month to help out. Darren is also planning on having an Alpha
table in September to invite the dads to…. it’s the next step. Darren felt that
with God he has the confidence to step out of his boat.
When the group started last tear there were 14 dads and now
there are 24 dads so it is growing. The council are really supportive of the
group and are advertising it.
Shona is a trained barrister, however after working as a solicitor
and then giving up work when she had kids. Shona started a part time masters in
criminology in 2010, however one of her children became sick and had to delay
the course by a year. During her studies Shona had a God light bulb moment regarding
the impact on children when their parents are sent to prison. This became her
passion. She continued her studies and studied for a PhD at the Centre of Criminology in Oxford.
God was completely in it.
Her studies were hard work and it was draining interviewing
children and judges. Following her research, Shona has generated videos for sentencing
professionals about what happens to children. This is now going to be issued to
Probation Officer’s, judges and criminal advocates. She is also going to be on
woman’s hour. Shona reports that she felt she was dreaming big, but God dreams
are bigger.
Be faithful because God will come through. God wants us all to be audacious
Questions:
1-
When reading Matthew 25 14-30 which of the servants
do you associate with? the one who doubles their Gold or the one or hides it in
the ground
2-
Chat amongst the group about the Gold that God
has given you
3-
Discuss in your group what is stopping you using
the Gold that god has given you
4-
What can you do to start using your Gold?
5-
Pray together that you can use the Gold that God
has given you
Sunday, 21 January 2018
21st January 2018 - You are First I am Secnd - Simon Benham
You
are first, I am second (Simon Benham)
Being popular
Simon mentioned the TV series “Black Mirror” which is set
in a dystopian society where each person has a popularity rating over their heads
for all to see, and life revolves around increasing your rating. It is a world driven by fame and popularity.
Our world increasingly looks like this. We can start judging our value and worth by comparing
ourselves to other people.
Confusing
fruitfulness with popularity
Jesus’ plan for each of us is that we would be fruitful (Matt
25 v 14-30), and to have big dreams, but there is a danger that we confuse
fruitfulness with popularity.
We see this desire for popularity throughout the human
story. God preferred Abel’s offering
over Cain’s. Cain wanted to be first, to
be the most important, and was jealous of Abel and murdered him (Gen 4 v 8). Even Jesus’s disciples argued over who was
the greatest and most important (Mark 9 v 34).
Fruitfulness
does not necessarily bring fame
We can think that if we really do what God wants we will be
famous and popular. God does sometimes take
people from obscurity to fame, for example Gideon or Esther. But fruitfulness does not necessarily look like
that. Fame and popularity can ruin us. Most of us will live lives of relative
obscurity, but that does not mean fruitlessness.
I am
second to Jesus
Jonathan was the son of King Saul, Israel’s first
king. He was the prince, heir to the throne. However, Jonathan realised that God had
rejected Saul, and had chosen David to become king. Jonathan did not fight this, but said to
David “You shall be king over Israel, and I will be second to you” (1 Sam 23 v
17).
We need to be happy to be second to Jesus. David is a picture of Christ, the anointed
and God appointed King, and like Jonathan we must choose to be second to Him,
to lay down everything we have, and make him our Lord.
Taking
risks because He is first
Knowing Jesus is first and in control frees us to be take
risks for God.
Jonathan and his armour bearer chose to attack a Philistine
outpost based on a ‘perhaps’. Jonathan said
“Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf” (1 Sam 14 v 6). As a result, God broke in and the entire Philistine
army was routed.
We need to act on the strength of a ‘perhaps’. Let’s be willing to try things, as they
depend on Him, not us. Just ‘may
be’ God will break in when we pray for the sick, when we speak to someone about
Jesus, or when we show kindness.
I am
second to others
Jonathan served David.
The most fruitful things in our lives will not be things that we do, but
people’s lives that we influence for God.
We are not in competition with any other Christian. We are
part of the success of others in our church.
As parents, foster parents, or adopting parents, our
children have the potential to be our greatest fruit. Similarly serving our kids or youth in church
can be the most fruitful thing we do. Giving
our money to the church also enables us to touch lives.
Even Jesus put others first, by laying aside his power and
majesty and choosing to serve us (Phil 2 v 3-8). We must follow His example.
Application
Questions
1. If you use social
media, what was your most ever “liked” post?
If you don’t use social media, tell others about a time you felt very
popular.
2. Read 1 Sam 23 v 14-18 together. Simon exhorted us to make Jesus
our Lord, and say out loud the words of Jonathan “You shall be king … I will be
second” (1 Sam 23 v 17).
Encourage each person in the group, one at a time, to say these
words out loud and pray a simple but serious prayer committing to lay down their
will, put Jesus first and do whatever he says.
3. Simon also said that, like Jonathan and Jesus, we must
choose to be second to others. We do
this by loving and serving them.
Can you think of a time when you felt in competition with
other Christians, or overlooked by a leader?
Were you able to find strength in God and choose to accept being second?
4. Simon said that knowing Jesus is in control frees us to
be take risks for God, and to be like Jonathan who said “Perhaps the Lord will act on our
behalf” (1 Sam 14 v 6). What situation
are you facing where you need to step out on a ‘perhaps’? Pray for each other to
be bold and step out in these situations.
Sunday, 14 January 2018
14th January 2018 – Don’t Hold Back Week 2 – Simon Benham
Simon
Benham – 14th January 2018
Don’t Hold
Back – Isaiah 54:2-3
Introduction
In Isaiah 54 V2:
“Enlarge the place of
your tent,
stretch your tent
curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your
stakes.
For you will spread
out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will
dispossess nations
and settle in their
desolate cities.”
The second of Isaiah 54 v2, there is a promise of what God
will do: That we will spread out and that the children of God will flourish and
multiply, and that life will come and infect the whole of society.
However, before that promise, God has some expectations of
us:
There are things that we need to do:
Enlarge – make
bigger –
Stretch - Take
some risks
Lengthen - the
rope
Strengthen –
drive the stakes deeper
God wants the church to have a big vision and a church that
is not afraid to step into the vision.
Matthew 20 v 29-34:
As Jesus and the disciples were leaving the place, 2 blind
men were sitting on the road side. They called out to Jesus to be healed. After
a short conversation Jesus touched their eyes and immediately they received
sight.
The end of the story is great: The blind men could see. We
should be believing that God is still in the business of healing and wants to
do this today.
However, the focus of the discussions today relate to the In
the middle of the story where Jesus asked a question: ‘What do you want me to
do?’. It’s not that He doesn’t know the answer. He asks so that our hearts are revealed. He wanted to
know the heart of the blind men….’let us see again’ is what the blind men
answered.
Sometimes we ask God to do the little things- the reasonable
things, the small things. However we should be focusing on the big things and
be expectant.
Simon quoted from Erwin McMannus –‘The truth is that many of
us ask very little of God because we think little of God. We protect God from
our prayers so as not to embarrass him if the prayers aren’t answered. Is it
possible that our prayers are too small for God. Are we the limiting factor?’
God wants to encourage us to dream big. That we attempt big
things for God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, He is the beginning and can do
all things. Let us be the big dreamers. Prepare to ask for something huge.
We want to have a big vision for God. We need to do this a s
a community and individually.
If we live BIG lives and believing big things – we need to
align our heart with Gods heart. Like the blind men. They wanted to be healed
and Jesus wanted to heal them. The crowd were the ones saying that the men
should be quiet.
We need to be a people that wants what God wants.
There isn’t an easy fix to make this happen. There isn’t a ‘magic prayer or a pill’. God only shapes our hearts and desires when we connect with him and spend time together. As you spend time with Him you become like Him.
There isn’t an easy fix to make this happen. There isn’t a ‘magic prayer or a pill’. God only shapes our hearts and desires when we connect with him and spend time together. As you spend time with Him you become like Him.
We are in society where there is a culture of a busy
environment that tries to stop us connect with people and God. We need to slow
down, live a different pace to everyone else. The blind men couldn’t rush from
place to place. Maybe the blind men had time to know Gods heart. They may have
heard of the other healings and pondered
on Jesus healing them aswell.
We need to stop and spend time with Jesus.
Technology really gets in the way – Smartphones next to your
bed: twitter / Facebook/news etc. Before you know you have lost half an hour.
Stop having your phone by your bed and used an alarm clock instead. What would
your life look like if your first connection each day was with Jesus.
This isn’t about how much time you spend: A woman recently
had 3 minutes with God who spoke to her and changed the direction of the
family. It is about making the effort to connect with God.
Simon encouraged us to pray the Lords Prayer. Stop after
each phrase. For example, study the first word ‘Father’ – a God who is for me,
who has good plans for me, has a relationship with me, then move onto ‘our’ we
are a community, brothers and sisters. Work your way through the prayer. The
phrase ‘your will be done’. Not my will but Gods will….. the things in my life
how do these relate to Gods will in my life. If I get on board with Gods will –
they will be answered.
Psalm 27 – says ‘delight yourself in the Lord and he will give
your desires of your heart’. Because His desires will be yours.
Simon encourages us to:
Dream Big. Not
little dreams. Not things that we can fix but things that you can’t do. That
unless God turns up it won’t happen. Dream big as a community, for His glory.
Let’s dream that God will fill big churches. Pray that God breaks in in ……. God
for the impossible
As a church we dreamed big for baptisms last year. We
dreamed for 100 and 115 were baptised.
Live Big: If you
don’t live big and take action the dreams will not unfold. God requires us to
step out. Some will work others won’t.
The blind men shouted at the top of the voices to call Jesus. When told
off they shouted louder. We live in the nation of the tallest poppy syndrome.
We cut people down when they step out. Let’s not do that. God will use as you
as you act big in the big dream.
Pray Big: Big
dreams will only come about with God. If it’s not big, God isn’t needed. We
need to cry out and God will step in. Without Jesus there is no breakthrough.
The type that only He can bring.
Referring back to the blind men, they had perseverance. They
shouted when were told to be quiet.
When they prayed the prayer the first time. Nothing
happened. In fact, they were abused by the crowd. They could have been quiet,
but they shouted louder ‘Lord have mercy on us’. We need to keep crying out the
same. Jesus came to them and asked them what they want Him to do. Their third
prayer was ‘to see’. Their answer revealed the heart of the men. Rather than
their eloquence.
Don’t hold back. Step out. Don’t limit God. Expand your
vision and spend time with God. So that our will expands with His will.
Challenges:
·
What will you do differently this week?
·
What do you need to discipline yourself in this
week?
·
What are your dreaming big for? Is it aligned
with Gods vision? Have you given up on God?
Sunday, 7 January 2018
7th Jan 2018 - Isaiah 54 - Week 1 - Don't hold back -Isaiah 54 vs 2-3 - Simon Benham
Sunday 7th January 2018 - Simon Benham
Don't hold
back
-Isaiah 54 vs 2-3
‘“Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to
the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.”
Introduction
Simon commenced by reminding us of the
need to make space and to slow down to hear God this year.
Isaiah
The verses above need to be in the context of
the first the ten verses of Isaiah 54.
The bible has the Old Testament and
New Testament. Of the prophets Isiah was the most influential and the book of
Isiah is the second most quoted book in the New Testament.
In this book we get the ‘whole story’ the
God is telling us. It covers:
Creation: telling us that we are not a fluke or an
accident. The message from creation tells us that every human is created for God
and by God to live a life with purpose and meaning. We were all created for a
relationship with God.
The Fall: The second part of the Isiah story is the
fall and leads to and pain and suffering. Our rebellion against God.
Rescue: The third part is the rescue. God came in
human flesh to pay the price of our rebellion and sin. The aim being to get us back
to being a friend of God, a child of the King. For heaven to come to earth
Restoration: The final part of the story is restoration,
where Jesus Christ paid the price on the cross. There is still some work to be
done, however we are part of God’s rescue plan for this world.
The above four phrases covered are the
meta narrative; the over arching main points of Gods story. We need to
understand how we fit in the mini narrative: our part of the gospel.
Interesting Fact: There are 66 chapter
in Isaiah. The first 39 cover judgement and last 27 chapters cover compassion.
There are 39 books in the old testament and 27 books in the new testament.
Isaiah 54
Isaiah 53 talks about the suffering and
that Jesus has died for our sin.
In Isaiah 54, it is the moment when Jesus
has come into the world and the blockade of sin is suddenly removed. The opportunities occur.
It starts by telling the barren woman to
burst into song and shout for joy, because Jesus Christ is coming. He is
telling a woman who has bore no children that she will have an overflow of supernatural children. It is
telling her to get excited, even though she cannot see it in the natural.
V 2 goes onto encourage us to get
ready, to enlarge the place of your tent. To not hold back. To strengthen your
stakes. He is telling us to get ready. He is using the analogy of tents as
there were a tent dwelling people.
God is saying they need a bigger tent,
they need to stretch the material wider. They need to get ready before the
supernatural children arrive.
We are in the same place. We as a church
need to expect great things from God. We need to expect the overflow of the
harvest. However we also need to prepare.
Simon encouraged us to attempt great
things for God and to expect great things of God. As a church and as
individuals we need to
Enlarge -make more space for more people. 30 years
ago we build Bracknell as needed more space. Now we fill this space
To stretch - take risk attempt things that seem far. Go
beyond what is the norm.
Lengthen -spear out into Sandhurst . 120 people in Sandhurst
Christmas morn. New to Windsor we are lengthening
Strengthen - go deeper. Small tents little legs. Circus
tents big pegs.. we need to start by going deeper with him.
Conclusion
We need to go deeper in God as a church
and as individuals in 2018. We need to make time and slow down so that we can
make time to be with Jesus.
What is our part.? Initially we all individual
need to go deeper in Him. In John we are reminded to ‘Remain in Him and you
will bear fruit’. We need to be connected to Jesus, as everything flows from Him.
If at the end of 2018 you r closer to God,
that's a successful year. Know him better at the end of the year. Slow down to
be with him.
Simon also encouraged us to examine
2017 so that we can learn and move on. He challenged us to take time out this
week to:
Replay 2017. Examine 2017 and look at what occurred
in your life. What happened in 2017? Who did I meet? What did I feel? Where did
I go? Reflect and take time out. Look through your diary if you can’t remember.
Rejoice: Looking at what you did and where and who
you met? Examine where God moved in your
life? Give thanks for those things? What were your answers to prayer? Where did
God break into your situation?
Repent: for what you did wrong. Things that you said
or didn't should have said? Examine who hurt us and forgive them? Who do you
need to ask for forgiveness from?
Resolve Look at 2017 and see how you can do things
differently in 2018. Learn from the past and change for the future. Enlarge ad
strengthen in 2018.
Challenge and Questions
Simon challenged us to be closer to
Him. What do you need to do be closer to him?
What causes us to be so busy and what
do we need to do to slow down?
Do you make time out for God
regularly? If so, what benefits does it bring. If not, what hinders you from
doing this?
What are your commitments to God this
year? What do you need to do differently?
Sunday, 26 November 2017
Nothing can stop us getting closer to Jesus Christ (Liam Parker)
Liam read Acts 8 v 26-39, the story of the Ethiopian eunuch
who met Philip and was baptised.
Following this message, people responded at the 9:30 am and
11:30 am in Bracknell for salvation and for immediate baptism in water.
We trip ourselves up
As a teenager, Liam would present a request to him mum, and
she would say “No”. But Liam likes to be
right, and to persuade others of his point of view, which would lead to ‘heated
discussions’! One day, his dad took him
aside, and taught him to think how to say things, to pick the right moment, and
to realise that he was the problem in these arguments.
We are often our own worst enemy and keep
tripping ourselves up.
Similarly, the only thing that can stop us coming closer to
Jesus Christ is ourselves. We need to
get out of our own way, and choose to respond to Jesus.
Nothing else can stop
us drawing closer to Jesus
It is most likely that the eunuch would
have asked the queen he served for permission to take the 1500 mile journey
to Jerusalem to find out more about God.
But when he got to the temple the law did not allow eunuchs admittance (Duet
23 v 1, Lev 21 v 20). People would look
at his sexuality, his skin, his race, his wealth, his job and count him out
from finding God. But none of these
things or anything else can separate us from access to Jesus.
Rom 8 v 35-39 says ‘Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No … For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.’
Getting out of our
own way
We may put up reasons as to why we can’t get close to God –
perhaps because of the bad things we have done, our present lifestyle, our
current circumstances, or our uncertainly of the future, but actually it is
only our choice right now that stops us getting closer to God.
The eunuch made the choice to stop the chariot, and right there
and then to get baptised. We must decide
right here and now to obey Christ, and trust him to deal with the past and sort
out our future.
Questions
1. Have you been baptised?
If not, what is stopping you?
2. What external things try to stop us drawing closer to
Jesus, and how should we respond to them?
[With faith that they have no power to stop us. Read Rom 8 v 35-39; Eph 6 v 10-20]
3. What things within you (e.g. past experiences, fears, attitudes)
are stopping you right now from becoming more abandoned to Jesus?
4. Who are you praying for and asking to come to church this
Christmas?
Sunday, 19 November 2017
19th Nov 2017 - Living by Faith, Tope Koleoso
Living by Faith
Joshua 5:13-15
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man
standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him
and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I
have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked
him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals,
for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Heb 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him.
Dealing with Strongholds
Joshua, like the gospels, is part of a
story of deliverance – a good God redeeming his people – and the way God delivered
Israel tells us a lot about how He operates.
Delivered
by miracles. Exodus tells of the Israelites in
slavery, and of the plagues brought upon the Egyptians to convince them to let
God’s people go. Frogs, flies, floods,
hailstones; each time, Moses warned, but the Egyptians didn’t respond. Do you remember ‘darkness’ as a plague
(Ex10:21) – described as a darkness so dark you could feel it, and no-one in
Egypt moved for 3 days. At the same
time, the Israelites had light. Finally,
when all other warnings failed, there was the death of the firstborn.
Destined
by promises.
The wonders changed Israel – changed their worship, changed their
attitude. They saw God keeping his promises, they rejoiced and truly
believed. In all, God made seven
promises –seven ‘I wills’ about redeeming Israel.
Sustained
by the supernatural. Camped at the Red Sea and seeing the Egyptian
army approaching, the Israelites turned to Moses, and Moses to God – who said “Why are you crying out to me?”(not what Moses wanted
to hear!) But then God gave Moses instructions, and as Moses raised his staff, a
path opened in the waters of the Red Sea.
Taking that path required trust – walking between the walls of water! Beyond that day, the Israelites were
sustained in other miraculous ways:
·
God’s directed them, pointing
out the way with clouds and fire
·
God fed them – food from heaven
for 2m people for 40 years.
·
God refreshed them with water -
from rocks
·
Their shoes never wore out
And yet, there
was unbelief. As Psalm 106 puts it, “Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe
his promise.” The mentality of Egypt had a strong hold on them.
By the time of our
reading (Joshua 5), we have a new generation; a new leader, new people, and new
battles to fight. They arrive at Jericho
– a city with a formidable wall that prevented their advance.
We all face
Jericho’s – sometimes they are more of an obstacle than we realize. They can shape our lives, cause daily
difficulties. It may be:
·
Relationships:
·
Chronic illness,
·
Things of the mind, such as
doubt
·
Emotions – guilt, perhaps of
past deeds, perhaps unjustly. Fear – of
the future, of the unknown.
People try to
deal with Jericho in different ways
·
By climbing over it – Basically
a ‘salvation by works’ it rarely works.
·
Sometimes they hit it and then
shrink back – perhaps blaming something/someone else for their inability to
progress
·
Some camp at the bottom and
decide to live there – them never move further on in their journey.
How does one break through?
Acknowledge
God afresh. – see the bigger God, the bigger
picture. Joshua’s big picture was a big
soldier, and he asked him the wrong question: “Are you on our side?”. But God hadn’t come to take sides, he’d come
to take over. Joshua’s response was to
worship – the only possible reaction to an encounter with a big God.
Walk
by faith again. Often we start by faith, then say ‘Thanks God, I’ve got this’ … and
it all falls apart. Whatever plan the
Israelites might have had for beating Jericho, it wouldn’t have been like Gods
plan. “the wall will come down, we just
have to walk around it every day for a week”.
It sounded crazy … but they start doing it.
Everyone can do this faithful walk once,
but repeating it when you’re not seeing results comes harder. Other thoughts and attitudes bubble up.
·
Negativism – always projecting
to the worst-case scenario. That kills
faith stone dead.
·
Criticism - - the disposition to
be pre-occupied with the imperfect
·
Skepticism – always questioning,
but never committing
·
Cynicism – never believing
human actions are unselfishly motivated
Obey
Gods word boldly. On the seventh day, the Israelites walked around 7 times, and still
it didn’t come down – until on Gods command, everyone shouted. Then, finally, the walls came down, and
Israel was free – they had freedom around, and freedom with because they knew
God was with them.
Questions
These might be good questions to discuss with a trusted friend
·
Look at your own heart and life
– are there Jericho’s there, blocking your Christian journey?
·
How have you tried to deal with
your Jericho?
·
Are you ready to walk by faith
and see the walls come down in Gods way?
·
For which part of the breakthrough
do you most need prayer?
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