Fall of 2021

Coming This Fall... The Women of The Old Testament

8:30 AM


 A Twelve Week Study on The Women of the Old Testament 

Hi Girls!! 

We are < SO EXCITED > to be coming back this fall and digging into the lives of twelve great, and not so great, women of the Old Testament! We learned so very much during our study on the New Testament women this past spring, that we just knew we had to keep going this fall with women from the Old Testament. 

And one of the best parts of this study is that each week we will focus on a different woman or group of women, so you're free to pop in and out when you can and never feel like you're behind in the study. 

Here's our Lineup this Fall:
 
1.) Eve -The first women.
2.) Sarah & Hagar
3.) Rebekah
4.) Jacob's wives
5.) Miriam
6.) Rahab
7.) Ruth & Naomi
8.) Hannah
9.) David's wives
10.) The Shunammite Woman
11.) Esther
12.) Proverbs 31 woman

We plan to begin on Monday, August 30th so that we can finish with the Proverbs 31 woman on the Friday before Thanksgiving, (November 19th)


More details will be coming soon!

Stay tuned and we pray you'll soon be as excited as we are to get started!!

Blessings,

Sue

Angie Benjamin

Homemade Worship {Judges 17:1-21:25}

3:39 AM




Today's reading in Judges 17:1-21:25 is a picture of how idolatry (wrong believes) will always lead to sin and immorality (wrong behavior)

The story starts with a son, Micah from Ephraim, stealing 1,100 shekels from his own mother. He returns the money to her and she's so delighted that she uses it to make and idol which she gives to Micah for the private altar he has set up in his home.

The sin starts with a man who steals money from his mother, then it is carried over to a Levite who becomes a private chaplain, first to a family  and then to a whole tribe- without any proper appointment nor authorisation. 

Well, it seems that time has not changed human nature, wouldn't you agree? Today we can see, just as in Micah's days, everyone putting her/his own interest first. People in our society still reject God's right ways of living.

What is your idol? An idol is anything that takes God's place in a person's life...call it pursuit of money, success, possessions, career, spouse, children...and the list goes on.

People in Micah's days, replaced true worship with some kind of "homemade" version of it. They even got to the extent of stop supporting the priests and levites with their tithes they were no longer worshipping God.

The result of this? Justice was replaced by revenge and chaos. Ignoring God's direction will always lead  to confusion and destruction



When  men from Dan took Micah's idols and priest (Judges 18:24) , nothing remained!! this becomes a powerful truth in our lives! We invest so much energy into pursuing money, success, possessions, or a career, that if these "idols" are taken away, only an empty shell will remain!.




The only way we can protect ourselves against such loss is to invest our lives in God, whom we can never lose!

The moment we get away from God and his word, all sorts of evil can follow, we drift away slowly and almost imperceptibly, with the ultimate consequences affecting our future generations.

Our mission while we're on earth is to continuously call our nations back to God and work to establish God's spiritual kingdom in the heart of every person, amen!

Have a blessed weekend sisters,

Angie 


God

God Never Changes!! {Numbers 22- 25:18 }

10:30 PM



As we read today’s chapters we find the king of Moab, Balak  in great fear of Israel because he has heard of the victories God has given His people as they continue on the move to conquer Canaan. So he sends messengers to Balaam, someone whom he trusted could help him out by cursing the people of Israel (Num. 22:5-6)

Balaam was known as a mighty man in spiritual things. As far as Balak was concerned, when Balaam cursed or blessed a man or a people, it came to pass. Balaam knew God and His Power, but relied more on worldly wisdom, fooling himself rather than following God’s precepts. (“21 For even though [d]they knew God [as the Creator], they did not [e]honor Him as God or give thanks [for His wondrous creation].On the contrary, they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,” (Ro. 1:21-22)

God was clear in His command to Balaam: “12 God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people [of Israel], for they are blessed.” (22:12)
Since the king Balak insisted and offered presents for Balaam’s service, Balaam felt the need to seek God again, even though God’s will was clear both from his moral conscience (which troubled him from the beginning) and from the clear revelation of God.

Something that stood out to me was this next verse: “20 God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them, but you shall still do only what I tell you.” (22:22) We could ask ourselves why this happened… God did not change His mind. Since God had clearly declared His will, and Balaam had decisively rejected it, now God prepared Balaam up for judgment: to test and reveal the wickedness of Balaam's heart!!

Have you ever prayed to God for something  and received a “no” for an answer?  What was your reaction? Did you accept His will or did you complain and/or question?


Paul encourages us in Phillipians 2: 14-16 : “4 Do everything without murmuring or questioning [the providence of God], 15 so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and [spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights [beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness], 16 holding out and offering to everyone the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to rejoice greatly because I did not run [my race] in vain nor labor without result.”

God says "no" to the prayers of His people, because He loves them. He as our Heavenly Father knows best!!  But also, sometimes God says "yes" to the desires of the wicked, because He will judge them!!

 2 Peter 2:15-16 speaks of Balaam and his love of money, using him as an example of later false prophets: “15 Abandoning the straight road [that is, the right way to live], they have gone astray; they have followed the way of [the false teacher] Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness; 16 but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.” (Num 22:22-35)

“Men change their minds, and break their words; but God never changes his mind, and therefore never recalls his promise. And when in Scripture he is said to repent, it does not mean any change of his mind; but only a change of his way. There was sin in Jacob, and God saw it; but there was not such as might provoke him to give them up to ruin. If the Lord sees that we trust in his mercy, and accept of his salvation; that we indulge no secret lust, and continue not in rebellion, but endeavor to serve and glorify him; we may be sure that he looks upon us as accepted in Christ, that our sins are all pardoned. Oh the wonders of providence and grace, the wonders of redeeming love, of pardoning mercy, of the new-creating Spirit!” M. Henry

Balaam had done his best to curse Israel, (Num. 23-24) but was unsuccessful, because God’s spirit would speak blessings for His people through him!
In Revelation 2:14 we find the connection between Balaam's unsuccessful attempt to curse Israel and the following events in Num. 25:“14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some[among you] who are holding to the [corrupt] teaching of Balaam, who taught [a]Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel,[enticing them] to eat things that had been sacrificed to idols and to commit [acts of sexual] [b]immorality.” (AMP)

Since Balaam failed to curse Israel, he suggested to Balak: "I cannot curse these people. But you can get them to curse themselves through enticing them to rebel against their God. Send your prettiest girls among them, and tell them to entice the men of Israel to immorality and idolatry." And it worked!!

We find this same reference in Num. 31:15-16 “Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord”
Balaam, through his wicked counsel to Balak, got what he wanted, but he also ended up dead among the enemies of God (Num. 31:7-8). He only enjoyed his money for a short time. God will not be mocked!! (Gal. 6:7)

Lord God Almighty, help me remember who you are and who I am before you: a rebel who has been granted pardon by the mercy of a King, and an orphan who has been adopted by the love of a Father (iWorship Bible)


Blessings,

Mari