Is 7 Immanuel God is With Us
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
God With Us audio (5MB)
There are times when we find it hard to trust God to look after us. There are times when we think our situation is so bad there’s no way out. There are other times when we think we know the best solution to our problems so we don’t bother to ask God for help.
All three of those statements were true for Ahaz, as Jerusalem lay surrounded by the armies of Israel and Syria. It looked like Jerusalem was doomed. The people were starving and there didn’t seem to be much hope unless they were rescued by another nation. In fact Ahaz had it in his mind to form an alliance with Egypt or Assyria. Maybe that would solve their problems.
Unfortunately, too often when we make these sorts of short term decisions we overlook the long term consequences. If they formed an alliance with, say, Assyria, they’d lose their independence, The nation of Judea would be handed over to a pagan king. Jerusalem would become a secular city just like any other city in the world.
I wonder what you do when you’re faced with some impending disaster? Do you use your own political savvy, your own applied logic, to find a way out by yourself or do you ask God to intervene? It’s difficult isn’t it, because either may be appropriate. God promises to help us, but he also tells us to act to help ourselves.
Wisdom & Money
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Wisdom is a tricky thing. Some people think it comes with age, but then you see some older people who act very foolishly at times. We read in James 1 “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.” So wisdom is a gift of God. Yet God has also given as a complete book of the Bible devoted to teaching us how to be wise. The book of Proverbs is a textbook for those who want to be wise in this world. Yet it isn’t just a ‘how to’ book. It’s actually about learning to have the mind of God so whatever you do or think or say will be wise.
In fact one of the dangers we’ll see is the temptation to take everything we read here literally as though they were formulae rather than observations. And we’ll see that in just a moment.
Today I want us to think about how to be wise with money. What does Proverbs teach us wisdom when it comes to money and wealth?
Joshua 10 - Joshua's Farewell Challenge
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Joshua’s Farewell Challenge audio (10MB)
The land has been conquered. The people are beginning to settle into their new life in the promised land. Joshua is coming to the end of a long life. So he calls the people to come and hear his final words of encouragement and challenge. What he has to say is critical for their life together and, may I suggest, critical for our life together.
A Review of Covenant History
He calls together the whole nation, to remind them of all the things that God has done for them so far in their history. Listen to what he has to say.
The Surprising Grace of God
He begins by focusing on Abraham - the father of the nation. Notice his origins. His family worshipped other gods beyond the river Euphrates. Just like you and me, Abraham came from a culture that was basically pagan. Like many of us here today his family worshipped other gods. But God, in his grace took him out of all that and led him to a new land.
Christian Attitude: Holiness vs. Worldliness
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- Written by: Garrett Edwards
Holiness vs. Worldliness audio (5MB)
Intro – Recap on the others: Pride vs. Humility,
Anger vs. Self control, Judgment vs. Grace
And now we come to the conclusion that in many ways is an umbrella topic which covers all those things we’ve just explored. Can you see how that’s the case?
You see worldliness isn’t a trait that God likes, everywhere you see that term in the Bible, it’s warned against. Worldliness is an attitude that incorporates the things we just looked at: pride, anger, judgment and so many other negative attitudes.
And the New Testament draws this huge distinction, between Christianity and the world, between holiness and worldliness. In 1 Corinthians 3:3 we see other aspects of worldliness where Paul criticizes the Church saying,
‘You are still worldly, for since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?’ He’s being dead serious, and we see that worldliness also incorporates jealousy and quarreling. These aren’t the traits that God wants in a follower and witness of his son!
Joshua 9 - Cities of Refuge
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Cities of Refuge audio (10MB)
You often hear people complaining about the violence we see in the Old Testament. We cringe at the thought of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” It all sounds so barbaric.
Yet, how do people deal with something like murder in a world where there’s no police force, no criminal justice system, no penal code? One way people deal with it is by the vendetta, seeking vengeance equal to the injury done. But a vendetta, as you probably know, soon becomes a blood feud. It’s usually between two families or clans, begun because of an injury by one person to a member of the other family that needs to be avenged. But it easily escalates to the point where each injury is repaid by a greater injury. And the justice of the situation soon becomes irrelevant. You knock out my tooth and I’ll come back with my big brother and knock out two of yours. You kill my sheep and I’ll kill your cow. You kill my brother and I’ll kill your children. It’s like an episode from underbelly except there are no police watching to catch you out. The only law is the law of the jungle. The stronger or the more organised will always win.
But what if you want to have a people who’ll live justly among themselves? What if you were God setting up a civil law for your newly formed nation? How would you do it then?
Joshua 7 - The Gibeonites
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Joshua & The Gibeonites audio (10MB)
Common Sense isn’t Always
The Israelites have left Mt Ebal and Mt Gerizim behind and are now moving south to continue their conquest of the land. The whole population of Canaan has heard about them by now and the kings of the land below the hill country band together to prepare a defence. But not the leaders of Gibeon. They’ve seen what’s happened to Jericho and Ai and they figure the same fate awaits them if they resist. So they takes a different tack. They prepare a subterfuge.
Joshua 6 - Mt Ebal & Mt Gerizim
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Mt Ebal & Mt Gerizim audio (9MB)
Joshua 8:30-35
It’s interesting how some places take on a greater significance than others. For Australian sports fans the MCG is the sporting arena. For Elvis fans it’s Graceland in Memphis Tennessee. For car racing fans this weekend it’s Mt Panorama in Bathurst. Di & I have just been to some of the significant places of the New Testament: places like Laodicea, Philippi, Pisidian Antioch, Corinth and especially Ephesus. It was great to walk on streets where Paul and Silas, Timothy and Luke would have walked; to walk on the Roman Road that’s still lying there by the side of the modern highway; to think about the fact that these were places where the most significant growth of the early church took place. Well, today in the book of Joshua we come to just such a place.
Joshua and the people of Israel have destroyed Jericho and Ai, so they now control the main entry into Canaan and the northern end of the highway that passes through the mountains south to Jerusalem and Hebron. But they don’t go south; they move north, to a place where they can carry out one of the instructions that Moses left for Joshua before he died.
They march north and eventually come to a place where the road turns west and passes between two mountains, Mt Ebal on the right and Mt Gerizim on the left. This is one of those places. Here between the two mountains is the city of Shechem.
