The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Deuteronomy 20-23
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 3: The Sinai Covenant and law: God embraces and instructs his people
Background Information: Deuteronomy 20-23
War is terrible. Always has been, always will be. War is the result of human sin, and in war, as with other forms of human sin, “innocents” suffer. But God told Israel to wage war. What are we to do with this fact? God cannot sin; what he is does is right. The people that Israel waged war against had lived in escalating sin for hundreds of years. God had been patient with them for a long time. Now they were in such a state of depravity that they formed an existential threat to Israel’s existence if they were allowed to remain. It is important to understand that Canaan was not a nation as we think of them today. It was made up of individual little kingdoms or what is called “city states.” This is not an invading nation going to war against another sovereign nation. Israel was the people of God fleeing persecution, going to the land that God, the rightful owner of all land, had given them. In this land people lived who practiced child sacrifice and many other forms of dark perversion. God was bringing judgment on these groups of people, and his instrument of judgment was Israel. In Romans 13 Paul tells of the role of governmental authorities as God’s “servant.” This doesn’t mean everything government does is right or that every war is “just.” This is a complex topic, but what you must understand is that human sin, especially when it pervades entire cultures, is devastating. Eventually God’s judgment falls on those cultures. To say much was at stake is an understatement. Israel’s existence was a lifeline for the entire future of humanity. Keep this in mind as you read of war and the killing of rebellious sons and couples who engage in illicit sexual behavior. Keep in mind that sin, on a large scale, or in your own heart and life, is terrible.
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Ask God to use Keith and the ministry of FCA to make the reality of the gospel known to student athletes at Wichita State and Friends. Pray that believing athletes and coaches would be bold in their faith.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call some now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.
Review the Storyline Map: Where we are in the Bible
Act 1 God’s Plan for All People
Scene 1: The Creation: The God of all of life.
Scene 2: The Fall: Rejecting God’s vision for life
Scene 3: The Flood: God judges and makes a covenant to preserve life
Act 2 God’s Covenant People
Scene 1: The People: God calls a Covenant People
Scene 2: Deliverance: God rescues his people.
Week 11:
Scene 3: The Sinai Covenant and law: God embraces and instructs his people
Day 1: Deuteronomy 16-19
Day 2: Deuteronomy 20-23
Day 3: Deuteronomy 24-27
Day 4: Deuteronomy 28-30
Day 5: Deuteronomy 31-34
Scene 4: The Land: God’s place for his people
Day 6: Joshua 1-2, Psalm 105
Scene 5: Kings and Prophets: God shapes a kingdom people
Scene 6: Kings and Prophets: God divides the kingdom people.
Scene 7: Kings and Prophets: The southern kingdom as God’s people
Scene 8: Exile: God disciplines his people
Scene 9: Return: God delivers his people again
Act 3 God’s New Covenant People
Scene 1: Christ’s coming: God’s true king arrives
Scene 2: Christ’s ministry: God’s true king manifest his kingdom
Scene 3: Christ’s deliverance of his people: God’s work through the death, resurrection, and enthronement of his king
Scene 4: Christ’s church: God’s people advance the kingdom
Scene 5: Christ second coming: God future for the kingdom