Concordia Adult Bible Class

Even people who seem to have strong faith sometimes doubt. This was the case even with John the Baptist. John the Baptist wondered out loud if Jesus was the Messiah. Perhaps you struggle with doubt and you wonder if you can ever be forgiven for your doubt. Jesus spoke to John’s doubts lovingly. He speaks to our doubts in the same way.

In and of themselves, desires are good things. They are given to us by God. But when we desire something God has given in a way that goes against what God has commanded, disaster results. Just ask Adam and Eve. How do we desire well? And how do we recover from mismanaged desires?

One of the saddest parenting stories in the Bible is that of David and Absalom. Years of neglectful parenting finally resulted in Absalom’s rebellion and death. By the time David sees what has happened, it is too late. What can we do as parents today to escape regrets tomorrow? And how do we deal with regrets for past mistakes we have made as parents?

Marriage is meant to be a beautiful picture of how Christ loves His Church. Because of sin, however, this picture can be distorted and, tragically, sometimes even destroyed. How do we recover the picture of love God desires and has designed for our marriages? Paul answers, “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

The first section of the book of Judges has been focused on outside threats to Israel: threats from the Midianites and the Moabites and the Canaanites and the Philistines. The final part of the book of Judges focuses on the threats from within Israel. In the words of the famous Pogo comic strip: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Micah undermines his faith by keeping an idol that sets off a chain of tragic events. In what ways are you undermining your own life?

Samson was a man of great talent. He had strength and he had political savvy. But he did not have any character. He fell into sin again and again. Even the most talented people crash and burn if they do not have the character to support their talents. In what ways do you fall short in your character?

We have come to expect that politicians will make campaign promises they cannot keep. Jephthah made a promise that he should not have kept, but did, and it ended up costing him the life of his daughter. Jephthah tried to control God’s actions with a foolish vow. Is there any ways in which we try to control God’s actions?

It was Franklin Roosevelt who famously said in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Gideon was a man who was always afraid. Many people know the story of Gideon’s test of God with a fleece. Far fewer people know, however, that before Gideon tested God with a fleece, he tested God with an offering. It seems as though Gideon had a hard time trusting God, always asking God to prove Himself because Gideon was always frightened. In what ways are we frightened?

The first major judge in Judges is a woman! And she is strong. She spearheads a battle against Jabin and reveals that her commander, Barak, is a coward. Deborah is an example of how heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and do not always look or act the way the world thinks they look and act.

“The definition of insanity,” the old adage goes, “is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The book of Judges is set during a time when Israel fell into the same sins over and over again – and got the same result of judgment. What “insane” things do we do over and over again of which we need to repent?