Emmanuel Baptist Church of Nipawin Sermons

What happens when we ignore God's instructions and do ministry how it seems best to us?

What happens when we ignore God's instructions for religion, and do ministry how we see fit?

Passage: Judges 13:25-15:20 | Message By: Josh Bondoc | Series: Prone to WanderYou can have a seat, since you must be tired after reading all of those verses! The reason why we did that is because this is such a huge text, so I won’t be reading each verse throughout the sermon (otherwise it will add another hour to the sermon)... Instead, I’ll just point you to the section that we’re in as I explain it, so you’re going to need your Bibles to track along.

If you haven’t been with us, or simply need a refresher, we are going through the account of Samson. Last week, we saw the narrative of his birth and chapter 13, and the reason for that is because of verse one.

Peace In Israel’s Eyes

In 13:1, we see that “the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Now, this sight motif is key throughout the book of Judges, so keep an eye out for that (pun intended) throughout our passage today.

As we heard last week, this phrase has appeared six times already prior to chapter 13 (Jdg. 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6)—mainly to show Israel’s sin cycle prior to God raising up each judge, but also to show the spiritual and moral blindness of Israel.

In other words, Israel again did what was wrong in God’s eyes—so God saw it fit to give them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years—which, as we also heard last week, was the longest time of Israelite oppression in the book of Judges.

Yet, as we’ll see throughout our passage today, there is no sense of war or conflict happening between the Israelites and Philistines during this time. In 13:2, we are told that Samson’s parents lived in Zorah—which was Israelite land just north of the Philistine border!

In 13:9, Manoah’s wife was out sitting in a field by herself without Manoah to protect her from any Philistines. In chapter 14, Samson goes down south to Philistine land multiple times, interacts with Philistine men (and women, he was more interested in them), then goes back home up north to Zorah—without getting killed. 

This tells us that the Israelites were somehow living in strange peace with the Philistines, even though the Philistines ruled over Israel. This was peace in Israel’s eyes.

As Josh Lees mentioned last week, this doesn’t seem to be a “normal sin cycle” where Israel would cry out to God for help against their oppressors. They are content with the Philistines ruling over them instead of remembering Gideon’s words when he told Israel that “the Lord [YHWH alone] will rule over you” (8:23).

And yet, a son is born to begin delivering Israel—because God acts out of his own initiative to save his people, even without them asking. That’s just who God is, and how much he loves his people. This helps us understand the end of chapter 13 when the Spirit of the Lord began to stir Samson—which is our first main point. 

The Spirit of the Lord begins to stir Samson (13:25-14:3)

“And the Spirit of the L began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol” (13:25).

This word “stir” in the Hebrew has the sense of “disturbance.” So what does it mean that the Spirit of the Lord began to “disturb” Samson? Well, as we’ve seen, Samson grew up during this time of peace with the Philistines (as Israel saw it), and now the Spirit of the Lord has begun to stir or disturb this strange peace.

When the Spirit of the Lord came upon prior judges like Othniel (Jdg. 3:10), Gideon (Jdg. 6:34) and Jephthah (Jdg. 11:29), it was always right before they went to war and delivered Israel from their oppressors. So could it be that the Spirit is stirring Samson—for war against the Philistines?

After all, this stirring or disturbance begins in Mahaneh-Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol, which in chapter 18 is the place where men from the tribe of Dan will set out from for war (Jdg. 18:11-12). Based on the immediate context, it’s more likely that the Spirit started stirring Samson during a typical day’s journey from up north in Zorah to Eshtao...

Passage: Judges 12:8-13:5 | Message By: Josh Lees | Series: Prone to WanderRecap

Last week we heard about the violent and tragic events of Jephthah and his leadership. Don’t make rash vows that attempt to manipulate YHWH. God is calling us to a much better way that does not attempt to fool Him in order to continue to live for ourselves.

The week before we witnessed a time of peace seen in the Judges Tola and Jair. Then we witnessed the conversation between YHWH and His people. Despite the perfectly just recourse of handing this rebellious people over to complete destruction, we see God grow impatient over their misery. God raises a judge to deliver them.

A Time of Peace

As we pick up the narrative in Judges chapter 12, verse 8, we see a quick succession of three judges, not completely dissimilar to the accounts of Tola and Jair in chapter 10. We see after Jephthah’s death that Ibzan of Bethlehem judges Israel. As Ibzan begins his judgeship, and also for the other two judges in this passage, there is no mention of the Israelites worshiping other gods, or coming under oppression by foreigners, or calling out to YHWH for deliverance. This points to the possibility that this was a generally peaceful and prosperous time for God’s people. Ibzan had thirty sons and thirty daughters that he strategically gives to marry men outside his clan. This was a common enough practice in the time to create alliances through marriage. It is significant to note some contrast takes place as we look at the last few chapters of Judges. Ibzan and Jair in chapter 10 create a Jephthah sandwich. We see Ibzan and Jair who have many children, appear to lead Israel in a literally unremarkable way, with a time of peace. Contrasted by a lengthy and detailed description of Jephthah who led during a time of violence, familial conflict, and no descendants. I believe this points to the emphasis of the downward spiral in this time of Israel’s history, which we should not be surprised by in the least at this point in our series. 

Moving ahead we see two more peaceful transitions of judges. Elon the Zebulunite and then Abdon the Pirathonite. As with Ibzan there is no mention of sin or apostasy, and at least for Abdon, there is much wealth and many children. It is important to note that this people deserves no such peace and prosperity. I sometimes fool myself into believing the lie that I am deserving of all that I desire. Truly we deserve death just as this rebellious people did. How much more because we have God’s Word that warns again and again of the consequences of sin! And yet, we are reminded in this section of Judges how our God honours His covenant and promises, far beyond what he is required. This is the God that we see in Judges chapter 12 and this is the God we serve today. 

Despite the apparent peace and prosperity of the judges, and I would assume the nation as a whole, we know that this is not going to fool us into letting our guard down. The people are not done teaching how to test God’s faithfulness. The account of Judges has led us to expect, for the most part, a downward trajectory of sin and hardheartedness. 

The Typical Sin Cycle?

So I don’t think there is a gasp of surprise as we move on from the rapid fire succession of peaceful judges into a familiar phrase. Reading from Judges 13:1, “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.” They did what? This is the seventh time we have read a phrase such as this. And with this account, leading into the twelfth judge, we see that “the people of Israel AGAIN did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” After God delivered them again and again, they turn their backs on YHWH. As the preacher says in Proverbs, “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.” (Pr. 26:11). I can’t help but be reminded of this proverb as I become frustrated reading Judges.

Passage: Judges 10:17-12:7 | Message By: Jordan Dudgeon | Series: Prone to Wander

Passage: Judges 10:1-16 | Message By: Jordan Lepine | Series: Prone to WanderToday, we are continuing our series on the book of Judges. I thought I would briefly recap where we are before we look into our text. We have seen that Joshua has passed away, and since then, the people of Israel have been returning to serving the Baals and the Astaroth idols. As a result of this, God gave the Israelites over for oppression. But each time the people cry out to God for help, he raises for them judges to help turn them away from that oppression and follow again after God. Unfortunately, this seems to be a cycle for the people, as it looks like when the next judge passes away, they go into idolatry. We have seen five judges so far in the book. That being Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Barak, and Gideon. We are about at the halfway point regarding judges in this book (just in case you were curious). We left off talking about Abimelech last week who was not a judge, but someone who tried to make himself king.

Our passage today is Judges 10:1-16 as we continue our series. We are introduced to two new judges, Tola and Jair.

Two more Judges

Tola 1-2

So, we notice a few things here by reading these verses. The first thing is that not much information is given here about Tola. He is what we would call a "minor judge." Being referred to as a minor judge simply means that little information about him is provided in the text. We have already seen Shamgar, who was also considered a minor judge in the book, as the author dedicates only one verse to him in Judges 3:31.

However, just because Tola is considered a minor judge does not mean he is somehow insignificant in this story. 

Tola's family line is mentioned here. He is the "son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar." Tola was an Israelite. He has some deep roots within the Israelite community that the author wants to point out to us. “He is the only judge to have his family line traced back to the past three generations.” People knew of his past and his lineage, and now, people have someone who is their leader.

Tola judged Israel in "Ephriam, “in the hill country of Shamir.” “Issachar's inheritance was located northwest of Manassah.” Tola was not living on the inheritance promised to Issachar, which could mean he wanted to help Israel during this time.

Tola arose "After Abimelech." We are not exactly sure how long the time was between Tola and Abimelech, but the fact that the author mentions that could be significant here. Tim Fehr, who brought us the word last week, mentioned how Abimelech was a deceiver and seemed to kill anyone who did not follow him. He killed his brothers out of his desire to be king. The people of Israel could be hurting deeply from their past leaders and were waiting for someone to come and lead them. There could be some trust issues as Tola comes to judge them.

Tola arose to "save Israel." We have seen these words of our past judges. Tola did not just fill a role while waiting for someone better. Commentators have argued over what exactly Tola came to save Israel from. Did Tola rise to save Israel from oppression or idolatrous ways? The text does not tell us, so we do not want to make any assumptions today. But what we can take away from the Tola is that Israel needed saving somehow. They needed a leader, and Tola did this for 23 years of his life. He passed away and was buried in Shamir.

Jair 3-5

We now move on to our second judge mentioned in these few verses, Jair After Tola arose, another Israelite from Gilead (a part of the Tribe of Manasseh) named Jair. We notice that he is also considered a minor judge in the amount of verses given to him. However, also like Tola, he is not insignificant. The text mentions how powerful of a human being Jair was. 

He had 30 sons, which means he most likely had many wives. We saw this from our last judge, Gideon, who had 70 sons. 

Jair's sons rode on 30 donkeys,

Passage: Judges 9:1-57 | Message By: Tim Fehr | Series: Prone to Wander

it's not hard to see ourselves in this story, stumbling through the walk of faith. And it not hard for us to see our God in this story, patiently walking with us.

Message By: Chris Hutchison | Series: VariousChris shares his personal testimony at church camp '24.

How might God use you to pass on your faith by investing in the next generation?