Who Can Lead Us
A People in Search of a King: A Bible Study on Joshua, Judges, and Samuel
Talk 1: Remember What God Has Done
This Feast Sunday, we begin a new series: WHO CAN LEAD US? A People in Search of a King: A Bible Study on Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. Joshua, Judges, and Samuel continue the story of Israel in the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—also called the Torah.
In these three books, the Israelites needed a qualified leader to be their King. In this powerful series, WHO CAN LEAD US?, we ask:
·Who influences me? What influences me?
·How can I pick the best influence for my life?
·How can I influence others to become better people?
·How can I make the Greatest Leader—Jesus—lead me?
Talk 3: We Need a Hero
We’re in Talk 3 of our series, Who Can Lead Us? (A Bible Study on Joshua, Judges, and Samuel).
Titled We Need a Hero, Talk 3 focuses on the book of Judges. It discusses three topics: 1) cast and plot; 2) a sample of two Judges; and 3) three warnings we must heed from the book.
The Book of Judges is a Tragedy. The purpose of the book is to disturb you. To warn you. To fill you with terror at the horrific state of those who fall away from God.
But the key message of Talk 3 is comforting: God will never break His covenant with you.
Talk 4: God Works with What We Have
We’re in the middle of our thrilling series, WHO CAN LEAD US?, a Bible Study on Joshua, Judges, and Samuel.
In Talk 1 and Talk 2, we unpacked Joshua;
In Talk 3, we dove into Judges;
In Talk 4, we tackle the life of Samson—the last Judge.
Samson is the long-haired dude with super strength. Samson is a superhero for many who don’t read the Bible.
But you’ll find out that because he’s the last Judge of 12 very flawed Judges, and because this book is a downward spiral whose characters get worse and worse, then that means Samson is the baddest of them all. He is the most violent, promiscuous, and vengeful of all the Judges.
But at the start, Samson looked really promising.
The key message of Talk 4 is You are set apart for God.
Talk 5: God Hears the Humble
We’re in the middle of our series, WHO CAN LEAD US? A People in Search of a King. This is our brave attempt to unbox the spiritual treasures found in three under-appreciated books: Joshua, Judges, and Samuel.
In Talk 5, we open the book of Samuel, or a warrior Judge.
This Talk contains 3 parts: (1) God Hears the Humble Hannah; (2) Humble Samuel Hears God; and (3) The Proud That Cannot Hear and Cannot Be Heard.
It starts with a broken, barren woman.
The key message: God hears the humble.
Talk 6: Follow the Right King
Welcome back to our series, WHO CAN LEAD US? A People in Search of a King. Today, we take a big step in our series because we talk about the first King of Israel—King Saul.
Spoiler alert: King Saul was a colossal disappointment.
Talk 6 backtracks and checks how he became king.
The key message: Follow the Right King.
Talk 7: Fighting the Giant
We continue our exciting journey through three books in the Bible—Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, asking the question, Who Can Lead Us?
Sadly, apart from Joshua and a handful of others, most of the leaders we met were pretty bad actors, including the current king, King Saul.
How do you want to live your life?
You have a choice. You can either sit on the rocking chair on your front porch, sipping your tea, watching life pass by—or you can be on an adventure, battling with giants for the people you love.
Sometimes, we win. Sometimes, we lose.
What matters most is that God is with us in every battle—and if He is—then, in the end, we have already won.
Are you in a battle right now?
The key message of Talk7 is For the battle is the Lord’s.
Talk 8: Surely, The Lord Will
Talk 8 continues the story of the shepherd boy David–how he struggles through life’s challenges, particularly against schemes of King Saul who is jealous of him.And David eventually rises to be King of Israel.
David then asks God if he can build Him a house—a Temple—but God tells him: “No, I will build a house for you.”
This promise is pointing to God’s Kingdom and Jesus as King. He doesn’t take the throne by force.
He takes up the cross as He believes surely, the Father would raise Him.
The big message of Talk 8 is: Surely, the Lord will!
