The Kingdoms

The Story: Week 32

Recap up until this point: As we look at the overarching story of the Bible here is where we have been:

God creates all things from nothing, including humans the highest creature in the created order

Humans rebell and we sin come and enslave the created order and the hearts of the people in it. (They are unable to behave b/c of it.)

God calls begins to hatch his plan of redemption by calling out certain important people to carry the promise of his eventual blessing off all people and redemption of all things.

Starts with Noah to Abraham to Moses to David…

After David the plan seems to spin out of control as the kings who come after David show themselves to be products of the sinful world around them as they commit acts of wicked disobedience. (This is where we are today, looking at the kings that come after David.)

So there are faithful kings like David and evil kings like Rehoboam, but you got ask the question, what makes one king a good king and another king a bad king? Here are the Criteria

Worship the God of Israel Alone.

Rid Israel of Idolatry

Faithful to the Covenant.

Break into groups of 3-4 and you will be assigned a text about a king to look at. Here is the info you need to collect.

What Kingdom did they reign over and how long.

Did they worship the God of Israel alone?

Did they rid the towns of false Idols?

Where they faithful to the covenant?

Report back to the group what you found

Here is the question for the large group to discuss.

Is it fair when a school loses their eligibility in sports over a few players cheating academically?

Is if fair if a whole family has their vacation cut short over the misbehavior of a single child?

Is it fair that God is punishing the whole country of Judah and the whole country of Israel over the behavior of the leaders.

Leadership Matters:

The difference between modern “individualistic cultures” and ancient “shame and honor cultures.”

The view of Sin from God’s perspective?

Jesus teaches on the leaven.

Leadership matters.