(Proverbs 17:24 GN) “An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions.”
(Jeremiah 6:16) This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
(Luke 21:34) “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.”
Title of Message: Faulty Five
(Judges 5:2) “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves--praise the LORD!”
The Faulty Five:
1. Misuse of time.
(Judges 5:16) “Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.”
(Proverbs 6:10-11) “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest--and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”
2. Obstacles.
(Judges 5:17) “Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.”
(Luke 14:18-20) “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’”
(Philippians 4:13) “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
3. Possessions.
(Judges 5:17) “And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?”
(Luke 12:15) Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
4. Pleasure.
(Judges 5:17) “Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.”
(Romans 6:12,14) “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires…For sin shall not be your master.”
5. Fear.
(Judges 5:18) “The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the heights of the field.”
(Hebrews 11:6) “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
God's Part
(Ezekiel 36:25-27) “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
Cleanse your past.
(Hebrews 8:12) “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Change your heart.
(2 Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Move you to do it.
(Philippians 2:13) “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
