Articles for tag: Gideon

August 24, 2020

David Faust

A Time for Boldness (Aug. 30 Lesson Application)

By David Faust When astronauts take untethered space walks, they float in outer space without anything attaching them to the space station. What a feeling of complete freedom! They are untethered and free from all restraints—but in grave danger. I’m sure those astronauts feel relieved when they scramble safely back into the spaceship. They couldn’t survive out there alone. Do you want to be untethered and free from any restraint? Consider what it was like during the raucous era of the Judges. “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6, 21:25)—and that remains

January 24, 2019

Christian Standard

Orrin Root and ‘Sound the Battle Cry!’

I was thinking about Orrin Root the other day. He comes to mind quite often. Mr. Root was retired when I met him in 1998, but he still was writing The Lookout’s weekly Sunday school lesson commentary, as he had done since 1949. When Mr. Root died in 2003, he was several months ahead on his lesson writing. Oh, and he was 98. I always thought he wrote like a young man, only with much wisdom. Mr. Root came to work at Standard Publishing (former parent company of this magazine) in 1945, when he was 40 years old. He became

June 12, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for June 18, 2017: Jephthah (Judges 11)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the June 11, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  In the book of Judges, the judges get progressively worse as we go along. We”ve gone from Deborah and Barak (good) to Gideon (all right) to Jephthah (not stunning) and next week to Samson (terrible). The enemies of Israel in our lessons also get progressively worse, from the Canaanites to the Midianites to the Ammonites.

June 5, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for June 11, 2017: Gideon (Judges 6-8)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the June 4, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Damon Runyan said, “The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that”s the way to bet.” That is, unless you are God. When God is in the equation, swiftness and strength are not necessary. He can make up what anyone lacks. Gideon”s self-confession was neither swift nor strong.

July 18, 2011

Christian Standard

Lesson for July 24, 2011: Let God Rule (Judges 7:2-4, 13-15; 8:22-26)

This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for July 24) is written by Steve Carr, teaching minister at Echo Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. ____________ Let God Rule (Judges 7:2-4, 13-15; 8:22-26) By Steve Carr In the late 16th century there emerged a religious/political doctrine known as the divine right of kings. As the Protestant Reformation spread across Europe, monarchs attempted to solidify their positions with this philosophy. This divine right claimed that God gave kings their authority, so kings were accountable to God alone. Even if a king was evil, the doctrine dictated, he could not be overthrown

February 1, 2011

Christian Standard

Getting the Most from Old Testament Stories (Part 2)

(This is the second of six articles Matt Proctor will write this year under the theme, “Reading the Bible for All It”s Worth.) By Matt Proctor When we read one of these Hebrew narratives, we want to discover the author”s intended meaning. This guards us against imposing our own meaning on the text. How do we uncover the clues to the author”s intended meaning? I love Warren Wiersbe”s observation in The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament, “If you don”t talk to your Bible, your Bible isn”t likely to talk to you!” In other words, if you don”t ask the text

February 3, 2008

Christian Standard

God and Your Average Joe: Lessons from the Life of Isaac

By Mike Grooms The patriarch Isaac has been ignored by most as a sermon or study topic; there”s just not much to say about him. I”d never preached a sermon about him till a series through Hebrews 11 forced me to do so. I studied his life in Genesis, and frankly, he”s unremarkable. He”s always the supporting actor and never the star. He”s average, mediocre, and blasé. Yet he”s right there in Hebrews 11 with other Old Testament greats. I wondered why a boring, run-of-the-mill sort of fellow gets mentioned alongside superstars like Noah, Abraham, and Gideon. Isaac never did

August 21, 2005

Ken Read

Reflections on Israel

Reflections on Israel

Ken Read recounts a study tour in Palestine, reflecting on Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Bethesda—and on how these places reshape the way we picture the gospel story and respond in faith.

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