Tips for Teaching This Week’s Session of The Gospel Project for Adults

Listen to this week’s leader training podcast with Y Bonesteele, team leader for The Gospel Project for Adults, for a summary and guidance in leading your group.

This week’s additional resources for study and preparation:

• Article: “Israel Puts Away Foreign Gods” by Ligonier
• Sermon: “Draw Near to God” by Thomas Schreiner
• Sermon: “Ebenezer” by Dick Lucas

Transcript of Leader Training Podcast:

Hi, this is Y Bonesteele, team leader of The Gospel Project for Adults. Welcome to another Leader Training podcast. Today we are in Unit 9, Session 4, God Restores His People, with the core passage of 1 Samuel 7:2-12 and the key concept of: God desires to restore His people because they have strayed from Him.

The context on page 150 of the Leader Guide gives us the perfect background. We’ve seen last week that the ark of the covenant was captured by the Philistines and God judged the Philistines. To be more specific, in 1 Samuel 5, when they brought it to the house of Dagon, their god, Dagon’s statue kept falling over and it got dismembered even. Then God sent tumors to plague the people, and eventually death. Wherever they tried to take the ark, God judged the people and they were in a panic, from Ebenezer to Ashdod, to Gath, to Ekron.

Then in chapter 6, we see God using the Philistine priests and diviners to tell them what to do, sending away the ark, led by cows with golden tumors and mice they had to make as a guilt offering. Very odd, but it did the trick. The cows walked straight to Beth-shemesh and the ark was returned to the Israelites. So the Philistines had the ark for about seven months before they returned it back to the Israelites after God judged them for it.

Now some of the people of Beth-shemesh did not take the ark of the covenant seriously, they did what they were not supposed to do—look inside. Because of it, God struck down seventy (6:19) of their men and they were able to realize, “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord this holy God?” (v. 20). They were starting to understand how holy God truly was. So they sent Levites to come get it and placed it in the house of Abinadab and consecrated his son, Eleazar to take care of it.

We thus get to today’s passage and it starts with letting us know that it’s been 20 years since the ark was taken to Abinadab’s house in Kiriath-jearim. In 7:2, after 20 years,  “the whole house of Israel longed for the Lord”, in contrast to the people mourning “because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter” back in 6:19. Samuel, thus, took the opportunity to lead the people back to right worship of God. Samuel knew that right worship and “returning to the Lord with all your heart” involves action, and 3 specific actions: first, getting “rid of the foreign gods and Ashtoreths;” second, setting their hearts on God, and third, worshipping only Him.

Because the thing is, the Israelites had gotten lazy in their worship; they’d gotten assimilated into the culture around them. And they took on the idols of the culture. But Samuel was telling them that returning to the Lord, with all your heart, meant getting rid of these idols. Even though, perhaps, some of these idols were valuable, made of precious metals even. Well, they were idols just the same and they needed to rid themselves of them. Yes, they knew they were to worship God, but they thought they could also worship other gods and other things. The Gospel Project Commentary on page 163 makes a parallel reference in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:22-24, where it says, “take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self.” Here we see the need when following God or returning to Him, to get rid, or take away, the things that are not of God, a purifying of our life so to speak.

Then setting their hearts on the Lord is literally, “fix, affix, or establish” their hearts on the Lord, committing to Him. When I think of something fixing itself to something else, I think of bricks and mortar, an establishing that sets something in place permanently to make a firm and strong foundation. Our hearts are to be fixed on the Lord with permanence, not able to crumble or break or slip. Getting rid of their idols, they were then to fix their hearts permanently to God, and then “worship only Him.” The imperative word here is the same as “serve.” The Bible usually uses these ideas interchangeably, to worship is to serve and to serve is to worship. It is much more than just singing or praising songs, although that is one small part of it. But returning to God with all our hearts, means serving Him, worshipping Him in service, and service only to Him. And Samuel told them, then, God would rescue them from the Philistines.

So what has helped you return to God when He has slipped from His first-place position in your heart and life? Some answers may include, a friend encouraging you back to God, maybe a worship song that calls you back. Maybe hitting rock bottom and realizing nothing is as good as being with God. All this is of course through the work of the Holy Spirit. But there are many things God can use to bring us back to Him, because the truth is, He really does love us and want a relationship with us. That’s how good God is. And He will try many means to get us back to Him.

What idols or sins might you need to confess to worship the Lord from a pure heart? Maybe we have been idolizing wealth or fame or a relationship or a dream. Maybe we have been putting first ourselves or our goals instead of God and His goals for us and for His kingdom. These are things we might want to confess to God about.

The Israelites had been living in apathy and sin and it’s unspoken, but through God’s providence, “the whole house of Israel longed for the Lord.” They realized that life wasn’t really satisfying without a pure devotion to God. So Samuel gave them instructions for right worship. And the Israelites responded. They obeyed. They “removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths and worshiped the Lord.

Then Samuel told them to gather at Mizpah and he would intercede on their behalf. He would pray to the Lord for them. And they did as he told as it was the beginning of Samuel’s leadership. And when they gathered at Mizpah, “they drew water and poured it out in the Lord’s presence.” Since it is followed with “they fasted that day, and there they confessed,” many commentators note the connection of self-denial, a water fast and a food fast to say we trust in the Lord fully, we submit to His sovereign hand. The Israelites confessed to the Lord with self-denial and acknowledged that they “sinned against the Lord.” And there, Samuel judged the Israelites as they repented and confessed.

Now the Philistines heard the Israelites gathered at Mizpah and marched up toward them to attack. The Israelites were afraid because last time they were defeated because they relied on their own plans. This time they knew Samuel was chosen by God and they asked him to continue to cry out to God so that He would save them. Samuel did as they asked. He took a young lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord (v. 9). Just as a reminder, a whole burnt offering was the burning of a whole animal without blemish, with instructions seen in Leviticus 1:3-17. In so doing, the sins of the people were symbolically placed, transferred, or imputed onto the animal. In the same way, our sins were imputed, transferred onto Christ on the cross, as His righteousness was imputed, transferred onto us, as believers.

So while Samuel was making this burnt offering, the Philistines approached to fight. But God answered Samuel’s cries, confusing the Philistines and the Israelites were victorious. Samuel then set up a stone to memorialize the victory, calling it Ebenezer, the stone of help.

The Israelites learned their lesson from last time. They followed God’s plans instead of their own. They went to God in prayer through Samuel.

What role does prayer have in your obedience to the Lord? Sometimes we come to prayer late or not at all. But if we remember that God is in control of it all, of everything, we would naturally come to Him in prayer first. We would know that He knew what was going on and would work things out according to His will. With everything, we should come to God in prayer.

And like the Ebenezer stone, what helps you to remember how God has blessed you in the past? Maybe it’s reading your past journal entries, maybe you have pictures of an event that reminds you of God’s faithfulness. Maybe its notes in your Bible. If you don’t have a way to remember God’s faithfulness, start thinking of different ways you can remember His goodness.

Onto the Group Experience. For the icebreaker, prepare beforehand to bring an item or pictures of an item restored, before and after pictures if you can. If you can’t think of anything or you don’t have anything, ask your group, “Does anyone have an item or room that they have restored and can you describe the before and after of that restoration?” Go into the Context Transition pointing out that restoration of items can be fun and satisfying but it takes work and effort. When restoring faith, that takes work and effort and it starts with repentance. Give context, Summarizing the journey of the ark of the covenant. Then Recap the week’s session by asking the group what stood out in their study and if there are questions. Summarize and fill in any gaps with your own notes of study.

In the Group Activity, draw a stone on the board as you note the steps of repentance and restoration. Read through verses 7:2-12. Note that twenty years had passed and share or ask someone to share about a time when someone in your group spent an extended time away from following the Lord.

Then as a group, identify the steps Samuel prescribed and the Israelites followed. Answers are at the bottom of page 157 of your Leader Guide: Whole-hearted repentance and getting rid of foreign gods (v. 3); intercessory prayer (v. 5); fasting and confession (v.6), focus on God (v.8), sacrificial offering (v. 9); bold obedience (vv.10-11) and choosing to remember God’s deliverance (v.12).

This isn’t in the Leader Guide, but consider asking which of these are easy to do and which are harder?

Don’t skip the Insight section in the Leader Guide, pointing out that God heard Samuel’s prayer as well as the Israelites’ and His answer was to prove His presence and power in the midst of their problem.

Draw attention to Pack Item 12: The Lord has Helped Us poster and pass out Pack Item 33: Reminders of God’s Faithfulness. Note how God’s people in history used various ways to remember and celebrate God’s faithfulness from altars, to memorials, festivals, and more.

For the Debrief questions: From p. 126 of the Personal Study Guide, What steps of repentance might you need to take at your present time? Have your group look at the list they’ve just written down from the passage and pick one aspect they need to maybe work on. Also ask, How do you think the stone impacted the faith of the Israelites for the rest of their lives? It was a visual reminder, whether they were near it and saw it often or not, that God was present with them and heard their cries and saw their repentant hearts. They could remember the symbolic stone as a stone of help. What reminders help you to remember God’s faithfulness? They can look back and use the answers from their study this week.

End, summarizing the session and key concept and in the Head, Heart, Hands section, focus on the Head question if time is limited: How have you needed someone to guide you back to God or to guide you in a specific discipline? Your group could use examples of a parent or relative, friend or pastor. In the Next Steps, focus on having people assess their own walks, their own time of confession, or their use of remembering. Maybe consider having them focus on one of those areas that they are light on.

And if you have time, have your group quietly read, as a time of quiet reflection and prayer, Psalm 38. If time is limited, encourage your group to read Psalm 38 on their own. It’s such a sweet and powerful prayer of repentance and confession.

Hey thanks again for joining me on another Leader Training podcast. Reach out at [email protected]. And hope you have a great group time!