The Wilderness
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 11:34AM Sermon Notes for Small Group Leaders
The Wilderness / Epic series
Pastor Jim Zippay
Feb. 4/5, 2012
1 Cor. 10:1-13
Outline
1. A solid beginning is still the best way to start.
2. But it doesn’t guarantee a strong finish.
3. Every wilderness tests the heart.
4. Four common tests/ trials/temptations:
Idolatry - wanting God to be different
Immorality - wanting God’s rules to be different
Trying - wanting God’s provision to be different
Grumbling - wanting God’s leaders to be different
5. If you don’t want to fall, you need to learn to lean.
Lean on the fact that your struggle is common.
Lean on the truth that God is still in control.
Lean on the expectation that your escape is certain.
Content
1. Life isn’t always lived in a straight line; it’s often one step back and two steps forward.
2. God rescued Israel from Egypt, but it was hard to get Egypt out of them.
3. Just as the wilderness part of the Exodus story is often left out, it’s the same in our lives. We tell people only the good, happy, successful parts of our lives. We don’t want people to know the bad things that happened, but those are the places that shaped us and where we saw God most clearly.
4. Our personal relationship with Christ is only one side of faith; community is the other side. When we become a part of Christ, we also become a part of His body. Membership makes a commitment that says we belong and helps us plug in somewhere. Making commitments and vows helps keep us from bailing out of a situation (church, marriage) during tough times.
5. Even if we have a good start in a certain area of life, we can waver, get sidetracked, fall off the wagon, etc.
6. In the wilderness, Israel complained and thought that being in Egypt wasn’t as bad as they had thought it was. In the same way, we can be enslaved to alcohol, pornography, etc, and have selective memory.
7. It takes maturity to willingly obey from the heart. It happens over time, through trials.
8. The calling on our lives, just as the Israelis’, is to be holy people, royal priests, God’s people. Just as pure gold comes out of fire, holiness comes from trials.
9. The root of trials is that we set our hearts on evil things. We don’t truly know our hearts and think they are better than they are.
10. God can’t be contained or controlled. What He’s revealed about Himself can’t be captured in any one image.
11. In the wilderness of a tough situation, we can think we need a distraction and it’s easy to compromise our values and morals. When we fall, there’s no such thing as “it just happened.” What were we doing in that situation/location in the first place?
12. Discontentment and complaining stem from ungratefulness and are rooted in the thinking that we deserve more or better. Only when we come to grips with what we really deserve will we see God’s provisions as pure grace.
13. Disagreeing with leaders/authority doesn’t release us from responsibility because authority is under God. Obeying the laws shows we believe that God is in control.
14. Even though God forgives us, there are still consequences to our actions.
15. Our responsibility in a wilderness is to look to see how we should respond. He might not take us out of the wilderness but He can keep us from falling if we ask Him for His help.
Aim
God allows us to go through wilderness times to shape us and help us grow. Remember that He knows the situation and won’t abandon us or let it bury us. Our situation might not change, but we can change through it.
Application questions
1. What have some backwards steps been in your life?
2. What are some signs of Egypt (past life) in you?
3. How open are you to telling people about bad parts of your life?
4. What have you done to help you feel plugged in at Heritage? Have you placed membership at Heritage?
5. What are some trials or tests that happened in your life that helped you grow?
6. Jim mentioned alcohol and porn as things that people are enslaved to. What other things enslave us?
7. When was a time you fell that would not have happened if you hadn’t been in a certain situation or place?
8. Do you tend to be thankful or complain a lot?
9. Are you going through a wilderness now? If so, what kind?
