bjcollin

Howdy, My name is Brian Collins. I live with my wife and 10 yo son in Plano Texas which is NE of Dallas. I was originally part of the very first JesusWalk online studies many years ago, but have been absent due to life and ministry happenings these last few years. It is good to be back in another JesusWalk online Bible study. Thank you Dr. Ralph Wilson for all you do in behalf of the online community for Jesus Christ. I look forward to a great study. in Christ, Brian Collins http://www.restorationoffaith.com/

Gideon showed God's power in action taking a stand for God against both baal and against the Midianites. Gideon influenced Israel in his life by turning them back towards God and away from other influences. The positive continuing effect of his leadership as judge is that the people stay with God until his death. (8:33)

Spiritual unfaithfulness is prostitution or adultery because as Jews/Christians we are joined with God as His bride and to leave Him for another is sin. The concept is that God created us and desires to have a relationship with us, but we all like sheep have gone astray. The spiritual adultery that I have faced in the past is idolizing pastors and other gifted leaders in the church and looking to them for access to God instead of looking to God in my own relationship with Him.

A snare is a trap. It shares them into the sin of idolotary which is breaking the first commandment. The essence of the sin for the Israelites was that they were worshiping something other than God whether it be the baals or the new ephod idol that Gideon set up. The essence of Gideon's sin is that he creates the graven image and allows it to be worshiped. He could have at any time just retired off of his spoils of war and destroyed the image, but he chose to leave it to be worshiped instead of God.

The Strongs Meaning of the word: 646 'ephowd {ay-fode'} rarely 'ephod {ay-fode'} probably of foreign derivation; TWOT - 142.1a; n m AV - ephod 49; 49 1) ephod 1a) priestly garment, shoulder-cape or mantle, outer garment 1a1) worn by an ordinary priest and made of white stuff 1a2) worn by the high priest - more costly, woven of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and linen threads provided with shoulder-pieces and a breast piece of like material, ornamented with gems and gold As was pointed out in the post that references the Jewish dictionary, there is some debate as the word clearly has more than one meaning as reference to an object. In some places it refered to the gold breastplate with stones on it that the high priest wore to help communicate with God. At any rate, it is an item made of gold, and it was something that he Israelites bowed down and worshiped to instead of God.

Gideon asks for gold earings which was a small portion of each man's spoils of war. Gold today is trading around $355/toz which Gideon's 19.5 kg (1kg = 32.15toz) would be worth about $222,558 today. I don't think that Gideon was wrong to take a portion of the spoils of war, but he was wrong in what he did with it. The sin begain when he decided to make what turned out to be an idol with the gold.

Gideon refuses to be king over Israel because the Lord will rule over Israel. Becoming a king would be treason because it would be exaulting himself over others and instead of the Lord as the rightful ruler. The Israelites didn't see it as treason because they didn't recognize any other ruler over them except for the Midianites and they had been vanquished at the hand of Gideon. This in their mind set Gideon as their ruler, not the Lord who was the real ruler. How blind they were.

Gideon slays Zebah and Zalmunna because they killed his brothers. In one sense Gideon is just in that God had given the whole Midianite camp in to his hand and here were the two Midianite kings finally in Gideon's hand. Also, these two kings had also killed his brothers which was a crime deserving of death. Gideon first orders his oldest son Jether to slay Zebah and Zalmunna, but he can't do it. The two Midianite kings then say 'As is the man, so is his strength.' Which means that as men we are only as strong as what we will do ourselves. Gideon then carries out the killing of Zebah and Zalmunna. In Romans 12:19, Christians are prohibited from taking vengeance because vengeance belongs solely to the Lord and it is not a loving attitude as Christ would have us portrait.

The cities of Succoth and Peniel refuse to aid Gideon's army because they know that he had already defeated the 120,000 army which were the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna the Midianite leaders. What more could Midian possibly do now? Why not let the two kings Zebah and Zalmunna and their measly remant 15,000 army live? Because Gideon had been given all of them. Succoth and Peniel were in essence protecting the enemy Midianite kings by refusing to render aid to their own brothers. The sin of Succoth and Peniel is refusal to give aid to their own brethern and refusal to assist in removing evil. I don't see the fear factor here in Succoth and Peniel as was presented in the exposition and in other posts here. I think the motivation is more of a "we don't want to get involved" active omission attitude and also an attitude of "haven't they had enough?" so we are going to punish you and control you by not rendering aid. Gideon is just under the Law to punish these cities. We as Christians are guilty of this sin every time we refuse to render needed aid to other Christians in need just because we don't agree with what they are doing or how they are doing it. I can also think of a few countries in this last Gulf War which carried these same attitudes, but I won't get into that here.

God had given the whole camp (7:14) into Gideon's hand, not just the 120,000 that had fallen so far. The whole 135,000 were to be vanquished, which left 15,000 to go. The danger we face is that when not dealing with the total problem is that it could come back to bite us again and again.

(See the maps at http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/12-tribes-i...israel-map.html and http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/paljudge.html ) Gideon had only called his neighbors to the north of the Jezreel valley and his own tribe which was around the Jezreel valley. In other words, he only called the closest neighbors. The tribes he called were Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali (6:34). Ephraim was his neighbors to the south in the hill country which is just north of Jerusalem. The fleeing Midianite army went south out of the Jezreel valley following the river Jordan and then turned east crossing the river Jordan and headed through the river valley toward Succoth and Peniel. This makes perfect sense if you are fleeing and want to meet up with the armies of the eastern peoples (8:10). Gideon asks the Ephraimites to hold their southern lands up to a certain point on the river Jordan, which forces the fleeing army to cross the river Jordan and turn east. The Ephraimites are angry because Gideon didn't call them in the first place to help him defeat the Midianites. Gideon tells the Ephraimites that their weakest harvest is better than his tribes best harvest which calms them down. In other words, you are so blessed so why be angry with me since I am not as blessed as you are. I learned that if we show God's blessings, the arrogance seems less desireable to hold on to.

Gideon divided the men into three companies of 100 men each to totally surround the Midianite camp. The strategy with the trumpets and empty jars and torches is a sudden surprise which puts the Midianites into a mass confusion and they begin slaying each other. The strategy worked because the Lord caused it to work (v22).

The eye, the hand, the foot, and the ear all serve very different functions in the body, but they should all love each other and work together because they are all parts of the same body. This kind of love will produce actions of giving up of ourselves for each other and feeding and careing for each other. We need to repent because we have been in sin and we need to start to do right actions.

The Holy Spirit washes us and clenses us through the Word to present us back to Jesus as radiant. This is an ongoing action, so it is both present and future when Christ comes back for His bride the church. I determine this because the language is in present tense. Christ sees us as His perfect bride both now and in the future, but we are still in the process of getting there in the present.

I think that God has used this "Vision for the Church" Bible study to help teach me more about Himself and about true compassion for the church which is His bride. Personally I need to work on compassion toward others and to see the church as God sees the church. This study has also helped me to more fully understand my position in Christ and where we stand in the heavenlies with Him.

I think the cleansing and purifying process is called sanctification and it is a process that we all go through in being made holy unto the Lord. Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-

The dictionary definition of holiness - Living according to a strict or highly moral religious or spiritual system; saintly: a holy person. As compared to the Easton Bible dictionary definition of holiness - in the highest sense belongs to God (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 15:4), and to Christians as consecrated to God's service, and in so far as they are conformed in all things to the will of God (Rom. 6:19, 22; Eph. 1:4; Titus 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:15). Personal holiness is a work of gradual development. It is carried on under many hindrances, hence the frequent admonitions to watchfulness, prayer, and perseverance (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 4:23, 24). (See SANCTIFICATION.) What a difference between the world view as religious bondage and a Godly view as consecrated unto Him. I think the holiness of the church is constituted both by the members working towards personal holiness and by the spiritual act of already being holy through Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us. Holiness is not just following the rules as laid out in the Bible or as laid out by the church. Holiness is being totally submissive and set apart unto God, the rules will get fulfilled as an aside by one who is holy. Romans 8:6 "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace"

Christ gave himself up for the Chruch in that He became human and he willingly gave himself to death on a cross to forgive our sins. It teaches us that God is ultimately committed to each of us in that He gave us his only son as a sacrifice for sin so that we may ultimately enter into a personal relationship with God. Alturistic is defined as unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness. Christ's sacrifice on the cross was definately alturistic from His standpoint and from God the Father's standpoint. The only thing that God desires from us is a relationship with Himself, which is the purpose that we were created for.

As each member of the body is submitted to each other and to Christ as the ultimate authority, we will have a church who is fully submitted to Christ. In personal practical experience, being submitted to Christ first means being saved, then it means submitting to His commands and teachings in the Bible such as baptism and others. It also means letting the Holy Spirit fill you and being submitted to His will. If each member of the congergation took seriously submitting their lives to Christ, we would have a lot less problems in churches than we currently have today. Christ is the head of the church in that He is the direction and the lead of the church. As the pastors and other members of the church are actively being submitted to His will and actively listening to His voice we will be doing His will on the earth.

To me the church whether it be in Paraguay, Germany, USA, or any other country for that matter all have the same problem in common... in general a lack of faith. Please don't get me wrong and misunderstand, as Christians we all have the amount of faith required for Salvation and putting our trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Then as we grow in Christ we have more faith for baptism and then for discipleship and then for other things. What I am talking about here is faith in measure, the kind of faith that will move mountains. For example, most of us are quick to say that we believe God can heal because we see many examples of it in the Bible, or we have met somebody who has been healed, or we have seen it on a TV program. Now try and translate this into believing that God WILL heal me or my loved one. You may try fasting and praying for a while, then you enlist the help of others to interceed and pray with you, then you may try laying on of hands by the elders with anointing oil, you may even try a trip to Israel for a dip in the river Jordan or a prayer in the Western Wall. The list goes on and on, and sometimes you feel that God doesn't want to speak to you or answer your prayer request for whatever reason like some past unknown and un-repentant sin or some other yet unknown reason. Why does God seem to work in power for seemingly so few? I believe that the big jump in the middle between "can" and "will" is faith. So then the question becomes how do I build my faith? I believe that the way to build our faith is through our choice of relationship and obedience to Jesus and through the Holy Spirit working through our lives. Something seems to have been lost in between the 1st-2nd century Church and the Church of the 21st century today, although it seems to be coming back more often through major movements of prayer and humbling ourselves before God. I just took healing as a personal example out of my own life, but I think this principle will work for any area in which we need God's touch in. I believe in faith that God is able and is willing to provide His power for us in the name of Jesus, we just need to be able to reach out in faith and receive it. I pray this post ministers to you aguayo and leads you toward the real goal which is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Contact me anytime via personal e-mail if needed. PS: I like the name aguayo it reminds me of Spanish for "yo" which means "I" and "agua" which means "water". So my brain roughly translated your name "I am water". Ref John 4:14, John 7:37-38. In Christ,

According to Ephesians 4:13-16 the purpose of constructing a healthy body is for each of us in the body to: 1. reach unity in the faith 2. mature in knowledge of Jesus Christ 3. atain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ 4. protection against false teachings/doctrines 5. in all things grow up into Christ 6. be a working part of the body of Christ.

The strategy is to equip the saints for the work of ministry so that they will each grow in their own walk with the Lord and take on the workload. If the pastors do everything and delegate nothing then it will be so overwhelming that they will get burned out quickly and in the end get nothing done. The more you equip properly, the more will rise up to be leaders and the less the pastor will have to work to look after them so that he/she can turn their attentions to other areas of need. The actions that equipping involves is discipling, baptizing, and teaching. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 'Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."' All of the offices of the 5-fold ministry listed in Ephesians 4:11 (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher) must work together as one with each of their unique gifts to equip the saints for the work of ministry and to achieve the goal of the Great Commission through discipling. In today's church I think we are strong in the teaching part, but I have yet to find a church that is strong in the discipling part. I believe that balance is needed, not to just have a pastor who is a pastor/teacher, or one who is a prophet or apostle, but balance in a plurality of leaders in the church all working in unity.

A Pastor/Shepard works to build up the body by protecting the sheep and healing the wounded sheep and guiding the sheep toward the greener grass. A Teacher works to build up the body by teaching/feeding the sheep. I think these are separate offices, but for the most part in our culture today the Pastor and Teacher end up being the same person in our churches. Anybody in the ministry of the church no matter how small of a role has a small measure of pastoral/teaching ministry and they are not ordained clergy. Their effect upon the body is sometimes just as much as influencial as the pastor in the pulpit. Small group leaders and Sunday school teachers each build up the body through pastoring/teaching in their own sphere of influence.

An evangelist in the local congregation is one who is always telling the Good News of the Gospel and seeing others added in to the local church body. They can sometimes function in the pulpit as pastors, they can sometimes function in the local body as outgoing people who are always sharing with other people. The evangelist builds up the body by adding newly found sheep who once were lost into the local body.

In my opinion Apostles build the body of the church in that they receive direct revelation and direction from God for the church. Prophets build the body of the church in that they receive direct revelation and direction from God for individuals and groups of individuals.