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COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY 7: COME WITH US AS
WE GO WITH GOD
Moses invites his brother in law on the journey of following God to the
Promised Land. He says,
“Come with us and we will treat you well, for
the Lord has promised good things to Israel.” (Numbers 10:29)
We can only
invite people onto the journey that we are on ourselves. A person or a church
that isn’t seeking to follow Jesus’ presence has nothing to offer except death
in the desert! And we will only invite people on a journey that that we are
genuinely enjoying and know to be good for them.
Read Numbers 10:29-36 and pray that God will speak to you out of
this passage.
DISCUSS:
ALL ARE INVITED TO ‘COME WITH US’
I hope, like Moses you are excited about following Jesus. Such people
will make the invitation to others.
·
What is Moses’ brother in laws’ response to
Moses’ invitation and what can we learn from Moses about encouraging Christians
and unbelievers onto the journey with God?
·
Why are people reluctant to follow God or
become Christians and how can one help to overcome this?
·
Let’s invite people to ‘come with us’. How
active are you at inviting Christians into your life and Community Group? (If
we don’t love our brothers and sisters we are unlikely to invite have
compassion beyond the church!)
WE DO GOOD ONLY AS WE GO WITH GOD
Israel were to follow God – as the cloud moved they moved. Moses could
promise good to his brother-in-law to the extent that they followed God. A
church that doesn’t follow Jesus cannot do true good.
·
How can we ensure that we continue to
‘journey’ with God?
·
In what ways will it do us good as we follow
God?
·
How will our following God do good to the
community around us?
·
How does CCP or your CG do good to the those
around us and how could we grow in this?
Stories from
the Journey
For as long as I can remember
I've had a difficult relationship with my mum. It wasn't that we didn't get on,
it was more that we were so similar that we clashed a lot. I dealt with this by
mostly staying independent and limiting my time spent with her, this seemed to
work quite well until my Dad had an affair and brought the house down on my
family relationships. My mum then suddenly wanted constant communication with
me, and rightly needed me through some difficult times. I didn't understand
why, but I hated her for it, with a real deep hatred, and we would often get
into fights. It was a viscous cycle because as soon as we'd have a fight I'd
condemn myself for being a bad Christian and a bad witness, and try to patch
things up. This only made me scathe even more! I went to the elders in a pretty
bad place, and they encouraged me to commit to praying about this properly, and
get a few people alongside me to do the same. God completely changed the
situation. He led me, through some friends, to make changes in our
relationship, and helped me to see things with God's perspective. God showed me
some wrong thinking on my part, and opened up some wounds that I'd covered up
and tried to ignore. Over the course of a couple of years God completely
redeemed our relationship and now I couldn't love my mum more! I've been able
to love my mum for who she is, and know God's blessing over that relationship. It
can only be a work of the Spirit and a very big and complex answer to prayer at
that. God knows and loves and cares and redeems. I'm now praying my mum would
come to know the Lord Jesus for herself! He can do it! (Anonymous)
DAILY PERSONAL BIBLE DEVOTIONAL WEEK 7 – NUMBERS 10
MONDAY: LISTEN FOR THE TRUMPET OF GOD
Numbers 10:1-7 The Lord said to Moses: “Make two trumpets of
hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for
having the camps set out. When both are sounded,
the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of
meeting. If only one is sounded, the leaders—the heads of the clans of
Israel—are to assemble before you. When a trumpet blast
is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. At
the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The
blast will be the signal for setting out. To gather the assembly, blow the
trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out.
God
requires them to make two trumpets to use to communicate God’s leading to the
people. They were used for 5 reasons: gathering the people, gathering the
leaders, to set out, in battle, and during worship.
The
church is to follow the voice of God – listen to the ‘trumpet’ and follow. The
Holy Spirit speaks in many ways but principally through His word, prophets and
inner promptings. Pray for God’s guidance on the church and that we would have
hearts to listen and go. God invites us to ‘go with Him and He will do us good’
but that good comes to those who will obey rather than go their own way.
TUESDAY: FOLLOW OUR HIGH PRIEST
Numbers 10:8-9 “The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This
is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. When you
go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing
you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by
the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies.
It was
the priests who called the people to action through the trumpets. We often look
to politicians, secular councilors, self-help proponents, business leaders… Jesus
is our high priest who leads by His Spirit. Will we allow our lives to be led
by Jesus, through His word often delivered through leaders? Where will we
principally seek to get our guiding wisdom?
WEDNESDAY: IT’S TIME TO GO/IT’S TIME TO STAY
Numbers s 10:11-13 On the twentieth day of the
second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the
tabernacle of the covenant law. Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of
Sinai and travelled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert
of Paran. They set out, this first time, at the Lord’s command through
Moses.
After
nearly a year at Sinai the journey begins again; they were on their way to the
Promised Land! God leads us through different seasons; some are static and
others more active. There are times to move city or nation, there are times to
stay still; there are key moments of marriage, having a child, a new job, a new
school… but much of life is routine. Let’s enjoy all of life and not be
addicted to the new – it’s not activity or the new that satisfies, it’s God
Himself.
THURSDAY: GO AHEAD OF US
Numbers 10:17, 21 Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and
Merarites, who carried it, set out… Then the Kohathites set out, carrying
the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.
The
temple workers (Levites) were to carry this portable temple. God’s presence was
at the heart of this community and teaches us to ask God to be with us and go
before us; May His presence ‘be set up
before we arrive’, ask for him to go ahead into your day. Let Moses prayer
by our prayer,
Exodus 33:15 “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up
from here.
FRIDAY: COME WITH US
Numbers 10:29 Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite,
Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which
the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will
treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel. He
answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own
people.” But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp
in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. If you come with us, we will
share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.”
Moses
desires that his relative also enter into the Promised Land and blessings of
God. Let’s pray and look for opportunities to encourage Christians and share
the gospel with unbelievers, that we would have a heart like Moses.
Let’s
also pray for ways that we can do good. God is gracious to all, and we show Him
as we serve others.
Matthew 5:16 let your light shine before others, that they may see your
good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
SATURDAY: PROTECT AND EMPOWER
Exodus 10:33-36 So they set out from the mountain of
the Lord and travelled for three days. The ark of the covenant of
the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a
place to rest. The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when
they set out from the camp. Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Rise
up, Lord! rest, he said,
“Return, Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel.”
They
follow the presence of God represented by the cloud and ark. Moses’ prayer is
reminiscent of what we read in the Lord’s Prayer,
Matthew 6:13 And lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Let us
pray for God’s protection against enemies and for His presence to be more and
more evident in us and the church of God – “Return Lord!”
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