Adult II Couples Class
WELCOME
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Adult II Couples Class
Physical
-Marsha Trollinger
Surgery
Spiritual
-The Savages
-Lela Wofford
Practical
Church
Misc
 Benevolence Fund
 R.E.A.P. (E Team @ 3:45pm)
 Monthly Fellowships
 Discipleship University
 Men’s Discipleship Class
 Women’s Discipleship Class
 February
 World Religions (Mormonism)
 March
 Fly visit (??)
 April
 Easter Musical Rehearsals
 Dinner Out Friday (30 Mar)
 Widow’s Banquet (4 Mar)
 5th Sunday Breakfast (29 April)  Youth SNAC (11 Mar)
 Quarterly Service Project
 Wednesday night meal (14 Mar)
 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,  Spring Revival (29 Apr – May 2)
ends of the earth

Brad and Kim Savage care
package
Adult II Couples Class
QUESTION OF THE DAY
A PERSPECTIVE ON MODERN IDOLATRY
Iva May and Dr. Stan May
Creation
Patriarchs
Exodus
• Creation: God reveals His goodness and mercy
• Patriarchs: Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph
• Exodus:
• After several hundred years, God allowed His people to
come to a place of desperation as slaves of Egypt so
that they cried out to Him
• God heard their cries and acted in His own time to
deliver the Israelites, demonstrating His power and
glory through the plagues He sent on the Egyptians
• God watched over and cared for the Israelites during
their journey through the wilderness, and worked
through events and the giving of the law to shape them
into a nation that was holy to Himself.
While God reveals Himself to His servant, Moses, up on
Mt. Sinai, the Israelites demand a god of their own
making. They don’t want the God of Israel who is holy
and separate from sinners; they want a god they can
mold into their own image.
Man struggles to walk
with the one true God
by faith as the sin
nature creates a
desire to live
independently and
choose gods of our
own making.
The ‘god’ Israel Wants
Aaron responds to the
demands of the people
 Takes their golden earrings
 Fashions a golden calf and presents
it to the people
Proclaims, “This is your god,
O Israel, that brought you
out of the land of Egypt.”
 Aaron builds an altar for sacrifice
 The people present burnt offerings
to their new god
 Then they party
www.themegallery.
The ‘god’ Israel Wants
People of Israel want a God who is visible and…




Does not delay in responding to their command (vs1)
Has eyes but cannot see their immorality
Appears strong but lacks power to punish their sin
Present but does not require holiness (demand purity)
They want a god unable to interfere in their lives
 Allows them to express themselves sexually, immorally, and
without restraint
 Even in Jeremiah’s time, the people would demand a deity who
“saves” them so they can continue in their sin
• Jeremiah 7:8-10
The God Who Is…
Responds to the sins of His people
 Exodus 32:7-10
Sees all human activity
 It interrupts God’s conversation with Moses
 Their sin affects their relationship with God
• “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, ‘Go down at once, for
your people, whom you brought up from the land of
Egypt, have corrupted themselves.’”
 God determines to destroy Israel because of their
idol worship and misrepresentation of Himself to
the nations
www.themegallery.
The God Who Is…
Listens to the prayers of intercessors
 Exodus 32:11-14
 Moses reverses God’s disowning of Israel
Hears Moses’ prayer which is
based on three divine truths
 God’s relationship with His people (11)
 God’s reputation before the world (12)
 God’s remembrance of His covenant (13)
www.themegallery.
The God Who Is…
Establishes leaders to uphold His name
 Exodus 32:15-26
 Moses returns from the mountain to find the people in
empty revelry (vs.18–neither triumph or defeat)
 Moses takes action to hold the people accountable for their
sins
• Shatters the tablets of the law(19)
– Sign of the complete separation from God created by their
disregard for His holiness (violation of the first commandment)
• Pulverized the calf, made the people drink the powder(20)
• Holds Aaron responsible for Israel’s lack of restraint(25)
• Separates those who remain loyal to God from those guilty of
idol worship(26)
www.themegallery.
The God Who Is…
Allows for consequences to follow the
evil that men commit
 Exodus 32:27-35
 3,000 unrepentant
idolaters were slain
 God sent a plague on the
people because of their
idolatry
www.themegallery.
Conclusions
 Just like the people of Israel, modern men still want a god
who does not interfere with their lives
 Romans 1:21-25 - For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or
give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was
darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and fourfooted animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For
they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
 The creation of false gods is symptomatic of a declining culture
 Intercessors know God’s Word & appropriate His promises
 Even when God’s anger is turned by His desire to dispense
mercy rather than judgment, evil actions can still have
lasting consequences
What does this lesson teach about God? Man? Sin? Redemption?
• What was the catalyst that caused the
people to turn to idol worship? (vs. 1)
• How does this parallel the events in the
Garden when Adam and Eve first sinned?
• What affect did reverting to idol worship
have on the people?
• How does the image of God among many
Americans today contradict the Holy God of
the Bible?
A landmark study by sociologists
Christian Smith and Melinda Denton
identified the basic belief of American
teens as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”.
This describes a belief in a benign but
uninterested divinity who wants people
to be nice, have a personal peace, and be
prosperous. Such a religion is helpful but
not truly necessary. The study identifies
teens who hold to genuine Christianity
(as well as other religions), but the vast
majority of teens in the study adhered to
the tenets above.
 What one food was a person who took the vow of a Nazirite
strictly prohibited from consuming in any form?

“All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is
produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.”
(Num 6:4)
 How many elders did God command Moses to appoint as
assistants in his work of leading the people?

“The LORD therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men
from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the
people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting,
and let them take their stand there with you.” (Num 11:16)
 In what activity was the man engaged when he broke the law
of the Sabbath, resulting in a sentence of death by stoning?

“Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found
a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.” (Num 15:32)
 If a husband suspected his wife of being
unfaithful, what process could he require her to
go through in order to determine her guilt or
innocence?
a) Bring her to the tent of meeting along with the
prescribed sacrifice and inquire of the LORD
b) Call a meeting of the elders to hear testimony and
evidence against her to determine her guilt or
innocence
c) Bring her before the priest to swear an oath, then
drink holy water mixed with dirt from the floor of
the tabernacle
d) Declare in a loud voice, “I break with thee, I break
with thee, I break with thee.”, then throw dog poop
on her shoes
Adult II Couples Class
NEXT WEEK…..