What Is This Fellowship Experiment And Do I Want To Be Experimented On? by Anita Wilson

The Fellowship Experiment (theFX) is a 6 week Bible study, Sunday evenings 6:00 pm, beginning August 16th, 2015 through September 27th, 2015 at Brian and Sandy Durnell's home.  The study will focus on the plural Hebrew names of God.  The first week we will talk about the great "I Am" , Jehovah".  The remaining five weeks we will look at the Old Testament and see how the name of God is used in such a worshipful way by saying WHO he is with WHAT he does. ( For example.  Jehovah Jirah  Means The LORD who provides.)  Names had such deep meaning to ancient Hebrews!

But wait there is more.... 



The Fellowship Experiment (theFX) came about through a prompting of the Holy Spirit on my heart. A few weeks ago my senior pastor delivered a message entitled "A Holy Ambition".  It was about young King Josiah's reign and how he kept making decisions for God as he continued to mature in his role as King.  The pastor challenged the congregation to pay attention to what God may be challenging us to do and to take some ambition to do it.  And right then and there the Holy Spirit started nudging and poking at my heart.  That night I had a dream about a verse in the Bible.  When I woke from that dream, it was a very strong call on my heart to do a 6 week Bible study formatted on that verse.

I was thinking ,"wow!  I haven't led anything or taught anything for over 6 years......"but I knew I had to be faithful.  I've been taking baby steps for the last 2 years since attending Heritage and this was, well, not a baby step.

I didn't know where the verse I dreamed  of was until I went to THE GOOGLE.  The verse is I Corinthians 14:26.  From verse 26 to the end of the chapter Paul is instructing the Corinthians to conduct orderly worship services, but theFX is loosely based on just verse 26.  In this verse Paul begins the orderly worship instructions by stating that when you gather together everyone has a hymn, or word of instruction, or revelation, or a tongue with corresponding interpretation to share it for the purpose of strengthening the church (each other).

Here is how The Fellowship Experiment (theFX) will work, and I'm sure you will want to be a part of it.... Each week the format of our time together will be based on what each person brings to the group time to share - a song, poem, scripture, testimony, journal entry, etc.  To help engender sharing each person will have 2 assignments every week:

1. Pay attention to how God has revealed himself to you during the week
2. Take efforts to advance the Kingdom Of God in some fashion (share the gospel, spread kindness, joy, service or sacrifice.)

It is my thought if we live the week with these 2 things in mind we will come together on Sunday evenings with an abundance of things to share together.

We will also pray out loud together and in a prayer posture of your choice. This may stretch some people.  We aren't used to having our voices heard by others, but this an experiment, remember.

We will also spend time in Scripture, as explained above. My father, a retired pastor, and I will be tag teaming the teaching.

At the end of the 6 weeks.  We will evaluate to see if we want the experiment to continue.

I'm excited about theFX.  I hope you are too!!!!  Feel free to invite someone.  If we crowd out Sandy and Brian's house, I'm sure we will figure it out.

Please email me or Facebook me with any questions.  You can call me too, but if you know me at all, you know that is the most unreliable way to get in touch with me....

God bless you all
Anita Wilson

I Missed The Experiment What Can I Do? What CAN I Do?

Don't despair!  You did miss out on the fellowship part  BUT All the Bible studies are right here. Following are some suggestions on different ways to utilize these studies. You could take the big dive grab your Bible start at Lesson 1 and go through Lesson 7. But in case you are looking for some other ways here a a few suggestions:

• Read "What This Fellowship Experiment Is..." and start a group of your own. Feel free to pirate my concept for your own Fellowship Experiment and use without permission every word of the Bible studies myself and Pastor Sam placed on this blog. 
• Quick Study  
• Lesson 2 - "Discovering the Names of God In Psalm 23" provides you with a list of synopsis of 8 names/titles of God that can be found in the famous Psalm. The first, Jehovah Ra'ah - The Lord Is My Shepherd is a direct translation the other 7 are extrapolated and applied by the meaning of the verses as a form of introduction.
• Lesson 3 - "Introducing more Names and Titles of our LORD" is a simple listing of 15 titles of God and the scriptures their direct translations are found in.
• Targeted Studies:
• Jehovah and the tetragrammaton YHWH - Lesson 1
• Jehovah Rapha  The Lord That Heals - Lesson 4
• Jehovah Nissi The Lord Is My Banner - Lesson 5
• Jehovah Mekkodishkom I AM the Lord who sanctifies you. - Lesson 6
• Jehovah Shalom The Lord Is Peace - Lesson 7

My contact information is on this site. The best way is a text message.  You can also comment on this post.  God Bless you in this grand experiment of Life in Christ.

Anita

7- Jehovah Shalom (The LORD is peace) by Anita Wilson

Jehovah Shalom


As with each of the names, or titles of God, Jehovah Shalom was ascribed by a human being who had an amazing, life altering experience with the creator.  The name of the man who ascribed "Shalom" to Jehovah was Gideon. Most understand that "Shalom" means peace, but in actuality it has a much deeper meaning than just that one word can hold.  


As we dive into this story in Judges 6 we will discover this meaning and find out about the beginning of the journey of a mighty warrior when God calls him to his very first assignment.

We will go through Judges 6:1-24 in sections of verses as we lead ourselves to the name Jehovah-Shalom.

*V1  Again The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

AGAIN! It seems Israel cannot break this pattern of "doing evil in the sight of the LORD".  If you are familiar to this story you think of this evil as complaining or being ungrateful.  They were doing so much more than that. But how about God calling them a nation of prostitutes as he does in a contemporary piece of scripture. That's how God actually felt. Their continued worship of other gods. Their continued breaking of the very first commandment made God feel like the children he loved were prostituting themselves instead of prostrating themselves in worship.

In v1 we see that God had just let them reap what they had sewed by giving them over to the hands of the Midianites. Later in the chapter we will read that the Midianites and others were completely decimating the nation of Israel. Stealing all their harvest, livestock, any livelihood they could.  The Israelites were hiding in caves.

Years earlier, though, Israel almost destroyed the Midianites during their wandering years.  In fact they were supposed to completely destroy them.  

Numbers 31:31 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord’s vengeance on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.” 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.

7 They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, 12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.

13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.

15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

19 “Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives. 20 Purify every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.”

I placed the entire section here to show the magnitude of the commands that God gave to Israel in regards to the Midianites. I never fully understand this type of vengence. I think it is we simply live in a much safer world now than 4,000 or so years ago. It was a cut throat, get them before they get you kind of life.  But I am in awe of God and how he protects his children.  I'm pretty glad I'm one of his beloved.

It's a long passage to read but it makes a significant point.  It seems the nation was obedient to God's command. However, if certain individual citizens were not obedient to these difficult commands of God, was the nation truly obedient? I wonder why years later the Midianites are so powerful? IF God's instructions were followed by everyone years earlier there would be NO MIDIANITES left and Israel would not be experiencing this terrible problem AGAIN.

*V2-6 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the cropsall the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

This is what I referred to earlier, the extreme oppression, hiding any place for safety, invasion, ruining their crops, not sparing any living thing...ravaged...impoverished...without hope for 7 years.  The Midianites are mentioned in the first verse but here we see that it was all nomadic tribes. They all survived off ravishing settlements the Midianites and Amalekites had reason to secure revenge against Israel.


The most significant thing about v6 is the last line 

"they cried out to the Lord for help"


*V7-10 7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am theLord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

Here we see the immediate grace and mercy of our God.  They finally turned to their true God and cried for help and immediately God sends a prophet.  Today we have the Holy Spirit and scripture to hear God's voice but in Old Testament times God used men in the office of Prophet who would directly deliver God's word to people.  

This prophet was a human man who went directly to the people.  Later we will see an "angel of the LORD" that talks to Gideon.  This is a different being from the prophet we read about in these verses.  The prophet's message was reminding the nation of their sin.  What was it? They were worshiping the gods of the Amorites.

The highest deity of the Ammorites was Ba'al.  Ba'al required sacrifices of food, all types of food.  God also required sacrifices of food as well.  They were ritualistically still sacrificing but to the wrong god.  Interestingly enough it was their food that was being ravaged.  You can give and give and give, but if energy is given to the wrong thing the gift is absolutely useless and there is not power in the sacrifice.

*V11-12 11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Here we see a second helper in response to Israel's cry for help. This helper is called "The angel of the LORD".  This title is repeated often in the Old Testament and most theologians agree that this is an appearance of the second person of the Trinity before he became flesh; Jesus.  The Greek term for this is called a Theophanes.  So God himself  showed up to talk to one individual, Gideon.

Gideon was found threshing wheat in a wine press, hiding from the Midianites to protect the food. A wine press was a hole in the ground and threshing wheat in a hole would be quite uncomfortable.  Separating the wheat from the chaff in a hole would be very dusty, so I imagine Gideon came up for air and met the "Angel of the LORD" in the garden who informed this young farmer that he was a mighty warrior.

*V13 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now theLord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Gideon was expecting some mighty miracles to be happening, like all the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the people who died touching the Ark of the Covenant... Why Lord? He asked.  He was wanting God to just do his thing.  Perform some big miracle and BAM it would all be over. Gideon never put it together that it was Moses' obedience that was the instrument  and Moses' body that was the vehicle of those miracles.  The Angel of the LORD was saying "you-Mighty Warrior" because God needs another instrument, another vehicle, another deliverer.

Here comes my favorite line in this scripture...

*V14 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

The LORD told Gideon to "Go in the strength you have".  Wow there is more than one way to think about that.  Gideon what is the strength you have?  Your own abilities, gifts, talents and strengths.  NO!   Gideon the strength you have is all the power of the creator of the universe, because he is sending you and he is riding shotgun.

Friend what strength do you have? We have the very power of his Resurrection! Have you ever thought about that? The Holy Spirit actually resides within us. He doesn't ride shotgun anymore.  So God calls you GO WITH THE STRENGTH YOU HAVE!  He wouldn't make a mistake.  He doesn't call the unqualified, He qualifies the called.

*V15-16 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” 17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah[a] of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

As most of the Bible people we read about when they are called, Gideon was not real confident that he was the right guy.  The LORD said I'll be with you and you will have complete success.  But Gideon's faith needed some support after all it would have been since he was a child that he and his family had worshiped the one true God, if they did at all.

Even though Gideon was assured again that the Angel of the LORD would be with him he needed proof that he was the man for the job; that he was the "mighty warrior".  It is interesting that the proof he brought was an offering.  He had seen Israelites offer precious food of a starving people at the feet of statues of Ba'al just to see it rot.  Gideon wanted to see if this was really the one true God.  What would HE do with a sacrifice?  Would it be a waste of time, resources and energy? Would it even be appreciated? So Gdeon prepared an offering. I assume remembering best he could from his childhood years, because it wasn't exactly right...

*V20-22 20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

As you can see Gideon made mistakes and added broth and since there was broth, well that means he also cooked the meat. However, the Angel of the LORD was patient and gave Gideon instructions on how to properly worship God through sacrifice.  It is quite apparent Gideon had no idea what to do.  He's just standing there with a pot of goat stew and some bread in front of the Angel.  If you sacrifice to Ba'al you put it at his feet.  Gideon probably figured he would just hand it over.  

Knowing this you can see so much tenderness, patience and grace in the Angel's actions.  Gideon really screwed it up.  Wrong kind of goat.  The goat? He didn't bring it live. Nope. He skinned it, butchered it and cooked it.  He brought along the gravy. He got the bread right though.  Gideon tried very hard.  He did his best in procuring the food.  It was a true sacrifice considering he butchered a goat. It could have been his family's dinner that night.  But the Angel of the LORD simply waited patiently.  The Angel of the LORD never pointed out any part of the sacrifice that was wrong.  He did nothing to indicate that Gideon should have known what to do next.  How wonderful our God is! We can screw up something as big as a sacrifice but he knows our hearts and he is gentle and kind.

Then when the Angel of the LORD touched the sacrifice with the staff and it was consumed by fire the Angel of the LORD disappeared.  At that moment, Gideon realized he was in the presence of the one true Sovereign Lord. Unlike Ba'a'l, this was no lifeless false god. This Sovereign Lord was loving and had real power to accept a sacrifice. Every time Gideon saw Ba'al he certainly couldn't talk to him.  He had no power to indicate he accepted the sacrifices. They always just sat there...wasted food.  One thing for sure there was no life in those carved eyes... that always stared off into the distance never looking at his worshipers No! this was Jehovah who has mercy and power and Gideon had just seen him face to face. He had looked him in the eyes and saw reality, and his faith grew.

To be in the presence of God is no small thing.  Every instance is marked by fear.  I feel it would be not a horrifying fear, but a reverent-awe-filled-I'm so small fear.  I can't wait to experience this fear for myself!

*V23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

God is now speaking directly to Gideon here.  Remember the Angel of the LORD disappeared.  The first word God says to him is "Peace".  I can imagine Gideon's emotions being like a storm and God, speaking into it saying "Peace, be still".  Notice that God points out the one fear that Gideon has that is holding him back. God says to him "You will not die" . Gideon wasn't afraid that he had never led an army before, or he would be needed to work the farm, or he would have the right skills, his greatest fear was....death.

Gideon found his faith again through his experience with the Angel of the LORD. Gideon's fear of death was conquered during a talk with God. Those experiences brought so much Peace to him he wanted to memorialize this occasion by building an altar. Which is an interesting and perfect memorial to choose. It's a place to do a proper sacrifice. Once completed he named it Jehovah Shalom, The Lord Is Peace.  

More About Shalom

Shalom has evolved culturally since Gideon's day into a greeting. Perhaps it was because it was the first word God said to Gideon? But it is not just a simple substitute for Hello.  It is also not just phrase saying "peace to you".  Because of this story in Judges 6 Shalom actually means "Peace to you, may all be as God designed it to be."    

*If the Midianites were completely destroyed as God designed Israel would not be hiding and starving.
*If Israel had obeyed the first commandment, "You shall have no other Gods before me." as God designed, they would not be in this predicament.
*Because Israel turned to God in sincere prayer he immediately responded, as God designed it, with mercy, grace and a plan, 
*Gideon obeyed, trusted, had faith and as God designed it, he became a mighty warrior who would lead the way to free the people.

God has specific designs for us how we should live our lives. These are not rules to make us pious or dampen our lifestyle but to make us happy, connected to our creator, better to each other, more content....how about this...a well spring of water bubbling up into everlasting life....joy unspeakable and full of glory....God is able to do more than you can imagine.  

If there is an area in your life that is causing you a great deal of pain, it is likely because you did not follow God's design. We all foul it up like Gideon's sacrifice. God is patient, gracious and he knows how to build just the right exit ramps in his design to get us back on track.

I would like to help if I can. I can at send you relevant scripture, pray for you and recommend other reading resources.

So what goat gravy did you have to pour out?
Hurting relationship?  God has a design for that.
Dating?  God has a design for that.
Addiction? God has a design for that.
Chronic illness? God has a design for that.

Just think of the PEACE that you would have if ALL in your life was just as Jehovah Shalom has designed it to be.

Anita Wilson