FEAST TALK SERIES FOR DECEMBER 2020

Guidelines for Feast Planter

Or Light Group Head
 
Ascend 
How To Encounter God
Talk 1: Provision and Promise
Talk 2: Rain and Rescue
Talk 3: Thorn and Thistles
Talk 4: The Mountain of God
 
DECEMBER 20, 2020
Talk 4: The Mountain of God
 
AT A GLANCE: 
         This is the last talk of our amazing series, Ascend.
We “climbed” three mountains so far: Eden, Ararat, and Moriah.
And today, we explore Mt. Sinai.
Talk 4 is titled The Mountain of God because Mt. Sinai is the Mountain
of God.
 In the other mountains, God met one guy or a bunch of guys.  But in
Sinai, God met an entire nation.  How wild is that?
          The key message of Talk 4 is“God will meet you where you are.” 
 
I.    REVIEW THE KEY BIBLE VERSES
Let’s skip Moses’ childhood and go to that point in his life when he was
already a shepherd in the wilderness.  One day, something extraordinary
catches his eye: He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to
Sinai, the mountain of God.  2  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.  
(Bible scholars say that the phrase “angel of the Lord” is shorthand for
“Yahweh’s human form”.  So, the bush was on fire because God was sitting
on that tree.)  Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed
in flames, it didn’t burn up.  3  “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why
isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” (Exodus 3:1-3 NLT)
       What’s the deal with the burning bush?
In Hebrew, it’s called the s’neh tree.  And the s’neh tree is spelled with
the exact same letters as “Sinai”.  You can almost see the Exodus writer
winking at you.  Can you take a hint?  The tree and the mountain are one.
You’ll see how important this later.  But there’s another hint that ancient
readers would have picked up which we modern readers would never get…
The Amazing Purpose of Tests
 S’neh and Sinai rhyme with the Hebrew word for “Test”.   Again,
another wink from the writer.  His not-so-hidden message? “Through this
Tree and Mountain, God will test you.”
“Test” in the Bible meant “God will reveal to you who you really are.”
 
II.   ASK FOR REACTIONS AND REFLECTIONS
 
Ask:
1. Were you ever scared of God? Why? Share.
2. Do you have an experience where God met you “where you are”—
who picked you up when you fell?   Please share.
3. Do you have an experience where you tried to tame God and make
Him Someone you can control?   Please share.
 
 
III. PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
     Pray the prayer for Talk 4:
       Lord, I meet You “as is, where is”.  I give myself to you with all my
strengths and all my sins.  With all my warts, wounds, and weaknesses. 
Come Lord, I need You.  I am not the Savior, You are.  Meet me.  Visit me. 
Change me.  In Jesus’ name!