Dead and Gone Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Dead and Gone ------------------------------------- Date: 4/8/2002 Keywords: "admire" "faith" "follow" "lead" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Judges 8:28-35* 28. So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon. 29. Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. 30. Now Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. 31. And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 32. And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33. Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. 34. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; 35. nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon), in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel. Questions 1. Do you have a role model in your life?   2. If so, how dependent are you on that role model's success? If not, who or what do you look to for achieving success?   Practical help Gideon was a man who ultimately demonstrated "championship" faith in God — after all, he made the all-star team of the faithful (See Hebrews 11:32). Yet he had his failings (see yesterday's study). All in all, the people of Israel did well under his leadership, and they followed his lead in following God. But they mostly followed his lead. When he was dead and gone, so was their desire to follow God. Why? This is a recurrent theme in Scripture. God raises up a person with character traits worthy of emulation and accomplishes something great for His purposes — the main one being the example set by that person in acknowledging God as the source of achievement. When we become enamored with the success of an individual (or even an organization) it's easy to let that success become the source of our faith. But what happens when that success turns to failure or just disappears? We at eXXit have often encouraged you to look for and capitalize on the success of others who are winning the battle against porn. Today's exhortation is that you look beyond the success to its source. Always seek to find why it worked. If you don't find it tied to God's power and mercy then don't hang your hat on it. Otherwise, too soon it (and your success) will be dead and gone. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---