Make your mind up! We have all said or at least thought this when someone is wavering about a decision. The Bible speaks about those who are double minded, not being able to make a decision. Or, those whose opinion is based on something they recently heard. They don’t have a sound, stable mind.
Israel was double-minded.
Elijah said they were faltering between two opinions.
1 Kings 18:21
Just before Elijah had his contest with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, he spoke to the people there.
What question did he ask them?____________________________
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Circle “if” in your Bible.
What were the choices?__________________________________
Why do you think the people did not answer him?______________
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The Hebrew word for “falter” comes from a root word that means to hop, implying hesitation.
Could it have been that they were double-minded? They knew they should follow God but also wanted to worship Baal as some of those around them did (the “cool” and accepted thing to do).
Are we like that today? Would we “answer not a word” because we know we should follow God and worship Him; so we do “our duty” on Sunday morning. But then we step back into the world on Monday and go with the flow of our friends, co-workers and fellow students. Never standing up for our faith and never demonstrating our faith (loving our enemies, setting an example in speech and in dress). Make up your mind…How long will YOU “falter between two opinions?”
2 Kings 17:33
Did Israel fear the Lord?__________________________________
What would have been involved in “fearing the Lord?”___________
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Circle the word “yet” in your Bible.
What two things is the writer comparing?_____________________
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How did the writer say that they worshipped their own gods? According to___________________________________________
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The Israelites from the northern kingdom had been carried away to Assyria, all except the poor Israelites. They were left behind. In this passage he writes specifically about Samaria. The King of Assyria had sent Babylonians and others to populate this part of Israel.
The people living there were worshipping the Lord on their own terms and also worshipping other gods. The sad thing is that the foreigners who were sent to live there were able to use the high-places and temples that were already there to worship their foreign gods.
When we give place to worldly things, we are having fellowship with “unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11). God wants us to be distinct people, not conformed to the world around us (Rom. 12:1-2).
2 Kings 17:39-41
Who were they to fear?___________________________________
Notice the word “however” and “but” and circle them in your Bible.
What two things does God accuse them of doing in verse 40?
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Why would their children and grandchildren continue to worship idols?
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What needs to happen for this cycle of idolatry to stop?__________
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Are we teaching our children to have fellowship with the world or fellowship with God and His people?
Hosea 7:8
“Ephraim” was used by some of the prophets to represent the whole of Israel (they were the largest tribe in the northern kingdom).
What happens when you mix an egg with milk? Neither is pure anymore, you have neither pure milk nor pure egg.
Who did Ephraim (Israel) mix themselves with?________________
What was the harm in this?_______________________________
Hosea describes them as a “cake unturned.” Think of a pancake. When you pour it on the griddle the bottom is cooked but the top is still batter. For it to be edible you must turn it to cook the top side.
They did not want to wholly worship the Lord, they were of a double-mind, not completely cooked, pretending to be “good.”
Hosea 10:2
What was “wrong” with the heart of Israel?___________________
What will God do to their altars and sacred pillars?______________
Jesus used a tomb to illustrate the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees.
Matthew 23:27
What did Jesus say the scribes and Pharisees were like?_________
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How do these tombs “appear”?_____________________________
What is inside these tombs?_______________________________
He uses this illustration to describe them as hypocrites.
How is a hypocrite double-minded?_________________________
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In the next lesson we will look at why being double-minded makes God angry.