How often do we pour our energy and time into things that add no real value to our lives? Just like during “The Gold Rush” when so many chased after what turned out to be fool’s gold instead of the real thing. In our culture, where we want everything right now, don’t trade the real riches of God’s promises for immediate gratification!
Notes 📓✏️:
“Gold in the Ground”
“Fool’s Gold”
How easy it is to pursue what glitters and miss what’s truly gold.
“The Gold Rush”
“[Moses] stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”Exodus 24:18 (NIV)
“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron [High Priest] and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”Exodus 32:1 (NIV)
When God seems slow, our hearts start shopping for substitutes.
What makes this worse is that our culture is hooked on hurry.
God’s never late. He’s just not on our schedule.
What we do with delay reveals our spiritual maturity.
Messed up Math:
100 divine blessings + 1 unanswered prayer = 1 unanswered prayer
Most of the time, that substitute god is something the REAL God gave us.
“Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.”Exodus 32:2-4a (NIV)
“The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.”Exodus 12:35–36 (NIV)
It is amazing how stingy we can be with God and how generous we are with our idols.
Americans: “I don’t have much I can give to God.”
Also, Americans: “Look at what I bought for my front yard!”
Delay can create distortion.
“Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”Exodus 32:4b (NIV)
God’s people credited their creation with their salvation.
Do you think I am important?
Do you see my value?
“YES”
“When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”Exodus 32:5-6 (NIV)
“This [verse] shows that the creation and the worship of the golden calf was not a conscious rejection of the LORD. Aaron and the rest of Israel probably thought that they could give honor to the LORD through the golden calf. Aaron was not crass enough to say, “Let’s do away with the LORD God.” As Israel saw it, Aaron didn’t take away the LORD God; he simply added the golden calf.”
Pastor David Guzik
They wanted the power of an invisible God and the comfort of a created one.
God and __________
Waiting reveals what we actually believe about God. It’s easy to trust Him when life moves fast – but real faith is forged in the slow seasons. When we can handle delay without losing confidence in His character, that’s when we’ve moved from knowing about Him to actually knowing Him.
Don’t trade the real riches God’s promises for the fool’s gold of impatience.
Week 4 Discussion Questions 📝❓:
ENDURANCE IS WHAT SEPARATES A GHOST TOWN FROM A REVIVAL
QUESTION 1: THE TEMPTATION TO QUIT
All of us face moments when quitting feels easier than continuing. When have you been tempted to give up on something you knew God called you to, and what helped you keep going?
FOLLOW-UP PROMPTS:
- What emotions or thoughts make quitting seem easier than enduring?
- How did you sense God’s presence or encouragement in that season?
- What do you think might have been lost if you had walked away?
SCRIPTURE TIE-IN:
Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
QUESTION 2: ZOOM OUT
Sometimes we get discouraged because we’re zoomed in on one hard moment. What does it look like to “zoom out” and see your situation from God’s larger perspective?
FOLLOW-UP PROMPTS:
- How does remembering past faithfulness help you trust God’s timing now?
- Can you share a time when you later realized God was working behind the scenes?
- What would change if you believed this season was only one frame of a bigger story?
SCRIPTURE TIE-IN:
Genesis 50:20 – “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
Romans 8:28 – “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”
QUESTION 3: PIVOT WITH PURPOSE
Endurance doesn’t always mean doing the same thing forever – sometimes it means adjusting the method while staying faithful to the mission. Where might God be asking you to pivot instead of quit?
FOLLOW-UP PROMPTS:
- What’s the difference between giving up and changing direction with purpose?
- Have you ever seen God open new doors when you shifted your approach?
- How can flexibility actually strengthen your faith?
SCRIPTURE TIE-IN:
1 Corinthians 9:22 – “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”
QUESTION 4: FIND YOUR PEOPLE
Moses endured because Aaron and Hur held up his arms when he was tired. Who holds up your arms when your faith grows weak – and whose arms are you holding up?
FOLLOW-UP PROMPTS:
- Why do you think endurance grows stronger in community?
- Who encourages you to keep believing when you’re weary?
- How can you intentionally “spur one another on” this week?
SCRIPTURE TIE-IN:
Exodus 17:12 – “When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and Aaron and Hur help his hands up.”
Hebrews 10:24 – “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
QUESTION 5: DON’T QUIT TOO SOON
Goldfield still had gold in the ground – it was just deeper than people expected. Where in your life might the miracle still be buied a little deeper, waiting for your endurance?
FOLLOW-UP PROMPTS:
- What promise or prayer have you been tempted to stop believing for?
- How can you remind yourself that God finishes what He starts?
- What’s one practical step of faith you can take this week to “keep digging”?
SCRIPTURE TIE-IN:
Philippians 1:6 – “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”