The elders of Israel are afraid because there are armies around them. The Philistines have been a long-standing threat and now they fear the Ammonites so they come to Samuel and asked for a king. In their minds, a king…
Tag: 2019
Let Us Go Up To The Seer
Samuel is nearing the end of his time as a judge of Israel and the leaders come to him asking in 1 Samuel 8:5 “appoint a king for us to judge us, like all the nations”. While this was never…
Commit Your Hearts to Yahweh
Israel has been plagued by their enemies, the Philistines and they have suffered at the hand of Eli’s sons, the “worthless scoundrels” in 1 Samuel 2:12. But it wasn’t just these two, the nation as a whole had fallen away.…
Yahweh Came and Stood There
Hannah and her faithful husband Elkanah are blessed and the Lord gives her five more children. And she still sees her son Samuel in 1 Samuel 2:19 “His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it…
I Grin Over My Enemies
Naomi and Ruth suffer great loss and Ruth gives up her family and culture and religion to return to Bethlehem. But God opens a way for them and has Boaz waiting. They are redeemed and the Lord gives them back…
Your God Will Be My God
Naomi is at the lowest point in her life and decides to send her daughters in law back to their fathers because she has no way to provide for them. Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and instead makes a decision…
Because of the Hope of Israel
During what seems to be a certain disaster, as the ship Paul is traveling in is driven by a storm for fourteen days, the Lord uses him to maintain hope and in Acts 27:35–36 “And after he said these things…
Do You Believe The Prophets?
Paul has been sent specifically, as we are all sent generally, to take the gospel in Acts 26:20 “to those in Damascus first, and in Jerusalem and all the region of Judea and to the Gentiles”. And he has faithfully…
According to the Way So I Worship
Paul’s trip to Jerusalem comes some twenty years after Jesus was crucified there. And the Roman Governor Felix was struggling to keep peace in the region although, by some reports, his abuses only made the situation worse. So when the…
In All Good Conscience Before God
Paul is in Jerusalem and has been accused in Acts 21:28 “This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place!” and is held in chains until he is brought before the…
Shepherd the Church of God
Paul is beginning a new direction, to take the gospel to the Gentiles in Rome. As he heads to Jerusalem, he summons the leaders of the Church in Ephesus and gives them a warning. As oversseers, they have a responsibility,…
The gods Made By Hands Are Not gods
Paul is teaching for two years in Ephesus Acts 19:10 “so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks”. Then something else happens, people separate themselves from magic. The gospel is first…
God Has Overlooked the Times of Ignorance
In every place, Paul shares the message of life through faith in Jesus Christ. In Athens, Paul speaks to them about the unknown God, the God that many only recognize as a shadowy concept that they can’t really understand. But…
They Accepted the Message With All Eagerness
Paul heads into Macedonia after having a vision in Acts 16:9 a certain Macedonian man was standing there and imploring him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”. In Philippi some were saved, Lydia and her household, the…