Category Archives: preach

DEFINITION OF THE DAY (THE NEW TESTAMENT PERSPECTIVE OF SIN PT 2 OF 2)

The most common NT word for sin is hamartia . Parabasis, “trespass” or “transgression,” literally, means to step across the line. One who steps over a property line has trespassed on another person’s land; the person who steps across God’s standard of righteousness has committed a trespass or transgression. Anomia means “lawlessness” or iniquity” and is a rather general description of sinful acts, referring to almost any action in opposition to God’s standard of righteousness. Poneria, “evil” or

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EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (FAST PT 1 OF 3)

Today intentional abstention from food and drink for a given period of time is more likely associated with preparation for a medical test or in conjunction with a weight-loss plan than with spiritual development. But in the Bible, the physical act of fasting was employed in order to enrich an awareness of mortal vulnerability and to sharpen awareness of the Lord’s ability to provide.

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BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (POLICING THE STREETS)

Walled cities of Bible times had guards posted on the walls to warn of approaching danger (2 Sam 18:26). These words of Solomon’s bride showed that armed guards also policed the area inside the walls, particularly at night.

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SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (LUKE 12:1-21 “A WARNING AGAINST HYPOCRISY”)

  1. 1.In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

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MEN OF THE BIBLE (ELIJAH “SOLO, BUT NOT ALONE”)

As a prophet of God in Israel during the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, Elijah was an endangered species. The evil royal couple had done everything in their power to rid the nation of God’s spokespeople so that their own prophets of the false gods Baal and Asherah could do their work unopposed.

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BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (SOLOMON’S PORTABLE CHAIR)

The Hebrew word translated as “chariot” in this passage actually refers to a palanquin-a portable couch or chair in which kings were carried from place to place by royal servants. Poles were fastened to each side of the palanquin.

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IS IT ALL RIGHT TO ASK GOD TO “SPEED IT UP”?

The request that God speed His intervention is not a complaint about slowness so much as a free expression of the writer’s acute sense of need. Everywhere the Bible encourages believers to speak openly with God about feelings, moods, and attitudes. The God of the Bible is not like

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SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (JOB 1:6-22 “THE DEVIL AND GOD HAVE A TALK”)

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

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EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (FAMINE PT2)

Whether in connection with climate or siege, famine was clearly one of the worst experiences in the ancient world (1 Kings 8:37). The purchase of food would first consume all a person’s precious metal, then livestock, and finally even the land they relied on the produce food, putting its former owners into virtual servitude (Gen 47:13-22). Jeremiah vividly describes the circumstances in which hunger pangs could no longer be endured in silence but were given

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DEFINITION OF THE DAY (SIN PT2)

THE OLD TESTAMENT PRESPECTIVE ON SIN: The OT has a rich vocabulary for sin. Some fifty terms provide the nuances of sin through the OT. Chata‘ means “to miss the mark,” as does the Greek hamartia. The word could be used to describe a person shooting a bow and arrow and

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