1.And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (LUKE 5:1-11 “THE FIRST DISCIPLES”)
Elisha was a yond man plowing his father’s fields when he first encountered the prophet Elijah. Elisha immediately dropped everything to follow him. For years, he served as an apprentice while Elijah performed his duties as a prophet-often under and lows, to his courageous obedience and crippling doubts. He observed the way Elijah interacted with kings and commoners. He studied the prophet’s personal relationship with God.
Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (ELISHA “FOLLOWING A TOUGH ACT”)
The woman guilty of sexual misconduct was to lose her capacity for childbearing. This was a fearsome penalty indeed, for women in the ancient Near East established their sense of personal value and esteem on one activity only-bearing and raising children. Education, business, military status, community leadership-none of these were open to women; motherhood was everything.
Continue reading WHAT IS THE SICKNESS THAT PUNISHES ADULTEROUS WOMEN?
It appears that the news will be bad. A crime has been committed, and God will be the chief witness for the prosecution-who is also God. The accused, the people, must listen. But unlike a normal criminal trial, God never forces people to listen, and these people certainly had a choice. Why choose to hear bad news?
Continue reading WHY SHOULD PEOPLE LISTEN TO GOD AGAINST THEIR PERSONAL WISHES?
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Continue reading SCRIPTURES OF THE DAY (HEBREWS 11:1-12 GREAT EXAMPLS OF FAITH)
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (LUKE 11:17-24)
During Bible times, the Holy Land was still occupied by lions. These majestic animals, then as now, do not typically prey on humans, though older or disabled lions sometimes see people as easy food to capture. Observable lion behavior lies behind the comparisons that we find in the Scriptures. Their roaring tends to provoke fear (Amos 3:8), so Peter can write, “Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling
Personal name meaning “full of fear.” An Edomite in the service of King Saul (1 Sam 21:7). He was present at Nob at the time David arrived there during the course of his fighting from Saul. Doeg subsequently reported to Saul that the priest Ahimelech had Continue reading DEFINITON OF THE DAY (DOEG)
Wisdom, the opposite of ignorance, is a gift from God. It is a gift that He gladly gives to those who ask for it in all earnestness and faith (James 1:5). Real wisdom and knowledge are spiritual in nature, having to do with the inborn cunning of our common sense or the learned themes of education. “Fear of the LORD is the beginning of Continue reading IS IGNORANCE, AT ITS CORE, A SPIRITUAL PROBLEM?
Many a marriage has fizzled because both husband and wife latch onto the nation of submission, and both are destroyed by it. The husband may like the feeling of dominance, but he discovers too late he no longer has any emotional tie with his wife. Sometimes, tragically, the husband’s sense of dominance becomes perverted and hurtful. Sometimes a wife submits as a survival strategy, fails to grow as a person, loses her love for the man, questions her value as a believer, and settles into a half-life of emotional and spiritual solitude. But submission is meant to help a marriage, not hurt it. So how does it work? Continue reading IF A WIFE IS TO SUBMIT TO HER HUSBAND, HOW MUCH? IN WHAT AREAS? AT WHAT COST?