Neither the ark of the covenant nor the temple of Solomon housed God in a literal, confining sense. God is both infinite and omnipresent. As the martyr Stephen declared, “The Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands” (Acts 7:48, Acts 17:24).
Continue reading HOW DID GOD “DWELL” IN THE ARK AND IN THE TEMPLE?
People seem to have a monopoly on being stubborn and determined that their way is the right way. You can see it in the way a toddler is set on touching the hot stove. Nothing is going to stop that child. Parents can reason with the child, explaining their own experiences with a hot stove or discussing the physics of heat transfer through solid objects.
Why, they can even give the child a swat or two on the behind if he or she gets too close to the stove. The child’s determination and stubbornness, however, will send him or her teetering toward that stove, “all system go” to learn the hard way.
Continue reading WHY DO PEOPLE REGULARY FAIL TO LISTEN TO GOD?
1.What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (ROMANS 6:1-23 “DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE TO GOD”)
1 Thessalonians 5
It’s suddenness (vv 1-11). Christ’s return is certain, but the day and the hour are not known, as Jesus said again and again (Matthew 24:36;42-43; 25:13; Mark 13:32-37; Luke 12:39, 46; 21:25-35). However, signs will precede His coming (Luke 21:25-35), so that patient believers may sense that it is near. But even those who are watching are warned to stay alert and self-controlled, lest they be caught off guard.
Continue reading THE LORD’S COMING
God’s creative work was not complete until He made woman. And then marriage and family became the basis of society-the central organizing unit. God could have made woman from the dust of the ground as He had made man.
Continue reading WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE?My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Continue reading SCRIPTURES OF THE DAY (PROVERBS 3:1-19)
As the final act of battle, Israel was sometimes required to dedicate everything in a “ban” (herem), which meant that the people and possessions of an entire city would be set apart for God and destroyed (Deut 7:2; 20:17; Josh 8:2; 1 Sam 15:3). Only the metal objects were saved (Josh 6:18-24). Those who transgressed the ban faced dire consequences (Josh 7).
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (HOLY WAR PT2)
Although by Bible times people had moved out of the original cave dwellings that were abundant in the ancient Middle East, there were always people who lived in caves. Lot lived in a cave after his escape from Sodom (Gen 19:30), and the Edomites made and enlarged caves in the rock face at Petra for living and for public affairs.
Continue reading MANNERS AND CUSTOMS (CAVE-DWELLERS)
City streets serve the function of communication and commerce. Without streets, goods cannot be delivered, and people cannot conduct business. But there’s another function, perhaps even more telling.
Continue reading WHAT ARE CITY STREETS FOR?
1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (EZEKIEL 1:1-21)