In demanding a king, Israel became like every other nation of the world. Instead of asking God for relief from counterfeit spiritual leaders, they cried, “Give us a king!” They rejected God’s rule in favor of human leadership.
Continue reading DID THE KINGS HELP OR HURT ISRAEL AS A NATION?
The ten plagues were direct attacks against the false gods of Egypt. The following table shows a possible pairing, among many, of plagues and Egyptian gods. However it might have been, it is certain that God was showing that Pharaoh was a false god. Only the LORD is God, and only he is in control of creation, including Egypt.
Continue reading THE TEN PLAGUES
REUBEN –
MEANING: “SEE, A SON!”
SYMBOL: WATER (OR MANDRAKE PLANT: GEN 30:14)
Continue reading INFORMATION ABOUT REUBEN,SIMEON,LEVI,(3 OF THE 12 TRIBES OF ISRAEL)
Surely they should follow God, but following God requires that we observe and follow leaders who are following God. Mature Christian mentors help our faith develop and our understanding of God’s will to grow.
Continue reading SHOULD CHRISTIANS FOLLOW OTHER PEOPLE, OR SHOULD THEY ONLY FOLLOW GOD?
KJV term for woman as a helper precisely adapted to man (Gen 2:18). Modern translations supply various equivalents: help suitable for him (NASB, NIV); help as his partner (NRSV); a suitable companion for him (TEV). The noun translated “help” or “partner” does not suggest subordination. Elsewhere the term is used of God as Help (1 Chorn 12:18; Psa 30:10; 54:4; 121:1)
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (HELPMEET)
The king of Nineveh repented, and we wonder why. The only explanation for the king’s confession (and for your own) is that God fills the emptiness in the human heart so effectively that our normal and natural response (albeit with the help of God Himself) is to seek God’s forgiveness and comfort. The stubborn person who resists and refuses God’s overture-not the repentant sinner-should be the cause of bewilderment.
Continue reading WHAT EXPLAINS A PAGAN KING’S EAGER REPENTANCE?
[Jesus said] “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.” MATTHEW 7:1-2
Continue reading LEADING OTHERS
The mechanics are unclear, as always, but the result was a special sense of divine help and presence that enabled the leader to do God’s will. In very few places in the Bible is the coming of the Holy Spirit described in any detail (Acts 2), but the spirit descends, fills, and empowers according to God’s will and purpose.
Continue reading HOW DID THE SPIRIT OF GOD “COME UPON” ANCIENT LEADERS?
You know you should pray for your church. But where to begin? The building needs a new roof. Vacation Bible School could use more teachers. People get sick and ask for our prayers. What does God want you to pray for?
Continue reading HOW TO PRAY FOR YOUR CHURCH
COMPANIONSHIP – Whereas the creation of male and female mankind was “very good” (Gen 1:31), the creation of the male alone had not yet fulfilled God’s purpose for man as the image of God (Gen 2:18). This expresses no failure on God’s part; instead, it instructs us that a male creature alone is not the perfect creation that God had in mind. Adam needed a wife to be all that God intended him to be, as is normally the case with all men unless God grants otherwise (Matt 19:10-12; 1 Cor 7:6-7). The same, of course, would be true of the woman whom God made for the man (1 Cor 11:9).
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (MARRIAGE “COMPANIONSHIP”)