THEIR BACKGROUNDS
Ezekiel loved his wife, but God told him not to grieve publicly when she died. This was to be a living message to the people concerning their abandonment of God. Yes, grief would come to them, the grief of captivity. They would suffer at the hands of Babylonian conquerors, and their homes, lands, and precious temple would be destroyed. Would they be as mute as Ezekiel, or in grief repent of sin and return to the worship of God?
Continue reading WHY WAS EZEKIEL TOLD NOT TO GRIEVE THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE?
It’s impossible to think of Priscilla apart from her husband, Aquila. In six New Testament mentions, they are always named together. And while we don’t have a lot of information about them, some “forensic Bible study” uncovers one of the more fascinating and inspiring couples in Scripture
Continue reading WOMEN OF THE BIBLE (PRISCILLA “A MARRIAGE WITH A MISSIOIN”)
Looking at Genesis 1, were read that God created the heavens and the earth in such a way that they are functional, vibrant, and pulsating with life. On the fifth day, God started forming the creatures that would live on the earth. Then, on the sixth day, he reached the pinnacle of his creative purposes with the creation of humankind.
Continue reading A PHOTOGRAPH OF GOD
Matthew, author of the Gospel of Matthew, was a jewish citizen who collected taxes from his countrymen for the Roman government. After Jesus called Matthew to become one of His disciples, Matthew invited some of his tax collector friends to his home for a meal with Jesus and His other disciples.
The Pharisees criticized Jesus for associating with tax collectors and other whom they considered outcasts and sinners. Tax collectors were hated by the Jewish people because they considered them traitors who cooperated with the Romans to drain their country of its resources (read Luke 5:27).
But Jesus replied that His mission was to seek and to save people like Matthew and his friends. “They that be whole need not a physician,” He said, “but they that are sick” (Matthew 9:12).
MATTHEW 9:10- As Jesus sat at meat in the house [Matthew’s house,] behold, many publicans [tax collectors] and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
MATTHEW 9:12- But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
LUKE 5:27- And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of customs: and he said unto him Follow me.
Skipping the next 30 years in Jesus’ life, Matthew jumps to the start of his ministry, marked by two events: baptism and temptation. Continue reading JESUS GOES PUBLIC
ACTS 18:26- [Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (AQUILA: A RADICAL APPROACH TO HIS MINISTRY)
WHO ARE THE TWELVE DISCIPLES?
THEIR BACKGROUNDS