1 Chronicles 8 – The tribe of Benjamin played an important role in the life of Israel. It would be from this tribe warriors rose, the first…
sin
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1 Chronicles 4 – There is a 2 verse pause in the list of the tribes of Judah. A pause that gives a name most have never…
Ruth 4 – “God’s hand is all over history. God works out His purpose, generation after generation. Limited as we are to one lifetime, each of us sees so…
Isaiah 66 – As the book of Isaiah comes to a close it ends with drama, hope, and sobering warnings. Throughout Isaiah’s writings, God has instructed him to return…
Isaiah 65 – The book of Judges sums up a people who did what they wanted, threw caution to the wind and reaped those benefits for generations. Story after…
Isaiah 64 – Waiting. We hate it. We hate to wait in traffic. We loathe waiting for an appointment. At the checkout line, if we find ourselves standing too…
Isaiah 63 – At the beginning of Isaiah 63 we find a familiar theme in Scripture. There is someone with blood-stained clothes who is robed in splendor…
Isaiah 59 – Sin is offensive. There, I said it. We are so good at relegating our sins to the back burner of thought. We insanely justify behavior that…
Isaiah 57 – Spiritual Adultery. The term itself seems impossible really. It also stands as an offensive term. But this is what God addresses with the people of Israel…
Isaiah 54 – Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Try and suck all the sweetness that you can out of this chapter while we read it. The personal application of a promise…
Isaiah 53 – The opening verse grabs my attention. “Who has believed our message?” It’s a rhetorical question but one that was referenced twice in the New Testament. John…
Isaiah 52 – Awake from your slumber and believe! Awake from the sleepiness that has taken over your ways and thoughts and live in victory. Within this profound and…
Isaiah 49 – His words were like a sharp arrow ready to pierce the heart. Israel would be his servant and he would be their master. But something was…
Isaiah 48 – There is no masquerade with God. He sees the hard hearts of people. He sees where they have refused to bring themselves before Him in submission. …
Isaiah 43 – Sink or swim. Drown or float. Two pretty stark options when the floods come, the hardship prevails. Waves crashing upon, the…
Isaiah 42 – It’s known as the Servant Song. The verses found in this passage of Isaiah are remarkably beautiful. Speaking toward Jesus the…
Isaiah 41 – The mercy of God is undeserved and unreal. There is no way any of us should receive the extended hand of His grace, reaching…
Isaiah 36 – Deception. The enemy of our souls has used this tactic with God’s creation since the beginning of time. His deception takes that of half truths or…
Isaiah 31 – Where’s your trust? No, I’m serious. Stop and look at your life at the moment. The areas that have spun completely out of control. The relationships…
Isaiah 29 – We’re all guilty of it from time to time. Going through the motions with anything we’ve become accustomed to doing can be a deadly careless action….
Isaiah 25 – Following a chapter on the destruction and judgment of God, we read a deeply personal appeal to His faithfulness. It almost…
Isaiah 24 – It’s known as Isaiah’s Apocalypse. For the following 4 chapters he is given words from God about the judgment of the entire world. This chapter is…
Isaiah 14 – Jesus said, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” (Luke 10:18) Tucked in the prophecy against Babylon, are 5 verses giving insight toward this…
Isaiah 12 – This calls for a celebration! This chapter is a song of gratitude to the Lord. Let us rejoice for what He is has done!
Isaiah 11 – We stand in a sea of need. Most times that need is overwhelming. Over the past several months we as a staff have really buckled down…
Isaiah 5 – They say tending to a vineyard is tedious and time-consuming.That stressful work is a top priority of vineyard owners. God uses this springboard of…
Isaiah 4 – “Sin is the excrement of the soul, the superfluity or garbage of naughtiness, the devil’s vomit. From this abominable filth Christ has ‘loved and washed His…
Isaiah 3 – On many fronts, Isaiah 3 is a parade of sin. The people proud of their choices and personal behavior, they were no longer ashamed but put…
Isaiah 1 – He is known as the greatest prophet. Raised in an aristocratic home he was married to a prophetess. When he first started off he was well…
Colossians 3 – We are walking miracles. God has taken the dead and raised them to life. Through Jesus Christ, the grave clothes that wrapped us so tightly are…
Colossians 2 – Paul is struggling. His struggle not personal but for the people of Colossae as well as those in Laodicea. His concern goes far deeper than just…
Colossians 1 – There is reason to believe Paul never visited the church in Colossi. It was a church more than likely founded by his friend Epaphras and other…
Philippians 3 – I had a friend who used to say, “If you’re green, you’ll grow. If you’re ripe, you’ll rot.” I am sometimes baffled by a lack of…
Ephesians 6 – As Paul brings his final thoughts to a close within his letter, he has spoken of a deep calling upon every Believer’s life. He’s been…
Ephesians 2 – Identity. The dictionary defines identity as the sameness of essential or generic character in different instances; a distinguishing character or personality…
Ephesians 1 – Paul wrote a letter. It was not to confront the church on issues, but to encourage. The church was born the day of Pentecost when the…
Galatians 6 – As Paul winds down his letter he makes tremendous statements that could be dissected and applied very easily. He is incredibly practical and encouraging while writes…
Galatians 5 – Sometimes inventories are good. This is particularly true in those quiet moments when we take the time to think about our spiritual life. These can be…
Galatians 4 – I admit that sometimes I get so caught up in my own wants and needs that I miss the bigger picture. We all tend to gravitate…
Exodus 37 – There are many key tabernacle pieces listed to be constructed under the direction of God and carried out by Bezalel. Each had specific purpose…
Exodus 34 – Moses had asked to see the glory of God and here we see further aspects of just that. Many times we consider the glory…
Exodus 32 – Excuses. We’re masters of them when it comes to being caught. Well, we’re masters of them even when not in justification….
Exodus 30 – The details were exact. Through all of these descriptions of the tabernacle and all the furnishings God was revealing to His people this was…
Exodus 28 – God had tremendous instructions for the people as to how they were to worship Him. This was detailed all the way down to what…
Exodus 27 – Most fascinating. The Hebrew word for altar is killing place. Just this fact alone struck me. Most churches have some form of an altar….
Exodus 24 – It was a moment for Israel of a solemn ceremony where they agreed to the covenant between themselves and God. It was a moment of…
Exodus 21 – Everything we do has consequences. Everything. Whether good or bad, our decisions cause ripple effects of something else. We move into various laws given…
Exodus 20 – For 400 years the Israelites lived in Egypt; a land filled with many deities and gods. Although they had kept their heritage potentially they could…
Exodus 16 – Difficult circumstances lead to stress. More often than not, when a difficult situation inundates us, it is all we think about, talk of and even…
Exodus 15 – “The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is His name.” -…
Exodus 14 – The crossing of the Israelites of the Red Sea most people know about. And who can forget Charlton Heston as Moses in the epic…
Exodus 3 – “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?” – Psalm 139:7 40 years of Moses’ life he was…
Exodus 2 – Even in the highest oppression, God has a plan. Hang on to that thought if you are currently struggling and questioning what is transpiring. …
Judges 21 – The people of Israel went from mess to mess all based upon their own thinking. From this crazy story there was no forward thought, long term…
Judges 20 – All of Israel gathered together in order to figure out how to handle the vile situation concerning the men of Gibeah. Ultimately, civil war would breakout…
Judges 19 – In a horrifying scene of events, we get a picture for just how bad it has gotten within Israel. It would not be as surprising to…
Judges 18 – During the taking of the land under Joshua, the Danites were given land to meet their needs. However, this tribe failed to follow God’s direction and…
Judges 17 – It is the strangest of stories. Judges 17 sets the table for the remaining chapters with Israel’s moral decline and the people following their own ways…
Judges 16 – We like to compartmentalize. We take things, events and push them back into compartments of our mind where we simply don’t deal with them any longer. …
Judges 15 – Samson continued to act within the flesh. Driven by his own wants and desires, when things didn’t go his way, he took matters into his own…
Judges 14 – Samson saw with his eyes, wanted in his heart and in the end did what he wanted. To me, it’s interesting this is the first story…
Judges 13 – The cycle of sinfulness continued. The Israelites left God, followed their own terms, judgment came, they repented. This circular theme is found over and over again in the…
Judges 11 – The story of Jephthah is both encouraging and shocking. We read of a man born of a prostitute, driven to be an outcast, became a mighty…
Judges 10 – There’s a phrase used describing a long journey or long period of time. Sometimes people say, “I’m in this for the long haul”. To me, there…
Judges 9 – Our personal goals can control our actions. When there is power and position at play, those actions can be reckless. After Gideon destroyed the altar of…
Judges 5 – Leadership is a gift. Wise leadership can be rare. The role of leadership within any sphere of life is important. When leadership is undertaking the work…
Judges 3 – “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him…” Judges 3:10 This phrase is simply a powerful reminder of the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon…
Judges 2 – The stage is set. The unraveling of Israel is about to take place as leaders would rise and lead people forward. When the leader passed, the…
Judges 1 – What began under Moses would be carried by his successor Joshua. The land of Canaan would become the land of the Israelites. The book of Judges…
2 Thessalonians 2 – Lawlessness – contrary or without regard for the law; unruly, unrestrained. The word is found in both the Old and New Testament but…
1 Thessalonians 2 – There’s a saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” As a Believer in Christ, we…
1 John 5 – “You guys teach too much on obedience.” The words hung in the air. “It’s all I hear week after week, ‘We must be obedient…
1 John 4 – I remember the meeting well. Almost 20 years ago a woman whom I did not know called and said she had a word…
1 John 2 – Sin is inevitable. It afflicts us over and over again. Yet this is not a license to simply let it have its way. We…
1 John 1 – He had walked with Him. He was known as the ‘one Jesus loved’. A part of the inner circle of 3, John was…
Job 42 – We live in a fallen world.Believers andunbelievers are both inundated with the consequences of sin. Our God is not indifferent;Hes not uncaring…
Job 33 – Elihu jumps in with full steam. Hes less formal than the others, even callingJob by name. We see coming through his words moments of sheer pride…
Job 32 – Jobs 3 friends have gone silent. It almost appears to have grown to a face off on the matter. Convinced he had some hidden sin and…
Job 31 – In what is the lengthiest response of Job yet, he declares his innocence hitting aspects of human nature and desire. Boldly he tells of how hes…
Job 29 – In remembrance of days gone by, Job revisits how life used to be. These were the glory days for him. From his words, it appears he…
Job 25 – Sometimes theres nothing left to say. Sometimes conversations come to an impasse, a screaming halt. It seems the 3 friends of Job have done just that….
Job 24 – Weve all been there. We look upon those who are wicked, the people who seemingly get away with complete defiance to the ways of God; we…
Job 22 – The third and final round begins between Job and his friends. The first cycle his friends spoke in generalities, without making their doctrine specifically to Job…
Job 21 – Suffering reveals many things to us. It pulls back the reality of where our trust is. It shows how we cope. It breaks down and drives…
Job 20 – I havent seen the movie in years, but what I recall from Ray Bradburys novel turned film, “Something Wicked This Way Comes” involves a traveling carnival,…
Job 14 – I remember sitting at a conference in a large stadium. The speaker at one point said to imagine a long wire stretched from one end of…
Job 13 – The absolute trust Job has in God despite the afflictions he continues to deal with, the friends that are off base in their advice, the unanswered…
Job 11 – The third friend of Job finally responds and boy – its a doozy. Although Zophar only has a few places hes found talking to Job, he…
Job 10 – They stand in a Hall of Fame recorded within Scripture. Being inducted to such a well known place though is not somethingI would want. However if…
Job 8 – Bildad, Jobs second friend now speaks. Talk about a windbag. Hes blunt, unsympathetic, and has made up his mind as to why Job suffers. With friends…
Job 6 – Eliphazs advice was as filling as the whites of an egg. Tasteless and devoid of flavor, his words certainly did not give him any strength. Almost…
Job 4 – Its easy to weigh in on a matter from a distance. We look at the circumstances, the facts presented through word and observation and make decisions…
Job 3 – Theres a childrens rhyme put to song that says: O be careful little eyes what you see O be careful little eyes what you see Theres…
Ezra 10 – The book of Ezra opens with the people of Israel in captivity, the temple in ruins. As the story unfolds, Ezra recounts the return. There were…
Ezra 9 – After a 4 month, dangerous journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, Ezra arrived to find things not as he had thought. A culture of compromise within his own…
Ezra 2 – Genealogies were very important to the Jewish people. For them, if they could prove they had descended from Abraham, they were considered true Jews and could…
Joshua 22 – We all have those times when we jump to conclusions. We hear something not very favorable about people and we make up our mind based on…