So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

In Hebrews 11:6, we are told that without faith, we can’t be pleasing to God.  It is the beginning; the seed of our hope rests in the knowledge that God is and that He will keep His promises and reward those who seek to be with Him, which has been the rule since the beginning of time, one which Abel and Enoch obviously lived by.  

I love the song that Solomon wrote; it is one of my favorite texts to teach. There are several opinions about how many main characters there are in the beautiful “Song of Solomon.”  The opinion that I am most comfortable with is that there are three main characters who interact in the song.  There is the King, who I believe is Solomon himself.  There is a young Shulamite woman, who has been taken to the palace to become part of the court of young ladies.  There is a shepherd, who tends sheep in the hills of Ephraim having already won the heart of the young Shulamite.

In the last article, we started looking at the historical figures of faith listed in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. The writer begins, literally, at the beginning with Cain and Abel and assures us that Abel’s faith speaks to us even today.

Luke 19 tells us of an interesting encounter as Jesus makes his way through Jericho to the capital.

Amos was not your typical prophet. He was a herdsman from the small village of Tekoa. This blunt and direct outdoorsman was sent to the northern kingdom of Israel to preach to a complacent, corrupt, and wealthy upper-class citizenry.

Jonah was written in approximately 780 BC and appears to be about the same prophet mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. Jonah prophesied to Israel for a king who is said to be evil, and we have no record of his prophecies in 2 Kings other than they seem to center on the restoration of Israel’s borders due to God’s mercy. Keep this in mind as we now get a detailed snapshot of a story in Jonah’s life.

Sacrifice has, from the beginning, been a bond between man and God. God through grace and with mercy gave a series of instructions for His people concerning the sacrifices that they would continuously offer as they lived their days on earth. Leviticus chapters 1-7 are the instruction and guide for the faithful worshipers and priests, under the new law, concerning the burnt offerings, the cereal offerings, the peace offerings, and the transgression offerings.

Faith has always been the mark of those who desire to live righteously. Men and women from the dawn of time have either had faith that God is the creator - that He alone brings order from chaos - and that He will keep His promises, or they haven’t. Belief isn’t the same as faith.

There are no water bottles on the shelves of my local grocery store today, my neighbors here are preparing for the impact of a hurricane. The news stations are alerting citizens to get ready for the storm. “Do not be unprepared,” “Make sure you are ready,” “Be watchful and prepared for what is inevitable.” And, my neighbors are listening, they are hearing, and they are actively seeking the security that comes when preparations have been made.

Obadiah is one of the prophets of uncertain dates. It could be that it was the very first of the “minor” prophets written, but it also could have been written later during the fall of Jerusalem around the time of Jeremiah. I won’t go into the different theories on the different dates but have personally accepted the earlier date. In this article, I will just give some general context that we can determine from the book and important lessons to learn.

In the young adult class where I worship, we’ve been studying faith.  I’d like to share some of our conversations with you as we’ve focused this past month on Hebrews 11. 

After John the Baptizer is beheaded by Herod Antipas, Jesus retreats to mourn and makes the statement, “For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). I sure would like to meet him; I know I would like him. 

I wanted to begin a series of articles on the prophets but thought an introduction to prophets may be helpful. I know in my youth I had very little detailed knowledge of the prophets. I knew the children’s story about Jonah and knew the names, but I only had a vague awareness at best of the topics.

This year, I’ve been trying to keep up with a weekly reading schedule that takes you through the Bible in a year. To be honest, some weeks I do better than others, but a recent week’s reading was the story of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal in I Kings 18. It’s a great story - a familiar story.

There is a man that is part of David’s life that I find a little confusing - Joab. 

I think I would like many of the folks who spent their days in the temple courts at Jerusalem during the days of Jesus. We are not given information of the many who must have daily spent hours there. However, there is no doubt that many faithful and righteous among those referred to as “the multitudes” in the Gospel messages were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. Though disillusioned with the political nature of the leadership in the temple they clung to the sanctification and hope in the center of religious activity in the capital city. We read of two such righteous people; Simeon and Anna, and I think I would like them both.

Have you ever felt so far away from God that you just had no idea how to turn everything around?

After recently wrapping up the story of David in my daily Bible reading, I started to really ponder the long-term consequences of our decisions. In 2 Samuel 11, we are introduced to a story that will change David’s life forever. It all starts with one little decision to stay home from war. In fairness, David had seen his fair share of battle and I am sure he was ready for some rest from war – but this one decision of choosing leisure will lead to a long list of consequences.

I think I would like several of the Roman centurions who appear in the New Testament, they are a remarkable group. R.C. Foster tells us in his Studies in the Life of Christ that “they bear witness to a high degree of valor, good judgment, and honesty as part of this second line of officers in the Roman army.” The most famous among the centurions we read of in scriptures is surely Cornelius in Caesarea, the first Gentile to be baptized and enter the kingdom; there is no doubt in my mind that I would like him.