Different people serve God for different reasons. We know that there are definitely some motives that people have for serving God that are unacceptable. Jesus made it clear that striving for position and popularity are unacceptable motives for ministry. Greed is also an unacceptable motive for …
Solomon frequently visited various ports of his kingdom. One day, as he visited some royal vineyards in the north, he came by surprise upon a beautiful peasant woman. Embarrassed, she ran but Solomon could not forget her. Later, disguised as a shepherd, he returned to the vineyard and …
The king suspected a trap (v. 12). He calculated that since the Arameans had not been able to break into Samaria they had planned this apparent retreat to draw the Samaritans out, leaving the city open to invasion. One of Joram’s officers suggested sending only five horse …
These next few verses of this Psalm may have been penned after David had escaped from his enemies and he wanted the people to recognize God’s system of justice (vv. 9-10). David was hunted by those whose love had turned to jealousy, and this was driving them to try to murder him. …
In this passage two signs were given the prophet as sort of an outline of his prophetic ministry: (1) The first was a vision which caused Jeremiah to see the branch of an almond tree (v. 11). This branch represented God who was watching to see that His word is fulfilled (v. 12). …
The Jerusalem Council reached a united decision, concluding that converted Gentiles should not be required to become Law abiding Jew to be saved (Acts 15:1-21). The false teachers had done some damage already, going out from Jerusalem claiming to have the authority of the elders and …
In the heat of the day, Abraham was sitting in the doorway of his tent enjoying the breeze when he saw three men approaching (vv. 1-8). These three were not just ordinary men ?“ one was the Lord (v. 13), and the other two were angels. After greeting them, Abraham hastened into the tent …
God’s covenant with David makes this one of the great chapters of the Bible. God promised a king and a kingdom to come in the line of David. God confirmed this promise with an oath (Psa. 89:34- 37). It is very difficult to understand the prophets from this point on without knowing …
In this chapter the writer gathers together the names of those who have faithfully passed the legacy of faith on to the next generation. He reflects on the lives of heroes of the faith like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Sa …
As Christians it is easy to be persuaded that success is measured in the world’s terms. The more we get the more successful we will be. Henry Ford said, “Success is a matter of adjusting one’s efforts to overcome obstacles and one’s abilities to give the service needed by …