God’s Best Gift in the Worst of Times INTRODUCTION: “WHO WILL I BE?” GAME Why did I quiz you in this way? It is because this is how it was for the people during the birth of Jesus Christ. Everyone knew enough information about His Coming that they could probably determine when He would come. Let me share with you a list of prophecies that were fulfilled when Jesus Christ was born. Notice that sprinkled all through the Old Testament,... Read more
The Temptation to Be Like Everyone Else “The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.”” (1 Samuel 8:19–20, HCSB) No one wants to be unique anymore. Everyone wants to fit in. Follow the crowd because we want to be like everyone else. Peer pressure is the hardest pressure to overcome.... Read more
Animals as Angels in Disguise “Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14–15, HCSB) In the beginning, animals... Read more
God Uses Hornets to Protect His People God Uses Hornets to Protect His People is a simple thought reflection from Joshua 24:12 about the way that God can use hornets, or any of His creation to protect His people. “I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you. It was not by your sword or bow.” (Joshua 24:12, HCSB) God uses bees (ok, so technically hornets) to chase His enemies. I don’t... Read more
Belief and Promise Belief and Promise is a simple thought reflection from Genesis 15:6 about the connection between my belief in God and His promises that He keeps to me. “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, HCSB) At some point in the relationship between God and Abram, Abram decided to believe that God was important to believe. He discovered that if God made a promise to Him, then Abram could trust God.... Read more
Who Gets Blessed? Who gets blessed? Let’s look at the following Bible verse: “I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3, HCSB) I have always read this passage and was taught that the blessing was for the nation of Israel. The teaching went like this: “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will... Read more
Prophecy Watch: The Final Battle ““This is what the Lord God says: Are you the one I spoke about in former times through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who for years prophesied in those times that I would bring you against them?” (Ezekiel 38:17, HCSB) The prophecy about Gog (the Antichrist ruler who in the future will invade Israel to destroy it) is very intriguing for a variety of reasons. First, God tells Ezekiel that these times have been... Read more
Prophecy Watch: The Return of Israel ““When the sticks you have written on are in your hand and in full view of the people, tell them: This is what the Lord God says: I am going to take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king... Read more
National Pride Brings Desolation “I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolate lands, and its cities will be a desolation among ruined cities for 40 years. I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them across the countries.” (Ezekiel 29:12, HCSB) God didn’t just exile the Israelites. He also exiled the Egyptians. He exiled Israel to keep them humble, and to pay for sin. In the case of Israel, they would return and grow to... Read more
Fork in the Road “For the king of Babylon stands at the split in the road, at the fork of the two roads, to practice divination: he shakes the arrows, consults the idols, and observes the liver. The answer marked Jerusalem appears in his right hand, indicating that he should set up battering rams, give the order to slaughter, raise a battle cry, set battering rams against the gates, build a ramp, and construct a siege wall.” (Ezekiel 21:21–22, HCSB)... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In