Posts from 2023 (Page 20)

  BIBLE READING: Deuteronomy 5-7                   “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way”                      – Deuteronomy 6:7      During the Protestant Reformation, the Reformers worked hard to put God’s Word into the hands of the people. Prior to the Reformation, the Bible was accessible mostly to the clergy alone, shut up in the monasteries and churches and written in…

  BIBLE READING: Deuteronomy 3-4                 As the Children of Israel are about to embark on the last leg of their long journey into the land of Promise, Moses offers them some very helpful advice to ensure they don’t allow themselves to suffer the same fate as their predecessors.  “…take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make…

  BIBLE READING: Deuteronomy 1-2   “I will start my new diet tomorrow.” “When things slow down, I begin that new exercise program” “This will be the last time I do this, after this one time I will never do it again.” “I’m going to wait till the semester is over before I begin getting back involved at church.” “I am so busy with work and the kids; we just don’t have time to go to church on Wednesday.  We…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 34-36              As we end our journey through the book of Numbers, we see a different side of God from what we saw in His execution of vengeance on the Midianites.   Before the Children of Israel enter the land of promise, God has a few more instructions to give them. After they enter the land, they were to choose cities which will give a person who had killed another person unintentionally…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 31-33                 In the book of Romans, Paul warned that the early Christians should never look to repay evil with evil to anyone. In fact, Paul taught us to do just the opposite “To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” (Romans…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 24-26 In Numbers 1, God commanded Moses to take a census of the people, and then 38 years later, in chapter 26, God commanded him to take another one. In both, all men 20 years of age and older who were fit for military service were counted. The census was used to determine the size of each tribe’s inheritance in the Promised Land, while casting lots determined their geographic location. After the spies went into the…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 21-23                 Homeopathic medicine is the practice of curing likes with likes. The patient receives diluted doses of substances that, at full strength, cause the same symptoms the patient already has. Shakespeare stated the idea well in Romeo and Juliet: “In the infant rind of this small flower, poison hath residence and medicine power.” Homeopathic medicine is prevalent in many parts of the world, though it remains controversial among medical experts. In this instance, God prescribed…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 18-20                         Sin is a term that has been defined as “missing the mark”.  If the “mark” is the sinless life of Christ, then we are all subjected to committing sin because we all fall short of that “mark”.  In fact, the Bible is very clear in that “we call sin and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3.23).  It isn’t enough that we must struggle with sin, we also are forced to deal…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 15-17 After disciplining Korah for leading a rebellion challenging Israel’s leadership ( Numbers 16:1-50 ), God reiterated his decision for the Levites to inherit the priesthood by holding an open casting call ( Numbers 17:1-5 ). Each of Israel’s twelve tribes submitted a personalized rod to be housed overnight in the tent of meeting. The location is significant because it was “where I [God] meet with you” ( Numbers 17:4 NASB ). God would be making…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 12-14                                   As a minister I am always looking for lessons in every aspect of my life. It might be in a drive thru, at the ball game or simply something that happens at home; regardless I feel that life offers many lessons that we can learn.  That is why I wasn’t surprised at the life lesson that I witnessed when I got a haircut.  When I arrived to receive my biweekly trim, I had to…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 9-11                 In my younger days I served as a youth minister for a few congregations.  I often joke, though tongue in cheek, that being a youth minister is one of the hardest jobs a man can have.  Not only do you serve as a youth minister, you also must be a food coordinator, travel agent, childhood counselor, athletic director, song leader, camp leader, missionary, Bible class teacher, and gaming guru.  Yet probably the most difficult…

  BIBLE READING: Numbers 5-6 Throughout most of history, scientists have had no understanding whatsoever about infection. In the late 1800s, Louis Pasteur’s revolutionary discoveries in microbiology disproved the long-accepted theory of spontaneous generation, an idea that life or even disease could spring from nonliving matter. (Ironically, some evolutionary scientists still cling to a similar theory.) His work proved for the first time that diseases were caused by tiny living organisms and could be transmitted from person to person. God…