The Home Devo (Page 16)

  The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 has been called the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. The ancient manuscripts hidden in the caves near Qumran are the oldest known copies of key Old Testament books. As followers of Christ we believe that the Bible is the eternal, unchanging Word of God.( 1 Peter 1:23 -NKJV; cf. Hebrews 6:13-20 -NKJV), thus we firmly believe the inspired words penned by the Psalmist: “Forever, O Lord, Your Word…

  Shopping for a good watermelon is difficult because no matter how good it looks on the outside, it’s hard to tell what it’s really like on the inside. We can tap it, thump it and squeeze it, only to take it home and discover that the inside is not edible. On one occasion when Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands before eating, the Pharisees became extremely irritated because it violated one of their man-made traditions ( Mark 7:1-8…

  DISCUSSION                                                                       It can be clearly seen in 1Samuel 21-24, that Saul now has a huge problem with David.  He has already attempted to kill him…twice; now he has begun his quest to hunt him down.  David has fled on the advice of his friend Jonathan and is headed out of the city.  He stops by Nob and that is where we meet the priest Ahimelech.  While there,…

  DISCUSSION                                               Now don’t get me wrong, I am sure that Saul had a list of accomplishments a mile long that were good and a blessing to the Lord.  Sadly though, as we continue our study, we seem to only focus on his shortcomings.  Even after the situation with Agag, the King of Amalek, Saul remained King of Israel even though the LORD had already selected David to be his replacement.  Saul knew his…

  DISCUSSION                                              As they say, one poor decision often leads to another and such is the case with King Saul.  After taking matters into his own hands with the burnt offerings, he now continues his mindset of usurping God’s process and justifying his sin.  However, this time it is on a much larger scale.  God had instructed Samuel to tell Saul to utterly wipe out the Amalekites because of their mistreatment of the Israelites…

  DISCUSSION                                   Here is the situation; the Philistines are preparing to come down and face the Israelites in battle. Due to some previous raids that were successful by Jonathan, the Philistines were getting prepared to take their revenge on Saul and the Israelites.  This sent the Israelites into a frenzy. Although some were ready for battle with Saul, many of the Israelites became afraid and hid themselves in caves and dens fearing…

  DISCUSSION                                                  Someone told me years ago that you can’t please everyone and if you do, then you must be doing something wrong.  The older I get the more I understand their point.  It doesn’t matter how much you try to be the best person you can be, there will always be those that want to criticize, ridicule or demean who you are or what you do.  What makes it difficult is that those are usually…

  DISCUSSION                                                                                                  Have you ever heard the expression “the grass is always greener on the other side”?  This phase came from an old Latin proverb that said, “The corn in another man’s ground seems ever more fertile and plentiful than our own does.”  Why is that?  Why do we always look…

  BIBLE READING: 1Kings 13-15   “In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was  Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.”                                                                                                                                                                  (1 Kings 15:1-3) The line of kings over…

  BIBLE READING: 1Kings 10-12                 One of the main themes of the Bible is the fact that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.  In fact, there are numerous passages that remind us that God will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31.8; Matthew 28.20; Hebrews 13.6).  Paul even goes into great detail to explain to us God’s ever present, unlimited love for us. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?…

  BIBLE READING: 1Kings 8-9   “The wages of sin is death…” -Romans 6.23             Those words that were written by the Apostle Paul so many years ago, still send shockwaves today to our very core.  Along with death, sin has other horrible consequences that affect us and those around us.  Sin causes us mental anguish, crippling guilt and self-loathing shame.  Our sin causes us to forget the joy and happiness that we have in Jesus and focus on the…

  BIBLE READING: 1Kings 3-5 We live in a world where we are constantly told that we are enough. You see it all over social media. You hear you have within you everything you need to succeed in life. However, the Christian mindset should be the complete opposite. You do not have within you everything you need to be successful at life. If you were enough, then Jesus died for nothing, and the cross is pointless. Jesus is the only…