The Home Devo (Page 37)

  DISCUSSION                                                “Sell out -someone who sacrifices their personal convictions for some type of advancement.”       Naboth had set himself up to become a very wealthy man.  He owned a vineyard that was located on a prime piece of property, right beside the palace of King Ahab.  It just so happens that Ahab desired this vineyard for himself and he wanted to turn it into a vegetable garden.  As Naboth might have expected, Ahab…

  DISCUSSION :                                                                                                             As the spiritual state of the nation of God continues to decline, the prophets of God became afraid of Ahab and Jezebel and hid in caves in groups of fifties. God is looking for a prophet with the courage to, not only confront Ahab…

  DISCUSSION                             As we continue our study of the kings of the two kingdoms, we see that as the nation of Judah begins to be (for the moment) on the right track in the early days of Asa, the Kingdom of Israel continues to fall in rapid decline.  With each passing king they grow worse; from bad with Jeroboam, to really bad with Baasha, to really really bad with Elah, to extremely bad with Zimri, to…

  DISCUSSION                                        As we continue to read and study the nation of Israel, it doesn’t take very long before we see a tremendous downfall of the kingdom after the sins of Solomon.  The kingdom has now been divided into two sections; the nation of Judah is now referred to as the Southern Kingdom and the nation of Israel now becomes known as the Northern kingdom.  Judah is comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin,…

                  1 Kings 13 tells us about the Prophet Who Lied and the Prophet Who Died… the Li-ar and the Li-on…   It’s an interesting story where the man of God goes to Jeroboam to tell him about his future and how it will come crushing down by a child named Josiah because of the evil he was doing.  In fact, upon telling Jeroboam this, his hand withers and the very sign that the man of God predicted … “Surely…

  DISCUSSION                   As we did for Proverbs 27 – 29, we’re looking at an outline of the Proverbs for today. Proverbs 30 – Agur Gets Existential This next section is entitled “Sayings of Agur, Son of Jakeh” (no one knows who Agur was, but he may have been a non-Israelite, representing Near-Eastern wisdom in a more general way). It begins with a confession of human ignorance—the speaker admits that he doesn’t know anything, doesn’t understand how…

  DISCUSSION                                         It is estimated that if Solomon was alive today and had all the wealth that he had while King of Israel, he would be worth over 2.1 trillion dollars.  If that were the case, (and my math is correct) that would mean that Solomon could spend $95,890,000 a day, every day for the next 60 years.  When we put things into perspective, that is so much money it makes my…

  DISCUSSION                                                 Recently, a dear and kind friend of our family lost her battle with cancer.  She fought with courage and faith for years and kept the light of hope.  She was a faithful member at her church, loved her friends and family tremendously and unselfishly gave of her time and money to others.  From the outside looking in, THIS life needed THIS woman. …

  DISCUSSION                                                                Last month thousands of 18-year-olds walked across the stage and graduated from high school.  In a couple more months, thousands of those same 18-year-olds will be dropped off at college with moms and dads choking back tears as they drive back home.   Every day in hospitals across America new babies are born to nervous…

  DISCUSSION                                                   No one can doubt that Proverbs is a hard book to study.  Most of the chapters are collections of wise sayings and good advice.  This means chapters are hard to characterize with one line of thought.  With this in mind, looking at an outline of the chapters might help us glean the wisdom intended. Chapter 27- Taste Follows Appetite More advice piles up: don’t boast about what will happen tomorrow, because…

  DISCUSSION                                                                            You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. –Proverbs 19:21 Daily planners, calendars, date books, to-do lists, grocery lists. However you organize it, we often spend a lot of our days planning our time as much as we do spending our time. We plan our errands, dinner, workload…all the things! Do we ask God for help in the planning? We may think that these menial tasks don’t…

  DISCUSSION                                                      A scoundrel   plots evil, and on their lips it is like a scorching fire. A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. A violent person entices their neighbor and leads them down a path that is not good. Whoever winks   with their eye is plotting perversity; whoever purses their lips is bent on evil. –Proverbs 16:27-30 (NIV) Proverbs 16:27-30 is disturbingly accurate. There are…