KING SAUL, A STUDY IN LEADERSHIP FAILURE It’s heart-breaking to read the stories about King Saul, Israel’s first king. Although he reigned for 40 years, his leadership style was fraught with short-sighted and ill-conceived tactics, blustering, macho-inspired dictates, people-pleasing priorities, and most of all – a failure to seek God first in all things. Even
THE CHALLENGE OF SHARING YOUR FAITH WITH FAMILY Jesus had four younger half-brothers named James, Joses, Judas and Simon and several unnamed sisters (Mark 6:3) by his mother, Mary and his adopted father, Joseph. Prior to Christ’s resurrection his brothers didn’t believe in him. We don’t read much about them, but here John records how
THE SOURCE OF TRUE SATISFACTION The psalmist declared that thanksgiving is due to the Lord for His wonderful goodness and mercy. For God is the only one who can truly satisfy the longing of the human soul. There is a thirst and a hunger that the body knows. God created this in man that
BEWARE VIEWING HUMAN GOVERNMENT AS THE ANSWER When Samuel was getting old, the people of Israel came to him, asking for a king. The request displeased Samuel, so he went to the Lord with it. The Lord told him to give them what they want, for they had not rejected Samuel, but they had rejected
GOD WILL NOT SHARE HIS WORSHIP WITH ANOTHER The Philistines had defeated the Israelites in battle and had captured the Ark of the Lord. They assumed that the Ark would make a nice addition to their temple to Dagon, so they placed it next to the idol of Dagon. The Philistines had been a
HAVE YOU LEARNED TO LISTEN FOR GOD’S VOICE? While young Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle he was awakened a fourth time by the voice of the Lord calling him. The first three times he ran to Eli, thinking the old priest was calling him. He didn’t yet recognize God’s voice. After the third time,
HANNAH, A GODLY EXAMPLE OF MOTHERHOOD Hannah was barren. At her family’s annual visit to the Tabernacle at Shiloh to worship and bring offerings, she was so stricken with grief that she could only mouth the words to her prayers. Her lips moved, but no sound came forth. She cried out from her heart that
FAITH AND FAMILY When the nobleman from Capernaum came to Jesus, begging Him to come to heal his dying son, Jesus said, “Go your way, your son lives.” The man believed the word of Jesus and went his way. As he was going, his servants met him saying, “Your son lives!” When he asked the
THE WITNESS OF WORSHIP This is a call to both worship and witness. We might even say that it is a call to the kind of worship that is in itself a witness to the peoples of the world. The psalmist called the people of Israel to begin their worship with thanks to the
REVIVAL WILL TAKE COLLABORATION NOT COMPETITION John the Baptist’s followers worried that more people were following Jesus than John. When John heard them saying this, he rebuked them. He recognized that God determined spiritual results. And he also understood that his ministry was to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry. As John said referring to