Paul had spent some time with these people on one of his missionary journeys, and they had received him well. However, after he left them some false teacher had come in who told them that Paul was not to be respected as an apostle, and they began teaching the Galatians that they had to follow…
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The chapter began with Hannah’s prayer when she brought Samuel to the temple. God had given Hannah the gift of a son. And I think that most people’s prayer would be something along the lines of, “Thank you, God, for giving me this boy.” But instead of focusing on the gift, Hannah is praising the…
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I’m sure you noticed that these two chapters were not written by Solomon. We don’t really know any more about either Agur, mentioned as the source of the words in chapter 30, or Lemuel from chapter 31, than what is said in the text. Chapter 30 talked about fools and evil people, chapter 31 described…
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Paul’s closing comments to the Corinthian church are a bit of a mixed bag. In responding to those who seem to be swayed by the false teachers in their midst who have questioned Paul’s authority, he defends his apostleship in relating how God gave him a vision some fourteen years earlier, in which Paul was…
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Today we begin the book of 1 Samuel. Now, while this is still in the history section of the OT, we are really making a transition from the time of the Judges to what will be the time of the Kings. First and Second Samuel are not written by Samuel, but 1 Samuel is primarily…
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Chapter 29, verse 18 said, “Where there is no understanding of the Word of the Lord, the people do whatever they want to, but happy is he who keeps the law.” The NIV renders it this way: “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.”…
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What’s happening here is Paul is addressing the matter of a false preacher in their midst who had been saying that Paul was not who or what he said he was. And this false preacher was trying to bring false teaching into the church. Remember, the church was still very young. This was only a…
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Before we talk about how this book is a part of your history, it occurs to me that there was something we read today that might have caused you to raise your eyebrows a bit. Do you remember what it was? It was when Boaz was sleeping on the threshing floor and Ruth came in…
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I used to listen to political talk radio and watch political TV talk shows. But I got tired of the arguing back and forth. And I noticed that no matter how logical or well-thought-out an argument was (on either side), seldom (if ever) was an opponent persuaded to listen objectively. And often, both sides ended…
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Our first chapter today, Chapter 7, began with the word “Therefore”. In studying the Bible, it’s a good practice to, whenever you see that word, ask yourself, “What’s the therefore there for?” Let’s look again at the first sentence of the chapter. Paul writes, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends…” What promises? We…
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