Thoughts Who Wrote This Book? This book is one of three epistles, or letters that are attributed to John the apostle, who wrote the Gospel of John. He is the disciple that is often called “John the Beloved” because it is thought that he is the one referred to six different times in the Gospel…
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Thoughts Something that struck me in today’s reading was in verse 5 and 6. Paul had told the Jews that Jesus was the Christ, and they opposed and slandered him. His response was interesting. What do many of us tend to do today when people don’t accept our message? We try to change our approach….
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Thoughts Redemption In the Old Testament? One of the common ideas of the New Testament is redemption. But in chapter 10, verse 8 we read about redemption, too. Here it is again, starting at verse 6: “I will strengthen Judah and save the tribes of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on…
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Thoughts At the end of our last reading in Ecclesiastes, the end of chapter 8, Solomon had said that after setting his mind on understanding wisdom, after watching what happens here on earth, he concluded that it is impossible for man to understand it all. And this is coming from the wisest man that ever…
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Thoughts I love the fact that God knows me intimately. To understand that He knows my desire to know and serve Him makes me feel good, as when a little boy is happy when his daddy is pleased with him. But to also understand that God knows my ugly, dark, sinful parts causes me to…
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Thoughts Confession In chapter 10, we find Ezra kneeling in front of the temple, tearfully confessing the sins of the people of Israel. And he is joined by a large crowd of men, women and children who also begin weeping bitterly. Why are they crying? Because they have disobeyed God by marrying foreign, or as…
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Thoughts An Eye For An Eye? The final verse in chapter nineteen says, “Don’t feel sorry for that evil person. A life must be taken for a life. An eye must be put out for an eye. A tooth must be knocked out for a tooth. A hand must be cut off for a hand…
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Thoughts I’d like to just briefly touch on a couple of points made by Peter. False Teachers Are Easy To Spot First, the topic of false teachers. They were a problem in Old Testament times, they were a problem in the early church, and they are a problem today. False teachers are usually students of…
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Thoughts Conflict I’m always struck by the last scene in chapter 15. It’s in verses 36 through 41. Paul suggested to Barnabas that they go and see how well the followers were doing in the cities they had visited and preached in. Barnabas said, “Hey, let’s take my cousin, John Mark along with us.” Paul…
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Thoughts Introduction Zechariah and Haggai (which we read last week) were contemporaries. Both were called by God after the 70 year exile. Zechariah’s prophecy came two months after Haggai’s first prophecy. Where the prophecies of Haggai had primarily to do with the Temple, Zechariah’s were about the people. The language of Zechariah’s messages were very…
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