August 26, 2020
WHY DO GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE? Job’s friends kept challenging him to repent because their faulty assumption was that since evil had befallen Job, he must have done something to deserve it. After all, bad things had happened to Job, so he must’ve done something bad. Yet, Job continued to claim that God
August 25, 2020
WHERE ARE THE OPEN DOORS FOR THE GOSPEL TODAY? From this passage it appears that Paul was living in Ephesus when he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians. Ephesus was one of the great cities in the Roman empire located on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor in the country we now know as
August 24, 2020
IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? The grief-stricken Job asked, “Is there life after death?” Or more specifically, “Is there a resurrection of the dead?” Those suffering grief have joined Job throughout the centuries asking the same question. Yet, no definitive answer to this question was given until the coming of Jesus Christ, who answered, “I
August 23, 2020
JESUS, THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN Job viewed God as so great and transcendent as to be unapproachable by man. For God worked in the realm of the heavens and the stormy seas, while man was limited to dry ground. He reasoned that if only there were a “mediator” (9:33) that could stretch out
August 22, 2020
WE OWE THE AFFLICTED KINDNESS NOT JUDGMENT Job’s friends came to share his grief, but ended up adding to his affliction. They came to sit with Job after a series of terrible events had occurred. A hurricane had collapsed his oldest son’s house, killing all of Job’s children. Raiding parties had attacked his property and
August 19, 2020
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS Esther won King Xerxes’ beauty contest and was crowned as his queen. She went from being a Jewish orphan to a Persian queen. Her cousin, Mordecai, who had raised her as his own when her parents died, asked her not to forget her people and to consider God’s purpose
August 18, 2020
ARE WE PASSING ON THE BATON OF FAITH? The apostle Paul’s teaching concerning the Lord’s Supper was faithfully passed on from the Lord to the church at Corinth. Paul reminded them that his authority as an apostle came from the Lord, as did his message. Having established his credibility, he corrected the unworthy practices of
August 17, 2020
WHY IS THE HOUSE OF GOD FORSAKEN? After Nehemiah completed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, he was recalled by King Artaxerxes. When he obtained leave from the king and returned to Jerusalem, he found that those he had left in charge had not kept their promise to support the house of God. Many
August 16, 2020
WHEN OTHERS RAN OUT THEY RAN IN After the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, people were needed to repopulate the city, which had been destroyed some 70+ years earlier. It was a run-down and dangerous place where few wanted to live. So when certain men willingly volunteered to live in the city, the people blessed
August 15, 2020
REVIVAL AND REPAIRED WALLS After the rebuilding of the walls surrounding Jerusalem there was great enthusiasm for God’s Word and for the giving of tithes and offerings. The people willingly and joyfully entered into a covenant to be faithful in these things. Yet, before the walls were rebuilt, the people were filled with doubt and