As 2022 closes out, its a good time to look back as well as figure out the direction for this blog over the next year. Part of that is a decision about either keeping things at status quo, making more of an investment, or taking the blog site down and saving money. It is expensive …
The Book of Ruth and the Birth of Christ – Part 3
The Reception Part 2 left off with the journey across the high country from Moab to Judea. Naomi had run out of options in Moab. She had lost her husband and her two sons and was too old to have any more children. The likelihood of finding another husband in Moab were slim. Besides, Moab …
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The Book of Ruth and the Birth of Christ – Part 2
The Spiritual Environment in the Time of the Judges God’s people Israel, whom He delivered from bondage in Egypt and brought into the promised land, began a struggle with idolatry not long after the death of Joshua. Joshua was faithful to the Lord and without his leadership, Israel began to falter. Israel was surrounded by …
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The Book of Ruth and the Birth of Christ – Part 1
Each year around Christmas, I reread the Book of Ruth. To me, it is part of the Christmas story, even though it predates the birth of the Messiah by about 1000 years. It takes place in the time of the Judges, before there was a king in Israel. How does a short, obscure story tucked …
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The Parable of the Soils Part 4 – Thorny Soil
Every farmer knows that harvest is reduced by weeds which compete with the crop for sunlight, nutrition, and water. If there is no intervention, weeds can reduce yield by about 28% according to a brief internet search. Soil is well prepared by farmers for planting: its well tilled, fertilized, and has the right amount of …
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The Lord’s Prayer and the Kingdom of God Part 4 – Deliverance from Evil
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil Matthew 6:13 My last post was about the parable of the soils, specifically, the rocky soil. The “rocky soil” as explained by Jesus is the believer who has a shallow, superficial faith that cannot hold up under challenges of life. The parable lists three …
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Kingdom against kingdom Part 4 – Final Observations
This is the final post about the Gadarene incident. My purpose here is to summarize some key points that I would recommend all believers internalize. Why? Because there is a resurgence of paganism throughout the world along with a suppression of the Word of God – just as prophesied thousands of years ago. The first …
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Kingdom against kingdom Part 3 – The Confrontation
This is the third part of a series on what I call the Gadarene incident – the well known account in the gospels of the deliverance of a man from many demons by Jesus Christ. In this post, I focus on the deliverance itself, but there are some bigger picture things happening in this encounter. …
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Kingdom against kingdom Part 2 – The Crossing
Note: this is a re-post of part of the story of Jesus and the disciples as they encountered the demonically possessed man on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The encounter of Jesus with the Gadarene demoniac is one of the most amazing supernatural events in the Bible. What’s interesting about this incident …
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The Lord’s Prayer and the Kingdom of God – Part 3
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12 (KJV) Forgiveness is a powerful tool for restoring and maintaining relationships between individuals, ethnic groups, or even nations. It even restores a broken relationship with God and leads to immortality. God’s forgiveness of us restores relationship with Him; our forgiveness of each other …
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