Fear of making a wrong choice can sometimes cause us to procrastinate until the decision is made for us. We feel like the “experienced” paratrooper who was asked how many jumps he had to his credit. “Twenty-five,” was his reply. But then he added sheepishly, “Really only one. The other twenty-four I had to be […]
In your lifetime, you will likely make several major moves. Those moves may include marrying a spouse, changing jobs, purchase of a house, moving to another area. During a major move, our difficulty is knowing what we ought to do. Transition In this chapter, we find four things that Jacob did while making his major […]
Joseph decided to remain pure rather than yield to lust (Gen 39). Joshua decided to serve the LORD instead of false gods (Jos 24:15). Ruth decided to leave Moab and become a Jew. Daniel decided to pray rather than to fear the lion’s den (Dan 6:10). The apostles decided to preach rather than to keep […]
The captain of a ship looked into the dark night and saw a light in the distance. Immediately, he told his signalman to send a message, “Alter your course ten degrees south.” He promptly received a reply, “Alter your course ten degrees north.” The furious captain sent another message, “Alter your course ten degrees south. […]
After his bad experience in Egypt, Abram returned to the Promised Land. He headed back to the altar he had built near Bethel, and there he worshipped God, Genesis 13:1-4. God had not moved; he had moved. If you are not as close to God as you once were, you have moved, not God. Abram […]
A family tree is diagrams one’s ancestors as the roots of a tree. This evening, we are going to look at the roots of Abram’s family tree. After God divided the languages at Babel, some of Shem’s family settled in Ur south of Babel. [See map] One of Shem’s grandsons was Uz (10:23). He may […]
Decisions. Decisions! DECISIONS! Life is full of them. Whether it is deciding what brand of milk to buy, where to go on holiday, what course to take in school, how to deal with a problem, what car to buy or whether to change jobs, every decision you make is important to God. If you are […]
Fred was invited to a party that he knew would likely include things that may endanger his morals, health, and spiritual life, but he agreed to go to please his peers. Sue just received word that her mother has cancer. She panicked and plunged into a state of frantic worry. On his way to work, […]
God has kept silent many of the details of Naomi’s character. We only see a glimpse here and there. As we noted in the previous section, Naomi’s family appeared to be a prodigal family running away from God’s will for their lives. Perhaps she was more spiritual than her husband was; however, for some reason […]
Sorry, but the audio did not record for some reason. The book of Ruth takes place sometime during the 300 years of the Judges. Judges 21:25 describes the general spiritual and moral mindset during that period (read). The book gets its name from a young Moabite woman named Ruth, the central figure in the book, […]