This passage gives a run-down of what went on in the early Church: 1. Where did the church meet? (v. 12) ?“ They met where everyone could see them, in the open space on Solomon’s Porch, one of the two great porches that surrounded the temple area …
This Psalm can be divided into three parts: A description of former deliverances and victories (vv. 1-8). A sharing of present trouble and defeat (vv. 9-16). A mixture of praise and pleas (vv. 17-26). It may have been written right after a military loss or in connection with the Baby …
Rehoboam acted wisely at first as he welcomed those who came to worship God. He established the Southern kingdom and strengthened his personal position as a monarch. But after three years he forsook the law of God and led his people into idolatry and corruption (v. 1). At this time, it …
In this portion of Scripture Paul deals with attitudes. He exhorts us to:Be joyful (v. 16). Joy takes the burden out of service. It does not depend on circumstances, for in the world the Christian will have tribulation (John 16:33).Be prayerful (v. 17). The Christian who prays &l …
Today’s scripture passage has been called a “woe oracle†because it announces the doom of Nineveh in typical woe oracle fashion (see Isa. 5:18-23; Amos 5:18-20; 6:1-7; Micah 2:1-4). “Woe†can also be used to express grief, but that is not the case in this passage. No one was going to miss …
Let the Spirit change your way of thinking and make you into a new person (v. 23). You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy (v. 24). Paul was not content to name a principal and then leave it. He even names specific sins which many preachers a …
In the concluding verses of this Psalm, God’s triumphal entrance into Zion and the sanctuary is again described (vv. 24-27). It is pictured like a victory parade with singers and other musicians. The tribes of Benjamin and Judah, one small and one large, represent the southern po …
The nation’s sin was so much a part of their living that judgment had to come. God told Jeremiah that even the prayers of Moses and Samuel could not stop His judgment (v. 1). Judah had passed the point of no return in her dealings with God. The fate of the people was sealed. Destr …
Job launches into a complaint about his sufferings. His friends mock him (vv. 1-15), his body hurts him (vv. 16-19), his God has deserted him (vv. 20-23), and his hope has fled from him (vv. 24-31). To suffer extreme loss as Job did was humiliating. Job had lost his family, posse …
Abijah, Rehoboam’s son and David’s grandson, succeeded his father to the throne of Judah (v. 1). He reigned for a period of three years in Jerusalem and he walked in the sins of hia father (vv. 2-3). This began near the end of Jeroboam’s reign in Israel. Because of David, who …