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Conclusion
It’s the day before Thanksgiving, 2011. I want to thank God for each of you who have walked with me through this study focusing on some of the Minor Prophets. It has not been easy, no?! But you have faithfully stayed the course.
On my wedding day in 1969, my Dad had slipped into my room early in the morning and left a written prayer on the pillow beside me for me to find when I awoke. That piece of paper is precious to me! Through that venue, my Dad allowed me to see a part of his heart toward me. It More >
Humble Beginnings – Hosea 12
Today, read Hosea 12 – 13. Hosea recounts, one more time, the case God presents against His people.
Why does history matter? What purpose is served by looking back to the past and remembering your roots and your ancestry? I am writing this the week before Thanksgiving, 2011. There will be family gatherings all around our country next week. Some will be pleasant and bring great joy. Some will radiate pain and loss. Some will reopen wounds that have never healed. But in them all will be a remembering of past – a remembering of people no longer present at the More >
Jesus, Crucified (Matthew 27
We read today of the pivot point in all history. Read carefully. Read slowly.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Here we see Jesus plumbing the uttermost depths of the human situation, so that there might be no place that we might go where he has not been before.
More >Lord … we are stunned into silence at the foot of the cross. Help us comprehend more fully. Help us understand more deeply. How can our lives express gratitude for this incredible gift? Help us …
A Father’s Love
We are in the final week of this particular study. And today we begin the last section of Hosea. Read Hosea 11.
God has carefully, forcefully and dramatically explained to Israel what is going to happen to them and why it will happen. No one will be able to say, “But I didn’t know. No one told me.” Over and over we have read of the prophets telling the people. It seems that God knows the “point of no return” is very close for Israel … and if He does not bring the severe discipline and judgement now, all will be lost More >
The Roman Trial (Matthew 27
The Sanhedrin condemned Jesus. His crime? Blasphemy. That offense was enough to condemn him to death. However, the Jews did not have the power or authority to pronounce a death sentence. Therefore they had to get the Roman authority to weigh in – only Roman authority could carry out execution. So Jesus is dragged before Pilate, the Roman governor of the region.
Pilate’s infamous act of ordering Jesus’ execution was carried out in the political backwaters of first-century Palestine. His actions were conducted in relative obscurity, wit no thought that they would have historical and spiritual consequences for all of More >
Peter Collapses (Matthew 26
While the excuse for a “trial” was taking place inside the home of the high priest, Peter was in the courtyard. Peter had been in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus and the others. When Jesus was arrested, Matthew told us that someone drew a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest (26:51) John tells us in his gospel record that the one who drew a sword in the Garden was Peter. And while all Jesus’ companions fled from the scene … Peter follows and we find him in the courtyard of the More >
The Vine: Hosea 10 (Week 9
Today, read Hosea 10.
The chapter begins with the description of Israel as a ‘luxuriant vine’. That imagery is very familiar to the Israelite people. Let’s just look at a couple of other references to the metaphor.
Isaiah 5: 1 – 2, 7 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a wine press as well. The he looked for a More >
The Jewish Trial (Matthew 26
Jesus and his disciples leave the Garden of Gethsemane. It is night time. That is why Peter and James and John had such a hard time staying awake while Jesus prayed. Judas approaches leading the ones that were sent to arrest Jesus. It would not have been an orderly Roman company of soldiers. I think we get a better sense of the scene if we think of it as a mob – more like a lynch mob in the western movies we have watched. Judas kisses … steps back … and the events begin to escalate.
Before you read our More >
The Top 10 Bible Studies of 2010
Thank you to everyone who visited Bible Study Planet in 2010.
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you! (Rom 1:8)
Here are the Top 10 Most Popular bible studies from the past year:
1) Emergency Bible Numbers – This simple list of Bible verses is our most popular studies two years running.
2) 8 Ways God Blesses Us – We look at 8 different ways God blesses Christians
3) 7 Things That Change When We Follow Christ – When a person comes to faith in Christ there will be some evidence of this faith in their lives.
4) Four Types of Christians – Which More >
Reap the Whirlwind: Hosea 8 – 9 (Week 9
We are continuing our study of the 3rd section of Hosea. Today, read Hosea 8 – 9.
Two thoughts come to mind as we read these chapters that continue the litany of offenses that Israel has committed against God.
First … in 8:7 the language uses the metaphor of the whirlwind for Israel’s condition. Living on the Gulf coast, we know hurricanes. I have just read an historical novel by Erik Larsen, “Isaac’s Storm”. It is about the deadly hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. The destruction is almost unbelievable … as the entire path for a city was changed.
In 1961, More >
