April 30 :: 1 Kings 8-9; Luke 21:1-19

April 29 :: 1 Kings 6-7; Luke 20:27-47

April 28 :: 1 Kings 3-5; Luke 20:1-26

1 Kings 3:5-9

At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

"Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" 

The Lord wants us to ask for good things from Him - what would you like to ask Him for??? I am asking for perseverance & endurance for the future months in ministry!!!

April 27 :: 1 Kings 1-2; Luke 19:28-48

Intro to 1 Kings

Author: Thought to be Jeremiah, but may also include Ezra, Ezekiel, historical resources, and an unknown exile in Babylon

Date: 550 B.C.

Title: Rightfully entitled "Kings," 1st Kings and 2nd Kings were originally just one book in Hebrew. 1st and 2nd Kings not only document the kings rulings over Judah and Israel from Solomon until the Babylonian captivity, but also of the relationship between how a king follows God's law and what types of turmoil/blessings that land is imparted.

1 Kings Timeline (BC):

1010 :: David becomes king of Judah

1003 :: David becomes king of all Israel

991 :: Solomon born

970 :: Solomon becomes king

959 :: Temple completed

931 :: Jeroboam becomes king of Israel / Rehoboam becomes king of Judah

925 :: King Shishak of Egypt attacks Jerusalem

911 :: Asa becomes king of Judah

874 :: Ahab becomes king of Israel / Elijah begins prophetic ministry

873 :: Jehoshaphat becomes king of Judah

April 26 :: 2 Samuel 23-24; Luke 19:1-27

Luke 19:10

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

And then He commissioned us to do the same, no? This is an interesting scripture, because it gears us to think about going out and finding the lost...so that Jesus can save them. It is hard to think that way sometimes, because of our own daily lives and our hesitance and denial to do such. What is something that has held you back from going out to seek the lost and what will help crush that thing that holds you back?

I typed "being lost" into google and this photograph came up. It overwhelmingly reminded of what it is like when we are "lost" in not knowing God.

 

retrieved from: http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=9271&start=0

April 25 :: 2 Samuel 21-22; Luke 18:24-43

April 24 :: 2 Samuel 19-20; Luke 18:1-23

April 23 :: 2 Samuel 16-18; Luke 17:20-37

April 22 :: 2 Samuel 14-15; Luke 17:1-19

April 21 :: 2 Samuel 12-13; Luke 16

Luke 16:8-9

"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."

I heard a pastor quoted on the radio the other day (I think it was Rick Warren of Saddleback Church) who said something similarly phrased. He said 'Love people and use resources to "get" them. Do not love resources and use people to get them.'

April 20 :: 2 Samuel 9-11; Luke 15:11-32

The Prodigal Son

The story of the prodigal son is a beautiful one of depravity, guilt, conviction and amazing mercy. Something that may go unnoticed sometimes in this scripture is the utter depravity of the other brother. Consider his reaction to his father's love for his brother:

Luke 15:28-30

 

"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"

Do you think the older brother is perhaps just as lost as the younger brother was and also needs finding?

April 19 :: 2 Samuel 6-8; Luke 15:1-10

April 18 :: 2 Samuel 3-5; Luke 14:25-35

Happy Sunday!

April 17 :: 2 Samuel 1-2; Luke 14:1-24

Author: Samuel & others

Written: 930 b.c. and later

Contents:

Whereas 1 Samuel displays the reign of Saul, 2 Samuel takes us on a trip through David's reign - who during his time as king, made Jerusalem the political and religious center of the nation.

April 16 :: 1 Samuel 30-31; Luke 13:23-35

Luke 13:23-24

Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to."

This is somewhat similar to something written by Robert Frost:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference."

Do you see similarities between this quote and this scripture? Is the narrow door the road less traveled by? What does that mean to you in your life? What does that mean in your life THIS WEEK? Is God asking you to give up something and follow Him on a more difficult path?

April 15 :: 1 Samuel 27-29; Luke 13:1-22

April 14 :: 1 Samuel 25-26; Luke 12:32-59

April 13 :: 1 Samuel 22-24; Luke 12:1-31

What is the Lord trying to teach us about a good leader here?

1 Samuel 22:2

All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

Something about the story of Saul wrenches at my heart, for he is so aware sometimes of his own shortcomings, yet lacks the integrity to ask God for the help to bring him nearer to righteousness and further from sin. It is enough to drive you crazy and break your heart all at once!

1 Samuel 24:16-21

When David finished saying this, Saul asked, "Is that your voice, David my son?" And he wept aloud. "You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the LORD delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today. I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family."  

Let us have faith all my dear friends & build each other up in the realization of the hope we have!

Luke 12:27-28

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!"

April 12 :: 1 Samuel 19-21; Luke 11:29-54

This is one of the most beautiful passages of friendship in scripture! Just wanted to share it. 

1 Samuel 20:41-42

After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.

Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'"

April 11 :: 1 Samuel 17-18; Luke 11:1-28

David is so much less experienced and smaller than Goliath the Philistine - yet He trusts in the Lord to fight this battle for Him. This reminds me of Luke 11:23 when Jesus says "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters." Jesus does scatter His enemies - the power of God accomplishes - and David knew that...

1 Samuel 17 :: 45 & 47

David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied....All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." 

April 10 :: 1 Samuel 15-16; Luke 10:25-42

April 9 :: 1 Samuel 13-14; Luke 10:1-24

Luke 10:1-6

Jesus Sends Out the Seventytwo

"After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.  "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you."

How interesting that the peace does not stay with a person who is not a "man of peace." I wonder what this means. Consider this...

C. S. Lewis on the peace of God in "Mere Christianity"...

"The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first-- wanting to be the centre-- wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan--and that was the sin he taught the human race. ... What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could 'be like gods'-- could set up on their own as if they had created themselves-- be their own masters-- invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history-- money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery-- the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

April 8 :: 1 Samuel 10-12; Luke 9:37-62

1 Samuel 10:6

The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.

Time for some vulnerability: please share a moment when God changed YOU into a different person.

April 7 :: 1 Samuel 7-9; Luke 9:18-36

Luke 9:23-25 (Jesus speaking)

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

What is Jesus asking us to do when he says "come after me"?  Shall we seek Him then? I was really convicted by this today. I asked myself...do I take up my daily cross and sacrifice like He did? 

Challenge this week: everyday make a point to sacrifice something for the benefit of another...

April 6 :: 1 Samuel 4-6; Luke 9:1-17

April 5 :: 1 Samuel 1-3; Luke 8:26-56

April 4 :: Ruth 1-4; Luke 8:1-25

Happy Easter guys!

Book of Ruth quick verse summaries:

Ruth 1:16-18

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Ruth 2:11-12

Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

Ruth 3:9-11

"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."

"The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.

Ruth 4:21-22

Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David......

April 3 :: Judges 19-21; Luke 7:31-50

April 2 :: Judges 16-18; Luke 7:1-30

I just had to...

April 1 :: Judges 13-15; Luke 6:27-49

^{Judges 13:15-16}

Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you. The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.) 

I wonder if angels still appear today and if we confuse them as humans like Manoah did...