THE HOME DEVO

  DISCUSSION                                                      The small book of Nahum is a collection of visions that the prophet has concerning the downfall of the Assyrians.   However, the book is not entirely about the fall of the Assyrians, but He rather uses them as an example to show us that God will always punish those nations that prey on and persecute the innocent.   This is good news for God’s people of the day, because He also lets His people know that He will punish the wicked but offer refuge for the faithful.   “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1.7).   The message of the book is also good news for us.   It reminds us that God is still sovereign over all the nations of the world, ...

  DISCUSSION                                       I used to work with a man who had one of the kindest, gentlest of hearts I had ever seen in someone.   I was shocked to hear that this man wasn’t attending any form of worship service and that he had never become a Christian.   I had decided that I was going to begin praying for him and invite him to come to church with me on Sunday.   I really thought this would be an easy invite, due to his kind and compassionate character.   When I asked him why he had not become a Christian, his response was shocking and to the point.   “Brother, I have done a lot of bad things in my life, such bad things I don’t ever want to talk about it again.   God would not even forgive me of the sins that I had committed, I am just too far gone”       ...

  DISCUSSION                                         As we already know from our daily bible readings, King Hezekiah will become sick to the point of death.   However, due to his humility, God grants him fifteen more years into His service.   There is however a statement that Isaiah makes to the king that I feel is very significant for our lesson today.   Isaiah tells King Hezekiah “Set your house in order, for you shall die…”.   Although we know that the King does recover from his illness, in the end the King still dies.   In fact, we are all going to die!   James tell us that our life is like a vapor, it is here for a little while and then it vanishes away.   Our earthly life will end, but if we set our house in order, our eternal life will be much better.   You may ask, “What does it mean ...

  DISCUSSION                                                              As Isaiah closes out his book, he gives his people a clear understanding of what God is looking for out of His people.   “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66.2b).   The same message could be said for us in the church today.   If we want God to “look” or show favor to us, we must take on these types of qualities within our lives.   To be “humble”, means lowly our depressed.   It expresses feelings of understanding just how big God is and how unworthy we are of His love.   To be “contrite in spirit”, indicates that we are damaged, maimed and broken, with Him bei...

  DISCUSSION                                                                           Could you imagine what it was like to be Adam and Eve?   You are living in paradise and you have God meeting with you and talking with you on a minute by minute basis.   It is the closest thing to heaven that this world has ever and will ever be.   Yet in Genesis 3, all that changed.   The world that Adam and Eve were living in would forever be altered.   The sins that they committed got them kicked out of paradise. They now had to work for their food with hard labor.   Eve would now have to suffer greatly with the pain of childbirth.   How...

  DISCUSSION                                              We have all been there haven’t we; alone, depressed, feeling that the whole world is against us.   We are even tempted with the feeling that even God has abandoned us.   We have prayed and received no reply, we have searched and found no answers and we have cried and gotten no comfort.   It is these types of feelings that remind me of why passages like this were written.                 "This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more        go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you.       For the mountains ...

  DISCUSSION                                           As you read through the book of Psalms, you will inevitably come to a word with which you are not familiar.   The word “Selah” is found seventy-one times within the book of Psalms.   As for its definition, no one can be completely sure; although it does seem to be a musical term.   Many people believe this to be a musical term that signifies a place in the psalm that requires a brief pause.   Within our reading for the day that does seem to fit the message of Psalm 46.   The word “Selah” is used three times in this short song. However, if we take it to mean that we should take a pause to reflect on the words that we have just read or sung about, then maybe there should be a fourth.   In Psalm 46.10, the writer writes, “Be s...

  DISCUSSION                                                   In Isaiah 44-48 it seems God is trying to get His people to understand just how ridiculous their idolatry has become.   The items that they have been worshipping have all been made by human hands.   How can a deity claim any power over humanity if it was fashioned by the hands of a human?   The answer is clear; it shouldn’t have any power over man at all.   Yet it did, but only because they allowed it to.   It seems like a foreign concept to us today to understand how people of God could fall away and begin to worship something that was man made.   Rather, it should seem like a foreign concept to us, but it doesn’t.   In fact, it has become more of a norm for us. ...

  DISCUSSION                                                                     How do you define God? There are several terms that we could use such as Great, Awesome, Love, Light, Perfect, yet none of them fully give a description of the God that we serve.   Although it is comprehensive, Isaiah gives a great description of God .   “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” (Isaiah 40:28-29).   Everlasting… Creator… Unsearchable…, all of these words are ...

  DISCUSSION                                   In Isaiah 38, King Hezekiah had grown sick and was at the point of death.   God has already told him to get his house in order because he was not going to recover from this sickness.   It is then that we see a prayer that the King utters, literally on his death bed.   This prayer is recorded in Isaiah 38.3 … "Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” (Isaiah 38:3).   That is all that we have recorded of this prayer, yet there is something else we do not have; the personal thoughts of a dying man.   I am sure that there was a whole lot more communication going on between Hezekiah and God, along with this short prayer he verbalized.   The reason I believe ...

  DISCUSSION                             Isaiah’s words continue to be those of gloom and doom, due to the wickedness of the nation and the impending punishment to come at the hands of the Babylonians.   God does offer a ray of hope to those that will be able to return afterward.   “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." (Isaiah 35:3-4).   In the moment of suffering, it is very easy to want to give up and concede all hope, yet that is when we need to be motivated to continue and endure.   Paul offers us a bit of insight on two separate occasions: First to the church at Rome, “ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glor...

  DISCUSSION                         “ And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,   in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” -Isaiah 32:17-18             Did you know that there is an effect of your righteousness?   Isaiah notes that effect will “peace…quietness and trust forever”, but what exactly is righteousness?   W.E. Vines’ Greek dictionary of righteousness is… "the character or quality of being right or just"; it was formerly spelled "rightwiseness," which clearly expresses the meaning. It was a characteristic of God, as well as a gift to those who placed their trust in Christ.   Paul said, “ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righ...

  DISCUSSION                                                                              The book of Hosea has to be studied while understanding the religion of the Canaanites.  Israel was coming back to Palestine being inhabited for over a thousand years.  They learned farming from the people that they did not drive out of the land.  However, Canaanite farming was integrally woven with their spiritual beliefs.  El, Baal, and Dagon were very popular deities in the Canaanite religion along with the female counterparts of Asherah, Astarte, and Anath.  Temples for these gods were open air shrines located in high place...

  DISCUSSION                                                                              So often in life, we are looking for our purpose.  We ask questions like, “Why am I here?” or “What does God want from me?”  Imagine if you’re Hosea.  You’re God’s prophet.  You’ve seen and heard stories of so many prophets before you and the great things they’ve done.  You wonder what God’s great purpose will be for you.  Then, God tells you, “Go, and take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry.  For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)  If you’re Hosea, wh...

  DISCUSSION                                                            King Hezekiah is one of the bright spots in a list of evil people who served as king.   As he begins his rule, one of the first things he commands to be done is to carry the filth out of the Holy Place of God.   The filth he was referring to was the pagan cult objects that had been placed by his predecessors in the sanctuary of the Temple.   This was such an abomination to Hezekiah that he ordered at once people to go in and clean house.   Not only that, the King reminds them that they were “ministers” of God and could not afford to be found negligent and allow this filth to return.   The lesson for us today is pretty ...

  DISCUSSION                                                               The greatest gift that we have today is the complete will of God revealed to us on the printed pages of our Bibles.   The Bible contains the greatest love story that has and will ever be told.   It tells of the love that God has with His creation; our humanity.   Yet just as all good love stories, this one has a tragedy as well.   The tragedy happened during the fall of man in Genesis 3.   Not only did man sin and separate himself from God, he also began to experience what it means to be human in death. It was from that moment that God began to tell of the coming of the greatest source of love… Jesu...

  DISCUSSION                                                             It wasn’t that long ago that you were celebrating our countries independence with hot dogs, stews and fireworks.   As we gather every year with family, we too share in some of those same traditions.   We celebrate because we feel that the United States is the greatest country in the world and that God has blessed our country since its infancy.   God certainly has blessed the United States of America, but He has also blessed China, Great Britain and even North Korea.   In fact, every nation of the world can share the same slogan that we feel we may have trademarked. In Isaiah we learn a good bit about the Sovereignty of God.   Sovereignty is not a word that we typically use in our daily vocabulary...

  DISCUSSION                          In recent years there seems to have been a rise of televangelists, ministers and teachers that teach the goodness and love of God.   It is hard to argue with them about God’s goodness and love.   Yes, God has been very good to us.   Yes, God loves us so much He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for us.   However, these teachers omit a very important part of their theology of God.   Notice Paul’s words to the church at Rome , “…note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” (Romans 11.22).   It is very easy to speak of the goodness and love of God, but very difficult to speak of his severity and judgment.   Everyone loves a God that is full of blessings and...

  DISCUSSION                       The divided nation of Israel has fallen into idolatry. To pull them back, He sends them messengers to relay His will to the people. One of those messengers was Micah. He was from the town of Moresheth, a town from the kingdom of Judah.   Micah will accuse the nation of Israel and bring His judgment on all the cities that have done wickedness, specifically stealing and having corrupt prophets.   However, Micah’s message is not one of all gloom and doom.   In fact, the second part of his message is one of hope and the promise of a new kingdom on the other side. The people of Micah’s day, as well as the people of today, want to know the answer to one specific question; “What does God want from me?”.    Essentially, we have all asked the question in our mind, what is it that God wants me to do?   Here is the Lord’s reply through t...

  DISCUSSION                                                                           As a product of the seventies and eighties, the phase “A New Hope” would spark images of Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker into my imagination.   The evil Empire, lead by Darth Vader, had been winning the war against the Rebel forces to the point of extinction, that is until the New Hope arrived.   Luke Skywalker and his new-found Jedi powers offered a hope to the Rebel forces that they could and would overcome the forces of evil.   Well…if you remove the concept of the Jedi, the light sabers and the hairy Wookie, you have a similar situation in ...

  DISCUSSION                                                                                        Do you know what a plumb line is?  It’s a weighted string that hangs.  The weight on the end of the string allows the pull of gravity to stretch a string straight down.  It is considered to be a perfect vertical standard.  If you’re setting up a wall of a house or fence posts for a fence, a plumb line can be crucial to make sure the wall, or the fence, stands completely and perfectly vertical and won’t fall over.  In Amos 7:7-9, one of Amos’s five visions about Israel is about a plumb line that the Lord...

  DISCUSSION                                                                                       Amos was an interesting “fella” (and yes, I use that term on purpose).  You see, he was a country boy in every aspect; he was a “herdsman of Tekoa” (Amos 1:1) and describes himself as being “no prophet”, no “son of a prophet”, but a “sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit.” (Amos  7:14 )  Here was this country boy sent to the BIG CITY of Bethel in Israel.  He would be perceived as an outsider, and that would work well for him because he would be unsympathetic to the pampered lifestyle the people ...