THE HOME DEVO

       Have you ever tried to put yourself in the place of the prodigal son? You leave or stray away from what you know. You quickly realize the world is not your friend and you need your father. Going home is shameful but necessary. When you get home you are well received. Your father is just happy you are home, even though you have let him down badly. He is waiting to welcome you home.        

       Is the silence of the Scriptures prohibitive? By that we mean, may one improvise in acts of religious devotion in the absence of a specific “you must not ...”? If the New Testament is silent about a specific matter (e.g., the baptizing of infants, the burning of incense, the use of mechanical instruments in worship), may a person pursue that practice? Some allege that this is the case. They contend that asking folks to respect the silence of the Scriptures is a human regulation that has no support in the Bible. They are wrong. Hebrew 7:14 contains the very principle that is the focus of this discussion. In this context, the sacred writer has noted that there has been a change in the priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood of the Old Testament regime has given way to the better priestly system of the New Testament economy. It is then suggested that Christ could not serve as a priest “after the order of Aaron” (cf. 8:4). Why not? Because Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah, a

       Have we ever wondered how a worm gets inside an apple? If we think that the worm burrows in the apple from the outside , we’d be wrong. Scientists have discovered that the worm comes from the inside of the apple. But, how in the world did he get there? The answer is simple. Female apple maggot flies finds a sweet smelling apple that is ripening and lands on it. Using a small, sharp, hollow tube on the underside of her body, the fly stabs a small hole in the fruit. Then she releases her eggs, which slide down that hollow tube into the apple. Soon afterward, the eggs hatch inside the heart of the apple into tiny white worms called railroad worms, who eat their way out of the apple. Similarly, sin, like the worm, begins in the heart of man and works out through an individual’s thoughts, words, and actions ( Matthew 12:34-37; Matthew 15:15-20; Mark 7:14-23; James 1:14-15) ; cf. Psalm 39:1 ; Proverbs 13:3 ; Proverbs 21:23 ) For this very reason, David prayed: “ Creat

  In the text found in 1 John 2:12-17 , the apostle John warns mature men and young men of three lusts: ·       The lust of the flesh ( Genesis 3:6 ; cf. Joshua 7:21 – “saw that the tree was good for food“) — the insatiable appetite to indulge in pleasures that inflame the flesh but never satisfy (Numbers 11). ·       The lust of the eyes ( Genesis 3:6 ; cf. Joshua 7:21 ) – “it was pleasant to the eyes“) — wandering eyes that continually want more riches and possessions, but always remain covetous ( Acts 5:1-10 ). ·       The pride of life ( Genesis 3:6 ; cf. Joshua 7:21 ) – “a tree desirable to make one wise“) — the vain mind that thirsts for man’s applause. But the glory evaporates quickly ( Acts 12:20-23 ). These three lusts are damaging to those who engage in them as well as the victims they leave in their destructive path. Additionally, these lustful desires can never fully satisfy , because they are temporary ( Hebrews 11:24-25 ESV ). True and lasting satisfaction,

  The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 has been called the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. The ancient manuscripts hidden in the caves near Qumran are the oldest known copies of key Old Testament books. As followers of Christ we believe that the Bible is the eternal, unchanging Word of God.( 1 Peter 1:23 -NKJV; cf. Hebrews 6:13-20 -NKJV), thus we firmly believe the inspired words penned by the Psalmist: “ Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations ” ( Psalm 119:89-90 -NKJV). Jesus once stated:“ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away ” ( Matthew 24:35 -NKJV). The Bible is more than just a historical relic. It is the living, powerful Word of God ( Hebrews 4:12 -NKJV), in which we encounter the inspired teachings of the Lord and discover how to live for Him and honor Him ( 2 Timothy 3:16 -ASV; Romans 12:1-2 -NKJV; Ephesians 4:23-32 -NKJV; Philippians 3:7-15 -NKJV).

  Shopping for a good watermelon is difficult because no matter how good it looks on the outside, it’s hard to tell what it’s really like on the inside. We can tap it, thump it and squeeze it, only to take it home and discover that the inside is not edible. On one occasion when Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands before eating, the Pharisees became extremely irritated because it violated one of their man-made traditions ( Mark 7:1-8 ). Jesus immediately challenged them by saying: “ All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition ” ( Mark 7:9 ). He went so far as to call them “hypocrites” ( Mark 7:6 ) and explained that what comes from the inside of an individual is what “defiles” him, not the other way around ( Mark 7:14-23 ). If we’re not careful, we can become so absorbed with looking good on the outside, that we forget what really counts. In fact, when we get to the place where we think “we’ve arrived,” we may become proud of ourselves

  DISCUSSION                                                                       It can be clearly seen in 1Samuel 21-24, that Saul now has a huge problem with David.   He has already attempted to kill him…twice; now he has begun his quest to hunt him down.   David has fled on the advice of his friend Jonathan and is headed out of the city.   He stops by Nob and that is where we meet the priest Ahimelech.   While there, David deceives the priest by implying that he is on a mission for the King.   He and his men are hungry and are in urgent need of food, so he petitioned the priest for food.   With no common bread on hand, the priest gives David the consecrated bread for food.   While there, he also gives David the only weapon that is on hand, the sword from Goliath the giant that David killed.   Unbeknownst to David, an Edomite by the name of Doeg was there witnessing the whole thing.   Doeg reports back to Saul all that had happened at Nob, causing Saul to summon Ahimelech the p

  DISCUSSION                                               Now don’t get me wrong, I am sure that Saul had a list of accomplishments a mile long that were good and a blessing to the Lord.   Sadly though, as we continue our study, we seem to only focus on his shortcomings.   Even after the situation with Agag, the King of Amalek, Saul remained King of Israel even though the LORD had already selected David to be his replacement.   Saul knew his reign would end badly, yet he did not know that God had already ordained David.   Shortly after the selection of David, we see his Giant accomplishment of faith (pun intended) in his defeat of Goliath.   Of course, Saul celebrated David’s victory as well because it bought him more time as the King.   However, as time progressed, that would change.   David’s popularity had grown so much that it had surpassed that of the king.   Then the comparisons began; Saul had slain his thousands, and David his ten thousand (I Samuel 18.6).   This made Saul g

  DISCUSSION                                              As they say, one poor decision often leads to another and such is the case with King Saul.   After taking matters into his own hands with the burnt offerings, he now continues his mindset of usurping God’s process and justifying his sin.   However, this time it is on a much larger scale.   God had instructed Samuel to tell Saul to utterly wipe out the Amalekites because of their mistreatment of the Israelites on their way out of Egypt.   Saul, however, had other plans in mind.   He thought he could save some of the flocks for future sacrifices and spare the King Agag by keeping him hostage.   Saul later reveals that this was the idea of the people and that they had swayed him to keep the choice flocks, when Saul had let the power of being King go to his head.   Now, not only would his kingdom not endure, it would be divided and God was going to give the throne to someone else.   This was such a big disappointment in the eyes o

  DISCUSSION                                   Here is the situation; the Philistines are preparing to come down and face the Israelites in battle. Due to some previous raids that were successful by Jonathan, the Philistines were getting prepared to take their revenge on Saul and the Israelites.   This sent the Israelites into a frenzy. Although some were ready for battle with Saul, many of the Israelites became afraid and hid themselves in caves and dens fearing the worst.   Saul had been commanded by Samuel to wait seven days before they sought to overtake the Philistines so that he could offer burnt offerings to the Lord and seek out His blessing.   As the seven days ended, still no Samuel.   The Scripture doesn’t really give us any indication of why Samuel does not show in the allotted time, nevertheless Saul became concerned.   The people were beginning to grow afraid and were scattering from him.   In an effort to take matters into his own hands, Saul does the offerings himself

  DISCUSSION                                                  Someone told me years ago that you can’t please everyone and if you do, then you must be doing something wrong.  The older I get the more I understand their point.  It doesn’t matter how much you try to be the best person you can be, there will always be those that want to criticize, ridicule or demean who you are or what you do.  What makes it difficult is that those are usually the only comments you might hear. These criticisms come in many forms; whether it’s you’re not good enough, you’re not enough, or you’re just not that important; they all hurt!  So how do we learn to handle them?  How do we not allow them to corrupt our own self-worth and self-image? Believe it or not, King Saul leaves us with a great example.   As the newly appointed King of Israel, Saul had his share of critics.  In fact, the Bible refers to them in the New American Standard Version as “worthless fellows”.  In I Samuel 10: 27, we read that there

  DISCUSSION                                                                                                  Have you ever heard the expression “the grass is always greener on the other side”?  This phase came from an old Latin proverb that said, “ The corn in another man’s ground seems ever more fertile and plentiful than our own does.”  Why is that?  Why do we always look at other people’s situations and think that they have it much better than we do ourselves?  It is all about perception; we perceive that others have it better, when they perceive the same thing about us.  The children of Israel fall into this same trap.  After the period of the judges, they had looked around and noticed that they did not look like the other nations.   The other nations had a king, yet they did not.  It was God’s intention for them to see Him as their King, but they perceived that their neighboring nations had it better than they did.  In I Samuel 8.4-5, the elders of Israel approached Samuel  &

  BIBLE READING: 1Kings 13-15   “In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name  was  Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.”                                                                                                                                                                   (1 Kings 15:1-3) The line of kings over Israel began with Saul, but he disqualified himself, so the dynasty of Saul ended with Saul – he was a one-king-dynasty. Then came David, who was perhaps Israel’s greatest ancient king. Next was Solomon, the son of David and the one who built the glorious temple.   Yet after Solomon came a disaster in the name of Rehoboam. He sunk the kingdom into carnality and civil war, and because of the division soon t

  BIBLE READING: 1Kings 10-12                 One of the main themes of the Bible is the fact that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.   In fact, there are numerous passages that remind us that God will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31.8; Matthew 28.20; Hebrews 13.6).   Paul even goes into great detail to explain to us God’s ever present, unlimited love for us. “ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lor