A WHOLE MAN

Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”  2 Kings 22:13 Just like many movies based off of multi-book series, they tend to divide the last book in the series into multiple movies (think Harry Potter or The Hunger Games). The book of Second Kings can be considered the final book of four (1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings) which chronicles the saga of the people of God and, if it were turned into a movie, could easily be divided into multiple parts. The first part (1-8) would cover the life and ministry of Elisha and it easily transitions us from 1 Kings. After Elijah takes a “ride” to heaven and Elisha sends two she bears to obliterate 42 boys who had called him a baldy (possibly one of my favorite stories in the ...

  "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:9-10 At the time this article will be published, we will have 41 days left in the year. And things can get really hectic towards the end of the year. Not only is there Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year festivities, but I also start prepping my goals for next year, celebrate Monica's birthday, and am preparing for the birth of our son, Augustine. It is going to be a very busy 41 days. Perhaps you too have a lot of activities planned and have very full calendar. For those of you who are on the Bible in a Year journey, those who have joined us along the way, and those who are trying to build and maintain a consistent habit of Bible reading, I want to encourage you to press on. At the same time, I want to encourage you to...

“And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Mark 13:37  I am not sure who coined the phrase ‘there are no stupid questions’, because the reality is that there are some stupid questions. I learned that first hand growing up when a teacher I had, in an effort to get more engagement from her classroom, told us that there are no stupid questions and asked us to ask her any questions we had on the topic we were studying. We were all allowed to write down our questions on a sheet of paper, fold them up, and toss them into a hat. Each question drawn received an adequate response. However, when my question came up the response from my teacher was, “Ok, I was wrong, there are some stupid questions,” and then she proceeded to the next question as if mine was never asked. You can imagine how glad I was that we had written down our questions. And just as there are some stupid questions, the same can be said of certain interpretations of Scripture. For example, consider the passag...

14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”  1 Kings 3:14  I hope that I am not asking for too much as I type this….During the entire month of July, our Old Testament reading consisted of reading through the books of First and Second Samuel. And I really hope that you took some good notes because for the entire month of November, your Old Testament reading will be on First and Second Kings. You will remember, or find in your Bible reading notes, that Second Samuel concluded with David sinning by conducting a census and a great plague being sent by God as a result of it. David then builds an altar to the Lord and pleas to the Lord for his mercy (also echoed in 1 Chron 21). We then read these words at the very end of Second Samuel 24, “…So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel” and then the curtain falls. But the story does not end ...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7  Quiz time! Serving 160 years apart, name the two secretaries of state who never married? What are the two four letter words that have ‘oo’ in them in the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty? In Genesis 4, what name is chosen because God ‘hath appointed me another seed’? Those questions are a few of the final jeopardy questions that Brad Rutter faced during his Jeopardy campaign. Having all that memorized knowledge served him well to the effect that he had earned $4,255,102 or $4,270,102 and a pair of Chevrolet Camaros. And as impressive as that sounds, King Solomon was estimated to have had a peak net worth of $2.2 trillion! And while he too had knowledge and had a lot of dough, what really sets him apart from Brad Rutter (and many other wealthy people) is the fact that Solomon had true knowledge and true wisdom. And much of his wisdom is contained in the ...

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”  Mark 4:26-29  In the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we read four parables related to the Kingdom of God. And all but one parable can be found in one or more of the other Gospels. The parable of the soils can be found in Matt 13:1-23 and Luke 8:4-15, the parable of the lamp is recorded in Luke 8:16-18, and the parable of the mustard seed may be found in Matthew’s Gospel; chapter 13:31-35. However, the parable of the growing seed is unique and exclusive to Mark’s Gospel and its meaning is not explained to us. In this parable, we read about a sower who sows seed in the field and then goes to bed. He seemingly pl...