TODAY’S DAILY READING: Judges 18-19 & Acts 26
Old Testament: Judges 18- Pocket Size
Judges 18:24
“So he said, ‘You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. Now what more do I have? How can you say to me,’What ails you?’”
Israel had forsaken the Word of God and fallen into a place of spiritual confusion. We read of “homemade religions” with their own gods, priests and theology. As the story unfolds, we will see this spiritual confusion leads to social chaos and immorality… Read More
Judges 19- Broken Compass
Judges 19:1
“And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.”
The closing chapters of Judges paint a dark picture of life in ancient Israel. We read of drunkenness, murder, rape, idolatry, spiritual confusion and moral indifference. It seems the people have lost their moral compass and are allowing their desires to determine right from wrong. This was never the way God intended for man… Read More
New Testament: Acts 26- Incredible
Acts 26:8
“Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?”
It has been said, if we can believe the first four words of the Bible, we should have no problem with the rest of its claims. “In the beginning God…” The Bible is filled with stories of the mighty workings of God. We read of Him speaking the worlds into existence, delivering a nation from the threat of death, parting the seas, providing food in a desert, knocking down the walls of Jericho, raising a shepherd boy to the palace, healing the sick… Read More
The story of Samson is both fascinating and tragic. His feats of strength are paralleled only by legendary super heroes. He defeated lions, carried city walls, and fought off platoons of soldiers, with nothing more than skeleton bones. As far as Biblical characters go, he was the most gifted of all. Sadly, those gifts were never really used for the work of God. Each of his feats of strength was only used to get him out of difficult situations that his disobedience…
The story of Micah is all too familiar. In a time when the Word of God was being neglected, Micah created his own “homemade religion.” He used terminology familiar to true religion, he had a priest and an ephod. However, his god, his worship, and his lifestyle, was really nothing more than a product of his own imagination. As time went on, his religion…
Jesus instructed His followers that their lives are to be lived as a testimony to the world. He taught “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”(Matthew 5:16). In other words, the way we live should testify of a living… 
Few people have ever had the kind of talent Samson had. He was gifted far above anyone else in his generation. Tragically, however, Samson wasted his gifts by consuming them in search of his own pleasures. Two truths seem to cry out from his story.
Time is an interesting thing. We are always spending it and it cannot be saved. Failing to do something today, does not guarantee we will have the time for it tomorrow. Felix’s encounter with the Gospel message teaches us something important about how we use this moment for eternal things.
During the time of the Judges, the nation of Israel was in peril; they had unprotected borders, faced attack from their neighbors, and had constant warfare from within, due to the nations they had failed to drive out of the land. At a time when the people should be joining together to deal with a common enemy, the tribes began to fight all the wrong battles. The enemies of Israel must have been so pleased when they heard that Ephraim and Jephthah had gone to battle against one another, instead of joining forces… 
The book of Judges emphasizes the low moral and spiritual standards in Israel at that time. We find that the people picked up idols and actions from the surrounding nations. It is with that backdrop that we are introduced to a godly couple who had yet to be blessed with children. By all accounts, Manoah and his wife were living exemplary lives: she lived by the Nazarite vow, they offered sacrifice… 
Webster defines a trial as, “A test of faith through subjection to suffering or temptation.” Paul’s current situation may be the text book case of a trial. He came to Jerusalem with the goal of sharing Christ with his friends and countrymen, spent his time preparing to share with them, but before he ever spoke a word, he found himself under attack. After his unjust … 
It is common for people to show no interest in God until calamities arises. As long as life is going their way, they are not concerned with God, but as soon as things get difficult, suddenly, they cry to God for help. Those who have shown no interest in the ways of God, suddenly blame God for the calamity they are facing, and cry out to Him to fix everything.
As commander of the armies of Israel, Jephthah is leading his soldiers into a heated battle against the people of Ammon. As the battle approaches, we find Jephthah crying out to God for assistance. It is a good thing to pray, but we find his prayer is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of God. Jephthah thinks he has to barter for the favor of God. “If You will help me I will give you…”
After his arrest, Paul shared Christ with the mob that tried to kill him. They listened intently to him because his message was fascinating and relevant. It seemed they had a true interest, and even an openness to the Gospel. But that all changed once Paul mentioned the Gentiles. That single word caused the hearers to close their ears, harden their hearts, and reject the message… 
We live in an interesting time, when big philosophical ideas are compressed into quaint little sayings and scattered across social media. We are bombarded with these phrases that often express a worldview diametrically opposed to the teaching… 
Not every story recorded in Scripture is a positive one. In this case, we find a self-centered man with a drive for power and a taste for blood, fight his way to the top, where he can rule over the people of God. Abimelech was a strong man with many gifts, but he was also an ungodly man who took things by force, and was responsible for the death of many innocent men… 
The scene in Acts 21 might best be described as a riot. The people of the city had lost all sense of the Temple worship, and had become a violent mob determined to put Paul to death. Their rage escalated to the point where the Roman soldiers had to almost beat them back, in order to pull Paul out of their clutches. We read, when they reached the stairs … 
Gideon voices a sentiment vey common among believers today. He looked at the conditions of his world and began to wonder where were all the miracles. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, why was he not seeing great and miraculous changes happening in his lifetime? I find it very interesting how the Lord responds to Gideon’s accusations.
God is selecting a team for a specific task. They will be led into hand-to-hand combat against a Midianite army too vast to number. As the people gather for the selection process, the first cut is made. Twenty-two thousand men are sent packing for one simple reason – fear! Gideon may have asked for a show of hands, or for those who were afraid, to take…
When reading the Bible, we should always look for application to our personal lives. In some texts, the truths to apply are very straight forward, others, are a little more difficult to find. This passage tells the story of a young man, Eutychus by name, who nods off during a Bible study and ends up dead. I think the passage is a warning of more than the need to stay awake at church. Eutychus’ fall is a perfect illustration… 
The conditions in Israel at the time of Deborah and Barak were very difficult. Moral failure, on the part of the people and their leaders, had led to national decline, and in turn, to losing much of the freedoms they once enjoyed. After eighteen years of oppression, the people finally began to see that the root cause… 
After defeating the enemies of Israel, Deborah and Barak led the people in a song celebrating the Lord’s victory. This song gives insight into how things are accomplished within the Kingdom of God. It is clear, it was a work of God. We read, “The Lord went out from Seir, . . .”It is also clear, the works of God are accomplished… 
Ephesus was a very large city with a diverse population. It is estimated, at the time of Paul’s visit, there may have been in excess of 400,000 people living in the city. Ephesus was the largest city in Asia Minor, and one of the largest in the empire. Because of its location, on a trade route, the city was very wealthy; it had become an important center for commerce. Like any large wealthy city, Ephesus had its share of vice. One of the greatest was temple prostitution. Overlooking the… 
When the land was distributed among the tribes, Simeon was given a portion within the land allotted to Judah. The reason being, Judah’s lot was too big for any one tribe. Since Judah and Simeon were going to share the land, they would have to learn to stand together in battle, to defeat their enemies.
The book of Judges records a reoccurring cycle in the life of the young Israeli nation. Over and over, as the story unfolds, we will read of sin, suffering, supplications and salvation. The people will disobey the Lord, becoming involved in sinful and worldly practices. These practices will lead to suffering, and their suffering will cause them to cry out to God for help. Again and again, the mercy… 
As I read through the book of Judges, I am confronted with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it is a sad and tragic story of repeated failure. Over and over, we are told of the compromise of the people of God, and the suffering they experienced as a result. We are told, much of the reason for their repeated failure, was that they did not know how to fight. Instead of realizing they were facing spiritual battles, and engaging in conflict against compromise, they simply gave in. Judges records the story of failure… 
Paul and his companions had been traveling from city to city and town to town; sharing the gospel, making disciples, and planting churches. They spent relatively short periods of time in each of these places until Corinth; we read, Paul remained there for a year and six months. Corinth did not seem to be… 
The sun is about to set in the life and ministry of Joshua. After spending years being mentored in ministry by Moses, he ventured out as Israel’s leader. He led the nation as they furthered the kingdom of God, and became established in the land. Now that his time is coming… 
Years ago Bob Dylan wrote a song that included the phrase, “You’ve got to serve somebody.” Centuries before, the Psalmist declared, we will become whatever we choose to… 
Paul and his companions were traveling throughout Greece. They had been in Philippi, Thessalonica, and would soon be in Athens. These were all very prominent cities. Philippi was the foremost city in the region of Macedonia, and Athens remained the scholastic capital of the Empire. Berea, on the other hand, was a small… 
Jim Gallagher 