In the Old Testament the Israelites were set free out of Egypt but wanted to go back into slavery. When God frees us from the slavery of sin we often want to go back to our sin. However, God has made us and set us free for a purpose. What is our purpose and what […]
This thought should cause us all to feel uncomfortable. If legalism lurks amongst the religious, then it lurks in me and you and we need to keep a good look out for it and recognise it when we see it. This lurking legalism should cause us all to examine our own hearts. We can ask […]
Jesus is here laying out what it means to be a true disciple. He speaks of those who are TRULY his disciples. there might be some people who go to church, are part of ministries, they like Jesus, they might read the Bible on occasion. Probably they want to go to heaven, maybe they can […]
We sometimes think to ourselves that people cannot escape a legacy of depravity? We sometimes think that people are forever trapped by their upbringing; that they are merely products of their environment? The thing was that our text tells us that God refused to destroy Abijah’s house because of his promise and love for a […]
One commentator I read wrote that Jeroboam was busy taking his people back to Egypt. When Jeroboam first comes on the scene, he is a kind of Moses. Moses pleaded with Pharaoh to ease the burden on the Israelites and Jeroboam did the same. Rehoboam was like Pharaoh at that time and said, “I’ll make […]
In this parable, we see the prodigal planner and the party pooper. As the younger son returns with his pre-prepared plan to be a hired servant and hopefully work his way back into his father’s favour, the father contradicts his plan as he welcomes him and reinstates him into the family. It is such a […]
This parable reveals to us a Stifled Son who Spends and the Forgiving Father who offers Freedom. The dictionary defines the word prodigal as meaning…Wasteful or recklessly extravagant: lavish or lavishly abundant. In understanding the word we can see how the younger son in seeking freedom lived prodigally. But we also see that the Father, […]
Being circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, rich or poor, married or single, widowed or divorced doesn’t alter the fact that you can serve God in these circumstances. There were many people in Corinth who were convinced that if they could change their circumstances they could serve God better. Thus, some saw circumcision belonging to the […]