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Thoughts Solomon begins chapter five with good advice. When coming to the house of God, it's better to listen than to run your mouth (as my dad would say). Actually, that's good advice in most situations, don't you think? You can't learn much when you're speaking. But when coming before the Lord, listening will always be more beneficial than speaking. And then Solomon went on to talk about the fact that money will never buy happiness. In fact, the more money you have, the more worries you have, according to Solomon. He said, the best thing is to eat, drink and enjoy the work you have.  At this point, Solomon, in all his wisdom, is forgetting something very important. He's looking at life from a very limited viewpoint. He's looking at life almost as one who has no relationship with God. When you leave God out of the equation, it's very easy to have a fatalistic view of the world. We'll get into this in more detail when we get to chapter 8. But for now, I'll just say that the deeper your relationship w

Thoughts I’ve mentioned GotQuestions.org a few times in the past. It is a really good source of biblical information, and I highly recommend it. I found the following concise description on the Psalms that are called “The Songs of Ascent” there, and I’d like to share it with you now. Here's a link to see the entire article. The Songs of Ascent are a special group of psalms comprising Psalms 120—134. They are also called Pilgrim Songs. Four of these songs are attributed to King David (122, 124, 131, 133) and one to Solomon (127), while the remaining ten are anonymous.The city of Jerusalem is situated on a high hill. Jews traveling to Jerusalem for one of the three main annual Jewish festivals traditionally sang these songs on the “ascent” or the uphill road to the city. According to some traditions, the Jewish priests also sang some of these Songs of Ascent as they walked up the steps to the temple in Jerusalem.Each of the psalms in this collection begins with the title “A Song of Ascents.” While perha

Thoughts A Very Evil King In chapter 33, we read about Manasseh, a very evil king who ruled for fifty-five years. This tells us that just because something lasts a long time does not mean that God's blessing is on it.  The chapter very clearly outlines the sins of Manasseh, and the judgement that he and the nation suffered because of their sins.  I want to focus for a brief moment on what happened as a result of God's judgement.  Warning First, notice that God gave a warning to Manasseh that if he did not repent and correct his evil doings, there would be a steep price to pay. God did not have to warn him. He had already said many times throughout the history of the nation what blessings there would be if they followed God's statutes and commandments, and what curses would be theirs if they did not. But in God's mercy, He gave Manasseh one last chance. But true to his character, and the character of the people, God was ignored. So God allowed the king of Assyria to defeat them, and Manass

Thoughts Pastor Bennett is again in John chapter six. He is focusing on verses 41-50. Support Please remember that this is a listener supported show. Your support of any amount is needed and very much appreciated. Find out how by clicking here. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn an affiliate commission, and you will earn our gratitude. Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents By Rod Dreher / Sentinel Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn once noted that people often assume that their democratic government would never submit to totalitarianism---but Dreher says it's happening. Sounding the alarm about the insidious effects of identity politics, surveillance technology, psychological manipulation, and more, he equips contemporary Christian dissidents to see, judge, and act as they fight to resist the erosion of our freedoms. 304 pages, hardcover from Sentinel.

Thoughts 12“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?Deuteronomy 10:12,13 ESV These are the actions that God requires of His people. 1. To fear the Lord your God 2. To walk in all His ways 3. To love Him 4. To serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul 5. To keep the commandments and statues of the Lord BONUS: These are all given FOR YOUR GOOD. To fear the Lord your God This is not the kind of fear that makes us tremble with fright. This is an awe inspired respect that causes us to want to please Him. As He invites us into His presence, we are aware of His infinite power, holiness and righteousness. But the fact remains that He has, indeed, invited us. So we realize that He wants us to be with Him. And

Thoughts Who's First? In chapter 1,  Peter called the people to holy living. He told them not to slip back into their old ways of living to satisfy their own desires. And then in chapter 2 when talking to slaves he said that they should submit to their masters with all respect. Not just when the master is kind, but when he is cruel. And then dropping down again a few verses, Peter says, “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering…” The common thread here is that we are not to put our own desires or our own rights above all else. We are to remember that we are slaves of God, and put His desires and His agenda ahead of ours.  Not Me Let me complete the thought, “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.” When Peter says this, he does so as he remembers that horrible night and early morning when Jesus did suffer for me and for you. Peter was an eye witness to the horrible

Thoughts Which James Is This? In verse one of chapter 12 we read that King Herod had arrested some of the Christians in order to persecute them. And in verse two we read that Herod had James, the brother of John put to death with the sword.  That’s all that is said about James. The narrative moves quickly to the imprisonment of Peter, and how the Angel came to release him in the middle of the night before he was scheduled to be martyred. But I want to talk a bit about James. Which James is this? The verse says this was James, the brother of John. He was one of the first three disciples that Jesus called at the beginning of His ministry. Jesus called James and John “Boanerges” — Sons of Thunder.  Sons of Thunder I was curious about this nickname, so I did a little research. Why did Jesus call these brothers Sons of Thunder? I had a hunch that perhaps it was because they had commanding presence…perhaps with loud voices. I have a brother-in-law with a very loud baritone voice. When Mike speaks,

Thoughts Once More Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. It is first mentioned all the way back in Genesis, chapter 10, and then it is not mentioned again until the book of Jonah.  Nineveh was large, both in area and population. Because of its geographic location on the Tigris river, it was a bustling city of trade and commerce, one of the largest and most successful of all ancient cities. But as we know, God was not a part of daily life. And as the capital of the Assyrian empire, they were guilty of great sins against God and His chosen people. As we heard in today’s reading, Zephaniah prophesies the destruction of Nineveh, but if you’ll remember, so did Nahum in several verses.  Around 633 B.C. the Assyrian empire began to decay, as have all empires. In 612 B.C. they were attacked by the Medes and the Babylonians. At its defeat, it was burned to the ground. By 605 B.C. there was nothing left of the once great empire. The Medes and the Babylonians divided the spoils between them. Nineveh

Thoughts These chapters, while not entirely inspiring, seem to be a little less hopeless sounding than the first two, don’t you think?  There’s a lot here to think about, but in our limited time, I’d like to focus for just a moment on chapter four. Two Are Better Than One Halfway through the chapter, Solomon talked about the man who works so hard he has no family, no son or even a brother. And he said that this is a bad and senseless thing. No disagreement there, right? Then he talks about a better alternative. The next four verses explain that two are better than one, and three are even better. Like Solomon, in my older years I have learned that this is true. The Price of Being A Self Made Man My dad was very much a loner. A “self made man”. He worked literally seven days a week until he got too old to work. In all my childhood years, until I moved out of the house at the age of 21, he probably took no more than a *total* of a month off work for a very few short vacations. He did pretty

Thoughts While some scholars believe that the author of Psalm 127 is David, writing to Solomon, most scholars believe that this Psalm was written by Solomon. He was the son of King David, and succeeded David to the throne. Solomon is known for many things, but he is most noted for being the wisest man who ever lived, for writing the Old Testament books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and for building the first Temple in Jerusalem. It is believed that Solomon had the building of the temple in mind when he wrote "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." Of course, this thought can be applied to building a family or pretty much any other endeavor. If God is not in it, there will be no lasting value. With that in mind, it is always a good idea to seek God's will and His blessing in any undertaking. Let's ask God to guide our steps and our decisions. Let's invite Him to step in and take over in our home, our work, our school, our church and our government. Let's ask him to build

Thoughts Hezekiah was a remarkable king, wasn't he? What A King! His father was Ahaz, who reigned before him, and he was one of the most evil kings of Judah. If you've been listening along, no doubt you remember him and the heinous things he did, including the sacrifice of his own children. That Hezekiah was such a good king is certainly noteworthy. As chapter 29, verse 2 says, "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done." Bible commentator G. Campbell Morgan said of him, “His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, probably the person mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 8:2) as a ‘faithful witness.’ This possible friendship of his mother for the prophet, combined with the certainty that up to this time he had been under the influence of Isaiah’s ministry, may account for Hezekiah’s action on coming to the throne.” Whatever the reason for his devotion to following God, he was a welcome contrast to his father, wouldn't you say? Cancel Me? Thi

Thoughts One More Time As we often read here in Deuteronomy and other places in the Old Testament, God tells the people what He will do, and then He reminds them many times. He tells them what He did, and then He reminds them what He did, many times. Why does He do that? Why does God repeat Himself so much? Because they forget. Time and time again, they forget. And when it isn't forgetfulness, they simply choose to ignore Him. They go their own way willingly. Crazy, right? The Way We Are No, not crazy. Just sinful. Why are they sinful? Because they are human beings. And being human, they have a sin nature. Which makes them…just like you and me. We, too need to be reminded repeatedly what the Lord said, what He did, and what He will do. We are no different than the children of Israel of the Old Testament. At least as far as our basic nature is concerned. But Wait There's More But those of us who have become followers of Jesus, those of us who have a real relationship with Him, have s

Thoughts Curb It James wrote quite a lot about how powerful the tongue is. He was referring to the actual spoken word, of course. But I think it would be safe here in the 21st century to expand the thought to what we say on the internet. On Facebook, Twitter and any other of the social media. Have you ever seen a post or comment on Facebook that ignited a firestorm of nasty responses? Probably so. Did anything good come of it? Probably not. You Are Being Watched Friends, if we are representatives of Jesus, we need to be aware of the words we use, both online and in the real world. People are watching and listening. I would much rather hold my tongue or step away from the keyboard than bring shame to Jesus’ name or break a friendship with someone who needs the Lord. I don’t want what I say online to negate my credibility as a believer or cancel any future discussion with someone that might otherwise ask to know more about how to have a relationship with God. Scripture says that they will know

Thoughts Cornelius In Acts 10, we are introduced to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, an officer in the Roman army. This was not a typical Roman, though. He was a devout believer in the God of the Jews, even though, being a Gentile, the average Jew would have very little to do with him. As a matter of fact, most Jews would have a strong dislike, or even hate him. After all, Rome was an occupying force in Israel, and they treated the Jews with disdain. But Cornelius was what the Jews of the time called a God-fearer, a Gentile who loved the God of Israel, but who did not become Jews in how they lived their lives or in circumcision. Jews came to respect them, but they could not fully embrace them because they were Gentiles, and had not become Jewish converts. Now, we know that God loved and heard Cornelius' prayers, because God gave him a vision of an angel while he is in prayer, with a message telling him to send some men to Joppa to bring Peter to speak to him. Peter And the next day, while Peter

Thoughts Who Is Habakkuk? There is a lot of conjecture on just who this prophet Habakkuk was. The fact is, we don’t have much information about him. The Jewish Rabbis have their ideas. Roman Catholicism has theirs, based on one of the books of the Apocrypha.  What we do know is that this is a book of Habakkuk’s statements to God in the name of the people, and God’s statements to the people through Habakkuk. That is the textbook definition of what a prophet is.  Overall, the book speaks of the land of Judah’s invasion by the Chaldeans. Origins One sentence in the book should have certainly stood out to you if you have studied Martin Luther and the Reformation at all. Did you hear it? It was chapter two, verse four. Here it is again: “But the one who is right with God will live by faith.” Or it might be more familiar to you from the King James Version: “but the just shall live by faith.” You might not have known that this was from the book of Habakuk. You might have thought that it was from

Thoughts Heads Up Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon, the same King Solomon who wrote the book of Proverbs. Like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes is classified as a book of wisdom. But you will very quickly see that Solomon’s approach is much different here. I don’t want to give away too much right now, but I do want to say that it is important to stick with this book right up to the end. Don’t bail early, and don’t draw conclusions early. This is a book that requires patience on the part of the reader. Diving In Solomon sounds jaded and world-weary, doesn’t he? Almost makes you want to just give up, right? Well, don’t bail on him just yet. There is a reason that Ecclesiastes is in the Bible, but it takes a little while to discover it. It’s not a long book. There are only twelve chapters. Who Is Solomon? For those who may not know, Solomon was the son of King David. That’s the David of the David and Goliath story. After David slew Goliath, he grew up to become King of Israel. Solomon, the author

Thoughts As I write this on April 13, 2021 from my desk in Riverside, CA, we seem to be on the tail end of the COVID-19 restrictions in the state. Some states have already done away with restrictions, and a few never had them. California has been one of the most restrictive. From the beginning of our marriage, my wife, the the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I have always been very involved in our local church. So when the pandemic hit and our governor closed down the churches, we had to adapt. We began, as did many others around the country and the world, to watch church online. But of course, watching church from home is a poor substitute for gathering with other believers under one roof. I used to take going to church for granted. Who could have ever imagined that, here in the United States of America, that this right would ever be taken away from us? Going to church is not a privilege, it is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.I could go on for some time abou

Thoughts In chapter 6, verses 4 and 5, Moses is telling the children of Israel the Great Commandment, the one that encompasses all the others. It’s the commandment that Jesus quoted when the Pharisees asked Him which was the greatest of all the commandments.  4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NKJV Differences Matter I’m going to talk a bit about this, but before I do that, look at verse 4 from the Good News Translation: 4“Israel, remember this! The Lord—and the Lord alone—is our God.  Did you see the difference? New King James Version says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” The GNT said, ““Israel, remember this! The Lord—and the Lord alone—is our God.” "The Lord is one" vs "the Lord alone." Beloved, in the vast majority of verses, when you compare translations, the meaning of the verse does  not change. Different words can carr

Thoughts James is a small book, but it’s packed with rich content. Too much, really, to talk about every point, so I’ll just touch on a couple points today, which are actually related. Hearing Is Not Enough At the end of chapter one, James, who is the half-brother of Jesus, makes the point that just hearing the scriptures is not enough. Don’t think that by going to church or reading the Bible, or listening to this podcast for that matter, is enough to make you righteous. You must act on what you hear. The Word has to make a difference in your life. You must take action on what you hear. We Must Be Doers James 2:14-20 has caused a lot of controversy over the years, but in my mind it is quite clear. The message is this: if you say you love God, but your life doesn’t show it, you are fooling yourself. To expand on that thought, if I love God, I am going to just naturally begin to do things that show the love of God. I don’t do those things to gain God’s favor, and I don’t do them to earn points in

Thoughts Sometimes There Is A Cost  I've mentioned several times that we should be bold and strong, and that we should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit when He tells us to speak up. Well, that’s what Stephen did in chapter seven of Acts, and he became the first Christian martyr.  He spoke the truth. In answering the religious leaders, he told them the entire history of the Jewish people, and he let them know that they were not on God’s side. Their reaction to this was predictable, was it not? In today’s jargon, they were offended. But instead of running off to their “safe space”, they had Stephen taken out and stoned to death. Listen, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a guarantee that speaking the truth to those who do not want to hear will not be offended. It’s no guarantee that you will not draw the wrath of people who would harm you. Follow the Crowd Or Follow the Lord? Jesus told us this. In the gospel of John, chapter 15, verses 18 and 19, He said, “If the world hates you