Focus on Eternity

The Bible Gives Hope        There’s so much more than meets the eye; my assignment this past week was to teach a lesson of hope in Sunday School.  The focus of our lesson found in the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel was to reveal how the Bible gives hope to people.  Armed with only a half-hour and twenty-eight verses, I felt boxed in by the boundaries established by this lesson plan.  It was like picking up a storybook, opening to the third chapter, and reading a couple of pages, and explaining the relevance of the complete story.  I love research, so the boundaries don’t fence me in.  If I would have let the lesson alone prepare me to teach, I would have missed a better application for the children.       The thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel takes place in the latter days of Ezekiel’s prophetic utterances and involves two short stories, one involving dry bones and the other involving two sticks.  This was Ezekiel’s third vision of four.  Ezekiel received these visions while in

The Adversarial Conflict    In the eleventh chapter of Mark we see that the religious leaders were challenging the authority of Jesus as they approached him at the temple in Jerusalem.  It was not a small group of these religious leaders; Scriptures tell us that the chief priests (more than one), the scribes, and the elders all participated.  Scriptures also reveal that these leaders took no time approaching Jesus with their pressing question.  How could Jesus have known that this encounter would be adversarial?  In Mark 11:27, it says, “ as he was walking in the temple,"   from this, we know they met him at the front door.   Earlier in this chapter, we read that Jesus overturned the money tables.  What fuel their anger toward Jesus on this occasion more than likely was this preceding event.  We read in verse 18 that they wished to destroy Jesus.        Interestingly at nearly the same time I am reviewing this passage in Mark, I am also reading an account of the apostle Paul

     As I contemplate writing this article, I know that the words I offer need the guiding power of the Holy Spirit to make this message relevant and truthful.   Thoughts of this topic began to swirl in my head this morning as I was reading the 26 th chapter of Job.   These words found in Scripture gave birth to the words I hope to share with you today.   In this passage Job is responding to his friends, not the first time, but one of many, after getting much advice.   In his frustration with their opinions he says, “ How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength! How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?” Job 26:2–4 (ESV) On my first pass through this Scripture, I misread the sentences beginning with the word “how” seeing them as questions.   However, reading through a second and third time, I discovered that they