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Once the exiles had arrived in Israel, they began by building the altar and celebrating the Sabbath and the feasts. When they had laid the foundation for the Temple, the Samaritans asked to join the effort. When the Jews refused, the Samaritans petitioned the Persian king to stop the project.

The world and the culture is awash with death. Moses, in Dt 30 presents life and death as a choice and recommends that we choose life. In a sense that choice is the central point of the entire Bible. All the law and the prophets tell us what behavior leads to life and what leads to death, both temporal and eternal. Choose wisely.

Peter is arrested by Herod and kept in prison pending display before an hostile crowd. An angel delivers him from captivity.

When Israel was exiled to Babylon, Jeremiah prophesied that they would be there for 70 years. In 538 BC the Persian emperor, Cyrus issued an edict which allowed the exiles to return to their land and rebuild the Temple. Ezra is the chronical of that rebuilding.

There three ceremonies prescribed in Deuteronomy 26 and 27 that set up the Deuteronomy 28 recitation of blessings and curses in the covenant made with the generation going into the land. Each of these ceremonies is designed to maintain perspective as Israel prospers in their new land. When they neglected them, the nation descended into idolatry, injustice, violence and finally exile. We today are...

Food and table fellowship has always been a stumbling block between Jews and gentiles. Peter's vision of the sheet descending from Heaven showed him that diet does not disqualify gentiles from the Kingdom of God.

The month preceding the fall feasts is an excellent time to reflect over the past year and think about what you want to accomplish in the next. In this, 2 Peter has a helpful progressive list of character traits that lead to Godliness.

Philip's ministry in Samaria and his conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch. The conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus.

In Parsha Shoftim Moses describes the duties of and limitations on judges, officers and kings. In this he makes it clear that, except for a king who is chosen by God, they are to be appointed by Israel. He also makes it clear that their first priority is to act according to the Torah and that they must not regard themselves as somehow 'better' than their brothers. Reading this passage along side o...

When Stephen is falsely accused of blasphemy he defends himself before the council in Jerusalem. The record of his testimony provides compelling evidence of the accuracy of the Book of Acts.

In Deuteronomy 11 Moses explains to Israel that their future is in their own hands. If they faithfully follow God's instructions, they will be blessed. If not, they will experience curses. In the same way, the meaning of the events in your life is yours to interpret and to act upon. You may choose to interpret unfavorable events as an indicator that you area victim or you may choose to overcome an...

The first church lived communally, holding everything in common. This may have been done in anticipation of the quick return of Y'shua and the expectation that there was no need to save for the future. Peter and John's second arrest and appearance before the Temple authorities.

In Deuteronomy God describes His covenant with Israel as one of love. He describes the statutes that He provides as being for the benefit of the beloved and says that Israel's faithfully following them will result in abundant blessing. Starting in the Garden, it has been Satan's goal to lead God's people away from God's way to life and blessing and into destruction and death. That nefarious goal i...

People's need for an intermediary with God discussed in the context of 'The Prophet' promised in Deuteronomy 18. Peter and John's first arrest and appearance before the Jerusalem authorities. Discussion of their citation from Psalm 2.

There are two major religions at war with the western world and Christianity. Sadly both of these religions have managed to disguise the religious nature of the conflict. Islam is bent on world domination, yet it has managed to conceal that fact by posing as an oppressed minority. Liberalism is also a religion with its roots going back to Plato, yet it has managed to cast itself as secular and rel...

Peter's speech after the giving of the Holy Spirit. Discussion of the differences in Scripture between the TANAK and quotations in the New Testament. Discussion of the similarities between the giving of the Holy Spirit and the giving of the Torah at Sinai.

The 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av has for millennia been the occasion of calamitous events for the Hebrew people. That date marks, separated by centuries, the destruction of both the first and second temples, the expulsion from England and Spain and many other such events. How do we relate to such events? What do they have to teach us?

Broadly speaking, the Bible has three sections. In each of those sections, one member of the God Head takes center stage. In the TANAK God the Father gets most of the narrative. In the four Gospels, it is Y'shua. In Acts the Holy Spirit has the emphasis. This first session gives background and goes through Pentecost.

In Matthew 15 the Pharisees berate Y'shua because His disciples were eating with unwashed hands. He tells the crowd and his disciples that putting food into the mouth with unwashed hands does not defile, it is what comes out of the heart. How does that defilement get in there and how can we remove it?

The group of Psalms from Ps 60 to Ps 108 heavily refer to Joseph and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In these three Psalms we see evidence of two Messiahs, one from Joseph and the other from Judah.

The Bible is full of conflict - wars, interpersonal problems, spiritual battles. In the Letters to the Seven Churches, Christ makes wonderful promises to those who conquer. Those who have locked themselves up within spiritual strongholds or prisons aren't conquering anything. How do we construct these prisons and how do we tear them down? How do we triumph in life?

Psalm 110 introduces the idea of a priestly king. Heretofore priests have come from Levi and kings from either Judah or Ephraim. This change and the reasons therefore are explained in the Book of Hebrews.

The intellectual foundations of liberalism were laid in the 19th century. The ideas of Darwin, Malthus and Marx made atheism respectable, racism 'scientific', and promised a man-made paradise. We are now seeing the dismal failure of that legacy. It appears that God has once again answered prayer and is moving to deliver us from our hubris and folly.

Psalms 22, 23 and 24 form a Messianic tryptic. The first describes the crucifixion and the last describes the return of the conquering king. In between is the Valley of the Shadow of death where He descended into the grave and then arose three days later.

Parsha Chukat is almost entirely about death. There is the red heifer whose ashes are used to purify those who come into contact with death, Miriam dies, Aaron dies, Moses is told he will die in the wilderness, and deadly snakes invade the camp. Oddly enough, all of this points to the fact that death is not permanent, and although it defiles, it is not to be feared.