James 4 By Pastor Mark Hudson James 4:1-3 invites us to ponder these truths for ourselves individually as well as corporately.  Anytime there is one person, let alone many, there are conflicts.  James wastes no words in asking why are there so many quarrels and fights among you?  James lays the blame internally or inside us.   It is our passions (desires or pleasures)?  We desire or want something and since we don’t have it, we…

James 2 by Pastor Mark Hudson James 2:1-13 is relatively easy to understand and, because of that, easy to disregard.   James addresses a real problem.  We can’t help but make judgements about people.  We see a nice home, nice car, or a good-looking person and we make assumptions.  We see an average home, an older car and someone who we deem less than good looking and make assumptions.  The second thing we do is what…

James 1 by Pastor David Groendyk The epistle written by James is possibly the earliest book written in the New Testament. Scholars have debated who wrote the letter itself, but the best guess is that this is Jesus’ own brother. If that is the case, it’s fascinating to track James’ personal spiritual progress throughout the New Testament. In Matthew 13:55 and John 7:5, James is named as Jesus’ brother and as someone who didn’t believe…

Nehemiah 13 by Pastor Lawrence The events occurring in this chapter take place almost thirteen years after Ezra and Nehemiah had lead the Israelites to renew their covenant with the Lord in chapter ten. We are told in v.6 that in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah needed to return to Susa presumably to give a report to the king of Persia, and he was there for some period of time. While he was away,…

Nehemiah 12 by Pastor Mark Hudson Nehemiah 12 begins with a long list of names but then we proceed to the dedication of the walls. Essentially, we have two groups going around the city meeting at the temple.  One group led by Ezra and the other group with Nehemiah in the procession.  After all this work, all the opposition, the danger coming to Jerusalem, the funds needed to build, the teamwork to protect and build…

Nehemiah 11 by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin After the wall had been built and the covenant renewed, it was necessary to determine who would need to dwell within the holy city of Jerusalem. It was not that there were too many Israelites vying for the opportunity to live within the walled city but, rather, too few. Just as only a remnant of Israelites chose to return to the Promised Land after the decree of Cyrus, so…

Nehemiah 10 by Pastor Mark Hudson This chapter is a response of the people to what happened in chapter 8.  Ezra reads the law with others interpreting the verses (8:7-8).  The people respond by lifting up their hands, bowing and prostrating themselves (8:6). But Nehemiah , Ezra, and the Levites remind the people not mourn or weep over their sins.  But they are to “eat the fat and drink sweet wine” because “this day is…

Nehemiah 9 by Pastor David Groendyk The wall is finished, the attackers are fended off, and the law of God has been read, explained, and preached. About three-and-a-half weeks after this grand reform through Ezra has started, the people offer this corporate prayer of praise, confession, and help. According to the ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible, this is the longest recorded prayer in the Bible, and with that knowledge in mind, it’s particularly interesting to…

Nehemiah 8 by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin This is clearly a time of revival in the history of Israel.  After rebuilding the temple and the walls of the city, the people are now in a good and safe place to devote themselves more fully to the Lord.  Having lived in exile for so many years, they had been deprived of the blessings of the ordinary means of grace in the context of the Church, but now…

Nehemiah 7 by Pastor Mark Hudson When you read Nehemiah 7, most of us have several questions.  Why is there a need in the Bible for this list of names that takes 73 verses to complete?  And one might also wonder if they have seen this list before?  The second question is much easier to answer.  Ezra 2 has this same list.   Although Nehemiah comes after Ezra, this might be the original list.  Since Ezra…

Nehemiah 5 by Pastor Mark Hudson Nehemiah 5 is easily divided into two major sections: 1-13; 14-18, with a summary statement in v. 19.  We will focus only on the first section.  Nehemiah is presented with a scandalous problem.  It seems that the wealthier Jews were taking advantage of their less fortunate brethren.  This had reached a crisis point where the wives complain about their financial predicament to Nehemiah.  There are a variety of problems. …

Nehemiah 4 by Pastor David Groendyk Sanballat and Tobiah (vv. 1, 3) have been ominously mentioned before (in 2:10 and 2:19). Now they’re back again, and the opposition against the Jews rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem intensifies. God’s people face multiple threats in the book of Nehemiah. Some of those threats come from within the people of God themselves in the form of their own sin (for example, chapters 5 and 9), but the threats…

Nehemiah 2 by Pastor Mark Hudson Ever since Nehemiah heard that the remnant in Jerusalem were “in great trouble and shame” and that “the wall of Jerusalem is broken down” in 1:3, he begins to fast and pray.  So, for around 3- or 4-months Nehemiah was praying and planning. In the first verse of chapter 2, the plan begins to unfold.  Dangerously, he allows the king to see him sad.  The cupbearer was not to…

Nehemiah 1 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Similar to Esther and Mordecai serving under King Xerxes a few decades prior, Nehemiah also is serving in the same capital city of Susa in Persia but under Xerxes’ son, Artaxerxes. He is a cupbearer to the king and also stood in the presence of the queen which suggests that he likely was also a eunuch. The events recorded here in the first chapter took place in the twentieth…

Luke 24 by Pastor Mark Hudson This chapter clarifies the difference between narratives in the gospel and didactic teaching in the epistles.  In this chapter, vs. 1-12 describes the followers of Christ discovering the empty tomb.  In just 12 verses!  The resurrection is the most life changing event in the history of human life.  The resurrection is the most glorious event in the Bible.  For without the resurrection, there is no Christianity.  If Christ is…

Luke 23 by Pastor David Groendyk Most chapters in the Bible could have entire books written about them, but perhaps none more so than Luke 23 and Luke 24 which recount the death and resurrection of Jesus. How do you boil down the most significant event(s) in human history to a single page? I advise you to read this chapter slowly and diligently in order to take in what Luke is telling us. What phrase…

Luke 22 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence At the close of his ministry here on earth Jesus shares with his disciples a number of minute details in advance of his suffering and crucifixion. Already he has warned his disciples three times that he was going to Jerusalem to suffer and to be delivered over to the religious leaders that they might condemn him to death, then delivered over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged and…

Luke 21 by Pastor Mark Hudson Near the end of Jesus earthly life, as He came closer to Jerusalem, He was watched like a hawk by those who wanted to do Him harm.  In 20:19-20, Luke records, “ The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hand on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them (and they were right, just not spiritually awake), but they…

Luke 19 by Pastor Mark Hudson At the end of the gospels, the tension between our Lord Jesus and religious leaders noticeably increases.  His teaching is directed to His disciples in a more positive, comforting mode but His teaching toward the religious leaders has a last chance urgency as well as a rebuke for their rejection of the Messiah. The first story is of Zacchaeus who is an example of genuine repentance and rebirth. In…

Luke 18 by Pastor David Groendyk This is the final chapter of Luke before Jesus enters into Jerusalem for his fateful final week of life. There would be no more urgent time for Jesus to press home what it looks like to be a citizen in the kingdom of God than right now. Reading through this chapter, three big themes jump out to me: the nature of true faith, the deceptiveness of self-righteousness, and the…

Luke 17 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin In his story of the unworthy servants in vv.7-10, Jesus directly addresses the growing pride amongst his disciples who are continually arguing about who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Using the example of a master’s servant is especially appropriate since two of the most prominent disciples jockeying for first place are James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who came from a family with…