I  Timothy 4 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson           Solid Doctrine or good deeds?  If you asked most North American Christians which is more important, most will say good deeds.  A cry in the previous century was `Life over doctrine.’  It sounds great but it is not great.  That emphasis, which is ironically also a doctrine, is unworkable.  `Life over doctrine’ is a doctrine.  Without a Biblical, appropriate emphasis on doctrine you develop your own…

1 Timothy 3 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin After explaining to Timothy in the previous chapter that he doesn’t permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man, the apostle Paul moves on to the subject of qualified men who are permitted to have authority within the church.  In vv.14-15 he tells Timothy that he is writing these things to him, now, in case his arrival at Ephesus is delayed so that the…

1 Timothy 2 by Pastor David Groendyk You could summarize this letter written by Paul to Timothy as basic instructions for the church. One of the topics Paul touches on repeatedly is watching out for false teachers. Just a quick scan of the book and section headers shows us that subject in (at least) chapters 1, 4, and 6. Interspersed between these sections on false teachers are other instructions for what a godly church should…

Jeremiah 52 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin This final chapter in the book of Jeremiah seems to be taken almost entirely from a narrative section in the book of 2 Kings.  The first three verses of Jer. 52 are exactly the same as what is found in 2 Kings 24:18-20, and then the six following verses, are, again, exactly the same as those found in 2 Kings 25:1-6.  The remaining verses of this chapter follow…

Jeremiah 51 by Pastor David Groendyk This prophecy that Jeremiah speaks is his last, and it is surely one of his greatest. The theme verse for this chapter is verse 5a: “For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord of hosts.” God has not left his people behind to wallow in despair, but, in fact, he will vindicate them by taking out vengeance on Babylon. Vengeance and vindication characterize this…

Jeremiah 50 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson Now God’s judgment comes to Babylon. We have seen God judging the surrounding nations. But Babylon has been THE nation discussed in this book. Since this is a long section, here are some observations about the chapter overall. From the Word Biblical Commentary, “The oracles concerning Babylon in 50:1-51:58 compose almost half of the material in the collection of oracles concerning the nations in Jer. 46-51 (104 verses…

Jeremiah 49 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin           Continuing on the same theme from the last three chapters of God’s judgment upon the nations, this chapter is addressed to five different kingdoms or coalitions of kingdoms, first to Ammon just east of Israel, then Edom to the south, Damascus to the northeast, the kingdoms of Kedar and Hazor to the southeast and Elam much farther east, near ancient Babylon.  Those kingdoms were located in what…

Jeremiah 47 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson This section of Jeremiah is where God’s judgment comes not just to Judah or Babylon or even Egypt. But in chapters 46 (Egypt) 47 (Philistia) 48 (Moab) 49 (Ammon) 50 (Babylon) are all the subject of God’s judgment. You can see the same thing in Amos 1-2, Obadiah directed to Edom, Jonah going to Nineveh, Nahum directing his message to Nineveh, and so many verses in the O.T.…

Jeremiah 46 by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin The first forty-five chapters of the book of Jeremiah have been dedicated exclusively to God’s judgment upon the Jews, but the remaining chapters are devoted to God’s judgment upon all the surrounding gentile nations. The prophet had briefly shared with us earlier on in Jeremiah 25:15ff that the Lord was going to bring judgment on these other nations in addition to Judah by also making them to drink from…

Jeremiah 45 by Pastor David Groendyk Paul Tripp wrote a book a while back about marriage called “What Did You Expect?” In that book, Tripp explains how people tend to enter into marriage with unrealistic expectations and then are sorely disappointed and frustrated when their new spouse and new marriage aren’t perfect. “What Did You Expect?” would also be an appropriate title for Jeremiah 45. In this very short chapter, Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch is lamenting…

Jeremiah 44 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson You have been reading 43 chapters of Jeremiah. In chapter 44, you might think that the people of Israel will, after seeing the destruction of Jerusalem, the deportations of the Jews to Babylon, and the murder of Gedaliah figure out that what God had warned through Jeremiah was actually coming true. They could see and they were experiencing God’s judgment. Furthermore, you might think now, after all these…

Jeremiah 43 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Even though Johanan and his men swore to listen to the prophet Jeremiah and do whatever the Lord had told them to do that it might go well with them when they obeyed the voice of the Lord, they did not keep their promise. Because they did not believe that the Lord would protect them from the wrath of King Nebuchadnezzar, they refused to stay in Israel as the…

Jeremiah 42 by Pastor David Groendyk How many times will Judah make the same stupid and sinful mistakes over and over again? They never learn. After killing the Babylon-appointed (and God-ordained) governor over the land, the people intend to flee to Egypt in order to outrun the wrath of the Babylonian king, which is exactly what Zedekiah and his officials had tried to do back in chapter 39 and exactly what the Lord had warned…

Jeremiah 41 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson Unfortunately you could make R rated movies from stories in the Bible.  This is one violent chapter in a book that has quite a few violent chapters and stories.  I think this chapter also shows that once you start down a path of disobedience it can get worse and worse. As you have noticed, some of the Jews did go to Babylon.  Maybe they were reluctant. Some of…

Jeremiah 40 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin                  After the city of Jerusalem is destroyed and most of the remaining Jews who survived the siege, sword, famine and plague are now bound in chains and on their way to Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian captain of the guard, releases Jeremiah from his manacles and gives him his freedom.  Very unexpectedly, we hear this pagan guard give credit to the Lord for pronouncing the destruction of Jerusalem in advance…

Jeremiah 39 by Pastor David Groendyk The moment we’ve all been waiting for: Jerusalem has fallen. As we read the first ten verses, the description of the fall gets worse and worse. The Babylonian army makes a breach in the city wall and occupies the city (vv. 2–3). After the great king Zedekiah and his officials try to make a break for it in the middle of the night, they get chased down and taken…

Jeremiah 38 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson If you are a follower of cultural trends, you have noticed the term `cancel culture.’  If you do not know the term, you know the concept.  Someone says something offensive and people demand that the person should be fired.  This discussion of what constitutes tolerance and intolerance is fascinating.  D. A. Carson’s book The Intolerance of Tolerance, although a bit dated, is an excellent elucidation of this dilemma…

Jeremiah 37 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Now the events move forward once again to just after the death of the proud king Jehoiakim with his dead body being devoured by the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.  His son Jehoiachin has been taken captive to Babylon after ruling for only three months, and his brother Zedekiah has now been appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar.  Zedekiah is also wicked in God’s sight, but…

Jeremiah 36 by Pastor David Groendyk These are the final days of Judah. The clock is ticking until Jerusalem falls in Jeremiah 39. Contrasted with the faithful, command-keeping, authority-obeying Rechabites in yesterday’s chapter, Jehoiakim the king of Judah is defiantly rebellious and disobedient to God. The king that’s been center-stage for much of the story lately is Zedekiah, who was the final king of Judah, but in our chapter we’re going back in time about…

Jeremiah 34 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin After King Zedekiah’s rebellion against Babylon in 589 BC, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem and the two remaining fortified cities in Judah, Lachish and Azekah, both southwest of Jerusalem in 588 BC.  (See 2 Chronicles 11:5-12 for a list of all fifteen fortified cities established by King Rehoboam years before).  It was during this siege that the Lord came to Jeremiah, and he told the king that Jerusalem…

Jeremiah 33 by Pastor David Groendyk Remember Jeremiah is currently imprisoned for speaking the words of God (32:2ff.). This is now the second time God has revealed something to Jeremiah while in prison, and the theme of this chapter is that God fulfills all his promises to his people. The Lord prefaces this revelation by reminding Jeremiah that he is the Creator God of the universe (v. 2). He formed and established the earth by…