The Internet is a vast place filled with all manner of content. Unfortunately, we don’t always have time to read every article that we come across online that looks interesting or useful to our spiritual journeys. This is where an app and service like Pocket (www.getpocket.com) can help.
Pocket is a service that will save those blog posts and articles that you want to set aside for later viewing. It is incredibly simple to use and is available on just about every phone, tablet and computer that can access the Internet. Rarely does a day go by that I don’t save something to my “Pocket” to read later. Whether it is an article that someone sends to me via email, something that I encounter on social media or while doing research on any number of subjects, Pocket can save it for me.Continue Reading
David is one of the major characters of the Old Testament. His history covers half of I Samuel and essentially of II Samuel.Some have observed that we know more about the life of David than any other biblical person except Jesus. As we think about the things we remember about David, perhaps your list is something like mine – shepherd, giant killer, hiding from King Saul who was jealous of him, crowned king, sin with Bathsheba, death of infant child, musician and poet.
The Book of the Psalms has 75 Psalms attributed to David. Two more appear in II Samuel 22 & 23. What both David’s life and his literary legacy show us about him is his great devotion to the LORD. In fact, it would be hard to understand or explain David’s life without knowing that honoring, worshiping and obeying God was always his number one priority. A prime example of this is found in Psalm 145.Continue Reading
I Samuel 17 is recording a war between the Philistine peoples of the southwestern coastal plain of Canaan and the Israelites who occupied the interior of Canaan between the coastal plain and the Jordan River valley. Conservative Biblical scholars use the approximate timeline below for Israel’s history in Canaan before I Samuel 17:
1446 BC – Exodus from Egypt by Israel led by Moses
1406 BC – Crossing of Jordan River and conquest of Canaan begins under Joshua
1396 BC – End of Book of Joshua
1396-1050 BC – Death of Joshua and Period of the Book of Judges
1050 BC – Saul crowned King of Israel by Samuel
1024 BC – 27th year of Saul’s reign; Israel’s army faces the Philistines at the Elah Valley
“Now the Philistines gathered together their armies for battle…”
The writer of I Samuel carefully chose what to include and not include in his chronicle. He would have done this because of the limited amount of space he would have (limited by what would fit on one scroll). Even more importantly, he would have chosen based on the purposes and point he wants to make in his recorded history. Critics may claim that this would be “creating” or “editing” history. Not so. Every historian today does the same thing, choosing what is included in his account which best illustrates his emphasis.
Effective Bible study requires spending enough time and doing enough work and study to accurately represent what a certain passage, theme or topic of Scripture is about, how it was understood by its original audience, and then what the Holy Spirit intended in it for our edification today.
We are going to do a study of the story of David and Goliath to illustrate how I typically go about doing this. The original story is found in I Samuel 17. It has become a favorite for teaching children, and used to illustrate how we can be victorious against overwhelming odds if God is on our side. The expression “David and Goliath” has become a part of our English language. According to the online Oxford Dictionaries, it is “used to describe a situation in which a small or weak person or organization tries to defeat another much larger or stronger opponent.” But, to paraphrase an expression of former radio commentator Paul Harvey, let’s find out “the rest of the story!”Continue Reading
“I, Paul – An Apostle’s Story” is now available in our Store. This a 10 lesson series taught by Richard Cravy at the Sunset Church of Christ in 2017. Also included is a two-part dramatic monologue in Paul’s own words by Brian Garnett. It can be ordered as MP3 files on CD or as a download. The 61-page Study Guide is also available. This is an excellent choice for a sermon series, Bible class or personal study. Click hereto listen to the first lesson, entitled, “Growing Up Jewish.” Click here for a PDF copy of the first lesson from the Study Guide, entitled, “Growing Up Jewish.”
One of the best known fixtures of any church today is the “preacher.” He (or she!) often has a special education, special attire, special titles, special authority, and special tasks. Probably most think that is the way it is supposed to be. But is it? The Apostle Paul in Romans 10:14-15 said that people can believe when they hear, and they can hear if they have a preacher. What were these first preachers like? Would we recognize them today? Would preachers of today have been recognized “back then?” This is a 9 message study we are making together of “Preaching: Messenger, Message, and Method.”
Our image is of Paul with the church in Philippi, from the movie, “To the Ends of the Earth,” by BT Media, and provided through www.FreeBibleImages.org.
We have more events and miracles of Jesus recorded in Capernaum than any other place… even Jerusalem
We have already looked at two of those miracles: “Jairus” and “The Woman with Bleeding.” This lesson will look at a third miracle: “The Paralyzed Man.”
Sadly, these miracles and others by Jesus did not lead to faith for many in Capernaum, and the city was eventually condemned by Jesus – Matthew 11:23
By about AD 1000, Capernaum was abandoned and disappeared
Not until AD 1838 was its ruins re-discovered
While still being studied by archeologists today, the discovery and preservation of “Peter’s house” possibly ties into our story today.
One of the most touted major Bible software programs is Logos by Faithlife. I have owned and used Logos since V.2 in about 2003 (called Libronix back then). The Windows and Mac versions are now up to V.8. In addition, iPhone, iPad and Android phone and tablet versions are also available. I have spent thousands of dollars expanding my Logos library and dutifully upgrading as new versions have been released. The good news is that once I purchase Logos once, I can run it on the various platforms without spending more money except to upgrade versions as they come along. I don’t need to sing the praises of the Logos software; many others do that already.
However, I scarcely ever use my Logos main program – even though I regularly pay to keep it up to date and purchase occasional additional resources to expand my library. Why don’t I use it more? Because it is so complicated to use! Now, for someone who invests a considerable amount of time to learn its intricacies, then uses it almost daily and exclusively, its complexity ceases to be an issue I suppose. But that is not me. Now this post is not intended to primarily criticize the usability of Logos, but to point out why I like it and how I use it despite this major (to me) hindrance.Continue Reading
Pete Souza was the Chief Official White House Photographer for President Ronald Reagan (from 1983-1989) and President Barak Obama (2009-2017). Many of us would recognize numerous photos of his which have appeared in the news media.
Souza estimated he and his staff took about 2,000,000 photos during President Obama’s two terms! This included those in the Oval Office, and during official functions, international trips, disasters, plus private family moments.
In the Gospels we have many such “snapshots” of Jesus, most of them when He was with people. These images are word pictures rather than photographic, but they are graphic and well focused all the same.
In these various photogenic moments with the Lord, teachers and preachers have usually focused on Him. But in this series we are trying to do what Jesus did – look at the people in the picture!
When we are reading the Gospels we notice many people with whom Jesus had contact only briefly. Most of those we never hear about after that initial contact.
For some of these people, the records we have are so brief we can know almost nothing about them. But for others, enough is recorded for us to learn from them.
This series I am calling, “Snapshots with Jesus.” It is almost as if a camera captured a picture of Jesus with each of these people. True, the image is verbal instead photographic; but the picture has been preserved for the ages through the Gospel narratives.
We begin by looking through our “photo album” of snapshots in Capernaum. Continue Reading
We are discussing how to do a series of sermons or lessons on lesser-known Biblical characters. This allows our audience or class to learn about people and stories they have probably never known about before. At the same time, making good application should provides a fresh and memorable way to grasp the Biblical lessons from the text.
Here are a few of the book resources I have found especially helpful as I have prepared these biographical lesson series over the years. Note that EBS may earn a small commission off any merchandise purchased through links on this page. Continue Reading
The Internet is a vast place filled with all manner of content. Unfortunately, we don’t always have time to read every article that we come across online that looks interesting or useful to our spiritual journeys. This is where an app and service like Pocket (www.getpocket.com) can help.
Pocket is a service that will save those blog posts and articles that you want to set aside for later viewing. It is incredibly simple to use and is available on just about every phone, tablet and computer that can access the Internet. Rarely does a day go by that I don’t save something to my “Pocket” to read later. Whether it is an article that someone sends to me via email, something that I encounter on social media or while doing research on any number of subjects, Pocket can save it for me.Continue Reading
“Saul and the men of Israel were gathered…”
“Now the Philistines gathered together their armies for battle…”
Effective Bible study requires spending enough time and doing enough work and study to accurately represent what a certain passage, theme or topic of Scripture is about, how it was understood by its original audience, and then what the Holy Spirit intended in it for our edification today.
“I, Paul – An Apostle’s Story” is now available in our 
One of the best known fixtures of any church today is the “preacher.” He (or she!) often has a special education, special attire, special titles, special authority, and special tasks. Probably most think that is the way it is supposed to be. But is it? The Apostle Paul in Romans 10:14-15 said that people can believe when they hear, and they can hear if they have a preacher. What were these first preachers like? Would we recognize them today? Would preachers of today have been recognized “back then?” This is a 9 message study we are making together of “Preaching: Messenger, Message, and Method.”
TEXT: Mark 2:1-12
One of the most touted major Bible software programs is 
INTRODUCTION:
INTRODUCTION:
We are discussing how to do a series of sermons or lessons on lesser-known Biblical characters. This allows our audience or class to learn about people and stories they have probably never known about before. At the same time, making good application should provides a fresh and memorable way to grasp the Biblical lessons from the text.