What Does God Think of Prostitutes? While I can’t definitively answer this question about prostitutes, the Bible does give a clear indication—and the answer may surprise you. Through the prophet Hosea, God says: “I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution…because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—a […]
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Hosea Shows Us God’s Unconditional Love In the Bible, many of the prophets are instructed by God to do some strange and bizarre things. Isaiah is a case in point. Perhaps the most extreme, however, is Hosea. In short, God tells him to marry a prostitute so that his life can become an object lesson […]
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Beware the Adulteress The book of Proverbs contains the majority of the Bible’s mentions of the word “adulteress” (seven times in Proverbs compared to five times in the rest of the Bible). It refers to a woman who commits adultery, that is, she has sex with someone other than her husband. In today’s language, that […]
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When God Calls Do We Answer? When He Speaks Do We Listen? Punishment May Await Us If We Fail to Listen to God Isaiah wraps up his lengthy prophecy talking about judgment. He prophesies that God has destined the people for death. That they will be slaughtered. There will be consequences. Why would a loving […]
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We Should Be Like Jesus To discover WWJD (what would Jesus do) we need only look at what the Bible says Jesus goes to the synagogue in his hometown to worship God with his family and friends. It’s his turn to read scripture and the day’s scheduled passage is from Isaiah. It’s a prophecy—about Jesus. […]
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Balance Freedom of Speech with Being Careful in What We Say The Tongue Is a Dangerous Tool that We Must Tame In one of his Psalms, David writes that he will be careful in what he says so that he doesn’t sin. He talks about putting a muzzle on his mouth (Psalms 39:1). He says […]
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Paul Shares His Story The tenth sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 25:10-Acts 26:22 (specifically Acts 26:2-29) Setting: A hearing before Festus in Caesarea Speaker: Paul Audience: Festus, King Agrippa, Bernice, high-ranking military officers, and prominent city leaders. Preceding Events: Paul, in an effort to avoid being assassinated in Jerusalem, appeals his case to […]
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Do You Believe God’s Message? Faith Comes from Hearing God’s Message About Jesus and Believing in Him In the book of Isaiah, the prophet asks, “Who has believed God’s message?” Isaiah then goes on to prophetically proclaim what Jesus will do. He will suffer and die for us, sheep that have wandered off. He will […]
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More Proverbs from King Solomon We can learn from the many wise sayings in the Bible We consider the book of Proverbs as being a collection of wise sayings from King Solomon. This is mostly correct. However, it also includes proverbs from other people. The book opens with Solomon giving instructions to his son. Then […]
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3 Guys Named Simeon in the Bible Distinguishing Between the Many Men in the Bible Named Simon and Simeon When I write a blog post, I never know which one will resonate with people. A perennial favorite—which always surprises me—is 9 guys named Simon in the Bible. The only post is more popular is 4 […]
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When Paul Speaks, Some People Believe The eleventh and final sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 28:17-28 (specifically Acts 28:25-28) Setting: Rome Speaker: Paul Audience: Jewish leaders Preceding Events: Paul conducts a pre-meeting with the Jewish leaders, explaining his situation and confirming his commitment to his faith. Overall Theme: Though Jews hear the message […]
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Ask God to Go with Us God Promises to Go Before His People and Be Their Rear Guard In Isaiah’s lengthy prophecy, he tells God’s people in Jerusalem that they need to leave. However, they don’t need to leave in haste. This is because God will go before them and he will take up the […]
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God Gives Us Parents to Teach and Instruct Us We Will Do Well to Listen to the Advice of Those God Sends to Guide Us King Solomon opens the book of Proverbs extolling the value of wisdom and the importance of receiving wise instruction, which starts with a reverence for God. After establishing this opening […]
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When Did Saul Become Paul? In reading the book of Acts in the Bible we learn about a badly misguided dude named Saul who turns his life around and later goes by the name of Paul. When did this name change take place? If you say his name changed when he stopped killing Jesus’ followers […]
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Are You Spiritually Selfish? We must concern ourselves with the physical and spiritual wellbeing of others and not focus on ourselves In Isaiah 39 we read a prophecy given to King Hezekiah by Isaiah. This occurs after Hezekiah does something foolish. He graciously receives envoys from the powerful behemoth, Babylon. Not only does he show […]
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Four Lessons from Job about Devotion to God Job Professes His Spiritual Practices The words of Job’s friend Eliphaz fail to comfort him. Instead they stir up anger. With a friend who speaks like Eliphaz I’d be angry too. In Job’s reply to his so-called friend, he professes what he has done to align himself […]
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God Gives Us Options In the book of Hosea, God calls the young man, Hosea, to be his prophet—telling him to marry a prostitute, (see “Hosea Shows Us God’s Unconditional Love”). This is one of God’s most scandalous directives. What is intriguing is that God does not indicate which prostitute. God gives options. The choice […]
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Blindness Leads to Sight When God needed to turn Saul’s life around, he used a supernatural light, an unseen voice, and temporary blindness to get Saul’s attention (Acts 9:3-9). Some time later, Saul (Paul), under the power of the Holy Spirit, did the same thing to a guy named Elymas. Elymas was supernaturally blinded for […]
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Isaiah Reveals Three Things About God: He Is Gracious, Compassionate, and Just We Should Wait for God Because He Longs for Us After Isaiah records the stinging words of God against his people, Isaiah adds a passage of comfort and reassurance. It starts with the word yet. He writes, “Yet the Lord longs . . . Here are […]
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The Twenty-Third Psalm, a Favorite Passage for Many David Teaches Us About God as Our Shepherd In the twenty-third Psalm, the former shepherd boy David, looks to God as his Shepherd. This short six-verse Psalm is a favorite of many, who have perhaps memorized it as a child. Here are a few of the key […]
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