Shalom Aleichem is an ancient Hebrew greeting used among Jews which has its roots going back to the first century A.D. It means "peace be upon you", and the response is Aleichem Shalom". The singular form is found in a Dead Sea scroll dated to around 30 B.C. The plural form first appears in the Jerusalem Talmud around 400 A.D. The popular Hebrew song Hevenu Shalom Aleichem is based on this greeting. The phrase is also a special greeting used on holidays. The Jewish autho

The megachurch model        The Lord Jesus has commissioned the church to make disciples (Mt 28:18-20, Mk 16:14-20, Lk 24:44-49, Jn 20:21-23, Acts 1:8). It is His desire, His command, even His ordination, for the church to be fruitful (Jn 15:1-16). When He returns, He will demand production from His servants (Mt 21:33-46, Mt 25:14-30, Lk 19:11-27). It is not the will of God that any soul perish (2Pet 3:9). That is why He came (Mt 9:13, Mt 18:11, Mt 20:28, Jn 12:46-47, 1Tim 1:

One of the top ten fears people have is the fear of death. This is a hard one to overcome without the Lord. There are some key steps in facing our fears, not the least of which is to define them. Physical death is easy to define, but why is it fearful? It is because of uncertainty. People are afraid to die because they are unsure about if there is anything after, or because they believe there is an afterlife but they are not confident about what it holds for them. The Bible i

The Bible is abundantly clear that God is absolutely one to the exclusion of any other concept. The 4 words one, only, himself, and myself appear 290 times to describe Him. When Jesus was asked what the most important passage in the Bible is, He replied, " The first of all the commandments is , Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is

Before sin, there were no genetic mutations or medical issues. Everything was perfect, but sin brought disease and death (Gen 1-3, Rom 5, 1Cor 15:20-22). Even in this fallen state marred by sin, the human eye is a marvel of God’s creation. However, because sin entered the world, there can be various visual imperfections. The same is true of our spiritual eyes. Sin not only disconnects us from God (Is 59:1-2), it deceives us (Rom 7:11). It distorts our spiritual vision so we d

I. The origin of nations is described in Genesis 10, which lists the first nations, and Genesis 11:1-     9, which shows the dividing of the people into nations according to their languages. II. The land covenant    A. God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). He spoke to him 7 more times about this            covenant and gave additional details about it (Gen 12:5-7, Gen 13:14-17, Gen 15, Gen 17,             Gen 18:1-15, Gen 21:12-13, Gen 22:16-18). He promised him the

Paul left the church a great legacy. Although his conversion, testimony, church planting, and suffering should inspire us all, his most enduring contribution is his letters to the churches. All of the churches God used him to start in eastern Europe are long gone, but his writings endure. In this way, he is like Moses. Neither of these men were eloquent orators (Ex 4:10, 2Cor 10:10). Yet they gave the world essential writings from the mouth and wisdom of God.      Before His

Christians should be in pursuit of truth (Prov 23:23, Jn 8:31-32, Jn 18:37, 1Cor 5:8, Eph 6:14, 2Tim 2:15). Sometimes people get sidetracked into following various "rabbit holes" of sensationalized, mystical, and supposedly hidden doctrines. The Bible is a revelation of truth, not an obscuring of it (2Tim 3:14-17), 2Pet 1:19-21). The word mystery only appears in the King James Version in the New Testament and not the Old, where is appears 22 times in the singular. It is almos

From the second generation of man, he started building cities to live in (Gen 4:17). Whatever man had built until the time of Noah was...

God created a world that was all good (Gen 1:25), but it was marred by sin (Gen 3). Every affliction that man and all of creation are...

The Lord did most of His ministry near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. On the occasion of one of His crossings of it, many people...

God foresaw that Israel was going to want a king about 400 years before it happened (Deut 17:14-20). He gave a list of conditions to be...

Some people are familiar with plotting things on a graph. A graph takes raw information and makes a visual representation of it. It can...

The black maned adult African male lion has long been a symbol of strength, courage, and majesty in many cultures. He is depicted in...

According to Webster's Dictionary, insecurity is defined as " a state or feeling of anxiety, fear, or self-doubt, lack of dependability...

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and everything in them including man (Gen 1-2). He made a covenant with Adam which he failed to keep (Gen 3). However, God had already made a redemptive plan for man (Jn 17:5 & 24, 1Cor 2:7, Eph 1:4, 2Tim 1:9, Titus 1:2, 1Pet 1:20). This plan would be revealed in stages through time. There is a general pattern in the Bible of God making a covenant, man failing to keep it which caused judgment, and the instituting of a ne

After king David became king of Israel, his friend Hiram the king of Tyre had a house built for him in Jerusalem (2Sam 5:11). After this,...

God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). He spoke to him 7 more times about this covenant and gave additional details about it (Gen...

When God brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt, He did it by sending ten plagues (Ex 7-12). The last plague was the death of all the...

Where is the edge of the universe? This is a philosophical and scientific question that has puzzled man for centuries. The Bible does not...