Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 25 No one likes to be slighted, especially without cause. David was no different than most people, and being snubbed set him off to unreasonable proportions in this particular narrative. He encountered an irritable, worthless fool named Nabal. Fool? Yes, that is what his name meant (25:25).[1] He acted that way apparently with some regularity according to his servant and his wife…
Call to Worship October 3 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 24 David, once again, was being pursued by Saul. Saul selected his choice 3,000 men to hunt for David, and his somewhat ragtag bunch of 600. Saul’s chase ranged far enough south that he needed a pit stop, so he entered a cave for a nature break. Strangely, he chose a cave that David and his men were using for refuge. As…
Call to Worship September 26 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 23 William Tyndale encountered tenacious opposition while seeking to translate and transport English Bibles. He was most concerned with his English speaking people’s ability to read and know the biblical truth of God’s salvation through Christ alone, by faith alone. More than once Tyndale was turned in to English authorities or law enforcement in various mainland European cities, where he was exiled,…
Call to Worship September 12 2021
Expository thoughts on 1 Samuel 21-22:4 Fugitives are often confused and wandering. They search for hope in the midst of their circumstances. The fear of their situation and surroundings manifests troubling and sometimes sinful decisions. David as a fugitive proved to produce some disconcerting decisions. David was no longer the teenager who had been ready to take hell on with a water pistol. He had seen war,…
Call to Worship September 5 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 20 Security is what most people want in life. Excitement and variation are enjoyable for a little while or in controlled circumstances, but few people desire constant change or chaos. Saul had become, as my grandmother might say, “a regular royal pain in the patooty.” His fits of rage and mood swings fluctuated more than a driver in five o’clock Atlanta traffic….
Call to Worship August 29 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 19 Athanasius, an important 4th century pastor/theologian, was exiled from Alexandria six times during his life. He was influential in studying the scriptures and aiding the churches of his day in confessing the deity of Christ. He faced many trials for his study, writings, and teachings that Jesus was of the same essence or being as God the Father. [1] One such…
Call to Worship August 22 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 18 It seems like some relationships were never meant to last. Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries were married for 72 days, which is quite lengthy compared to Jason Alexander and Britney Spears. Their marriage lasted a whopping 55 hours.[1] Well, the fawning and fondness between Saul and David probably lasted somewhere in between the length of those two marriages. After the smashing success…
Call to Worship August 15 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 17:26-58 May 17th, 2021: Kevin did what he usually does about eight months out of the year. He watches a spherical object hurled at him from 60 feet away at 95 miles an hour several times per day. This time was different: the hurler lost control and the baseball hit Kevin Pillar in the face. As one writer noted, “Pillar fell to…
Call to Worship August 8 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 17:1-26 Correct context of a scriptural scene creates a proper perception of the whole scenario. Some would say Goliath was one “mean hombre,” or a “brutish beast.” He was over nine feet tall, three feet taller than the average N.B.A. player.[1] He wore body armor that weighed 125 pounds or so, as much as a good sized middle school boy. The head of…
Call to Worship August 1 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 16 The pomp and circumstance of the entrance of a king languishes in our imaginations. When we hear of a king in America it is often foreign to our thinking, but not completely foreign. We know what the inauguration of a president looks like every four years- the musical entrance, lofty promising speeches, the swearing of oath to office, the fanfare parade,…