2020 Winter Retreat

The LORD’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7, with all its dynastic implications, dominated Israel’s interpretation of their status and their understanding of the future of the kingdom, for there it records the LORD’s commitment to the king,  When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I…

The darkest days in the history of Israel were the days of the Judges. The period of Judges lasted for 450 years, and the people persisted in sin throughout those four and a half centuries (Acts 13:19-21). The Book of Judges has a cycle within it that is repeated continuously: Israel sinned; they were oppressed by their enemies; they cried out to God for deliverance; and then God sent a deliverer (judge) to the rescue. The key theme in the…

How do you view God? Think carefully about how you answer that question because your answer determines your response. There are many people in the world who have a distorted view of God and therefore respond to Him in a completely unacceptable fashion. For example, there are some who live lives of complete, open, and unmistakable rebellion against the Lord, yet when they die their friends and loved ones adamantly declare that they have “gone to a better place.”  The…