LETTERS

LETTERS– Except for the last book, Revelation, the rest of the New Testament is made up of letters written by leaders of the early church to local churches and individuals. There are twenty-one letters- thirteen were written by Paul, one (Hebrews) is anonymous, one is by James and two by Peter, three by John, and one by Jude.

ROMANS

ROMANS–Paul probably wrote this letter to the Romans at the end of his third missionary journey. He was returning to Jerusalem, and then he planned to visit Rome and go on to Spain (Romans 15:23-25) The theme of the this letter is righteousness. Paul taught that !) no human being is righteous; 2)Jesus Christ is perfectly righteous; 3)If we have faith in Jesus, we are freed from the power of sin, a new life, and returned to a right relationship with God; 4)we should live Christian lives that are “holy and pleasing to God.”

The first five books of the New Testament tell the story of Jesus’ life and of the beginning of the Christian church. The four Gospels tell us almost everything we know about Jesus Christ. The word gospel means “good news.” These four books tell us the Good News that Jesus is the Son of God and that he came to earth and died for our sins. The book of Acts continues the story from Jesus’ return to heaven to Paul’s imprisonment in Rome.

MATTHEW

Matthew–The first Gospel was written by Matthew, one of Jesus twelve disciples, sometime before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in the year A.D.70.Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Jews, to show them that Jesus was the Messiah who had been promised in the Old Testament. He quoted many Old Testament prophecies and showed how they came true in Jesus’ life. He also included many of Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of heaven, since the Jews were looking for a king. One of the best-known parts of Matthew’s Gospel is the Sermon on the Mount, which shows Jesus as a great teacher.

MARK

MARK– the author of this Gospel, may have been the first to write down the events of Jesus’ life. He probably the same person who worked for many years as a missionary with Paul and Barnabas. Mark wrote his Gospel so the early Christians would know what Jesus was like and why he had to die. He shows Jesus as a man of action and authority. One-third of his book tells the events of Jesus’ last week on earth, ending with is death and resurrection.

LUKE

LUKE–the doctor who traveled with Paul wrote the third Gospel. Luke tells us in the first four verses of his book that he wrote this Gospel so we would have the true story of Jesus’ life. He wrote the fullest, most orderly story of Jesus’ life and showed Jesus’ love for all kinds of people– not just the rich and important, but also the poor or unpopular.

JOHN

JOHN–The fourth Gospel was also written by one of Jesus’ twelve disciples– John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John wrote this Gospel so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). John wanted to show that the things Jesus said and the miracles he did proved that he is God. He chose stories that show Jesus’ godly powers at times when men were powerless. But he also showed that Jesus was a human and could become tired or hungry or sad, just like us.

ACTS

ACTS–is the second part of Luke’s history. It was written so we would have the true story of how the Christian church began and grew. This book is sometimes called “The Acts of the Apostles.” It especially tells about the work of two of the apostles– Peter and Paul. Acts can also be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” because it teaches about the coming and work of the Spirit. The book of Acts teaches three things about the early church: 1) what the message of the early church was; 2) how the Jews rejected this message and how God sent the apostles to the Gentiles, who accepted the gospel: and 3) how the early church was treated by the local and Roman government.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You know so many use that verse. But Jesus knew his outcome . He knew he was to be born grow up and preach and teach his fathers commands. And knew is final out come. To die on the cross for us sinners. Now my question to everyone that reads this simple verse is:

HOW MANY OF US COULD GIVE OUR ONE AND ONLY SON OR CHILD FOR THAT MATTER, UP LIKE GOD DID FOR THE SAME OUTCOME?

When Jesus said ” narrow is the road” His intent is its a path which few take. The Bible teaches that most take the wide path, the easy path, the worldly path, the path that leads to destruction. Which path are you on ?

“enter though the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” ( Matt. 7 : 13 – 14 )

Bro Jack

The last 17 books of the Old Testament are books on prophecy. Except for Lamentations, each book is named for its author. God sent these prophets at different times in Israel’s and Judah’s history. They called the people back to God and warned them that God would punish their disobedience.

ISIAH

ISIAH–prophesied in Judah during the reigns of King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He repeatedly warned the people that Jerusalem and Judah would be judged because of their wickedness. In Chapter 39 he predicted the Babylonian exile. But he also held out hope that the kingdom would be restored. Beginning in chapter 40 Isiah offered comfort with these promises from God: 1) the Babylonian exiles would be allowed to return to Jerusalem; 2) a righteous, suffering servant would bring salvation; 3) God would set up a new, righteous kingdom.

JEREMIAH

JEREMIAH–like Isaiah, was a young man called by God to warn Judah about its wickedness. Jeremiah spent the first 20 years of his ministry under Josiah, a good king who tried to bring the people of Judah back to God. But after this, Jeremiah was often in danger from political and religious leaders who were angry about his messages. God protected Jeremiah so he could continue to warn the wicked and to comfort those who trusted in God. After Jerusalem was destroyed, Jeremiah chose to remain with the people, and he went with them to Egypt.

LAMENTATIONS

LAMENTATIONS– The title of this book means “funeral songs.” The author was probably Jeremiah, and he was grieving about the destruction of Jerusalem. He confessed the people’s sin and prayed to God for mercy.

EZEKIEL

EZEKIEL– is named after the prophet, Ezekiel, who was a priest in Jerusalem. He was taken to Babylon with other Jewish exiles in 598 B.C. Chapters 1-24 are prophecies about Jerusalem’s destruction. Then, after Jerusalem was destroyed, Ezekiel preached a new message of hope that the people of Israel would return to Palestine.

DANIEL

DANIEL– tells the well-known story of Daniel and his three friends who were taken to captivity, These four men continued to obey and worship God, even though it sometimes put their lives in danger. In the last six chapters of this book, Daniel described his visions of the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms and finally the rise of an everlasting kingdom.

HOSEA

HOSEA–was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II. Chapters 1-3 tell about Hosea’s love for his unfaithful wife. In the rest of the book Hosea used his marriage as a picture of God’s love for unfaithful Israel.

JOEL

JOEL–prophesied at the time of King Joash. He described a terrible plague of locusts that invaded Palestine. Then Joel warned the people to turn to God in repentance. He announced that “the day of the LORD” would come and bring even greater judgement.

AMOS

AMOS–was a shepherd called by God called to be a prophet in the northern cities of Israel. He announced God’s judgement on the people for turning away from God, for being cruel to the poor, and living selfishly.

OBADIAH

OBADIAH– the shortest book in the Bible, is a book of prophecy against the nation of Edom. Obadiah announced God’s judgement against them and prophesied that their kingdom would be destroyed.

JONAH

JONAH–was a prophet whom God called to preach in the foreign city of Nineveh Jonah tried to run away from God and was swallowed by a great fish. When the fish returned him to land. Jonah went to Nineveh and warned the people about God’s judgement. Jonah learned that God would forgive even a heathen city if the people were sorry for their sins.

MICAH

MICAH–contains the writings of a prophet who lived in the countryside of Judah during the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Micah warned about God’s judgement against Jerusalem and Samaria because of a sinfulness of their leaders. But he promised the restoration of Zion and a kingdom of peace for those who trust in God. He prophesied that a ruler born in Bethlehem would set up a kingdom that will last forever.

NAHUM

NAHUM–is a book of prophecy against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. The prophet describes the cruelty of the Assyrians as they conquered nation after nation. He predicted the destruction of Nineveh and the end of the kingdom of Assyria.

HABAKKUK

HABAKKUK–was written as a dialogue or conversation between God and the prophet. Habakkuk first asked why God let wickedness and violence continue. When God told him he would send the Babylonians to punish Judah, Habakkuk became more concerned. He did not understand how God could use the Babylonians, who were even more wicked than the Jews. God answered that “the righteous will live by his faith” and that the Babylonians would also be judged. Habakkuk ended his book with a psalm of praise.

ZEPHANIAH

ZEPHANIAH–prophesied during the reign of King Josiah. He warned that the day of the Lord would bring judgement on Judah and Jerusalem, and he called the Jews to turn back to God. Zephaniah then predicted that Judah’s neighboring nations would be destroyed and he promised that God would bring his people home.

HAGGAI

HAGGAI– eighteen years had passed since Cyrus’s decree had allowed the Jews to return from exile. But they still had not finished building God’s temple. Haggai message was that the time had come to build the house of the Lord. He promised that God would fill this house with his glory.

ZECHARIAH

ZECHARIAH–Zechariah’s prophecies began two months after Haggai’s first message. God sent Zechariah eight visions to encourage the builders of the temple. In chapters 7 and 8 Zechariah called the people to obey God by acting fairly and mercifully to one another. Chapter 9-14 predict the coming of Zion’s King, “the Lord Almighty.”

MALACHI

MALACHI–prophesied to the Jews who had returned from exile. He warned them that they were neglecting and disobeying God and that God would judge them for their wickedness. He also promised that God would save the righteous.

and this is the introduction to the OLD TESTAMENT

POETRY

The next five books of the Old Testament are books of poetry and wisdom. Hebrew poetry often uses pairs of lines. The second line either repeats the thought of the first or gives an opposite. Look for these pairs of lines as you read, especially in the book of Psalms.

JOB

JOB–is named for its chief character, a “blameless and upright” man who was very rich. Even after losing everything he owned and suffering from a terrible sickness. Job still was devoted to God. The book of Job questions the reasons for suffering, especially the suffering of good people. Job’s friends insisted he was suffering as a punishment for his sin. He defended his innocence and expressed his trust in God. Then God spoke and showed his mighty power. Job finally admitted that God is too great and wonderful for us to understand.

PSALMS

PSALMS–is one of the most beautiful books of the Bible. The psalms are poems of praise, worship, thankfulness, and repentance. Many of them were written by King David. The rest were written by the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, and other people.

PROVERBS

PROVERBS– is a collection of wise sayings and good advice for daily living. The book begins by reminding us that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” (Proverbs 1:7). Many of these proverbs came from King Solomon. Others were copied by the men of Hezekiah. Agur and Lemuel wrote the last two chapters.

ECCLESIASTES

ECCLESIASTES–studies the meaning of life. The “Teacher” looks at wisdom, pleasure, work, power, riches, religion, and other things. He decides that all of life is meaningless and empty without God.

SONG OF SONGS

SONG OF SONGS–is a collection of love poems between a lover and his beloved. Its a beautiful picture of ideal human love and marriage.

Too many of us suffer from spiritual dehydration. Just as our bodies need water to stay healthy. Our spiritual heath needs daily contact with our Lord Jesus Christ. Dry souls, irritability, and difficulty in our spiritual walk are a few signs we need to be replenished through time with God. The good thing is that the cure is simple. As simple as a time of prayer and praise to the One who gives us Living Water. The One who keeps us going. We need Jesus. And we need Him every day.

Don’t let yourself become spiritually dehydrated, take time everyday to pray, to speak with the Lord, to drink of the water of life that Jesus offers us.

A life of daily praise and prayer puts our focus where it needs to be, on Jesus Christ, the One who replenishes us with the living water. Jesus said ” If any man thirst let him come onto Me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ( John 7 : 37-38 )

Just as water keeps our bodies hydrated, daily prayer, daily time spent with God, will keep our souls hydrated with the living water that is Gods Word.

May God Bless you all my brothers and sisters,, Bro Jack

Yesterday I spoke on PENTATEUH today I am speaking on the book and history,

The books from Joshua through Esther, cover about 800 years of Israel’s history. They tell about the Israelites conquering Canaan, the reigns of the kings, the division of Israel into northern and southern kingdoms, the fall of the northern kingdom to Assyria, the exile of the southern kingdom into Babylon, and the return to Jerusalem and Judah.

JOSHUA

Joshua is named after the key character, Joshua, whom God named as the new leader of Israel. The people miraculously crossed the Jordan Rover and conquered the town of Jericho. Then with God’s help, they quickly took possession of the main areas of Canaan. Before Joshua died, he reminded the people of God’s covenant promises to them and challenged them to keep on loving and obeying God.

JUDGES

JUDGES–After Joshua died, Israel was without a leader. The people often forgot about God and his laws and worshiped idols. Then God would punish them by sending a neighboring nation to fight them. When the people turned to God and asked for forgiveness he would send them a special leader to help conquer there enemy. These special leaders were called judges. The best-known judges are Deborah, Gideon and Samson.

RUTH

RUTH– Ruth tells the story of an Israelite couple who moved to Moab during a time of famine. The husband and his two sons died, leaving the mother (Naomi) alone with her two daughter-in-laws (Orpah and Ruth). Naomi decided to move back to Israel and Ruth insisted on going with her. Back in Israel, they looked to their relative Boaz for help. Ruth finally married Boaz. From their family came the royal family of David and the Messiah–Jesus Christ. The book of Ruth shows how God acres for all our needs. It also shows how God was working to carry out his plan of salvation.

1 SAMUEL

1SAMUEL — begins with the birth of Samuel and his training in the temple. It describes how he led Israel as Prophet, priest, and judge. When the people of Israel demanded a king. Samuel anointed Saul to be the first king. But God rejected Saul for being disobedient, and Samuel secretly anointed David to take Saul’s place. The rest of the book describes the struggles between Saul and David.

2SAMUEL

2SAMUEL–continues to story of the beginning of Israel’s kingdom. It starts with Saul’s death. Then it describes David’s forty-year reign. Some of the best-known stories are the capture of Jerusalem, David’s sin with Bathsheba, and Absalom’s rebellion.

1KINGS

1KINGS–After David’s death, his son Solomon became king. Chapters 1-11 describe Solomon’s reign, including the building of the temple and the palace in Jerusalem. The next king was Rehoboam, who lost the northern part of the kingdom. After this the northern kingdom was known as Israel, and the southern kingdom was called Judah. The last chapter of 1KINGS tells about evil King Ahab and God’s prophet Elijah, who condemned Ahab’s wickedness and Israel’s disobedience.

2KINGS

2KINGS–continues the stories of Elijah and Elisha. It also tells the history of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah until they are finally conquered. Israel fell to Assyria in 722 B.C. and Judah fell to the Babylonians in 586B.C. In both kingdoms prophets continually warned the people that God would punished them if they did not repent.

1CHRONICALES

1CHRONICALES–begins with an outline of the history from Adam through the death of King Saul. The rest of the book is about the reign of King David. The books of CHRONICLES seems like a repeat of Samuel and Kings. But they were written for the returned exiles to remind them that they came from the royal line of David and that they were God’s chosen people. The main theme is that God is faithful to his covenant.

2CHRONICLES

2CHORNICLES–continues the history of David’s line Chapter 1-9 describe the building of the temple during Solomon’s reign. Chapters 10-36 trace the history of the southern kingdom of Judah to the final destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the people to Babylon.

EZRA

EZRA–tells about the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon. It begins with the decree of Cyrus, king of Persia, allowing the people to go back. The people enthusiastically began rebuilding the temple. But for 18 years they were delayed by enemies from the north. Finally a decree from Darius let them finish (see ERZA 1-6). Chapters 7-10 tell about the return of the priest Ezra. He taught the people the law and reformed their religious life. Ezra probably is the author of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

NEHEMIAH

NEHEMIAH– continues the history of the Jews who returned from exile. Nehemiah gave up his job as cupbearer to Artaxerxes, the Persian king, to become governor of Jerusalem. He led the people in repairing the city walls. This book shows how important Prayer was in Nehemiah’s life.

ESTHER

ESTHER–tells the story of a beautiful Jewish girl whom King Xerxes of Persia chose to be his queen. When Haman plotted to murder all the Jews, Queen Ester’s cousin Mordecai persuaded Esther to try and save her people. Risking her own life, she appealed to the king and rescued the Jews. Although the name of God does not appear in this book, his care for his chosen people is clearly shown.

now the next five books will be on Poetry tomorrow .

Mary had a little lamb, His fleece  was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school each day, T’was even in the rule. It made the children laugh and play, To have a Lamb at school.

And then the rules changed one day, Illegal it became; To bring the Lamb of God to school, Or even speak His Name.

Every day got worse and worse, And days turned into years. Instead of hearing children laugh, We heard the shots and tears.

What must we do to stop the crime, That’s in our schools today? Let’s let the Lamb come back to school, And teach our kids to Pray.

 

Pentateuch

the first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch–a word that means “five books.”  They are also known as the books of the law because they contain the laws and instructions God gave Moses for the people of Israel, except for the last chapter of Deuteronomy which tells about Moses death.

Genesis

The word Genesis means “beginning.” The book of Genesis is about many beginnings–the beginning of the universe, the beginning of man and woman, the beginning of human sin, and the beginning of God’s promises of salvation.  Genesis tells us about God’s special people and his plan for their lives. We learn about Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph and his brothers.

Exodus

The word Exodus means “going out.” Exodus continues the story of God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel. It tells how God called Moses to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. Through the miracles of the ten plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea, God showed his people that he was more powerful than any Egyptian Pharaoh.

While the people of Israel were traveling in the desert, God gave them a set of rules to follow, including the Ten Commandments. God continually reminded his people that they would be a great nation if they loved and worshiped only him and obeyed his laws.

Leviticus

Leviticus means “about the Levites.” The Levites were God’s priests, and the book of Leviticus contains many of the rules they needed to do there work–rules for worshiping God and for making sacrifices. In Leviticus 11:45 God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.” The rules God gave Israel in the book of Leviticus helped the people live holy lives.

Numbers

Numbers gets its name from the two accounts in the chapters 1 and 26 of the numberings or countings of the people of Israel. The rest of the book tells about the 38 years of wandering in the desert. God’s continual care for his people is shown throughout  the book of Numbers. He miraculously supplied them with water, manna, and quails. He continued to love and forgive the people even when they complained, grumbled, and rebelled against him

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy means “second law.” After forty years the Israelites were about to enter the promised land of Canaan, Before they did, Moses wanted to remind them about all that God had done for them and about the laws they much continue to obey as God’s  chosen people. He also emphasized that they must also teach there children to love and obey God. Deuteronomy ends with the renewal of God’s covenant with Israel (Chapter 29), Joshua’s appointment to be the new leader (chapter 31), and Moses death (chapter 34).