Expository Bible Studies

Living the Book of Ezekiel

{image_1}A couple of years ago, I was invited to address a class that was studying the book of Ezekiel. I opened my talk by telling them that they were studying the book of Ezekiel, but in Israel, I was “living” the book of Ezekiel. How true this is for all of us living in these days! We are experiencing the events that Ezekiel prophesied over 2,500 years ago!

Building in God’s Kingdom

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The Lord speaks to His children in many ways. How thankful I am that He reveals Himself to us. His written revelation in the Bible is a constant source of inspiration and direction. There, we find examples of times when God communicated with men in various other ways, some more unusual than others. Consider the donkey that spoke to Balaam. Once God caused writing to appear on a wall. Sometimes He sent angels to bring messages, and at other times, He gave dreams and visions. I have never had a donkey speak to me, or an angel visit me. Usually the Lord speaks to me through the Bible, often through the still small inner voice of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes He gives me dreams. When I have a dream that seems to be spiritual in nature, or that is very vivid and clear in my memory upon waking, I always pray and ask the Lord if it was from Him, and if so, what it means.

Knowing and Loving God

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 “…The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment”(Mark 12:29–30, quoted from Deut. 6:4, 5). As Christians, this ultimate command of Yeshua (Jesus) should be our goal. We should love God with our whole being. As I think about loving someone, it is clear to me that you do not love someone you don’t know. You may admire them for their fame or appearance. You may read about them and find much to be lauded. But, until you know them, you will not really love them. The more we know the Lord, the more we should love Him.

Hearing and Speaking the Words of God

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It is difficult to deny that we are living in a remarkable time in history, one during which God is fulfilling ancient prophecies at a staggering rate. Since the reestablishment of the state of Israel in 1948, we have seen many of God’s promises to His people fulfilled, displaying His faithfulness but also legitimizing the concept of the prophetic for many in the Church who had previously doubted its viability in our modern world. Today, there is an emphasis, not just on the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, but on individual prophetic gifts as well; we have witnessed the advent of thousands, perhaps millions, of Web sites dedicated solely to the subject of prophecy.

James: The Guidebook to Holy Living

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Have you ever struggled with the desire to make yourself a better, more successful person? Or perhaps with a difficult relationship? Have you wondered how to cope with a challenging situation such as the loss of your job or stress in the workplace? Or asked yourself who you really are and what your purpose reallyis in life? Well, if you have, you are not alone. These are the four main categories that the current spate of self-help books deal with, and it seems people all over the globe are seeking the same answers. The self-help craze has become big business, with this genre selling somewhere between US $8 and $10 billion per year in America alone, over US $1 billion of that being specifically what is called “Christian self-help.”

The Fear of the Lord

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“Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.” Psalm 34:9–10

The Fear of the Lord is a complex concept that occupies a unique prevalence in both the Old and New Testaments. Christian commentators and Jewish sages have spoken of this idea perhaps more than any other, clearly identifying it as a fundamental component of a true relationship with the Almighty One. Charles Spurgeon spoke of it as the centrality of the Christian experience. The Talmud (rabbinic commentary on Jewish tradition and the Hebrew scriptures) says, “a man who possesses learning without Fear of the lord is like the man who has been entrusted with the keys of an inner court but not with the keys of the outer court; how is he to enter?” If we are to love the Lord as He deserves to be loved and sanctify His name through our lives, a careful look at what the Bible and the sages say about the Fear of the Lord is certainly in order.

Seeking God

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David was one of the great seekers of God. I would like to say that he sought the Lord more than all others, but no one can judge a man’s heart, so we don’t know. However, of all writers of the Scriptures, he may have expressed a seeker’s heart better than all others. He was a passionate pursuer of God, and His words vividly illustrate that, painting pictures that help us understand a hunger for God that many believers may not even know is possible to experience.

Where Do We Go When We Die? Reconciling Jewish–Christian Concepts

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There is a long-standing joke that nothing is sure in life except death and taxes. To be accurate, there may be a few places on earth where taxation doesn’t exist. In that case, that leaves the only “sure thing”—death.

Walking God’s Way

{image_1} My husband, Tom, and I frequently walk in the evening after work for exercise and just to spend a little time together in conversation, which we enjoy because it is our time. We live in Gilo, a southern neighborhood In Jerusalem, which is the highest point in the city. No matter how hot the day is, there is almost always a cool breeze in the evening. Recently, I was reading in Ephesians chapter five and noticed a repeated theme of walking. It was an emphasis of how we live or “walk” out our lives, that led me on a trek through the Scriptures to see the connections between walking and God.

Replacement Theology

“How odd of God to choose the Jews; but not so odd as those who choose the Jewish God but spurn the Jews.”—William Norman Ewer & T. E. Brown “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of