We don’t need to guess what worship is because the Bible has LOTS to say about worship. Learn about worship in this multi part study. This is part 1.Kirjoittanut Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 22nd Genesis 23 | Matthew 22 | Nehemiah 12 | Acts 22 Abraham and his wife, Sarah, lived their lives as pilgrims in the land God had promised to them. Theirs was a hard life, characterized by unfulfilled longings, constant danger, and disappointment. Still, they obeyed Yahweh, following him to the land of Canaan, out of th…

The Bible has a lot to say about songs and singing.Kirjoittanut Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 21st Genesis 22 | Matthew 21 | Nehemiah 11 | Acts 21 In spite of all the long waiting and the extraordinary faith Abraham had to exercise while waiting for Isaac to come, God tests Abraham’s faith in an even greater way in Genesis 22 by asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain in Moriah. Shockingly, we read Abraham…

Eph 1:17-18 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; 18 having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,…

Bible Readings for January 20th Genesis 21 | Matthew 20 | Nehemiah 10 | Acts 20 At last, God fulfills his promise to Abraham and to Sarah. Finally, here in Genesis 21, Yahweh visits Sarah, enabling her to conceive, just as he had promised. Despite their old age (Abraham was one hundred years old at this point), God gives Abraham and Sarah a son. As…

In this lesson Mike reviews 5 things that every Christian must do in order to develop this virtue.Kirjoittanut Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for January 19th Genesis 20 | Matthew 19 | Nehemiah 9 | Acts 19 Genesis 20 is the second time we see Abraham lying about his wife to protect his own safety. A nearly identical story takes place in Genesis 12:10–20, when Abram lied to the pharaoh of Egypt, saying that his wife was merely his sister. In that story, God sent plagues aga…

Bible Readings for January 18th Genesis 19 | Matthew 18 | Nehemiah 8 | Acts 18 Lot is a fascinating example of someone who does not love God’s righteousness but who also does not approve of the world’s wickedness. There is a strange irony in the fact that Lot has become captivated with Sodom—captivated enough that he selfishly chose the region when…

by Chris Reno.Kirjoittanut Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 17th Genesis 18 | Matthew 17 | Nehemiah 7 | Acts 17 Genesis 18 contains a promise of extraordinary hope and of devastating judgment. This passage in some ways marks both the beginning of Abraham’s redemptive, covenant offspring as well as the end of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. Here Yahweh appears to Abraham in t…

Mike reviews the life and times of one of the most iconic and erratic characters of the Old Testament.Kirjoittanut Mike Mazzalongo

What does the Bible say about worship?Kirjoittanut Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 16th Genesis 17 | Matthew 16 | Nehemiah 6 | Acts 16 In Genesis 15, Yahweh had cut a covenant with Abram by passing twice through the pieces of the animals who had been torn in two. In this, Yahweh was promising that his body would be broken like the animals if either he broke the terms of the covenant or if Abram (or Abra…

God.Kirjoittanut Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 15th Genesis 16 | Matthew 15 | Nehemiah 5 | Acts 15 Back in Genesis 12, we read that Abram had distrusted and disobeyed Yahweh by going to Egypt because of a famine in the land of Canaan. On top of the sin of leaving the place where Yahweh had told Abram to remain, Abram also lied to the pharaoh of Egypt, telling him that…

Learn more about time with this study.Kirjoittanut Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 14th Genesis 15 | Matthew 14 | Nehemiah 4 | Acts 14 It is not surprising that we should find Abram so frustrated when Yahweh seems to have failed to keep his promise. Even a great man of faith like Abram struggles with the same kind of doubts that plague you and me. So, in Genesis 15:1, Yahweh comes to reassure Abram of h…

Eph 1:14-16 14 which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of (God’s) own possession, unto the praise of his glory. 15 For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which (ye show) toward all the saints, 16 cease not to give thanks for you, making mention (of you) in my prayers;…

Bible Readings for January 13th Genesis 14 | Matthew 13 | Nehemiah 3 | Acts 13 In our meditation on Genesis 11, we mentioned that Babylon (Babel) is the archenemy of the people of God throughout the Scriptures. In Genesis 14, we meet Babylon again through Amraphel, the king of Shinar—that is, the king of Babylon (Gen. 10:10). Amraphel leads a group…

Bible Readings for January 12th Genesis 13 | Matthew 12 | Nehemiah 2 | Acts 12 Although God had extended shocking grace by calling Abram in Genesis 12:1–3, we read in Genesis 12:10–20 that Abram disbelieves God and leaves the land of Canaan (where God had commanded him to remain) to go to Egypt during a famine. This act of disbelief and disobedienc…

Bible Readings for January 11th Genesis 12 | Matthew 11 | Nehemiah 1 | Acts 11 If Genesis 11 is arguably the second lowest point in the Bible, then Genesis 12 is possibly the second most hopeful in the Bible—the only moment of greater triumph being the resurrection of Jesus. Since Genesis 3, everything in the unfolding story of the Scriptures has b…

Bible Readings for January 10th Genesis 11 | Matthew 10 | Ezra 10 | Acts 10 Arguably, Genesis 11 describes the second lowest point for humanity in the whole Bible—the only exception being the three days when Jesus lay dead in the tomb. We saw Adam and Eve expelled from intimate, direct fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. Then, C…

Mike reviews the arch of success and failure experienced by some of Israel's best and least known Judges.Kirjoittanut Mike Mazzalongo

1 Cor 11:34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.Kirjoittanut Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 9th Genesis 9–10 | Matthew 9 | Ezra 9 | Acts 9 After God destroys the world with a flood during the days of Noah, he promises he will never pour out the same kind of judgment on the earth until the very end of time: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not …

Bible Readings for January 8th Genesis 8 | Matthew 8 | Ezra 8 | Acts 8 In Genesis 6, God tells Noah to build a giant boat—an ark—that would carry him, his family, and every species of animal in creation. As a result of human wickedness, God promised to destroy the whole world with a flood. The flood was more than mass destruction—it was the undoing…

Bible Readings for January 7th Genesis 7 | Matthew 7 | Ezra 7 | Acts 7 In the wake of the intermingling of the sons of God (the godly line of Seth) and the daughters of man (the wicked line of Cain) that we looked at yesterday in Genesis 6, God makes a promise: “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years”…

Bible Readings for January 6th Genesis 6 | Matthew 6 | Ezra 6 | Acts 6 The short, vague description of the Nephilim in Genesis 6:1–4 has spawned all kinds of strange interpretations over the years. Are the sons of God fallen angels who took for themselves human wives, creating demigod children? Is this just run-of-the-mill mythological literature, …

Bible Readings for January 5th Genesis 5 | Matthew 5 | Ezra 5 | Acts 5 It’s tempting to gloss over the many genealogies included in the Bible, but there are important reasons not to. God himself decided to place the text of genealogies within his written word, so we should recognize that the genealogies are canonical Scripture just as much as the m…

Bible Readings for January 4th Genesis 4 | Matthew 4 | Ezra 4 | Acts 4 Isn’t it shocking to find a story of murder only one chapter after Adam and Eve are expelled from the perfections of the Garden of Eden? This act of fratricide in Genesis 4 demonstrates that the curse of sin already has a vice-grip on humanity, and in today’s meditation, we’ll l…

Bible Readings for January 3rd Genesis 3 | Matthew 3 | Ezra 3 | Acts 3 Although it’s difficult to see in English translations, Genesis 3:8 is one of the most tragic verses in the whole Bible: “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD …

Mike reviews the spectacular rise of Gideon as a leader and judge of Israel as well as his fall into idolatry.Kirjoittanut Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for January 2nd Genesis 2 | Matthew 2 | Ezra 2 | Acts 2 Where Genesis 1 gave a fly-by overview of creation, Genesis 2 slows the narrative down to tell us more details about the creation of Adam and Eve, as well as Yahweh’s purposes for humankind on earth. In Genesis 2, we see a different dimension to the story of God’s creation—we se…

Bible Readings for January 1st Genesis 1 | Matthew 1 | Ezra 1 | Acts 1 There is a beautiful simplicity to Genesis 1 that masks its rich theological depth. Nothing about the straightforward description of each day’s creation nor about the repetition of God’s decreeing creation into existence (“Let there be…”) or of declaring all his creation to be “…

Bible Readings for December 31st 2 Chronicles 36 | Revelation 22 | Malachi 4 | John 21 The focal point of 2 Chronicles 36 is not in the stories of the wicked sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, nor in the stories of the brothers Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, who presided over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah. These wicked kings do…

The disastrous floods that ravage various parts of the world each year remind us of the catastrophic deluge that God once used to destroy the earth in the days of Noah.Kirjoittanut Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for December 30th 2 Chronicles 35 | Revelation 21 | Malachi 3 | John 20 The accounts of Josiah’s reforms of Judah’s worship that we began to read about in 2 Chronicles 34 continue in today’s reading from 2 Chronicles 35, where we read about the Passover feast that Josiah holds during the eighteenth year of his reign (2 Chron. 35:19).…

Bible Readings for December 29th 2 Chronicles 34 | Revelation 20 | Malachi 2 | John 19 As we would expect, the account of Josiah, the final great king of Judah, opens first with a thoroughgoing reform of the worship in Judah. Although Josiah does not have the Book of the Law early on in his reign, he obeys Yahweh according to the knowledge that he …

Bible Readings for December 28th 2 Chronicles 33 | Revelation 19 | Malachi 1 | John 18 The contrast between the godly King Hezekiah and the wicked King Manasseh is striking. Hezekiah had been a champion for the pure worship of Yahweh, but Manasseh does what is “evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LOR…

Bible Readings for December 27th 2 Chronicles 32 | Revelation 18 | Zechariah 14 | John 17 What the Chronicler emphasizes in 2 Chronicles about Hezekiah is strikingly different than what we read about this godly king in 2 Kings. In 2 Kings (as well as Isaiah 36–39), the focus is on the military and political aspects of Hezekiah’s reign—specifically,…

This section reviews the events leading up to the Canaanite invasion of Israel and its defense by Deborah, the only female judge in Jewish history, along with God's call of Barak.Kirjoittanut Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for December 26th 2 Chronicles 31 | Revelation 17 | Zechariah 13 | John 16 As we studied the story of King David in 1 Chronicles, one of the main themes (a theme we did not find in the accounts of David in the books of Samuel) had to do with his reorganization of the Levites to serve as singers, musicians, gatekeepers, and treasury o…

Bible Readings for December 25th 2 Chronicles 30 | Revelation 16 | Zechariah 12 | John 15 In 2 Kings 23, King Josiah (the great-grandson of King Hezekiah) restores the Passover feast. Even though that restoration of Passover comes much later in time than the story we read here in 2 Chronicles 30, we nevertheless find this statement: “For no such Pa…

Bible Readings for December 24th 2 Chronicles 29 | Revelation 15 | Zechariah 11 | John 14 Despite the fact that the story of Judah is tracking quickly toward their eventual exile in Babylon, we nevertheless have two more godly kings to study, starting with Hezekiah here in 2 Chronicles 29. Unsurprisingly, the first thing we read regarding Hezekiah …

Perhaps the reason why Christmas time is "special" is because, for some reason or other, everything seems more intense at Christmas.Kirjoittanut Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for December 23rd 2 Chronicles 27–28 | Revelation 14 | Zechariah 10 | John 13 In today’s reading, we find one of the rare times a story about the northern nation of Israel is recorded in the Chronicles. In 2 Kings 16 we read the account of Judah’s King Ahaz, and there, we found many details about his interaction with Tiglath-pileser,…

Bible Readings for December 22nd 2 Chronicles 26 | Revelation 13 | Zechariah 9 | John 12 Uzziah, the king we read about in 2 Chronicles 26, also goes by the variant name Azariah in the record of his reign in 2 Kings 15:1–7. His mention in 2 Kings 15 is fairly brief, mixed in between all the accounts of Israel’s kings, but there we find this stateme…

Bible Readings for December 21st 2 Chronicles 25 | Revelation 12 | Zechariah 8 | John 11 Amaziah, like Joash his father, is a godly king who does not end his life as faithfully as he begins it. So, the summary of Amaziah’s reign goes like this: “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart” (2 Chron. 25:2). Amaziah,…

Bible Readings for December 20th 2 Chronicles 24 | Revelation 11 | Zechariah 7 | John 10 The reign of Joash is a tragedy that begins on the best note possible but that eventually takes a sinister turn away from faithful obedience to Yahweh and toward the false worship and idolatry that has plagued the people of Yahweh throughout their story. The un…