Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

"I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them."~Acts 5:38-39 The above quote may seem like an odd way to start a post. In fact, there may be some of you that don't even realize that this is in the Bible. I didn't really notice it until two years ago, and that was after having read the Bible a couple of times. This verse isn't often quoted, it's not one that's assigned to be memorized, and, at least at my church, it's not really preached about. However, I feel that this verse is as important to the spread of Christianity now as it was when it was first said almost 2,000 years ago. This statement was said by a Pharisee named Gamaliel during the time when Christianity was just getting its start. The Pharisees were angered by Peter and John's refusal to stop speaking about Jesus. They were planning their...

Last month, my church had Vacation Bible School, and this year's theme was Hero Central. Throughout the week, the storytelling team taught the kids about heroes from the Bible, and what each hero taught us about what it means to be a hero for God. Monday: (1 Samuel 16:1-13)  The first story of the week was about Samuel anointing David as the next king of Israel. King Saul was not following along with what God wanted him to do, so God gave Samuel the task of anointing a new king from among the children of a man named Jesse. So that Saul would not find out, God told Samuel to take a heifer to sacrifice and invite Jesse and his children to the sacrifice. Once everyone was assembled, Samuel had each of the children come in to see which of them God wanted him to anoint, but none of the six arrogant children there was God's choice. Samuel then asked Jesse if he had any other children, and he replied that the youngest was out in the field watching the sheep. Samuel asked Jesse to se...