Calvary Chapel Casa Grande Wednesday

Leo Holt is an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel of Casa Grande.

The next time you think your life has problems take a look at Hosea's. Ron Dozler is pastor of Calvary Chapel, Myrtle Beach, NC.

“Gloom, despair, and agony on me. Deep, dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.” So goes the words to a song written by two Country and Western singer/songwriters, Buck Owens and Roy Clark. The song was made popular by their television program from the early 1970’s through the 80’s called “Hee-Haw”. It was meant to be a humorous song, sung by those that were down and out and the whole world turned against them.

Last week we spoke of the fact that of the 66 books in our Bible, Solomon is credited with writing the major portion of three of them: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. I also shared with you that I personally feel that the books in our Bible are out of order as far as the timing of their writing. Within the context of Solomon’s life it would seem as though the order would have been Song of Solomon, Proverbs, then Ecclesiastes.

Of the 66 books of our Bible, three of those books have historically been attributed to Solomon as the author (or primary author): Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. Along with Job and Psalms, all three are a part of what is called the Poetic Literary style. Yet each of the three is a different style of Hebrew Poetry and thus unique unto themselves.

The oldest hymn book we have has no written notes or melodies for the 150 different songs it contains. This particular hymn book is well known: the Episcopals, Lutherans, Baptist, Presbyterians, and Non-Denominational all know it, yet very few, if any people sing directly out of it anymore. Some of the songs are short, some of them extremely long. Some are songs of praise and worship, while others are cries for help and declarations of feeling abandoned.

The book of Job is listed among the Poetic forms of literature within the Bible, but it still none the less, a true story of a real man dealing with issues of life that are difficult, if not impossible for the finite mind to understand. It is an Ancient Problem, we still deal with today.

Haggai and Zachariah were both written during the same time frame as Ezra and Nehemiah. However, as the Babylonian/Persian exiles were released to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple and then later the walls of the City of Jerusalem, there was about an 18 year delay in the construction activity.

When Ezra and Nehemiah were commissioned to return from captivity to rebuild the Temple and walls of Jerusalem, many of the Jews left Babylon with them. However, there were still many Jews who remained in the foreign country and (in essence) made their home there.

It was in 605 B.C. that Babylon defeated the armies of Egypt, the ally of the Southern Kingdom. During this time, Jehoiakim, the King of Judah determined he would no longer pay tribute to Babylon. As the rebellion arose, Nebuchadnezzar defeated Judah and took many of their people into captivity.

The Church has now been in existence for nearly 2000 years and the vast amount of that time, there was no Israel. So it raises a very important question. A question many people struggle with: What is, or should be, the relationship of the Church and Israel?

As we get into 1 and 2 Chronicles this evening, we are going to quickly see that the events and many of the names of most of what we saw in 1 and 2 Samuel, as well as 1 and 2 Kings also appear within the pages of the Chronicles. In some of the cases the information is the same, almost a repetition. However, there are going to be other times when it appears that much of the pertinent information is missing. If you were a conspiracy theorist, you might think that someone was purposefully trying to hide something from you. However, that is not the true case.

In case you haven’t noticed, ministry is hard work – not the kind of hard work of sweat and physical toil (although at times that can be there); it is the hard work of preparations for the equipping of the Body of Christ for growth and ministry; caring for the spiritual, emotional, physical and even relational needs of the Body of Christ; and in the midst of that fending off the spiritual attacks of the enemy against the Body, against the ministry and against the Leadership – and by leadership I mean every nursery worker, Sunday School teacher, Youth worker, worship team member, office assistant, radio ministry personnel, Bible study leader and teachers, deacons, elders and pastors… did I leave anyone out?

The United Kingdom was now divided into two kingdoms, The Norther Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). As we chronicled for you last time, the Northern Kingdom was quick to turn to idol worship and pagan gods, while the Southern Kingdom (for the most part) stayed true to Jehovah. Each of the Northern Kingdoms leaders continued to lead that nation into further paganism – which would eventually lead to their fall. While in the southern Kingdom, there was a mixture of ungodly, semi-godly and one or two truly godly kings.

Robert Castro, Assistant Pastor, recounts God's blessings during his involvement during the recent Christian Islamic Dialogue (CID) missions trip to witness to Muslims in London, Brighton and Luton, England. There was a slide show but to protect the identity of team members and the new Christians the pictures will not be posted.

As we open the beginning chapter of 1 kings, the end of David’s life and reign is at hand and he calls for his son Solomon (the second child he had with Bathsheba) to become his successor to the Throne.

As we enter into 2 Samuel, chapter 1 we find David had just returned from fighting the Amalekites when he received news that Saul was dead. While David was staying in Ziklag an Amalekite came to him with the news. In a vain effort to win David’s favor, the Amalekite tells David that it was he who finished Saul’s life…

The book of Judges leaves the nation of Israel in a moral and spiritual downward spiral. It’s a position which is not much different than what we are experiencing in our own nation at this time. The storyline of the nation of Israel flows understandably and very directly from the end of Judges, then on into the book of 1 Samuel, where young Samuel becomes priest, prophet and judge of Israel: setting the stage for the coronation of Saul as her first King.

The book of Judges takes up right at the death of Joshua.

Eric Johnson of Mormon Research Ministry shares about the Mormon Temple and contrasts the Temple of the Bible. Their website is www.mrm.org.