Seeking Him

I wonder if we think about some passages in the Bible as we should. God has made some very heartening promises for His faithful children. For example, Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” It’s a wonderful promise, but one has to be right before God.

“Seek” means a “diligent search” and “first” means “before anything else.” Do you truly seek God in this way? Do you make a diligent search to please Him before anything else? To do otherwise is useless. When Peter complained that they had left everything to follow Christ, He promised them that they would receive back many times over and they would receive eternal life (Mark 10:28-30).

We worry a lot about the future but we should just be putting God first. Psalm 37:4-5 says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” The way that you can put Him first is by obeying Him. Please contact us if you would like to know more about obeying His will.

Kyle Campbell

Accomplishments

God’s people have accomplished the unthinkable in the past. For example, in Judges 7, Gideon was able to defeat the Midianites with only 300 men. In Judges 15, Samson was able to defeat 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. In 1 Samuel 17, David was able to defeat the Philistine giant Goliath. In 2 Chronicles 14, Asa was able to defeat the much larger force of the Ethiopians. Every one of these victories have something in common: God helped His people!

Can the same happen today? Well, not exactly in the same sense, for some of these were miraculous deliverances. However, through His providence, God can help us to accomplish great victories. What we need to do is operate by faith (Hebrews 11:6; Colossians 3:17), and allow our convictions to product resolve and courage (Joshua 1:2, 5-9). We will need great resolve to stand against the majority (Matthew 7:13-14) and to endure persecution (John 15:20; 2 Timothy 3:12). If this is the case, we can hope for success (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 15:58)!

Kyle Campbell

The threefold promise to Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3 reads, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

This was a landmark promise in the Bible, and it sets the stage for unfolding of the scheme of redemption. Three promises are made in the preceding scripture: 1) A land would be given to his descendants; 2) God would make a great nation of Abraham; and, 3) All the nations of the earth would be blessed through his seed (cf. Genesis 22:18).

The first promise was fulfilled when Abraham was promised the land of Canaan. The second promise was fulfilled when the Israelites became a nation at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:5-6; 24:7-8). In Joshua 21:43, the Bible records that all of the land that was promised to this new nation was given to them. The third promise was fulfilled in Galatians 3:16, where the seed that would bless all nations was Christ.

Lots of people now think that some of these promises remain to be fulfilled. However, the Bible clearly says that all has been fulfilled. God’s plan of salvation has been fully revealed! What is left is for you to obey God and do His will. Abraham was blessed “because thou hast obeyed my voice.” Will you obey God and repent of your sins, confessing Christ, and being baptized for the remission of your sins?

Kyle Campbell

The temptations of Jesus

The apostle John wrote, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). The temptations of Jesus illustrate each one of these categories (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13), and it will be helpful to explore them so that you can avoid them.

The first temptation the devil presented Him with was turning stones to bread. This was the lust of the eyes. Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and would have felt desperately hungry. This temptation would have appealed to that strong desire for nourishment.

The second temptation was casting Himself down and letting the angels bear Him up. This was the lust of the flesh. The strongest fear that any human has is the fear of death. One can imagine that Jesus would have felt this fear, being part of humanity Himself.

The third temptation the devil tried was giving Him all of the kingdoms of the world if He would fall down and worship the devil. This was the pride of life. Fame and fortune appeals to all, and Satan tried to use this deception to trick Jesus to his ultimate goal: devil worship.

Could Jesus have rationalized and gave in to the devil? I suppose He could. But if He had, He could not have been our perfect sacrifice. Hebrews 2:17-18 says, “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” Jesus was able to overcome them with the power of God’s word. Christ is our example, so let us look to Him and God’s inspired teachings to overcome the devil and His temptations.

Kyle Campbell

How's your work ethic?

From the very beginning, God intended man to work. In Genesis 2:15, the Bible says, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” After Adam and Eve sinned, a part of their punishment included more difficult labor. Genesis 3:19 says, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Paul regulated the proper boundaries of the servant and master relationship in Ephesians 6:5-9 (a parallel is found in Colossians 3:22-4:1). He says that we work as masters or servants as “unto Christ.” That is, I need to be a good employee or employer because it’s not just about treating each other fairly, but it’s about working hard for the Lord’s sake, even if the master or employer is bad (1 Peter 2:18-19). The Thessalonians thought the Lord was coming so quickly that they quit working! The penalty was so severe that those who refused to start working again were to be disfellowshipped (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 10-15).

God created work right from the beginning. A Christian can abuse work, using it as an “idol” which controls one’s life. This is the wrong approach. God intended us to find enjoyment and fulfillment in our work, and those who do not work as they should dishonor God and fail to find the blessings God intended for His creation. Don’t do whatever you can to shirk you work, but work with all your might “in singleness of heart, fearing God” (Colossians 3:22).

Kyle Campbell

Archaeology: The Galilee boat

In 1986 the water of the Sea of Galilee reached an unusually low point. At that time, residents of a village on the northwest shore discovered an ancient fishing boat that has been claimed to date from the first century B.C.

The vessel was 25 feet long and was preserved in the mud of the lake. Coins and pottery found with the boat date to New Testament times. The only such boat ever found, it shows the type of boats used by Jesus and the disciples.

After a difficult unearthing process that had to be completed before the water rose again, the excavated boat was put on display in its modern-day position near the kibbutz Ginosar.

Kyle Campbell