The book of Joshua chapter twenty-four records for us the last words of Joshua. He’s an old man, around 110 years old (23:14; 24:29). As a final act, he gathers all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and they present themselves before God (24:1). This could only mean that they were gathered at the place where the tabernacle was then set up. The ecclesia had come together for Joshua’s last exhortation.

After reminding them of their history and all that God had done for them, he says those famous words in verses 14-15,

I have a question for you. A little Bible trivia to start off the exhortation. Who in scripture is said to have disguised themselves? Specifically, those who disguised themselves to try and fool God. For some reason, as we’ve been doing our readings this year, I picked up on these characters and have been pondering it.

Peter and John came into the city of Jerusalem, weaving their way through the crowded streets, looking, and searching. The city was abuzz with everybody in preparation for the Passover. Not sure where they were going, they continued to be on the lookout for a man bearing a pitcher of water. Peter would exclaim, “Look, there’s a pitcher!” But as they got closer, they would realize it was a woman carrying the pitcher. No, Jesus had specially said it would be a man. That would certainly be something different as there were usually a lot of women carrying pitchers but not men. What next?

Inside this pdf attachment is a collection of all the charts used in the 1 Peter studies

Before looking at any of the epistles of Peter it is helpful to look at the man. Everything he experienced in the Gospels and the Acts comes shining through in his writings. So we’ll spend some time here reviewing his life and picking up lessons from the experiences of one of the greatest Apostles. All his triumphs and foibles are before us. Imagine having the highs and lows of your life perserved for future generations, millions, if not billions of people.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been enjoying Bro. Luke’s Sunday School classes on “Prayer in the Psalms”. If you haven’t been able to attend, you can watch them on the ecclesia’s website. He has covered such topics as meditation, petition, thanksgiving, and praise and reflected on how we can incorporate these into our daily prayers. It got me thinking of another aspect of our prayers that Luke wasn’t able to cover and that is Psalms of lament. I called up Luke and we discussed it and he agreed it would be a nice compliment to the classes that he gave.

Who or what was the Satan that tempted Jesus in the wilderness? For many, the seemingly obvious answer would be the angel that rebelled and fell from heaven. It is the popular belief that Jesus in the wilderness confronted this powerful angelic Satan that goes around opposing God, seducing people and created evil in the world. There are challenges to this assumption.

The Scene

 “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.” (John 10:22-23)

This document is my color-coding of the different characters in the Song of Solomon.

You might have heard about this story of hid treasure. It’s about a man named Forrest Fenn. NPR published a news story on March 13, 2016 that reads,

“Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, there is a bronze chest filled with gold and precious gems. The search for this hidden treasure has become a hobby for some, an obsession for others, and for one recent searcher — a fatal pursuit.