Posts by Alyssa Horrobin (Page 5)

Day 25 – 1 Kings 8-16 Taking the Covenant Stipulations Seriously

[Pastor John asked me if I’d repost my article for day 25 from back when I was doing the 90 Day Challenge. So here you go. Enjoy! ~ Derek]

faithfulnessLet’s begin with some observations from our text. First, as a matter of observation, after Solomon builds the Temple and dedicates it to God the Lord himself consecrates it: “I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there” (1 Kings 9:3). Sounds pretty absolute: God will forever be in the temple that Solomon built. But as you continue to read you will quickly discover the same Covenantal stipulations outlined in Deuteronomy 27-30: Blessings (which equals=remaining in the land) for obedience and Curses (which equals=exile) for disobedience. This means that God will abandon the temple if his people consistently move away in rebellion, in spite of his hopes of remaining there forever:

Day 16: Joshua 1-14 Could Things Have Been Different?

Joshua

[Note: Pastor John asked me if I would post for day 16 an article that I wrote back when I was working through the 90 day challenge in 2010. Hope you find some thought-provoking insights from Joshua in this article. ~ Derek]

Interesting enough the book of Joshua is one of the most difficult books in the bible to wrap my head around. I can deal with Job, Leviticus and Ecclesiastes. But Joshua? How do you deal with a God whose agenda is merciless ethnic cleansing which goes way beyond our moral “war laws” or “humanitarian rules of war”.

How do you deal with a God who says, “don’t just kill the armed men, but slaughter all of the women and all of the children and babies too and don’t forget about the animals”? How do you reconcile the God revealed in Joshua with the God revealed in the Person of Jesus who said, “Suffer not the little children to come after me” and again, “if you cause one little child to stumble, may a millstone be strung around your neck and you be cast into the sea.”

How do you deal with this verse:

Lessons from the Book of Revelation

In the last 4 months we have been doing a Bible Study in Sunday School through the Book of Revelation. I have found it personally rewarding, but it has also been a difficult study. Trying to interpret Revelation is difficult, especially Revelation 6-18. I have read where some Bible commentators have said that when they […]

Prayer, Discipleship and Community – Part 2

When the Apostle Paul wrote his Letter to the Philippians, he was in jail. Even though he was fettered in chains, the grace and power of the Gospel was still being ministered through the Apostle. Palace guard officials were being witnessed to by the imprisoned Paul (Phil. 1:12,17). In addition, Christian brothers and sisters, outside […]

Prayer, Discipleship and Community – Part 1

In my early years as a Christian, I read many books on prayer by such spiritual giants as Arthur Mathews (“Born for Battle”) and E.M.Bounds (“Power Through Prayer”). I think I was naive to think that I could become an effective prayer warrior on my own by simply reading these kinds of books and just becoming more disciplined in my life.

These things are obviously helpful. But they also reveal a very individualistic way of looking at prayer, spirituality and discipleship. In the Christian Scriptures, learning to pray and practising prayer in a corporate context is also very important.

Why Are We Here? Our Mission

Many people in North America bemoan the busyness of their lives. It seems that our lives get cluttered with all sorts of “necessary” things that we just believe we have to do. I’m not sure if it’s this busyness or my age which causes me to go into a certain part of my house and then forget why I had to go to that part of the house in the first place. I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one who experiences this temporary “amnesia”.

Work of the Holy Spirit

This past weekend we celebrated Pentecost Sunday. Fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead, and ten days after He ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit was poured out on those who believed Jesus was the Messiah/Christ of God (Acts 2:1-4). In some ways, you could say it was the beginning of the Church. It is the Holy Spirit who baptizes the believer into the body of Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free (1Cor. 12:13). The body of Christ is another name for the Church. The Holy Spirit not only baptizes the believer into Christ’s body but He indwells every believer (Rom. 8:9).