How do you pay for something that you purchase today?  Who do you pay?  When do you pay?  Where do you pay?  The answer, I suppose, depends on what the product or service is and who is making the purchase.  Consider how much variation there is in paying for something today. WHO do you pay?  You might pay one person at a…

As discussed last week, the estimated value for the cost of all materials in the temple Solomon built is $240,381,000,000. King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed that “Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World,” and we tend to lose sight of worship in the temple. When Babylon fell, the Jews returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel and built a new temple. They even brought…

Do you struggle with procrastination? There are few things that are more tempting than setting a task or decision aside until a more convenient time. The problem is, if I get to decide when that time is, it may never come. There is always something more convenient than what needs to be done. Sometimes we can get away with procrastinating. If you…

There are some Scriptures that clearly state, “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; cf. 1 Tim. 6:16 1 John 4:20).  But there are other verses that indicate Moses and company “saw the God of Israel” (Ex. 24:10), Jacob saw “God face to face” (Gen. 32:30), and Moses spoke with God “face to face” (Num. 12:8). …

Last week we looked at the work David did to gather much of the material for the temple his son, Solomon, was to build. That temple was adorned magnificently because it was built by 183,000 laborers working for seven years. Read the details about it, and you will discover how much gold was used to construct it. It was almost equal to…

Another year has come upon us. Many of us celebrated by setting off fireworks or watching the Times Square countdown. Many more of us are determined to make some resolutions. This is a great time for us to look back on the previous year and see where we succeeded, where we failed, where we grew, and where we fell short. Certainly, there…

You know the trick.  A magician fans a deck of cards out in your direction and bids you to, “Pick a card, any card.”  There are so many choices.  They basically all look the same, until you take one and look at the other side of it.  While that card bears some similarities to others in the deck (maybe the same suit,…

When David asked the prophet Nathan if he should build the temple, Nathan immediately told him to go ahead and do this. However, that night the Lord came to Nathan and told the prophet what he had said was wrong. He returned to David and gave the king the message from God. Sometimes we, like Nathan, give our own opinions about the…