Bible Commentary

The portion of the Bible that includes Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and 1-2 Kings was finalized and edited during the Babylonian exile, when Israel desperately needed to know their history and God's purpose for them as his people. Exile was a time of lost memories, despair, and desperation.

Joshua is an amazing testimony of how God worked in the lives of a people (Israel) who lived in a world that expected God to fit its ideas and deliver success. Sometimes it is a challenge to really see God through the filter of this world and our expectations.

Today we look at the most famous story in the book called Joshua, which Cecil B. DeMille could have turned into a multimillion dollar hit movie. But this is so much more.

Although this saga is not a teaching parable, it does confront us as Christians in a challenging world to live a different lifestyle, shaped by God's grace instead of the quiet indifference of our culture.

Jesus continually faced opposition from those who insisted their version of God and his purpose was correct and any disagreement was wrong. So, what criteria shapes your idea of truth in the spiritual realm?

It is not easy to actually live by the words and example of Jesus. Our calling is not to resolve every problem, but to live as a Christian.

Today is the traditional day on the church calendar when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The passage we study today opened my head as well as my heart to the incredible gift God gives to every individual.

Luke's account of Jesus' life is different from the other three gospels, in that it was written by a Gentile physician (Colossians 4:14) and was dedicated to another Gentile named Theophilus (Lk. 1:1-4).

We have only a fraction of the heroic stories of the early days of the church. But the individuals we do know, reveal the leading of God's Spirit and the faithfulness of people like us.

As we study some of those who joined the Apostle Paul in his missionary journeys we find an interesting variety of people with a single devotion to Christ. Uniformity is found in their faith but not in their social standing or religious credentials.