While obscure and violent, Elisha’s encounter with these boys teaches us about the role of Old Testament prophets, and even has principles for us today.

God loves weddings.

Jesus showed up for a wedding and performed his first miracle. The host ran out of wine for the celebration, something of a crisis, and Jesus proceeded to turn water into wine, keeping the party going a bit longer. 

God instituted marriage at Creation, before the Fall, an idea of relationship and purpose untouched by corruption. Marriage continues today. The Old and New Testaments regard the relationship between God and his people as like the husband-and-wife relationship. The Apostle Paul famously regards Christ as husband and the Church as the Bride, something of a mystery (Ephesians 5).

Therefore, God takes marriage seriously. And so should we. They are causes for celebration and sober contemplation. Our modern culture rejects God’s idea of marriage more and more, however. In our lives, we will be invited to weddings along the way. Here are five questions to ask yourself before attending a wedding.

Photo Credit:©Getty Images/BrianAJackson

Our modern culture has minimized the idea that extramarital sex is a problem. Yet God finds it so serious he discussed the problems with “committing adultery” in the seventh commandment.

We may be familiar with places like Rome or Jerusalem, but when the Bible mentions cities like Corinth or Laodicea, it takes more research and effort to understand the context. However, the people of that era would not only know the places but also associate certain reputations with those cities, like we do with Los Angeles or New York City today. 

Jesus talks about fulfilling everything from the law, the prophets, and the writings. So what does that mean, for his audience and for us today?

Every Christian knows we should pray. We pray at meals and church services. Authors dedicate devotionals and Bible studies to prayer. Scripture teaches us to bring our concerns to God in prayer. And we should intercede on behalf of others, both Christians and the unsaved. 

Several passages instruct us in the persistence of prayer. We get tired and worn down continually bringing the same requests to God without a direct answer or seeing real change. Does that excuse us from praying? Is there a time when we can cease praying?

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Capuski

The biblical canon closes with the Revelation of Jesus Christ. This book has fascinated Christians for centuries and sparked the imagination with visions of fearful beasts and epic events. Revelation also contains prophetic pictures of future destruction and death through plague, war, and oppression as evil figures like the Antichrist appear. In some ways, people focus on the terrible and disturbing nature of God’s judgment. 

And yet, at the same time, the book claims the Revelation of Jesus Christ, our savior, the one who loves us. Among the great and horrible events in the prophecy, we can draw amazing and wonderful insights about God and our life in Him today. 

Here are seven beautiful lessons from Revelation.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Design Pics

How do the two witnesses in Revelation 11 both reveal a future event and inspire us today?

Most people hate work. I used to tell people, “Yes, work is hard, that’s why they don’t call it fun.” We can’t wait for vacations, saving large amounts of money and looking forward to “time off” of work. We celebrate when someone gets to retire from work, when they hit a certain number of years in the job or reach a certain age. Now they get to live the dream of “not working.” 

Therefore, it’s difficult for us to think of work in heaven. Isn’t heaven supposed to be fun? Work isn’t fun. Shouldn’t paradise be the opposite of work? 

At the same time, certain images of heaven seem boring. We just sit around and play harps on clouds? 

Perhaps work means something more to God, something different. Maybe in a broken world, we’ve lost sight of God’s design for what it means to work and what heaven will be like. And going back to the beginning, we might see this design.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/simon2579

Communication serves as the foundation of a great relationship, and since it’s so important, healthy communication is key. Toxic communication breaks bonds and separates people, while constructive and encouraging conversations bring us closer together. 

The Bible gives the family as a model for the church, and the idea of pastor refers to caretaking or shepherding a flock. Scripture doesn’t teach spiritual leadership as an organizational hierarchy but relational, a servant leader among fellow children of God, brothers and sisters. 

The pastor has many roles, but most expect him to give a sermon on Sunday. Pastors generally stand before the congregation during a service and teach a message from the Scripture to encourage, challenge, and grow the family of God. In the standard of healthy communication, we should give the pastor feedback on his sermon. 

Sometimes we have positive feedback. But because the pastor is human, and so are we, there can be misunderstandings or errors. We also have a spiritual enemy who tries to divide and cause conflict within the faith family. With this in mind, we must endeavor to communicate in loving and generous ways with our pastor, even more so during potential conflict. 

Here are seven good ways and bad ways to give your pastor feedback.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/ideabug

While the Old Testament possesses several whole books by people we regard as prophets, what about during the early church? Were there prophets in the New Testament?

Studying Scripture sometimes leads us to discover more in the text than we think, for example, when a book uses a chiasm.

While "I will sing of the goodness of God" is a nice phrase, we should take time to dig deeper into its meaning. Why is it important to remember his goodness? And why do we sing about it?