Fruit Salad (2)

“From every tree of the garden you may surely eat but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, . . .” Genesis 2:17 Surely Eat – Did you enjoy those bananas yesterday?  When we examined achol tochel, we discovered that Eden is God’s design for Man’s pleasure.  It’s…

Fruit Salad (1)

“From every tree of the garden you may surely eat but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, . . .” Genesis 2:17 Surely Eat – “What’s for lunch?”  “Fruit salad.”  “Oh, great!  That’s all we ever have.  Fruit salad, fruit salad, fruit salad!  I’m telling you, Eve,…

Double Your Pleasure

and YHWH planted a garden in Eden Genesis 2:8 Eden – By the time Rousseau finished refurbishing the Garden of Eden, we all thought this Hebrew word referred to a tropical paradise filled with exotic plants and erotic delights.  It’s time to leave all those images behind and look at the real word play involved…

Redemptive Purpose

and you shall say to him, “YHWH the God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Send away My people, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness.” Exodus 7:16 Serve – What if this verse said, “so that they may work for Me”?  Would that shift your understanding of God’s purpose? …

Prologue

Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was not man to cultivate the ground. Genesis 2:5 To Cultivate – If you ask someone to tell you the story of…

A Priest In Need

Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 Therefore – Why do we need a high priest?   So we can feel better?  So we can be forgiven when we fall?  Yes, of course, but…

In This Together

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 Sympathize – You read Greek!  Isn’t that great?  This word is really a Greek word.  We’ve just changed a bit of the phonetics, but…

Tolerance

And Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death. I Kings 11:40 Sought – What a sad and tragic end of the man who had everything!  Too often we think of Solomon’s wisdom, wonders and wealth.  We forget how far he fell.  The last recorded event of his life stands in utter opposition to the humble…