Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezra 4:1-24.  Let’s go!

This passage shows that when God is at work in your life and you are joining Him in the work He is doing, you will very likely face opposition from the enemy.  That is because the enemy despises seeing God’s kingdom expand and people turning to the Lord.  In his application commentary, Pastor Jon Courson does an excellent job of showing how this passage illustrates some of the ways that our enemy Satan tries to attack you when you are trying to go in God’s direction for your life.  I’ll summarize those ways in the verses that follow.
 
Ezra 4:1 (NIV)
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel…

On verse 1:  When the Jews returned to Jerusalem and settled in their towns, their enemies made no issue of it.  It was only when they saw that the Jews were building a temple for the Lord that they now tried to distract, discourage and delay their progress.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezra 2:1-70.  Let’s go!

Ezra 2:1-2 (NIV) 
1  Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, 
2  in company with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah): The list of the men of the people of Israel

On verses 3-58, 64-70:   What can we learn from this long list of names of the 40,000 plus people who returned to Jerusalem? The fact that God’s Word lists by name the different families that went back to Jerusalem tells us that God remembers people for their faith. 

Today’s passage is Hebrews 13:10-25.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 13:10 (NIV) 
10  We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

On verse 10:  “Those who minister at the tabernacle” refers to priests who served under the old covenant and who would sacrifice bulls and goats according to the law of Moses.  Here the writer of Hebrews is saying that we as believers in Christ living under the new covenant have an altar – that is, we have access to God through the shed blood of Jesus – which the old covenant priests could not access by merely sacrificing the bulls and goats.  As Hebrews 10:20 says, “a new and living way [to God] opened for us” when Jesus died on the cross for our sins.  Once again it’s the theme that through Jesus Christ we have something incredibly special that people under the old covenant did not have.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Hebrews 12:12-29.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 12:12-13 (NIV) 
12  Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 
13  “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

On verses 12-13:  Continuing with the theme that God is our personal trainer who allows pain and pressure to make us stronger, the writer of Hebrews tells us to “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees” (v12).  When you allow pressure and pain to make you stronger, you “make level paths for your feet”, as the writer of Hebrews says quoting Proverbs 4:26.  But even more, when you allow pressure and pain to make you stronger, God can use you to be a blessing to others “so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” (v13)

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Hebrews 11:30-40.  Let’s go!
 
As we complete our look at Hebrews 11, notice that the phrase that gets repeated far more than any other in Hebrews 11 is “by faith”.  Over and over the writer of Hebrews describes instances when someone “by faith” did something.  What does it mean to do something “by faith”?  It means that faith is the fuel behind your action or decision.  God wants us to live by faith every day.   In the verses that follow, we see more examples of what living by faith can do.

Hebrews 11:30 (NIV) 
30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

On verse 30:  After talking about Moses and how he led the Israelites out of Egypt, Joshua led the Israelites to break through and conquer the city of Jericho by obeying the Lord’s command to march around the city for seven days (Joshua 5-6).  What can we learn from this?  Faith in the Lord is the key to experiencing breakthrough and victory.