Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Chronicles 2:1-55. Let’s go!

1 Chronicles 2:1-4 (NIV) 
1  These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 
2  Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 
3  The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah. These three were born to him by a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death. 
4  Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.

On verses 1-55:  Here the Chronicler continues to list the ancestors of King David, and eventually, of Jesus Christ, starting with Israel’s sons in verse 1 all the way to David in verse 15. 

When I read these verses, it strikes me how the family that gave rise to David King of Judah and eventually Jesus Christ was, from a human perspective, the type of family that no one would expect to give birth to a king. 

First, you have Abraham and Sarah, the grandparents of Israel, who were not supposed to have children in their old age.  Both Abraham and Sarah wavered in their faith.  Abraham lied.  Sarah doubted.  Both of them even agreed to execute a sinful strategy to “help God accomplish His plan” by having Abraham sleep with their maidservant Hagar.  Yet, even when they were faithless, God was faithful to His promise to give them a son of their own called Isaac.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Titus 3:9-15.  Let’s go!

Titus 3:9 (NIV) 
9  But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.

On verse 9:   Whereas focusing on the Gospel is “excellent and profitable for everyone” (v8), quarreling with people who like to talk to cause trouble is “unprofitable and useless” (v9).   When read together, verses 8-9 are Paul saying to Titus:  Focus on what’s important.  Don’t waste your time on what’s not important. 
 
Titus 3:10-11 (NIV) 
10  Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 
11  You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Titus 2:9-15.  Let’s go!

Titus 2:9-10 (NIV) 
9  Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them,
10  and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. 

On verses 9-10:  When Paul tells slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, is Paul condoning slavery?  Nowadays whenever we think of slaves, we might think of the barbaric practices of more recent Western slave trading, where people are kidnapped, treated inhumanely and forced to work as slaves against their will for little or no compensation. We might also think about the cruel enslavement of the Israelites by the Egyptians in Exodus. Keep in mind that slavery during Paul’s time probably looked quite different. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Titus 1:10-16.  Let’s go!

Titus 1:10-11 (NIV) 
10  For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group.
11  They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach–and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

On verses 10-11: Paul warns Titus to guard against those who try to deceive the church in Crete with false doctrine.  In particular, Paul warns Titus about the “circumcision group” (also known as the Judaizers) who taught that in order to be saved it was not enough to believe in Jesus but that you must also be circumcised and follow the ceremonial and food regulations of the Jewish law.   Paul warns Titus sternly about them.  He tells Titus to speak for the truth and silence those false teachers.  It’s no wonder that when picking leaders, Paul especially emphasized that a leader must “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refuse those who oppose it” (v9).

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 25:8-30.  Let’s go!

2 Kings 25:21 (NIV) 
21  There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land. 

On 2 Kings 25:8-21: King Nebuchadnezzar has captured Judah’s capital city of Jerusalem and has deported Judah’s King Zedekiah along with approximately 10,000 Judahites to Babylon (v1-7). Now in these verses we see King Nebuchadnezzar setting fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace, all the houses and every important building in Jerusalem (v8-9).  He destroys Jerusalem’s defensive walls (v10).  He carries off almost all the remaining people back to Babylon with him, except for Jeremiah the prophet (see Jeremiah 39:11-14) and the city’s poorest of the poor who are allowed to stay to work the vineyards (v11-12).  He hollows out the Lord’s temple of everything valuable (v13-17) and executes the priests and leaders in Jerusalem (v18-21).  Jerusalem has fallen.