It was this uniquely God-oriented heart that first got David “on the map” when he took the field against the Philistine giant Goliath. For King Saul to be willing to put his whole nation at jeopardy in the hands of a little boy who had shown up from nowhere was an...
Let’s fast forward several generations to get a remarkable picture of how this heart quality in David continued to affect the course of history long after he had passed on to his eternal reward. His eyes glaring and nostrils bulging, the messenger screamed out his...
The Seventh Man at the Well 2019 By Dr. Delron Shirley This teaching manual is intended for personal study; however, the author encourages all students to also become teachers and to share the truths from this text with others. However, copying the text itself...
More tragic than the personal disappointment of not being able to build the temple is the fact that David’s misdeeds injured and even took the lives of those who followed him. There are at least four such episodes in David’s life in which his rebellious, senseless, or...
The one failure that comes to mind immediately when we think of King David is his moral failure with Bathsheba. The eleventh chapter of II Samuel records the story of how David spied her one evening as she bathed on the roof of the neighboring villa. Some students...
Family News Last year, we opened our Christmas letter by saying that our family had not grown during the last year – not even a new granddog. Well, this year we have exciting news – Christopher, our middle son, covered both of those bases. Yes, we have a new granddog...
The wise men seem out of place in the Gospel of Matthew. If this volume is -- as most Bible students say -- written for the Jewish people to read, why did Matthew include this story of gentile astrologers at the nativity? Why did he not relate to us the story of the...
I had the privilege of visiting the African nation of Zambia during the time that it was rewriting its constitution. One of the issues on the table was the question as to whether the constitution should declare the country to be a Christian nation. Although several...
When I was growing up, I would often hear the pastor preach about salvation, using terms like, “If I you die without Christ, you will split hell wide open,” or “Come to Jesus before it is everlasting too late.” With that kind of cohesion and very descriptive images of...
My sister and I were enjoying a “fun day” in Atlanta when we decided to have lunch at a spot from our childhoods. We knew almost exactly where this particular drive-in was located, so we headed out to find it. Unfortunately, the city of Atlanta has grown a lot in the...
We have learned that David’s key and the key we need to open the door for us to reach our world is to have a perfect heart. Of course, we’ve all heard the expression, “Have a heart,” but today let’s consider exactly what that means. To get started, let’s take a short...
My sister and I were enjoying a “fun day” in Atlanta when we decided to have lunch at a spot from our childhoods. We knew almost exactly where this particular drive-in was located, so we headed out to find it. Unfortunately, the city of Atlanta has grown a lot in the...
The Colossus of Rhodes towered more than one hundred feet tall above the harbor of the Greek island of Rhodes, making it one of the tallest statues of the ancient world. This gigantic statue of the Greek god Helios was erected about three hundred years before the...
When the little boy’s mom put her finger to her lips and blew out a little “shh” to remind him to be quiet in church, the lad looked quizzically back at his mother and whispered, “How come do we have to be quiet in church? Are there people trying to sleep?” Yes,...
While I was ministering in Belfast, Ireland, my host took me around the city to become acquainted a bit with its history and traditions. We, of course, made a stop at the shipyard where the ill-fated Titanic was built and made an extensive tour of sites where the...
A number years ago, my family and I excitedly set sail on a weekend cruise. It was the first cruise experience for all of us, and we all recalled scenes from the movie Titanic as we participated in the initial activity on board the ship -- an emergency evacuation...
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are politically incorrect and out of vogue by today’s standards. In fact, Huck Finn is the fourth most banned books in schools today because the word “nigger” appears in it over two hundred times....
In Proverbs chapter twenty-three, we find an oft-quoted passage that I have frequently ministered and taught on -- and even wrote a whole book about. Yet, I have always been rather perplexed concerning the context in which this passage appears. Verse seven begins...
We often hear messages about faith that make us feel that having faith is the end to which we as Christians are to strive. On the contrary, the Peter admonished us to that faith should be considered as simply the starting point--the launching pad--for our Christian...
I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one….I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If...