At the height of his career as Israel’s second king, David desired to build a monument to the God who had so spectacularly blessed him. When David presented his plan to build a temple in Jerusalem to his spiritual advisor Nathan, the Lord’s response came that David...
Did you ever realize that no one was watching when David slew the lion and the bear, but the whole world watched when he killed Goliath? While the rest of the army of Israel trembled for forty days without even trying to fight, David “stepped up to the plate” and did...
Until David took the city of Jerusalem, it had never been captured. When Joshua came into the Promised Land, he defeated the king of Jerusalem, but the city itself was never taken. (Joshua 10:23-24, 15:63) The Jebusites boasted that Jerusalem was so secure that its...
As we’ve already learned, David’s influence changed the lives and destinies of not only his own immediate acquaintances but also left an enduring effect on generations to come. Let’s take a closer look at the circles of influence he demonstrated. The first area of...
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...