May 11
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kroach added a text contribution Three Lessons in Justice1. Defense or Offense Which is safer, to stay on defense against one's own enemies, or go on offense against God's enemies? This is David's dilemma in 1 Samuel 23. He is on the run from Saul, and word comes of a Philistine attack. There can be no doubt that justice is at stake: the enemy is stealing grain from the threshing floor, taking by oppression the rightful fruits of others' labor. David's whole career up to this point has been to lead the armies of God against th… Read more »
Mar 19
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kroach added a text contribution Words, groans, criesNotice the progression: 1. God hears the words of my prayer, the things I say out load. 2. He discerns my groaning--the expressions that don't quite make it into the form of words, the inner meditations and thoughts of my heart 3. The sound of my cry--like a mother knows her baby from another simply by the sound of its cry, so God recognizes my prayer from others, beyond words, beyond even groaning, simply by the sound of my crying. Read more »
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kroach added a text contribution External Oppression, Internal DivisionJudges not only records successive waves of external oppression that God allows to come upon Israel because of their unfaithfulness to Him, it also demonstrates the effect of their corruption on their internal unity. 1. Aram oppresses; Othniel delivers. No record of internal dissent. 2. Moab oppresses; Ehud delivers. No record of internal conflct. 3. Canaan oppresses; Barak delivers. Deborah's song points out several tribes who did not answer the call to arms with Barak, but no fighting ens… Read more »
Mar 12
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kroach added a text contribution Left-handed LeadersThe second judge of Israel is this man noted for being left-handed. In near eastern cultures the left hand is often identified with evil. It is normal to refer to the right hand as the hand of righteousness. Ehud could have experienced self-rejection because he was different. Instead, he uses his unique design to surprise the enemies of God's people. Leaders use their apparent weaknesses and turn them into strengths. His name meaning is "I will give thanks." By thanking God for hi… Read more »
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kroach added a text contribution Deliverance from Double-WickednessCushan-rishathaim means "double-wicked blackness." Duet. 9:4 had warned Israel not to think they were possessing the land because of their own righteousness, but rather to recognize that God was driving the other nations out because of their "wickedness." Now because Israel failed to drive them out, and instead worshiped their gods, the "wicked" are ruling over and oppressing them. The deliverer, Othniel, means lion of God. The lion of the tribe of Judah is the firs… Read more »
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kroach added a text contribution Judges and LeadershipCriticism of the previous generation of leaders is easy. Look at the problems they left unsolved, we say. But God leaves some challenges to the next generation so that they may be "taught war" and be "tested, to find out if we will obey the commandments." What problems am I criticizing my forerunners for, when I should be engaging with them as opportunities to learn leadership and apply spiritual principles? Read more »
Oct 28
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kroach added a text contribution Leadership TeamsThere are two odd things about this passage in the midst of Exodus. The first is that Moses sends Zipporah and his children away. Why? The text does not tell us. They do not appear to have a strained relationship (they speak when they come to visit with Jethro). Perhaps Moses realizes he will not have time for a family in his position of leadership. It is rather interesting anyway that Moses apparently has children so late in life with Zipporah; he is 80 when he returns to Egypt, but Gershom is… Read more »
Oct 25
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kroach added a text contribution Two types of enemiesThe Lord uses two strategies according to Moses' song. He deliberately egged the Egyptians on. The previous chapter shows that He led Israel in a round-about way to encourage Pharaoh to think they were wandering aimlessly and thus vulnerable. He places the fire between Egypt and Israel until Israel has entered into the sea, and then removes it, clearly for the purpose of encouraging Pharoah to pursue. They are filled with a kind of crazed bloodlust, to draw the sword and devour. All this is… Read more »
Sep 16
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kroach added a text contribution Stages in the Faith-Life of IsaacAfter the death of Abraham, Isaac must begin his own faith journey. Step 1: a call to stay put. Abraham was called to leave his father's household and journey to an unknown land. He got in trouble when he left that land and went down to Egypt. Conversely, Isaac is called to stay put; stay in the land, even though it will be as an alien; he avoids Egypt at the Lord's direction, and God repeats the threefold promise to him--many descendants, possession of the land, the conduit for blessi… Read more »
Sep 13
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kroach added a text contribution The foreign houseGiven that the closest ancient equivalent to working for a corporation is being a servant in another's household, it is striking how such work is raised as a warning to young men. If you leave your household to go into an adulteresses household, the consequence is your work will be given to an "alien" (foreign, not Jewish) household. Specifically you will give up four things: 1. Your vigor 2. Your years 3. Your strength 4. Your hard-earned goods. Those they are given to are descri… Read more »
Sep 7
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kroach added a text contribution The heart vs the unconsciousContemporary psychological theory postulates an "unconscious" mind which operates to varying degrees in varying versions of the theory independently of the conscious mind. Self-deception theory finds this postulate unecessary and misleading. The unconscious is outside of our conrol, rendering us victims and objects to be manipulated by others and by our own past history. At first glance, Proverbs might seem to agree, for it states that the "way of the wicked is like darkness; the… Read more »
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kroach added a text contribution El ShaddaiThe Lord appears to Abraham with three changes: 1. He changes His own name; that is, He reveals to Abram a new name, El Shaddi, God the Almighty, the one for whom nothing is impossible. 2. He changes Abram and Sarai's names to Abraham and Sarah, altering their identity although not changing it completely, but rather giving it a new shade or significance. 3. He changes the covenant, or rather expands its terms. Before their were two promises: many offspring, and possession of the land. Now t… Read more »
Aug 26
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kroach added a text contribution Guilt starts with not doing goodWe think guilt begins when we do something "wrong." Guilt actually begins when we fail to do something right. 1. It is in my power to do good, but I fail to do it. 2. I start to make excuses. Delayed obedience is disobedience. 3. In order to self-justify my failure to do good, I imagine offenses my neighbor has made against me. He is simply "living securely beside me," but I begin to "devise harm." 4. Now that I am imagining harm against him, I seek out further self… Read more »
Aug 25
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kroach added a text contribution Wisdom the Tree of LifeGen. 3 records that God took counsel against the possibility that Adam and Eve, having become "wise in their own eyes" by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would then stretch ou their hand to take the fruit of the tree of life and live forever. So he cast them out of the garden and guarded its entrance with a flaming sword of cherubim. Now here, we are told that wisdom is the tree of life to those who "take hold of her" (stretch out their hand, hold her f… Read more »
Aug 23
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Our desires dominate our paths. The beginning of the path determines the end of the path. In an open field, one may wander in various directions. On a path, once you start, your ending point is really already determined. The phrasing suggests that by wisdom we will be saved from the "evil man" and the "foreign woman." Perhaps it is better understood, however, as delivering us from BECOMING an evil man, or a foreign woman. Without wisdom, those paths are inevitable. We must… Read more »
Aug 22
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kroach added a text contribution Wisdom and Self-DeceptionToday I'll start a journey through the book of Proverbs looking for ways to do a "wisdom search" better in light of the concepts I've learned through Leadership and Self-Deception, and re-writing my own proverbs or "axioms" accordingly following Bill Hybels model. Start with God: the only way out of the self-deception loop is to start with God. By bowing down to Him, I break the hold of my idols. To start with God is the "God Hypothesis:" start acting as… Read more »
Aug 16
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kroach added a text contribution Some, All, OneWe think of evangelism in one phase: go and tell all the world about Jesus. Jesus describes three phases: phase 1, the Father sends the Son into the world; some believe in Him. Phase 2, the Son sends these initial believers into the world (with the Holy Spirit); some believe in them. Phase 3, all those who believe are made "one" the way the Father and the Son are "one"; then all the world believes. We don't have to open up the whole Calvinist/Pre-determination/Election d… Read more »
Aug 13
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kroach added a text contribution Why is it better?Jesus says it is better for us that he leaves so the Spirit can come. Why did he have to leave for the Spirit to come? And why is that better? To be honest, it doesn't seem better to me; I think I would rather have Jesus physically present. I've always heard the reason this is better is that Jesus could only be in one place, but the Spirit can be with all of us all the time around the world. Sort of like when Obi-wan dies, it makes it easier for him to get around to wherever Luke needs… Read more »