Week 11: James and the Fatherless Day 1: The Source of Wisdom (James 1:5) [Ed. Note – This was written several weeks ago…] Before I crawled out of bed this morning, I already had a specific need for wisdom that wasn’t there when I got into bed last night… that is the nature of orphan …
NT 10:5 The Testing of our Faith
Week 10, Part II: James and the Fatherless Day 5: The Testing of our Faith (James 1:2-4, I Peter 1:6-8, Job 23-24) A few years ago, I helped out with an annual outreach in Central Montana. The pastor who organized it set up tents in 3 communities where we held Vacation Bible Schools and preaching …
NT 10:4 The Work of Experience and Hope
Week 10, Part II: James and the Fatherless Day 4: The Work of Experience and Hope (James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-6, Proverbs 13:12; Psalm 39:7) “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” Proverbs 13:12a No one likes disappointment. You hope for something and you hope for something and then — It doesn’t happen. You don’t get the …
NT 10:3 The Work of Patience
Week 10, Part II: James and the Fatherless Day 3: The Work of Patience (James 1:2-4) Very often the book of James deals with two primary things: Our heart attitudes and our actions. Though there are many subtopics, you can pretty well organize the entire book under these two headings. Looking at it from this …
NT 10:2 The Audience And The Servant
Week 10, Part II: James and the Fatherless Day 2: The Audience and the Servant (James 1:1) As we reach the last part of our look at the New Testament and the fatherless, we come to the only book in which the fatherless are actually mentioned by name in the entire second half of the …
NT 10:1 The Final Stamp
Week 10: The New Testament and Adoption Cont’d Day 1: The Final Stamp – (Ephesians 1:12-14) We always used to joke that in order to get anything done in Russia you had to have two things: A Spravka (certificate) and a Pechat’ (stamp). The stamp was particularly important because even if you had the spravka, …
NT 9:5 The Process And Price Of Adoption
Week 9: The New Testament and Adoption Day 5: The Process and Price of Adoption – (Ephesians 1:3-14) I love the book of Ephesians. If you could get a peek at my Bible, you might think that a pink ink pen had blown up all over the first half of the book. It used to …
NT 9:4 Adoption And The Law
Week 9: The New Testament and Adoption Day 4: Adoption and the Law – (Romans 10:14; Galatians 4:1-10) Over the years, I have come in contact with several children who made very puzzling decisions. They had, up to that point, been brought up either on the streets or in very bad home environments. Suddenly, they …
NT 9:3 Adoption and Israel
Week 9: The New Testament and Adoption Day 3: Adoption and Israel – Romans 9 “Can you imagine a woman giving birth to a child and then casting it out into the field to wallow in the afterbirth, unbathed, uncared for, naked and exposed to the elements? Can you imagine a child in such a …
NT 9:2 The Waiting of Adoption
Week 9: The New Testament and Adoption Day 2: The Waiting of Adoption – Romans 8:22-25; 35-39 I am not an adoptive parent, though there have been many occasions on which I wished I could be. But I have watched others go through the process. It can take months, even years. And all the while, …
