Geographist

Can you tell the future or predict what will come?  Whenever most people hear the word "prophecy" that's what they think of.  But throughout the Old Testament, prophets were the ones who had a special job of telling God's people what He needed them to hear.  Remember that a barrier of sin existed that kept us away from God, but He would continually stretch across the divide to speak with us.  Being a prophet wasn't an easy job, and we look at some of their crazy stories.  What sustained them when these men and women took a stand for heaven with the whole world against them? Our Story With God, Episode 13

We've looked at leadership for several weeks, but now let's look at something else that set the children of Israel apart: worship.  After leaving Egypt, they were specifically prohibited from worshipping the way the surrounding nations did.  God spent time telling Moses on Mount Sinai exactly what He expected.  Worship began at the Tabernacle and eventually transferred to the Temple under Solomon, but at times without the necessary furnishings (the altar, the veil, etc.) the Jewish faith could not be properly practiced.  Nevertheless, God's standards for how to be approached by sinful mankind have never been relaxed. Our Story With God, Episode 12

Decisions, decisions.  We all have them in life.  Solomon ran across an interesting one when he became king: God gave him a chance to ask for something.  What would you want?  By asking for wisdom, Solomon pleaded God and also received wealth and success over his enemies.  But as promising as this beginning was, his end showed that his heart wasn't fully devoted to God.  Each successive ruler had to decide whether God's commands were important, and that single choice determined if his reign was successful or not.  Each king was measured, as we all are, not by the financial or political success they achieved, but by how faithful they were to their Lord. Our Story With God, Episode 11

The last judge of the Israelites was probably the greatest among them.  Samuel was not only judge but also priest and prophet - raised in the tabernacle by Eli the high priest.  He judged the people for many years, but had the same fatal flaw as his mentor: neither Eli nor Samuel raised their sons to know and respect God and His commands.  And so the Israelites made a fateful decision: "Give us a king!"  They decided to become just like everyone else around them (including many of the same people God told them to remove from their land in the first place).  The first two kings offer us an amazing contrast in what qualities make a proper ruler: Saul and David. Our Story With God, Episode 10