Building on the Foundation

  Our great Creator, Almighty God, tells us, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates” (Ex. 20:10). The question I want to pose today is, “What is work?” What, exactly, does God tell us not to do on the Sabbath? Do we get to decide for ourselves what we shouldn’t do on the Sabbath? Or has God already told us? Mind you, this post is IN NO WAY intended to serve as an exhaustive list of dos and don’ts for the Sabbath. Such an exercise would miss the whole purpose of God’s instructions. As the apostle Paul wrote, “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless” (Tit. 3:9). Rather, the purpose of this study is to establish some basic guidelines and principles. It’s to help us better understand what God expects of us. There’s a type of

  What is the role of the Christian woman in the home and in the congregation? Is she, as many say, “useless?” Is she just there to make the meals and set up potlucks? This is the view that many in the various churches take. Women were just put here for the benefit and service of men. On the flip side of this issue, there are those who believe that women are to be at the forefront and the leaders, even to the point of taking control of either the family or congregation if the masculine leadership fails. Is either of these views correct? Well, let’s take a look at what we’ve got written in our instruction manual, the Bible.  The first story that I want to look at is in Judges, and it is the story of Deborah. This is a favorite story of those who seek to promote egalitarianism and push men and women into roles that they were not created for. This is a tremendous story that perfectly illustrates the role of the Christian woman, especially when taken in context with the rest of the Bible.

  The waters of the flood had finally receded, and just eight people remained alive. As Noah and his family stepped off the ark into this new world, there remained virtually no trace of the old. The old world they had known was now buried deep in the ground. And mercifully so, for mankind had grown so corrupt that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). So God put the wicked out of their own misery and began life anew with the family of one righteous man, Noah. In this new world, God made a covenant with Noah and his three sons, and He said, 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 “and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 “Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flo