By Hoyt Wilson
Pastor, Flatwoods Baptist Church, Holladay

Focal Passage: I Peter 2:11-20

All of us begin life as strangers. When forced from our mother’s womb, we enter an environment in which we are strangers. Hopefully, bonding with parents and becoming accustomed to the strange sights, sounds, and touch to which one is subjected will soon lead to one belonging. I Peter was written to Christians who needed to know how to function as a minority people in unfamiliar surroundings. Peter reminded them that they were foreigners and exiles among pagan people. As a baby is forced from the mother’s womb, they had been forced from their homeland, thus they were exiles and strangers. The first word of I Peter 2:12 was good advice — “live.” [Read more…]

By Justin Randolph
Pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church, Sevierville

Focal Passage: Romans 3:9-12,19-20, 23

It is popular today to discuss whether or not it is relevant or important to name the problem.  Does not identifying the problem make solving it easier? I would argue without proper identification of a problem, a solution is nearly impossible to find.

So, why do people today seem to find it so difficult to name a problem? I believe it is because of their feelings about the problem. It is easy to armchair quarterback, or in other words to offer solutions from the outside looking in. However, when a problem hits close to home and becomes personal, by invading your life or inner circle, it becomes so much harder to name the problem and take the necessary steps to solve it.  [Read more…]

By Hoyt Wilson
Pastor, Flatwoods Baptist Church, Holladay

Focal Passage: I Peter 1:3-9

A boy scrubbed clean and dressed in his Sunday best went outside to wait for the rest of the family before church. He could not, however resist the puddles from the night’s rain. He was wet and dirty when he went back into the house. Mom was unhappy and fussed. “I’m sorry, Mom,” he said. “All right, now go wash and change clothes,” she responded. “But, Mom,” he said, “I don’t want to be clean, I just want to be forgiven.”

Isn’t that the attitude Peter was resisting and warning against? Forgiveness and conversion begin with the call of Christ and must be an act of one’s will as Christ is received and self is surrendered. “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance,” Peter advised. Christians are not perfect, but they must be committed to allowing the Holy Spirit to continually guide them in the direction of holiness. “Be holy, as I am holy” is not a suggestion. It is a command from God. No saved person can remain as he was in his sin. [Read more…]

By Hoyt Wilson
Pastor, Flatwoods Baptist Church, Holladay

Focal Passage:  I Peter 1:3-9

Some years ago a submarine sank off the coast of New England. Rescue operations began as soon as possible and divers located the vessel on the bottom of the ocean. As the divers approached the ship, they heard metallic clanging — someone was striking the inner wall of the sub with a metal object. The divers stopped to listen and realized that a message in Morse code was being tapped out from inside the sub — “Is there hope?” [Read more…]

By Al R. Hodges
Retired IMB Missionary

Focal Passage:  I Samuel 30:6-8, 18-25

In my early years as a missionary in Africa, Alan, a missionary from Ireland, was a close friend. When I experienced times of loneliness or difficulty, Alan would smile and say through his Irish accent, “Brother, we are not on the winning side … we are on the side that has WON!”

Although David had been invited by Saul to rejoin him (I Samuel 26:21), he decided it safer to live among the Philistines for a while (I Samuel 27:7). He convinced Achish, the Philistine king of Gath that he had defected from Israel, and would be on the Philistine side. Achish believed David, and allowed him and his 600 men along with their families and livestock, to live 15 miles away in the city of Ziklag (ch.  27:6). David used Ziklag as a base from which to launch raids against Israel’s enemies. When the Philistine kings united to launch a major offensive against Saul and Israel, Achish recruited David to join him. However the other kings objected and David was sent back to Ziklag (I Samuel 29:1-11). [Read more…]

By Al R. Hodges
Retired IMB Missionary

Focal Passage: I Samuel 26:7-12, 21-25

Although hated and abused by King Saul, David maintained his respect for Saul and for the Lord who had anointed him king. It is a story of the old king, still reigning but fading, and the new king in waiting, also anointed but not yet in power. David could have taken matters into his own hands and hastened the demise of Saul thus securing the kingdom for himself. That he did not do so is a tribute to his faith in and respect for God’s ultimate sovereignty. Earlier, Saul went into a cave not knowing David and his men were hiding deep inside. David could have killed him then, but did not do it (I Samuel 24:1-22). [Read more…]

By Al R. Hodges
Retired IMB Missionary

Focal Passage: 1 Samuel 25:14-17; 32-38

“There but for the grace of God go I” is a statement attributed to 16th century English protestant John Bradford. Such was Bradford’s humility, that upon seeing the execution of hardened criminals, he understood God had protected him from falling into such crimes.  Maybe you can look back on a time in your life when God spared you from yourself.  [Read more…]

By Al R. Hodges
Retired IMB Missionary

Focal Passage: 1 Samuel 22:6-17

Selfish ambition creates a spiritual blindness detrimental to one’s own soul and to the well-being of others in the family of God. David was loyal to King Saul because Saul was God’s anointed. David trusted God’s timing for when he himself would become king. He was committed to never doing Saul harm (I Samuel 24:6; 26:9). Saul, on the other hand, filtered everything through the lens of his own paranoia. He thought David and Jonathan were plotting his demise. He wrongly suspected his own most trusted soldiers of disloyalty. He was a very troubled man pursuing David from pillar to post, seeking to take his life.  Our Scripture passage finds David along with several hundred dissidents hiding in the wilderness of En-gedi.

A report came in of his whereabouts (v. 6) as Saul was holding court in his home town of Gibeah. The monarchy was in its earliest stages, and there was no palace in Jerusalem. That would come later. Saul was more a military leader than a reigning monarch. His scepter was the spear in his hand.  His court was under the shade of a tamarisk tree.

Upon hearing about David’s location, Saul flew into a rage accusing his own inner circle of disloyalty and conspiracy (vv. 7-8). He referred to David as “Jesse’s son,” refusing to use his name so as to deride him as a son of a poor peasant. He accused Jonathan, who was not present, of plotting with David to overthrow him. He accused his men of knowing about a plot but not telling him. Spiritual warfare is real. The evil spirit afflicting Saul (I Samuel 16:14) blinded him from obvious truth, and he was ready to believe any lie of the enemy. He was primed for Doeg, the Edomite.

Doeg (v. 9) was not an Israelite. Edomites were enemies of Israel, yet somehow Saul took Doeg into his confidence and refused to believe his own men. He told Saul of having seen David at the priestly town of Nob, two miles from Gibeah.  He said David had been aided and abetted by Ahimelech the priest there (v. 10).

Saul convoked the whole priestly family to appear before him, and interrogated Ahimelech. He was abusive and accusatory (vv. 11-13). Ahimelech defended David with logical reasoning (v. 14). He defended himself, saying that it was part of his ministry to pray for the nation’s leaders and to give them Godly counsel when asked. He had only done for David as he had always done, and had no knowledge of a conspiracy against the king (v. 15).

Such was Saul’s spiritual blindness he had lost all sense of reason or respect for God. He ordered the immediate death of Ahimelech and his whole family (vv. 16-17) but his men refused to strike down the priests. Doeg, however, was only too willing to comply. Not only did Doeg kill all the priests assembled at Gibeah (except for Abiathar, Ahimelech’s son who escaped to David), he killed every inhabitant of the priestly town of Nob, both men, women, and children (ch. 22:18-23).

Selfish ambition and paranoia form a lethal combination destructive to a church, a kingdom, and to one’s own soul.

By Al R. Hodges
Retired IMB Missionary

Focal Passage: 1 Samuel 18:1-5; 20:35-42

There was the reigning, but rejected by God, King Saul. There was the heir apparent to the throne, Saul’s son, Jonathan. There was also Jonathan’s friend, the newly anointed but not yet reigning king, David. But this was no stage play. It was real life drama portraying the faithfulness of two friends and the faithfulness of the God they served. Both David and Jonathan were young men who served in Saul’s army. [Read more…]

By Al R. Hodges
Retired IMB Missionary

Focal Passage: I Samuel 17:32-37, 42-50

Has anyone ever sought to discourage you for a task God wanted you to accomplish? Such was David’s situation. His father Jesse sent him to the place where the Israelites were at war with the Philistines. He was to take food to his three soldier brothers, and get information on how the battle was going.  Upon arrival, he found the battle at a stalemate. Every day, a huge Philistine giant named Goliath, would taunt and challenge the Israelites. “I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let’s fight each other! Winner will take all!” (I Samuel 17:8-11). David was a shepherd boy in his teens. He asked his brothers and others about Goliath’s challenges, but his brothers shunned and belittled him. Word of David’s interest got to King Saul. David was summoned to the king, where he made what must have seemed an audacious proposal. [Read more…]