NOTE from Adam: Several weeks after mentioning the Creation Museum, I received an email from Chris Gentle. He told me that he and his family had planned their vacation to the Cincinnati area in order to visit the museum because of the interest the articles had raised. [Click here for article I, here for article II and here for article III.] I asked him to write an article describing his experience. Has been gracious enough to do so, and to do a great job. At the end of the article is a link to some pictures from his family’s trip. There are about 115! We want to thank Chris for…

1. David ran from King Saul for quite a while, and this psalm was written at a time when it seemed as though David could have been killed. He was in a cave and hiding from the king. From this set of circumstances, David wrote a psalm of lament that still shows his trust in God. 2. Verse 1 is very beautiful when one reflects on the historical circumstance. While David is “taking refuge” in a cave, he knows that God is, in reality, the only refuge one needs. 3. In verse 2, David says that he is going to God, because God can do all things. (The NASB says,…

Today our young people will finish up “Mission: Haleyville VI.” This is an event where we do service project for 2 1/2 days and also have fun activities at night. Coming on the heels of our Vacation Bible School last week, I’m pretty beat. But I can’t quit yet. Why? Because we finish off Mission: Haleyville with a lock-in! The good part is that we are chaperoning in shifts, so I get to be done at 1 AM. Not as bad as being up all night, but…well….tomorrow is still going to be one of those days where I won’t want to do anything. Here are some links for your weekend…

I like stats. We have tried to note different milestones on this blog every so often. You may not care about them, but they are important to us. Today is one of those milestone moments, because this is our 500th post! We’re proud to have brought this many articles, and we look forward to many more. It is also cool that this 500th post gets to take you to a new blog by my dad. He admits that he won’t post stuff as often as I do, but when dad writes something, it is always good. So, I hope you will visit and bookmark Jim’s Gems. You’ll be glad you…

1. Nearly every scholar agrees, and the superscription to the Psalm points out, that the 56th Psalm was written when David had been captured by the Philistines at Gath (First Samuel 21). Because of those circumstances, it is interesting to note the trust that David still shows in his words. 2. Verses 1 and 2 set the stage for David’s thoughts. He is not only defeated, he is weary of fighting. Even in this state, though, he still comes to God with his thoughts and requests. 3. We need to teach verse 3 to our children. “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.” It is true…

The 9th Avenue congregation is blessed to have so many teachers. In preschool through 4th grade, we have approximately 38 different instructors. In our classes for 5th-12th grades, we have around 18. In our adult classes, around 16 different men and women lead students through God’s Word. While some “overlap,” that means that, in the course of a year, about 82 members of the 9th Avenue family are directly involved in teaching. Many also teach in our Vacation Bible School, but some of our VBS teachers are in addition to that number! It is hard to think of another congregation of our size (or even larger) where so many take…

1. This psalm, filled with the language of lament, shows David pouring out his heart to God because of betrayal. While we cannot be sure, some think that this psalm was written when David was betrayed either by Absolom or Ahithophel, or possibly at the conclusion of being betrayed by both (Second Samuel 15-18). 2. Verses 1-3 contain a prayer filled overflowing from a heart of anguish. David, simply put, pleads with God just to hear him. He admits to being restless and of having many difficulties due to his enemies. As we have said in this series many times, David was never afraid to say whatever what on his…

1. Psalm 52 was written in the historical context of First Samuel 23. Psalm 54 also seems to be written during this time frame. As are many other psalms, this one seems to be a cry to God for vindication from enemies. For historical context, read First Samuel 23 and 26. 2. By asking God to save him “by Your name,” David invoked an ancient practice of using the name of someone to mean the actual person. David wasn’t simply asking for a signed document or something of that nature, he was, in a poetic way, asking for God’s personal help. 3. Verse 2 is not just a request for…

It’s been awhile since I updated my SlideShare page, so I added two more shows today. These are PowerPoint presentations that I have made and used in recent lessons. The first is entitled, “How Paul Preached the Gospel,” and is a textual study of First Thessalonians 2. The second is called “It Matters What I Think.” This lessons deals with how the media affects our thinking. I originally presented it to a Summer Youth Series meeting in Kentucky, but then decided to present it to our Sunday morning service, too.

This will be a very short post, because Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14. The only major difference is verse 5 of this psalm. With that in mind, I’m linking to my comments on Psalm 14 for you to review. You may click here for that article. 1. Verse 5 (the major difference in these two psalms) seems to be a celebration of a victory in battle. In fact, the wording seems to indicate a reversal of fortunes in this particular battle. Since David wrote both psalms it is highly likely that he simply took the words of Psalm 14 and applied them to this victory. If that…