Daniel 4:31

While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

From Background Notes [BN] for February 2nd & 3rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

“The words were still in the king’s mouth,” the text tells us, when “a voice came from heaven” that pronounced the predetermined decree, revealed by Daniel, should the king refuse atonement.

Daniel 4:29-30

Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”

From Background Notes [BN] for February 2nd & 3rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

History confirms the extensive building activity of Nebuchadnezzar which included the royal palace where nothing was spared: neither "cedar-wood, nor bronze, gold, silver, rare and precious stones.” Archaeologists uncovered a stone monument with the following inscription excerpt:

Daniel 4:4-5

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me.

From Background Notes [BN] for February 2nd & 3rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

But Daniel doesn’t just offer the interpretation of the dream as a mere insight, to comply with the request of the king. He refers to his words as “the decree of the Most High that has come upon my lord the king” (4:24).

Matthew 4:8-9

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

From Background Notes [BN] for February 2^nd & 3^rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

There is a seduction in the hustle of power. Power tricks, even as it tempts, laying out a whole world before our eyes, as Satan did with our Lord on the mountain of temptation, and then telling us it can be ours if we but worship the seducer.

Luke 15:13-14

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 26th & 27th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Still, there was redemption for the younger son. Unlike Esau who found no repentance, the so-called prodigal finally woke up to the short-sightedness of the hustle that deceived him.

Hebrews 12:16-17

See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 26th & 27th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

For Esau, the hunger of the moment becomes despising at the end.

Genesis 25:33

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 26th & 27th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

This is a story about cunning and transformation, and it undercuts any false illusions about the effectiveness of change-on-demand.  Oh, Jacob may have wrenched the birthright from Esau for “a mess of pottage,” but…

Genesis 25:30

He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

 

From Background Notes [BN] for January 26th & 27th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

 

In the heat of the moment, two brothers chose their futures, and yet they would soon discover, such things are never really settled in a moment. That is the deception. That is the hustle.

 

Job 34:20

They die in an instant, in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and they pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 26^th & 27^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The instant society leads us to become a mindless society that is no longer mindful of what we do, need to do, ought to do, and shouldn’t do. When we succumb to the hustle of “now,”…

Exodus 16:16

This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”

From Background Notes [BN] for January 19^th & 20^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

For Israel, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Luke 12:20

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

From Background Notes [BN] for January 19^th & 20^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Several bits of wise counsel flow from the story in Luke 12:

Luke 12:16-18

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do…”

From Background Notes [BN] for January 19^th & 20^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

There is no evidence the man sought the advice of others, instead he functions as a self-sufficient decision-maker with a high degree of confidence in his own abilities to shape the future.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

From Background Notes [BN] for January 19^th & 20^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The Hebrew word for “meaningless” is habēl, a term suggesting “emptiness, vanity, uselessness” — equivalent to the stereotypic soap bubble: “Soap bubbles, soap bubbles, everything is soap bubbles.”

Genesis 3:5

For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 12^th & 13^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

We might say that the serpent ascribes to the tree magical powers obtained by consuming its fruit. He divinizes the tree, isolating it from the God who made it, granting to it a life of its own. Rather than looking to God for sustenance…

Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

From Background Notes [BN] for January 12^th & 13^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

What the reader naturally questions is the “talking snake” element in the story. Put bluntly, snakes aren’t supposed to speak.

Genesis 2:8

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 12^th & 13^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The Hebrew text carefully describes their presence in the garden this way: “Yahweh caused to sprout from the ground every tree: desirable to see and good to eat. And a tree of life in the middle of the garden. And a tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

2 Cor 11:3

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 12^th & 13^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The biblical symbol of the serpent refers to ultimate evil that operates against us as something real, concrete, and personal.

John 8:44

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 12^th & 13^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Indonesia was once untouched by the modern world. In the 1950’s the missionary, Don Richardson, began ministering to the Swami, a group of headhunters and cannibals.

John 18:38a

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 5^th & 6^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Is Pilate, then, a truth-seeker, or is he a quintessential cynic who questions whether truth refers to anything meaningful.

Luke 24:31

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 5^th & 6^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Here, then, is the moment of their Illumination. They see now what they failed to see before.

Luke 24:20-21

The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.

From Background Notes [BN] for January 5^th & 6^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Unfortunately, like many in their time who saw would-be Messiahs come and go, these two interpret his death as a failure. Crucified Messiahs are, after all, failed Messiahs. The times of Jesus saw no less than…

Luke 14:3

Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”

From Background Notes [BN] for January 5^th & 6^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The religious leadership of Second Temple Judaism had their intelligence community which kept tabs on Jesus of Nazareth. “He was being carefully watched,” the text tells us.