After reading Genesis 43, we studied Daniel 1. We noted Daniel's purpose of heart, how he did not give up easily when he was trying to live a pure life for God, God's sovereign hand in his life and also in that of international affairs, and the remarkable history of the entire book of Daniel.

We move from the early part of chapter 2 into a key teaching about the church. Our teacher emphasized the sovereignty of God in salvation, the fact that there are only two types of people--believers and unbelievers. We learned about the revolutionary change in the Christian era over Old Testament Mosaic Judaism. This change touches not only Jewish people, but also Gentiles.

We reviewed chapter 32 and the big picture of Elihu, and then began to look at Job 33 and the beginning of the main body of Elihu's speech.

After reading 1 Samuel 14 and making some comments, we shared some comments about our ministry outreach at the art fair. Those testimonies are not recorded. We then turned to Mark 14 to study several verses. We spent some time thinking about the idea of table fellowship and that it has a meaning, even though that has been somewhat lost in our western "germ conscious" culture.

We introduce the book of Daniel by studying the chronological details of the prophecy in chapter 9. We discovered that God gave Daniel a precise starting date and ending date of a period of 483 years in length which ended when "Messiah was cut off." This places the date of the crucifixion of Christ over 500 years before the event occurred.

We read Genesis 42 at the beginning of the service, and looked at some other big picture issues in the book of Daniel.

We are introduced to the second chapter of Ephesians. The death that we experienced was spiritual death, and there is no physical means by which we could be raised to spiritual life.

We begin a study of the Elihu speeches. This section of Job is not easy to address, but we give a very brief overview of different interpretive approaches, and highlight the direction we will take in understanding the text. Then Pastor gives an exposition of Job 32, the first chapter of Elihu's response to Job and the three friends.

We covered Mark 14:1-11, read 1 Samuel 13, and interacted about a portion of a Wikipedia article that had a serious short-coming in its presentation of a very core doctrine of Christian theology. Some portions of the audio had to be cut out because they recorded audience members who were not near a microphone, but the gist of everything is easily discerned.

Jesus not only saves and forgives and exhibits perfect compassion, but He also confronts us in our sin. Any true minister of the gospel must do the same. John the Baptist’s ministry was very confrontational, as he preached repentance and confession concerning sin (Matt. 3:6-9, Mark 1:4-5, Luke 3:3). Paul the apostle preached repentance toward God regarding sin and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen to more about this matter as Pastor Postiff teaches a number of passages.

Our teacher continues explaining the text in Zephaniah 3. A judgment of great proportions will come up on the nation at the appointed time. This judgment was caused by the poor choices of the people of Israel. We gladly arrive at the section that speaks of Israel's restoration. The first item that God will restore to them is a pure language. This does not refer to Hebrew or Greek or the reversal of Babel; it refers to how they use their language, and more to the point, how their heart is constituted so that its abundance will speak out in a holy manner. See Isaiah 6.