We started a brief study of Ezra in the book titled by his name, in chapters 7 and 8. In this message, we concern ourselves with an outline of the historical and political situation that surrounded Ezra's journey from Bablyon to Jerusalem.

We read Judges 20, and then learned what our Lord did as recorded in Mark 7. We saw His desire for a heart-felt religion, His teaching that things from outside our bodies cannot defile us, and His great power in healing a Greek woman's daughter and a man who was deaf and unable to speak properly.

Pastor Postiff returned to the pulpit after a brief illness. After reading Genesis 26, Pastor spent some time reminding us about what our mission is NOT, and what it IS.

Our teacher gets into the exposition of the first chapter of Zephaniah.

This message continues our study in Job, with Job 22-23. Eliphaz pipes up again with a severe attack on Job's character, and Job takes his next turn, hardly noting his friend's rebuke. The verses at 23:10 and and 23:12 were worth the price of admission, so to speak. In them, Job expresses his trust in God through the trial, and how much he loves God's instruction.

Some technical problems prohibited the recording of the 3/11/2018 audio in all three services. This will hopefully be corrected by this coming Sunday. Stay tuned!

In chapter 21, Job directly confronts Zophar and denies the truthfulness of what he had pontificated in chapter 20. The wicked often do prosper for a long time; and it is God who permits them to prosper. However, Job denies any affinity for the wicked and their philosophies. He is vastly different from them.

After reading the shocking passage in Judges 19, we studied the portion of Mark 7 about the Pharisees setting their man-made commandments over the commandments of God. Their religion was external only; their hearts were far from God. We focused on having a true broken and contrite spirit before the Lord. This set the stage for us to share the Lord's Table at the end of the service.

We read Genesis 24, preceded by some cautionary statements to help the reader in properly interpreting the passage.

Pastor Postiff offered a lengthy application about rule-setting in the home and how it can be done while avoiding legalism.

Our study of Zephaniah continues in the examination of the historical background. Our teacher made an excellent point that Josiah had succeeded in removing many of the external forms of idol worship. However, he was unable to remove the internal convictions of many people who were idolaters. Then we moved into the text of chapter 1.

We move on from the 10 times Job was reproached by his friends to look at the remainder of chapter 19 and into chapter 20.