Someone once said that the primary results of the twentieth century were more speed and more noise. We certainly live in a noisy culture. Many people want to talk, few people want to listen. Even fewer people are interested in listening to what God is saying. Luke 3 illustrates our tendency to value human activity more than God’s activity.

Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Ablilene,

Vs 2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

You wonder why Luke would go to this amount of detail. He gives us the names of several rulers and the domains they ruled over. There were emperors, governors, rulers, politicians, priests, royalty and rascals. They pulled the levers of governmental and religious power in order to accomplish what they wanted. All the media of the day reported on what they said, and what they did. These people were the movers and shakers of their time. People really thought that they controlled the world of that era.

In stark contrast to all that humans were saying and doing, we go to the last half of verse two and see what God is up to. It says that “the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.” When Caesar spoke, everybody listened, because he had the power of life and death over his subjects. When God spoke, He didn’t speak to the movers and shakers, the elites of the day. He spoke to an obscure, mysterious man named John who lived alone in the desert.

About 30 years earlier, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a priest named Zacharias to tell him that he and his elderly wife Elizabeth were miraculously going to have a son. Their son John was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb. John was going to need supernatural power since God had called him be the forerunner or herald for the promised Messiah.

John’s job description was to tell people to get ready because God’s Savior was coming. In that era, when a king traveled through his country, he sent heralds before him to announce his coming, so that his subjects would be prepared to meet him. John was to prepare Israel to meet their Messiah by calling them to turn away from their sins and turn to God. The text records that John was born…….

And the child continued to grow, and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance. (Luke 1:80)

John was called to speak God’s word to his culture. In order to speak for God, he first had to listen to God. In order to listen to God, he had to stop listening to noise of the world, so he lived in the desert where it was quiet.

The same is true today. We need to get quiet and alone with God, so we can hear what He has to say. Many times in the Bible, God spoke to, and spoke through obscure, unknown, common people. God has plans for His planet, and they don’t begin in the minds of men or the halls of Congress. What is really going on in the world today is not what people are doing, but what God is doing.

Every day, God still speaks to people who want to listen to Him. God says that He loves sinful people so much that He sent His only Son Jesus, to pay their sin debt by dying in their place on the cross. When people turn away from their sin, and trust in Jesus alone to forgive their sin, He will. That’s good news. And God has given us the gift of the gospel, so we can share it with others. Like John the Baptist, we are called to introduce people to Jesus, the Savior of the world. The gospel is the gift that only gets better the more you give it away.

Remember, God designed us to “do life together!”

Love and prayers,

Brad

Visit mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

We are studying the lives of common everyday people in the Bible. They were people like us, yet the Holy Spirit included their stories in the Bible for our benefit. One such man was Simeon, and his story is told in Luke 2.

Luke 2:25 And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Vs 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

Vs 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,

Vs 28 then he took Him into His arms, and blessed God, and said,

Vs 29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace

According to Your word;

Vs 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,

Vs 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

Vs 32 A light of revelation to the Gentiles,

And the glory of Your people Israel.”

There are a number of things that make Simeon uncommon. He was righteous which means he lived in conformity with the character and conduct of God. He thought like God thought, and so he acted like God acted. He was a devout man; he lived in reverence and awe of God’s holiness. It says three times in three verses that he was filled with the Spirit, intimate with the Spirit, and directed by the Spirit. He was a man in whom and through whom the Holy Spirit lived and worked. The Holy Spirit had told him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

The name Lord means master, or supreme ruler, and refers to God. The Greek name Christ and the Hebrew name Messiah both mean ‘the anointed one.’ This official title, Christ or Messiah, occurs 514 times in the New Testament. It denotes His role as the One chosen and sent by God save His people from their sins. The name Jesus means, ‘the Lord is salvation’ or ‘Savior’, which means to rescue, to deliver or to save. Simeon was looking for the consolation of Israel which was Jesus the promised Messiah. He was seeking the One who would bring comfort to Israel through salvation. He obviously knew the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, and he longed to see God’s promise fulfilled. Here was a man who made God his supreme priority.

Now the Holy Spirit arranged a divine appointment between Simeon and Jesus. 33 days after His circumcision, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple to present their first born Son to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice as commanded by the Mosaic Law. When Simeon saw Jesus, he took him in his arms and blessed God.

Simeon praised God for keeping His promise and allowing him to see God’s salvation. Now that he had seen the Messiah, he was ready to die. This is a profound truth. No one is ready to die, until they have placed their faith in Jesus’ payment for their sins. God only has one solution for human sin and His name is Jesus. Jesus came to earth on Christmas to pay the penalty for our sins by dying in our place, so that all who believe in Him by faith will be forgiven by God. And Christ’s salvation is offered to all, Jew and Gentile alike.

The greatest gift anyone could receive is the gift of salvation and forgiveness of their sins. This Christmas, as we give presents to each other, let’s not forget the greatest gift of all; God’s gift of His Son Jesus. This was not a cheap gift. For us to inherit eternal life, Jesus, the most perfect being who ever lived, had to die in our place. Simeon didn’t take God’s gift for granted. He believed God’s promise, He pursued God’s promise, and He gave thanks for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Let’s do the same.

Remember, God designed us to ‘do life together!’

Love and prayers,

Brad

•••

For more information, visit mannapodcast.com.

©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

Subscribe to listen each week as the Manna class learns and grows together through their in-depth study of God's Word. This comprehensive, expository series is taught by Brad Hannink, a gifted communicator of the Bread of Life.

Manna is a Bible study life group that meets at Valley Baptist Church, located at 4800 Fruitvale Ave. in Bakersfield, California.

Manna believes in doing life together. If you’re in need of prayer, email us your request at [email protected] and our class will be happy to add it to our prayer list. Members of Manna get together each week to pray for those on the prayer list.

For more information, visit mannapodcast.com.

©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

Subscribe to listen each week as the Manna class learns and grows together through their in-depth study of God's Word. This comprehensive, expository series is taught by Brad Hannink, a gifted communicator of the Bread of Life.

Manna is a Bible study life group that meets at Valley Baptist Church, located at 4800 Fruitvale Ave. in Bakersfield, California.

Manna believes in doing life together. If you’re in need of prayer, email us your request at [email protected] and our class will be happy to add it to our prayer list. Members of Manna get together each week to pray for those on the prayer list.

For more information, visit mannapodcast.com.

©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

The very first sin ever committed on planet earth was the sin of bearing false witness or lying. When Satan tempted Eve to rebel against God, he did so on the basis of a lie. God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die. Satan told Eve in Genesis 3:4 “You shall not surely die!,” which was a bald faced lie. Eve believed Satan’s lie, both Adam and Eve ate the fruit, and death entered the human race at that moment. That’s why Jesus said that the devil is the father of lies, and a murderer from the beginning. Lies can kill. That’s why God said in

Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What is a lie? Arthur Pink once wrote that a lie consists of three elements.

1. speaking what is not true,

2. intentionally doing so and,

3. doing so with the intention of deceiving.

Lying is purposely speaking what you know to be untrue, with the motive of deceiving the listener.

This command forbids false testimony or witness. It usually took place in a court of law or legal proceeding. All courts are designed to uphold justice, which is to protect the innocent, and prosecute the guilty. This can only happen when testimony is truthful. When a person enters the witness stand, they swear before God to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” In other words, ‘I promise to speak the truth, because God Himself is listening.’ If they lie, they are attacking the life and the reputation of the one they are lying about.

Your reputation is priceless. It determines your credibility in your community, and how people perceive and treat you. When someone lies about your character or conduct, they are killing you with their words, as surely as if they had put a knife in your heart. A reputation once lost is almost impossible to recover.

There are lots of ways to lie about someone or something. Gossip, slander, exaggeration, unjust criticism, flattery and even silence can all be forms of lying that harm others. However, just because you know the truth about a situation, doesn’t mean you are always free to speak about it. It’s ok to say, “I’m not free to talk about that matter.”

The Bible commands us in Ephesians 4:15 to speak the truth in love. This gets to the heart of the matter, which the matter of the heart. If my motive in speaking the truth is to harm another, then I am using the truth as a weapon, rather than loving my neighbor as myself. Who is my neighbor? The story of the Good Samaritan demonstrates that everyone is my neighbor. In the context of this command, everyone who could be affected by my words is my neighbor. Most of the commandments given in the second table of the law were given to protect our neighbor.

Do not murder protects our neighbor’s life.

Do not commit adultery protects their marriage, family and posterity.

Do not steal protects their property and livelihood.

Do not bear false witness protects their reputation, their good name.

Bearing false witness can have deadly consequences. The book of Acts records that the Jewish religious leaders were unable to cope with Stephen’s powerful preaching about Jesus. So they encouraged false witnesses to come forward and claim that Stephen had blasphemed against the temple and the law. On the basis of this false testimony they stoned him to death. Jesus Himself was crucified on the basis of false testimony when He was on trial.

God commands us in

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

This is a command to not only stop deceiving, but to start speaking the truth. We must choose to love our neighbors and protect them by living and speaking the truth. Speaking the truth in love honors God and blesses others. Remember, God designed us to “do life together!”

Love and prayers,

Brad

mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, & 2020 Brad Hannink All Rights Reserved

There is a world of difference between me saying to you, “What’s mine is yours,” (that’s charity), and you saying to me, “What’s yours is mine.” (that’s theft.). The eighth commandment simply says,

Exodus 20:15 You shall not steal.

Eve was the very first human to break this command when she stole and ate fruit from the tree that God told her and Adam not to eat.

God worked to create His universe, and God commanded His people to work 6 days a week in order to earn their own living. Honest work creates value that someone else is willing to pay you to do. God sanctions private property ownership as a result of work, and forbids theft. This command protects our neighbors right to own and use what they earned through their hard work and God’s blessing.

Stealing is taking what belongs to someone else without their permission. The source of stealing is covetousness. Coveting says, “I want something that belongs to someone else.” The thief says, “I don’t want to work to earn it, I don’t want to wait to get it, so I’m just going to take it, and I don’t care gets hurt in the process.”

When Israel conquered Jericho, God commanded that everything in the city was to be dedicated to God and brought into the tabernacle. No one was to keep anything for themselves. A man named Achan saw gold, silver and expensive clothing in Jericho, coveted and stole them. As a result, God withdrew His blessing, the Israelite army was routed by the small city of Ai, and 36 Israelite soldiers lost their lives. God commanded Joshua to take Achan outside the camp, and stone him to death. Clearly God takes theft seriously. God told Israel that the next city they conquered, they could keep all the spoil for themselves. Achan should have been more patient; he could have gotten what he wanted with God’s blessing. Thieves are seldom patient. Jesus was crucified between two men who were being executed for robbery. Robbers are thieves who steal by force of arms. Clearly, Rome took theft seriously as well!

Theft is wrong because God owns everything. God loans His possessions to each person as He chooses. I Corinthians 4: 7 asks an obvious question “…….what do you have that you did not receive? Answer: nothing.

I Timothy 6:7 We brought nothing into this world, and we are not going to take anything out either.

Every person is responsible to God to faithfully manage what God has entrusted to them. When someone steals from someone else, they are really stealing what belongs to God.

There are lots of ways people steal. Borrowing money and not paying it back, underpaying or late paying people who work for you, doing less than a day’s work for a day’s pay, under reporting income or inflating deductions on your tax return, plagiarizing someone’s ideas without giving credit; all of these are theft.

The book of Malachi says that people steal from God when they fail to give Him their tithes and offerings. God gives us eternal life which begins at the moment of salvation. He also gives us time, talents and treasures that we are to use for His glory. When we spend them on ourselves instead of using them as God intended, we are stealing from Him. When God blesses us and we take the credit for it, we are stealing from God.

Probably the best-known example of a thief who repented is a man named Zacchaeus. He collected taxes for the Roman Empire, and anything he could collect beyond the Roman tax requirement, he could keep for himself. Needless to say, he became quite rich through extortion and fraud. However, when Zacchaeus met Jesus, he repented and paid back fourfold of everything he had stolen.

Ephesians 4:28 Let him who steals steal no more; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.

Go and do likewise!Remember, God designed us to “do life together!”

Love and prayers, Brad

mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, & 2020 Brad Hannink All Rights Reserved

Subscribe to listen each week as the Manna class learns and grows together through their in-depth study of God's Word. This comprehensive, expository series is taught by Brad Hannink, a gifted communicator of the Bread of Life.

Manna is a Bible study life group that meets at Valley Baptist Church, located at 4800 Fruitvale Ave. in Bakersfield, California.

Manna believes in doing life together. If you’re in need of prayer, email us your request at [email protected] and our class will be happy to add it to our prayer list. Members of Manna get together each week to pray for those on the prayer list.

For more information, visit mannapodcast.com.

©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

Dear Manna Family,

Martin Luther once said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” He was a man who understood the fourth commandment.

Exodus 20: 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Vs 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

Vs 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

Vs 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

People’s views of the Sabbath have changed dramatically over time. For generations, most of society literally stopped on Sundays, and everyone rested. We now live in a 24/7 world, and everyone expects everything to be available all the time. We believe that convenience is crucial, and so we justify round the clock work. We are reaping the consequences; sleep deprivation, as well as stress and health problems.

God commanded His people to consciously remember the Sabbath day. It’s so easy to forget what God says when our busy schedules scream for our immediate attention. This command is defined as keeping one day in seven as holy to the LORD. Holy means to be ‘set apart for God.’ We keep the Sabbath day holy when we stop our regular work and rest. The word Sabbath literally means ‘to rest from work.’

God does command us to work for six days. Work means the regular occupational activity we do to earn a living. God’s people are called to be diligent and productive. However, God limits the amount of work that we are called to do. In God’s economy, more is not always better. If we can’t get our work done in six days, then we are probably doing more than God called us to do. If we trust God with the six days that we do work, we will be more productive than if we work seven days a week while depending on our own resources.

This word rest does not mean complete inactivity, like a hibernating bear. It is a day when we stop our regular work so we can give to God what belongs to Him. Since 100% of our life belongs to Him, we should honor Him one day out of seven. The New Testament does not stipulate which day of the week to set aside for worship. Most Christians worship on Sunday, to celebrate the day the Christ rose from the dead.

The authority for this command to rest comes from the example of God Himself. Genesis 2: 1-3 tells us that God rested on the seventh day, after He finished His work in the preceding six days. God did not rest because He got tired. Genesis 1: 31 says that “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” It seems as though God rested in order to enjoy what He had created. We humans need to rest so that we can enjoy Him, our Creator! The seventh day is the day we remember and worship God.

Ray Prichard has said that the abiding principle of the fourth commandment is that we give God 1 day in 7, because 7 out of 7 days belong to Him. Keeping one day holy, reminds us Who is in control. It gives us the opportunity to say thank you to God for His blessings. It allows us to gain new strength for the challenges we will face in the next 6 days.

Isaiah 40: 31…..says ‘those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength….’

Waiting on the LORD means stopping our own agendas. It means making time to listen for God for His guidance and strength. It means gaining God’s perspective and power for our lives. Sunday is a great day to do that.

Remember, God designed us to “do life together!”

Love and prayers,

Brad

•••

Subscribe to listen to this comprehensive, expository study of God’s word, taught by Brad Hannink. Manna meets at Valley Baptist Church, 4800 Fruitvale Ave., Bakersfield, California. For more information, visit mannapodcast.com.

©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

Today’s world can be a violent place. We read about someone getting killed over a pair of tennis shoes, money for drugs, or even a disrespectful look. We’re studying the Ten Commandments, and today we are looking at number six. Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder.

Our biggest problem with this command is that we think it doesn’t apply to us. We have never literally murdered anyone. But we have murdered people in our thoughts and attitudes. Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22 that if you are angry with your brother you are guilty of murdering him………in your heart. Jesus moves from the fruit of murder to the root of murder. An evil angry heart is the cause; murder is the consequence. Unrestrained anger is the seed that grows into murder. And, it’s often anger with those closest to you, like family members and friends. Cain became very angry with his brother Abel before he murdered him, even though God had warned him in advance about controlling his anger.

Jesus then went on to say that if you say to your brother ‘Raca', or ‘you fool’, you will be in danger of hell itself. Raca is an insult that means ‘idiot, moron, or empty headed.’ It is a direct attack on that persons worth or value. Calling someone a fool is attacking their character. People often murder other people with their mouth. In today’s world, cruel and abusive speech on social media posts often goes far beyond calling someone a fool. Some of is not even fit to print. Peoples’ words reveal the murder that’s in their heart and in their mouth.

God forbids murder in your heart, with your mouth, or with your hands. This is a direct reflection of the sanctity of human life. Human life has intrinsic value. Life itself is a gift from God and as such, God alone has the authority to give life or take it. When murder occurs, people are usurping God’s role. Murder is people playing God.

So what exactly is murder? Murder is the premeditated deliberate taking of innocent human life. It generally does not apply to military warfare or self-defense, although some believe that this command is a blanket prohibition against taking any life in any form under any circumstances. The reason human life is sacred is because humans are made in God’s image.

Genesis 1:27 And God created man in HIs own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The image of God makes human life different from all other life forms. Image means likeness, form, or representation. It means something closely patterned after an original. It’s somewhat like an ancient king erecting a statue of himself; the statue bears the image of the king. Images are created to reflect the reality and the value of who they represent. When someone defaces or destroys a statue, they are really attacking the person that statue represents. When someone murders a human being, with their words or their hands, they are also attacking God who created that person in His own image.

God is so opposed to murder that He explicitly commanded capital punishment as a consequence.

Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man’s blood,

By man his blood shall be shed,

For in the image of God He made man.

The penalty for murder is so severe, because the image of God in people is infinitely precious. God values people so much that He paid for their redemption through the death of His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Let’s stop murdering people in our minds or with our mouths. God calls us to love others by giving ourselves in service for their benefit every day. Remember, God designed us to ‘do life together!’

Love and prayers, Brad

mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, & 2020 Brad Hannink All Rights Reserved

Subscribe to listen each week as the Manna class learns and grows together through their in-depth study of God's Word. This comprehensive, expository series is taught by Brad Hannink, a gifted communicator of the Bread of Life.

Manna is a Bible study life group that meets at Valley Baptist Church, located at 4800 Fruitvale Ave. in Bakersfield, California.

For more information, visit mannapodcast.com.

©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved