J. I Packer called the steps which the Son of God took down from heaven to earth to be incarnate in human flesh "the great stoop." In Philippians 2:5-11, using what is believed to be an early hymn of the church, the Apostle Paul traces those steps.

The Angel's startling announcement to a young virgin that she will bring forth the promised Messiah comes in two parts: what does this mean and how is it possible?

The Angel's startling announcement to a young virgin that she will bring forth the promised Messiah comes in two parts: what does this mean and how is it possible?

The story of Christmas does not begin in a manager, or with shepherds, or angelic messengers, or a star. The story of Christmas begins in eternity when God the Father and God the Son entered into an everlasting covenant to redeem Adam's fallen race. The promise of that covenant is made in the beginning of history, after Adam's rebellion, when God cursed the serpent and promised that through the seed of the woman a deliverer would come to crush the serpent's head.

"So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together" (1 Samuel 31:6).

On the same day David is routing the Amalekites and recovering his family and goods, winning a decisive victory over God's enemies (1 Samuel 30), God is using His enemies (the Philistines) to bring final judgment on Saul and those associated with the reign of Saul (1 Samuel 31). God has literally "rent the kingdom from Saul and given it to a neighbor of Saul's who is better than him" (1 Samuel 15:28).

The objective of the Book of 1 Samuel is to reveal the kind of leader for whom God is seeking to be the shepherd king of His people. The people had chosen Saul, who turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. God chose David, whom we have watched grow from a young shepherd boy into a mighty warrior.

But God isn't looking for a mighty warrior. He's looking for a humble, principled servant. And as we observe how David responds to a devastating loss, we begin to see in David the kind of leader God is looking for.

How can it cany any worse? All of us have asked this question when circumstances have overwhelmed us. Almost since our first meeting David in 1 Samuel 16, he has lived his life as a fugitive from Saul and the unrelenting object of Saul's wrath.

And just when you think it can't get any worse, he loses everything.

The 126th Psalm is the seventh of the Psalms of Ascent which were written to accompany God's people as they made their way to the temple for Sabbath worship. This particular Psalm celebrates the LORD turning the fortunes of His people in such a surprising manner that their new reality was like waking up from a dream.

God turned the fortunes of His people in the result of Tuesday's Presidential Election. What can we learn from the 126th Psalm about how we are to respond to this mercy from God?

When the Lord does not answer Saul's inquiry, Saul seeks out a woman with a familiar spirit to conjure Samuel from the dead. This episode in our Bibles raises some questions about the legitimacy of the occult, the ability of this woman to bring up Samuel from the dead, and whether it is actual Samuel who appears or a demonic apparition.

The running theme of 1 Samuel 28 is the silence of God.

Saul is distressed to the point of a mental breakdown. The Lord is not responding to his inquiry about a coming battle with the Philistines. He has used every legitimate means in an attempt to get God's attention to no avail, so he turns to a woman who practices divination to conjure the prophet Samuel from the dead.