B. A. D. (Be A Disciple) Student Ministries

Wise in His Young Age  God Is Placed Back in the Front Seat 2 Samuel 22:29 A quick summary of the remainder of the book of 2 Samuel: David finishes his song of praise, and sings many wonderful things to the Lord. If you haven't been reading the Bible, just the summaries, I highly recommend reading 2 Samuel 22:1-51. It's worth it. Then we are presented with David's last words (he doesn't die, though, until 1 Kings Chapter 2) and a list of the mightiest men, without whom, David would not have been as successful. We are then brought to 2 Samuel 24. This can get confusing, but David was guilty after taking a census that was apparently ordered by God. However, later on in the Bible (1 Chronicles 21:1), it's revealed that it was not God who commanded the census. It was Satan, and David's prideful nature caused him to take the census. Joab even tries to talk David out of taking the census.  Anyway, after the census is taken and David realizes ...

Victories from Loss  Rejoicing in the Lord in the Midst of Despair In today's reading, David is faced with many losses, but the reading for today ends with him rejoicing in the name of the Lord.  It's easy to rejoice when good things are happening, and it's easy to pray when things aren't working out in our favor. But it's difficult to do the opposite.  (yes, this is an image of Absalom crowning himself.) Our reading picks up with Nathan telling David how incredibly sinful he's been, killing a man to take his wife. Shortly after, David is faced with his first loss of the reading: his newborn son (to Bathsheeba) dies a week after his birth. He prayed and fasted that his son would get well, then went back to living normally after his son's death.  The reading then takes a dark turn, and the focus shifts from David to his son, Amnon. Amnon is in love with his half-sister, Tamar. He tricks her into staying in his room alone with him, and then...

Nobody's Perfect  Temptation is Blind I think it's important to start out by saying we are officially 1/4 of the way through the Bible! (Yes, the 90 Day Bible Challenge is actually an 88 Day Bible Challenge). That's awesome! If you've made it this far, you've got the rest of this, if you're just starting today, it's not too late!  So today's reading was wonderful and weird.  It started out in 1 Samuel with the Lord rebuking Saul  for being a horrible king, David defeating the Amalekites, and Saul dying by his own sword.  David hears of Saul's death by a man who claimed to have killed him (this did not actually happen, he's just trying to gain David's favor) and delivers the crown to David. David strikes this man down and mourns for Saul and Jonathon (Saul's son who was extremely nice to David).  David is made king over the tribe of Judah, but the remaining sons of Saul continue to rule the other tribes. There ar...

The Story of David Don't Overlook the Little Guy! Today's reading began with Samuel. After realizing Saul was not fit to rule Egypt, he sets off to anoint a new ruler, to find one who will place God before himself. God sends him on a mission to select one of the sons of Jesse; when Samuel meets them, God doesn't point out any of them. So Samuel asks if there are any others, lo and behold, David, the youngest and smallest, is at home tending to the sheep. And God chose him. Why?? 1 Samuel 16:7: "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  So David becomes Saul's helper. Saul is no longer with the Spirit of God, and is filled with Evil. Whenever evil overcomes Saul, David plays the harp to calm him down.  A Philistine man named Goliath comes to Israel to over take it. He wants a one on one battle to the death, winner takes all. David goes forward to fight him, and...

Stay Humble, Hustle Hard God Distributes Power Today's reading felt like a lesson we all needed to hear, right? God placed power in today's reading into the hands of two men who were young when they came into power (Samuel and Saul).  Following Eli's death after the wickedness of his sons had consumed Israel, God leaves Samuel, who was quite literally "brought up in the church," to be the judge of Israel.  Things are going good for a few years (aside from the ark being stolen, but eventually returned) until the Israelites revolt and demand a king. They no longer recognize God as King, and want a human king like the secular tribes that surround them. (You know, the wicked, sinful tribes that are always causing problems.) Samuel implores them not to, but eventually God's like, "You know what, give them what they want." And Saul, another young man, is put into the position as King of Israel. He doesn't really want to do it at fi...

Three Books--One Day One of the busiest readings yet! Okay, can we just talk about how our reading starts out with Samson being handed over to the Philistines, then striking down ONE THOUSAND MEN WITH A DONKEY'S JAWBONE, then stayed the night with a prostitute, then married a woman who betrayed him to the Philistines for some silver. You better believe that the Philistines cut off all the hair on Samson's head to weaken him (that was, of course, his weakness--getting his hair cut) before throwing him into prison forever. That all happened in the first chapter and a half!  (Just look at all those braids!!) This is how the reading continues:  The Philistines brought Samson out when he was close to his death, to entertain them. When Samson was brought out, weak and blind, he called upon the Lord to provide him with strength, and he brought the entire temple down with his hands, killing both himself and all the Philistines with him.  A man named Micah ma...

The Israelites Continue to Miss the Point  Disobedience Ravages Israel Does it feel crazy to anyone else that Israel continues to turn from God every. single. time?   Have they not learned by now that God is for them, and worshiping false gods and leading a life of sin brings nothing but bad things on the Israelites? (including famine and plague...)  It's like as soon as one judge dies, the Israelites are like "Yay! We were good, so now God will be good to us while we're bad!" And then God just sort of lets his head sink into his hands thinking T hat is so not how it works. Better send another judge. Our reading continues with some serious girl power! The first female judge is appointed to lead the Israelites--Deborah. She leads the Israelites to attack Jabin's army, where all are defeated except for Sisera, the general. He dies later, when Jael, another woman, allows him into her tent and then proceeds to stab him with a tent post. Girl power! Aft...

Beginning the Book of Judges God's Promised Fulfilled, and the Israelites' Next Step Remember the Promise God made to Moses, the covenant? Remember when God said "Every time you see a rainbow, remember the promise I made to you, to never destroy the Earth with floods again,"?  Remember the Promise God made to the descendants of Jacob? Remember when He said that He would deliver the Israelites from their brutal slavery in Egypt? The first eight chapters of today's reading are dedicated to the final step in God fulfilling his promise to the Israelites in delivering them to the Promise Land. They're all about how the land is to be divided up among them! They've done it! They made it through the trials of the desert, they were victorious in war, and they've been delivered to the Promise Land. Why? Because God said He would make it so! Because God PROMISED to bring them out of Egypt, to make many nations of them, and  to deliver the...

Beginning the Book of Joshua An Emerging Leader for the Israelites Finally! The moment we've been waiting for since Exodus! The Israelites have arrived to the Promised Land!  Right from the beginning, in Joshua 1:9, we see God provide comfort to Joshua as he begins to lead the Israelites. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." And so God commands the Israelites to invade Jericho.  Several spies are sent into Jericho, but they were expecting them. So, the Israelites spies stayed with a woman named Rahab, who invited them in and provided refuge (she was either a prostitute or  an innkeeper; this point is unclear). The spies, in return, vow to save Rahab and her family when the Israelites invade Jericho.  The Israelites cross the Jordan River to get to Jericho, and upon successful crossing, all the males are circumcised (all the males who were already circumcised we...

Have No Fear Beginning Week 3 and Ending Book 5 The Israelites have done it! They've come to the end of their journey and are about to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land! We've had some ups and some downs in this reading, so let's go through them!  Chapters 23-26 continue to reiterate the laws the Israelites are to follow. God wanted an obedient, holy nation of people to be chosen as His followers. Chapters 27-30 talk about some of the blessings and curses the Israelites will face, as well as the reward for worshiping God and following His commands. It even says in Deuteronomy 29:9 that the Israelites are to "Carefully follow the terms of the covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do." I'd also like to draw attention to Deuteronomy 29:18--Do not let negativity and distractions draw you away from God, "make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison." Also, you may want to consider givi...

God Sets the Israelites Apart There are a number of things I'd like to talk about from this reading. I had questions, and there were verses that really spoke to me, that I was really drawn to.  Unfortunately, the craziness of life has me all sorts of scatter-brained right now, so I'm just going to state what I personally got out of this reading, and then list some of my favorite parts. God wants us to be good people. He wants us to be holy. He wants us to believe in Him and fiercely defend our beliefs.  He wanted the Israelites to realize that it was none of their actions that caused them to be favored by God. It was the wickedness of the other nations that caused them to be driven out. It was not because the Israelites had anything special, it was because the other nations were devastatingly corrupt. (Deuteronomy 9:1-6) Some verses I liked (and highlighted) (and would like to hear others' opinions): Deuteronomy 8:2-3 Deuteronomy 8:10 Deuteronom...

Beginning the Book of Deuteronomy  A New Perspective In today's reading, we finished up the book of Numbers and marched on into Deuteronomy. Conveniently, Numbers 33 summed up quite a bit of the Israelite's travels on their journey to the promised land, so much for me summing that up myself!  Numbers finishes up by listing the boundaries the Israelites are to obey when they're in the promised land, some of the laws they are to follow, and by God stating "Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites," in Numbers 35:34. After a follow-up of Zelophehad's daughters, we are led into the book of Deuteronomy.  Was this book as refreshing of a perspective for you all as it was for me?? Hearing a recap from Moses's perspective in the first person made it feel more like history was being told to me, and less like I  was reading from a thousands-of-years-old book. I found it made it much more ...

Being Zealous for God  Victories, Talking Donkeys, and another Census. Our reading begins today with two victories by the Israelites as they continue their journey. God says to Moses that he should not be afraid of these nations or their leaders, because God gave them to the Israelites, with the armies and the lands. So the Israelites struck them down.  The King of Moab, the city the Israelites were going to next, sent for a man named Balaam to come and curse the Israelites before they got to Moab. Balaam does not go with them, saying that even the King's palace filled with silver and gold would not be enough to convince him to go. On the way to Moab, Balaam's donkey sees an angel of the Lord and runs away or tries to avoid it. This happens three times. Then, God opens the donkey's mouth and states "What have I done to be beaten three times." Balaam tells the donkey that it's made him look like a fool, and then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, so he...

The Land of Milk and Honey A glimpse into the promised land.  In today's reading we've finally come to the promised land! (Sort of) A lot of the content from Numbers 8-Numbers 21 revolved around the Israelites complaining because they didn't have something, then asking why they were brought out of Israel, and questioning Moses, Aaron, and ultimately--the Lord. Then, the Lord provides for their needs--even though they consistently question Him. In Chapter 13, they Israelites arrive near the Promised Land (Canaan), and send in scouts to check it out. When they return 40 days later, they return to tell the Israelites that it is as abundant as the Lord had promised, but it was inhabited by powerful people who would overpower the Israelites if they tried to invade. They Israelites doubt God, His promises, and His plan for them--and again ask why they were ever brought out of Egypt. Because of  their contempt, their lack of gratitude, and their disbelief, God says ...

Beginning the Book of Numbers  Proof of a promise fulfilled We've finished the third book of the Bible already! That's crazy!  The book of Number is interesting, for a variety of reasons. However, it can be very repetitive--so I'll just give a very brief summary for today's post. The book of numbers begins by God commanding Moses to begin taking a census of all the Israelites. In total, there were 603,550 males over the age of twenty. 603,550 adult males descended from Jacob (aka Israel).  God had fulfilled his promise! Time after time we have heard God say how numerous the descendants will be. And I would say 603,550 is pretty numerous. God then sets the Levites apart from the other tribes of descendants. I believe this is because in Exodus 32, the Levites were the tribe who defended God, when the rest of the Israelites began worshiping the golden calf. While the other tribes were to work around the tabernacle, the Levites were commanded to ...

Facing Controversy Head-On  Tackling some of the largest issues Christians are faced with. Today's reading includes Leviticus 18 and 19, the laws God gave to the Israelites. The topics of incest, homosexuality, tattoos, and various other controversial "can you be a Christian if..." verses are covered. I will be touching on these to the extent that I am comfortable with an interpretation I am completely and totally at peace with. If you have a varying opinion, please leave it in the comments. I am not always right and I am very open-minded. I'd love to hear your thoughts! With that, let's get to it!  We begin with some conclusions as to how to clean mold and mildew in the home. Like I said yesterday, this is not a law you are obligated and required to follow. Please have a professional remove mold and mildew from your home! In chapter 16, we see the origin of the phrase "Scapegoat." Biblically speaking, a scapegoat is a goat sent into...

Our journey continues into Leviticus, God continues to show the Israelites how to live as holy people. There isn't much to summarize from today's reading. Unfortunately, much of it is how and when they are to sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord, the priests' duties, what to eat, how to purify oneself after childbirth, and how to prevent disease from spreading.  Essentially, our reading breaks down like this: Ch 1-7: Holy practices, Ch 8-10: Holy priesthood, and Ch 9-14/15: Holy people.  Chapters 1-7 are all about offerings. Whether it be to atone for sin, or guilt, or as an act of praise, burnt offerings were very important in the Old Testament. However, a sacrifice had to be a sacrifice .  God takes time to specify that if you are to do an animal sacrifice, it must be a male with no defects. It must be something that you will be difficult for you to give up, but you do anyway.  Please note that we, as Christians, are in no way asked or requi...