Luke 8:1-25. Jesus told the Parable of the Sower, followed by the parable of a lamp on a stand. His Mother and Brothers came to see Jesus, but he declared that his mother and brothers are those who do God’s will. While Sailing across Lake Genesareth a storm arose, Jesus calmed the storm and rebuked his disciples for their lack of faith.
2 Samuel 12. Nathan confronted David about his sin and David Confessed: “I have sinned against the LORD.” It tells of the death of David’s son with Bathsheba, after which a second son, Solomon was born to Bathsheba. Finally, the chapter reverts back to war and David’s men captured Rabbah, a city of the Ammonites.
2 Samuel 13 describes the seedy story of Amnon and Tamar, both within David’s family. David’s son Absalom then killed Amnon, after which Absalom fled to Geshur.
Luke 7:24-50, Jesus stated about John the Baptist: “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Jesus was later anointed by a sinful woman, and Jesus forgave her with these words: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”
2 Samuel 9. Saul’s remaining son, Mephibosheth was paralyzed in both feet. David showed kindness and invited him to be part of David’s household.
2 Samuel 10. David defeated the Ammonites and when they fled David defeated the Arameans (Syrians).
2 Samuel 11 is very important, it tells of the adultery of David with Bathsheba, and how he had her husband Uriah killed in battle to cover it up. This displeased God.
Luke 7:1-23. Jesus praised the Centurion’s faith and raised a widow’s son back to life in the town of Nain. Meanwhile John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask if Jesus was “the one”. After all, John the Baptist was put in prison and his future looked bleak.
in 2 Samuel 7 God established the covenant with David. The writer also recorded David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving.
In Samuel 8 is recorded of how David’s Kingdom expanded. The chapter also lists David’s Officials.
Luke 6:17-49. Luke recorded a shorter version of the Beatitudes than is found in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus added: Love your enemies, do not judge, a tree is known by its fruit, and finally he told the parable of the foolish and the wise builder.
2 Samuel 4 records how Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth was murdered.
2 Samuel 5. David consolidated power and reigned over all Israel and captured Jerusalem. After Jerusalem was established as the City of David the Philistines were defeated.
Luke6:1-16. Jesus showed he is the Lord of the Sabbath and showed it by healing a man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath. Then Jesus called the twelve Apostles.
2 Samuel 1. After David got the report of Saul’s death he lamented of the death of Saul and his son, known as the Song of the Bow.
In 2 Samuel 2 David was anointed King of Judah, and Ishboseth, son of Saul was made King of Israel, which led to Israel and Judah waging war against each other.
2 Samuel 3 starts out with a genealogy of David’s sons. Abner joined forces with David, Joab murdered Abner, and finally is recorded how David mourned Abner.
Luke 5, Jesus called his first Disciples, cleansed a leper, healed and forgave a Paralytic his sins and called Levi (Matthew). At the end of the chapter Jesus was questioned about fasting. My discourse about old and new wineskins is very interesting. Read it and see if you agree.
Proverbs 3 continues to tell of the benefits of wisdom. The verses most often quoted are ”Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will direct your paths.”
This is a satellite photo of a mostly clear night over U.S. (There are a few clouds over eastern U.S.) It shows clearly where the big cities are, and how empty the western half of U.S. is compared to the eastern half. From this we can see and guess the size of the major metropolitan areas. Looking over North Dakota there seems to be a city of about half a million people judging from the light. But North Dakota has no big cities! What is going on?
The light area below is here_______V______________________________________________
While North Dakota is the second largest oil producing state in the nation it produces very little natural gas, only what comes as a bi-product of oil recovery, in fact it is so little that the government has let the oil companies flare off the gas rather than recover it and us it for supplying the country with more natural gas. Since the government has put a halt to build the Keystone and other pipelines, the oil out of these wells are shipped by truck and train to refineries mostly in Texas at at least three times the cost (read energy usage) of a pipeline, the government is not concerned about energy usage, only control of the production means. Granted it is only a pittance in the grand scheme of energy use, only 291 million cubic feet of natural gas was officially flared off per day in Oct 2023, but it is growing as oil production is climbing.
How much is 291 million cubic feet of natural per day that is flared off? It corresponds to a little over 300 billion BTU/day, not much, but enough to supply gas for over 5 million gas stoves in normal family use. The Government is trying to prohibit any new gas stoves in new construction. This again proves that their main concern is not energy use, since it is o.k. to flare off large amounts of gas but not using it for superior cooking, it shows that their concern is people control, not energy conservation or even common sense.
Luke 4:1-21, Jesus ministry started with his Temptation in the wilderness, from which we get the 40 days of Lent. At every temptation initiated by Satan Jesus quoted scripture to show his total reliance on God and His word. Satan also used scripture, so watch out! Going to his hometown of Nazareth Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 61. We are still in the acceptable year of the Lord but before the day of the Lord’s vengeance.
In 1 Samuel 28 David was among the Philistines and Saul consulted a woman with a familiar spirit, the witch at En Dor. The medium did bring up Samuel!
1 Samuel 29. The Philistine rulers rejected David.
In Luke 3 John the Baptist prepared the way and performed the baptism of repentance. Jesus’ was also baptized by John, after which “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” The chapter then lists the genealogy of Mary, from the human side of Jesus. (Matthew listed the genealogy of Joseph from the Kingly side, and since Joseph adopted Jesus as his own, it shows Jesus became the rightful heir to the throne of David.)
In 1 Samuel 26 David Spared Saul’s Life a second time.
1 Samuel 27. David allied himself with the Philistines.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 