Showing results by author "James Thomas Lee Jr" in All Categories

In the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had made four points. First, He had been telling them to be poor in spirit, which meant that they should have a heart and mind that would be open to His instructions. Second, He had made some specific promises to those who are poor in spirit, mourning over their spiritual condition, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and makers of peace. He had spoken to those people who would be persecuted for His name's sake. He had spoken to those who have a responsibility to be salt and light. Third, He had ...

This book will attempt to discuss and defend perhaps the most difficult and most challenging parts of the scriptures by looking at the Rapture of the Church, at the Great Tribulation, and at the Second Coming of Jesus. Those are items of interest to almost every person alive. But there are also probably just as many viewpoints about those events as there are people. So this book will begin at the beginning by suggesting that the literal approach for interpreting those future events is probably superior to trying to interpret them figuratively or in some other non-literal fashion. The ...

This text has been written to show the clear parallels between the children of Israel having been delivered from Egyptian bondage during the offering of the first Passover lamb and the possibility for deliverance from sin and the penalty of sin by the offering of the Passover Lamb, who is Jesus. It begins in the first two chapters by explaining how the children of Israel had become slaves in Egypt. It then shares the birth of Moses, a little bit about him and his life, and how the Lord had used him to bring the children of Israel out of their bondage. Starting in chapter five of this text, ...

In the opening chapter of this text, it was stated that no one knows how Christians came to Rome or even who might have established a local church in Rome. One noted commentator said that the Christians in Rome were probably there because they were some of the converts from Pentecost. He also said that the book of Romans has four divisions. They are the courthouse of law in Romans chapter one through Romans chapter five, the powerhouse of grace in Romans chapter six through Romans chapter eight, a synagogue, representing Israel, in Romans chapter nine through Romans chapter eleven, and the ...

Two of the books of the scriptures that should be studied daily are the book of Proverbs and the book of Psalms. The book of Proverbs will show one how to be biblically wise in the things of the Lord. That book is primarily for spiritual guidance in this existence. But even an ungodly person will prosper by studying and applying its principles. In the same sense, the book of Psalms will also benefit anyone who studies it on a regular basis. The reason that the psalms are so valuable is because they are experiential. One can read exactly how David had felt while he was running from a king ...

For anyone who is currently going through some kind of difficulty, the chances are very high that at least one of Solomon's principles in the book of Proverbs has been violated. Solomon was the wisest person of his times. As will be seen in the first chapter of this text, he had asked the Lord for wisdom right after having become the king of Israel. Also as will be seen, the Lord answered his prayer. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." The book of Proverbs is that answer. It is a ...

This text was written to do a detailed study of the kings of Israel from the first king, named Saul, to the last king, named Zedekiah. After Solomon, the nation of Israel divided into two separate kingdoms. The southern kingdom was the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The northern kingdom was the other nine tribes, which had included Manasseh and Ephraim because of the double portion inheritance that was given to Joseph. The Levites were not included with either kingdom because they did not own any property. But as will be seen in this text, they were mostly in the southern kingdom and with ...

Some people might think that Easter is about family get-togethers and the Easter Bunny. It is not. Therefore, this text, while focusing primarily on the prophecies of the Prophet Isaiah and especially on those that explain why Jesus was crucified, also discusses prophecies written by other Old Testament prophets. In the first three parts of this text, nine passages from the book of Isaiah will be examined leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. Those passages are Isaiah 1:18, Isaiah 64:6-7, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 42:1-7, Isaiah 41:27-29, Isaiah 61:1-3, Isaiah 50:4-9, and Isaiah ...

In writing this book about marriage, I feel that the Lord has been preparing me to do this work for many years and in many ways. First, I have been blessed to have been married for fifty-three years. So the Lord has given me the chance to learn a little something about relationships. Second, I have been blessed along with my wife, Linda, by the challenges of raising five children and having seen seventeen grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren born into this world. That means that the Lord has let me learn a little bit about family. Third, I have been saved for almost fifty-seven ...

Two of the books of the scriptures that should be studied daily are the book of Proverbs and the book of Psalms. The book of Proverbs will show one how to be biblically wise in the things of the Lord. That book is primarily for spiritual guidance in this existence. But even an ungodly person will prosper by studying and applying its principles. In the same sense, the book of Psalms will also benefit anyone who studies it on a regular basis. The reason that the psalms are so valuable is because they are experiential. One can read exactly how David had felt while he was running from a king ...

This book is actually based on the merging of two separate books that I wrote in 2020. The first book of 2020 was about how to be saved and how to live a blessed life. That book was written because of something that Jesus said during His public ministry. John 10:10 says, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." So the blessed life of the first book is the abundant life that one can have through a personal relationship with Christ. The second book of 2020 was written because a lot ...

The Bible is an honest Book. So it does not try to protect the guilty or sugarcoat their story. The Bible also does not try to distort or exaggerate the truth to advance the Lord's agenda. Therefore, a person can critically examine Bible characters, trust what he or she is reading, and then learn very much about the Lord, His Word, and His principles for living. For convenience and ease of use, the titles of all of the devotions in this book begin with the Bible character's name. That means that a reader can look up his or her favorite Bible character by name under Message Titles in the ...

This first part of this series about the minor prophets covers the book of Hosea through the book of Amos. The Prophet Hosea lived during the middle Eighth Century BC and prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the prophet when the northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 BC. He was probably even killed during that time or taken into exile. The historical record is not clear about that point. But he had prophesied gloom and doom to the northern kingdom over its idol worship, while the false prophets at that time had been painting a rosy picture for the kingdom because of its ...

In Paul's fourth letter to the Corinthian church, which was actually the book of Second Corinthians, Paul started the letter by telling the Corinthian Christians that he had not visited them after his third letter because he did not want to strain their already strained relationship. As will be discussed in that opening chapter, he had had a difficult second visit to the church during the early days of his third Bible-recorded missionary trip. He had then followed that up with a probable stern third letter to them. So because of that, he had not visited them after his third letter because ...

The book of Revelation is a very interesting book. With its various symbols, characters, and colorful language, it is also a very complicated book. But it is well worth studying to try to understand the future events of this world. In the pages that follow, the four main approaches that scholars have used for understanding the book of Revelation will be identified. They are the Preterist view, the Historical view, the Allegorical view, and the Futurist view. This text uses the Futurist view, which attempts to apply a literal interpretation whenever possible. This text will also identify ...

Many, but not all of the heroes of the Faith, are named in Hebrews chapter eleven. Sixteen saints were specifically named in the first thirty-two verses of that chapter. But many others were implied indirectly in the last eight verses of that chapter. Hebrews 11:32-40 says, "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell…of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to ...

In the first four chapters of his letter to the Corinthian church, which was obviously not originally divided into four easy-to-read chapters, Paul talked about a division in the church that he had learned about from either Chloe or from a person in Chloe's household. Then in the next four chapters of this first volume of a commentary on the book of First Corinthians, he talked about fornication in the church, taking a brother or sister in the Lord to court, to marry or not to marry, and the Christian position on eating meats that had been offered to idols. But in looking at his ...

Many people may find this text offensive. But my desire for many years has been to understand why so many people who regularly attend church do not get more involved in the church's ministries. While not everyone will agree with my general conclusion, it is that most of those individuals are probably not really saved. I do not want to be a judge or sound judgmental. But the simple fact is that the Bible teaches throughout that the Christian is a life of ministry and service for the Lord by the true followers of Christ. So as will be discussed in the following pages, one of my conclusions is...

Not surprisingly, the scriptures share many important doctrinal truths about Jesus and the principles of Christianity. It is for that reason that this book has been written. The whole goal has been to share Bible truth and doctrinal truth by presenting one hundred stories about Jesus during His incarnated life and also stories about His apostles. Those truths will be shared as short two-or-three-page essays. They range from Jesus feeding five thousand men to Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding supper in Cana. They range from Jesus and John the Baptist warning the people to repent to ...

In his gospel, the Apostle John had recorded eight occasions when Jesus had made metaphorical statements about Himself. In chapter one of this text however, the evidence to show that he had actually written the gospel by his name will first be presented. One should note from that discussion that this gospel has not always had his name associated with it. So there had initially been some room for doubt. One should also understand that not everyone agrees about when this gospel was written. So that will also be a matter for discussion. Finally, chapter one will also consider some of the very ...