Born to Win's Weekend Bible Study. A production of Christian Educational Ministries.
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Ronald L Dart Podcasts
Born to Win's Daily Radio Broadcast and Weekly Sermon. A production of Christian Educational Ministries.
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The Middle East is a very curious place, but I hardly need to tell you that. For instance, everyone learns the parable of the Good Samaritan in church, and they learn that the Samaritans were pariahs to the Jews. I wonder, though, how many people know that the Samaritans are still there. Fewer still will know the story of how the Samaritans came to…
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By Ronald L. Dart
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Reading through the stories of the last kings of the house of Israel, I always get a feeling of ineffable sadness. That nation had been served by two of the greatest prophets who ever lived—Elijah, the archetype of all prophets, and Elisha, who had a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. There were only two more significant prophets during the en…
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It was now 126 years after the death of Solomon and the division of the Kingdom of Israel into two houses—the House of Israel and the House of Judah. A man named Amaziah came to the throne to rule for 29 years. To give you a feeling for the passage of time, if you count forward from the Declaration Independence—a similar sort of division—that 126 y…
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It is a sobering thought to consider that the Kingdom of Israel was once ruled by a woman—but not a very good woman. To secure her throne, she had all the royal children murdered. But a priest, Jehoiada, hid one of the boys, and thereby hangs a story. Athaliah, the queen, ruled for six years until the boy Jehoash was seven. Then the priest and the …
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By [email protected] (Sermon by Ronald L. Dart)
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Are you angry? Are you mad at what is going on in government? If you are a Republican, you are probably mad at the Democrats. If you are a Democrat, you are mad at the Republicans. If you are an independent, you get to take your pick. But even here, we are forgetting something really important. Remember something Abraham Lincoln said to a generatio…
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Evil has lasting consequences. Not only was King Ahab corrupt, so were his children, who learned in their mother how to get the things they wanted. The corruption of his sons seemed inevitable, and the results of that corruption as inevitable as tomorrow’s sunrise. Of course, repentance was just as open to his sons as it had been to Ahab. It was ju…
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All through this period of Kings, there is pattern that develops. The people would fall away, go after idols, and suffer all the results of that. In Judah, though, they would occasionally be led back to God by a reforming king—and God’s holy days would often be the reason for the reform. They showed the way back to God and out of idolatry. But in t…
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The days of the prophet Elisha seem to have been somewhat unique in the history of Israel. Prophecy was vital in those days, but most of it was delivered orally. We don’t encounter much in the way of writing prophets until somewhat later. One Jewish writer, though, had this to say about a much later time in the history of the Jewish people that she…
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I’m still amazed at how many would-be prophets want to take on the mantle of Elijah. I think I mentioned that I have met three or four Elijahs in my time. What’s funny is that and I don’t recall anyone claiming to be a successor of Elisha, who had double the power of Elijah. That man is astonishing. But there is a reason for that. The reason is tha…
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In all of the Bible, who is the greatest example of leadership (apart from Jesus, of course)? Without a doubt, it’s David. When you speak of David in a Biblical context, the name needs no modifier. You don’t have to call him King David for a Bible reader to know exactly who you are talking about. His name occurs more than 1,000 times in the Old Tes…
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By Ronald L. Dart
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By [email protected] (Sermon by Ronald L. Dart)
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One of the most dramatic moments in all the stories of the Bible is that moment when Elijah and Elisha have crossed over the river Jordan, and a great whirlwind comes down from heaven, and a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire carries Elijah away. It was really something to see, I suppose. It was the moment when power was transferred from Elija…
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It has been 62 years since the death of Solomon. For 62 years there have been two Israels: the House of Israel, now with a capital in Samaria; the House of Judah, capital in Jerusalem. You can cast your mind back 62 years from today and get a feeling for the passage of time even if you weren’t alive then. There are many old people who still remembe…
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Not everyone gets this, but let me have a run at it anyway: God does not care for centralized authority. That is not to say he hasn’t allowed it. And I realize that, in one sense, everything that happens is allowed by God or it wouldn’t have happened. But there is another sense in which God seems to say, Okay, what you are asking for is not the bes…
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By Ronald L. Dart
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In my time, I have followed a lot of election campaigns. I remember sitting in a car, in the rain, in England listening to the Democratic National Convention on the BBC when Lyndon Johnson was nominated. But in all my years of following elections, I have never seen anything quite like this election season. The political process has always been a li…
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I simply cannot imagine a greater prophet than Elijah. He was not a smooth man, like I suspect Isaiah was. Isaiah was a poet, and a great one at that. I see no hint of poetic utterance in any word Elijah ever spoke. But then, every prophet that God ever called was chosen for the job at hand and for the people he was sent to talk to. One prophet was…
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He is the archetype of all prophets; his name was Elijah. Probably one of the reasons he is so well known is because he is so persistent in the Bible—he keeps cropping up. He was to come just before Jesus (John the Baptist, everyone sees, fulfilled that) but most students of prophecy expect him to come again at the end time. This naturally leads to…
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I was standing, looking out an open window in my hotel room at Victoria Station in London one night. My wife and I had been to the theater, had just got back in, and opened the window for a little fresh air. I heard a rumble, uncharacteristic of London weather, and I remarked, I hope that’s thunder. It wasn’t. The IRA had set off a bomb two blocks …
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When you settle in to read the Bible, you run into any number of difficulties—none of them fatal, of course. The sense of the Bible is not that hard, it is just that the writers of the Bible wrote, not only in a different language, but out of a different culture. Things that would be important to the modern reader don’t even cross their minds. Ther…
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At the Last Supper, after washing his disciples' feet, Jesus said something of singular importance. He said, You call me master and lord, and you say well for so I am. The American reader is likely to take these two words, master and lord, as synonyms; but when the King James translators sat down and wrote this out, the head of a school was a maste…
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At the Last Supper, after washing his disciples' feet, Jesus said something of singular importance. He said, You call me master and lord, and you say well for so I am. The American reader is likely to take these two words, master and lord, as synonyms; but when the King James translators sat down and wrote this out, the head of a school was a maste…
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By now, everyone realizes that we have a leadership crisis, not only in our country, but in the world at large. I wonder how we got to this place? Where does leadership come from and, maybe more importantly, where does it go? I believe that leadership is a gift from God, and if you’ll spare me a little time, I’ll explain to you why I think that. Fi…
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Never take counsel of your fears. The saying is often attributed to Andrew Jackson who also, plainly, read his Bible. It is fascinating how often fear strips a man of victories already won. This was the case with one Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. After the death of Solomon, God handed him the largest portion of Israel—10 of the 12 tribes. He was a go…
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When you read those books of the Bible that contain the history of Israel, the lessons come at you one after the other. There is a man in the Book of Kings named Jeroboam, for example, who will embody several of them. Jeroboam is described as a mighty man of valor. Now, what that means in biblical-speak is that he was a fighter, and very good at it…
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When you are reading the history in the Bible, you have to resist the temptation to see things in terms familiar to the modern reader. Take the idea of cities, for example. Solomon has finished the Temple, and somewhere along the way, he has married the daughter of Pharaoh. Well, Pharaoh wants to give his daughter a present, so he goes up along the…
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One of the most incredible museums that the world has ever known was also one that hardly anyone ever got to visit; it was the temple that King Solomon built. When the construction of the Temple was finally complete, Solomon brought in the things that King David had dedicated—silver, gold, furnishings—and placed them in the Temple’s treasuries. Wha…
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We Christians have an anxiety about us—about who we are, about our failures, about our differences, about our spats—and we let these anxieties prevent us from doing and saying things that need to be said and done; not only in church, but in the community and in the world. Peggy Noonan - Patriots, Then and Now Link 1 | Link 2…
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We Christians have an anxiety about us—about who we are, about our failures, about our differences, about our spats—and we let these anxieties prevent us from doing and saying things that need to be said and done; not only in church, but in the community and in the world. Peggy Noonan - Patriots, Then and Now Link 1 | Link 2…
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Do you suppose God would ever call a man to be a lawyer or, perhaps, a governor? (And, no, I am not about to tell a lawyer joke.) There is a funny thing about Christian thinking when it comes to a divine calling. We tend to think of God's calling having solely to do with church work or ministry. But is that the right view of the matter? There are t…
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Sometimes, in the Bible, you come across descriptions, details, and lists that can be a little hard to follow. One example of this is the description in 1 Kings 6 of the construction of Solomon’s temple. It’s not too easy to work your way through it, and there are just too many details missing to get an accurate picture. You can find artists’ conce…
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In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give you. And Solomon said, You have shown unto your servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; and you have kept for him this great kindness, that you have give…
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Nothing is ever easy in the Middle East, and the transition from the man who was Israel’s greatest fighting king to her greatest peacetime king was stormy. It wasn’t that there was a problem between David and Solomon. The problem was another son (probably David’s oldest) who decided to usurp the kingdom while David was, he thought, too weak to do a…
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Abraham, the father of the faithful, is obviously the greatest figure in the Old Testament. But the greatest man in the history of Israel has to be King David. He was not only a king, he was a prophet. David was not a priest, and he never attempted to usurp the office of the priesthood as Saul did, but he was a man after God’s own heart. He was a m…
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Halloween is an odd event—very odd, in a way, because in its origins it was not evil; it was actually good. A number of you probably know that Halloween is All Hallows Even; in other words, All Hallows Eve—the evening before All Hallows. And All Hallows is All Saints day. And, originally, All Saints Day (November 1st) was the day when all the saint…
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Halloween is an odd event—very odd, in a way, because in its origins it was not evil; it was actually good. A number of you probably know that Halloween is All Hallows Even; in other words, All Hallows Eve—the evening before All Hallows. And All Hallows is All Saints day. And, originally, All Saints Day (November 1st) was the day when all the saint…
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Excuse me for asking, but what’s wrong with you people? Why on earth would you dress up your children like witches, or hobgoblins, ghosts, demons, dead men’s bones and then send out to commit extortion on your neighbors by demanding treats and threatening tricks if the neighbors don’t come across? What could you possibly be thinking and why allow y…
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When I was growing up, Fascism was a political term in common use. I was seven years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the years ahead saw us occupied with the defeat of fascism. I can’t say I knew what it meant. I just knew it was bad. I have this uncanny feeling that, as fascism rears its ugly head again in our world, that a lot of pe…
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Christian people have often failed in their responsibilities to their fellow man. This is not terribly surprising. After all, we are human. Jesus, in a couple of his parables suggested that as many as half of us who call ourselves by his name will fail. And, in the end, none of us can escape the judgment that will fall on us for how we live and act…
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The German people are, in every sense of the word, a great people—intelligent, innovative, accomplished. But for me, the question about the Germans is always colored by the dark shades of Adolf Hitler, and the question of what happened to them…and to the Jews of Europe. Not long ago, I presented a program titled How Freedom is Lost. I turned back t…
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Would you make a treaty with the Devil? It is a silly question, isn’t it? You would never do anything like that. And yet, nations do it all the time. We could argue that no one would knowingly make a deal with the Devil, because he is a known liar and a sworn adversary. You wouldn’t believe him. You know he is your enemy. There is no way. The only …
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When all is said and done; when the Millennium is passed; when the Great White Throne Judgment is finished, and the last of all the loose ends are tied up; when the earth has been melted down with fervent heat; when there's a new heavens and a new earth, and the heavenly city New Jerusalem has descended upon it...who will you be?…
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When all is said and done; when the Millennium is passed; when the Great White Throne Judgment is finished, and the last of all the loose ends are tied up; when the earth has been melted down with fervent heat; when there's a new heavens and a new earth, and the heavenly city New Jerusalem has descended upon it...who will you be?…
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When I lived in England some years ago, it seemed that every spring, one or another bishop of the Church of England would publish some new, outrageous doctrinal idea about God. I began to suspect that they drew straws every year to see whose turn it was to create a storm in the news before Easter. One year, it seemed that N.T. Wright (Bishop of Dur…
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Do you believe there’s a spirit world out there? There is, you know, although it’s not exactly out there—it’s right here. It’s in the same room as you. You can’t see it, can’t taste it, can’t touch it. The science fiction writers might call it another dimension, and they may be the closest to explaining it in terms that modern man might understand.…
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One of the most exciting discoveries in my life was when I learned that the festivals of the Bible actually contained an outline of God’s plan—an outline much more complex than I had at first imagined. They are loaded with illustrations, with analogies, with symbols and types of the plan of salvation, the life and work of Jesus Christ, of end-time …
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One of the most exciting discoveries in my life was when I learned that the festivals of the Bible actually contained an outline of God’s plan—an outline much more complex than I had at first imagined. They are loaded with illustrations, with analogies, with symbols and types of the plan of salvation, the life and work of Jesus Christ, of end-time …
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