In Old Testament times, legal and binding covenants were not drafted by attorneys and then signed by the parties involved. Instead, legal agreements were formalized by means of a very graphic covenant ceremony. Called, “Beriyth” (to cut a covenant), this ceremony ratifying a legal agreement was sealed by cutting an animal in half. Then the two part…

The Ten Commandments give us the fundamental principles for life and conduct. Exodus 21-23 applies those 10 principles to the complex context of daily living. While these laws were specifically given to Israel as God’s covenant people, they are universally applicable and provide the judicial framework for all democratic countries in the world today…

Introduction The chapters in our study today establish the “Civil Laws” of Israel -- the regulations that involve the just punishment and procedures to follow for crimes committed. These were the laws that Moses was instructed to teach those who were put over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens (Ex 18:21-22). Blessings, The Epic Life 3-2600 Kaumu…

This excerpt is from a sermon by Pastor Bob Hallman on the Book of the Covenant in Exodus, which provides legal guidelines for the Israelites. The sermon highlights the uniqueness of this ancient legal system, which emphasizes justice for all and includes laws regarding slavery, personal injury, and the death penalty. Pastor Hallman compares the Bo…

The provided text is an excerpt from a sermon by Pastor Bob Hallman, who explores the Ten Commandments, emphasizing their relevance for modern life. He contrasts Ted Turner's dismissal of the commandments as outdated with Ted Koppel's assertion of their enduring value. Hallman then examines the commandments in detail, interpreting each one in light…

This excerpt is a sermon by Pastor Bob Hallman, where he discusses the concept of meeting with God, using the story of the Israelites at Mount Sinai as an example. He emphasizes the importance of being in God's presence and seeking His guidance, highlighting the contrast between the conditional covenant of the Old Testament and the unconditional co…

This is a sermon from Pastor Bob Hallman, drawing from the biblical story of Moses and Jethro in Exodus 18. Hallman uses this story to discuss the importance of prioritizing what is important in life over what is urgent. He argues that many people, particularly those in ministry, fall into the trap of constantly tending to urgent demands, neglectin…

This sermon by Pastor Bob Hallman, from the series in Exodus focuses on the story of the Israelites' journey through the desert, particularly their experience with manna. The sermon's structure revolves around three key themes: grumbling, manna, and the Sabbath. Pastor Hallman emphasizes the negative impact of grumbling, both in our relationship wi…

This sermon by Pastor Bob Hallman is based on the book of Exodus, specifically Moses's song after the Israelites escaped from Egypt. He uses the Israelites' journey as a metaphor for the Christian life, highlighting how God tests and refines his people through difficult times. Pastor Hallman emphasizes that God's power is evident, not just in grand…

Exodus chapter 13, and we're continuing our study through the book of Exodus.I've entitled the message today, "The Consecration of the First Born." I'd like to begin as usual by reading the text in its entirety, and then we'll spend the balance of our time considering its application to our life this morning. It's interesting how he begins this par…

Holy Spirit, we're asking that you just fill us up. Fill us up. You've already done such a great work in us, but we're looking forward to what you're going to teach us in the Word. And we're asking God, would you, by your spirit, fill us, fill us again, overflow our lives. For those that are discouraged this morning, fill them with hope. For those …

We're looking at the Passover and its institution, instructions, and I've entitled the message, Jesus in the Passover, because he is everywhere. From the beginning of Genesis to the very end of Revelation, Christ is in the pages, and probably in no stronger and more obvious place than in the Passover meal that God instituted as they prepared to lea…

It's interesting that this particular chapter is really a prelude to the tenth plague. Nothing really happens in this chapter except a lot of prophecy in this in these ten short verses We have no fewer than 15 prophetic predictive events that God says are going to happen. And as I read through this, I thought, man, this chapter is just filled with …

I don't know about you, but I find it amazing how resilient Pharaoh is. Not everyone really has an idea. There's some speculation about how long all these events took place for the ten plagues, but some have speculated approximately eight weeks. I just can't imagine a worse eight weeks in your entire life. I mean, one of these plagues would have be…

I get it really excited about the Bible every time I open it and there are times that it's more exciting than other times but I just really love the Word of God and I want to encourage you even before we read this in some ways this is kind of an obscure passage it's like well what are we going to get out of this plagues You know, lice, frogs, I mea…

I entitled the message "dealing with a stubborn heart" and I was thinking to myself a stubborn heart, not that any of us have ever had a stubborn heart, but I've had a stubborn heart before, and we've all struggled with it. In fact, when we're thinking of children right now, we're thinking about the fact that every child has a stubborn heart. It's …

By way of brief review, you'll recall that the people of Israel have been in Egypt for about 430 years at this point. They entered the country with the favor of the Egyptians under Joseph's leadership, but the winds of adversity began to blow against Israel as a new king was raised up in Egypt, and they were enslaved and put into bondage to build a…

Moses has been given this commission to go and to request that Pharaoh let the people go and that they be allowed to go out for a festival for three days in the wilderness to worship the Lord. And that's where we pick up the text in verse 1 of chapter 5 of Exodus. I've entitled the message, Get Your Own Straw. Obviously, it's lifted right out of th…

God revealed himself in, not a pillar of fire, a pillar of cloud, or in some glorious, majestic, booming voice, but he revealed himself in a twisted thorny, useless bush, foreshadowing really the amazing gift of the indwelling spirit in the life of a believer today. And in the midst of that conversation that God had with Moses, he instructed him th…

The difference between chapter two and chapter three represents 40 years. And so, when we finish chapter two, we've got a 40-year gap we know nothing of Moses's life except that he was shepherding a flock of Jethro for those 40 years. We pick up the text in chapter 3, verse 1. And I'd like to read it to you this morning. Now Moses was tending the f…

the Bible tells us that Amram and Yacobed fashioned a basket and covered it with tar and pitch in preparation to send this little boy down the Nile River. My guess is that God had spoken to Amram and Yacobed and said, release the child to me.In some form or another, they knew what to do, but they had no idea what the outcome would be, very much lik…

If you're looking at one of the New Testament texts, people that God has chosen. And he chose them, by the way, not because they were spectacular or wonderful or especially anointed or especially responsive to God, but the Bible actually tells us in several places that God chose them because they were least of all the people. And that's how God wor…

The book of Exodus actually picks up where Genesis leaves off. And now through this book, we're being introduced to these great themes of deliverance that God brought to the people of Israel coming out of Egypt and out of bondage. And in the midst of this leadership that Moses exercises in bringing the people out of bondage, God begins to meet with…

But God is good, and when he's on the throne, things get better. And especially when we recognize that he's on the throne. I entitled the message "dying to defend" for two reasons: Have you ever been accused falsely? Not very many of us, right? I mean, the honest truth is, we're usually accused of stuff we've done, not for stuff we haven't done. It…

John is wrapping up the second book that he's written. And there are more to come. He certainly got second and third John, but also the book of Revelation. But in the book of John,the Gospel of John, he had basically two objectives. One was that his readers would hear the good news, and secondly, that they would believe the good news. And first, Jo…

If you want to grow, if you want to be godly, if you want to be right with God, if you want to be fruitful, if you want to be full of joy and purpose and meaning, the first place to start is your relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the first place is drawn here to Him, abide in Him. Everything else flows out of that. If you want anything that Go…

We've been going through the book of 1 John and considering the life of the authentic Christian. And as I've said repeatedly over the last number of months, If it isn't authentic, it's not worth living. If we aren't going to be serious about completely giving ourselves to the things of the kingdom, then it's not worth being a hypocrite, because it'…

The authentic Christian life, and as I've been saying for a number of weeks here, in fact, a couple of months, if it's not authentic, it's not worth living. It's not worth going to church. It's not worth reading your Bible if it's not authentic. It's a waste of our time. It's a waste of my time. And I'm not talking about you being a waste of my tim…

The topic of his message to the people that he's writing to, is love. It's the supreme test. It's a supreme authentic test for true Christianity. As I've been teaching, that without love, we can be all kinds of things. We can be knowledgeable about Scripture. We can be gifted. We can be teachers. We can be worship leaders. We can be serving after c…

We've been, again, looking through the book of 1 John at the qualities of the authentic Christian life. That's what living the Christian life is all about. In fact, when I was at Kapa 'a High the other day, I had a question-and-answer time for about 15 minutes and one of the kids said that the biggest turn off for them is hypocrisy. And one of the …

Last week, as I was talking about the example of Cain, there are a couple of things that came to mind in terms of hate and love. And when I think of hate and the example of Cain, hate is negative. Clearly, it's a very negative kind of quality. It's a quality that God doesn't allow in our lives unless we're hating sin and hating evil. And hate when …

The thing that's so sad is oftentimes there are Christians, and I don't think we have any in this church, but sometimes it's a struggle for us. Sometimes we'll slip and fall and we'll find it's kind of half in and half out of God's kingdom in our hearts. And it's misery. It's really awful because we can't enjoy sin and we can't enjoy our relationsh…

This last couple of weeks we've been taking a look at the book of 1st John, and it's just been marvelous seeing what God has for us as believers. It's incredible. And this last week, John kind of interrupts himself in chapter three. If you want to start turning there, that would be great. But he interrupts himself as he's talking about the authenti…

Between authentic Christianity and Gnosticism, which again, for those of you that haven't been here with us, is just the teaching and belief that You can profess one thing with your mouth and have a spiritual relationship with God and at the same time live any way that you want So there are no constraints. You can do anything that your heart desire…

The first thing that John tells us in this verse in chapter 2, verse 28, he says, "Continue in him." And this word "continue," it's a different word than we've been looking at in the last couple of times we've been studying first, John, but it's the same word as remain. It's the same word as to abide. It's the same Greek root word, but the context …

John has been speaking as I've said so many times in the course of this study, to Gnostics. And he's speaking to the early church about the perils of Gnosticism. And he continues his address in first John dealing with the spiritual perils of the last days. And part of that spiritual peril is the Antichrist. And John more specifically addresses Anti…

I'm looking out at all of you and I'm thinking, "That's my sister. That's my brother. We're going to be together forever." So even though you're strangers to me, I got to meet a few of you. It's like, "Man, we're family. We're permanent family. That's wonderful. First John chapter 2 verse 15. The scripture says, "Do not love the world or anything i…

You know, John has been laying out what it means to be an authentic Christian, what it means to be a genuine Christian. And, he's laid out a number of things for us the genuine authentic believer walks in the light, acknowledges and confesses sin, obeys God's commands, and walks as Jesus walked. And he's laid out some pretty stiff standards for wha…

We've been taking a look at some of the characteristics of the authentic Christian life.And if you recall, one of John's primary aims is that we would have fellowship with a father, with the son, and with one another. And that fellowship, if it's genuine, authentic Christian fellowship, is centered on Jesus Christ. He talks about several characteri…

First John chapter 2 starting in verse 3. We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. "The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him." But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him m…

I hung out with a bunch of different groups. I didn't just hang with one group and so I would kind of bounce around. But I'd even go to parties. I'd be with all kinds of people that liked me and that I like. And I'd still just this emptiness inside. And I'd turn on James Taylor. And you know, when you're done, and you need help, and you know his mu…

We've been going through the book of 1st John. And we've looked at the Gnostic heresy. We won't go into a lot of that. I am trusting that some of you that have come from other parts of the country are well -taught and are somewhat familiar with Gnosticism. But I am going to touch on it just a little bit, some more aspects of Gnostic heresy that wil…

Do you remember those days when you were afraid of the dark and you wanted the little light on? So, I've got to turn the light on. And in fact, if I don't and I forget and I go out the door and he forget, I'll hear this cry, "Daddy, you know, I need the light on." And so I have to come back up, and he's just not comfortable until the light Is on. A…

You know, I was meeting with the Father, and I was meeting with some friends this week and non -Christian friends, people that we've met here since we've come to the islands, and one of the things that has struck me in my conversation, not just with them, but with a number of unbelievers that I've been speaking to since we've arrived, and the thing…

Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteou…

There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit the poison of asks is under their tongue under their lips Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and misery are In their ways and they know the way of peace but have not and the …

Paul has made a powerful statement that "Mankind is guilty before God in chapter one." He's posited that God has revealed himself and we have rejected him. Step by step, God continues to reveal himself and continues to present the gospel through the prophets and his word and the scriptures and the testimony of the saints. And yet, there is this ten…

It's such an important component of the Gospel is understanding God's indignation toward sin. And so let's take a look at the text itself, and then we'll consider its application to our life this morning. Beginning at verse 18 of chapter one in Romans, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,…

Pastor Bob’s preached his last sermon series in 2017 in the book of Romans. Due to his cancer diagnosis, he was unable to finish the entire book but you can hear an older version of subsequent chapters (include the link). His last sermon from Romans 3, “A Righteousness from God” is especially powerful! He uses the cancer diagnosis process as an ill…

Pastor Bob’s preached his last sermon series in 2017 in the book of Romans. Due to his cancer diagnosis, he was unable to finish the entire book but you can hear an older version of subsequent chapters Romans — The Epic Life His last sermon from Romans 3, “A Righteousness from God” is especially powerful! He uses the cancer diagnosis process as an …