Highland Views

Levi began a new series on the Book of Galatians. In this first lesson, he focused on Christian Freedom

Levi discussed the role of women in Christianity.

Jehovah Jireh is a Hebrew phrase meaning "God Provides" or (as Levi explains in this sermon) "God Is Enough."

The elders invited John Mark Hicks, author and professor, to be the guest speaker today. Brother Hicks offered his thoughts and research from secular history about God's will regarding women in assemblies of the church

"Levi reminds us that the Bible is a detailed telling of a single story--God Redeeming Us! Then he took us through the highlights of the story in the following verses:Genesis 1-3,, Ex. 34:6-7, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Isaiah 43:16-19, Jeremiah 2:11-13, Jeremiah 9:23-26, Hosea 6:6, Amos 9:11-15, Micah 6:8, Micah 7:18-20, Luke 2:11, Luke 9:49-50, Luke 10:25-27, John 1:1-5, John 3:16, John 8:10-11, John 9:25, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:15-21, Romans 8, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:28, Hebrews 4:16, James 4:11-12, 1 John 4:16-21, Revelation 21:1-5a

The last sermon in the series "UnWandered Words" focuses on Obadiah. This is the least studied and researched of all, based on statistics from the online Bible app called Bible Gateway.  It is the shortest book in the Old Testament with only 21 verses. The book of Obadiah is one of the minor (short) prophecies and is in the form of Hebrew poetry. The subject of this book is the fate of the Edomites. Back in Genesis, we learn about Isaac and Rebekah's twin boys, Jacob and Esau. They grew up to become bitter enemies until near the end of their lives. Esau's descendants were called the Edomites, and Jacob's were called Israelites. in Obadiah's book, the Edomites had built a city high on a stony mountain and inside a cleft in the rock. They were very proud of this "city in the sky", and Obadiah references God scoffing at their false pride and sinful ways.

As we draw near the end of this series, Levi takes us through the 3 letters of John. While 1st John is an often-read book, 2nd and 3rd John are not often studied or read (per internet searches). That makes them UnWandered words. Levi provides a brief introduction looking at all three letters, and then homes in on the last two letters.

A minor prophet, Nahum wrote mainly in a poetic style. The topic is the sins and coming destruction of the city of Nineveh.

Continuing in our series of the UnWandered Words, Levi brings a lesson on the prophet Haggai.

Filling in for Levi this week, Jason Terry offered his thoughts and ideas about traditions in churches. 

As our countdown of the least popular books in the Bible continues, the New Testament letter Paul wrote to Philemon is in 6th place. Philemon was a Christian who had owned a slave named Onesimus who ran away from his obligation. Paul's appeal to Philemon has much to teach us.

The book of Zephaniah is the 7th least popular book based on internet searches and readings. One of the minor prophets, the book of Zephaniah focuses on the "Day of the Lord" which will see God visiting on the disobedient people, both God's chosen people and the enemies that harass them. The ending concerns the conversion of repentant nations and the song of joy after restoration to God's blessings.

The New Testament book of Jude is another in the series focused on the least popular books of the Bible. This book is the 8th least popular books, the letter written by Jude which is in the New Testament in the section known as General Epistles or Letters. 

Palm Sunday falls in March this year. Levi examines the lessons we can learn from the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as his public ministry and (indeed) his very life draw to an end. This event ushered in the final week of Jesus' life. 

The sermon for this day (Easter 2021) is based on Joel. Joel is one of the UnWandered Books (least popular for reading and study based on internet usage). The book is from the Old Testament and is one of the shorter (minor) prophets. There are only 3 chapters. He quotes from other minor prophets. This book begins with Joel's review of the actual events of their lives in the country of Israel. They have been plagued by drought, locusts, and famine. Chapter 2 switches to prophetic poetry and announces "the Day of the Lord" is near. In 2:12, he writes, "Yet even now" come back to the Lord, who is always near and waiting for repentance.

Are you surprised that Jonah is one of the internet's least researched, read, and studied books in the Bible? We were! The general story of Jonah and the great fish that swallowed him is very well known even among non-bible scholars. There are several surprising details that most folks aren't aware of in this little book in the Hebrew Bible. Levi digs into the details of this amazing journey and adventure of the prophet Jonah.

Malachi is the 11th least popular book of the Bible based on digital use and searches. This final book in the Old Testament is a dialog between God and the priests and people of Israel. Malachi is basically a back and forth about how many things displeased God about the Israelites and their worship and their lives. God (through Malachi) tells the people that they are not worshipping in the heart, they are not living faithfully. God says, "I am mercy. I don't change." He calls for repentance and notes that He is patient. Building the temple back didn't fix it. Observance of rules doesn't soften the heart. Beautiful but empty worship does not please God. God challenges them (and us) to change and see if He doesn't open a window from heaven to rain down blessings in return.

The beautiful and impactful parable of the Good Samaritan reveals a message that is needed in our world today: care for needy people without evaluating their similarity or difference from me.

Zechariah is a challenging book to read due to the structure of dreams that are not necessarily chronological and loop in reference to each other. Chapter 7 at first seems to be the end of the book, but it isn't. The book is outlined as: 1) Turn back to God, 2) 8 dream-visions, 3) Exiles in Grief, 4) Messiah's Kingdom, 5) New Jerusalem. Try to read the book in sweeping messages, not trying to ferret out meaning in each scary description. The higher message was this: STOP sinning and turn to God. Do Not repeat the mistakes of the past, but realize what God teaches us!

Habakkuk is the next Unwandered Words we will study. He is categorized among the Minor Prophets (those who wrote shorter books) in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible.

The book of Amos is another minor prophet (called minor because their writings were much shorter than the more verbose "major" prophets). The book was often quoted by Martin Luther King, including his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The book begins with detailed and scathing judgment from the Lord against Israel. Amos 4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.” Amos 6: 12 has the Lord's assessment of Israel’s sins: “But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness.” One of the more famous lines from Amos tells of a king who was annoyed with Amos' prophecies of doom. The leader told Amos to “go south and eat bread,' meaning. "They will like your preaching, Amos, and they’ll pay you for speaking." Amos 8:11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Then, as the book concludes, there is an offer of forgiveness. Amos 9:11-15 shows the repentance and restoration of Israel. "I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

Hosea chapters 1 and 3 contain information in prose form. All the other chapters give information in poetry form. Hosea married a prostitute when God asked him to do this. God wanted Hosea to live out an example of a lesson God wanted to show Israel. After they were married, Hosea's wife was unfaithful. God gave Hosea's children their names as part of the message to Israel. The first son's name meant : scattered. The second child was a daughter whose name meant: no mercy. The third son's name meant: not my people. Then in Hos. 4 we read God’s lawsuit against Israel. Hosea 11 is God’s love poem to God’s people. In Hos. 12, people were saying to themselves, "Our country is so rich, we must be right." In Hos. 13, we read of God's relentless judgment on the people. Finally, in Hos. 14, the book's conclusion. God offers repentance!

"Unwandered Words" means voices from Bible that we don’t spend much time reading or studying. Levi looked at the top 10 most popular books of the Bible searched or and found this result, in order: 1 psalm2 Matthew3 John4 Romans5 proverbs6 Genesis7 Luke8 1 Corinthians9 Isaiah10 ActsOf the 15 least popular, the book of Micah was least favorite! So, Levi preached on this prophet of the Hebrew Bible. He has been called the "Poor man’s prophet." The book has only seven chapters. Micah speaks of the problem of awaiting the long, slow process when awaiting true justice. He warned that "A civilization that perverts justice cannot stand." He also taught that leaders can lead people astray. Even church leaders can lead the flock in wrong paths. But Micah would not do those things. In his day, the people retorted. "What do you want from us, Lord?" Micah said: He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Luke 24 gives the historical account of one of the several appearances Jesus made following his resurrection from death. The details of this incident were written by Luke, one of Jesus' biographers in the Gospels section of the New Testament. Levi delves into the intriguing aspects of the conversation Jesus had with some followers who were walking on a road to the town of Emmaus. He joined them for part of the trek, and He even dined with them--all just a few days after Jesus had been executed and buried in nearby Jerusalem! The grave could not hold Him!

Christ did not feel compelled to combat Rome when he was on earth. In fact, he preached love and seeking to share God's good news and love to everyone, even Romans. This emphasis is repeated throughout the rest of the New Testament. Consider these passages: 1 Corinthians 12-13 - love is the greatest of all. Galatians 5 - the desires of the flesh are against the spirit. James 1:5 - if you lack wisdom, ask God. James 1:19 - be slow to speak..slow to anger. Put away all filthiness. James 4:11 - do not speak evil against each other. James 3 - control your tongue...it sets things on fire...a restless evil. Levi asks, "What does your mouth say about your heart?"

Famous themes about learning given by Martin Luther. 1) Ask God's help and insight each time we read holy scripture. 2) Bring a mind free from previous notions. 3) Read while considering the context of the writing: occasion time persons and circumstances. 4) Examine not just the objects of the chapters but the books as a whole. 5) what is the special object of the chapter and how it illustrates what precedes and follows. 6) Passages should be compared so scripture is explained by scripture. In John 1:1-5, we hear John's words that testify to the deity of Jesus Christ. Decide for this year what you want to focus on for spending time with scriptures in communion with God. This week, Levi challenges us to read the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13ff).

Levi's final sermon for 2020 was a very touching acknowledgement of the pain of grief. He shares some of the things he has learned from his own personal journey with grief, having lost his mother at a young age. He shares an illustration of how grief changes over time to help with the understanding of what we can expect when a heartbreaking loss brings on grief.

In this presentation of "members' voices", we hear different girls and women read the scriptures telling of Mary's song of gratitude upon learning of Jesus' coming birth. Also, comments from the perspective of some of the mothers in our congregation as they imagine Mary giving birth to the Savior of all the earth. Mary brought forth a baby, a king, a lamb. Her hero son became The Sacrifice.

God sent Jesus to save the world. Jesus was a king, but not as the world sees kings. Jesus was not rich in worldly goods, but He owned the world! The Messiah defied all expectations as He fulfilled every prophesy and turned the world on its head. This sermon explores all the ways that God in His wisdom gave the people of the world what we really needed instead of what everyone thought we needed.

Week 2 of Advent 2020 is here. Long ago in the first century, Jewish people longed and waited for the coming of Messiah, even though they didn't know what that Messiah would be like. Levi reads Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85, and 2 Peter 3:8ff.

Levi concluded this series on Psalms with the final 5 songs in the book: chapters 146-150. These chapters wrap up the book with songs that are very fitting for this first week of Advent. Humans tend to visualize God in distorted ways. Whereas someone might be thinking of God as a stern and serious "killjoy"--He actually takes great pleasure in His people. He is delighted to give us joy in the best spiritual sense of the word. Celebration is throughout the book. Then sometimes a person may think of God as vengeful, yet he feels the greatest love and hope that we will repent of sin and grow in faith. These final chapters show these characteristics of God. He is an artist, so creative, so filled with imagination. We inherit these gifts and can use them to praise God. Hallelujah.

As our study of Psalms nears its conclusion, Levi covers chapters 135-145. These ancient songs represent both major types of psalms: praises and laments. Listen as Levi explores these 11 psalms with their ups and downs, mimicking our everyday lives.

This section of Psalms is called the Songs of Ascent. In ancient times, the temple had 15 steps. As the priest went up each of the steps, he would read/sing one of these 15 psalms. This represented the journey of all Jews up to the temple mount to meet God on the mountaintop.

Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem. That means each section is keyed to a single letter of the Hebrew alphabet, starting with "aleph". The poetic mechanism doesn't happen when the chapter is translated, but it is interesting to know this fact about the original psalm. This is the longest chapter in the whole Bible. Levi reads and discusses the entire chapter.

This 8th lesson from Psalms focuses on a section known as The Hallel, chapters 113-118. This section makes up the second portion of the 5th "book" in Psalms.Here are links to relevant websites for further exploration of the information Levi shared.1) Hallel reading (12 minutes): https://youtu.be/-NGRK5baZwc2) Hallel being sung at the Western Wall (21 minutes - just watch any 60 seconds of it to get a feel!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAGvxRTCLLg3) Here is a song (with lyrics) from Will Reagan and United Pursuit called "Leave this House Singing" that is a great contemporary worship song from the Hallel (117): https://youtu.be/yqNeusAKz84 (~3 1/2 minutes)

We continued learning about the book of Psalms, and Levi began with Psalms' 5th section. This part of Psalms includes chapters 107 to the end. Although Levi spent one week each on the first four sections of Psalms, he decided to teach several lessons on this portion of this beautiful book. In this lesson, Levi concentrated on section 5a, Psalms 107-112 with special focus on chapter 107. ending with words about the steadfast love of God. What an amazing and comforting thought!

Levi talked about Psalms' fourth internal section, chapters 90-106. He used the English Standard Version (ESV) to read key chapters. He highlighted these: 90, 91-95, 98, 100, 102-03, 105 and 106.

Today Levi surveyed the third section of the book of Psalms (chapters 73-89). Levi read several key songs from this section which emphasize the theme of being alone, distanced and apart from loved ones and friends. This is a section that speaks to the troubles we have faced so far in 2020: pandemic, pandemonium, clashes, hardships.

Jesus and his apostles were walking through the countryside and came to Jacob's well. There Jesus sent his apostles off to get some food. While he waited, he met a woman at the well. They talked and Jesus told her things about her life that a normal stranger would not have known. Jason then took us to John 2 where we read about the wedding feast at Cana and Jesus' first public miracle. These powerful stories show us two separate events where people faced everyday problems (multiple spouses; embarrassing wine shortage at a wedding). They learned from Jesus that God offers unexpected solutions and different perspectives to the troubles in our lives.

A brief look at Levi's favorite chapters from Psalms section 1. This portion of the book of Psalms begins in chapter 3 and goes through chapter 41.

Psalms is a collection of songs, poetry, prayers, chants, etc. They were written by inspired men including David, Moses and others. They are organized in a specific order. Chapters 1 and 2 are an introduction to the five divisions of the book. Today, we take a look at this introduction in Psalms 1-2. In the coming weeks we will walk the hills and valleys of Psalms.

This lesson's theme is the joy of RETURNING (in person following COVID-19 closure) to our wonderful family joined spiritually in God's church. Psalm 100 extols God's steadfast love that endures forever. The author of this Psalm is giving thanks for this, God's love for us, and for His majesty. Also, Psalm 98 is a song of how gratitude overwhelms the one who loves God until we cannot resist giving thanks. We have so much to be grateful for today, as we return to in-person assemblies. This Sunday is special, including the baptism of one of our young people after the sermon concluded. What an amazing event for our first in-person assembly of the COVID era.

Levi gives information on our plans to begin meeting in person again next Sunday, September 6, at 10:30A EDT. Here are some guidelines:Wear masks. Enter in via front door or the covered side entrance (Office side) Pick up a communion packet for when we partake together of the Lord's Supper. Please plan to sit only in designated pews to observe safe distancing. Remember, if your immune system is vulnerable, you should exercise discretion and remain at home, attending online via our website or Facebook Live. This will be a wonderful reunion!

Do Christians look like perfect people? No. We have to sincerely try our best to live as Christ would have us live, but we are not able to be perfect at doing that. Read Romans 8 - we have to be different from the person we were when we put on Christ in baptism. Now we are held to a standard -- be like Christ! Yet, this is not a call to be perfect, because mercy and grace still wash us as long as we reject the old life of sin. 2 Corinthians 5:11 and the following several verses tell us that God knows us. The love of Christ compels us so that we don't live for ourselves, but for God. Levi also goes into the chapter of Hebrews 4 on this topic

John 2:13 and following tells us of a time when Jesus took action to restore honesty and dignity to the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was filled with righteous anger because of how some people in the temple grounds were behaving in His Father's house. He sat down and fashioned a whip to drive the animals from the area. He turned over tables and insisted that these dishonest practices stop. Unfortunately, most illustrations and pictures of this event show what looks like Jesus out of control. But he was not out of control as he did this--he used his emotion to forcefully make his point. He was slow to anger (sat down and prepared his flail). Luke 19:45 contains this point: Jesus said that some have made the courtyard a den of thieves. For us today, we can realize that Jesus was never a raging, mindless mad man. He was righteous in his anger at sinful practices visited on a holy place. This is a picture of how we can be controlled in our behaviors even when anger is the emotion we are feeling.

Levi reviewed the following verses with the focus on "What Does a Christian Look/Act Like?Romans 6:1ff2 Peter 1:3ff Ephesians 4:17-24Gal. 4 :8-9Gal. 2:17-20Romans 12:1-3These verses tell us that our former lives (prior to choosing God's will and putting Christ on in baptism) are gone. We are now His--actually representing Christ to the world by seeking to love like He did while on the earth. This theme will continue for the next several sermons.

The text for this sermon is Matthew 20, a parable of Jesus about vineyard workers hired at different times of the day. Levi discussed how the modern American concept of fairness is more akin to envy or coveting. Levi delves into the idea of "begrudging" the good fortune of another, feeling envious and quarrelsome about someone else's perceived better experience. Great sermon reminder about being contented with what we have.

Levi urged us to read the following scriptures: John 13:34-35; John 15; Rom. 13:8-14; 1 Thes. 3:11-13; 1 Thes. 4:9: 1 Peter 4:8-10; 1 John 3:11, 3:23-24, 4:7-21; 2 John. 5; In the first of these (John 13:3-35), Jesus washed the disciples' feet. Loving each other in the Lord is the main characteristic of fellowship.

Levi opened today contemplating that the disciples walked and talked daily with Jesus in the 3 years of his public ministry. Did that mean they were not praying since they were in God’s presence? (Acts 1:12ff) In the heart of the message, Levi read from James 5. Here, we learn of the power and privilege we have to pray to God through Jesus! And in confessing our sins--our mistakes--to each other, we open up growth and relationship that is truly transforming.

There are about 100 uses of "one another" in the Bible. About 50% of those concern the family of God, the church of Jesus Christ. The information God gives us about relationships in our physical family are the same as for our church family. In this sermon, Levi briefly reviews Bible passages that use the term one another to gain an overview of how we should treat each other.

These are such challenging times that we can all use an uplifting message. Levi Dodd answers this need today with a lesson on JOY! In fact, a Christian has the power to choose joy, regardless of anything else that is occurring in life. Romans 15 is a wonderful treatise on this. Christians can decide to focus on eternal, spiritual gifts rather than mourn the difficulties of life. We might not be happy for a season, but we can always be filled with joy. That is a gift of God. Don't let it go unclaimed in your life. NOTE: Levi spoke his message today despite feeling very much under the weather. We thank him for his determination to be with us!