Awake Us Now

Pastor begins with a brief overview of Solomon's divided kingdom. Judah was in the south with two tribes ruled by a descendant of David, Reheboam. Israel in the north with ten tribes was ruled by Jeroboam (1 Kings 11-14) 931-910 BC.  God had said that Jeroboam's kingship would be blessed if he followed the Lord, but he chose the exact opposite path. In today's class we will look closely at three incidents with Jeroboam. In 1 Kings 12:31-33 we read some of the first things he did that were against God, everything Jeroboam did was counterfeit, just like what the enemy always tries to do - the enemy counterfeits what God desires.  We read; "Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places

Evidence from history, the bible, and geography points to the very events of the Book of Exodus, when God broke into history and delivered His people from bondage. The testimony of the rocks is also the testimony of the Word. The God who broke into history in Moses' day is the same God who broke into history at the time of our Savior Jesus Christ, delivering us from the bondage of sin and reconciling the world to Himself.

The Gospel of John Week 14 Scripture: John 10:1-28, Psalm 118. In our text today, Jesus talks of being the Good Shepherd. He talks of His sheep. He talks of being the Gate. He tells us He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. And He tells us that He brings life to His sheep. Pastor Dodge shares a personal testimony and experience along with many personal photos expounding on what God taught him about the difference between sheep and goats.  Pastor shares how powerfully this revelation has impacted him personally, impacted his teaching on God as the Good Shepherd and given him insight into us as God's sheep.  As Jesus continues, He makes it known that salvation is through Him alone. We see His heart for His people to recognize Him as their Messiah. Jesus doesn't offer us a bunch of rules and regulations - what He offers us is Himself. What He offers us is real life. Life that matters, life that has purpose and significance and life that will never end!  Compare what Jesus gives us to what the enemy brings.  

Our study opens with a look at Civil War between Rehoboam and Judah vs. Jeroboam and Israel (931-910 BC). 1 Kings 12:1 We read that Rehoboam went to Shechem, "for all Israel had gone there to make him king." Shechem was an historic site for the nation from about 500 years early when Levitical priests recited the blessings and the curses from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Shechem is the city near these two mountains.  In verses 3 and 4 we read that Jeroboam challenges Rehoboam. Reheboam goes to 2 advisory boards. One was the elders that had served under his father, Solomon.  They gave him wise direction. 1 Kings 12:7 - they said that if you serve the people and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants. (Wise advise - to be a servant leader. It is also a prophetic view of who Jesus would be - Jesus is our Servant King - our suffering servant) The second group of advisors was Rehoboam's young friends. 1 Kings 12:13-14 says they tell him to be tougher with the people. Reheboam decided to ta

Scripture: David's Psalms. This is the final teaching in the "David…and the Heart of God" series. We will explore David's Psalms today. In 2 Samuel 23:1 we read that David is described as the sweet psalmist of Israel.  David's psalms have influence and spoke to the hearts of people for millennia.   C.S. Lewis said, "The most valuable thing the psalms do for me is to express that small delight in God which made David dance."  And Billy Graham said, "I used to read five psalms every day - that teaches me how to get along with God. Then I read a chapter of Proverbs every day and that teaches me how to get along with my fellow man." 75 of the 150 Psalms were written by David. Some themes in David's Psalms with a few examples: Praise - Psalm 95:1-2, Psalm 57:9-11, Psalm 103:1-3. We are encouraged to begin everything with praise, it honors God and brings refreshment to our souls. Praise takes our eyes off ourselves and putts them on God. True meaning for life is found only in God our Savior. David teaches us to pra

This week Pastor continues to explore locations of biblical history as we go over the location of the exodus. The exodus is at the heart not only of the Old Testament Scriptures, but also the New. The exodus story of the passover lamb foreshadows our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. The exodus is a story of God working in history and in these last days our God is pulling out all the stops to call us back to Himself. As God broke into their lives in the story of the exodus, our God continues to break into our lives today. Pastor continues with this truth: "God's Word is for my generation!"

The Gospel of John Week 13 Scripture: John 9:1-41. Pastor loves today's scripture and he shares it with great enthusiasm that will draw you right into the middle of this story! This story is a powerful story of Jesus healing a blind man. We will see tragedy, sorrow, wonder and even humor in this fascinating story. We will also see many amazing pictures of recent discoveries that will bring this story to life. Today's study opens with the story of a man blind from birth. Jesus in His love and compassion, heals this man. Jesus places mud on the man's eyes and sends him to the Pool of Siloam to wash the mud off his eyes, when he rinses them off, he is no longer blind.  Pastor shares many pictures showing the area in which this story takes place, an area that has been recently excavated. These pictures show where Jesus was walking, where He would have met up with the beggar, along with pics of the Pool of Siloam, Gilhon Spring, and Hezekiah's Tunnel.  
Pastor share how in the last 100 years things that have been

Solomon: Builder     ⁃    Temple construction - 1 Kings 6 (took 7 years to build)     ⁃    Temple dedication - 1 Kings 8     ⁃    God appears to Solomon - 1 Kings 9     ⁃    Solomon's palace - 1 Kings 7 (took 13 years to build) Pastor shares archeological discoveries around Solomon in recent years including a massive stone wall and gate and more. Solomon: Reputation     ⁃    Fleet at Ezion Geber - 1 Kings (for the first time Israel had its own navy - 1 Kings 9:26-28 - we read that they brought gold from Ophir. Pastor shares ideas of where Ophir may have been.)      ⁃    Solomon's wealth - 1 King 10 (1 Kings 10:14-15 we read he received 25 tons of gold yearly. Solomon brought financial wealth to the nation.)     ⁃    Queen of Sheba - 1 Kings 10 (Pastor shared the ideas of where this queen came from to visit Solomon. She's overwhelmed by Solomon's wisdom and by the wealth that she sees in her visit. Yet we know there is a wisdom and wealth greater than gold and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 12:42 tells

Scripture: 1 Kings 2:1-4, 2 Samuel 7:16, Daniel 2:44, Daniel 7:13-14, Daniel 9:26, Acts 2:29-32.  We will take a look at David's legacy.  1 Kings 2:1-4, "When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son, "I am about to go the way of all the earth," he said. "So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'" Prosper - by obedience to God, faithful to God. Promise - He wants to know there will continue to be godly men on the throne. (Our next questions are: What do we know and what happened? Find out more about the descendants of David in our weekly Bible c

Pastor and Jan have returned from a visit to Saudi Arabia, seeing sites that Westerners have not seen for thousands for years. In these last days, God's Word is speaking loudly through recent discoveries in the areas of history, science, archeology and geography. Today, we explore one of the most powerful stories in the Bible: the Exodus. Geographical details are significant - they remind us that God's deliverance has taken place in history. The God who split the sea in Exodus 14 can also raise the dead, destroy evil, and create a new heaven and earth. Through His power, there is true hope and salvation for all who call upon His name. https://www.awakeusnow.com Resources suggested by Pastor Dodge to explore new theories on the location of events in Exodus: The website https://www.patternsofevidence.com/ Video series - "Patterns of Evidence" "The Lost Sea of Exodus," "The Exodus Mysteries," books by Dr. Glen A. Fritz "Mt. Sinai in Arabia," book by Joel Richardson

The Gospel of John Week 12 Scripture: John 7:53 - 8:58. Pastor begins today's class with the story found in John 7:53-8:11, which is a controversial piece of the Bible because not all manuscripts have these verses. Pastor shares that whether originally there or whether they were added later, there's much to learn from these verses about who Jesus is. As this text opens we see that the Jewish religious leaders continue to struggle with unbelief in who Jesus is and work to discredit Him using religious traps. Their desire is to come up with reasons to show Jesus needs to be punished - put to death - so they continue working at setting Him up hoping for a major blunder that they can accuse Him of. But Jesus is too brilliant! This is a story with some wonderful truths about Jesus. We see the following behaviors of Jesus:     ⁃    Total Comprehension of all that is going on     ⁃    He shares a Full Disclosure     ⁃    He has Holy Compassion for the woman that is at the center of this story     ⁃    Gives True For

Scripture:  1 Kings 3:1, 1 Kings 3:4ff, 1 Kings 3:16ff, 1 Kings 6, 1 Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 5-7, 2 Chronicles 3:1, Genesis 22, 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 7:14, 1 Kings 9:4-5 This study helps us dig deeper into Solomon: Wise Leader     ⁃    Pharaoh's Daughter - 1 Kings 3:1 - Solomon secures a peace treaty with Egypt and a strategic marriage to one of the Pharaoh's daughter's.     ⁃    Sacrifices at Gibeon - 1 Kings 3:4ff - shortly after taking the throne we see Him following his father David's advice. We see Solomon going to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God and commits his life to God. The Lord appears to Solomon in a dream saying "ask for whatever you want."  Solomon replies in humility, and asks to be given a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong so that he can govern the nation justly and well. He sought God's wisdom and guidance so that he could bless and nurture the children of Israel. The Lord was pleased with Solomon's reply and gave him what he asked for, plus God told him He would give

Scripture: 2 Samuel 13-19. Father Wounds - are wounds brought into our lives through family members. Deep wounds with lasting consequences.  Father's wounds - are wounds to parents by their children. It is grieving because their children turned their backs on the things they were taught from the time they were little.  Both are deep and painful wounds. How to deal with the pain and how to go beyond it. Our study covers: Amnon rapes Tamar (2 Sam 13) Absalom hates Amnon (2 Sam 13) Absalom murders Amnon (2 Sam 13) Absalom flees to thalami (2 Sam 13) Absalom conspires against David (2 Sam 15) Absalom revolts against David (2 Sam 15-17) Joab executes Absalom (2 Sam 18) In our study we see that wounds eliminate the spiritual strength of King David. We also see wounds that bring about rebellion and hatred, anger and murder. We see wounds experienced by a father who feels he has failed his son. A tragic horrible story. Yet God desires to speak to us through it. This story is in the Bible for a reason and purpose. The

The discovery of the ancient ruined city of Sodom proves that the Biblical account of this city is no fairy tale, and shows us a picture of the final judgment. In Biblical times, people did not understand what was coming nor heed the warnings, but these stories are real and they have a lot to teach us!  Jesus pointed to the destruction of Sodom and the devastation of the Great Flood to warn His people of the coming final judgment and to call them to repentance and eternal life in Him. We, too, need to know not only WHAT the future holds, but WHO holds the future. Matthew 24:37-39.

The Gospel of John Week 11 Scripture: John 7:22-59. Pastor opens by sharing details of the Feast of Tabernacles and the scriptures of the Living Water that were read during this 8 day festival. Festival readings included: Ezekiel 47:1-12, Zechariah 14:8 and Jeremiah 17:13b.  As our story opens, it is the Feast of Tabernacles and these scriptures would have been read. Pastor goes on to share that there has been much learned over the last 100 years and especially in the last 15 or so that helps to bring this text and the story alive. As we look at what we know about the time of Jesus and what we are discovering, they are changing our understanding of the Bible, bringing a new sense of significance and even urgency as what we are discovering is a testimony that says, "This is real!" Some recent archeological work has found what is believed to be the City of David - but not at all where it was thought to be, and the discovery of the Hezekiah Tunnel, and more recently the Pool of Siloam show us a different locatio

Scripture: 1 Kings 1-11, 1 Chronicles 28-29, 2 Chronicles 1-9, 2 Samuel12:24-25, 1 kings 1, 1 Kings 2:2-3, 1 Kings 2:13ff. This study will take us on an adventure through a period of approximately 400 years, a highly significant time when God was moving in a mighty way among His people, Israel. It will cover from around 970 BC when Solomon took the throne until 586 BC when Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. It is a time filled with incredible stories, amazing truths, especially applicable truths and lessons for us in our lives today. There is an amazing cast of characters, people like you and me, sinners, all, but individuals whom God used in a wide variety of ways. And it all ultimately points to the Hope of the world, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and King of Kings. Background: Moses & Exodus - ca. 1446 BC Joshua's Conquest - ca. 1406 BC Judges rule - ca. 1390-1050 BC King Saul - ca. 1050-1010 BC King David - ca. 1010-970 BC We begin our study with Pastor encouraging us

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11-12, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Psalm 51, Matthew 21:9. This message deals with the difficult topic of moral collapse, specifically in David's life. Painful as it is, it can teach us much about the importance of walking faithfully before the Lord and resisting temptation. David fell into temptation after seeing Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam (a trusted soldier) and the wife of Uriah (one of David's elite soldiers). David had her brought to the palace and he slept with her resulting in her pregnancy. Instead of coming clean, David goes deeper into a dark place with more plans. After trying multiple times to cover his actions, David arranges for Uriah's death and has him killed. 2 Samuel 11:27 tells us that what David had done displeased the Lord. What does the Lord do? 2 Samuel 12:1, God sends Nathan to David. Nathan, in great wisdom, tells David a story and when David hears the story he was incensed saying that the man must die. At this point, Nathan looks at David and confronts him eye to e

There will be a judgment to come - the final judgment - and only those who are found in Christ Jesus can face that judgment with confidence and without fear. When we live in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, live in faith in the Father who sent the Son, and live in faith in the Holy Spirit who speaks God's truth into our hearts, we have nothing to fear! Everything is all about God, about His goodness, because we have Jesus as our Provision and our Savior.

The Gospel of John Week 10 Scripture: John 6:22-7:24. Our teaching today starts with Jesus saying He is the Bread of Life.  He is teaching from the synagogue at Capernaum. Jesus is the rabbi that is teaching. In a service in the synagogue in the first century, people talk back and forth asking questions and engaging with the rabbi.  It can get heated - and what Jesus says is causing things to become heated.  He continues to say many things in this dialogue:     ⁃    I am the Bread of Life     ⁃    Believe in Me and you will not hunger or thirst     ⁃    You've seen Me yet you still do not believe     ⁃    Whoever comes to Me I will not drive away     ⁃    I have come down from heaven to do the Father's will     ⁃    I will raise them on the last day     ⁃    My Father's will is that everyone look to the Son and believe in Me      ⁃    In Me is eternal life Pastor talks about a current day synagogue built on the first century synagogue there in Capernaum in Jesus' day and shares pictures. This current day syna

An antidote is a remedy for countering the affects of poison. Pastor shares Truth #20: "It all begins and ends in a garden," and digs into freedom, the power of Jesus, and the power of God's Word to deliver us from bondage to sin, death and the devil! It all begins and ends in a garden. The fall into temptation, sin, and death began in the Garden of Eden with our first parents. But the antidote to the deadly poison of sin and death also took place in a garden, on the day when Jesus rose in triumph from His tomb. "At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb... they laid Jesus there." John 19:41-42