Stacy Davis

Jesus Savior, Redeemer, Risen Lord-Eternal King Crowds of people had been following Jesus throughout Galilee, Judea, and Jericho. They watched Him heal the broken, be merciful to outcasts, preach of God's kingdom, and most recently, raise Lazarus from the dead. Is this Jesus the Messiah? Is He the One who would bring peace and deliverance to the nation of Israel while ushering in God's kingdom? Some believed, many questioned, but the religious rulers sought to discredit and kill Him. One week before His death, Jesus rode into Jerusalem as a humble King of peace. Crowds of people stood by crying, "Save now, Son of David " But His deliverance would not be temporal, it would be eternal. He would not release the Jews from the Roman oppression at that time but would conquer all evil. The very peace that defined Jesus would be the peace He would put in the hearts of those who believed Him to be the Messiah. Determined to make Him King, the people shouted His praise and adulation. But seeing the cross in the distance, Jesus knew He would not receive the heavenly crown until He wore the earthly crown of thorns put upon Him by the people. Jesus' method, timing, and the meaning of His entrance were all prophesied long before. Jesus knew that His entry into Jerusalem would lead the way to His triumphant resurrection from the dead. The initial shouts of praise would quickly turn to shouts of crucifixion just days later. The chant of "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest," would turn to "Crucify Him." Without rightful cause, the religious leaders, Roman government, and the people would condemn Jesus to death on the cross. During Passover, Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, would be killed for the sins of the people. However, the cross couldn't destroy Him, the tomb couldn't hold Him, and three days later Jesus would be raised to life as our risen Lord and eternal King. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Messiah, the One prophesied to take away the sins of the world, redeeming each one who believes in Him and saving us from our sins. His kingdom is now in the hearts of His people, and His eternal kingdom is coming with His return. Join us in this seven-week verse-by-verse study of Jesus' final entrance into Jerusalem and His road to Calvary. Volume 3 of Delighting in the King of Kings can be done in conjunction with volume 1 and 2, or it can be used as a stand-alone study.

Wisdom. We need it. We want it - but often look for it in all the wrong places.Every day our life circumstances dictate the need for wisdom. From the simple, everyday choices to the more complex and life changing - we need wisdom for successful decision-making. Challenging situations and relationships regularly come in life, often leaving us confused and needing guidance. We read self-help books and ask people for advice. We get educated in different ways or look online for help, yet often come up empty-handed. We need wisdom that isn't subjective or unproven. We need wisdom that leaves us hopeful and confident; alleviating fears and giving us peace. And yet, as we search for it in the world, we often find it lacking and confusing.Where do we find solid wisdom for navigating life's paths? Solomon will tell us in the book of Proverbs that wisdom begins with the fear of God. Setting our heart on God and trusting in Him is where wisdom begins. Out of that relationship comes a commitment to seek God, obey Him, and trust Him with all of life's choices. In God is found wisdom because He, alone, knows the beginning from the end.His wisdom goes beyond the seen to the unseen. He alone speaks wisdom into all of life's circumstances. The search is over for finding wisdom Proverbs is the "how to" for life and it will lead you to the heart of God and His wisdom. It isn't a book of formulas. It is a life-giving book of Godly principles and priorities written by a king, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who was the wisest man in the world. Solomon shares what he learned when he followed wisdom's path, and also what happened when he wandered off of it.As King Solomon will say in Proverbs 2:4-6, "If you seek her wisdom] as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."Join us for this thirteen week study from the book of Proverbs as we gain God's wisdom to navigate all of life's challenges and honor Him with our decision-making. Throughout the study we will also be highlighting women of the Bible so that we may learn from both their wise and unwise decisions.

What does it look like to live a life of triumph...and is it even possible? Broken relationships, despairing situations, and unrealized dreams - sometimes life gets complicated and confusing as people and circumstances let us down. All the while, the enemy of our souls is right there whispering lies of defeat; telling us we've been abandoned by God and our situation is hopeless. The whispers sometimes tell us the life of blessing and promise, written on the pages of God's Word, applies to everyone else but us. How our hearts long for the triumphant life; a life that triumphs over circumstances, emotions, and relationships. Is it even possible?The life of Joseph shows us that it is Esteemed and highly favored by Jacob, his father, Joseph is envied and betrayed by his brothers who devise a plan to get rid of him. With God-given dreams of prosperity and a heart set on God, Joseph travels through deep valleys of slavery, imprisonment, and accusations at the hands of others. Yet, Joseph's life speaks of a lifefull of triumph where circumstances don't define him but, rather, God's love does.Joseph's faith takes him to mountaintops where God sovereignly uses his life to save the very ones who sought evil against him, and to preserve the entire Jewish nation for the future birth of Jesus, the Messiah. Joseph's life exemplifies a life triumphing in God's grace, forgiveness, redemption, and sovereignty. Ultimately, our lives can triumph in God too, when we know that no matter what evil is seen around us or is happening to us, God's greater plan and purpose will prevail as He weaves together the details of our lives for His glory and our good. He only asks us to trust Him in the process and walk obediently with Him.Start this nine week verse-by-verse study through Genesis 37-50 as you dig into the details of Joseph's life. You'll go from Canaan to Egypt and then back to the Promise Land triumphing in God along the way.

Reading Haggai and Malachi in conversation with feminist theory, rhetorical criticism, and masculinity studies reveals two communities in different degrees of crisis. The prophet Haggai successfully persuades a financially strapped people to rebuild the temple, but the speaker in Malachi faces sustained resistance to his arguments in favor of maintaining the priestly hierarchy. Both books describe conflicts among men based upon social class, and those who claim to speak for God find their claims and, with them, God’s presumably unquestionable authority as the ultimate male contested.From the Wisdom Commentary series Feminist biblical interpretation has reached a level of maturity that now makes possible a commentary series on every book of the Bible. It is our hope that Wisdom Commentary, by making the best of current feminist biblical scholarship available in an accessible format to ministers, preachers, teachers, scholars, and students, will aid all readers in their advancement toward God’s vision of dignity, equality, and justice for all.The aim of this commentary is to provide feminist interpretation of Scripture in serious, scholarly engagement with the whole text, not only those texts that explicitly mention women. A central concern is the world in front of the text, that is, how the text is heard and appropriated by women. At the same time, this commentary aims to be faithful to the ancient text, to explicate the world behind the text, where appropriate, and not impose contemporary questions onto the ancient texts. The commentary addresses not only issues of gender (which are primary in this project) but also those of power, authority, ethnicity, racism, and classism, which all intersect.Each volume incorporates diverse voices and differing interpretations from different parts of the world, showing the importance of social location in the process of interpretation and that there is no single definitive feminist interpretation of a text.

This book addresses the claim that an American antebellum era anti-African reading of "the curse of Canaan" story originated in rabbinic literature. By tracing the curse of Canaan's history of interpretation from the beginning of the Common Era to 1865, with particular emphasis on the neglected medieval period, this work examines this long-held false claim. Although Jewish readings of the curse of Canaan appear in medieval Christian commentaries, no Jewish references to skin color are repeated in Christian exegesis. Therefore, the book argues that the anti-African antebellum reading develops in response both to abolitionism and the biblical text's establishment of a social hierarchy that divides humankind into slaves and masters. The pro-slavery reading is an extension of Christian allegorical exegesis of the curse of Canaan, in which Shem, Ham, and Japheth represented different groups of people depending upon the interpreter's historical context, usually Jewish Christians, Jews or Christian heretics, and Gentile Christians respectively. Southerners and their allies simply changed the typology, making Shem the ancestor of brown people, Ham the ancestor of black people due to a reading of his genealogy in Genesis 10, and Japheth the ancestor of white people. The new typology justified African slavery as a divinely ordained and sanctioned economic system, just as the old typology justified Christian supersessionism.