Slavery
Living Under Authority
Paul is this Ephesian passage is telling servants to be obedient because they are really serving Christ and because doing a good job is the will of God (vv. 5-7). Slaves played a significant part in this society. There were probably over 6 million slaves in the Roman Empire in th …
Slavery Was Common in The Early Church
In the early church slavery was an established institution and the Christian owed complete obedience to his master. In fact, servants were to strive to do a better job because they were Christians (v.22). At least half of the people were slaves. Many of them carried great respon …
The Principles of Slavery
Moses teaches Israel the principles of the Hebrew bond- slave and the conditions for setting him free (vv. 12-18). The Lord had previously made it clear that six full years of a person’s life were enough to have to work as a slave for defaulting on a loan (Exodus 21:2). At the end of that time …
Israel in Bondage
Exodus records Israel’s birth as a nation. During their time in Egypt, one Hebrew family of seventy persons rapidly multiplies. This small group of people develops into an infant nation numbering between two and three million who God protects, feeds and nurtures. The key fi …
Moses First Confrontation With Pharaoh
After Moses and Aaron (both in their eighties) had talked with the Jewish leaders, they went to Pharaoh and asked him to let the people go (v. 1). In those days Pharaoh was the most powerful king on earth. He must have been very surprised that anyone would dare to speak to him th …
IllustrationThe Life of Abraham Lincoln
The sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. When Abe was twenty-one the Lincoln family moved to Illinois. Admitted to the state bar in 1837, he was a member of the House of Representatives from 1846 to 1849. …
IllustrationPatrick Henry – Give me Liberty or Give Me Death
Back in the earliest days of our nation a determined thirty-nine-year-old radical thinking attorney addressed the Virginia Convention. It was on March 23, 1775, that Patrick Henry made a soul-stirring speech which included, “If we wish to be free we must fight!….I repeat it …
IllustrationLincoln Won The Presidentcy by Debating Slavery
The sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. When Abe was twenty-one the Lincoln family moved to Illinois. Admitted to the state bar in 1837, he was a member of the House of Representatives from 1846 to 1849. He won …
IllustrationSlaves were treated better in South America
Slavery existed in South America even before North America, but there was significant differences. In North America slaves lived at a bare subsistence level; the enslaved were mere chattels, bought and sold as such. In South America a slave was treated as a person, not an object. …
IllustrationServing Others Like Christ
Paul knew that he would win more friends by being a servant. Acts 27 and 28 tells how Paul was under arrest; traveling under Roman guard when the veteran missionary was shipwrecked on the island of Malta. It was a very cold day and “Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks….&q …