Philip Dampier's Blog

“…quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” Talk about tales of adventure. The Old Testament is filled with mighty men and women as real as any in history. The major difference…

“—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,” Here we have a litany of the known results of faith. It will go on through several verses because the number of faith saving events in the Bible is almost like the sands of the sea…

“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—“ The Old Testament is a very large book, and its pages are full of people who believed God to the point of obeying Him even…

“By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” Like many stories in the Bible, there is a lot we don’t know about this one. What was it about Rahab that led God to entrust His…

“By faith the walls of Jerico fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” This is a well known Biblical story that has launched all sorts of scientific inquires as to the possible cause of a huge city wall falling down. The truth, of course, is that it…

“By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same were drowned.” Salvation by an act of God is not popular today. People would rather have things happen by chance or fate than see God intervein. To so…

“By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.” There is so much about this story that requires deep faith. Hardly anything about it related to experience. The Death Angel, who would single out the firstborn of each…

“By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” It is possible that the reference to leaving Egypt involves the Exodus rather than his personal escape into the wilderness. Notice the connection here. In both cases,…

“He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” This verse gives us an inner look at the Hebrews authors concept of the promised Messiah. Like many, he sees Christ from the very beginning. This would mean that all…

“…chosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” This is a preview of how things work on earth. Look at the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The important thing about that story is not the mistreatment of Lazarus…