Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters

"Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman." - Ruth 4:11-2 "Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king." - Matt 1:5-6 A Widowed Daughter-in-lawIf you haven’t picked up on this yet, our journey through the Old Testament on our way to Jesus often reads more like the plot to a soap opera than a religious text. This goes to show us that God uses all kinds of people from every type of background to bring about his plan for the world.This episode in the drama of Scripture starts out very dark. I mean no sooner do we get introduced to the main characters than they start dying off. There’s a man named Elimelech from Judah who moves to Moab because of a famine and there he and his two sons die, leaving his wife Naomi with two daughters-in-law. One of them goes back to her family and our story follows Naomi and Ruth as they go to live in the little town of Bethlehem.Gleanings and SandalsAs soon as they get settled in Bethlehem, Ruth gets to work. You see God had already made a way for faithful Jews to take care of the poor and Boaz was a faithful Jew. It just so happened that this takes place in the time of the harvest and Ruth just so happened to stumble across Boaz’s field. As was their custom Boaz’s workmen would harvest the fields but would leave anything that fell to the ground for the poor to pick up for themselves. This is where Ruth comes in. She was busy all day picking up the leftovers when Boaz noticed her. He had already heard of the kindness she had shown to Naomi and he wanted to help reward her so he told his men to leave out even more for her. When Naomi hears about this she realizes that Boaz is in a unique position to help because he is a close relative of theirs and could be their redeemer.I realize that some of this might be confusing because it is talking about ancient Jewish traditions and customs, but the really crazy part is that these practices had been a part of the Jewish culture for generations and now God is using them to bring about his plan of salvation through Jesus. Then we come to the climax of the story. Boaz decides that is going to redeem them but he has to get past another relative who is first in line. This guy doesn’t want to ruin his own inheritance so Boaz redeems them and hands over his sandal, which is kinda like a handshake. The deal is done...Read the full article at: https://www.swoutfitters.com/resource/advent-12-davids-moabite-grandma/Follow the whole study of The Things Concerning Himself at:https://www.swoutfitters.com/advent/Every day, Dec. 1-25, we'll be publishing daily advent study posts (written and audio versions) on our website. You can also access the audio recordings on the Snowbird App, Apple Podcasts, and Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

"… and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab," - Matthew 1:5Don’t Forget the LandFor the people of Israel, the most tangible part of God’s covenant with them was that he would give them the promised land. It’s really cool for us to look back on how all of this played out because we usually don’t think much of the land. After all, we don’t live in Israel and most of us don’t ever plan to. But for the Jewish people this meant everything to them. And in reality, if we don’t keep the promise of the land in mind we will miss out on a lot of what the Old Testament is about.Today we will talk about the events that take place in the book of Joshua. Let’s do a quick summary to get us up to this point in history. Remember that when God made his promise to Abraham he told him that his people would be slaves in a land not their own for 400 years and that afterward, God would bring them back to possess their own land. This is exactly what happened. They went down as sojourners to Egypt and then when a new Pharaoh came on the scene he put them in slavery. Moses then rises up as their deliverer and God brings them out with great possessions to wander the wilderness for 40 years. During this time God gives them victory over everyone that opposes them, which will bring us up to the book of Joshua.The Faith of a PaganThe first city of the promised land that they face is Jericho. This is a city surrounded by walls that seem impenetrable to the people of Israel. So Joshua sends in two men to spy out the land. This is where we first meet up with Rahab. Now Rahab is not a godly woman. Not only is she living in a sinful environment but she has a very sinful profession. She makes her living sinning against God’s design for marriage. In other words, she is an unlikely convert. But look at what she does. She risks her neck to save these foreigners. Why would she do that? It’s because she has heard all about the God of the Jews.Let’s look at God’s Word in Joshua chapter 2.Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” (Joshua 2:8-13)Rahab is confessing in Yahweh and putting her faith in him...Read the full article at: https://www.swoutfitters.com/resource/advent-11-the-savior-of-the-world-and-rahab/Follow the whole study of The Things Concerning Himself at:https://www.swoutfitters.com/advent/Every day, Dec. 1-25, we'll be publishing daily advent study posts (written and audio versions) on our website. You can also accesPlease leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." -  Deut. 18:15-18  Ready, Set…First off, the book of Deuteronomy is one of the most enjoyable books to read. It’s so good because in it we get to see God’s heart for his people. It is constantly talking about how special these people are to God and how special God should be to these people. It’s really good.Anyway, it is basically a series of sermons that Moses is giving to prepare the people for the promised land. One of the biggest reasons why Moses is doing this is because he, himself is not going to get to go in (that and he is recording the Word of God for God’s people). And part of preparing the people for their next chapter is the passing on of the leadership from Moses to Joshua.Joshua, but Not JoshuaIf you are reading through the Old Testament and you come across this passage, it seems pretty cut and dry Moses is transferring the authority to lead over to Joshua but there is more going on here. This is another one of those situations where we see God is giving a promise that will have more than one fulfillment. Spoiler alert: it’s also about Jesus.First, let’s look at Joshua. Is it fair to say that he is a prophet like Moses? Absolutely. Let’s look at a few examples. In Joshua chapter 1, God has a conversation with Joshua where he appoints him to lead the people of Israel. Several times in this conversation God tells him to “be strong and courageous” and to back it up he tells him, “Just like I was with Moses, so I will be with you”. God actually makes the comparison between Joshua and Moses.In addition to that in 4:14, the people seem to acknowledge that he is like Moses. Scripture says, “On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life”.If you needed any more confirmation that Joshua is the guy, look at 5:13-15:When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.Read the full article at: https://www.swoutfitters.com/resource/advent-10-a-prophet-like-moses/Follow the whole study of The Things Concerning Himself at:https://www.swoutfitters.com/advent/Every day, Dec. 1-25, we'll be publishing daily advePlease leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

"Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,..." – Matthew 1:2"And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'" – Revelation 5:5It’s Not a Love StoryIf you think your family is crazy then you really need to pay attention to Jesus’ family. Today we are going to be looking at Genesis 38. This chapter is really confusing and pretty dark. For the sake of those who might be using this to read to your children we are going to handle this in a very sensitive way. The truth of the matter that shines through is that our world is full of sin and sinful people, but that will never stop God from keeping his promises. In the lineage of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 1 there are 5 women mentioned in Jesus’ family line. During this season we are going to take a day to think through each one their parts in God’s plan for our salvation. Now we will turn our attention to the unlikely couple of Judah and Tamar.Skipping BranchesAs you remember God planned to have Judah be the tribe that would produce the kings. And since Jesus was going to be born the King of Kings, that means that Judah is going to be his great, great, great, great grandfather. So when we see that Judah has a son named Er, we automatically assume that he is going to be in the line also. However, the Bible just has one sentence about him, “But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death.” Whuh oh, now what? Well in Jewish culture they had a custom where if the oldest son died without having a baby then the wife would marry her dead husband’s brother so that they could continue the family line. This might sound really weird to us, but that is the way they did it back then. The second son’s name was Onan. However, Onan didn’t like this setup. He didn’t want his brother to get credit for his son so he wouldn’t keep up this custom. And you guessed it, God put him to death too. This is where Judah got really concerned. He only had 3 sons and his first 2 died after being married to Tamar, so he wouldn’t let his third son get married to her. He told Tamar that she needed to just stay single.This is where our story gets really crazy. Tamar was not content to just stay single, she wanted to have a child to carry on the family name, so she tricked Judah into having a baby with her by disguising herself as someone else. Then 3 months later Judah found out that she was pregnant. He was so angry and was going to have her put to death until she let him know that he, himself was actually the father. Whoa, talk about a surprise. He then realized that he had sinned before God and didn’t try to have her punished at all.We Shouldn’t Be SurprisedIsn’t it just like God to accomplish his plans in a way that we would have never guessed? As God makes it clear in Isaiah 55, his ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. As high as the heavens are above the earth so are his thoughts higher than our thoughts. He is thinking on a different plane altogether and he sees all of time from the beginning to the end. Whenever we find ourselves thinking that this isn’t what we would have done we shouldPlease leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

"'Judah, your brothers shall praise you;your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;your father’s sons shall bow down before you.Judah is a lion’s cub;from the prey, my son, you have gone up.He stooped down; he crouched as a lionand as a lioness; who dares rouse him?The scepter shall not depart from Judah,nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,until tribute comes to him;and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." – Gen. 49:8-10It’s Good to Be KingEvery year at this time we read over this passage and rejoice in the fact that Jesus is born as “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah” and he is. He is the promised king from Judah’s line who will have an everlasting kingdom. And if you have studied the Old Testament you know that the kings were always supposed to come from the line of Judah. The above passage is the first place where we get to see this. This is where Jacob basically lines up all of his children and speaks blessings over them.Fourth time’s the charmHere’s an honest question: did you know that Judah wasn’t the firstborn son of Jacob? If you are anything like me, you just assumed Judah had to be the firstborn because he was supposed to be the line of the kings. I thought that for a long time. It just makes sense. However, he is actually the fourth born son of Jacob. So then, what happened to the other three? The short answer is that they disqualified themselves. And what’s crazy is that even in this “blessing” passage in chapter 49 Jacob tells us the reasons.First is Reuben. He is the firstborn and should rightfully be the heir, but because he had an inappropriate relationship with one of his father’s wives he got crossed him off the list. Then we see Simeon and Levi, the next two in line. Their story is crazy, they slaughtered a whole nation of men because of how they had treated their sister. So then we are left with Judah.Grace upon graceLet’s look even closer into this. God had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would bless the whole world through them. As we look over this Old Testament history we can see the way that God both narrows and expands his promises and he is doing this according to his own will. It is not because of any good that anyone is doing, it is only by his grace. Judah did not do anything to be chosen by God to be the tribe of the kings, he is just the next in line. In the next section, we will even get to see that he wasn’t even doing anything to try and preserve his own line. This should get us to focus on the real main character in all of this, which is God. When we are looking at human history we can see that God is the one who is working out his perfect will through sinful human beings.ReflectionWhat do we need to learn from this in our preparation to celebrate Christ’s birth? We need to realize that we cannot put God in a box. What I mean by that is that God does not work the way that we think he should. Isn’t it always supposed to be the firstborn son that inherits? In our human reasoning that makes sense, but that’s just not the way that God works and we can’t try to impose what we think should happen onto him. We probably would have just picked Ishmael, Esau, or Reuben to be the ones set to inherit, but God had other plans...Read the full article at Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

"And he took up his discourse and said,'The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,the oracle of him who hears the words of God,and knows the knowledge of the Most High,who sees the vision of the Almighty,falling down with his eyes uncovered:I see him, but not now;I behold him, but not near:a star shall come out of Jacob,and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;it shall crush the forehead of Moaband break down all the sons of Sheth.Edom shall be dispossessed;Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.Israel is doing valiantly.And one from Jacob shall exercise dominionand destroy the survivors of cities!'" – Numbers 24:15-19Double PropheciesThis passage comes to us out of the book of Numbers and is really fascinating because it is a prophecy with two meanings. God does this all the time in the Old Testament. He will give a prophecy that will apply first to the people of Israel but then has a fuller meaning that will be accomplished later on in the future.First, let’s look at the immediate context of this passage. To make a long story short there is a king of Moab, his name is Balak and he is afraid of the Israelites because God had given them victory over their enemies. So to protect himself he hires a prophet to put a curse on them. But here’s the catch: even though Balaam is not a godly guy, he will not prophesy something unless God allows it. This totally frustrates Balak, because every time Balaam gets up to prophesy against the people of Israel, he winds up prophesying for them. That’s what happens here. Balak is trying to get him to say that Moab is going to defeat them, but instead he says that God is going to send someone from the line of Jacob to crush the forehead of Moab. That’s his own country!This is an amazing story because again it draws our attention to God’s complete sovereignty over all peoples and nations. He predicts the Israelites' victory over Moab, which happens later on in Old Testament history (in the Judges, really). But he is also pointing to the rule and reign of Jesus as the star who came from Jacob’s line. When God prophesies something it is going to come to pass—no matter how long it takes to happen.Jacob, the TricksterFor a better overall picture of this, we need to go back and look at Jacob. This is also confusing because when we think of the Old Testament patriarchs we want to look at them as heroes that we should imitate, right? I mean when we look at Abraham we see someone who has such a solid faith in God that the New Testament will use him as an example for us to follow. Although, even with Abraham we see moments where he doesn’t seem to be acting consistently in his faith...Read the full article at: https://www.swoutfitters.com/resource/advent-7-two-accidental-blessings/Follow the whole study of The Things Concerning Himself at:https://www.swoutfitters.com/advent/Every day, Dec. 1-25, we'll be publishing daily advent study posts (written and audio versions) on our website. You can also access the audiPlease leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

"And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, 'By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.'" – Genesis 22:15-18A Contradicting CommandYou’ll notice that the scripture for today is really encouraging, but the trip from the beginning of the chapter to the end of the chapter is an emotional rollercoaster. During the past couple of sections we have been focused on how God is going to fulfill his promise to Abraham through Isaac. He has been very clear on that. But here we get one of the most confusing commands in all of the Bible. In verse 2 God says to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Doesn’t this contradict what God told him about Isaac? Well, sorta, we are actually really blessed to have more information about what God is doing than what Abraham had in this situation. When we look at the immediate context of this verse we see that verse 1 gives us a huge hint as to what is going on. It says, “after all these things God tested Abraham”. Whew. So we know this is a test, but Abraham doesn’t. After all, what kind of test would it be if he knew he was being tested...Read the full article at: https://www.swoutfitters.com/resource/advent-6-the-lord-will-provide/----------------------Follow the whole study of The Things Concerning Himself at:https://www.swoutfitters.com/advent/Every day, Dec. 1-25, we'll be publishing daily advent study posts (written and audio versions) on our website. You can also access the audio recordings on the Snowbird App, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

Zach Mabry | Marriage ConferenceIn this episode, Zach will walk through scripture to see how God calls us to love Him, stay close to His Word, and teach it in the simple moments of everyday life. He’ll talk about why God’s commands are actually good for us, and how easy it is to forget God when life gets comfortable.Deuteronomy 6Marriage ConferencePlease leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

“through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” – Genesis 21:12All Kinds of LaughterThere are all kinds of laughter. We have all been in a situation where you are not supposed to be laughing… but you do… and that makes it worse. How is it that things are so much funnier when you’re not allowed to laugh?When we look at the events surrounding the promise and birth of Isaac we see everyone laughing, but not in the same way. And let’s not forget that Isaac’s name, itself, means “laughter”. So what is going on here? Let’s look at this in detail to see the way that God is working out His plan for our salvation.Abraham LaughsThe first person we see laughing at this is Abraham. As you remember in chapter 17 (verse 17) God told Abraham that he would have a son and his first response was to fall on his face and laugh. But why is he laughing? First, we need to notice that he falls on his face before God in worship. Whatever else he is thinking, he is giving honor to God. Then we see him laugh, but it looks like this is just a good-hearted laugh. After all, he’s nearly 100 years old and his wife is way past the age for women to have kids. He’s laughing… because this is funny, and because he believes that this super old married couple is going to have a baby. You have to laugh at that imagery. Do you know a 90-year-old lady? Can you picture her in the hospital room holding a tiny, newborn baby? It’s a really funny picture.BustedNext, we see that Sarah laughs. In chapter 18, Sarah overhears God telling Abraham that she is going to have a baby in the next year and she laughs. This time it isn’t well received. Why is that? Isn’t this the same thing Abraham did a chapter earlier? Not necessarily. Sure they both laughed, but it was a different kind of laughter. When Abraham laughed, he was laughing out of faith, believing that God would do the impossible. When Sarah laughed it was out of disbelief. Look at the response that her laughter gets from God. When she laughs God asks her a question that exposed her lack of faith saying, “is anything too hard for the Lord?” Sarah was a bitter woman. She had wanted children her whole life and couldn’t have them. When God said this, it sounded like a cruel joke. You can picture her in her tent scoffing, “oh, now you want me to have a baby?…. sure, right…”Joy to the WorldNow that we are caught up, let’s look at what happens here in chapter 21. Sarah indeed becomes pregnant and when Abraham is 100 years old, they have a son named Isaac. Sarah is bursting with joy that she cannot contain. The only way to express it is with laughter. She proclaims, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me” (21:6). This is so exciting. It’s so easy to get drawn into this scene and laugh with her. This is a contagious sort of laughter. She realizes the humor in this and rejoices in it. Everyone who hears about this will laugh alongside her and be filled with joy.Pushed AsideFinally, the last person we see laughing is Hagar. Remember her? She isn’t happy with this situation at all. Up until this point her son, Ishmael, was going to be Abraham’s heir. But now that Sarah has a son of her own neither she nor Ishmael are needed anymore.Abraham had thrown a huge party for Isaac and everyone is rejoicing. Everyone except Hagar...Read the full article at:  Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

Read the full article at: https://www.swoutfitters.com/resource/advent-4-new-names-and-a-new-son/ "And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, 'Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?' And Abraham said to God, 'Oh that Ishmael might live before you!' God said, 'No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.'" – Genesis 17:15-21When our solution… isn’tSometimes we can get tired of waiting for God to work and we decide to take matters into our own hands. After all, we might be thinking something like, “maybe God is going to fulfill his promise through my creative problem solving”. But as is often the case this type of solution turns out not to solve anything. That is exactly what we see happening with Abraham and Sarah. God had promised Abraham that God was going to give him a son, but this didn’t seem to be happening and his wife, Sarah, kept getting older and older. This is what happened in chapter 16. We can only imagine the disappointment, frustration, or anger Sarah may have been in. God had promised to give her husband a kid and she just wasn’t getting pregnant. What was she to do? In her case, she took matters into her own hands and told Abraham to have a baby with her servant Hagar. But this didn’t fix it. Sure, God gave Hagar a baby, but that wasn’t what God had in mind. And really, how could it be? Abraham had a wife and God promised him a child, surely He meant the child to come from his wife.Narrowing and ExpandingWhen we get to chapter 17 God renews the covenant He made with Abraham. First, He gives him a new name. His old name, Abram, meant “exalted father”. Let’s pause for a minute and recognize the irony here. Up to this point, Abram had lived 99 years with a name that means father and did not have any children (imagine how much he must have been made fun of). And then to make it worse, God changed his name to something even more ironic and renamed him Abraham which means, “father of a multitude”.God had promised Him a son, and he had gotten one, but not the way God had wanted. God then deals with Abraham so graciously and narrows his promise to let him know that the son that is going to carry on his line will be from his wife Sarah. This is where God brings Sarah into the covenant as well. To make this clear God changes her name too. Before this time she was called Sarai, but God changes it to Sarah. The reason for this is a little unclear since they are just different forms of the same word, but most people think that the distinction has to do with the fact that she is going to princess to a nation and not just to Abraham. So we caPlease leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.