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5/31/2019

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                     And Others…
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;  (Hebrews 11:36-37)
 
MUCH OF THE BIBLE'S TREASURE is invested in its many phrases.  Some of the best preaching and teaching comes from expounding Bible phrases. I learned this from reading Charles H. Spurgeon and Arthur Pink who were both master weavers of Bible phrases. Today’s title: “And Others…” towers over many other phrases.
 
SINGLE WORDS AE ALSO INVALUABLE IN DIGGING BIBLE TREASURE. Dr. Mark Cambron, Dean of Tennessee Temple Bible School stopped many times in his lectures to remind us that anytime we see the word: “Therefore” in the Bible, we must stop and see what it’s “there for.” There’s a place for speed reading through the Bible. But we also need to bring our pick and shovel and patiently compare Scripture with Scripture, study, meditate.
 
PASTOR KENT KELLY WAS KNOWN FOR HIS CONSTANT REMINDER that a Bible subject is not known until it has been studied in every place it occurs in the Bible. This one-page devotional is too short for such digging. And alas, I fear that some may bring only a thimble to get a morning snack and cannot tolerate many paragraphs. So, we do what we can with one page.
 
OUR TEXT TODAY FOLLOWS 35 VERSES IN THE GREAT FAITH CHAPTER: Hebrews eleven. For thirty-five verses we have heard all the great things from the hand of God to His humble servants in various kinds of trouble. I love to hear about the dead being raised back to life, of Noah building the ark and Abraham and Sarah having a child when they were too old, and Sarah burst out in laughter. Hebrews eleven ought to be read often while we live on this earth.  It can rub off on us and help us to trust God better.
 
BUT SUDDENLY, TWO WORDS CONFRONT US LIKE A GREAT MOUNTAIN SLIDE blocking the road: “And others,” at verse 36.  Some of God’s people are being laughed at; some are being whipped or beaten with sticks and clubs until they are bloody and shaking violently in excruciating pain! Others are being stoned to death. The prophet Isaiah is there. He’s in a wooden box and two men are sawing him in half. “Isaiah what are you doing in that box?” “I’m dying by faith!”
 
OTHERS HAD GREAT FAITH. I’d rather see people being healed and miracles all around, and people being helped. I’ve seen some people healed and I’ve been healed against the expectations of the doctor. I enjoy that kind of faith much more than the “And others” kind of faith. 
 
JESUS TOLD PEOPLE: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.  (Luke 9:23)  We should expect God to do things but we shouldn’t be surprised when  He takes a different road than the main highway.  I think it takes more faith to lay your child or other family member in a grave than it does to get them healed. It took me a long time to think that way.
 
IT'S TOUGH TO BELIEVE THAT GOD'S WAY IS THE BEST WAY when His way is for your loved one to be laid in the grave. You know about others being healed but at your house the death angel came.  You have to decide if you’re going to get mad at God. 
 
 I WOULD LIKE TO DO ALL MY DEALING WITH GOD IN THE FIRST 35 VERSES where good things are happening, and people are rejoicing and shouting.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, had to drink from the “and others” cup as she stood at the foot of the cross and watched her firstborn push his feet against the nails to get another breath. Jesus prayed to be delivered from the “cup” if it was the Father’s will. It wasn’t the Father’s will.
 
THEN WE READ: (OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.  (Hebrews 11:38-40)
 
THESE ALL DIED IN FAITH WITHOUT HAVING RECEIVED THE THING PROMISED TO THEM.  Not long ago, Christians in Iraq lined up on their knees in orange suits to have their heads cut off, as did the Apostle Paul. Peter was crucified upside down. In Oregon, students confessed they were Christians knowing they were going to be shot (as they did in the Columbine school several years ago.)  We may have to be “And others.”  God furnishes grace for dying that we don’t need on an ordinary day. Meantime, we want to walk with God each day as did Enoch, Noah, and all those who have gone on before us.
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MAY 31, 2018 - FRIDAY
A.M. 2 Chronicles 1-3   P.M. John 12:1-19
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.  (Psalm 19:14)

Song for Today:
Surely Goodness and Mercy (3:20) (Dick Anthony & Singing Men)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISO18SCs-80
  You can let it play and several more songs are in the album. (I think...) 
  You may have to adjust the volume or delete an ad.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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enough is enough...

5/29/2019

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            Enough is Enough…
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:  Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead (1Peter 4:3-5).
 
WE ARE IN PETER'S FIRST BOOK TODAY. He is plowing hard ground and straining the oxen that are pulling the plow! You know, unless you are willing to bend your neck and submit yourself to the lordship of Christ, you’re wasting your time reading stuff like this.
 
I DON'T MEAN TO BE UGLY. BUT IF WE ARE NOT WILLING TO BEND AND YIELD when we encounter the Word of God we might as well just play a game of checkers and avoid the voice of God. However, Adam and Eve tried it when they hid in the garden, but God came out to find them.
 
PETER IS WADING INTO THE INTENSE PARTYING that was going on in that day and that attracted some of the weaker Christians. They were in danger of joining the party animals. That’s why Peter wrote this and it’s in your Bible. God didn’t put stuff in the Bible to take up space, so He could write a best-seller in a hurry.

PETER IS DEALING WITH AN AREA OF GRAVE CONCERN in our verses today. Don’t think that because you are saved and know all the verses of Amazing Grace that you’re above the wiles of the devil. If you had a weak spot before you were saved, the devil knows what it is and he will try to drag you back into it the rest of your life. You can count on it.

THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT IT THIS WAY: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  (Hebrews 12:1) Did you catch that? Robbing banks may not be your weakness.

SOME PEOPLE HAD RATHER CLIMB A TREE TO TELL A LIE than to stand on the ground with a glass of iced tea and tell the truth. You may not be a tree-climbing liar. But there may be a sin that is easier than all other sins, that gets you every time you get near it.

THAT'S WHAT PETER IS TALKING ABOUT. What about this one: The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.  (Psalm 58:3) I’m not the perfect angel. I’m just the plumber. If you’ve got some roots growing into your drain lines, sooner or later, you’re going to have to dig up the whole thing and cut those roots out of the line or there’s going to be a mess in your house and everybody will be holding their noses.

GOD GAVE VINEYARDS TO THE JEWS IN THEIR CULTURE and from it they could make wine for celebration and forgetting their sorrow. All the wine in that day was not fermented. Even the grapes on the vine were sometimes referred to as wine.
 
THERE WAS FERMENTED WINE AND UN-FERMENTED WINE IN ISRAEL. None of it was the fortified wine that is sold today. If it was fermented, it was the weakest of the alcohol drinks.  It depends on the context as to which it might have been. When Jesus turned the water into wine at Cana of Galilee, at the wedding, it is unlikely that it was fermented wine. If they had been drinking fermented wine until they ran out, a lot of them would not have been able to complete a sentence and some of them would have been plastered on the ground.
 
A CHIEF OF POLICE POINTED THAT OUT TO ME ONE DAY. I had never thought of it. But he had. He had thought of it a lot because he was responsible for checking out the parties when they got noisy and some of them wanted to fight. Pretty soon there was blood and somebody would have to call an ambulance and that’s when he had to make it his business.

ONE DAY THE LORD SPOKE TO HIM AND TOLD HIM TO LEAVE THE BEER ALONE. He didn’t go to the Bible and look up the Hebrew and the Greek. He told me that all he had to think about was to remember what drinking was doing to people around him. So he quit.
 
HE TOLD ME THAT WHEN THERE WOULD BE A COUNTRY MUSIC CONVENTION out in a field, invariably the N.C. Highway Patrol would have to park a couple of cars there and be on hand. That meant that they were pulled off the highway and away from policing speeders and drunk drivers, to keep an eye on these people who were getting plastered and losing their minds in the field.
 
IN MY YOUNGER DAYS, I PREACHED A GOOD BIT IN THE UNION GOSPEL MISSION in Chattanooga. The homeless people, most of them alcoholics, came in and listened to somebody preach and waited to get a bowl of beans or soup. I always mingled among them and greeted them and asked them how they were doing. They had stories to tell.
 
THE DIRTIEST PAGE IN THE HYMNAL was “Love Lifted Me.” I’m serious. I flipped through several hymnals and it was easy to catch the dirty pages. That told me a lot. They wanted to be loved. Many of them had lost businesses and their families and their self-respect.
 
THEIR EYES WOULD GLANCE DOWN AT MY BIBLE  and somebody would show me they were on my side. They would quote the verse about “a little wine for your stomach’s sake and thine oft’ infirmities.” They never knew where it was, but it was their favorite verse and they were stickin’ to it. J. Vernon McGee, the radio teacher wades in on our verses today.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! "Lasciviousness"—that's living in sexual sin. "Lusts"—that includes a great many things, lusting after the things of the flesh. "Excess of wine" is drunkenness. "Revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries." "Banquetings" should be translated "carousing." "Abominable idolatries"—the Scriptures tell us that the love of money is the root of all evil; covetousness is idolatry in our day. These are the things which will take you away from God, and Peter clearly spells them out.”(McGee)

THESE VERSES ARE A CHAPTER RIGHT OUT OF MY LIFE.  Before my ninth birthday I wanted very much to be part of a gang of boys, so I practiced “cussin’” so I could be one of them. I learned it real good and it became such a habit I was afraid I would “cuss” in my sleep and my mother would hear me.  I had no idea it could take hold of me like that did. It worried me.  When I got saved in the bean market in October 1943, I was so transformed that I had to make the rounds at school recess and try to get everybody saved. It didn’t fly.

THE BOYS GANGED UP ON ME, put me on the ground and tried to make me pray in mockery. So, these verses tell it like it is. I think J. Vernon McGee’s comment and personal testimony are good.  It shows how the Lord was dealing with him and the road He had laid out for him. He says:

“EITHER YOU ARE GOING TO PLEASE GOD, OR YOU WILL PLEASE MEN. And if you are pleasing men, you will not please God. The Lord Jesus said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18). If the world does not hate you, then there is something radically wrong. McGee continues:

“WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD, I began to work in a bank. They put me on the teller's cage when I was seventeen and promised me that the next year I would be made a junior officer. I felt that I was well liked and popular in that bank. Then I went to a young people's conference where I made my decision for Christ and to study for the ministry. I came back to the bank and resigned, yet they let me have a part-time job—they were good to me in that way.

BUT I FOUND THAT I WAS NO LONGER THE POPULAR BOY IN THAT PLACE. As a Christian I became very unpopular. In fact, the fellows with whom I had run ridiculed me, and they did a good job of it because they knew what my life had been before. That was a very difficult decision I made at that particular time.

DIGGING DEEPER
It doesn’t matter what I think about things Christians ought not to be doing, or what McGee thinks. If you belong to God, then pray about the questionable areas in your life. McGee talked about the dance hall he was attending, and it was not exactly the Jewish dancing in the Bible. If it fogs up your glasses, you’ve got a problem.

WHAT MATTERS IS WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE REALLY COME CLEAN WITH THE LORD and laid everything down at His feet to do His will for your life. That’s what matters and it’s what will matter when we stand before Him: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (2Corinthians 5:10).
THW LORD DEALT WITH ME EMPHATICALLY ABOUT SEVERAL ISSUES, including the dancing thing when I was 17. It’s a pretty good excuse to bosom up with another man’s wife or to warm up a maid to go outside with you if you are inclined to do so. Of course, if you are about dead and have already planned your funeral, or you are a super saint, it may not affect your hormones. But you better be careful about stepping on a land mine. There was one very pregnant girl who lamented, “I should have danced all night. All night, I should have danced!”

PETER'S LAST VERSE REMINDS US: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick (the living) and the dead. The writer of Hebrews did his best to urge people to live for God. He had to conclude that on some it had no effect at all. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it (Hebrews 4:2). Ω
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MAY 30, 2018 - THURSDAY
A.M. 1 Chronicles 28-29  P.M. John 11:47-57
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:  
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.  (Psalm 19:14)

Song for Today:
His Eye is On the Sparrow (4:15)
(Wintley Phillips – Maranatha Missions Conf.)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KumK_Y6eyY
  You may have to adjust the volume or delete an ad.
 
 
 
 
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MAKING MUSIC AND DIGGING DITCHES2

5/28/2019

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Making Music and Digging Ditches…
      
And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, (Jehoram, king of Israel) nor see thee.  But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.  And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.  (2Kings 3:14-16)                                                     (This is a rewrite from October 2017.)

ELIJAH'S DYNAMIC MINISTRY TOOK PLACE in the northern ten tribes known as Israel. (Judah remained intact in the south and functioned with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.) Elijah prodded Ahab to command the prophets of Baal to meet with Elijah on Mt. Carmel for a contest with God and His prophet. When Elijah’s turn came to pray, he repaired Jehovah’s altar, laid wood on it, then an offering, and in the time of great drought, ordered precious water to be poured on the altar, and prayed a short prayer.

FIRE FELL FROM HEAVEN AND DEVOURED THE OFFERING, wood, water, and even the stones of the altar. Clouds gathered and the first rain in three years fell in torrents. Israel went through a little emotional fidget, saying they would serve God and renounce the idols of Baal and Jezebel’s priesthood. Their revival toward God was barely skin-deep.

AND NOW, ELIJAH HAS GONE TO HEAVEN. His understudy, Elisha, has taken his place. Wicked King Ahab has died and his son, Jehoram, is king. Moab has rebelled against him to get out from under the yoke of Israel. The people of Moab were having to pay Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams every year. The king of Israel is between a rock and a hard place, so he appeals to Jehoshaphat the king Judah to come and help him fight Moab. He’ll do it.

AFTER ELISHA HAD BRIEFLY CHEWED ON THE KING OF ISRAEL, he recovered his own composure and said, “bring me a minstrel.”  King Saul, Israel’s first king, had relied on music to soothe his tortured soul. David had brought his hand-held lyre (a small harp) and Saul would relax. Good music can do that, even today. But there is today some “Christian music” that to me sounds like a cat caught in a screen door and I don’t care for it. I don’t have a verse of Scripture for it. I just don’t like it. If it brings you close to God, then that’s between you and the Lord. It does nothing for me but grate my nerves.

AS THE MINSTREL MINISTERED TO ELISHA WITH MUSIC the Spirit of God moved on Elisha and told him what to do. “Make this valley full of ditches.” Well, now, is that any way to attack an enemy? Just…dig a lot of ditches? There’s a principle here. Do you remember when young David ran out to fight Goliath, the Philistine? David said to him, just before he killed him with his sling and a stone: And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.  (1Samuel 17:47)
 
“THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S."  In another place we are told: … Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.  (Romans 12:19) I have known about this verse a long time but sometimes I want so bad to help the Lord do His work of “repaying” His vengeance.  The battle is the Lord’s. I started out “taking care of it” in the second grade and always ended up with a bloody nose and bruises. I was a slow learner. All the boys in my class were bigger than me. “The battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.” “Make this valley full of ditches.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN “playing the guitar” and waiting on the Lord?” The music soothed his soul and helped Elisha to concentrate on talking with God and listening to Him. Our God is an awesome God and He is the God of infinite variety. Let’s don’t try to figure out what He will do or how He will do it. Just obey everything He shows you.
 
NOBODY ELSE WAS DIGGING DICHES; just these people that God told to dig ditches. If you can be still and wait on the Lord to tell you what to do, you’ve got it made. I believe that God’s people ought to connect with Him more than we do. I’m not a good example, but I do intend to practice what I preach.
 
WHEN I WAKE UP IN THE MORNING, if I look over at the clock in the dark and it’s about time to get up, I just lie there and see if He wants to give me an idea or put something in my mind that I need to do that day. Sometimes, the Lord shows me things when I first wake up. That’s the time to be still and listen and wait. Don’t start your day telling the Lord a bunch of stuff right off.
 
JUST BE QUIET FOR A WHILE AND IF YOU NEED TO SAY SOMETHING, just say: “Good morning Lord. Is there something you want me to think about this morning?” Then be quiet. When it’s time to pray, begin by thanking Him. You can begin by thanking Him for hot and cold running water, and that you can get out of bed. (A lot of people can’t get out of bed.)
 
SOMETIMES IT'S TO KNOW WHICH ONE OF TWO THINGS you’ve been thinking about. Sometimes it’s waiting until things line up and He gives you the green light. Whatever you need, you can depend on this: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.  (Psalm 46:10)  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.  (Psalm 27:14)
 
                       Do you know about “waiting on the Lord
 
 Read Through the Bible in a Year 
  May 29, 2019 - WEDNESDAY 
  A.M.  1 Chronicles 26-27    P.M. John 11:18-46
(BIBLE GATEWAY will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  (Hebrews 4:2)

Song for Today: 
Near the Cross (2:52) (The Vagle Brothers)                    
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZvYWPVGtFQ
 You may have to adjust the volume or delete an ad.
 
 
 
 
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who is going to pray?

5/27/2019

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      Who Is Going to Pray?           If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  (2Chronicles 7:14)
 
And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.  (Ezekiel 9:4)

SOLOMON PRAYED TO GOD in 2Chronicles for mercy toward Israel in case the people should sin against God. The Temple was brand-new, and the people were excited about serving God with this new prestigious temple that identified Israel’s connection to the one true God. Solomon didn’t want to lose everything in case the people should stray away from God. So, God responded in 2Chronicles 7:14 with a very generous promise of “fixing it” should Israel stray away from God. The wording is broad enough to cover all of God’s people in centuries to come: “MY PEOPLE.”

FAST FORWARD TO THE DEATH OF SOLOMON and Israel splits into two kingdoms over excessive taxation. Ten tribes to the north under Jeroboam and two tribes in the south, including Jerusalem and the Temple, under Solomon’s son: Rehoboam. (2Chronicles 9:31)

FAST FORWARD AGAIN TO THE TIME WHEN THE NORTHERN 10 TRIBES have so rebelled against God that He brings the Assyrian army down from the north and carries off the 10 northern tribes into Assyria and disperses them among the Assyrians. They are gone!

FAST FORWARD AGAIN, 150 YEARS, when the 2 southern tribes, Judah, have despised their Temple worship of Jehovah, the true God, and the Spirit of God is leaving the place. (Ezekiel 11:22-25) Jerusalem and the Temple are about to be destroyed by the Babylonian army, and the city drenched in blood. It’s over! The leaders, especially, are marked for death. Ezekiel is on the scene, watching in a vision what is going to take place.

BUT, ALL ALONG THERE HAS BEEN A GROUP OF PEOPLE who were grieved over the gross sin of their leaders and the general direction the nation had plunged into enormous sin against God in their idolatrous practices. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (2Peter 2:9)

THE IDOLATROUS LEADERS IN JUDAH WERE "DEAD MEN!" For them it was over. But before they were executed, the scribe with the ink horn was told to go throughout the city and put a mark on the foreheads of those who “sigh and cry for the abominations that were done in the city.” Their lives would be spared. If there was no mark on the forehead, that person was to be executed for gross sin against God. Ezekiel was seeing this through a vision he was having. Jeremiah saw it come to pass. The Bible Knowledge Commentary from Dallas Seminary comments on this:
 
“GOD THEN TOLD THE GUARDS TO FOLLOW THE SCRIBE THROUGH THE CITY and kill, without showing pity. Those not receiving the mark were to be destroyed. There was to be no distinction by age or sex; the judgment would come on the old and young, on men… women, and children.
 
“THEN GOD ORERED THE GUARDS, Begin at the sanctuary. Significantly the judgment first began in the house of God (cf. 1Peter_4:17). Since the evil had spread from the temple throughout the land (Ezekiel 8:1-18), the judgment would follow the same course. So the guards began with the elders, the priests whose backs were turned to God (Ezekiel 8:16). Their slaughter would defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain, but the temple had already been defiled with their idolatrous practices. The historical fulfillment of this is seen in 2Chronicles 36:17-19. (BKC)

IN ELIJAH'S DAY WHEN HE WAS LAMENTING TO GOD that he was the only one in Israel living for God, the Lord told him: Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.  (1Kings 19:18) They weren’t making any noise about it; they weren’t out on the street corners giving out tracts. But they were there and God knew every one of them.

THE BIBLE RECORDS TIMES WHEN THE INTERCESSION OF ONE OR MORE has spared some people from severe judgment. Abraham pleaded with God on behalf of Lot when Lot and his family had strayed off down into Sodom and God was about to destroy the place.
Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
 
And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.  (Genesis 18:29) Abraham was a Jew and that “Jewing down God” to ten righteous people worked ok with the Lord. But when judgment came to Sodom in a few days, the angels could not find ten righteous people and the place was burned up. Only Lot and two of his daughters escaped the fire. His wife, who lingered back longingly at what she was losing, was turned into a pillar of salt.
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SO, WHERE ARE WE TODAY? Do you think we need to give ourselves to prayer over the condition our country is in today? What is God going to do with a nation that has slaughtered 60 million innocent babies and has enshrined into law a license to defy the law of God in our sexual behavior? God is watching even as He watched in the days of Elijah. Who is on the Lord’s side? Ω
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 28, 2019 – TUESDAY  
A.M.  1 Chronicles 23-25  P.M. John 11:1-17
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.  (Isaiah 45:22)
 
Song for Today:
There’s A Great Day Coming (2:26) (Fred Swan Group)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxNZKfGLJ98
 
 
                                              
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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do right...

5/26/2019

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                            Do Right!                                                                             
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.  (John7:24)

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  (Romans 8:4)
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But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: (Romans 2:5-6)
 
DR.BOB JONES, SR. (1883-1968), FOUNDER OF BOB JONES UNIVERSITY was famous for his constant urging of his students: “Do right ‘till the stars fall!” I was privileged to hear him preach for a week, in the latter years of his life, when he came to Tennessee Temple Schools for Bible Conference. He was also known for his statement, “Dr. Bob, have you never been tempted to divorce your wife? No. I’ve been tempted to choke her to death a few times but never tempted to divorce her.”

I WAS SAVED AT AGE NINE AND NOW I'M 84. America is rotting on the vine! Our nation is determined to destroy itself. It started with the poisoning of our education system at all levels in embracing the big lie of evolution. The arguments and proof for evolution are NOT strong. There is no proof of evolution. None. It’s a religious system of belief with no proof.

THERE ARE NO LINKS FROM ONE STAGE OR SPECIES TO ANOTHER. We hear about “a missing link.”  There are millions of missing links! But that does not bother the people who want to get rid of God. God gets in the way of our doing what we want to do, especially in the sexual realm. God is in the way. Babies are in the way. Kill God and kill the unwanted babies! Kill them! Every generation gets worse.

WE ARE BORN WITH A CONSCIENCE WHICH SAYS, "DO RIGHT." Little children champion their own integrity in word fights. They know about right and wrong and they want to be right and upright in any argument. But they learn early to re-make their own little world by lying. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.  (Psalm 58:3)

Jesus said: Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.  (John 8:44)

THE BIBLE TELLS US ABOUT TWO IMPORTANT THINGS:  1. How to get to Heaven. 2. How to live on the way to Heaven. To get to Heaven, we must agree with God on who He is and agree with God on who we are. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  (Hebrews 11:6) There’s a way out of our sin problem: it is Jesus.

OUR JOB AS CHRISTIANS IS NOT TO RE-MAKE GOD so He will be acceptable to wicked men. Our job is to tell the truth about the real God who made them and is going to judge them by His standard. We need to tell people that God loves them and sent His Son to die for them. Yes! But a man will have no use for God until He is willing to accept God’s Word about the sin question. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)
 
OUR PROBLEM AS A SINNER IS THAT WE WANT TO HAVE OUR OWN WAY. We do not want God to be in charge. Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?  (Psalm 12:4) This has always been the problem. No one is going to Heaven with that attitude. No one! That kind of person would turn Heaven into hell. That was the devil’s problem. He was an archangel and he wanted to be in charge.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.  (Isaiah 14:12-15)

A WORD TO SOMEONE WHO MAY BE READING THIS BUT, ARE YET UNSAVED: If you want to go to hell and live with the devil and his angels, God will let you. Please don’t do that! He does not want you to go to Hell. It’s your choice. But, if you want to go to Heaven, it will have to be on God’s terms. You will have to repent of your sins; repent of an attitude of being your own boss and yield to God as the Lord of your life. Here are some things from the Bible that God wants you to know:

●Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  (John 3:3)
 
●And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.  (Act 16:31)
 
●Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  (Acts 4:12)
 
●That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,(that Jesus is Lord) and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  (Romans 10:9-10)
 
●Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  (Isaiah 1:18)
 
●For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Romans 10:13)
 
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.  (Psalm 34:18)
 
●…I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.  (Psalm 38:18)
 
Are you willing to agree with God and turn to Him with all your heart? It’s the right thing to do. Ω 

Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 27, 2019 – MONDAY  
A.M.  1 Chronicles 20-22  P.M. John 10:22-42
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.  (Isaiah 45:22)
 
Song for Today:
Jesus Paid It All (3:20) (Samonte- Accapello)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bPaXN9j9yQ
 
                                              
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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WHERE ARE THE NINE?

5/21/2019

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            Where Are the Nine?                                                                                                
 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.  (Luke 17:11-13)
 
And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.  (Luke 17:14-16)
 
And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.  (Luke 17:17-19)
 
FOR SEVERAL DAYS I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS STORY, and the phrase: “Where are the nine?” I think that question provokes me more to thanksgiving than any other verse in the Bible. It reminds me that of all the things God wants from us, thanksgiving is at the top of the list: New Testament and Old Testament.

THANKSGIVING ALIGNS US IN OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE WITH GOD. In my thirties when my children were small, I used to say from the pulpit: “If you allow your children to receive a stick of gum from someone at church without saying: “Thank you!” You’re teaching your children to be criminals.” People with thankful hearts won’t steal from each other, and gossip about one another.

I LIKE WARREN WIERSBE'S COMMENTS ABOUT THE LEPERS. “At the border of Samaria and Judea, Jesus healed ten lepers at one time, and the fact that the miracle involved a Samaritan made it even more significant (see Luke 10:30-37). Jesus used this event to teach a lesson about gratitude to God.

“THE ACCOUNT BEGINS WITH TEN UNCLEAN MEN (Luke 17:11-13), all of whom were lepers. The Jews and Samaritans would not normally live together, but misery loves company and all ten were outcasts. What difference does birth make if you are experiencing a living death? But these men had hope, for Jesus was there, and they cried out for mercy. The word translated “master” is the same one Peter used (Luke 5:5) and means “chief commander.” They knew that Jesus was totally in command of even disease and death, and they trusted Him to help them.

“THE ACCOUNT CONTINUES BY REFERRING TO NINE UNGRATEFUL MEN (Luke_17:17). Jesus commanded the men to go show themselves to the priest, which in itself was an act of faith, for they had not yet been cured. When they turned to obey, they were completely healed, for their obedience was evidence of their faith (see 2Kings 5:1-14).

“YOU WOULD HAVE EXPECTED ALL TEN MEN TO RUN TO JESUS AND THANK HIM for a new start in life, but only one did so — and he was not even a Jew. How grateful the men should have been for the providence of God that brought Jesus into their area, for the love that caused Him to pay attention to them and their need, and for the grace and power of God that brought about their healing. They should have formed an impromptu men’s chorus and sung Psalm 103:1-22 together!

“OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS, AND FOR HIS wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8, Psalm 107:15, Psalm 107:21, Psalm 107:31) Too often we are content to enjoy the gift but we forget the Giver. We are quick to pray but slow to praise.

“THE NEXT TIME YOU SING "NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD," try to remember that Martin Rinkhart wrote it during the Thirty Years’ War when his pastoral duties were most difficult. He conducted as many as forty funerals a day, including that of his own wife; yet he wrote those beautiful words as a table grace for his family. In spite of war and plague around him and sorrow within him, he was able to give thanks to the Lord from a grateful heart.

“LUKE'S ACCOUNT CLOSES WITH ONE UNUSUAL MAN (LUKE 17:15-19). The Samaritan shouted “Glory to God!” and fell at Jesus’ feet to praise Him and give thanks. It would have been logical for him to have followed the other men and gone to the temple, but he first came to the Lord Jesus with his sacrifice of praise (Psalm 107:22; Hebrews 13:15). This pleased the Lord more than all the sacrifices the other men offered, even though they were obeying the Law (Psalm 51:15-17). Instead of going to the priest, the Samaritan became a priest, and he built his altar at the feet of Jesus (read Psalm 116:12-19).

“BY COMING TO JESUS, the man received something greater than physical healing: he was also saved from his sins. Jesus said, “Your faith has saved you” (literal translation), the same words He spoke to the repentant woman who anointed His feet (Luke 7:50). The Samaritan’s nine friends were declared clean by the priest, but he was declared saved by the Son of God! While it is wonderful to experience the miracle of physical healing, it is even more wonderful to experience the miracle of eternal salvation.

“EVERY CHILD OF GOD SHOULD CULTIVATE THE GRACE OF GRATITUDE. It not only opens the heart to further blessings but glorifies and pleases the Father. An unthankful heart is fertile soil for all kinds of sins (Romans 1:21).” (Wiersbe)

Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 22, 2019 – WEDNESDAY  
A.M.  1 Chronicles 6-7  P.M. John 8:21-36
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  (Mark 16:15)
 
Songs for Today:
Now Thank We All Our God (2:38) (Mass Singing-London)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s99dNPKYtHk 

 His Eye Is on the Sparrow (2:18) (Piano Solo – Laura Francis)
https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/2550519968604980/
 
                                              
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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to the jew first

5/21/2019

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                     To the Jew First                                                                                                
So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  (Romans 1:15-16)
 
WAS IT FOR FORTY YEARS? Something like that. When Dr. Lee Roberson became pastor of the Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN in 1942, he soon began broadcasting on a local Chattanooga station. He came on every weekday morning about 9:00 o’clock, quoting Romans 1:16 (above). He had looked up the Greek word for “power” (doo’-nam-is) - from which we get our word: dynamite. He believed strongly that the Gospel was the power of God and he had given his life to preaching the gospel.
 
BEFORE GOD CALLED HIM TO PREACH, he sang a good bit on a Louisville, KY radio station. He had been accepted to be trained by one of the best voice coaches in opera. When he turned from a career in opera as a baritone singer, to preach the Gospel, his mother was so disappointed that she never once came to hear him preach. His father came and I saw him, but not his mother.

THROUGH HIS DAILY RADIO PROGRAM IN CHATTANOOGA, I heard him say the phrase: “to the Jew first” hundreds of times. Let’s look at “to the Jew first.”

WHY WOULD PAUL BRING UP THE ISSUES of “not being ashamed” and “to the Jew first?” McGee has a word to say about that. “Why did Paul say, "I am not ashamed of the gospel"? As I walked down the streets of Ephesus and looked at the ruins of marble temples, I realized that there was not a church building in Ephesus in the first century.
“In Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the gorgeous temple of Diana (or Artemis), but there was no church building.

I SUPPOSE THERE WERE FOLK IN ROME WHO WERE SAYING, "Well, brother Paul hasn't come to Rome because he is just preaching a message geared for poor people. The message he preaches is without prestige; there are no great temples connected with it. He would be ashamed to bring it to an important place like Rome." So Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel." Now why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel? "It is the power of God"! (McGee)

PAUL IS ABOUT TO GO TO THAT GREAT CITY OF POWER, ROME, and word may get around that Paul has left his upbringing in Jerusalem. Paul is getting too big for his britches. Paul is getting uppity. He had a nice Temple in Jerusalem to relate to, but they don’t want him in Jerusalem. So, when he writes to the Jews in Rome, he throws in this little phrase: “I am not ashamed of the gospel:” and  “to the Jew first,” to let them know that he is not playing the big-shot and catering to the culture and political power of Rome.

SOMETIMES IT'S THE LITTLE WORDS AND PHRASES that give color and meaning to Scripture, like: “Not ashamed of the Gospel;” and “To the Jew first.”
Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:  (Romans 2:9-10)
 
BUT, WHY "THE JEW FIRST?" Paul brings up the subject: What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?  (Rom 3:1) Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.  (Romans 3:2)
 
MOSES MADE IT CLEAR TO THE JEWS WHY GOD DEALT WITH THEM IN A SPECIAL WAY: The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;  (Deuteronomy 7:7-9)
 
SUMMARY: God picks out the Jewish people to show the whole world that God is faithful to keep His word and His covenants that He makes. “For His name’s sake.” Have you believed on Christ? Have you committed the keeping of your soul to Him for all eternity? Then, rest assured that God keeps His word. The God who keeps His covenant with the Jew, will also keep His covenant with you.
 
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.  (2Timothy 1:12)
 
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: (Philippians 1:6)
 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.  (John 5:24)
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 21, 2019 – TUESDAY  
A.M.  1 Chronicles 3-5  P.M. John 8:1-20
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  (Mark 16:15)
 
Song for Today:
Just When I Need Him Most (2:46) (Dr. Lee Roberson)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDauEBXfVoU&t=92s
 
 
                                              
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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every creature...

5/19/2019

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                      Every Creature…                                                                       
 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  (Mark 16:15)
 
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  (Luke 24:47)
 
COMMENTATORS AND GREEK TRANSLATIONS  agree that, “every creature” means “every part of creation.” Its use in the Gospels limits its application to the “people” part of creation. It does not apply to rocks and frogs. It applies to people for whom Christ died and whose standing with God is offensive to His holy nature. Every creature needs to hear the gospel. It is God’s will.

WE HUMAN BEINGS TEND TO FOLLOW IN THE PATH OF SATAN. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  (Isaiah 14:12-14) Unsaved people want to leave God alone and want Him to leave them alone because He gets in the way of what they want to do.
 
ISAIAH WROTE: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6) Solomon wrote: For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.  (Ecclesiastes  7:20)
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT CONFIRMS THAT WE ARE ALL SINNERS: But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  (Romans 3:23) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.  (1John 3:4) Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)
 
BUT GOD LOVES US AND WANTS TO FORGIVE US OF ALL OUR SINS. That’s why the Gospel of Christ is good news! That’s why we need to tell every creature about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ from the dead. So, how do we “go into all the world and tell every creature?” Jesus prayed for His disciples and He prayed for us:
 
I PRAY FOR THEM: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.  (John 17:9) Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;  (John 17:20)
 
WHEN I WAS SAVED AT THE AGE OF NINE, I already knew what God said about “every creature.” My mother carried me to church in her womb. I had heard preaching for nine years. I was one of those creatures. Everyone I meet is one of those creatures. The disciples did not go into all the world. They could not. We cannot go into all the world. But, a little part of the world is around us and we encounter people that Christ died for. We can tell them what Jesus said. When we go into a store, we cannot talk to everyone there. We can possibly talk to one. How do we go about it?
 
I BEGAN WITNESSING TO MY SCHOOL MATES THE DAY AFTER I WAS SAVED at age nine, October 1943. I didn’t have a clue on how to go about it. I did it anyway and learned a few things as I went along. I never did become an expert. I’m still learning. One of the best and simplest booklets on personal witnessing is by Bill Fay: “How to Share Your Faith Without an Argument.” https://discoveryseries.org/courses/how-can-i-share-my-faith-without-an-argument/  Go to this link and download the booklet, free. At the top of the page, on the right, there will be an arrow pointing down. Click on the arrow and your computer will let you select a place to put it. I downloaded it and put it in my “Books” folder. It’s a PDF file and is free.
 
THE FIRST THING I DO IS TO ASK GOD TO SHOW ME WHO TO TALK TO and to lead me in how to go about it. A question is the best way to open a conversation.  “May I ask you something?” (Get permission to talk to the person.) “When you were little, did your mother take you to Sunday School?” Or, “Do you have a Bible in your home?”  Or, “The Bible says It is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Do you suppose there’s anything to that?” If the contact must be short, it’s important to have a gospel tract to leave with them. If you don’t have a tract, talk anyway. Ask them if they have a Bible at home. Ask them to read John 3:16. I’ve done this many times and plan to do it many more times as God gives me breath.
 
BEGIN BY USING JUST ONE OR TWO OPENING QUESTIONS (ABOVE) and getting used to it. Ask fifty people if you need to; just ask one question. You have sowed a seed. And then gradually add another question to your approach. If there is opportunity, work your way toward John 3:16. I have discovered that a good number of people 30 and younger have never heard of John 3:16 (in the Bible belt.)
 
I USE JOHN 3:16 A LOT AS THE TALKING POINT. It’s what Jesus talked to Nicodemus about. This is seed sowing and it can be done very well in most public places where you are meeting people. “Do you know what the best-loved Bible verse has been in the whole world for the past two thousand years? (John 3:16) I have had many interesting short conversations about this question. Quote the verse if possible. If you get started by opening a conversation, in a short time it will be as natural to you as discussing the weather. Double-dog dare you! Ω 
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 20, 2019 – MONDAY  
A.M.  1 Chronicles 1-2  P.M. John 7:32-53
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  (Mark 16:15)
 
Song for Today:
The Blood of Jesus (4:34) (Collingsworth Family of Six-The Mother is a very fine pianist)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7DSCkEdY0   
 
 
                                              
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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god's spirit and his people

5/16/2019

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       God’s Spirit and His People             And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
 
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
 
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.  (Acts 2:1-5)

THE PENTECOST DAY ABOVE is NOT a first. Pentecost, as a special day, had been going on for 1,500 years or so before the book of Acts. Pentecost was the fiftieth day after Passover. It was the time of celebration of grain harvest that had been completed. Leviticus 23 is the chapter that summarizes everything. This “Special Pentecostal Day” of outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred one time and will not be repeated.

IT'S LIKE THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST were one-time events. We sing about and long for its power and that is good. But, that day of Pentecost is not scheduled to return. We can have individual fillings of the Holy Spirit or collective outpourings of the Holy Spirit that we call: “Revival.”
 
OUR TEXT TODAY IS ABOUT THE DAY GOD CHOSE TO APPEAR TO HIS PEOPLE who had received His Son as their Savior and Lord. God had previously appeared among His people in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Pentecost, in the book of Acts, is the official launching day of the Church. As God appeared with fire on the day of the birthing of the Jewish priesthood (Leviticus 9-10) even so, God appears upon the people waiting for Him in Jerusalem. The fire on this occasion was “cloven tongues like as of fire.”

WE HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE BEGINNING OF HE JEWISH PRIESTHOOD in Leviticus 9-10 and noticed how precise it was in its execution. All the parts of that practice were symbolic and taught a truth about God and the relationship between God and fallen man. God established a priesthood of many dedicated men from the Tribe of Levi to do certain things.

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CEREMONY, AN ANIMAL WAS SLAIN, and its parts were laid on the altar. God set it on fire. The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, had the duty of burning incense to God by burning incense in censors. They were supposed to have gotten their coals of fire from the fire God had kindled. But, they did not. They obtained fire from another source.

GOD SENT OUT A FIE FROM HIS PRESENCE and burned these two brothers to death. Their fire was called “strange fire.” The warning to all the other priests was to obey God to the letter and don’t substitute your own thinking and your own ideas and ways into the service of God. The message then and now, is that the fire and power of God must be His fire and not of our own invention and making.

GOD ESTABLISHED ANOTHER PRIESTHOOD ON THIS SPECIAL PENTECOST DAY. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.  (1Peter 2:5) The purpose of this new priesthood is to offer up spiritual sacrifices.

THESE SACRIFICES DO NOT INCLUDE ANIMAL SACRIFICES. Paul wrote about it: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  (Romans 12:1-2)

INSTEAD OF OFFERING THE BODIES OF ANIMALS, our New Testament sacrifice is to present our bodies to God in holy living. That is a living sacrifice. Much of our sin problem centers around our bodies. When we deny our bodies some of the things it may want to do, we are engaged in a New Testament sacrifice.

JESUS PREACHED TO THE CROWDS THAT FOLLOWED HIM:  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23) They knew what He meant. The Roman army was crucifying Jews all over the place to assert ownership over the Jewish people and to coerce them into obedience to Caesar. Jesus was preaching submission to Him as Savior and Lord. It was  an attitude. Submission is an attitude.

TO CARRY OUT HIS WORK AMONG PEOPLE, God gave of His Spirit to work through the New Testament priesthood to aid and direct them to do the work of God. All of this was about “the glory of God.” In the Old Testament, the idea and design of the priesthood, their clothing, their duties, the tabernacle or temple in which they did their duties, all of this was about the glory of God. The manifestation and dwelling of the Spirit of God among them was the crowning work of the Glory of God. The Holy Spirit was among them but not in them. Important!

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE HOLY SPIRIT would at times come upon individuals for a special task. Mostly, though, the Jews knew about the Spirit dwelling in the Tabernacle and later, dwelling in the Temple in Jerusalem where God had chosen to put His name. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.  (2Kings 21:4) When the Spirit of God came down among them, they could see it and knew that God was among them.

And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people.  And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.  (Leviticus 9:23-24)

ON "SEEING GOD'S GLORY," WIERSBE MAKES THIS VALUABLE COMMENT: The glory of the Lord had appeared when Moses finished erecting the tabernacle, (Exodus 40:34-35) and it would appear again at the dedication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1ff). How gracious on God’s part to share His glory with sinful people!

“THE GLORY THAT DWELT IN THE TABERNACLE EVENTUALLY LEFT THE CAMP because of the sins of the people (1 Samuel 4:21).  It returned at the dedication of the temple, but then the prophet Ezekiel watched it depart because the nation had become so sinful (Ezekiel 8:4; 9:3; 10:4,18: 11:22-23). The glory came to earth when Jesus was born (Luke 2:8-9) and tabernacled in Him (John 1:14), but sinful people nailed that glory to a cross.
 
“TODAY, GOD'S GLORY DWELLS IN THE BODIES OF HIS PEOPLE  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) in each local assembly of His people (3:16-17), and in His church collectively (Ephesians 2:19-22). One day, we shall see that glory lighting the perfect heavenly city that God is preparing for His people (Revelation 21:22-23).” (Wiersbe)
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 17, 2019 – FRIDAY  
A.M.  2 Kings 15-17  P.M. John 6:1-21
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verses to Memorize:
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  (1Peter 1:15-16)
 
Song for Today:
Leave Your Heavy Burdens (2:34) (Melody Four -Male Quartet)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSMrM4zVyH4
 
                                              
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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strange fire...(continued)

5/15/2019

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Picture

      Strange Fire…(Continued)                                                                                             
 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 
 
And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.  (Leviticus 10:1-3)
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS IS ABOUT THE BEGINNING of God’s creation. The book of Exodus is about the chosen people, he Jewish people, coming out of Egypt. Leviticus is about these people learning to worship and walk with God. Deuteronomy is the “2nd law,” or Moses’ rehearsal of the Law before he goes to the mountain to die. These five books are called: The Pentateuch, or the five books. (Our Pentagon in Washington is a five-sided building.)
 
GENESIS IS RELATED TO "GENERATOR, GENETICS, GYNECOLOGIST." Exodus is related to our signs over the outside doors of public buildings: “EXIT.”  Leviticus is related to one of the sons of Israel: Levi. The Tribe of Levi was the tribe in charge of the tabernacle and the sacrificial system of blood atonement. Deuteronomy relates to “two, or second.” Two people sing a song and it is called a “duet.” The Jews call these five books: The Torah.
 
GOD HAD BROUGHT THE JEWISH SLAVES OUT OF EGYPT and they were moving through the wilderness, through the Red Sea and toward the land God promised to Abraham, The Promised Land. But this untaught mass of slaves who treaded the mud pits of Egypt for almost 400 years to make bricks for Pharaoh’s building program knew nothing about God and knew nothing about civilization. They had to be taught and regimented into a nation. Not easy.

IT WAS A BURDEN ALMOST TOO HARD FOR MOSES TO BEAR. I have great respect for Moses, the man of God that saw God face-to-face as no other human being.

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.  (Exodus 33:11) The “face to face” phrase above needs some explaining. I quote from the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC):
 
“MOSES WAS INTIMATE WITH GOD IN THE TENT erected outside the camp. There people could go to inquire of the Lord, apparently for spiritual guidance. This tent, though it was not the tabernacle, was also called the tent of meeting.
 
“WHEN MOSES ENTERED HE TENT, the pillar of cloud (cf. Exodus 13:21) hovered at its entrance. The size and contents of this tent are not known, but it reminded the people that their sin was an alienating force in their relationship with God. They could worship God but from a distance (Exodus 33:10); He was outside their community.

“GOD WOULD SPEAK TO MOSES FACE TO FACE, as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11), that is, clearly and openly. Moses’ speaking “face to face” with God does not contradict the fact that he was not allowed to see God’s face (Exodus 33:20) as “face to face” is a figurative expression suggesting openness and friendship (cf. Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 34:10; and (comment on this at John 1:18: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.  (John 1:18)

“JOSHUA STAYED IN THE TENT, perhaps to care for it in some way when Moses would return to the camp. (Bible Knowledge Commentary- Dallas Seminary) (Verse added.)

AND NOW TO OUR TEXT FOR TODAY ABOUT NADAB AND ABIHU. Today’s article is about obedient holiness and disobedient unholiness and the consequences. Moses talked with God. Nadab and Abihu talked to each other and hatched up an unholy plan. It was a sad day for Aaron and his family. Aaron was not permitted to mourn the loss of his two oldest sons.

THIS OCCURRED AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE ORDINATION OR LAUNCHING OF THE JEWISH PRIESTHOOD. It was a big deal. Aaron’s sons were dead but he had to remain at his post and complete his part of the ceremony. Reading Leviticus 10 is important at this point.

WIERSBE HAS AN EXCELLENT COMMENT ABOUT THIS INCIDENT: “It may seem strange to us that God killed Nadab and Abihu instead of merely warning them, but often at the beginning of a new era in salvation history, the Lord brought judgment in order to warn the people. The priestly ministry at the tabernacle was about to begin, and the Lord wanted to be sure the priests understood the seriousness of their work.

“WHEN ISRAEL ENTERED THE PROMISED LAND, God used Achan’s disobedience as a warning (Joshua 7), and the death of Uzzah was His warning when the ark was brought to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:1-7). (Uzzah touched the ark that was on a cart when the ox stumbled. The ark was not supposed to be carried on a cart. The priests were supposed to carry it. Sometimes it takes a lot for God to get our attention. dc)

“EARLY IN THE CHURCH AGE, THE DEATH OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA served as a warning to the saints not to try to lie to God. (Acts 5) It wasn’t enough for the priests merely to teach the people the difference between the holy and the unholy; they also had to practice it in their own lives. This is one of he burdens of the message of Ezekiel the prophet (Ezekiel 22:26; 42:20; 44:23; 48:14-15).  We’ll need to come back here tomorrow. Ω

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhG2CBVQy3w&t=3095s  NOTE: “This link on “Strange Fire” will work on a computer and you can move the time line to the left. If opens on my iPhone but cannot move the timeline. Hope you can watch it on your computer”.
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year      
MAY 16, 2019 – THURSDAY  
A.M.  2 Kings 15-17  P.M. John 6:1-21
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
 
Good Verses to Memorize:
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  (1Peter 1:15-16)
 
Song for Today:
Springs of Living Water (2:14) (Melody Four -Male Quartet)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghm4Jz2afaE
 
                                              
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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    Dan Carr is a "retired" pastor, writer, teacher and continues to write at this website. This blog and other articles are e-mailed free to anyone who wants them. Go to: 
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    Dan and Barbara live 
    at Flat Rock, AL between Chattanooga, TN and Huntsville, AL. on Sand Mtn.
    We enjoy gardening, reading, church, family and friends.

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