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God’s message to me: Be careful of the company you keep. As if it wasn’t bad enough that former kings of Judah spent so much time with the kings of Israel that their children led Judah in the same evil idolatry, Hezekiah welcomed the emissaries of Babylon and gave them the grand tour of every treasure in Israel. As Isaiah pointed out to him, he had shown the thieves where the valuables were kept. It was only a matter of time before they would come to claim those treasures as their prize.
Promises: Ours is a forgiving God who will protect those who honestly recognize their sin and ask forgiveness from God.
Commands: God loves you and wants to be with you but, He cannot be with you unless you recognize your sin and ask his forgiveness.
Timeless principles: The most important thing you can learn is not how you have sinned but how you react to learning of it. When Josiah learned the law of Israel he went into mourning for their sin and begged God to show him what to do about the law he had discovered. Because he humbled himself and mourned for past sin, God promised him security in his time and that the punishment for those past sins would not happen in his lifetime.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: I’ve already done it. I am washed in the blood of Jesus the Christ and forgiven by God for my sins. You can be too. Read this.
more to learn for in-depth study: Read John Chapter 3 and understand the path to salvation.
tomorrow: Second Kings 23-25
Showing posts with label Salvation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salvation. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Deuteronomy 26-28
God’s message to me: Every bad thing can be turned to blessings through God if I serve Him as He commands. Every good thing can be turned to a curse if I refuse to glorify God in it.
Promises: Deuteronomy 27:15-26 Deuteronomy 28:1-68 The promises of the Lord are both blessing and curse. For those that love Him and honor His commandments the good of every promise is theirs to claim. For those who fail to serve him with gladness in abundance the opposite of every good promise will be their reward and they will instead serve others in bondage and despair.
Commands: The rules regarding distribution of the tithe get a little complicated under Hebrew law where much of government was handled through the temple. There were many offerings and tithes and per person fees paid to support the temple, the Levites and the priests and each was budgeted in it’s own way to serve those needs as well as charity. As Christians, we simply bring our tithes and offerings to the church and the church leadership is responsible to God for their stewardship of those funds. I have heard people, including pastors, refer to handling the congregations money. This is wrong. The money belongs to God, not the church or it’s congregation and only He is judge of what is right or wrong in it’s handling. This is why we choose good and God fearing men to lead us then trust in God to lead them.
Timeless principles: Most people think they are good and believe they are doing their best to follow God’s commands. They admit to lying, the occasional curse word and maybe a little lust but they think they do OK beyond that. It pays to know and understand God’s word.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Read it, Study it, write it down, post it in obvious places and commit it to memory. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” Even knowing all the rules it is impossible for man to obey them completely without God’s help and intervention. Want a little proof? Take the good test.
more to learn for in-depth study: Deuteronomy 27: 3 “YOU SHALL WRITE...” I know I’m repeating myself and I don’t care. Not only did God carve the law in stone, and command the law and the history to be documented in writing; God also commanded billboards to be made at the entrance to the promised land so that all the people could plainly see the words of the law in print as they entered and when they passed back and forth to the lands of the tribes who established their territory before the Jordan river.
tomorrow: Deuteronomy 29-31
Promises: Deuteronomy 27:15-26 Deuteronomy 28:1-68 The promises of the Lord are both blessing and curse. For those that love Him and honor His commandments the good of every promise is theirs to claim. For those who fail to serve him with gladness in abundance the opposite of every good promise will be their reward and they will instead serve others in bondage and despair.
Commands: The rules regarding distribution of the tithe get a little complicated under Hebrew law where much of government was handled through the temple. There were many offerings and tithes and per person fees paid to support the temple, the Levites and the priests and each was budgeted in it’s own way to serve those needs as well as charity. As Christians, we simply bring our tithes and offerings to the church and the church leadership is responsible to God for their stewardship of those funds. I have heard people, including pastors, refer to handling the congregations money. This is wrong. The money belongs to God, not the church or it’s congregation and only He is judge of what is right or wrong in it’s handling. This is why we choose good and God fearing men to lead us then trust in God to lead them.
Timeless principles: Most people think they are good and believe they are doing their best to follow God’s commands. They admit to lying, the occasional curse word and maybe a little lust but they think they do OK beyond that. It pays to know and understand God’s word.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Read it, Study it, write it down, post it in obvious places and commit it to memory. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” Even knowing all the rules it is impossible for man to obey them completely without God’s help and intervention. Want a little proof? Take the good test.
more to learn for in-depth study: Deuteronomy 27: 3 “YOU SHALL WRITE...” I know I’m repeating myself and I don’t care. Not only did God carve the law in stone, and command the law and the history to be documented in writing; God also commanded billboards to be made at the entrance to the promised land so that all the people could plainly see the words of the law in print as they entered and when they passed back and forth to the lands of the tribes who established their territory before the Jordan river.
tomorrow: Deuteronomy 29-31
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Deuteronomy 3-5
God’s message to me: God’s laws are neither excessive nor burdensome. The ten commandments are said to be the foundation of Civilized behavior and there are countless claims that similar rules can be found in most societies. (I could argue that point but it would take quite a few articles and, frankly, there are many books on the subject that clarify the point while barely scratching it’s surface.) We often try to find ways around the rules but, they are, literally, written in stone. Would you like to see how well you live up to the 10 commandments? Take the good test.
Promises: Fear God and obey His commandments and it will be well with you.
Commands: Do not add to or take from the Word of the Lord.
Timeless principles: Deuteronomy 4:27-31 should be enough to end all talk of replacement theology. God does not break blood covenants like he had with the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Neither the Muslim nor the Christian is a replacement for the Jew as God’s chosen people. As predicted here, the Children of Israel are returning to their land under the promise of God after being forced to scatter through the world for many generations. They are not forgotten or forsaken of God but blessed with His promise.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Obey God’s law. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Deeds are better than words. Faith without works is dead. How many ways can the bible and men of good conscience describe this before we understand.
more to learn for in-depth study: Chapter 3 describes the boundaries of the land taken before the Jordan river and reiterates the fact that Moses was not permitted to cross the Jordan into Canaan. Instead, he was only to see the promised land from a nearby mountaintop and Joshua would lead the people in.
Og king of Bashon is defeated and all his people destroyed in 60 fortified cites plus many rural towns. Og was a giant. His bed was 6 foot wide and 13 1/2 foot long. As biblical giants go he wasn’t all that big and you will see bigger in upcoming stories.
Here the word for giant is Rephiam and refers to the descendents of the nephelim giants of Genesis which were fallen angels.
Fun fact: Mount Hermon is easily found on a the map, even today, as it still goes by the same name.
The Lost World of Giants
Some want to deliver the idea of giants into the realm of allegory and myth. They can’t accept the idea of giant people within their understanding. I point them to the fossil remains of dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs and many other legends of the ancient world would never survive in our current environment but, the environment has changed. From the time of the flood onward there was a thinning of the atmosphere and it’s protections. Without the additional protection and air pressure most of the ancient creatures we take for granted could not have lived. The idea that humans had longer life spans and unknown creatures such as the giants flourished is no more fantastic than believing in T-Rex or his gigantic cousin. In fact the giant version is a recent discovery so it’s not unreasonable to believe fossils of other things we currently don’t believe in just haven’t been found.
tomorrow: Deuteronomy 6-9
Promises: Fear God and obey His commandments and it will be well with you.
Commands: Do not add to or take from the Word of the Lord.
Timeless principles: Deuteronomy 4:27-31 should be enough to end all talk of replacement theology. God does not break blood covenants like he had with the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Neither the Muslim nor the Christian is a replacement for the Jew as God’s chosen people. As predicted here, the Children of Israel are returning to their land under the promise of God after being forced to scatter through the world for many generations. They are not forgotten or forsaken of God but blessed with His promise.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Obey God’s law. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Deeds are better than words. Faith without works is dead. How many ways can the bible and men of good conscience describe this before we understand.
more to learn for in-depth study: Chapter 3 describes the boundaries of the land taken before the Jordan river and reiterates the fact that Moses was not permitted to cross the Jordan into Canaan. Instead, he was only to see the promised land from a nearby mountaintop and Joshua would lead the people in.
Og king of Bashon is defeated and all his people destroyed in 60 fortified cites plus many rural towns. Og was a giant. His bed was 6 foot wide and 13 1/2 foot long. As biblical giants go he wasn’t all that big and you will see bigger in upcoming stories.
Here the word for giant is Rephiam and refers to the descendents of the nephelim giants of Genesis which were fallen angels.
Fun fact: Mount Hermon is easily found on a the map, even today, as it still goes by the same name.
The Lost World of Giants
Some want to deliver the idea of giants into the realm of allegory and myth. They can’t accept the idea of giant people within their understanding. I point them to the fossil remains of dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs and many other legends of the ancient world would never survive in our current environment but, the environment has changed. From the time of the flood onward there was a thinning of the atmosphere and it’s protections. Without the additional protection and air pressure most of the ancient creatures we take for granted could not have lived. The idea that humans had longer life spans and unknown creatures such as the giants flourished is no more fantastic than believing in T-Rex or his gigantic cousin. In fact the giant version is a recent discovery so it’s not unreasonable to believe fossils of other things we currently don’t believe in just haven’t been found.
tomorrow: Deuteronomy 6-9
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Exodus chapters 34-36
The theme of these last few lessons has focused on the commandments. Have you kept the 10 commandments? How many have you broken? Are you good enough? Take the good test and find out
God’s message to me: 34:23-34 God is our protection and we have no need to worry about our protection when we serve Him. When the people of Israel celebrated Holy Days the Levites took up arms and replaced them as guard. In modern times, most of the invasions of Israel came on Holy days when most of the Israeli army was at home on leave. In every case they have found themselves out maneuvered, out gunned and out classed and caught so completely off guard that they often had half the country taken over before they could effectively recall the soldiers to service. In every single case, within days, they have retaken all lost ground and taken over large portions of the attacking country’s territory. Militarily this is impossible and the nation of Israel should have ceased to exist long ago. With God nothing is Impossible and He makes certain His people are safe, even when they are to busy worshiping to be battle ready. God uses those times to bring glory to Himself.
I have asked non believers to explain this and they can’t . I have asked Muslims to show me an example of their people winning and they can’t. I have been asked by Muslims what I will say when their people rush Israel into the sea and I point out the facts I have just shown then ask them to accept God before He destroys them for attacking His people.
Promises: God is willing and able to forgive you if you ask. Most of the Israelites were forgiven for their actions regarding the golden calf. Aaron made the calf, led the worship and then lied about how it was made and was not only forgiven but made High Priest.
Commands: Obey God. Ask forgiveness for you sins. Rely on God.
Timeless principles: God Knows what you are to do long before you do. When He laid out the design of the temple He didn’t ask for just any willing artisans. He called for the men who were best for the job by name. Ministry isn’t left for just anyone willing to try his hand. It is what God has made you for and called you to. A willing heart is necessary but so is the calling and the gifting.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Ask God for forgiveness of those things I have done, don’t repeat the sins, and trust God to bring me through the tough times.
more to learn for in-depth study: 334:27 god says “write these words” I keep telling you this is a written record.
Exodus 34:6b-7 “The Lord God , merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.”
God is filled with mercy, grace, patience, goodness, and truth. God forgives sin whether it is a mistake or intended evil, when asked for forgiveness.
Contrary to popular belief God is a just God. The guilty are not forgiven without asking for forgiveness and accepting Him. Reject God and the result of your sin is on your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Of course they can get right with God and escape the generational curse.
This is one of those passages that explains the reason for hell to those who “never heard the Gospel.” Visiting iniquity to the 3rd and 4th generation means around 100 years realistically. The idea being, that those who had the message and rejected it would have a difficult time not knowing the message for a long time. Atheists and agnostics can’t claim to not know the message. They simply reject it. Communists fall into this area. Communism suppresses religion to make the state the ultimate power but, both the party officials and the little guy on the street still know the message of God decades after the bible has been banned.
I have heard a number of “philosophies” from native tribesman in parts of the world that had no contact with “Christendom” for hundreds of years. While many are pagan, polytheist ramblings you find world wide there is always at lest one that is the gospel, at least from the Old Testament view. They may not have the message of Christ as risen savior but they have the message He taught from the Old Testament including not only the law but the faith in Messiah yet to come. Unlike those who seek Messiah and reject Christ these people never knew of Christ and converted quickly when they learned of Him. History classes don’t pay much attention to these peoples but they can be found in books and historical documentaries.
Keep in mind we all started in Northern Iraq(Kurdistan)at the foot of Mt Ararat. We all came from the children of Noah. We spread across the earth from there slowly and migrated to the various lands. History is filled with contacts between cultures who knew the events of the New Testament and those who didn’t. Vikings visited the America’s hundreds of years before Columbus. India and China were invaded by Romans. China traded and warred with Japan and the outlying nations like Korea and Vietnam. Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands and many others were settled by people from mainland areas and continued to trade and make contact by sea with others.
Before I forget, AGAIN, tomorrow we will cover Exodus chapters 37-39.
God’s message to me: 34:23-34 God is our protection and we have no need to worry about our protection when we serve Him. When the people of Israel celebrated Holy Days the Levites took up arms and replaced them as guard. In modern times, most of the invasions of Israel came on Holy days when most of the Israeli army was at home on leave. In every case they have found themselves out maneuvered, out gunned and out classed and caught so completely off guard that they often had half the country taken over before they could effectively recall the soldiers to service. In every single case, within days, they have retaken all lost ground and taken over large portions of the attacking country’s territory. Militarily this is impossible and the nation of Israel should have ceased to exist long ago. With God nothing is Impossible and He makes certain His people are safe, even when they are to busy worshiping to be battle ready. God uses those times to bring glory to Himself.
I have asked non believers to explain this and they can’t . I have asked Muslims to show me an example of their people winning and they can’t. I have been asked by Muslims what I will say when their people rush Israel into the sea and I point out the facts I have just shown then ask them to accept God before He destroys them for attacking His people.
Promises: God is willing and able to forgive you if you ask. Most of the Israelites were forgiven for their actions regarding the golden calf. Aaron made the calf, led the worship and then lied about how it was made and was not only forgiven but made High Priest.
Commands: Obey God. Ask forgiveness for you sins. Rely on God.
Timeless principles: God Knows what you are to do long before you do. When He laid out the design of the temple He didn’t ask for just any willing artisans. He called for the men who were best for the job by name. Ministry isn’t left for just anyone willing to try his hand. It is what God has made you for and called you to. A willing heart is necessary but so is the calling and the gifting.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Ask God for forgiveness of those things I have done, don’t repeat the sins, and trust God to bring me through the tough times.
more to learn for in-depth study: 334:27 god says “write these words” I keep telling you this is a written record.
Exodus 34:6b-7 “The Lord God , merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.”
God is filled with mercy, grace, patience, goodness, and truth. God forgives sin whether it is a mistake or intended evil, when asked for forgiveness.
Contrary to popular belief God is a just God. The guilty are not forgiven without asking for forgiveness and accepting Him. Reject God and the result of your sin is on your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Of course they can get right with God and escape the generational curse.
This is one of those passages that explains the reason for hell to those who “never heard the Gospel.” Visiting iniquity to the 3rd and 4th generation means around 100 years realistically. The idea being, that those who had the message and rejected it would have a difficult time not knowing the message for a long time. Atheists and agnostics can’t claim to not know the message. They simply reject it. Communists fall into this area. Communism suppresses religion to make the state the ultimate power but, both the party officials and the little guy on the street still know the message of God decades after the bible has been banned.
I have heard a number of “philosophies” from native tribesman in parts of the world that had no contact with “Christendom” for hundreds of years. While many are pagan, polytheist ramblings you find world wide there is always at lest one that is the gospel, at least from the Old Testament view. They may not have the message of Christ as risen savior but they have the message He taught from the Old Testament including not only the law but the faith in Messiah yet to come. Unlike those who seek Messiah and reject Christ these people never knew of Christ and converted quickly when they learned of Him. History classes don’t pay much attention to these peoples but they can be found in books and historical documentaries.
Keep in mind we all started in Northern Iraq(Kurdistan)at the foot of Mt Ararat. We all came from the children of Noah. We spread across the earth from there slowly and migrated to the various lands. History is filled with contacts between cultures who knew the events of the New Testament and those who didn’t. Vikings visited the America’s hundreds of years before Columbus. India and China were invaded by Romans. China traded and warred with Japan and the outlying nations like Korea and Vietnam. Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands and many others were settled by people from mainland areas and continued to trade and make contact by sea with others.
Before I forget, AGAIN, tomorrow we will cover Exodus chapters 37-39.
Friday, January 2, 2009
more on Genesis chapter 8
Hi,
I'm back and it's the middle of the night. Why is that? I noticed something, reviewing that last chapter, that deserved a note.
Matthew 24:37 tells us that the end times will be like the days of Noah. The last chapter we read defines what those days were like.
Mankind was becoming entirely corrupt. His heart dwelt always on evil. Violence filled the earth.
Corruption is an insidious thing. It creeps up without being noticed. We tend to give it nice names like "situational ethics".
Here's the thing. The ethical man knows the difference between right and wrong. The moral man chooses good.
Situational ethics is just a fancy way of saying we make the rules up as we go along. The ends justify the means and the wrong can be right if it's done for the right reason. That pretty much describes corruption. We do anything we want as long as we can justify it as accomplishing good. Then we define good as what we see as good.
God deals in absolutes. Good is good, bad is bad and bad can never equal good. Doing the wrong thing for the "right reason" is still doing the wrong thing and that is bad. All the world is being corrupted by situational ethics.
Man's mind is always on evil. Statistics say that a man thinks about sex more than once a minute. I think the last measure I heard was something like every 45 seconds on average. How many of those thoughts do you think fall under the heading of lust and covetousness? We regularly watch programing and read books that tell us bad can be good. Vampire heroes and witches who fight demons make great TV but serve the wrong side of the battle. Our popular programs and movies make heroes out of gangsters, mob bosses and scum and even have us cheering for a serial killer.
Speaking of serial killers we have begun to glorify violence in our pop culture while legitimate violence is seen as wrong. The world is filled with violence. Terrorists and criminals and power hungry governments attack, rape, pillage, murder and destroy every day. Our response has been to seek vengeance on those who use violence only as a last resort and to defend others and themselves. By outlawing self defense and vigilance we make ourselves victims and the violence increases. We stick our heads in the sand and say it just wasn't reported before but if that were true and this has always been this bad we would long ago have ceased to exist.
The bible shows us what the days of Noah were like and they are a lot like now. Are you ready for the return of the King Of Kings? Are you sure? Take the "Good" test and learn to be sure
I'm back and it's the middle of the night. Why is that? I noticed something, reviewing that last chapter, that deserved a note.
Matthew 24:37 tells us that the end times will be like the days of Noah. The last chapter we read defines what those days were like.
Mankind was becoming entirely corrupt. His heart dwelt always on evil. Violence filled the earth.
Corruption is an insidious thing. It creeps up without being noticed. We tend to give it nice names like "situational ethics".
Here's the thing. The ethical man knows the difference between right and wrong. The moral man chooses good.
Situational ethics is just a fancy way of saying we make the rules up as we go along. The ends justify the means and the wrong can be right if it's done for the right reason. That pretty much describes corruption. We do anything we want as long as we can justify it as accomplishing good. Then we define good as what we see as good.
God deals in absolutes. Good is good, bad is bad and bad can never equal good. Doing the wrong thing for the "right reason" is still doing the wrong thing and that is bad. All the world is being corrupted by situational ethics.
Man's mind is always on evil. Statistics say that a man thinks about sex more than once a minute. I think the last measure I heard was something like every 45 seconds on average. How many of those thoughts do you think fall under the heading of lust and covetousness? We regularly watch programing and read books that tell us bad can be good. Vampire heroes and witches who fight demons make great TV but serve the wrong side of the battle. Our popular programs and movies make heroes out of gangsters, mob bosses and scum and even have us cheering for a serial killer.
Speaking of serial killers we have begun to glorify violence in our pop culture while legitimate violence is seen as wrong. The world is filled with violence. Terrorists and criminals and power hungry governments attack, rape, pillage, murder and destroy every day. Our response has been to seek vengeance on those who use violence only as a last resort and to defend others and themselves. By outlawing self defense and vigilance we make ourselves victims and the violence increases. We stick our heads in the sand and say it just wasn't reported before but if that were true and this has always been this bad we would long ago have ceased to exist.
The bible shows us what the days of Noah were like and they are a lot like now. Are you ready for the return of the King Of Kings? Are you sure? Take the "Good" test and learn to be sure
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