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johnchiarello · 6 years

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Ephesians 4

Tuesday 6-26-18

NEW- Today I’m posting chapter 4 of my Ephesians study- and plan on finishing it up in 2 more posts.

On the video I made yesterday [Friends] it was interesting how I ran into my friends- I actually parked down the block and was walking to see Rick- under the overpass- and sure enough I ran into Andy and Charlie- I have made lots of videos with them before- and after I shut the video off they wanted to do some praying [which they did- and led in] and were really doing a sort of bible study when I rolled up on them. It was no joke- or just ‘doing it for the video’.

Later on some stuff happened- not between me and any of them- but things that happen on the street.

Some would think ‘hey- those guys were just praying- was it fake’?

No- it wasn't fake- and yes- many of my friends who struggle with addiction- they do stuff- that they actually don't;t 'want' to do.

Many of us have done the same [Read Romans 7]

So- for this short update- I think that's the story I should share.

There are many news stories going on right now- some locally and of course nationally.

If you- or I- or any of us- speak to the issues- I think it is a good thing.

I also think we should be informed- really informed.

I see people seeing stuff for the first time- because the media has decided to shine the light on it- for the 1st time-

And then they get mad- as in if it is a ‘new crisis’- when in reality it is not- to be honest about it.

Many people have become engaged- which I think is a good thing- but I think we should also become ‘engaged’ when there are things being done- real atrocities- even if the media covers up for them- which is what I have spoken on recently on some of the videos I have made.

Ok- please pray for our nation- our leaders- and all leaders- we are citizens of a particular country- all of us [some who I speak to now are not Americans by the way].

Yet- we are a global community as well- and especially those of us who are of the household of faith- regardless of skin color or ethnicity- we are a brotherhood in Christ.

John.-

PS-

This was the reason I didn’t want to write on the ‘re-posts’-

Because I’m busy uploading the nightly videos- and I’m thinking I need to explain some of the stuff I just wrote above.

I realize some will get mad when I say ‘not a new crisis’- and some will disagree.

We have a ‘new’ problem with the way our country has handled immigration- because in the past our congress has passed laws- that actually enforce [supposed to] immigration laws- then- when the present president began enforcing them- it caused more children to be separated from their parents as they entered into the u.S.

I am pro immigrant by the way- but because of the laws that have been passed- and the recent stricter enforcement of them- then yes- this has created a ‘crisis’.

Many are upset because they see it played out on U.S. media- the same media that refused to show you the pictures of Black people being sold on the open slave market in Libya- because they did not want you to see or know of that ‘crisis’- it was for purely political reasons that they covered that up- I spoke about that on the videos.

I could go on and give case after case- so many are truly upset with the immigration situation in our country- but many voted for representatives who did indeed pass laws that caused this to happen.

And many of those same lawmakers are outraged that the laws they passed- are being enforced- to me- this is hypocrisy.

So yes- I too am mad about the crisis- but I was also mad about the Black kids being sold as slaves in Libya- this happened when another president of the U.S. removed the leader of Libya.

And the American media did not want to reveal it- because it went against their agenda.

So lets shine light on all atrocities in the world- not just the ones the corporate media want you to see-

Ok- see why I didn’t want to write on these?

OTHER VIDEOS-

These are the videos I post every night to my various sites- all my sites are linked to the bottom of each post

6-24-18 Glenn Beck- News update- world events https://youtu.be/rCEZaW9U18I

6-25-18 Homeless friends talk about their experiences on the streets https://youtu.be/1NUt5229fRg

Teaching at the Lexington https://youtu.be/mfKdSHcMURo

Acts 1 https://youtu.be/znfh0pBAssA

Isaiah 61 https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgWJw00k7aUChiKp3

Word to the ministers of Corpus Christi https://flic.kr/p/28qvL7h

EPHESIANS 4 Testing links below- all should be Ephesians 4- https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMa9oOLIoJHhLVQi8 https://hubic.com/home/browser/stream/?uri=default/1-18-18%20Ephesians%204.mp4&X_TOKEN=9873aa7dd9c974f15fe5c9760e0ddfc2 Psalm 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. ON VIDEO .Austin [Texas] The Ark .5 [4] fold ministry .Lectio Devina http://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/what-lectio-divina .Didache http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/didache.html . ‘That bird has my wings’- prison poem .Unity among reconciled people groups .Gifts for the sinner too [rebellious also] .Restoration churches .Church history .The purpose of the gifts- to build you up- for the work of ministry .What does the N.T. teach about giving? .The nature of local church .The intent of seeing ‘new truth’ .What is ‘apostolic’ doctrine? .Jesus- the Christ of God

Psalm 90:9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. Psalm 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. OTHER VIDEOS

Bob- White Castle [North Bergen- NYC area] https://youtu.be/wt2P8yESN04 John 8 https://vimeo.com/252085857 Rest in peace https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZaPnH7ZifplvvcxOI47y6sc46vefBuKlFBy Romans 8-10 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uEOXe1ummR3SO8GSBvqj0w-OUKrByua3/view?usp=sharing Lexington https://vimeo.com/252258518 Hudson County Park- New Jersey https://youtu.be/ilToGO65Ivk Boys of Sudan https://vimeo.com/252434055 Bringing in the sheaves https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZXvlH7Zji1kJcwm6Eb5VcQ4ArLw2kmKApyV Free among the dead https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jmAC8HuaEyvOWvMzFgtIOKkmvXZihgzg/view?usp=sharing

News- Ruth Bader Ginsburg- media- they do it for cash https://youtu.be/UlTs6ciSAEI

50,000 missing FBI texts and the corporate cash media https://youtu.be/wMQztoNU5Tk Update- 1-24-18 https://youtu.be/i3Y9BI-t1K0 The problem [news- Trump- FBI- JFK] https://youtu.be/CWfoixcGZwA Here are some links about stuff I mentioned in recent news talks- https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/23/congress-fbi-russia-republicans-escalate-probes-364616 http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/01/trey-gowdy-strzok-page-fbi-texts-today-say-text-not-keeping-texts-video/ http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/370204-sessions-says-he-will-leave-no-stone-unturned-to-find-why-fbi-text http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/23/fbis-strzok-and-page-spoke-secret-society-after-trump-election-lawmakers-say.html http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/24/fox-news-first-new-info-on-alleged-secret-society-anti-trumpers-samsung-blamed-for-missing-fbi-texts.html https://nypost.com/2018/01/23/evidence-suggests-a-massive-scandal-is-brewing-at-the-fbi/

[NEW TEACHING BELOW- NEWS NOTE BELOW THAT] Psalm 90:16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. Psalm 90:17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

NEW- Paul teaches us about the primary purpose of the gifts that God has deposited in the church- Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: Some refer to these gifts [Apostles- prophets- etc.] as the 5 fold ministry- others see the last 2 offices as one calling [the pastor/teacher] Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; Meaning it would be the ‘4-fold’ ministry gifts. Much has been written the last few years about these various gifted ones- and in some movements of the church they believed that the restoration of these gifts were the answer to the problems in the church. When we read about apostles in the New Testament- and how they functioned [Like my recent study on the book of Acts]- We do not see the emphasis on the people themselves- meaning the apostles in the bible [or prophets] did not focus on their callings- Or view their callings as the primary thing. But the purpose of their callings was to bring the people of God to maturity- and the people of God would do the actual ‘work of the ministry’- Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: If the teachings on the gifts- or any other subject we find in the bible- is used to divide Christians- Then the main purpose of the gifts themselves has been subverted. If the focus on the gifts exalts the personalities of people- Then it is the wrong focus. In the last few chapters I have already taught- we saw the reconciliation of man- with each other- as well as being reconciled [brought back] to God thru Christ. When we read about the unity of the people of God- in this context it is a broader concept than simply the people ‘in my church’- or the people of God in your particular denomination. But the unity we strive for is a unity among all the people that God has redeemed. God’s ultimate Salvation looks forward to the redeeming of all things- in heaven and upon earth. As the apostle stated in this chapter- we are one body- with one God ruling over us- as well as being in us- Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, Ephesians 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

The development of the church over the centuries has expressed itself in many different church expressions. Some see this as ok- others see it as being divided. Many of these good expressions of the church do see themselves as the only true church. The apostle does speak to this issue here- Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to KEEP the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. All the people of God already are united in unity- the outward expression of it is not always seen. But truly there is one God- and one Spirit that unites as the church. God has placed gifted leaders in the church- and when the gifts function properly- they bring the people to maturity in Christ- Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: They do not draw people after their particular gift- no matter how noble the gift might be. It is important that we see that these gifts [5- 4 fold] do indeed exist in the church today. Paul teaches us that these ministers were made after the ascension of Jesus- Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Meaning these were not Old testament prophets he was speaking about- Or even the 12 apostles of the Lamb- But these apostles and prophets and pastors were ‘made’ after Jesus ascended to the right hand of God. So yes- these gifts still function in our day. And when they function the right way- the people of God become mature functioning members of the Body of Christ. That was [is] the purpose of these gifts.

NEWS NOTE- Right before I post this- I want to just make a few points about the news videos I did this week. This past year I heard/read some media figures call for treason charges against Trump- and his family. This same person said it was possible that Trump- and some his his family members should be executed [no joke] if they were found guilty of treason. While I realize all do not hold this position- some do. Where they also speaking about his 12 year old son? Now- these last few weeks we have seen evidence of FBI officials using language like ‘secret society- putting Andy’s plan in place’- Language that more than likely is talking about the removal of a U.S. president- by illegal manipulation of their powers. These 2 people- Peter Strzok and Carter Page https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/01/24/sara_carter_fbi_agents_want_to_know_why_strzok_and_page_are_still_there.html were having possible criminal conversations about the removal of a U.S. president- were also having an ongoing sexual affair- and used their authority to sway political charges- on both sides of the aisle. Just the texts alone- of which it seems like the FBI has now illegally deleted about 50,000 of them- Samsung is denying the texts were missing because of a ‘glitch’- but the messages we do have- could at least merit the firing of the agents. Then possible criminal charges [this would be a sort of treason charge] then to possible jail time. I know of no one who is actively calling for their executions [like some in the media spoke about while talking about Trumps family]. So- we- [or me?] the American people call for the immediate firing of Strzok and Page- for them to still be within the department with their ability to continue to obstruct justice- have ‘secret society’ meetings- and to possibly put ‘Andy’s plan’ in place- well- that would be a crime indeed. Last note- By the way- the local paper of our small town has played the media manipulation game for many years now- these last few years they had to merge with the USA today network because they are possibly on the verge of bankruptcy- which is a good thing in my view. They are part of the paid corporate media- and are not to be trusted to ever speak truth to you. So- I would call for a boycott of the Caller Times [I will read it still- just so I can critique them] and I would recommend reading the San Antonio paper [which I also read] they do a much better job at covering south Texas issues- more in depth coverage.

PAST POSTS I either quoted or taught from these bible books on today’s video- Ephesians 4- below are my past studies on those books- https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/ https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/ I mentioned the Didache on the video- I talked about it in this book I wrote years ago- https://ccoutreach87.com/house-of-prayer-or-den-of-thieves/ Mentioned Pentecost- here’s my link to the chapter- https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/26/acts-2/ Here’s my complete study on Acts https://ccoutreach87.com/acts-links/ https://ccoutreach87.com/protestant-reformation-luther/ I talked about the nature of the church and the 5 fold ministry- here’s a book I wrote on the subject- https://ccoutreach87.com/further-talks-on-church-and-ministry/ https://ccoutreach87.com/romans-updated-2015/ https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/ https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/

EPHESIANS- LINKS https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/11/30/ephesians-1/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/12/13/ephesians-2/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2018/01/09/ephesians-3/

Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, Ephesians 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ JULY 14, 2017 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT MARK 12 Mark 12:25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. https://youtu.be/VJBAPuroAUY Mark 12 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/7-6-17-mark-12.zip https://ccoutreach87.com/7-6-17-mark-12/ ON VIDEO- .Sandia .Storehouse wisdom .Kingdom to the gentiles [church] .Vineyard- wisdom- tower .Song of the vineyard .Apostles .Leadership .7 dead brothers .Married in heaven? .We are the bride- he is the groom .Burning bush- I AM .Great commandment .Beware of the religious leaders .Jesus has a question too .The common people liked it NEW- Jesus teaches the parable of the vineyard [or tenants]- it comes from the song of Isaiah chapter 5. The parable speaks about the Jewish people- and their rejection of Jesus as the promised Messiah. A landowner plants a vineyard- puts a hedge around it- places a wine-press in it- and sets up a tower. He then leases it out to tenants. The Lord of the vineyard leaves- and over time he sends his men back to collect the fruit. The people who have leased the land refuse to give the fruit. They beat and stone those who are sent. And finally the landowner sends his son- and they kill him. The meaning is clear- God sent his prophets to speak to his people [Israel] they rejected them over time- and finally kill the Son. Remember- Jesus is teaching this- before he is crucified. He predicts his own death in the parable. Yet- at the end- he quotes Psalm 118- Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. Mark 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: Mark 12:11 This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? He predicts his Resurrection as well. The Son who was rejected and killed- becomes the head of the corner. In this chapter Jesus will also quote Psalm 110- Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Psalm 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. He questions the religious leaders- He asks them Mark 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? Yes- Jesus did indeed come from the line of David- but as the eternal logos- he was before David- John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The chapter ends with 2 stories- about widows. It’s important that we see them both. Jesus rebukes the religious teachers for taking advantage of widows- for financial gain Mark 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the market places, Mark 12:39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Mark 12:40 Which devour widows’ houses, Then he commends the poor widow for giving into the offering- Mark 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. Mark 12:43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: Mark 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Over the years there have been many examples of religious leaders taking advantage of the poor- many have enriched themselves by abusing their office as teachers of the bible. Jesus strongly condemns those who do this. Yet- he commends the poor widow for giving to God. The rich were giving out of an abundance- it seems as if they actually learned the principle of abundance in their giving to God. Yet- he sees the woman giving out of her poverty- understand- she is still poor at the time she is commended. Yet the others were rich- and giving. Many in today’s church would look at the rich- who had an abundance- and say they prospered because they were giving- and had a lot. And some would condemn the poor widow- because she obviously must be doing something wrong- because she gives- and is yet poor. But Jesus did not see it that way. The woman gave sacrificially because of her love for God. The rich gave- yet they did it out of their wealth. Jesus honors the poor widow- not because she learned some secret of giving to get a harvest- because she had no harvest. But she loved God- she gave for the work of God- as she understood it. Her giving was not based on the return she would get- because as of now- she has not received a return [poor widow]. Yet in the eyes of Jesus- she indeed gave more. There are a few other things in this chapter that I taught on the video. The challenge of the Sadducees- who do not believe in the resurrection. And Jesus rebuke- Mark 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? I have taught this before- and will try and find those past posts and add them below. Jesus also gives us the great commandment in this chapter- Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. When the common people saw Jesus put the religious leaders to silence- the bible says they loved it- Mark 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. The downtrodden of society were rejected by the religious leaders of the day. Their outward religion caused them to neglect true justice- true love of fellow man. The same things that the song of Isaiah- which Jesus used in the parable- were being rebuked for- Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. The fruit the land owner wanted- was not simply religious works- It was what the other man in this chapter saw- Mark 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. The animal sacrifices and outward religion were the things that Jesus rebuked them for. Those who seemed to use religion in order to have an abundant wealthy life- were not seen in a good light by Jesus. The tenants wanted an inheritance and their lust for the wealth of the vineyard [financial harvest] caused them to reject the actual Son of God himself- Mark 12:6 Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. Mark 12:7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our’s. Yes- many in the modern church have tried to seize on some material inheritance and given out of an abundance and implemented many of the principles of the bible in order to prosper. But in doing this- they have had to reject many of the plain things Jesus taught- New International Version “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matt. 6:24 Yes- in a way- they have killed the Son- and seized the wealth. But Jesus saw the widow- the poor widow- the woman who seemed to have never gotten a hold of the wealth building principles of those who gave out of their abundance. Yes Jesus saw her- And in the wisdom of God- She gave more than all the others combined- And thus the chapter ends. PAST POSTS- http://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/john-complete-links-added.html http://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/romans-2015-video-links-included-romans.html http://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/p/2015-video-linksincluded-hebrews-1-3.html https://ccoutreach87.com/further-talks-on-church-and-ministry/ https://ccoutreach87.com/house-of-prayer-or-den-of-thieves/ MARK- https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/28/jersey-city-ride-mark-1/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/02/mark-2-north-bergen/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/04/mark-3-isaiah-61/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/14/mark-4/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/27/mark-5/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/05/mark-6/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/16/mark-7/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/30/mark-8/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/14/mark-9/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/07/mark-10/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/22/mark-11/ I mentioned Bultmann and the Herodians on today’s video- below are some past teachings I did on them- During the time of Jesus you had a divided people. In 1st century Palestine the Jewish people split into 4 basic sects. 2 of them are pretty well known- the Pharisees and Sadducees- they are mentioned often in scripture. The other 2 are less well known- the Zealots and the Essenes. The Zealots are named in the bible- but only in passing. We have no references to the Essenes. The Pharisees were sticklers for the Torah [Jewish bible] and the Sadducees centered their life around the Temple- they were more of a political/religious type group. They stuck to the Torah alone. That is they only received the actual first 5 books of the Old Testament- which is the Torah [also the term is used to speak of the entire Old Testament] and that’s why the Sadducees rejected miracles and angels and stuff. Most of those stories are found in the other O.T. books. The Zealots were a group of people who hated compromise- they were actually a 1st century ‘terrorist’ group- who carried out assassinations. Not on Rome- but on their own people! The zealots hated those who compromised with Rome- and if they felt a leader was too chummy- they killed him. The Essenes were a separatist group who lived in ‘the hills’ [Qumran community] they simply gave up completely on any political solutions for the day- and went and lived in the hills. These are the ones responsible for hiding the Dead Sea scrolls [old bible books found in the last century] in a cave. It’s interesting to note that Jesus had both a Zealot on his team [Simon- not Peter who also went by that name] and Matthew- a Tax collector. Tax collectors were considered the biggest sell outs of all- they actually worked for Rome and scammed their own people- it must have been hard for Jesus to lead this group [the 12 disciples] who came from such opposite ends of the political spectrum. Yet Jesus did lead them- he was even offered earthly rule a few times [once from satan- and once from the people who heard him] he rejected it both times. His kingdom was not ‘of this world’. In the New Testament book of Philippians- the bible says that though Jesus was in the form of God [deity] yet he became a man and humbled himself to the death of the Cross- a shameful way to die. We have one letter written in the N.T. by a ‘family’ member of Jesus- that’s the epistle of James. Protestants believe that Mary had other kids after Jesus was born- our Catholic friends teach that she remained a Virgin her whole life. My purpose right now is not to get into that. James was considered the ‘half brother’ of Jesus [Mary was the mom of both boys- Joseph was the dad of James- Jesus’ father was God]. Okay- James was slow to believe in his brother- but over time as Jesus was declaring himself to be the Messiah- I’m sure James had to wonder- you know- think back ‘gee- come to think of it- I can’t’ remember a time where my brother got in trouble’. Wait- now I remember- yeah- that time when Jesus was 12- we all went to Jerusalem for the big feast- and Jesus stayed behind while we started the trip home. Yeah- we went 3 days before we realized he was gone. Boy was mom mad that day. So we went all the way back to get him- and when we found him- he was sitting in the temple- asking these questions- I mean questions that only theologians knew- Jesus was still a kid. Mom said to him ‘son- why did you stay behind- we were worried’! Yeah- she was mad- if there was ever a time my brother came close to getting in trouble- this was it. But Jesus said ‘why were you worried- didn’t you know I would be doing my Fathers business’ yeah- he sure seemed different- but the Messiah- come on. So as the ministry years of Jesus role by- there are all these reports of miracles and healings- blind people seeing- dead people coming back from the grave. Yeah- James has got to be wondering now- but no- he could not accept that his own brother was the promised Son of God- no- too much. Then the day came- that terrible day where mom had to watch Jesus die on that rugged Cross- on Golgotha- man the hill looked like a skull. Yeah- it was a strange site- I mean the sky got dark- an earthquake shook the place- and even the Roman soldier who witnessed my brother die said ‘surely this was the son of God’. Wow- too much- my bother has carried this thing too far- even in his death he won’t let this obsession go. Then James hears some disturbing reports- his friends are saying that Jesus has come back- that he pulled it off- the greatest miracle ever- the one Houdini himself couldn’t do. But are the reports true? I mean if anyone could tell if this guy walking around is really Jesus- James would know. We don’t read of the account- but all we know is James became a believer- a believer that his brother was indeed the Messiah- the Son of God. I guess it went something like this- Jesus sitting there with his men- James shows up and sees his brother- the perfect one- not a spot on his record. Maybe Jesus looked up- maybe he said ‘brother- do you now see’ and yeah- he saw. James would go on to be one of the leaders/Pastors of the church at Jerusalem- we read about him in Acts chapter 15. Most scholars believe this was the same James who penned the short letter we find in the N.T. that bears his name. One thing James hits on a lot in his letter- is he defends the poor- the downtrodden- and he rips into the rich- the elite of the day. He warns us not to be biased- not to use ‘uneven scales’ when dealing with people. James hit on social justice issues- he picked them up from his brother. We need to be concerned about the world- if a raped woman is forced to marry her rapist- then we ought not say ‘she was pardoned’. When we critique one person for past failures- then we must do that to all. But at the end of the day- Jesus never took the earthly crown- he did not see the solution to be a political one- he brought Simon and Matthew together on the same team- and he showed them what it means to lay your life down for others- to live without the praise of men- the earthly standard of success- he chose another way- and he left that path for us. http://www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com [1622] ARE THE JAPANESE DISPROVING FREUD? One of the narratives coming from the Japan disaster is the response of the Japanese people. In contrast to our Katrina tragedy the Japanese are very self reliant. Jack Cafferty [CNN] read an email from some elderly lady who contrasted the 2 responses. She called the Louisiana residents who looted, killed, complained and wined- she said ‘those scumbags’ [ouch!] What are we seeing in the Japanese people? The media are referring to them as Stoic’s- the philosophy [ancient Greek- one of only 2 philosophies mentioned by name in the bible- Acts chapter 17 mentions the Stoic’s and Epicureanism] that said the secret to life is living on an even plane. Don’t get too ‘up’ or too down- just ride the wave of life as moderately as you can. The other side of the coin is Hedonism- the philosophy of men like Freud- who taught that the problem with man is that he is taught to restrain himself [by religion] and that this restraint is itself a product of neurosis. Freud was a strange fellow, the father of modern Psychoanalysis; his ideas were actually quite weird. As a Jew [non practicing] he embraced the higher criticism of his day [a way of interpreting the bible as not being actually true- just good stories] and he sought to come up with an explanation for mans religious bent. So he came up with the idea of the Oedipal Complex- a strange view of man that said the real problems of man are they have this view of love and hate for the father figure- and the ‘real’ story of Moses and the children of Israel was the Jews killed Moses in the wilderness [hatred for the father figure] they then felt guilty about it- and out of this guilt they would eventually develop a ‘religion of the Son’ [Christianity] and Walla- that’s the real story. You would be surprised how many people hear silly stuff like this in life [or college!] and they never give it a second thought. Like Pope Benedict says in ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ [1st book of a trilogy on the life of Christ] he mentions the theories of the critics [men like Bultmann] and he then responds ‘and how do you know this’? Bultmann [one of the famous liberal theologians of the day] would come up with ideas like this- and he would just espouse them. The funny thing about these critics was they were trying to challenge the historical accuracy of the bible- are the gospels true- stuff like that. And in their challenge they would ‘make up’ their own stuff [Oedipal complex] and simply expect everyone to believe it. So Freud taught that we need to free man from this neurosis of religion- this thing in society that says ‘restrain yourself’ and if we teach man to do and be all that he feels like doing- then we will have healed him of this destructive religious belief that developed out of a secret love/hate relationship of father. Wow. I can think of no greater philosophy to not live your life by than that. How did the Freudian experiment turn out? It was/is a disaster- I’m not just saying this as a Christian who rejects Freud’s atheism- but many of his ideas have also been roundly rejected by the psychologists of the modern day. Freud actually taught that when you counsel a person [yes- he was the originator of the idea of the patient lying on the couch while the counselor listens] that the patient is ‘transmitting’ psychic energy from himself to the doctor- and that’s what makes him better. Freud wrote Moses and Monotheism [his fictional account of the origins of Judaism/Christianity] Totem and Taboo- the fictional idea of the primitive religion of man- and Civilization and it’s Discontents, his explanation of the conflict between mans psychic life and the demands of society. The basic view of Freud [Hedonism] is a failed system that does not work in the real world. To live your life based on the philosophy of ‘if it feels good- do it’ does not work in any area of life- for the long term. In food, shopping, family life, marriage, sexual expression- the basic principle of self restraint and discipline [the Japanese response] is in great contrast to the ‘unrestrained’ view of life [as seen in some of the Katrina response- many of the looters and rioters were raised with a welfare mentality- they were dependant on the state/govt. to do things for them. When things went bad- they blamed the govt. for it]. In the end of the day- the society that practices self discipline- that teaches their children to be self reliant- those are the ones who have the most successful lives. Those who practice Hedonism blame stuff on everyone else. http://www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com VERSES- New International Version As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. John 8:40 10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. 11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. 12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. Heb. 13 KJ21 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel” (which being interpreted is, “God with us”). Matt. 1:23 Proverbs 21:20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations 1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations 7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. 9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Heb. 6 Mark 12:1 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. Mark 12:2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. Mark 12:3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. Mark 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. Mark 12:5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Mark 12:6 Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. Mark 12:7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our’s. Mark 12:8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. Mark 12:9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. Mark 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: Mark 12:11 This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Mark 12:12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way. Mark 12:13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. Mark 12:14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Mark 12:15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. Mark 12:16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar’s. Mark 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him. Mark 12:18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, Mark 12:19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Mark 12:20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. Mark 12:21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. Mark 12:22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. Mark 12:23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. Mark 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? Mark 12:25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. Mark 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Mark 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. Mark 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, Mark 12:39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Mark 12:40 Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. Mark 12:41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. Mark 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. Mark 12:43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: Mark 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Isaiah 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: Isaiah 5:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. Isaiah 5:3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. Isaiah 5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? Isaiah 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: Isaiah 5:6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. http://www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg

1010)CORINTHIANS 15:1-19 Paul will deal with the greatest threat yet to the Corinthian church, their doubt over the physical resurrection of the body. Various ‘Christian’ groups over the years have doubted the physical resurrection. Now, some have done this out of a sincere attempt at trying to defend the faith! [their view of it] In the 1900’s you had one of the most popular theologians by the name of Rudolf Bultman [most of his career was spent at the University of Marburg, Germany. Much of the higher criticism of the day originated from Germany] He wrote a book called ‘Kerygma and Myth’. What he tried to say was that any modern man living in the 20th century, with all the breakthroughs in science and knowledge, could not ‘literally’ believe the miraculous stories in scripture. Or even the way scripture spoke of heaven and hell and used limited terms to describe spiritual truths. He used the bibles terminology on Cosmology as an example. How could man believe in a Cosmos where ‘heaven is up there, with the stars and all’ and he felt that enlightened man needed to ‘re-tool’ the bible and cleanse it from all these mythical images, but yet keep the spiritual aspects of it. The moral teachings of Christ and stuff like that. So you have had sincere men doubt the truth claims of scripture. The problem with this attempt [higher criticism] is it throws out the baby with the bathwater. The resurrection of Jesus is presented by the apostles as a real event. The fact of this resurrection can also be attested to by examining the historical events of the day. Simply put, there is a ton of proof for the real resurrection of Christ. Bultman and others meant well, but some of the ‘facts’ that they were using were later proven to be false. Bultman used a model of cosmology that would later be rejected by science. Yet the testimony from scripture would remain sure. Paul told the Corinthian’s that they needed to reject any attempts at spiritualizing the resurrection of Christ. Sometimes believers grasp hold of limited proof’s for certain doctrines. For instance, the New Testament does speak of a spiritual resurrection. In Ephesians Paul says we are presently raised with Christ. In Romans chapter 6 we have all ready been raised with Jesus. This reality does not mean there will be no future resurrection of the saints. In Johns gospel Jesus speaks of the resurrection as being a future real event, as well as a present reality. Those in the graves will hear his voice and be raised from the dead. And those who were presently ‘dead in sins’ would ‘come alive’ [spiritually] when they heard and believed the testimony of Jesus. It is important for the believer to be familiar with the various theories and ideas that theologians and believers have grasped over the years. It is a mistake to simply see all higher learning as ‘liberalism’. There are some very important things that we have learned thru the great intellectuals of the church. But we also need to stick with the ancient traditions as seen in the creeds, as well as the plain testimony of scripture. If Christ ‘be not raised from the dead, then we are of all men most miserable’. (1011)CORINTHIANS 15:20-28 here we see the guarantee of mans resurrection based on Christ’s resurrection. ‘As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall ALL be made alive’. Is Paul teaching a form of universalism [all being saved]? He is showing us that all men will someday be raised from the dead. Now, does Paul leave room here for a type of Pre-millennial resurrection? A ‘raising’ of the dead prior to a thousand year literal reign of Jesus. Then another resurrection at the end? Yes he does. If you read Revelation you will see this type of scenario play out. Also Jesus speaks of the resurrection of the just and the unjust. Historically the church has held 3 basic views on this. Pre-millennialism says Jesus returns first [pre] before the literal thousand year rule occurs. ‘Post’ says the thousand year rule is literal, and after that Jesus comes back. Those who held to this view were excited at the turn of the first millennium [1000 ad] they thought it possible for Jesus to have returned after the first thousand years since his death and resurrection. And then you have A-millennial, they spiritualize the thousand year reign spoken of in the book of Revelation as being a symbol of Christ’s present rule and kingdom. Now, today’s most popular form of Pre-millennialism is not historic, it dates back to the 19th century. Today’s form is called ‘Pre-tribulational, Pre-millennial’ this teaching [dispensationalism] says Jesus comes back 2 more times. One is called ‘the rapture’ the other is the second coming [revealing]. The proponents of this form find little [or no] early Christians who believed this. There is one early writing by a Syrian brother who speaks very clearly about a rapture type event. Some think he speaks a little too clearly! The writing is believed to have been a fake. Either way we do have Paul teaching stages involved with the coming of the Lord and the kingdom. It is possible to have 2 future resurrections, this would not mean you need two future ‘second comings’. The first resurrection takes place at Christ’s return. He rules a literal thousand years and ‘the dead are raised again’ at the end of the literal rule on earth [ a literal reading of Revelation]. Also Paul does use the language of Jesus submitting to the Father at the end so ‘God will be all in all’. I feel believers have been confused and at times contradictory while trying to explain the nature of God and the Trinity. I recently read a teaching on the Trinity that tried to compare the Trinity to the nature of the organic church. It seemed confusing to me, they tried to say that just like in the Trinity you have no one ‘being’ having authority over the other, but instead you see all three persons equally submitting to one another [Father, Son and Spirit] so in the church you have equality. Now, I do believe that there is equality in the church, but I felt the example was way off. The New Testament clearly teaches the willful ‘submission’ of the Son to the Father. God [the father] is clearly the one ‘in charge’. Now, I admit it’s difficult and brothers have spent years trying to explain all the ins and outs of this. Here Paul shows us that the Son has willingly submitted to the Father so the father can put all things under him. Then once again at the culmination of the kingdom the Son submits to the father and God receives the glory. We will praise and worship Jesus thru out all eternity, it is his willful submission to the father’s plan that makes this happen. NOTE- Some believers spiritualize the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation, they relate it to those who have been ‘born again’ spiritually. Modern ‘Preterism’ holds to this view. (1013)CORINTHIANS 15:29-49 the resurrection body is a real ‘spiritual’ body. Paul describes the natural body [us now] as fleshly and like Adams body. He then describes the promised resurrection body as being like Jesus in his raised state. These verses can be a little confusing. When Paul says the resurrection body is ‘spiritual’ as compared to earthy, is he saying it is not real? No. But you can see how some early sects could use these verses and teach a ‘phantom’ type resurrection [Gnostic, Docetist type groups]. I was once asked by a Catholic believer if the church taught the physical resurrection. I assured the person that both Catholic and Protestant [and Orthodox] expressions of Christianity embrace the real future resurrection of the body. Now, is it the same body? Well, the way Paul describes it is by comparing the planting of seeds. When you plant a seed you don’t simply get a bigger seed! But you get various types of growth, whether it’s a tree or plant or whatever. So Paul says our future bodies will be new and glorious in this way, but if it weren’t really you, then it wouldn’t be a resurrection! So you will come back, but it will be a ‘new you’. Over the years I have studied various theologians [Christian ones] and I have seen the penchant for various groups to focus in on a certain doctrine and to stray somewhat from the faith. Now, they aren’t always cults, some of them are highly knowledgeable Christians who seem to be testing the boundaries of orthodoxy. I like N.T. Wright, the famous Bishop of Durham [Church of England] but you need to be grounded in what you believe before you can really read him. I feel at times he is helpful in bringing new perspectives to things, I have seen some of the things he teaches myself. But there is also a danger of ‘re-thinking’ stuff a little too much. By the way Wright has written on the resurrection and has done a great job at defending the historic churches position. He’s in somewhat of a theological controversy at the moment, some of the strong reformed brothers have come out and challenged his view on Justification. Wright teaches that the historic reformers kind of missed what Paul was saying. Wright ‘extends’ the doctrine to mean ‘a sign/badge of those who are already in Gods covenant community’. The historic reformers taught a more forensic meaning of the doctrine. That justification is primarily saying that God imputes the righteousness of Jesus to the believer. That Jesus took our sins, and we get his righteousness. Now, I feel there is some truth to Wrights view. But I would be careful to throw out the reformed view all together. There certainly is much truth to the reformed view. John Piper [a reformed Baptist] just released a book on the reformed view, Wright has one coming out pretty soon [Wrights is already published overseas, but the states wont get it for a few months]. So, the point is I believe the historic church and the ancient creeds ‘got it right’ on the resurrection. It is real, it will happen to all people some day. Those who have ‘done good’ [wow- these are Jesus actual words when describing the final judgment!] will be ‘raised to life’. Those who have done evil will be raised to face judgment. We can all escape the coming judgment, Jesus died for us. If we believe and accept his death, burial and resurrection, then we will be raised to a new life some day. 378- (I stuck this entry in here because it deals with the ‘baptism for the dead’, I didn’t want you to think that I just skipped over the verse) Let me give a little example of the ‘overriding act of redemption’ trumping any little verse or experience. Paul actually tells the Corinthians ‘if the dead are not raised, then why are you baptizing people in ‘proxy’ for the dead?’ This is tough stuff. Let me give you one way to see this. The ‘baptism for the dead’ seems to have been a real cultural thing that took place in a specific time and setting [like the slavery verses I mentioned earlier]. There seems to have been a concern specifically to the 1st century church that said ‘this new doctrine of Jesus is great, but being its only been around a few years, and you are telling us [Paul] that you must embrace it to be saved. Then we have a problem. A lot of our loved ones never got a chance to hear. How do you expect us to quell these concerns?’ And it’s possible that the ‘baptism’ by proxy [like a father or son getting baptized in the place of the loved one who died] was a 1stcentury cultural thing that grew out of this. The fact that they were doing this does not mean that Paul the Apostle was condoning it. Paul was simply saying ‘if you guys really don’t believe in life after death, then why are you bothering with this rite?’ Its like Paul was using their own cultural thing to show them the inconsistency of their thinking. He wasn’t really teaching the baptism for the dead. [This is my view, Mormons believe different. They do practice this today and they use this verse as justification]. (1014)CORINTHIANS 15:50-58 Okay, let’s wrap up this chapter. ‘Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom’ Paul speaks a little on the nature of the resurrected body. It is real, but not mortal [flesh and blood] without getting lost in the technical aspects of the actual body, Paul does make a distinction between the natural life of man [blood gives life to the mortal man] and the supernatural life of the resurrected body [spiritual life]. Then Paul shows us a mystery [something that was hidden up until the time God reveals it- here thru Paul!] that ‘we shall not all experience death, but we shall all get new bodies’. Paul teaches that some believers will not face natural death, they will be the generation that is alive at Christ’s coming. Paul says this happens at the ‘last trumpet’. For those of you not familiar with some of the silly stuff that passes under the heading of ‘theology’, let me explain some stuff. In the world of ‘dispensationalism’ there is an entire body of teaching that deals with the trumpets in scripture. Basically if Paul is teaching that this event, getting raised from the dead and being transformed, if this takes place at ‘the last trump’ then it is pretty clear that this event is not some type of rapture that takes place 7 years prior to Gods ‘last trump’ [last day, when God wraps things up]. But if you read the portions of scripture that speak about Christ’s return and the resurrection [Thessalonians 4, John 14, Matthew 25] you will see that all these scriptures teach that the resurrection takes place at the end, when Christ returns. So anyway a whole lotta time is spent by the rapture guys to explain that when you are in school, you might say ‘hey, that’s the last bell [trump] before class starts’ and that ‘last bell’ doesn’t mean ‘last bell’, but it means the ‘last bell for now’. It’s kind of silly stuff that preachers do in order to back up their theories. If scriptures ‘last trump’ isn’t really the ‘last trump’ then you can fit the rapture in as a separate event from the second coming. I think doing doctrine like this is silly and hairsplitting. The first century believers who were reading these letters [not all at once, but as they were slowly being penned and sent] simply saw all of the references on the second coming as one event. It’s silly to try and make two separate lists of the New testament verses on Christ’s coming and then place some verses under a rapture heading, and others under a ‘second coming’ heading, especially when the rapture brothers themselves cant agree on which ones belong to which list! Well any way we have a glorious promise of a future resurrection body, the last enemy that Jesus destroys is death. Revelation says ‘death and hell are cast into the lake of fire’ Jesus has power over death, hell and the grave. He will totally eradicate all death some day, Jesus tasted death for every man [Hebrews] so that man does not have to be in bondage under its fear any more. (1019)CORINTHIANS 16:1-4 ‘When you come together on the first day of the week, let every one of you put some money aside as God has provided for you. So when I come we won’t have to waste any time taking offerings. And we will use this money for the purpose of meeting the needs of the poor saints at Jerusalem. Whoever you approve to take the money to Jerusalem can do it, I might also go with them if the Lord permits. I gave this same order to all the churches in the Galatian province’ [my own paraphrase]. These verses are usually used to justify the Sunday morning offering. They are also used to teach ‘Sunday as the Lords special day’. Let’s talk a little. Paul gave these instructions to at least this church and all the churches of Galatia. We have no idea if all the first century churches actually did this. But let’s say they did. What exactly are they doing? They are taking a Sunday offering and using it 100 percent for charitable purposes. Remember how I have taught in the past that the main teaching from Jesus on giving dealt with the poor? So if we want to use this text to command believers to give on Sunday, then we need to use ALL THE MONEY for helping poor people. Paul also says ‘do it before I arrive, I don’t want to have to spend time messing around with collections’. I find it interesting that it is common today to spend a good portion of the Sunday service [any church U.S.A.] to kind of do a celebratory offering thing. Lots of time to stop and emphasize the importance of worshiping God with our money. The point I would make is Paul did none of this. He actually said he did not want to have to set aside time for the collecting of money when he arrived, and for this very reason he said take up the offering on Sunday! One more thing; it is obvious that the early believers began a tradition of meeting on Sunday. Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection on 2 consecutive Sundays. Acts 20 has believers meeting on Sunday. Jesus of course rose from the dead on Sunday. But there is no indication from scripture that believers are under some type of New Testament Sabbath law. Sort of like Sunday is now the ‘special day’ just like Saturday for Judaism. Various groups argue over this issue, I have taught on it before. In the New Covenant we have tremendous freedom to meet or not meet on Sunday. Or to meet or not meet on Saturday for that matter! But doctrinally we are free from the law and all of its observances. I appreciate the work that has been done by various scholars [Especially some catholic ones] on showing how Sunday became the special day of observance for believers. But we need to be careful when we read what the believers did in the New Testament and then proclaim it as law. I believe its fine to meet on Sunday, to take offerings and to do all of these types of things. But when we grasp hold of limited ideas, and then exalt them to a place of law, we err. Paul was simply telling this church to collect some money on the first day of the week for the sole purpose of charity. If modern day believers want to apply these scriptures literally, then we should use all of the Sunday offering for charity. If we apply them literally, then there is absolutely no sense of a tithe system to pay for salaries, building upkeep, insurance, on and on. For modern day believers to engage in such things is fine. If these expenses seem needed for the overall purpose of Gods work, then fine. But to use these verses and actually tell believers they are robbing God if they don’t tithe on Sunday is absolutely not true. I have written a lot about these things over the years [you can find stuff on my ‘statement of faith’ section and ‘what in the world is the church’ section] I do not condemn all the churches who practice these things, it’s just we need to be careful when we take examples from scripture, lift them out of context, add a few verses from Malachi and then teach some air tight system that if not obeyed brings the curse of God on someone. Do all things in grace, remember THE POOR, and you will do well. I talked about unity in the church- here’s my past teaching on the prayer of Jesus in John 17- John 17 POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT JOHN 17 John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. https://youtu.be/nbUgpSNo7nE John 17 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/9-15-16john-17.zip ON VIDEO- .Hooch grows .Stop draining the lake .Lord’s prayer .Deity of Christ .You see me- you see the Father .Trinity is not Tritheism .Oikos .Pastors .Unity is vital NEW- Jesus prays for his core community ‘that they would be one’- then- he prays for those who will later believe thru ‘their word’. John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. The church is a light in the world- just like Jesus. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Matt 5:14 Paul calls us the ‘Body of Christ’. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 1st Cor. 12:27 We often think that when the church is powerful- she will reach the world. If we have the gifts functioning – that will do it. Or how about when ‘we all become rich and grasp the prosperity promises’. Surely that will get the work done. But Jesus says when we are one- unified- then the world will know he has sent us. John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. I apply [on video] some practical application to the verse I posted at the top- ‘Glorify me with the glory we had- before the world was’. Now- to God be the glory- forever. Yet we share in the glory of Christ. John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I like the way John’s gospel says Jesus ‘knew he came from God- all things were given to him from God- and he was going back to God’. The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians that we too ‘came from God’ he planned us before he made the world- yes- the bible teaches that. Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: So- before any of us were involved in the things we are doing- Pastors- your church Preachers- you’re calling Whatever ‘world’ God has allowed you to play a part in- your sphere of influence. Before ‘that world’ ever existed- you had this this aloneness with God. Where he revealed his purpose for your life- and you took hold of it- despite what others said. You prevailed by faith to see this ‘world’ come to pass. Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. You learned that ‘all things were given to you by God’. Now- after these things are built- after you saw God use you to build the church- or ministry. Then there comes a time where you say ‘Father- let me not forget the way all this started- it was just me and you- and let me now return to the ‘glory’ that we had- before these things were’. All of us need to know what it’s like to simply walk with God. These last few years I learned to spend whole days- just with God. No ministry- no outreach- no human contact for that day. And it was not easy to learn this. But at the start of the Christian walk- there was indeed this sense that it was just me and him. Then we get involved in all types of kingdom things- good things- ‘world’ things. And we have to come back to the start again- we have to pray ‘Father- let me experience once again- that one on one relationship that we had at the beginning- before all these things were’. And trust that the word that you have deposited in the people you have had influence with- that it will continue- even after you are gone. When you learn to be alone with God again- you will realize you are not alone- but the Father is with you in a very real way- Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. Jn. 16:32 See? PAST POSTS [verses below] JOHNS GOSPEL LINKS- https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/amos-5/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/jesus-christ/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/father-abraham/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/the-flood/ John 3 https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/the-well-john-4/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/john-5/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/john-6/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/john-7/ https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/8-10-15-john-14.zip https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/john-8/ https://youtu.be/f8VpxlYM_kU John 8- ‘who the Son sets free’ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/john-9/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/john-10/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/john-11-the-8th-sign/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/i-found-a-verse/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/john-12/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/samuel-john-hebrews-review/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/john-13/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/john-14/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/04/john-15/ https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/john-16/ . [1486] ARIUS- a priest from Egypt who would challenge the deity of Jesus in the 4th century. Arius taught that Jesus was the Son of God, but not eternally the Son. He said Jesus was a created being whom the father ‘bestowed’ son ship upon. He taught that Jesus was ‘like God’ but not God. The emperor Constantine would call the famous council of Nicaea in 325 a.d. and the council would agree with Athanasius and say that the Son and the Father were of ‘the same substance’ [homoousios] and Arius’s belief would be rejected. The debate would still rage on thru out the century as Constantine would die and the new emperor from the east would hold to ‘Arian’ views. Eventually Orthodoxy would win out and Arianism would be rejected by the majority of believers. I should note that many of the oriental churches would go the way of Arianism till this day; some of these churches are not like the modern cults that we would automatically reject, but they do hold to beliefs that Orthodox Christianity has rejected. As I have written about before, it’s easy to see how various believers have struggled with these issues over the years, some of the ways people express things can be deemed heresy a little too quickly in my view. There are believers who express the deity of Jesus in ways that some Arians express it, and they are not full Arians! The point being, yes- Arian went too far in his belief that Jesus was a created being, Johns gospel refutes this belief strongly [as well as many other portions of scripture] but too say that Jesus was/is the full expression of the father, because he ‘came out from God’ is also in keeping with scripture. Today we should be familiar with the issues and also use much grace when labeling different groups of believers; and we should strive for a unity in the Spirit as much as possible. As believers we accept the full deity of Christ, one who is of the ‘same substance’ of the father- true God from true God. He who has seen the Son has seen the father- Jesus said to Phillip ‘I have been with you a long time, if you see and know me, you have seen and known my father’ Jesus is God come down in the flesh to dwell among men, the true Immanuel, God with us. [1484] ‘This is why I Paul am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so called. I take it that you are familiar with the part I was given in God’s plan for including everybody… none of our ancestors understood this, only in our time has it been made clear thru God’s Spirit… this is my life work, helping people understand and respond to God’s message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details’ Ephesians 3, message bible. As I said earlier in this study, the ‘mystery’ that God revealed to Paul was the reality that thru Christ all ethnic groups would be on the same footing with God. This specifically related to the religious belief of the day that the ethnic nation of Israel were the only ones with special access to God. For Paul to have been preaching this message in his day would be like us teaching that God’s plan for all people today- Jews, Arabs, Palestinians, Iranians, etc., it would be like saying Gods purpose for our day is to accept all of these ethnic groups as one group thru Christ. To be frank about it, I believe many evangelicals today are not fully seeing the reality of the Cross when they exalt the natural heritage of Israel as Gods special people. Though I realize many of these teachings mean well [end time scenarios and stuff] yet in practice they deny the equal footing that all people have in Christ. Paul was preaching the great news that your ethnic/cultural background no longer made any difference- thru Christ we are all Gods special people. This does not mean that we are all accepted whether or not we believe in Christ, a sort of religious syncretism, but it does mean that the offer of Jesus is available to all. [parts] (1226) 2ND CORINTHIANS 4- In chapter 3 Paul said we are beholding/seeing God in an open way as compared to the old covenant. In this chapter he shows us how we ‘see God’. We see him in his Son. God has chosen to reveal himself to us thru his Son. One of the first Christian councils [after the one at Jerusalem in Acts 15!] was held in the 4th century under the Roman emperor Constantine. The reason was to bring unity to the church on the issue of Christ’s divinity. These councils played political roles as well as theological. After Constantine became emperor he established the great city in the eastern empire called Constantinople. This city [named after him] became both the theological and political seat in the eastern half of the empire. So you had both a religious and political competition going on in the empire. Rome, situated in the west, was feeling like she would lose her position if the eastern half started gaining too much influence. So you had differing reasons for these councils. But you also had sincere men who held to various beliefs at the time. The bishop Arius came to teach that Jesus was the Son of God, but not God himself. This created a stir in the empire and Constantine called a council to settle the question. The debates went forth, both views were discussed and classic Orthodoxy came down on the side of Jesus being God. Now, there would be more councils dealing with Gods nature and Christ’s role, but this was a defining moment in Christian history. The church [and the scriptures] teach that God became man [incarnation] and thru Jesus we ‘see God’. Paul also relates the many sufferings and trials he was going thru. He says he tastes death and bears in his body the death of Jesus. He simply does not give a picture of the Christian life that is common in today’s world. Many believers are taught that these types of difficulties and sufferings are a result of their lack of faith, or their inability to rightfully ‘access their covenant rights’. Paul refutes this doctrine strongly. Paul has already mentioned those who ‘peddle Gods word’ or who twist the scriptures for their own benefit. It always amazes me to see well meaning believers/teachers go thru the entire corpus of the New Testament and never see these things. It’s so easy for preachers/teachers to read the scriptures with blinders on. Here Paul taught that the many sufferings [both physical and spiritual] were an honorable thing, they were his way of sharing in the sufferings and death of Christ. They were ‘death in him, but life in you’ he saw his difficulties thru a redemptive lens. He says the present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. The first verse of this chapter says seeing we have received this great ministry, we don’t faint. I like Eugene Petersons Message version, he says ‘just because times get hard, we don’t throw up our hands and walk off the job’ I like that. (1227) 2ND CORITNHIANS 5- Paul speaks of the Christian hope- resurrection! This chapter can be confusing if not taken in context. You could think that Paul is saying when we die we have a house/room in heaven ‘waiting for us’ and this seems true enough. But he is really saying something more along the lines of ‘in heaven [Gods realm] we have a promise of a new body. The Spirit in us is the down payment, but full redemption will be complete when we are raised from the dead’ the hope is a new body, not our souls living some type of disembodied existence in a heavenly [parts] JAMES 1 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/5-28-15-james-intro-chapter-1.zip Try and watch this video- I cover lots of stuff that place this letter in context for this study. [ Read acts 10,11,15, Galatians 1-2] Intro- This letter was written by James- the brother of Jesus. He was one of the main church leaders at the church in Jerusalem- we read about him in Acts chapter 15. This [Acts 15] was the first church council in the history of Christianity. I already taught the book of Romans written by the apostle Paul. And as we read the New Testament in context- we can see the reason why James penned this letter- and addressed it to Jewish believers. Paul was the most influential missionary in the early church- he established most of the gentile churches we read about in the bible [Rome being the exception]. He also wrote most of the letters that make up our New Testament. His main teaching was Justification by faith. There was a division we read about in the bible- between some of the Jewish believers at Jerusalem- and the churches Paul was planting [the church council mentioned above- was convened over this issue]. This division was based on the teaching of Paul- and some Jewish believers in Jerusalem accused Paul of rejecting the Mosaic Law. Paul defended himself in the letters of the New Testament [Romans/Galatians] and even talks about his visits to the leaders at the church in Jerusalem. Now- in this context- it seems fitting for James- the main church leader of the Jewish brothers- to ‘set the record straight’. And to write his own letter- showing the importance of GOOD WORKS- and even saying ‘see how a man is justified/saved by works- and not by faith alone’. The higher critics of Christianity [who you have heard me talk about in recent videos] will teach that James and Paul ‘taught different theologies’. I do not agree with them. But- our bibles are an early collection of the Real Time things that were taking place in the early church. At the time these men were writing these letters- they were not writing them as a complete canon [book] – but were writing them as you or I would write a letter to another person. In the wisdom of God- I think it is possible for these men to have seen different aspects of the manifold wisdom of God- and maybe they were not fully seeing the other writer’s point of view. To me- this would not be a criticism of the canon of scripture- but it would show us that God used these men- thru their experiences- and yes- even disagreements- to write the letters that make up our bibles- And in time- they would indeed become the official teaching of the church- Embracing a broad range of Divine Revelation- that in the end- does NOT CONTRADICT itself- but instead makes a complete work- which we call the bible. This letter is short- and packed with short verses of great wisdom. It is the only New Testament letter that falls into the category of Wisdom Literature- Meaning a particular genre’ of writing- like Proverbs in the Old Testament. Because of this- I am going to post each chapter of the letter during this teaching- for those of you who have never read the bible all the way thru- I want to challenge you to read these short chapters over the next few weeks. I will comment and add historical stuff in this teaching- like I did in the other recent studies. But most of all- read each chapter for yourself- ask God to give you wisdom- and apply the instruction of this letter to your life. It is a very practical- straight forward teaching that comes to us from the brother of Jesus himself. As I have been commenting on the other writings that did not make it into our bibles- like the Gnostic gospels- One of the reasons these extra biblical writings have so much appeal- Is because they claim to have other teachings- from/about Jesus- that are not in the bible. For those of us who reject these other writings- as canon- The letter of James kind of fills the void of ‘we want to know more about what Jesus taught’. This would be the letter to read- because James grew up with Jesus- in the same home. He was the oldest sibling of the Holy Family- And he was not a follower of Jesus until after the resurrection of Christ. He was one of the witnesses Jesus appeared to after his resurrection [Paul told us this in Corinthians]. So- if anyone has any ‘secret insight’ into the other stuff Jesus taught- it would be James. James 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: James 1:10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass [parts] END NOTES OF POST- WHAT ARE THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS? OCTAVIAN- A GOD? CICERO- MARK ANTONY [or Anthony if you like]. WHO WERE THE ESSENES? DID THE CHURCH ENGAGE IN A GRAND CONSPIRACY? END NOTES [I posted the video for this portion a few days ago- it goes along with Hebrews 7-9 video/post] The past few weeks I had a few friends ask me about the Dead Sea Scrolls- and a few other questions about the ‘lost books of the bible’ and some other common- and mistaken ideas [like the original sin being Eve had sex with the serpent]. So- I figured I would cover a little Jewish history- which would help in this study of Hebrews- And also hit on a few of these subjects. As we read Hebrews- it helps to also understand some of the history that we don’t have in our bibles [though the Catholic bibles do have some of it in the Apocrypha]. Ok- the ruling empire at the time of Christ was Rome- just prior to the appearance of Jesus- the Roman Emperor- Caesar Augustus- consolidated the Roman Empire under his rule- Rome was ruled by a senate- some famous names from history were in it- Cicero being one. Caesar Augustus was the nephew of Julius Caesar- his real name was Octavian [Octavius]. After the death of Julius Caesar- there were some power struggles that took place- between some other famous people. Marc Antony being one of them [Cleopatra too- he was in love with the girl for sure]. Now- we read about Augustus in the New Testament- and we read in the book of Revelation about the Mark of the Beast- and that those who don’t worship- give homage to the Beast- they will be killed. So- Many Christians would be killed because they would refuse to give homage to Caesar Augustus [meaning son of the Divine]. ‘Wow- how did he get a name like that’ [there was more than one Caesar by the way- as well as more than one Herod- who did play a part in these power struggles- it can get confusing- even to me]. When Octavian defeated Marc Antony at Actium [32 BC]. Herod [The Great] had a problem- he had previously sided with Antony and found himself on the losing side. Yet he was smart- did some ‘brown nosing’ as we say-and patched things up. Herod had 3 sons- who would eventually take positions of authority in the Roman government at the time of Christ. Herod Antipas was over the region that we read about in the New Testament where Jesus did most of his ministry- Galilee. Ok- Octavian claimed deity because of a heavenly sign associated with his rise to power- and this is how he became called ‘Caesar Augustus’. He sort of saw himself as a ‘re-incarnate’- of his great uncle Julius Caesar. ‘John- what in the heck does this have to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls’. Ok- good question. The Jews had various responses to the empires that ruled over them during various times. Alexander the Great instituted Hellenization- a sort of cultural compromise over the people he conquered. They could keep their religious/cultural roots- but would be subservient to Alexander and Greek rule. Some Jewish people rejected any compromise- we call them the Essenes- they moved out of town- so to speak, and lived in what we refer to as the Qumran community. This was a few centuries before the time of Christ- and this was where the Dead Seas Scrolls were found in the 20th century. A Bedouin boy was looking for his goats- threw a rock in a cave right off the Dead Sea- and that’s how we found the scrolls. The scrolls might have been hidden there by the Essenes- Now- when my friends asked me about them- I told them that it’s been a while since I read up on any of this- but to the best of my memory the thing that made them significant was the fact that they were very old manuscripts- from the bible- and they backed up what we had had all along. I did read up this week- and basically had it right. The earliest Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament we had previously dated back to around 900- 1000 A.D. These manuscripts went back about 1000 years earlier- and they contained portions from almost every book of the Old testament- and some complete books. The only book missing was Esther. So- this was indeed a very significant find for scholars. But the Scrolls also contain some of the writings from the Essenes themselves- things we never had before- so this too was significant. There were Jews at the time of the first century who tried to ‘get along’ with Rome- and with the person in charge of their region [one of the sons of Herod the Great at the time of Christ]. These are referred to as Herodian’s in the bible. Some wanted a revolution to rid Rome from Jerusalem- these were the Zealots [one of Jesus disciples was in this group]. Some thought if they returned to a legalistic obeisance of the law- that this would bring in a deliverer- like the stories we read about in the Old testament- these were the Pharisees. And some took more of a political compromise- these were the Sadducees. Eventually a war with Rome would be fought [By the way- Josephus- the famous 1st century historian- fought on the side of the Jews in the war- and after Jerusalem was sacked in A.D. 70- he went to Rome and wrote his great works- thinking he would make a case for the Jewish people with the Romans. This is why we have his works today- which are very valuable to scholars]. NOTE- In time I’ll try and cover how we ‘got our bibles’ [called the Canon- meaning Rule/ Measurement]. Frankly- there is a lot of confusion in the general public about conspiracies [like the Catholic Church had some type of plot to keep certain books out]. Or stories about how the Church taught Mary Magdalene was a prostitute so they could discredit her. Actually- we read in the gospels that Jesus cast out ‘spirits’ from a woman who was probably living this type of life- And Jesus had a ministry to the down and out- it is indeed possible that Mary was one of these women- And if true- it would not demean her in any way- That’s how this tradition more than likely developed- But- we don’t know for sure. So a few years back the Church officially said ‘we don’t know’. Ok- Plot? No- just being careful. So there are other misguided beliefs like this- that sincere people have- and over time I hope to get to them. I’ll do one more in keeping with this post. I mentioned above that Caesar Augustus did indeed take the title of ‘son of God’. And some critics of the Church say ‘see- there were all types of religions that had Sons of God’. I watched one show a few years back- and it stated that these religions had ’12 disciples- a leader named Lord and Savior- and he healed and claimed to be God’s Son- and rose from the dead’. Ok- that show was ‘fibbing’ to put it lightly- they went too far [historically speaking] in trying to diminish the Christians claim of Christ by doing this. Now- is there some truth to this at all? Yes- like I just mentioned above- Octavian did indeed claim deity- a ‘son of god’. So- how do we explain this? In the book of Galatians the bible says ‘in the FULLNESS of times God sent forth his Son’. Jesus came at a set time in history- in fulfilment of the Jewish Prophets- to be who he was- and to do what he did. Now- this is not special pleading here- but I find it a masterpiece that God’s Son came at a time when the Roman Empire had one sitting on the throne- who too claimed deity. Yet Jesus was in a region of the lower class- his men were not highly educated- and his followers were people under oppression. Augustus lived in the wealthy and influential capital of ‘the world’- he had all you could ever ask for- he was worshiped as a god. Yet in 3 short centuries- one of the heirs of the empire- Constantine- would have an experience – not with a former Caesar- but with a vison of a Cross- He would convert to Christianity- and declare Christianity to be the religion of the realm. He would then ‘convert’ the pagan temples- into churches for these followers of Christ. So I don’t see the fact that Augustus claimed to be a son of god right before Christ- as some type of discredit to the claims of Christ. No- I see it as God’s way of pulling the rug out from the oppressor- see? [Oh- by the way- only one of them rose from the dead- can you guess?] [parts] [1740] THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING- PLATO. I caught a show the other night on Link TV. It was a spin off from this famous Platonic quote- it was called ‘The examined life’. They interviewed some of the most prominent philosophers of our day. Cornell West, Peter Singer- a few others [I think the name is Singer?] I found it interesting that Singer- who specializes in Ethics- tried to make the case that you really don’t need religion/God in order to do ethics- all you need is to work from the basic principle that says ‘try to treat others like you too want to be treated- and then you will have a foundation for morals’. Now- I caught the contradiction right away- do you see it? Who is he quoting? This is the great moral principle- given to us by Jesus himself- called the Golden Rule. This actual principle- in Theology [the study of God] we call Natural/Moral law. The Argument is based on the reality that all people [not animals- Singer- get to it in a moment] have within them this moral compass [Romans 1] and that this in itself is proof that there must be a higher moral being- a transcendent being- who has put it in man. I just found it funny that Singer- who is supposed to be a prominent atheist/agnostic thinker- would fall flat on his face like this. Singer advocates for legal Rights for animals- and has also argued that viability of the new born baby should determine its personhood- he says that we should be able to abort babies up until around the age of 1- because they can’t really survive on their own until that age. Sad. Okay- why do Philosophy- or Physics- or any other of a number of schools of thought? Because too often Christians abandon these fields- and then when someone from that field says ‘this is why we don’t need God’ we usually have no answer. When we think about philosophy- most of us think about the 3 great big shots- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. While it is true that these guys were the major guys at right around the 5th century B.C.- yet we actually date the beginning point to the early 6TH Century B.C. to a man by the name of Thales. Thales accurately predicted a solar eclipse in the year 585 B.C. and he gained notoriety because of this. Thales was the first Greek thinker to grapple with the idea that there must be one reality that makes up all things. He would argue that Water was this element- that contained being and Motion and life. Many of these pre Socratic thinkers were obsessed with the idea of motion- where did it come from? Thales observed that streams and rivers- and all types of water sources flow- so to him this was a logical source of motion. This idea- that only one element makes up all reality- is called Monism. Monism is not be confused with Monotheism- the belief in one God- Monism actually leads to another religious view- called Pantheism- the belief that God is everything- and everything is God. This is not the historic Christian view. Now- the pre Socratic guys- Parmenides, Zeno, Heraclitus- these guys would challenge Thales view that water was the main thing. Some said ‘maybe it’s Air’ another said ‘Earth’ and some Fire. These 4 elements [Earth, Air [wind] Fire and Water- are the 4 basic elements of the early Greek philosophers. We see these things in the naming of musical groups [Earth Wind and Fire] as well as the themes in movies [fantastic 4- based on 4 basic elements- powers]. Now- one of the thinkers said ‘wait- maybe the reality behind all things is not any one of these elements- maybe there is a 5th dimension [another musical name- and also the famous Bruce Willis flick- called the 5th Element] a Boundless being- outside of time and matter- maybe this 5ht element is the foundation for all things. Of course this view would lead to the more developed view of God that Socrates and his followers would embrace- an early view of God- much like the later Christian view [absent the Trinity]. By the way- the view that 2 or more elements make up all reality is called Pluralism- not to be confused with religious Pluralism [that all religions lead to the same God]. The most common form of Pluralism is Dualism [2 realities equally true] but all non Monists who embrace more than one reality are Pluralists. Okay- maybe a bit much with the 10 dollar words- but it might spark the interest of some. The church has debated for centuries on whether or not Philosophy should be taught to Christians. One of the early church fathers- Tertullian- said no- his famous quote is ‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens’. Meaning what does Philosophy have in common with Christianity [Athens- Greece was the seat of philosophy in Jesus’ day]. For the most part- the early church fathers would embrace the study of philosophy- and try to make arguments for the Christian faith by presenting Christianity as ‘thee’ philosophy that best answers the questions of man. These early Christian thinkers are called Apologists- men like Justin Martyr are in this class. Apologist is a word we use to describe those who defend the faith- it comes from the Apostle Peter’s letter in the N.T. where Peter says ‘give an answer to those who ask you about the faith’. In the Greek language- the original language the N.T. was written in- this phrase is talking about a defense- an ‘apology’ in the sense of ‘making the case’ not in the common sense of apologizing. In the book of Acts- chapter 17- we read the famous sermon of the apostle Paul- given at Mars Hill. He was in Athens at the time- and he was debating with all the philosophers of the day. He tells them ‘as I was looking around town- I saw that one of your altars is addressed to The Unknown God’. He would go on and declare unto them that this Jesus is the true God- the one raised from the dead. Paul also said ‘in Him we live and MOVE and have our being’. Kind of a popular verse quoted by preacher’s today- but we often overlook the significance of the MOVE part. I mean- why say we MOVE in him too? Paul was a smart guy- he knew these children of Socrates questioned where motion came from [Remember Thales?] So he was basically saying ‘I am declaring to you the one true reality- the true 5th Element- the missing God particle from your system’ and he went on and preached Christ- being raised from the dead. Paul knew that you can’t really do true philosophy- to grapple with the questions of life and being and ‘motion’ without realizing that God is indeed the ultimate answer to all things. Even Peter Singer- who claimed that you don’t need God or religion in order to do Ethics- even he unknowingly quoted Jesus in attempting to give a basis for his Philosophy- yes- he quoted a God- one unknown to him- just like the altar at Athens- but a God never the less. An inescapable 5th element- the missing part to the whole puzzle. VERSES- John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: John 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. John 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. John 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. John 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. John 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. John 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. John 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. John 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. John 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. John 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. John 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Tim. 3:16 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. http://www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com facebook.com/john.chiarello.5 https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg

VERSES- These are the verses I either quoted or taught on the video- Ephesians 4 Hebrews 13:14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Psalm 27:13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Acts 14:14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, 1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Hebrews 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations John 15:13 [Full Chapter] Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Mark 12:13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. Mark 12:14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Mark 12:15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. Mark 12:16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar’s. Mark 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him. Mark 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Mark 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. Mark 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, Mark 12:39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Mark 12:40 Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, Ephesians 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, Ephesians 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Ephesians 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? Ephesians 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Ephesians 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Ephesians 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Ephesians 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ; Ephesians 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Ephesians 4:27 Neither give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

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dailyaudiobiblechronological · 4 years

Text

1/23/2021 DAB Chronological Transcription

Genesis 32-34

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Chronological. I'm Jill, here with you today as we go through the Bible together. Now I realize that some of you who have maybe very little experience with the Bible, wanna know what’s the difference between DAB Chronological, DABC and DAB. And I probably should’ve explained this much earlier on, but it did not occur to me that there might be some people that maybe don’t know the difference until I learned some of you, some of my friends from different phases of life are gonna go through the Bible together, have some questions. So let me explain it the best way I know how. The DAB, where Brian, my husband, who’s the founder of Daily Audio Bible, goes through the Bible on a one year reading plan. It begins with an Old Testament reading, and then a New Testament reading. So he starts at the very beginning of the Old Testament, the very beginning of the New Testament, for the the same day a Psalms, and then a Proverbs. So it’s a one year reading plan, that you’ll eventually go through the Bible one whole year by reading it every day. The Daily Audio Bible Chronological is the Bible, as best as we can tell, in order of events that happened historically. Now as we have learned in recent years, everything is debatable. So my last statement, yes that is purely subjective of opinion, but this is as I said, as best as we can tell. So the Old Testament is quite a bit longer than the New Testament, so we are going to be in the Old Testament for awhile. Furthermore, if you’ve never read the Bible, maybe you’re wondering what is the best way to go through it. And again, I know that this is a little late in the game, I would say, it’s personal preference, whichever one you would like to go through and there’s no wrong answer. Brian and I do not have bets about how many people are listening. This is the Bible. This is the Kingdom of heaven. This is faith- personal faith enhanced. It’s not a competition. So there’s no wrong answer. If you would like...now if you’re new to this and you would like a lot of history and knowledge and cultural relevance to the Bible, historically speaking, how it just connects together, Brian is the place to go. I’m gonna tell you that. His knowledge surpasses anyone I’ve ever met. If you are looking for real life, relatability and maybe strong feelings...I’m a very strong feelings kinda girl. If you want something in a more relatable presentation but you don’t think that you can handle a lot of the history, then you’re at the right place if you’re already here. Many of you here are double DABers- double dippers and I get that. Actually, I think a lot of you are triple now with the Kids being read fresh and I love that. But I felt like it might be important to address that before you go any further, but if you’re here and you’re like I’m lacking a lot of knowledge, history, historical facts and relevancy to culture, then I just wanted to make you aware if you are not experiencing the Daily Audio Bible with my main man.

Speaking of the Bible, let’s read together today. Today we are still reading in the New English version. Now, if you’re also new, you’re like why are you switching versions? Maybe just settled into one and then we switch it up a little bit. The simple answer is switching it up a bit makes things a little more interesting. Sometimes you hear scripture read and it hits your conscience and your heart in a way that you have never quite experienced before because you’ve never heard it said like that. So that’s the simple reason of dancing with different translations. So with that being said, again we’re reading today, Genesis 32-34 from the New International version.

Commentary:

I wanna say as few words as possible and point out a couple of things for context. At the beginning of this passage Jacob is visited by the angels of God who meet him and tell him that this is the camp of God. This isn’t the first time that we hear the word angel, or angels of God, but for context, these men, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the way back to Adam and Eve, Noah, Job, are in direct conversation, direct relationship with God. There is no messenger. There is no great prophets introduced yet. This is as pure communication with a man and his God. Worth noting, ok Jacob exposes his fear to God. He’s afraid to go visit his brother, so he divides his belongings in half right down to wives and children. And then he builds an altar and prays to God. And he exposes his fear to God of what will happen to him. The only thing I wanna say about that is to pay attention to how he exposes his fear. We’re not gonna talk about it right now, but I have done extensive, extensive research on fear because it has gripped many parts of my life all throughout my life. So we’re just gonna take it and put it in our back pocket for today. And then Jacob wrestles all night long with some being. We’re not sure who it is. It’s not stated. And that person renames him Israel. But he’s still referred to as Jacob throughout this story. He gives Essau the gifts. Jacob and Essau separate. Jacob ends up in Shechem, in Canaan, and buys a piece of land, pitches his tent and his daughter with Leah, Dinah, is raped. It’s disruptive, isn’t it? It’s unsettling that this is part of the story. So for context we understand that this is tribal living where the ruler of a particular town or city, probably was prestigious, wealthy, powerful….they would just take beautiful women for their own to multiply the family. More bodies meant more labor for the land to work and rule and reign. New people to a city that are unknown are probably a threat. Rulers perhaps abuse their power to remain powerful. We’re thinking tribal- we can’t really comprehend tribal living. Now I don’t say any of things to justify the actions, I use it for context for reference, not justification. So Shechem then wants Dinah for his wife. He approaches his father and says, get me the girl. There’s a discussion between Shechem and Jacob for Jacob’s daughter Dinah. There’s a deal made. If they agree to circumcise all of the men, and Shechem agrees to circumcision then he can have his daughter and the people will become one people. They will intermingle. If not, they’re gonna take their sister and they’re gonna go. So they waste no time at all and get the men circumcised. And then 3 days later when they’re in pain, Jacob’s 2 sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, they took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They go to Hamor and Shechem and by sword, they take their sister and then they loot the entire city. We know by their response in the very last verse of the reading today, would you rather have our sister treated as a prostitute? We know that their actions are in direct retribution for what happened to their sister. There’s no way to know, but maybe in their minds they thought they were going after justice, but we realize really quickly in the details that they bypassed justice and went straight for either revenge or retribution of the mistreatment of their sister. And I’m sitting with this at the end of the story...oftentimes we think we want justice to be served, but instead our reach is for revenge. Revenge oftentimes is to not just get even, but to take it to the next step. And I wonder if maybe you’re like me and we’re listening to this story and we’re wishing that maybe someone had jumped to our rescue, jumped to our defense of our own innocence and there was nobody to do that. No matter whatever part of your story that it is that you wished somebody was there to defend your honor, defend your innocence, or maybe even just believe you. And friends, let me just tell you, when we do not believe victims we keep them silent in their shame. They sit in the shame of what did I do to deserve this? And I’m guessing that it’s easier just to tell somebody that you don’t believe them, than to know how to proceed to help them. But what I know, the wounds of our past will find their way out and they usually bleed out onto innocent people. What we do not deal with, what we do not heal and help will end up hurting other people. And we don’t mean to, but at some point we have to take responsibility for our own stories. We have to find healing for our own pain. And maybe then, maybe then we can make peace with our past.

Prayer:

So Jesus, we invite you into that place. We invite you, our defender, into those places that we wished that somebody would’ve saw us, somebody would’ve rescued, defended, or in some cases maybe even acknowledged our innocence. We forget that you are the only righteous judge. And it maybe has just felt so unfair, but we’re reminded today God, that you, you alone are our only defense. You are our defender. You are righteousness. And forgive us for the times that we have demanded justice, but actually meant revenge. Heal those wounded places in our heart that we have sealed off, that we have just walled up because it’s easier for us to just cut people off than letting them hurt us again. These words are disruptive in the story, God and that is what you do. You disrupt us to get to the heart of what is unhealed so that you can come and heal us and make us new and make us whole. And we thank you for that. And I thank you for that. I love you. I worship you, father, son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Daily Audio Bible, it’s who we are. That’s the website, that’s the app. You can take a look around. If you’d like to partner with the Daily Audio Bible we thank you so much for your partnership. Truly, literally could not do it without you. You can do that on the app by hitting the give icon up at the top right hand corner. You can also do that on the web page directly- Daily Audio Bible.com. If you’ve got a prayer request, a praise report, or a prayer, or a word of encouragement to call in for somebody who’s already called, do that also on the app, just hit the red little circle button up at the top right hand corner as well, or you can call 800-583-2164. I love you guys. I look forward to turning the page with you every single day. Until then, love one another.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my name is Duncan the Piano man from Fredricksburg, Texas. This is my first time at DAB Chronological. I’ve long since wanted to do this and decided to take the chance this year. I’ve been a DABer for, a regular DABer for a number of years. I just wanted to tell you Jill how much I appreciate you reading and sharing with us. And you’re doing a wonderful, wonderful job. I would ask prayer for our country especially with the transition coming up to a new administration. And the prayer for the healing of this land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 I think it is...yes, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. I pray that for us here in the United States especially for us Christians, those who are called by his name. Thank you, God bless you. And may God grant you a great day everyone.

Hello Daily Audio Bible Chronological family. Hello Jill. This is Dion from sunny southern California and I just wanted to call and let you know that last year I began listening to Daily Audio Bible with Brian in January. And I made it through the entire year with Brian. And what a blessing he was and then I said that this year I was gonna do chronological. And so I’m so glad Jill that you and I are doing this for the first time together. And it has been a blessing thus far and I know that it will continue to be a blessing. So thank you. I am enjoying this family as much as I enjoyed my Daily Audio Bible family and I just look forward to getting to know all of you as I got to know so many of the Daily Audio Bible family last year.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling tonight to pray for some of the DABers. I wanna pray for Eyes of a Dove, going through with her son and the spine and the scoliosis. And I wanna pray for Beverly in Salem, she was talking about people being alone. And I wanna pray for the lonely and lonely people and even the marriages. The enemy is trying to come in and take our children and try to break up the marriage and we got to have the power of God. Gracious Father, we just ask you to touch that baby, the one who’s going through with the spine, the one that’s going through in his body. Lord you know everything about him. Lord we ask that you heal Lord. We ask that you deliver. You be with him every step of the way. Oh Lord we ask you to touch our children. We ask you to touch our marriages. Father, you be in the midst of our marriage and let your Holy Spirit have its way in our children. Lord guide em and direct em. Lord protect em from the wickedness….Oh Lord in the name of Jesus we ask you have your way. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus, help em to see and let your Spirit give em wisdom Lord. Let your Spirit give em guidance and direction in the name of Jesus. We thank you for the DABers. We thank you for those who are going through challenges. And thank you Lord for blessing us through the Covid. Thank you for blessing us through all of 2020 and blessing us into 21 with blessings galore. Lord we give you the glory and we give you the honor and the praise in Jesus Name. Have a great day DABers. Bye bye.

Hi DABC family. This is Kim from California. I just wanna continue asking for prayer for rain in California. We have had a few days, but we desperately need some rain. It’s very very dry and it’s been very very windy which means there could be forest fires. So please continue to pray for rain for California. I also have a prayer request for my marriage. I ask for the healing of my marriage. It’s been a difficult journey lately. It’s been harder with Covid. But I just ask you to please, the Lord knows what we need. Please heal my marriage. I ask in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you DABC family. I love you. I pray for all of you each and every day. Be blessed. Kim in California.

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madewithonerib · 4 years

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Abusing the Goodness of GOD | John MacArthur [Romans 2:1-5]

Romans 2:1-5 | You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

And we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, & patience, not realizing that GOD’s kindness leads you to repentance? But because of your hard & unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

The goodness of GOD, & how to abuse it.

Turn to Romans 2, the great Magna Carta of the gospel, I want to read you the opening five verses, as we focus on abusing the goodness of GOD.

Now, the word that I want to direct your attention to is found twice in v.4, translated as kindness.

If you have an Authorized Version [King James], it will be translated goodness; goodness.”

In fact, traditionally it has been translated goodness & in many newer translations, kindness. Kindness is a good way to explain goodness here, because it is not goodness as opposed to badness.

It is not that GOD is good as opposed to bad; it is that HE is good in the sense of being benevolent.

The word here, chrēstotēs, means good in the sense of generous, good in the sense of merciful, good in the sense of kind, & so kindness is an apt translation of this word.

Its equivalent in the OT is the Hebrew word chesed, which basically is translated lovingkindness.

1.] That is the attribute of GOD that we want to focus on; GOD is possessed by an innate good will toward sinners, an innate kindness.

GOD is by nature merciful, tender-hearted, compassionate; GOD withholds judgment.

GOD grants benevolent favors because it is HIS nature. It is a reason to praise HIM, it is a reason to honor HIM, it is a reason to worship HIM.

In the NT, the word for HIS goodness or kindness is chrēstotēs. There are two OT words, chesed, that very familiar word usually translated lovingkindness, & another word, tov, which is also translated goodness or kindness.

2.] The OT extols the goodness of GOD as a reason for worship; in fact, it is most often referred to in the Psalms, which is the worship book of the OT.

Psalm 23:6, the Shepherd’s Psalm, “Surely goodness & mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,”

The psalmist when he contemplates the goodness of GOD, who is a shepherd who cares for HIS sheep, & provides for them goodness & mercy all the days of their lives.****

In Psalm 25:8, “Good is the LORD” that is, kind, merciful, benevolent, generous.

Psalm 31:19, “Great is YOUR goodness.”

Psalm 52:1, “Your goodness [of the LORD] is continual.”

Psalm 33:5, “The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD” it is everywhere, at all times, spread across the world.

Psalm 107:8, “Give thanks to the LORD for HIS goodness.”

Psalm 145 is worth our focused attention Here is perhaps the most beautiful of expressions of praise toward GOD for HIS goodness, HIS kindness. Psalm 145:1-7 “I will extol YOU, my GOD, O King, I will bless YOUR name for ever & ever. Every day I will bless YOU, And I will praise YOUR name for ever & ever. great is the LORD, & highly to be praised, And HIS greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise YOUR works to another, And shall declare YOUR mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of YOUR majesty And on YOUR wonderful works, I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of YOUR awesome acts, And I will tell of YOUR greatness. “They shall eagerly utter the memory of YOUR abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of YOUR righteousness.” “Throughout history, when men & women offer praise to YOU, they will praise YOU for YOUR goodness. They will thank YOU for YOUR goodness. They will worship YOU for YOUR goodness.”

3.] YOU cannot worship GOD & leave out HIS goodness, HIS kindness, HIS generosity, HIS benevolence, HIS mercy.

Now, this is a very important place to find this theme.

Kindness in a sense, an odd place to put this [Romans 2:4], because all around this are warnings about judgment.

In fact, Romans 1:18 after the introduction to this great book we read: “The wrath of GOD is revealed” or unleashed – “from heaven against all ungodliness & unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about GOD is evident within them, for GOD made it evident to them.”

Romans 1:21 says, “Even though they knew GOD, they **** didn’t honor HIM as GOD or give thanks, were futile in their speculation, their foolish heart was darkened.”

v.23 “They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible GOD for an image in the form of corruptible man & birds & four-footed animals & crawling creatures.”

And what this is describing is the wrath of GOD unleashed on the Gentile world; a world full of false gods, false religions & idols. And they’re “without excuse”

v.20 - they have no excuse, for the truth of GOD has been revealed in them.

3a] In Romans 2:20, the law of GOD is written in their hearts. The evidence of GOD can be seen from creation of the world.

So, Romans 2:18 & following, is divine judgment on the world. That judgment comes in the form of GOD giving people up [v.24] to their lusts - that is, to fornication, sexual immorality of all kinds.

v.26, to degrading passions, namely homosexuality. Going beyond that, v.28 describes a reprobate, depraved mind.

Their behavior is immoral, even to the degree of homosexuality, & they can’t recover because their brains/thinking is warped.

And so, their behavior is unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, haters of GOD, insolent, arrogant, boastful, etc., etc., etc.

So, the great section that launches the argument of the book of Romans is that the whole world is under divine judgment.

And we’re not talking about eschatological judgment, judgment in the future, but cyclical judgment in human history, whereby nations that turned their backs on GOD—such as has happened in our own nation—are turned over to immorality, then to homosexuality, & finally to a corrupted mind, from which come all sorts of evils that dominate the culture.

3b] This judgment has gone on throughout human history.

Acts 14 says GOD allowed all the nations to go their own way; this is the cycle of history being repeated in our own country, & in the western world & around the globe, even now.

Now, if that’s all there was in the book of Romans, the Jews would say, “Yeah, you’re right, Paul; you’re absolutely right.

The nations of the world should be under judgment for their immorality, homosexuality & corruption that flows out of their depraved & perverted minds.

We agree.

“Moral people, religious people would agree with that condemnation; they would agree with that assessment.

There are in our own culture today moral voices crying out against the immorality of our times, against the abuses of our times, against the massive corruptions - & people who live those corrupt lives wanting to have all equal rights with everybody else, including things like homosexual marriage & tolerance for every imaginable kind of iniquity.

Moral people & religious people, legalistic people cry out against that, & they would say absolutely that’s wrong & GOD will judge that.

So, those kind of moral people would agree with the assessment that Paul gives on the judgment of GOD that is going to fall & continually falls on a pagan, corrupt, immoral world.

But those same religious people, those same legalistic people, those same outwardly moral people, feel they will be exempt from that judgment. ****

4.] That somehow, they’re going to escape the cycle of wrath, & the HOLY SPIRIT will not let them get away with that.

Romans 2, the attention is turned to the moral people who agree with the judgment in chapter 1.

“Therefore you have no excuse” v.1 - “every one of you who passes judgment.”

You people who would say, “I agree with Romans 1. I agree GOD is going to judge & punish these people who are living in these openly sinful ways.

I agree because I’m religious, & moral, & because I’m a righteous person & I try to do what’s right, I agree with that; but I’m exempt from that.”

Really??

Every one of you who passes judgment, because when you pass judgment, you condemn yourself, for you practice the same things. ****

Who are you kidding?

You may not practice them overtly. You may not make demands they be allowed & tolerated in public, but secretly & privately, as a legalist, >> you’ve just pushed those things down.

They’re a part of your thought life.

They’re a part of your hidden, secret life.

And since you know they’re wrong, you know enough of the law of GOD to know those things are wrong

you then become responsible for what you know,

when you do them, even if you do them secretly, in your heart - you condemn yourself by the very knowledge you have that they are wrong.

You don’t get off the hook at all.

You know the truth, & you know the judgment of GOD that falls on those who violate HIS law, & you do the same things secretly & privately.

“Do you think” v.3, then – “that when you pass judgment on those who practice such things & do the same yourself, that you’re going to escape the judgment of GOD?”

You’re not; you’re not.

5.] Moral people - like the Jews of Paul’s day & others - who would agree with the assessment & judgment, the wrath that comes on those who practice the things in CH1, feel exempt from judgment because they’re good people on the outside - moral people, religious people - & they think they’ve escaped this judgment.

In fact, they rise up & become very self-exalting & self-justifying, sitting in judgment on everybody else.

Truth of the matter is, they’re in deep trouble.

That’s why v.1 begins, “You have no excuse.”

If you know enough to condemn these sins, then you know enough to be condemned by practicing them.

So, you have no excuse, really, for two things. One, you know the law of GOD. Two, you have experienced the goodness of GOD.

v.4: “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness, & tolerance & patience, not knowing the kindness of GOD leads you to repentance?

But because of your stubbornness & unrepentant heart, you’re storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath & revelation of the righteous judgment of GOD.”

6.] Two things make the religious, moral, self-righteous, good sinner culpable:

one, you know the law of GOD, & two, you’ve experienced the goodness of GOD.

6a] And especially in the case of Israel. They knew the law of GOD; they were given the law of GOD.

Paul will express that later on in CH3, & again in CH 9, & again in CH10: that you received the law, & covenants, & the promises & the Messiah; you are without excuse.

If the nations have the law of GOD written in their hearts, you have the law of GOD written by the HOLY SPIRIT on documents by the OT writers.

6b] If the rest of the world has experienced the goodness of GOD in common grace, you have received the greater goodness of GOD by being a covenant people.

You don’t escape the judgment. You’re going to be held to an even higher standard, because you have a greater knowledge of the truth, & because you have a greater experience of the goodness of GOD.

You pass judgment on others, huh?

You therefore are condemning yourself, by your knowledge of the law & by your greater experience of the goodness of GOD.

6c] Anyone who sits in the seat of moral judgment proves s/he is inexcusable if s/he can condemn other people, since s/he knows the standard & in reality, does the same thing, if in a secret, hidden fashion.

No way to escape, then, because you know the law. No way to escape, because you’ve been exposed to the greater goodness.

What did Israel need?

They needed a day of repentance. They needed a national day of repentance, like the one back in Nehemiah, CH9.

Go back to the book of Nehemiah, a few books left of Psalms - & the people had come back from captivity, the Word of GOD had been recovered & restored, & read to them & explained to them, & they responded to it.

Chapter 8 tells about the finding of the book of the law, the reading of the book of the law. The people understood it as it was explained to them. They were heartbroken over the fact that they had ignored the law of GOD, that they had rejected the law of GOD, that they had disobeyed the law of GOD.

So in Nehemiah 9:1, they assembled with fasting & sackcloth & dirt on them, that was a way to express humiliation. They separated themselves from foreigners. They stood & confessed their sins & the iniquities of their fathers. They stood in their place & read from the book of the law of the LORD their GOD for a fourth of the day; for another fourth, they confessed & worshiped the LORD their GOD. It was a long day of penitence.

And the worship is basically given to us, starting in v.5: “Arise, bless the LORD your GOD forever & ever. O may YOUR glorious name be blessed & exalted above all blessing & praise.” They blessed the LORD, & what do they bless HIM for? HIS amazing care of the nation, HIS goodness, HIS kindness & HIS mercy. And keep in mind, this was a recalcitrant, this was a rebellious, this was an impenitent, this was an idolatrous people, this nation Israel; & yet, HE continued to be good to them.

“You made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, the earth, all that is in them, the seas, all that is in them. YOU give life to all of them, & the heavenly host bows down before YOU. YOU are LORD GOD. YOU chose Abraham, YOU brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name Abraham, found his heart faithful before YOU, made a covenant with him. Gave him the land of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Jebusite & Girgashite, & gave it to his descendants - the promised land.

“And YOU have fulfilled YOUR promise, for YOU’re righteous. YOU saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt; heard their cry by the Red Sea. YOU performed signs & wonders against Pharaoh” & the history goes on. YOU divided the seal.” YOU led with a pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night.” YOU came down from Mount Sinai, & gave just ordinances & true laws, good statutes & commandments.

“YOU made known to them YOUR holy Sabbath, laid down for them commandments, statutes & laws, provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger & water from a rock; & told them to enter in order to possess the land which YOU swore to them.” Just a quick, brief history of GOD’s goodness to Israel. But, v.6: “They, our fathers, acted arrogantly; became stubborn, wouldn’t listen to YOUR commandments. Refused to listen, didn’t remember YOUR wondrous deeds which YOU had performed among us.

7.] “Became stubborn, appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.”

Listen to this: “But YOU are a GOD of forgiveness, gracious & compassionate, slow to anger & abounding in lovingkindness.”

There’s that word goodness, kindness.

YOU have so much kindness, so much mercy, so generous in YOUR goodness, & “YOU did not forsake them, even when they made a molten calf...YOU were compassionate toward them” - in v.19.

v.20: “YOU gave YOUR good Spirit to instruct them.”

“For 40 years” - v.21, “YOU provided for them in the wilderness; & they were not in want.”

Then in v.22: “YOU gave them kingdoms & peoples & allotted to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon, & the land of Og the king of Bashan” on the way to taking the land of Canaan. “YOU made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven, YOU brought them into the land.”

This is the history of GOD’s goodness to a disobedient, sinful, idolatrous Israel. “YOU blessed the land” - v.25, “with vineyards & olive groves & fruit trees & abundance.

And they ate & were filled & grew fat; & reveled in YOUR great goodness. They became disobedient, rebelled against YOU, cast YOUR law behind their backs.

Killed YOUR prophets; committed great blasphemies.”

That’s how they responded to GOD’s goodness, but HE kept being good to them.

7a] v.31: “In YOUR compassion YOU didn’t make an end to them or forsake them, for YOU’re a gracious & compassionate GOD.”

v.5: “With YOUR great goodness which YOU gave them, with the broad & rich land which YOU set before them, they didn’t serve YOU, they didn’t turn from their evil deeds.”

This is the story of a rebellious, sinful, impenitent, disobedient people in the face of constant goodness.

It was 700 years of GOD’s goodness to a rebellious, idolatrous northern kingdom before GOD hauled them off in judgment.

It was 800 years for the southern kingdom of Judah.

Israel needed another moment like that moment in Nehemiah; a moment when the people take a look at their history, a look at their condition, & repent, & be led, as v.4 puts it - by the goodness of GOD to repentance.

7b] What caused the repentance at the great revival in Nehemiah 8 & 9?

What caused it was, a remembering of the goodness of the LORD led them to repentance.

They had GOD’s Word, the revelation written, not just written in their hearts like the Gentile nations.

They had GOD’s goodness in vast measure, GOD’s covenant protection & provision.

They abused the goodness of GOD.

They trampled on HIS mercy, spurned HIS kindness, mocked HIS love, rejected HIS grace - as people continue to do, in this nation, in the western world.

Exposed to Christianity & all its fullness, & all its richness, this society in which we live abuses GOD’s tolerance & goodness, tramples on HIS mercy, spurns HIS goodness, mocks HIS love, rejects HIS grace, just like people of the past.

8.] In fact, Matthew Henry said, “There is in every willful sin a contempt for the goodness of GOD.”

The goodness of GOD is not to be thought of lightly.

Now, let’s go to v.4; that’s where our focus is.

“Do you think lightly of the riches of HIS goodness?”

kataphroneō, to think lightly; to despise, the verb means, to treat with contempt, to belittle, to scorn, to mock, to repudiate.

Do you underestimate the true value of GOD’s kindness?

This is the severest of all sins, mercy despised, & the basic attitude of society today is GOD is harsh.****

People look at Haiti, a quarter of a million people killed.

People look at Pakistan, or some other place where monsoonal rains & floods obliterate 100s & 1000s of people.

They look at Indonesia, where another quarter of a million people died in the tsunami, & they say, “How can GOD allow this? What kind of GOD is GOD?”

They see the judgment of GOD from time to time, the cataclysmic judgment of GOD from time to time, & they conclude that this must mean that GOD is harsh, & without mercy & without kindness.

Nothing could be further from the truth.****

8a] The truth is that all the sinners who perish in those disasters should have perished long before, right?

The wages of sin is what? Death.

The fact that they lived to that event is an extension of mercy.

Here in this verse, we are reminded not to think lightly, not to despise, not to belittle the riches, the fullness, the richness of goodness, kindness, tolerance & patience.

Kindness, chrēstotēs, the positive, divine generosity.

Tolerance, anochē, the word for a truce, that’s the negative word; the absence of hostility. That’s what that means. GOD holds back HIS anger, & GOD grants blessing. And the third word is the word

Longsuffering, makrothumia, patience with people.

HE is benevolent for a long time. HE holds back HIS hostility for a long time.

HE has the power to bless & the power to avenge, & HE blesses & HE holds back vengeance.

Romans 9:22 says, “HE endures with patience vessels fit for destruction.”

If all GOD was was justice, HE would have long ago taken HIS hand & wiped out the world, as HE once did in the Flood.

But not before patience for 100s of years, & 120 years of a preacher of righteousness named Noah warning people about their sins.

GOD is by nature good, kind, giving benefits to sinners.

8b] This is called common grace; makes the sun, the rain to fall on the just & the unjust.

HE has tolerance, which means HE withholds the justice that sinners deserve, & HE does these both for a long period of time.

In Nehemiah 9:17, it puts it this way: HE is “slow to anger & abounding in lovingkindness.”

That’s the negative, slow to anger; & the positive, abounding in lovingkindness; what these first two words convey: HE is good to men.

JESUS said in Matthew 19, “There’s only one good, & that is GOD.”

I remember the first time I was on the Larry King Show, it was right after 9-11, & he said to me.

“Why did GOD let this happen? What’s the lesson here?”

And in our conversation, both on the air & off the air, I said, “The lesson here is that we’re all sinners & the wages of sin is death, & we all deserve to die; & we don’t know when it’s going to happen, but you better be ready.”

8c] Sinners live, & sinners prosper, & sinners enjoy life, & they are blessed in life with temporal blessings, earthly blessings, all the joys of life.

But we all live past the point of justice.

The wages of sin is death; we should all be dead after one sin.

GOD has every reason to wipe us out, every reason to wipe out the whole human race.

But His goodness & His forbearance cause Him to bring positive blessings into the lives of sinners & to withhold judgment.

A.W. Pink wrote: “How wondrous GOD’s patience is with the world. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The divine law is trampled underfoot & GOD Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He doesn’t instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him. Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel & blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias & Sapphira? Why does He not cause the earth to open & devour the persecutors of His people, so that like Dothan & Abiram, they shall go down alive into the pit?

“And what about apostate CHRISTendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated & practiced undercover of the holy name of CHRIST? Why does not the righteous wrath of heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible:” says Pink. “Because GOD bears with ‘much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.’” Romans 9:22. He’s so very patient; so very patient. Why is He patient? Back to verse 4: in order to lead you to repentance, to turn from sin.

To repent, to believe the gospel, to come to CHRIST for forgiveness; to see that GOD is by nature a Savior because of His goodness, because He withholds just judgment. But men despise GOD’s goodness; they abuse His kindness. Sinners have a kind of vague, undefined hope of impunity. They just think they’re going to be okay. The kind of feeling that, “Aw, this can’t happen to me. I’m basically a good person.” They sort of openly claim exemption from judgment.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The Jews took GOD’s goodness for granted. People take it for granted today, the truth which they know in the Scripture, in those places where the Scripture has gone. They take love, & friendship, & beauty, & warmth, & emotions, & food, & drink, & clothing, & nature, & children & pleasure for granted. They live in mercy. They live in the kindness of GOD, blessing them & withholding judgment.

They live there so long & so comfortably that they get used to grace & think they deserve it, & what they don’t see is what’s in verse 5: that as long as they continue in a stubborn, unrepentant way, there’s an accumulation of wrath going on, “storing up until the day of wrath & the revelation of the righteous judgment of GOD.” All their sin is accumulating in the books. We will be judged out of the books for every single sin; no sin will be left out.

For people to rise up & say GOD is unjust because there was an earthquake, GOD is unjust because there was a tsunami, GOD is unjust because somebody got cancer, GOD is unjust because people die in terrorist acts, is an incredible turnaround from the truth that GOD is so good & merciful that He withholds judgment, that He pours out mercy, though it is undeserved.

William Gurnall wrote in 1660, “When I consider how the goodness of GOD is abused by the greatest part of mankind, I cannot but be of his mind that said, The greatest miracle in the world is GOD’s patience & bounty to an ungrateful world.” People look at the OT & say, “Ah, what a brutal GOD. He turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. He bids Abraham to offer his son on an altar as a sacrifice. He sends snakes to bite disobedient Israelites.

“He causes the ground to swallow up certain people. He sends His servant Elijah to bring down fire from heaven & wipe out a hundred soldiers, & He has bears come out of the woods & shred young men who spoke evil of the prophet Elisha. He seems to choose favorites, Jacob over Esau. He hardens Pharaoh’s heart, sends plagues on Egyptians. He commands the extermination of every man, woman & child among the Canaanites. What kind of a GOD is this?”

One writer said, “Perhaps now that the Bible is written in a language” - the New English Bible when it came out – “all can understand, the OT will be seen for what it is: an obscene chronicle of man’s cruelty to man, or worse, His cruelty to woman, & of man’s selfishness & cupidity, backed up by his appeal to his GOD - a horror story if ever there was one. It is hoped that it will at last be proscribed as totally inappropriate to the ethical instruction of school children.” Wow.

LORD Platt, writing in the London Times, criticizing the OT & the GOD of the OT. The fact that that man lived another day was evidence of the goodness of GOD. Sinners get used to goodness. They become comfortable with goodness. They become comfortable with kindness & grace. And all they can see is something that appears to be an unjust act - way too severe, almost whimsical, almost arbitrary.

The reason we feel GOD is cruel or unjust is because we don’t understand how sinful we are, & because we’re unwilling to come to the provision He has made to rescue us from His justice & to bring us into eternal bliss, namely the grace of the gospel of CHRIST & the cross. Sin should produce death, instantaneous death. GOD said to Adam, “In the day you eat, you die.” The OT, there were at least thirty specific sins, including disobedience to parents, that were basically worthy of capital punishment.

GOD doesn’t owe us life. Any sin brings death, & death can come at any moment. GOD gives life freely to man for the purpose of showing His kindness in the face of man’s cosmic treason, & He has every right at any point to take life back from any sinner in an act of just punishment. GOD is so kind & so merciful, however, that He has sent His Son into the world to take the punishment for all who will repent & come to Him. He is patient, but He has provided more than just patience: He has provided a sacrifice in our place.

We’re so used to mercy, so used to sinning & getting away with it, so used to iniquities without instant punishment, so accustom to abusing grace & goodness & kindness, that when justice does appear, we think it’s injustice. We’re offended if GOD is not merciful, because we don’t understand what we deserve. There are times when His mercy runs out. “My Spirit will not always strive with man.” He said, “I’m not going to do this forever,” & He brought the flood.

We would never tolerate the insubordination that He tolerates. We would never tolerate the rebellion from subordinates to us that He tolerates. He is far more merciful than we are, & sinners tread on His mercy & tread on His kindness. Turn in your Bible, for a moment, to Luke 13, & we’ll wrap up in this passage, just briefly, because it’s an appropriate one. If you were living in Jerusalem at the time of our LORD, you probably would have known about these two events; they would have been in the Jerusalem Gazette, if there was one.

Certainly, they were word-of-mouth spread around town. Verse 1 of Luke 13: “On the same occasion” - as the prior passage – “there were some present who reported to Him” - some people in the crowd gave this report to JESUS that some Galileans had their blood spilt by Pilate & mixed with their sacrifices. Pretty scene - easy scene to construct; this is cryptic language, but we get the picture. Galileans, Jews from the north, from Galilee, had come to Jerusalem.

There was every day a morning sacrifice, an evening sacrifice, & so they went in to offer sacrifices, either in the morning or the evening. They were worshipers, these were good devout Jews, to whatever extent you could assert their devotion by their willingness & their eagerness to offer sacrifices. So, they go to the temple, they’re in there, they’re offering sacrifices to GOD, acts of worship, acts of obedience, ostensibly.

And Pilate’s soldiers come in & slice them up to death, & their blood is mingled with the blood of the sacrifice. How could this happen? This is a disaster that has to be explained. “JESUS said to them” - who told Him the story - “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?” Is that the human answer to this? These people died because they’re worse than everybody else?

The people in Indonesia that died were worse than the people who didn’t die? The people in Haiti who died, worse than the people who didn’t die? The people in the Twin Towers that died, worse than the people who survived? Is that what we’re saying here, the people who are alive are a lot better than the people who are dead? The people who don’t get cancer & die are better than the people who do get cancer & die? Is that what this is about? No. No.

Verse 3: “I tell you no” – no. What’s the message? “Unless you repent, you’ll all likewise perish.” Wow. What He says is, you’re going to die too, & you don’t know when. You better repent; you better repent. You’re going to die the same sad death, with the same sad & eternal results if you don’t repent. You’re living on borrowed time.

You’re living under mercy - extended kindness & goodness from an infinitely holy GOD – who, while on the one hand He cannot tolerate sin, on the other hand, tolerates sinners, in order that He might lead them to repentance by His kindness, His goodness. Another event had happened in town; JESUS referred to it. Eighteen people - verse 4 - had been killed when a tower down in Siloam fell. Siloam was a water source, & history tells us the Romans were building some kind of an aqueduct.

And they had built a scaffolding to hold their construction, hold the aqueduct, & it had collapsed, & you have eighteen innocent bystanders. So, the first account you have eighteen worshipers, & the next one you have eighteen innocent bystanders, & they’re killed on the spot. “Do you suppose” - verse 4 says – “that they were killed because they were worse than all the men who live in Jerusalem?” Were they worse than the people who didn’t get crushed by the collapsing tower?

“I tell you, no” - verse 5 - “unless you repent, you’ll all likewise perish.” Whenever there is a disaster, whenever there is a death, whether it’s an individual one or some kind of collective one - whether it’s a person that dies because of an illness or an accident, or whether it’s a community that perishes under a terrorist act, or whether it’s a portion of a nation that perishes under a horrendous disaster - the message is always the same: you’re going to die. You better repent.

You don’t know when, & it is the goodness of GOD under which you live, & the kindness of GOD under which you currently survive, that is intended to lead you to repentance. And don’t get caught with a hard & impenitent heart. Go back to chapter 2 verse 5: “Because of your stubbornness” – sklērotēs, from which we get arterial sclerosis or sclerosis of the liver; hardening of the arteries, hardening of the liver.

If you had a sclerosis of the heart - an unrepentant, unconverted heart - what’s happening is, you’re going to die, & you’re simply storing up wrath for yourself until the day that wrath explodes in the righteous judgment of GOD. So, the self-righteous, moral man, who would say, “Wow, I agree with the assessment of the pagan world in chapter 1,” better examine his own life, because if you know enough to sit in judgment on other people & their violation of GOD’s standards, then you know that you do the same thing & you condemn yourself.

Furthermore, all sinners live under some degree of the goodness of GOD. Those of you who certainly are Jews, or those of you who have been exposed to the church & been benefitted & blessed by being around believers, & the spilling of the blessing that comes on them has come also on you, you have experienced even a greater measure of the goodness of GOD. And the purpose of all of that is to lead you to repentance, but if you do not repent & you continue in a hard-hearted, impenitent fashion, you are simply accumulating wrath.

GOD may not bring that wrath soon, but He will bring that wrath finally; finally. So, sinners must face the truth, that if the goodness of GOD toward you is not leading you to repentance, then drop by drop, sin by sin, you’re filling up the reservoir of GOD’s patience, until someday the dam breaks & you drown in the flood of your own sin. There is an alternative to that. You come to CHRIST, you come to the cross, you embrace the Savior who died, GOD offers forgiveness of sin, wipes the slate clean, remembers your sins no more.

Listen to this, Psalm 86:5: “For You, LORD, are good, & ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.” That’s the alternative: call upon the LORD. Ask Him to forgive you through the provision of CHRIST on Your behalf at the cross. Father, we thank You that You have by grace extended to us time to repent, time to believe, time to embrace our Savior. I pray, LORD, that this day, this very hour, this morning, there will be an awakening in the heart of those who have been hard & impenitent, & who have abused Your goodness, despised Your kindness.

Maybe even criticized You, blasphemed You, mocked Your name. May they see with spiritual eyes the reality, that the fact that any sinner survives is because of Your mercy, Your goodness, Your kindness. And it’s intended to show us that You by nature are a saving GOD, a gracious, merciful, loving, tender-hearted, compassionate, kind Redeemer, & that that salvation, that forgiveness which You offer & provided for us through the sacrifice of CHRIST is available to all who call on Your name.

As the psalmist said, “You are good & ready to forgive,” & ready to forgive all who call upon You. May sinners do that even now, we pray, in Your Son’s name. Amen.

...

#Romans 2:1-5 #forgive #don't judge #GOD's kindness #tolerance #repentance #kindness = goodness #Abusing the Goodness of GOD #benevolence of GOD #generous #mercy #GOD withholds judgment #compassionate #Psalm 23:6 #guilty of sin #know GOD's law #experienced GOD's goodness

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frederickwiddowson · 6 years

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Luke 15:1 ¶ Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. 3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. 8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? 9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. 10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Here, Jesus teaches one of the great lessons on how God will receive a sinner who is repentant. First, on a direct level He is speaking to Jews about Jews. This is not about someone who has never known of God. This is about someone straying from the fold who is welcomed to return. Jesus uses metaphors and a parable explain what He is saying.

The Jew could stray and walk away from God’s care and mercy. He could choose to not return and would be lost forever. But, if he did return there was to be much rejoicing in heaven. In the Old Testament God pleaded with His people to return to Him, to receive His mercy and not perish.

Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

God who, as His talk with Job in Job 38 and beyond said, controls events in the far reaches of space and on earth that no man has seen, who makes dust turn to clods in a farmer’s field and controls how far the ocean waves wash onto the dry land, who has drawn millions of people back to Him in the great apostasy after the Fall of Adam and Eve, reconciling them to Himself, rejoices when one seemingly insignificant one of His people repents and turns to Him and to His mercy. That is an amazing thing to consider.

It is not unreasonable to assume that the inhabitants of Heaven rejoice when a Christian who has strayed from their faith returns to try to live for Christ. Although I do not believe a Christian, someone truly experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God and Christ, can ever be happy while engaged in open or secret sin against God and facing the consequences of it on earth in their flesh, I also do not believe a Christian can lose their salvation. Salvation is an act of God whereby you become a part of Christ’s body on earth, the church. It is not something you did yourself. It was an act of God.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

We are now His body operating on the earth, the church.

Colossians 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

In fact, not only are we in His hands but we are a part of His hands.

John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Many Christian groups practice a works-religion where they try to earn their way to eternal life or at least to pay for it on installments but there is only one true work of God.

John 6:28 ¶ Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Strong-willed children and childish adults, when they have spent their last argument and have nothing more of value to say will end things with something like, “I know what you’re saying, but still…” and that is what some will do when they want to control the Christian, to dominate their behavior and time, and insist they can lose their salvation that they neither earned nor can pay for but no matter, let’s continue. Many people come to a religion or a political movement that seek not truth but the ability and right to control others even if they aren’t aware of that drive consciously. Let’s dismiss them and surrender only to Christ.

This passage is about the repentant Jew, a lesson taught by Christ in the first century to Jews before the Cross and the Resurrection. We can use it to apply to the backsliding Christian but it is not about people that were never God’s in the first place but were in Satan’s camp.

Ephesians 2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

So, this isn’t a very good lesson for soul-winning today but is a very good lesson for trying to get a Christian to return from a bad life to the protection and mercy of God in this mortal existence.

15:11 ¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

The assurance in the verse in Proverbs is that children will often stray from the lessons and habits they learned in their childhood but will return to what they remember as being a stable and comforting part of their early life when live has dealt them the hand they so richly deserved for their apostasy. Many young adults who have strayed, when they have their own children, want a little of what they were given spiritually that they walked away from for their own. It is tragic when that does not happen because a parent was hateful, implacable, or just plain mean-spirited in the way they lived in front of their child. Sometimes there is no going back because if the person who abused them emotionally or otherwise is in heaven they certainly don’t want to be there. What they don’t understand is the choice they are making if they are not saved is a terrible one and if they would just put aside the sorrowful memory of the idiot parent or parents they would understand something God has recorded for us.

Psalm 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

Here, in this parable, one way of viewing it is with the father as a type of Christ as God, the elder son is like Israel, and the younger son who went away is like the bulk of mankind who left the first worship of the Creator and wallowed in idolatry and self-worship for four-thousand years. God rejoices that they have chosen to cease swimming in filth and have returned to Him in repentance and humility but Israel resented the father’s embrace of the wayward, the so-called prodigal son.

It can also be viewed with the father as a type of God the Father embracing the repentant Jew who returns to the fold, even with those who stayed true to the Law given to Moses angry at His reception of them. There are several other ways to view it I’ve read with the far country being pagan religion and the swine being false teachers and prophets as in 2Peter 2:22. Read the entire chapter.

2Peter 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Remember how Jesus warned against casting your pearls, new converts, before swine, false preachers and teachers who would corrupt them?

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

The point is, though, no matter how you color it to make your point in preaching or teaching, is that this parable underscores what was said just before it, that there is great rejoicing over one returning to the faith. It can be used to be about new converts but it is most literally applicable for the backsliding Jew who has wondered away from the flock and how God and His angels rejoiced when that one returned. You apply it to our own dispensation of Christianity but be careful with the limitations of that application. Simply put, God is ecstatic when a believer stops wallowing in the muck and the mire and realizes His need for God’s truth and mercy. No matter how far a Christian strays he or she is never not God’s own child and God will never reject them.

Hebrews 13:5b … for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

I would say one more thing about this parable and applying it to our modern times. When you have a child who persists in a sin that you know will wreck their lives it is not good to go to war with them. Even if you have to not be a part of their lives for a time, always leave the door unlocked, give them a way to return, and embrace them when they do. “You are no longer my child,” is not a Christian sentiment and woe be it to us if our Lord felt that way with our apostasy.

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christthatshinesthroughme · 7 years

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The Spiritual Growth of Children Chapter 1 - Part 3 Why don’t You Try It..

Are you ready to give it a try?

If one or more of your children are under the age of eight, why don’t you take a few minutes some evening this week and do the following activity. It’s all mapped out for you. Remember, you can do it!

__________________________________________________________________

Let’s Pretend

Scary Shadows

What you’ll need ahead of time:

A flashlight, some construction paper, and scissors.

What to say and do:

[Say the following statements to your child. Actions to take are in italics]

“Let’s close our eyes. Imagine we’re walking in the woods.” [Take your child’s hand, but stay on the bed.] “I’m pretending that I see a deer in the woods. What do you see?” [Let your child share some imaginary sights] “I think I hear a woodpecker going rat-a-tat-tat on a tree. What sounds do you hear?”

“Now open your eyes. Why don’t you draw some of the animals we might see on a walk in the woods? I’ll cut them out for you.” [When you’ve finished, turn off the lights and turn on the flashlight.]

Let’s go walking through the woods again, this time with our eyes open. Oh, look! What’s that?” [Shine the flashlight on the figure of one of the animals, projecting its shadow onto the wall. After you’ve done a few, let your child use the flashlight.]

“If we were really in the woods at night, do you thin any of these shadows would be a little scary? Which ones?” [After your child responds, gently squeeze his or her hand.] “You know that if we were really in the woods at night, I’d hold your hand tight and keep you safe.”

“What are some of the things that sometimes seem scary to you?” [Listen to your child’s fears without trying to explain them away.] “Did you know that God stays right with you to keep you safe when you are scared? Listen to what David wrote in the Bible about being scared: ‘Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid. You [God] are with me” (Psalm 23:4a NIrV).

What to pray:

Say this prayer over your child.

“Dear God, Thank you that I can hold ________’s [your child’s name] hand and keep him/her safe. And thank You that You love __________[your child’s name] so much that You stay with him/her no matter how scary things get. Next time __________ [your child’s name] gets scared about ______________ [list some of the fears your child mentioned], help him/her to remember that You are taking care of him/her. Amen.”

__________________________________________________________________

So did you try it? What did your kids think? Did they enjoy it? Not only are there many more ideas just as simple and effective for you to use with your kids, but hopefully you will be able to add your own ideas.

You can change your children’s views of God and give them a solid foundation with Him. Through prayer, patience and a positive plan designed for your unique family, you can take on the role of spiritual trainer in your home. You can provide a whole series of positive “snapshots” of moments, events, words, and attitudes that will stay with your children throughout their lives. You can reframe, restore, or replace any negative pictures they might have with positive pictures of faith - positive moments captured in memory forever.

And in the process, beginning one family at a time, one precious life at a time, the larger picture of the nation and world will change as well.

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im-not-phun-frens · 7 years

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Get to know me tag

The lovely @psalm-onethirtynine tagged me

1.) Are you named after someone? In a way yes, legally my name isn’t Skylar but that’s what I go by and what I’m going to change it to once I’m 18 and I chose that name because of a very important person in my life. My legal name I’m not named after anyone

2.) When was the last time you cried? No clue…I really don’t cry often

3.) Do you like your handwriting? Depends if I’m taking my time or not

4.) What is your favorite lunch meat? Well, I’m a vegetarian sooo cheese???

5.) Do you have kids? Yes in a way, my dogs and bunny

6.) If you were another person, would you be friends with you? I wouldn’t let me be friends with me because I don’t talk much and when I do I’m usually a dick

7.) Do you use sarcasm? Constantly.

8.) Do you still have your tonsils? Yep

9.) Would you bungee jump? HELL YEAH! THAT’D BE SICK AS FRICK

10.) What is your favourite kind of cereal? I have no idea

11.) Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Only if I’m wearing combat boots

12.) Do you think you’re a strong person? Physically: I look small, and I am, but I also know how to fight because of my siblings. Like full blown fist fighting Mentally: This is waaayyy too difficult to answer because it just fluctuates

13.) What is your favourite ice cream? Mint chocolate chip

14.) What is the first thing you notice about people? How do they react to seeing my face and how they react to my sense of humor? Allow me to explain, the place I live isn’t super conservative however it is very cookie cutter. I am not exactly cookie cutter but I really don’t feel like I stand out that much because I look at people for who they are and I forget how often people see physical appearance as important. My hair is currently blue and I have a lip piercing so I get strange looks from time to time but most of the people in my school are used to it. The big part is my humor. My humor consists of self-deprecating jokes and some things that concern people if they don’t know me well.

15.) What is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? My back

16.) What colour pants and shoes are you wearing now? Grey joggers and I’m in my house so there are no shoes

17.) What are you listening to right now? My sister is watching ultimate beast master so I’m listening to that

18.) If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Blue-Black swirl

19.) Favourite smell? Rain and my dog…He smells nice and like home. Don’t judge me

20.) Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? Text wise: The most important person in my life and the person I love most Over a phone call: My mother

21.) Favourite sport? I don’t like sports ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

22.) Hair colour? Brown on the sides, blue on the top

23.) Eye colour? Hazel??? I don’t know there’s like 3 different colours in there

24.) Do you wear contacts? No, but I need them or glasses because my eyes are bad

25.) Favorite food to eat? Peanut butter crackers and or peanut butter sandwiches

26.) Scary movies or comedy? Don’t make me chose…That’s like trying to pick children

27.) Last movie you watched? Push

28.) What colour shirt are you wearing? Black

29.) Summer or winter? Winter for sure. I hate hot weather and like the excuse to stay inside. Plus everything feels cozier when they world outside is cold

30.) Hugs or kisses?

Hugs. I love hugs, hugs are life. Kissing I can live without but it’s nice I guess but hugs man…They’re just great

31.) What book are you currently reading? I don’t read many books because the letters being so small and there being sooo many give me headaches

32.) Who do you miss right now? My significant other.

33.) What is on your mouse pad? My dad’s company logo…I kinda took it from him but he doesn’t care

34.) What is the last tv program you watched? Good question…I have no idea

35.) What is the best sound? The best sound to me is at the end of the Vessel album when I play it on my record player. Towards the end, it gets kinda staticky but I love it and there’s just this moment of calm and peace after it because it’s like a moment of understanding even though I’m completely alone and I love it…

36.) Rolling Stones or The Beatles? Rolling Stones

37.) What is the furthest you have ever travelled? Alaska

38.) Do you have a special talent? People say I’m good at drawing and Jewellery/metal work but I think my special talent is that I have a special set of characteristics that allow my to mess up in the most ridiculous and spectacular ways possible

39.) Where were you born? Colorado

I tag (if you want to do it): @stillstreetjoshua , @twentyonepanickingsivans , @twentyonecornflakesatthedisco, and anyone else who wants to do this!!! (Sorry I’m bad at remembering to post stuff)

#whenever i get tagged i feel very special and happy!#thank you!!!#tagged

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seeking-ye-first-blog · 7 years

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From LGBT to Woman of God-My Journey to Becoming a Christian

When trying to piece together my story, it's hard to pinpoint exactly where I should begin, but I feel in my spirit that I should start from none other than the beginning where God first sought to capture my heart.

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs‬ ‭22:6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The only example that I had ever seen when it came to pursuing a relationship with Christ came from my grandmother Ms. Isabel. Like most children, I adored my grandmother and it is she that planted the first seeds of faith into my heart. I learned as a child to love God and that Sundays were set aside to worship him. There came a time, however, when my mother separated us from our family here in good ol Wisconsin, and moved us back to her hometown in Pennsylvania. I no longer had the influence of my grandmother and my mother spoke nothing of a relationship with the lord, and so I grew up of course to lead my life according to the ways of the world.

At the age of 11, my mother having known that I did enjoy attending church from time to time with other friends, heard of a Christian camp about an hour from our town. Before I knew it, i was registered for a full week overnight to attend High Point Baptist Camp. I believe with all my heart that this was one of the greatest acts of love my mother could have ever done for me, because it was at this camp where I fell in love with Jesus again. Although I did not know him well, I wanted to know him. I spent each summer from the age of 11 to 15 at this camp, and every year I received a healing, a peace, a joy that I had not experienced back home. Home was not always the sanctuary for me that it should have been.

The summer of 2006 was the last I had seen of High Point and little did I know, it would be the beginning of a whole new work the lord would begin in me that would lead me to the day I received Christ as my savior.

I faced many challenges in the home some that were a result of my own poor choices and some that were out of my control. As a result, I suffered from much verbal and physical abuse from my mother. I will say for the record, my mother wasn't a bad mother. My brother and I were well cared for, but I did not know love in the form of words of affirmation or affection. I was torn down with words and the stresses of my mothers life were often taken out on me leaving me with a pain that could only be healed by Our God.

As we neared the end of 2006 I started to seek God in a way that I had never sought him before. I took my old King James Bible with me everywhere. Even to school. I knew nothing but the Psalms, but the little I knew offered me comfort. I prayed Psalms 23 everyday and asked God to remove me from my mother's care. I thought he would remove me and allow me to stay in Pennsylvania with other family, but of course we know that although he may answer our prayers he doesn't always answer them the way we think or want. Instead, I was removed and sent to Milwaukee, WI, a city that I had not seen since i was a little girl. I knew nothing and no one except for my grandmother.

January of 2007, I traveled to a new place. A place that I loathed. A place that made me cringe. A place that I could not get away from, YET, it was the very place I needed to be.

“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” ‭‭Acts‬ ‭17:26-27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I was sent to live with an old friend of my mother's. I moved in with a family that were strangers to me. You know, those kind that say they remember you from when you were little but you have no clue who they are? Yea...it was one of those. For a year and a half I was deeply depressed. The only time I left my room was for dinner and school. The following summer, my mother sent for my return to Pennsylvania and by this time I had finally began to accept my place in Wisconsin and didn't want to go back, but of course as a minor I had no choice. Everything seemed to be going well until i suffered from abuse again for no reason. I did my best to work through being at a whole new school for the 2nd time. I went to school, participated in activities, and came home. I studied and got good grades. I was a good 17 year old kid. I always tried to do my best, but it never seemed to be enough. I decided that I would not accept my mother's abuse anymore, and in January of 2009 after turning 18 in December I returned to Milwaukee. I enrolled back into the high school I had attended previously, graduated with honors, and enlisted in the United States Army.

In early June of 2009 as I waited to leave for Basic training by July 28th, i started a romantic relationship that would become my kryptonite. Angel was her name, and although she would be the first and only woman that I would ever love, I had known for some time (since a young girl about 8 yrs old) that I had an attraction to members of the same sex. My relationship with Angel was exciting, exhilarating, passionate, but it was toxic not to mention manipulative. Of course what's that saying? Oh right..."love" is blind, and this relationship was an addiction that I could not shake. I gave up my military career to pursue Angel, and in return she broke my heart. The spring and early summer of 2010 I was broken over the relationship I had with Angel. I tried seeing another woman to get over her and I spent many nights praying for God to restore what we had. He, however, had other plans.

Summer of 2010, I had a dream that deeply disturbed me. I dreamt I died and my soul was falling to hell. Before this dream, I had never thought about life after death. I always thought that I wasn't afraid to die, but this dream made me afraid of where I would go when I died. I remember thinking, "I'm a good person, but what if being a 'good person' isn't enough?" I was encouraged by a friend of mine to pray, and while I had no clue where to begin because I had not spoken to God in a long time, I somehow managed to ask "show me that you are real." Very strange and supernatural things started to happen to me. I found myself in random conversations with people about God, death, and eternal life. People I had trusted and who did not care about my sexual preferences were now telling me it was wrong or sinful, and I began having more dreams about the spiritual realm and experiences with demonic entities. I was officially spooked, but instead of scaring me a way from God it made me want to run to God. So another prayer was spoken. "Lord, i want to go to church, but I don't know where to go. I want a good church. A church where people really love you. They practice what they preach. I want to have friends. I want to have family. I want to feel like I'm apart of something." I spoke these words, closed my eyes, and went to sleep.

Sometime later on an early morning I was at work. I was a shift leader at Auntie Anne's pretzels and the mall had just opened at 10am. A young college kid about 22 named Becca and a this guy named` Sean would be my first customers. At least that's what I thought, but instead Becca approached my counter and said, "hi I'm Becca and I go to this AMAZING church called the Milwaukee Church of Christ, and I was wondering if you would ever like to come out or study the Bible?!" I immediately in that moment knew that this was an act of God, and so without hesitation I said "yes! I just prayed about this!" We exchanged numbers and planned to meet for a bible study.

It's funny to think back to this time, because I really had no clue what I was getting myself into. I guess you just never know how God will come into your life and completely blow your mind! At this point, I believed there was a God, but I was a bible skeptic. I didn't believe every word from it, but then again I never truly gave it a chance either. I told Becca openly that I identified with being a lesbian and I didn't believe it was wrong so therefore disagreed with the Bible on that stance. I just remember how loving she was. She didn't care about that or at least she didn't show that she cared, which was rare. Most Christians I knew of always had something to say immediately about that. She just wanted me to get to know Jesus and so I did.

I began devouring the book of John and I believe this is where I truly met Jesus for the first time. I fell in love with his character, and his interactions with people blew me away! It was unlike anything I had ever seen or heard or read about. I was deeply moved by the scriptures, but deep down I still had that question of whether or not loving a woman romantically was wrong.

It was at my 3rd bible study with Becca where the lord opened my eyes to a truth my soul had been seeking. I don't remember what study we were on, but I remember the scripture:

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self (soul)?” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭9:23-25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I can't explain what happened to me in this moment. All I know was that the Sun was beaming on me and it was as if I heard a small voice that said to me, "Lilly you know what must be done." And IMMEDIATELY I knew in my heart that I had to walk away from my life as a lesbian. I just knew I was in sin. I just knew it was wrong. I just knew I did not truly know God. I just knew I needed to repent. And I lost it. I became so overwhelmed with sorrow that I wept and I wept. Becca and a young gal named Kelly who were both studying with me at that time looked me and asked what was wrong. My response: "IM GOING TO HELL!" I was hysterical, but they comforted me and told me I still had time.

I'm sure they thought, "what is going on with this girl?" But when I say something supernatural took over that day and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I'm telling you it was something serious and boy did it hurt. Notice how the scripture has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality. Nothing at all, and yet God’s spirit moved and spoke to me. I felt God's presence that day and it will forever be a moment in time that I will never forget.

Was I baptized right away? Not a chance! I finally knew the truth, but I was not ready to accept it. I took several months off from studying the Bible and went back about my life, but God was not done with me yet and through Becca he fought for me still. After about 6 months, I was convinced to return to visit the Milwaukee church. I honestly didn't want to go, but Becca was pretty persuasive. That day I witnessed a service and performance that melted my heart and brought me to tears, and I agreed to recommit to studying the Bible again. This time, however, i re began my studies with a someone named Erin. I was turned off by it at first, but Erin's care free and childlike spirit was exactly what I needed. From February 2011 until June we took our time with my studies, I wrestled with my demons, and found my way to a whole new me with God at my side. I prayed and fasted for guidance on the day that I would be baptized, and the lord lead me to June 12th 2011. I was so excited I called Erin to tell her, only to find out two things:

1. June 12th was her physical birthday. 2. June 12th would be the day the Racine Church of Christ would be planted.

June 12th 2011, i stood wearing my shirt "all the cool girls are lesbians" underneath a black t-shirt. I wanted to be baptized in that shirt because If my baptism symbolized me participating in the death and resurrection of Christ, I wanted to die to that old part of me. I still remember looking up to the sky that day and saying "lord, I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I trust you will change my heart." My baptism was magical. I could feel heaven singing. I was overwhelmed the moment I came out of the water with a feeling of LOVE so intense that it brought me to tears. The sun yet again beamed down on me and I knew that I finally belonged to him and all my sins had been washed away. I changed into my dry clothes, tore up my lesbian shirt, and tossed it in the woods! I was elated!

That day in Johnson park as all the members of the Midwest churches gathered around to celebrate the new church planting, I looked around and realized something. I remembered my prayer from a year before, and there it was. A church where people truly loved God. A church where people practiced what they preached. A place where I had friends. A new family. A place where I felt like I was apart of something great. He gave me everything I asked for in his Kingdom.

Now, remember when I told God, "I trust you'll change my heart?"

Well, that same year in the November, I met a man that would not only become my best friend, but he would become my husband as well. And you want to hear something else kind of funny?

Well, let's just say the lord lead us to live in Racine, WI. The very place where I was baptized the day of the Racine church planting.

As I look back on the timeline that is my life, I see that through every hardship I had ever been through, God was there all along never far from me and always with a master plan.

#christianity #christian blog #christian testimony #lgbtq

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years

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08/05/2019 DAB Transcript

Ezra 1:1-2:70, 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5, Psalms 27:7-14, Proverbs 20:22-23

Today is the 5th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we move into the work week. And, of course, yesterday we began Paul's letter to the Corinthian church known as first Corinthians, as well as concluding second Chronicles. So, today as we move into the Old Testament portion of our reading, we’re moving into new territory. Our next book is called Ezra.

Introduction to the book of Ezra:

The book of Ezra is going to historically pick up essentially where we left off in second Chronicles. So, the children of Israel are in exile. They’ve been carried off for their rebelliousness to God. And, so, the book of Ezra covers about the next 80 years, and three different kings, Cyrus the great, Darius, and in Artaxerxes. All these kings actually provide favor and cover for the Israelites who are returning to their homeland. So, Cyrus the great begins that process literally having a desire to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem for the worship of God and about 42,000 Israelites who have been in the Babylonian exile crying and weeping for the day that God would restore them, well they finally begin to make trips back under the leadership of a person named Zerubbabel to rebuild. Of course, they’ve been gone for nearly a century so they’re gonna face all kinds of opposition from the people that are there and we see this in in the intimidation that takes place and then the political maneuvering that takes place but they stick to the task. It's a great reference point for us. This is a great point in the year for us to encounter the book of Ezra in our own lives as we stick to what we know God has given us to do in our calling in life regardless of what opposition we may face. So, having said that, we begin today the book of Ezra and we’re reading from the God's Word Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, have you ever sat down and started thinking through your faith only to be kind of lead into a day, a season, an hour of doubt we’re you’re like, “this doesn't make any sense…this is all nonsense…like what is it that I'm believing here? This is a foolish.” I mean, some of you are like, “no, I've never felt that way ever in my life.” I have, lots of times. And it’s the apostle Paul, in this letter to first Corinthians today, who acknowledges that feeling, like affirms that that’s what it looks like. So, quoting from first Corinthians, “the world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of its own wisdom. So, God decided to use the nonsense of the good news we speak to save those who believe. Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people makes no sense to people who are not Jewish, but to those Jews and Greeks who are called, He is Christ, God's power and God's wisdom. God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.” And for me, like personally, that's been very very frustrating. I would be a Greek in this story, one seeking the truth, seeking wisdom. Like, I’ve spent so much of my life studying theology trying to make it all harmonize when in the end you are at a precipice and you have to step where there is no solid ground and it's called a leap of faith. Like all of it leads us to faith. And, so, what Paul’s talking about in first Corinthians is simple enough. God can't be found inside the confines of human intellect or human experience alone. He’s far bigger than that and we can't categorize with human reason alone all the things that He will or will not do. So, our very best attempts are weak at best. To find God it's a blind leap of faith, a leap that might look very foolish to many. But, the thing about it is that foolish leap for us when we take it, it turns us right side up. Like, we see the foolishness that we’ve been living under all along and the futility of it all. That just really reveals how spiritually disoriented humanity has become and that's what Paul’s speaking to when he says, “God's nonsense is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength, but God shows what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God shows what the world considers week to put what is strong to shame. God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises, what it considers to be nothing in order to destroy what it considers to be something. As a result, no one can brag in God's presence.” It’s kind of at this point where you have to acknowledge you’re not going to figure it out. Like, we do not know all that we think we know about anything, especially God. And God is not a being that can just be co-opted to become a part of our lives, like the add-on to our lives while we remain in control as essentially our own functional God, our own sovereign. And, yeah, it seems foolish to give up control of ourselves and believe in what we can't see, but it's that foolishness that brings us to the end of ourselves. Like where our strength ends is where we can encounter God.

Prayer:

God, Father, it is Your presence we seek, it is Your presence that we need. In every conceivable way we need You. Even when we are running from You and try to figure it all out in our mind, we need You. And, so, we realize it's a leap of faith, it's a surrender and when we are in Your presence, we can't really explain it to somebody who doesn't know. It seems like nonsense and foolishness to them even when we try to put it into words it might seem like nonsense and foolishness to us and yet at the deepest core of our heart, at the deepest place of our identity we know. We know You’re there. We know it's true. And, so, come Holy Spirit and allow us to let go of the nonsense of trying to figure it all out and rest in the faith that Your presence is all around us and we are going somewhere together. Come Holy Spirit we pray, in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home, it’s the website. It’s where you find out what's happening around here.

And we’re looking forward to something that's happening a little later this month, The Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. So many of us have been on this journey for so long, and some of you have just come and stepped onto the ship for, you know, this is your first journey through the entire Bible. And, so, it’s a virtual community. We’re all over the world and yet every day we come around the global campfire and we know that were not alone and over the course of the year we kind of get to know voices, especially those who’ve called in and stuff that we've had some sort of interaction with and this is an opportunity to step out of that and into face-to-face, like being able to see each other…like I know you…I've been…I’ve known about you…I’ve have known your story for a long time and now I’m seeing you face-to-face. It's a beautiful thing. I mean, in some ways, selfishly, it's a beautiful thing for me because I love to shake your hands and hug your necks and know that we have…we’ve been on this journey together, but it also just makes my heart happy to watch that happening among the community. So, come, come to the rolling hills of Tennessee August 31st over Labor Day weekend where we’re gonna have the family reunion out on the lake. It's gonna be quite a time and you can get all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for Family Reunion 2019. If you’re using the app, it's easy enough, just…there's a little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app and that will open up and you’ll see Initiatives in there. So, all the details are there, and I hope to see you there in a few weeks.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There's a link and it's on the homepage and I thank you for clicking that link. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. If you are in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. In that in the UK or in Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible friends this is Patricia from New Orleans Louisiana. I want to thank the lady who called in to say __ for me. Thank you very much. I want to ask…I just…please…please pray for me that the whole pain that I’m in each day all day long and also pray for me to get my regular life back please. I thank you all and God bless each and every one of us. Thank you and God bless you. Bye now.

Hi family this is Karen from Pennsylvania and the reason I’m calling is for my son Jake. Last year I had left a request of the line and some people got back to us and I so much appreciate that. Thank you family. Jake was 18 last year and he was diagnosed with MS. And family he’s been suicidal really bad since the diagnosis. He says that he doesn’t want to live, and he doesn’t care where he ends up and he that hates people, and this is not my Jake. This is not my kid. I mean, it is but he says things that I never would’ve expected to hear him say and I know that God is with us and I try not to be afraid, but I am afraid. I’m very afraid because he talks about it all the time but he’s so adamant that he doesn’t want to be here but sometimes he says that he just wants to be with our Father and then other times he says he doesn’t care __ he just wants to die. So, please pray for Jake…

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Jonathan from North Carolina. Just wanted to call and pray for Ben and his marriage. Called in on or was played on the 31st. I just pray for restoration for his marriage. Lord, thank You so much that we can come before in prayer. Thank You that there is nothing that is beyond Your power, and no relationship to broken, and no situation to desperate that You can’t restore. And I just want to thank You for Ben and for his obedience to You and calling and asking for prayer and for restoration of his marriage and obedience to You not even first of all knowing if that is Your will or not. And I just thank You Lord that You’re for marriage and that Ben is thinking about his kids and his family and what it would mean to them to have a family that was functioning well. And I just pray Lord that You would restore his marriage and that You would restore his family and that You would, as it says in Your word, restore __ if the yoke is heavy. And, I guess, thank You so much that You are for Ben, You are for his wife and You are for their children and that You have good plans for them. So, Lord I just pray for Your honor and glory and that You would restore them, that You would bring them close Yourself and that You would receive all the honor and glory in Jesus name.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Jay from Nashville. Just wanted to give you folks an update. I’m doing pretty well. Just pray for me because I’m…I’m needing to change the depression medication that I’m on because it’s causing me some severe drowsiness and it’s making things a little difficult for me being tired all the time but praise God for pharmaceuticals, praise God for doctors, praise God for modern medicine. And if you’re dealing with, you know, any mental health issues. just know that, no you’re not crazy, you know, you just need…you might need some counseling or some therapy or some medication. That’s okay. You know, I don’t know about most people but in my community, you know, my family in the area where we grew up, you know, we were labeled if we had any mental health issues as crazy people and nobody wants to be called crazy. Nobody wants to feel crazy when the reality is mental health is a real issue, it’s not something to shove under a rug and pretend that it’s not there because the longer you wait to deal with it the more problems, you’re going to cause yourself in the long run. So, let’s erase this mental health and get the help that we need, you know. I love you guys and just keep praying for me and have a great day.

Hey this is Sheila calling from Texas. Today I want to speak blessings upon your life. This will help somebody. I speak to you who constantly receive curses and no words of affirmation. Today by the authority in the name of Jesus Christ I cancel every negative word ever spoken over your life and I speak blessings upon you in the name of Jesus. God loves you and wants you to remember that He sees those wounds deep down in your heart. He wants you to release those that have cursed you over the years. He wants to give you a brand-new heart free of any wounds. Yours is just to forgive and now receive the blessings of the Almighty God. Shalom. Next, I want to pray for Duane of Wisconsin. I just want to remind you that you’re very, very much loved. You fell from your bicycle and now you injured your muscle and it’s torn you need to have surgery. I ask that the Almighty God will heal you and that the blood of Jesus will cover you from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. May you receive healing and be made whole and me you call back and testify. God bless you. Blessings upon everyone on DAB. We love you. Bye-bye.

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lilianding3910-blog · 6 years

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What Is Pro-Se Or Do It Yourself Divorce Procedure

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johnchiarello · 6 years

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Mark 10

MARK 10 Mark 10:43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. https://youtu.be/k8LXEaoxJ2Y Mark 10 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/5-30-17-mark-10.zip https://ccoutreach87.com/5-30-17-mark-10/ ON VIDEO- .Divorce .Original intent .Receive the kids .Good Master .Imputation .What should I do? .Take up your Cross .Promise fulfilled- not by all of us becoming rich- but thru community sharing .What happened to peter’s wife? .One request denied- the other fulfilled .Kingdom leadership .Son of David .Rahab- from Jericho

NEW- [Past teaching- verses below]

I’ll try and mention a few things from this chapter- might not be in order.

Jesus is questioned about divorce- Mark 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. He asks them ‘what did Moses say about it’?

And sure enough- there was a loophole in ‘their bible’ that allowed for it- Mark 10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. The Pharisees saw every word of the Old Testament as scripture- just like we do today. Yet- Jesus appeals to the original intent of God going all the way back to creation- and shows how that supersedes their understanding of the law- Mark 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. Jesus did not say the Old Testament was not inspired, but he showed them that Moses permitted something that was against the character and intent of God- and they used it as an excuse to bypass God’s word.

I think we could apply that to us today [in various ways].

Then we have the rich man ask Jesus- Mark 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? The man was obviously blessed of God- he prospered in all that he did- because he walked in the law of God- Mark 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. Mark 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Yet- Jesus shows him the one thing that was missing- Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

It was his unwillingness to forsake all- even the riches God blessed him with- and to take up the Cross- and follow him. He went away sad- Mark 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Yes- even those who have sought God- saw their lives prosper in material ways. Many fail to move on from that mindset- and take the cross.

Then little kids are brought to Jesus- his disciples are against it- Mark 10:13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. Jesus rebukes them- Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. And gives us a lesson- Mark 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. To receive the kingdom- we must have faith like children have. Often times the answer is very clear- God has already shown us what he wants.

And because its so simple- we miss it. Then Jesus tells his men that he will be heading to death- he will fulfill the destiny he had- to die on a cross and be raised again- Mark 10:33 Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: Mark 10:34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. After a pronouncement like that- you would think his men would be there for support. Instead- they get into an argument over who will be the greatest- Mark 10:35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. Mark 10:36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? Mark 10:37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.

He shows them who it is prepared for by his example- Mark 10:43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. And finally- a blind man recognizes Jesus as the promised messiah- who would come thru the line of king David. He openly confesses this- Mark 10:46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. Mark 10:47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus asks the man what he wants- Mark 10:51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. Sure enough he gets it- Mark 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

On the video I get a little more in depth about marriage and how later in the chapter- Jesus seems to contradict what he spoke earlier- Mark 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. Mark 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,

Actually- if you read the words carefully- it is no contradiction.

I explain why on the video.

PAST POSTS- [These are past teachings I did that relate in some way to this post- Mark 10- all verses below] https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/ https://ccoutreach87.com/house-of-prayer-or-den-of-thieves/ https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-johns-gospel/ MARK- https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/28/jersey-city-ride-mark-1/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/02/mark-2-north-bergen/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/04/mark-3-isaiah-61/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/14/mark-4/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/27/mark-5/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/05/mark-6/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/16/mark-7/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/30/mark-8/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/14/mark-9/

VERSES- [these are the verses I taught or quoted on today’s post- Mark 10] Mark 14:7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Eph. Luke 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Isaiah 51:2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Psalm 60:11 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Psalm 108:12 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Matthew 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Luke 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Joshua 2King James Version (KJV) 2 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there. 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. 3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. 4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: 5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. 6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. 7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. 8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; 9 And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath. 12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: 13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. 15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. 16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way. 17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. 18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee. 19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. 20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. 21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window. 22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. 23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them: 24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us. Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations James 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations John 12:34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Mark 10:1 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again. Mark 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. Mark 10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? Mark 10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. Mark 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. Mark 10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; Mark 10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. Mark 10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Mark 10:10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. Mark 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. Mark 10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. Mark 10:13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Mark 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Mark 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Mark 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. Mark 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. Mark 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. Mark 10:23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! Mark 10:24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! Mark 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Mark 10:26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? Mark 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. Mark 10:28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. Mark 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, Mark 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. Mark 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. Mark 10:32 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, Mark 10:33 Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: Mark 10:34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. Mark 10:35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. Mark 10:36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? Mark 10:37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. Mark 10:38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Mark 10:39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: Mark 10:40 But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. Mark 10:41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. Mark 10:42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. Mark 10:43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10:46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. Mark 10:47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Mark 10:48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. Mark 10:49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. Mark 10:50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. Mark 10:51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. Mark 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

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