Week 21
The Lords Day, Week 21!
Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 11-13:
· 2 Corinthians 11 - Paul is now going to call out the false apostles, and he begins by expressing his pain over what is happening in the church. These false apostles are spreading a false gospel, leading some in the church away from Christ. The fact that they are even entertaining this false message has Paul frustrated at them. He preached his message freely, never being a burden, never accepting a gift so that no one would be able to accuse him of preaching for selfish gain. He supported himself, and yet these new teachers have come in demanding payment, and they boast in their status making themselves to be more important than Paul, and probably the other Apostles. But what status could they boast in that Paul to can't boast in? So, Paul begins to argue against them, but does so by becoming a fool like them... Paul, knows there is no boasting in the flesh, only in Christ, but if the Corinthians area going to receive someone based on their boasting, Paul wants them to see, no one has much more reason to boast than him. He starts with the basics, he is a Hebrew, an Israelite, son of Abraham. All of this to point to the fact that these false apostles were probably Judaizers, and boasted in these same things, then he goes on, he's a servant of Christ, and has done far more work for the kingdom than most... But then, his boasting turns in another direction, he begins to boast in his suffering, in this Paul had suffered immensely for the gospel... Beaten, tortured, shipwrecked, he's gone hungry and thirsty, suffers in his anxiety for the people of God and the churches he's planted. If Paul is going to truly boast, he would rather boast in all the things that show his weaknesses, all the things that have left him scarred, and hurting. Here's his point here, where is their suffering for Christ? These false apostles came in preaching a different message and then demanded payment, demand to be taken care of but where are the marks on their bodies? in what way have they suffered for Christ? It must be assumed from Paul's argument that they had not... This false message was simply a way for them to make money, to gain status... Remind you of any in the church today? There are so many today, that are fine with preaching a message that will keep their pockets filled with cash... But when the going gets tough... the message gets to changing! There have been some during this time of pandemic, who see the hardship, and are now saying things like, God doesn't always heal, yes sometimes we will suffer, yes sometimes we go through hard times... but these same people, when times were prosperous, wouldn't have dares say these things. When things are good, it was all prosperity all the time... These people are false teachers. A false teacher will say whatever the people need to hear, in order that they can collect a pay check. Just because someone can say a hard truth in a time where things are hard, doesn't make them a servant of God. The question is, are they willing to speak the hard truths in every season, are they willing to accept suffering for the sake of Christ. Or are they chasing the voices in the crowd? attempting to read the people to see what they can get away with and what will bring in the best response? Be very careful out there brothers and sisters. True teachers won't change the message based on the circumstances or the crowd, the message is always based in God and His word.
· 2 Corinthians 12 - Paul is continuing in boasting in his suffering, but not because he is expecting anything in return. He speaks of a vision, which we believe was his vision, and how he received a thorn in his flesh to keep him from boasting of his vision... Consider this, Paul was given this great gift, but in order that he wouldn't think to much of himself, along with this gift he was humbled greatly. We don't know what the thorn is, but it must have been great, he refers to it as a messenger from satan that harassed him. He pleaded with God to remove the thorn, but God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." therefore Paul has decided that he would all the more boast gladly in his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ would rest upon him... This is Pauls reason for his boasting, remember, he started boasting in the same things that these false teachers were boasting in but then it turned, into boasting in his suffering, and now here in the end, he gives us a peak into his greatest suffering, this thorn in his flesh, but gives us the reason for boasting in all of his suffering, that we would recognize that nothing Paul does was in his own power, but rather that all of it was ini the power of Christ. Apart from Christ there is no power, apart from Christ, there is no room for boasting, apart from Christ it is all vanity, it is all foolishness, but in Christ there is true strength, and to be in Christ means we must first be broken, and remaining in Christ often means we will be broken over and over again... The alternative is to become conceited and prideful, but God in His mercy will not allow that, He will not have His children become prideful... He will not allow us to begin to think to much of ourselves, because He knows it will destroy us, it will cause us to begin to think more of ourselves than we do of Him, and when that happens, we have turned our back on the gospel that saves. I've come to learn that one of my own thorns is PTSD... The way in which it has messed up my mind is something I often plead with the Lord over... It's something that I have asked Him time and time again to take away... But He doesn't. The truth is I know why He doesn't, it's right here in these verses. I am prideful, and often it's this thorn that he uses to humble me, and I'm not going to lie, it hurts. But these verses have become such a staple for me... I memorized them early in my walk and have not forgotten them. I encourage you to do the same. His Grace is sufficient for you too. He may never take away that thorn, but He has given you and me something far greater to see us through it, Himself.
I'm going to ask that you watch this video and ask yourself is Christ enough for you? Have you come to see His grace as sufficient. Let me pray for you if you haven't, let me pray for you if you have... If you aren't into Christian Hip Hop, bare with me and still pay attention to the lyrics. lol I hope and pray you are able to worship with brothers and sisters today. God bless.
Monday, Week 21!
Thoughts on Exodus 29-32:
· Hey everyone, I am so sorry, I typed up this long explanation on Exodus 29 -31, and then was typing up some stuff on Exodus 32 and Facebook deleted the whole thing... I'm a bit flustered right now by it, so you're only getting the cliff notes version... my apologies.
· Summary - The sacrifices in the temple, were gory and probably resembled more of scene out of a horror movie than anything we would imagine on our own. The reason, our sin is that disgusting. Our sin, required that much blood, and yet the amount of blood spilled was still never really enough, the amount of life taken, was still never enough, before even beginning the days sacrifices, the priests would start by washing their hands and feet, another reminder of how far their sin still separated them from God. In Hebrews we are told that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of this. The final sacrifice, the final high priest, and that through Him we are now clean having received the fullness of God. That which was still so far for the Israelites has been brought close to us... We are now, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
· The golden Calf... Why a calf??? ever think about it? because it's not threatening, because it can be controlled, because it's a whole lot easier to appease, then the God that has led them out of Egypt. The one who is smoke by day and fire by night, the one who strikes people dead and can cause plagues to fall on people and lands... Yeah, this god, they can just give what they want, and then throw a party and go live their lives how they want. But you know something, most people have golden calves today that they call Jesus... He's not threatening in anyway, doesn't ask for much, except that you acknowledge he exists... As for your life, it's come as you are and stay there, because you're the only you there is, and this Jesus couldn't possibly expect you to change. Come to church when you want, that bible thing, pick out what you like, what you don't, Gods people, well we know those people are just to religious and judgmental, so go ahead and trash talk them when you want too... We read this chapter and think, oh man, those foolish Israelites, but we only convict ourselves in doing so. We are a direct reflection of them, and apart from the grace of God, we would be living this same foolishness out today, and many of us are.
I'm still frustrated about losing all that I had prepared... lol maybe that's my golden calf... hmmm... but here's my devotional from yesterday, my text was actually Hebrews 10, and so it touches on this text too, and I didn't plan it that way. But God did. I hope you have a great start to your week, God bless!
Tuesday, Week 21!
Thoughts on 2 Samuel 20-24:
· 2 Samuel 20 - In last weeks reading we saw that Joab rebukes David, rightfully so, but it also appeared that his good deed didn't go unpunished as David replaces him as the head of his army with Amasa, who had betrayed David to fight with Absalom. In today's reading we begin with this man Sheba, who was most likely a relative of Saul being they were both of the tribe of Benjamin and explains his animosity towards David. David sends the army after him, and we see that Joab seizes his opportunity and kills Amasa and goes on to get the head of Sheba as the reinstated leader of Davids army. There isn't much more commentary here, and I don't think is in here for us to praise either. But we need to notice that Joab was not a perfect man, he did what was right in rebuking Joab, but then does what is evil by seeking vengeance against Amasa sin such a deceitful way. Recently I was asked a question, "who is your hero?" and my response was, Jesus. But I had to go on because I know to some it sounded very trite, they were probably expecting me to name another human being, but the problem is that all of us are sinful. At times we are capable of great good, when we are living according to Gods word and His morality, but just like Joab, we can do that which honors God now, only to do that which killed the Son of God next. Joab was a mighty warrior, and I believe we are likely to see him in glory, but if so, it will not be the battles he won that gets him there, but the blood of Jesus, the true hero.
· 2 Samuel 21-23 - In 21 we see the sons of Saul given as a ransom for the wickedness of Saul. There had been a treaty between the Israelites and the Gibeonites, but Saul looked to destroy them anyway. David, in hope of restoring the peace, and recognizing that Sauls actions dishonored God. This was Saul taking the Lords name in vain and bearing false witness against his neighbor. The price that must be paid is that of the death of Sauls sons, and grandsons. We aren't given any kind of moral commentary on this. Perhaps we have a hard time understanding this but that has to do with our context, this is something that would have been completely acceptable in Davids time. So we shouldn't attempt to pass our own judgement on it. We do see that David has mercy on the family of Saul when he says the actions of Rizpah, and he has all the remains brought back to the land of Benjamin for a proper burial which would have been seen as an extremely kind gesture. Then we have David once again going to war, only this time his age is catching up to him, and he is ultimately told to say home and David goes out to fight no more. This is not the same as David neglecting his duties as he did earlier in the book, here he is no longer able to fight, and going to battle could cost his life and his officers do not want that and recognize that would destroy the morale. In 22 we have this Song of praise written and probably sung by David. Here's what I want to look at, in verses 21-25, it appears that David is boasting in his own righteousness. But in context, this comes after the rescue which took place ini verse 18, and then we see, that in verse 33 it is God who is his refuge, and has MADE his way blameless. So, how can this known sinner, say that the Lord dealt with him according to his righteousness, and that he kept the ways of the Lord, and that he never departed from his ways or statutes when we've seen over and over again he did. Because David expressed what he knew needed to be true, though he probably didn't have clarity and how it could be true. He understood that He needed to be found IN his savior. It's only those who are in the sinless Son of God, that can say they are blameless or that they are righteous, or who can dare say, deal with me according to my deeds. Because only those in the savior, have His righteousness imputed to them, His deeds accounted to them, and their sins completely washed away... So are you IN the savior? If so, you can pray this or sing this Psalm too!
· 2 Samuel 24 - The Census, notice, "the anger of the Lord kindled against Israel, and HE, that is the Lord incited David against them..." When we get to 1st Chronicles, it's going to tell us that it was Satan, but we can't ignore one in favor of the other. We have to hold these both, and so I'll leave that for discussion when we get there. But notice here, it's the Lord who kindled, but David is still accountable... It is still David's sin, and he must choose the punishment for his sin, and all the people will pay for it because he is the king. 70,000 men died because of Davids sin, and God was just in his judgement. Why? Because God is Sovereign, and man is responsible, we've talked about this so much, but that's only because that's what the scriptures themselves make very plain for us and it's written everywhere. Both are true, God is sovereign, and yes He turns hearts and works all things together, but man is without excuse and will be held accountable for every deed.
We have completed another book today! I'll hold off till next week to update the count, but if you have been with us since the beginning then we have already read quite a lot and I hope you've seen that it's really not all that daunting when taken in little chunks like this. The reading itself each morning shouldn't take more than 20 -30 minutes, and then another 20 or so to reflect! Hope you all took time yesterday to remember those who gave their lives for our country. I'm not big on human heroes, but they come as close as we are going to get! God bless!
**forgot to add this: https://www.truthnlife.net/blog/no-heroes-please
Wednesday, Week 21!
Thoughts on Psalms 60-62:
· Psalm 60 - The movement in this psalm takes us from the recollection of defeat (1-5), to the current trial and desire of deliverance (6-10) and ends in a confident expectation (11&12). This was the experience of the Israelite army at the time it was written, but it is also very much the movement of our Christian life. We once stood defeated, dead in sin, and under the wrath of God. There God set up a banner, the cross, which we looked to and in it saw our sin and His perfection and beauty. This called us out of our defeat, and delivered us by His right hand! We are now surrounded by the enemy, at times it even feels like God isn't with us, we feel like we are at it alone, but we know that God is with us and because He is with us we will be victorious in this life, and the victory completely belongs to Him, not us!
· Psalm 61 & 62 - Both of these Psalms paint a similar picture, God as our shelter, rock, refuge, protector and salvation. Last night, in our bible study we read an article where the author was attacking the Christian worldview and making the accusation that God doesn't answer prayer. He said that according to the Bible, God should always answer yes to prayer! One of the responses brought up, was that you can't make that claim if you read the entirety of the Bible. Look at these psalms, the implication in both of them is that the psalmist will experience hardship, he will and is experiencing difficulty, he is and will be sought out for destruction, and he sees that his only protection is to remain IN God, that God is his protector, but that protection is not primarily a physical protection, it's a spiritual one. "Let me dwell in your tent forever". His hope isn't in even a present day relief, but looking forward to an eternal relief, a permanent relief. God does answer prayer, and He promises to give us all that we need and desire (according to His will). But our greatest prayer and greatest cry, should be that He keep us IN Him, that we would see Him as our great refuge at all times and especially in times of trouble, because we know that there will be many times of trouble. He is our hope, our rock and our salvation!
Hope you are all having a great week! If you missed last nights study, please check it out on YouTube and if you'd like to be a part of it, just let me know. Let me know how we can be praying for you in the midst of all this. Just as an update, my father is healthy and Eva has been back to work for a couple of weeks now. Here's a question for you all, how has God been a refuge to you during all of this? Hope to read some responses. God bless!
Thursday, Week 21!
Thoughts on Job 41 & 42:
· Job 41 - A few different ways to understand Leviathan, an actual sea creature, a term meant for all great sea creatures, or a poetic description pointing to powers in the heavenly and earthly realms which man has no control over. Either way, the point is that God is over this, and man is powerless against it. God is sovereign, creator, man is but a creature, unable to tame even other creatures so how dare you ask such things of the creator, Job? This concludes Gods rebuke of Job, He has put things back in their proper prospective, Job is not God. God knows what He is doing, He's the one who put it all together, and He did it all without any help. You are unable to even answer the most basic questions about life, the universe and creation, but yet you want to question God about His plan, and what He is doing in your life? Instead trust the one who can answer all the questions, the one who has purposed everything, believe that He knows what He is doing and things are going exactly according to His great plan.
· Job 42 - Verses 1-6 is Jobs response, and it should be ours to when we read Job. God is great, His purposes are great, to great for us to comprehend, and no matter what we do, we have no power to overthrow Him, no power to bring about our own purpose. We ask questions that we don't even understand ourselves, we seek answers of things that are to great for us, we miss God Himself because we are more interested in what God is doing in our lives... Consider that the Psalmist tells us, the Heavens declare the glory of God... But yet we can't take our eyes off our immediate circumstances. Most of us have heard of God, but are yet to see Him, to take our eyes off of our own circumstances and up to the glory of God to see how much greater He is than our circumstances. If He is powerful enough to put together such a great universe, how can we not trust Him with our lives? Repentance, is the response to seeing God, it's always the response to seeing God, there is no other response to seeing God. If there has not been repentance, then God has not been seen.
· Summary - Job teaches us many lessons, that God is not partial, He let's suffering and pain come to even those who love Him. It teaches us that suffering in the hand of God is a tool, one that shapes us and points us to Him. It teaches us that we know nothing, though we like to pretend we know everything. It teaches us that God is loving and compassionate in that He doesn't need to answer us, He doesn't need to reveal Himself to us, but He does. It teaches us the right response to God, repentance. It teaches us how to see our hardships in proper prospective against who God is and who we are. These are just some of the lessons we've looked at through Job, and yet so many choose only to see, the last few verses as the lesson. "and the Lord restored the fortunes of Job... and the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning..." If this is the lesson you get, then you weren't paying attention. First of all, you and I have never suffered as much as Job, he lost his entire household, all of his children, and grandchildren and livelihood in one fell swoop and then laid on his death bed for a pretty long period of time... If you want to see the moral of the story as, don't worry about what you are going through because God will bless you when you are through, then repentance needs to take route. God did choose to bless Job, here, but He did not have to, nor does it mean He has to now. The fact that God did it once, doesn't mean He has to do it again. The Lord gives and takes away, and He does it to whom He wants, when He wants, and how He wants. That's one of the lessons, and when the Lord gives, it's important that we see it as being a blessing from Him, and when He takes it away, if we are His, then it's still a blessing, He is still doing something! The greatest blessing is repentance and faith, that's where the greatest blessing comes, through repentance and faith, if you've been granted that then you already have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, in Christ! Amen.
God bless you all! Just a heads up, I am going to be taking a break from my personal page. I will continue to post content here, on the CICC page, and the Truth N Life page, but going silent on my personal page. I am afraid that some of the rhetoric I've been seeing on my newsfeed has just been to toxic and I need a break! Hope you are all doing well!
Friday, Week 21!
Thoughts on Jeremiah 42-46:
· Summary - The Lord brings judgment to Judah, and a remnant remains. They have been left by Nebuchadnezzar, but the people are afraid that he will return and destroy them. They call on Jeremiah to intercede and call on the Lord. He does so, and the Lord relents, this is interesting and it's important that we recognize what's taking place. Relent, is not regret, and when being used of God, we must take into account who God is. Gods will is perfect, and what He does, He does with perfect knowledge, and so there are no mistakes. In this situation, the people were completely deserving of wrath, of judgement, the Lord brings judgement, and leaves a small remnant. The remnant seeks Him, and the Lord chooses not to bring upon them the judgment they deserve in the moment. He instead shows mercy, and gives them an opportunity to repent and trust in Him. This is the experience of all people right now, we all deserve judgement in an eternal sense, but the Lord is showing mercy, He has relented of His judgement, it's not that it's not coming, but that it's not coming right now, at least not in an eternal sense. So repent, trust in Jesus today while there's an opportunity. But the people hear the word of the Lord through Jeremiah and instead of submitting, instead of being joyful in the Lords decision to show them mercy, they give in to their wicked and deceitful hearts. They go to Egypt and abandon the land. The Lord says stay and I will protect you, if you go judgement will come for you, and they say, we don't believe you so we are going to go. Then look what happens when they get to Egypt, they immediately return to idolatry, they take a completely new perspective on history. All of a sudden their judgement wasn't because of their idolatry, no, it was because they abandoned it. It was when we stopped worshiping the "queen mother" that things really got bad. How does this happen? It happens when God gives us over to our wickedness, what we see happening in their hearts is the natural state of our own. You and I, apart from the grace of God, will look to our own idolatry for justification. We will attempt to create an entire system that only proves the thoughts and motives our own hearts. History itself can be reinterpreted without even batting an eye, and we will do it all with smiles on our faces and a hatred of the true Lord in our hearts. In all of this, the Lord still relents, He chooses to still leave an even smaller remnant that will be witnesses to all He does and eventually come back to Judah, He will make a full end of the other nations, but not of His own people. Judgment will fall on the house of God, make no mistake about it. Though glory will be there for all of His saints, today, right now, judgment will still come to the church. We've been given a warning, this virus was only a small taste and yet it's crippled us as a nation. It seems that the Lord is continuing to relent, to hold back His judgement, but how will we respond? Will we look to His word and trust Him, or will we shrink back, look to the world, and attempt to find different answers within our own hearts? Monday is June 1st... The start of what has come to be known, Pride month. Consider how the church has failed in being a prophetic voice in the area of sexuality, the way in which we have chosen to be defenders of a persons right to destroy themselves rather than a Jeremiah who speaks the truth regardless of the response, speaks the truth with tears in his eyes, pleading for the people to listen and turn and trust in the Lord. Will that be us in June??? Or are we just hoping that things will go back to the way they were? Are we hoping that we can go back to carrying signs that say, "we love you and we are sorry" while the world carries on in calling what God calls wicked good, and what God calls good wicked? I'm not Jeremiah, I'm not a prophet and don't have access to that kind of special revelation, but when I read Jeremiah, I see how God has acted before and I see where we are today and can't help but see the similarities. Can't help but recognize that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and I tremble and ask, Lord I am not Jeremiah, but give me the strength and boldness to act like Him.
Something is happening in our world, and I just hope we can be the people of God in the midst of it. May the Lord bless you and keep you... Enjoy the rest of your Friday!
Saturday, Week 21!
Thoughts on Luke 5 & 6:
· Luke 5 -Ever wonder, when we are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, what's that look like? Here it is in verse 8, Peter recognizing that he is in the presence of one who exercises the very power of God, he falls to his knees seeing not just the power, but his own sinfulness. This is the beginning of wisdom brothers and sisters... He doesn't have all the answers yet, he is yet to fully grasp who Jesus is, yet to fully grasp what Jesus is doing, but he sees enough to lift the veil and reveal his own heart before a Holy God and all he can do is plead for mercy. The response of our Savior to one who has the veil lifted is just as important... "Do not be afraid..." yes we deserve to be judged and to be under the wrath of God, but that our eyes have been opened is of His grace, He has allowed us to see Him that we would see the truth of our own condition and cling to Him as our only hope. So cling to Him and don't let Him go, follow Jesus where ever He takes you because that's the only road that leads to Him.
· In verse 13 of the same chapter we see something that is often lost on us because of the cultural and historical context. But given our current context it may land a bit better... Leprosy is such an evil disease, and is very contagious. Those with the disease walked around marked and were often sent away to live in leper colonies to face death alone and out of the public sphere. There was not only the pain and suffering of death itself, but also the fact that one would never again experience the touch of a loved one, the connection with family and friends, their lives were over. Here comes Jesus, looking at this man with compassion, reaching out and touching him. Never mind the healing, this very act would have caused such a commotion and been considered completely foolish at the least but likely much worse in the context as Jesus would have now been considered unclean! I know, this is Jesus, not just a regular man, agreed, but we are called to be like Jesus. I can't help but think of all those who died unable to experience the touch of a loved one, hear the prayers of friends and family, and were forced to be alone. I look at Jesus example, and maybe I am a fool, I don't know, but even if I can't heal a person, I want the faith to lay my hands on them, to show them the compassions of my savior even at risk of my own life, even if it means I have to go to, I want to live what it means to say, To live is Christ but to Die is gain. I want to actually believe that God is the only one in charge of when we leave this world. We are living in fear, and this virus is not leprosy, not even close. I'm not asking anyone to go out on start laying hands on Covid patients, but I am saying our Savior would... So at least consider that today, at least recognize who He is in the midst of this and maybe don't go out and try to lay hands and heal people, but definitely stop living in fear in your own home.
· Luke 6 - (I really wish this was only one chapter at a time...) Let's talk about loving our enemies, this concept has mostly escaped us today. We have become complacent in simply tolerating our enemies, and at times not even that. This is an area I myself to have grown colder in, and need to repent and lay my life down in service of Christ and my enemies once again. "But, love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil..." Do you know who the ungrateful and evil are??? My and you. That's us... He's not talking about the person you and I think about as ungrateful and evil, He is talking right to us, I am ungrateful and evil, and Jesus has been so kind to me, He has shown me such mercy. He continues to be kind to the world, by holding back final judgement, you and I are to go out to the world, full of our enemies, and tell them of His great kindness, tell them of His great mercy, that some would hear His voice, turn from their sin, receive His grace and become His children. We hate to love our enemies, because we think we are better than our enemies, we think there's a reason they are our enemies, and so why would we ever love them, but Jesus says you were my enemy, you deserved hell and yet I loved you so much that I laid down my life for you, and now will you not lay down yours for those you perceive as enemies? because those you see as your enemy were once your allies, and they served in the same army as you. Have we lost our love for them because we've been brought over to the winning side, are we that arrogant that now we can look at where we once stood and say, you deserve what you get... But no, not me. To love our enemies, is to go and do what Jesus did for us, His enemies.
I'm praying about some things and ask that you please pray for me too. I will not go into detail, but know that I am seeking to honor Christ and ask for wisdom and clarity. Thank you all, and hope you all have a wonderful day. God bless.