Isaiah 17
Capital of Syria facing judgment verse 1- 3
The burden of Damascus
BEHOLD – Damascus is taken away from being a city
and it shall be a ruinous heap
The cities of Aroer are forsaken – they shall be for flocks
which shall lie down and none shall make them afraid
The fortress shall cease from Ephraim
and the kingdom from Damascus
and the remnant of Syria – they shall be as the glory of the
children of Israel – says the LORD of hosts
In that day: Famine verse 4- 6
AND IN THAT DAY it shall come to pass
that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin
and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean
And it shall be as when the harvestman gathers the corn
and reap the ears with his arm
and it shall be as he that gathers ears in the
valley of Rephaim
YET gleaning grapes shall be left in it
as the shaking of an olive tree
two or three berries
in the top of the uppermost bough
four or five in the outmost fruitful branches
thereof
says the LORD God of Israel
In that day: False worship abandoned verse 7- 8
AT THAT DAY shall a man look to his Maker
and his eyes shall have respect
to the Holy One of Israel
AND he shall not look to the altars – the work of his hands
neither shall respect that which his fingers have made
either the groves – or the images
In that day: Reason for judgment verse 9- 10
IN THAT DAY shall his strong cities be as forsaken bough
and an uppermost branch
which they left because of the children of Israel
AND there shall be desolation
BECAUSE you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not been mindful of the ROCK of your strength
THEREFORE shall you plant pleasant plants
and shall set it with strange slips
In that day: Harvest of sorrow verse 11
IN THAT DAY shall you make your plant to grow
and in the morning
shall you make your seed to flourish
BUT the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief
AND of desperate sorrow
Judgment regarding many nations verse 12- 14
WOE to the multitude of many people
which make a noise like the noise of the seas
and to the rushing of nations
that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters
BUT God shall rebuke them
and they shall flee far off
and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains
before the wind
and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind
AND behold at evening tide trouble
and before the morning he is not
This is the portion of them that spoil us
and the lot of them that rob us
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 4 “In that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob will wane, and the fatness of his flesh grow lean.” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). (דָּלַל, דָּלַל [dalal /daw·lal/] – to hang, languish, hang down, be low, “impoverished”)
DEVOTION:: The story is told of a professional football coach who was a believer and left his Bible lying on his desk each day. As players would come in they would notice it and often comment on it. One day a player came in and stated to his coach that he needed to start reading his bible again. Puzzled by the comment the coach asked why he would say that. To which the player responded, “your page marker has not moved for the past two weeks!” The coach also realized he had been getting impatient and short with players and coaches. When we fail to read or meditate on the word of God the glory of God will wane and the watchful eyes of others will notice. How are we doing? DO people see the Lord and His fullness in us or is there a leanness that is appearing in our spiritual life?
CHALLENGE: Do not be like Syria and Israel and only call upon the Lord in times of trouble! Daily look to Him for strength and wisdom! (Dr. Brian Miller)
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. (7200 “respect” [ra’ah] means to see, find delight, view, pay attention, take heed, look, see, behold, consider, enjoy or heed.)
DEVOTION: The Bible makes it plain that we are created beings. God has created both man and angels. Many angels fell with Satan when he rebelled against the LORD. All human beings are born in rebellion against the LORD.
We have been created by our Maker. God is our Maker. We need to heed what HE has to say to us in HIS Word. Do we remember that we are created beings or do we think we have made ourselves? Like the children of Israel we go to God when all else has failed. We have tried our own way to handle a situation and when it fails we turn to the LORD for help. It is not something that has happened only once in our lives, it has happened all to often.
Next Isaiah wants the people of Israel to have their eyes focused on the LORD. They were presently looking at their idols instead of the LORD. They thought that their idols could save them. They were wrong. IF we look in any direction besides the LORD, we find ourselves in captivity to something or someone other than the LORD.
We and they also find that the LORD has to chasten them in order to show them and us that HE can bring a solution to the problems that we are facing on a regular basis.
Today we have a new group of scientists that are presenting the belief in “Intelligent Design.” We have been watching the scientific world deal with DNA and other reasons why evolution is not the answer to our beginning. If we have a Creator and we believe that we do. Then we have to take heed to the Word of God. HE has chosen to share with us HIS directions for our lives.
HE has chosen to share with us HIS future plan for our world. Are we taking heed to HIS Word daily? In the Word of God we can see it all laid out in front of us. The LORD Jesus Christ is coming one day and we are to be occupying until HE comes.
What does that mean? We need to take delight in HIS Word and HIS work in our life. We need to share these truths with others. We need to practice what we find in the Word of God and ask forgiveness when we fail.
CHALLENGE: Our delight needs to be in the LORD of our salvation. HE is our ROCK. HE gives us strength to face each day. Show your delight for the LORD to others. Pay attention to HIM more than our favorite sports team or favorite store in the Mall.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength, therefore shall you plant pleasant plants, and shall set it with strange slips. (7911 “forgotten” [shakach] means ignore, wither, to cease to care, fall into oblivion, overlook, unmindful, or mislay.)
DEVOTION: I tell people that I have a good memory but it is short. I have a problem with names. I just called someone on Skype but forgot her name when it came time to pray for her. It is sad but true. I sometimes think about too many things at once and forget what I am supposed to be doing in the present. Some of us go into a room and forget why we are there until we think for a while about it.
When we think about God our memory sometimes is very short. Yesterday HE really blessed me we think and then today we wonder what HE is doing for us. We want HIM to give us exciting blessings each day. HE does but we don’t realize it.
The children of Israel were guilty of this problem as well. The ten tribes were looking to Damascus to help them with Assyria. The army of Assyria was coming so the ten tribes made alliances with other nations to protect them.
Isaiah came along and told them a message from the LORD. HE was not pleased that they looked to others for help instead of HIM. HE had the understanding that they were ignoring HIM. HE was out of their mind. Of course, we follow their example too often.
We can always thank HIM for the provision of our salvation. We can always thank HIM that HE is available for conversation at all times. We can thank HIM for the wisdom that HE gives us each day. We can thank HIM for HIS provision of food, clothes and shelter that HE provides for us each day. In fact, we have more then we can use on a daily basis here in this country compared to many other countries.
So should we be oblivious to HIS blessings? NO!!! Have you been oblivious to HIS blessings in your life today?
CHALLENGE: We need to ask the LORD’S forgiveness for our unthankful attitude at times. We need to complement the LORD to others daily for all HE is doing for us. We need to encourage others to complement the LORD for HIS daily benefits or blessings.
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: 13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. (1605 “rebuke” [ga’ar] means reprove, to censure severely or angrily, speak insultingly to, disapprove, or to tell another that they have done wrong.)
DEVOTION: The ultimate judge is the LORD. HE is the one who knows what is right and wrong in this world and in any nation. HE is the one who can disapprove of the actions of people and governments.
Today we have many nations that are not honoring the LORD. Even in our own nation there are many who don’t think the teaching of the Word of God are right and want to stop any teachings from the Bible.
God is going to deal with them and we need to keep preaching the Word of God and teaching our children the Word of God and telling our friends about the truth of the Word of God.
It is the LORD’s responsibility to help us with our message and HIS reasonability to handle those who reject HIS message that we are presenting.
We have to present it in love and encourage those we love to consider the consequences of their actions if they reject HIM.
Too often we take too much of the defense on ourselves when the LORD is able to take care of what is going on. HE does everything in HIS time. HE is patient when we are not. We want God to strike those who oppose HIS teaching to be struck by lightning right away.
CHALLENGE: We have the responsibility to live and teach the Word of God to others and the LORD will handle the rest. Trust HIM! HE works in HIS timing not ours.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 3, 6
LORD of hosts verse 3
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 6, 10, 13
LORD God of Israel verse 6
Maker verse 7
Holy One of Israel verse 7
God of thy salvation verse 10
Rock of thy strength verse 10
God rebukes nations verse 13, 14
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
Rock of our strength verse 10
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Damascus verse 1, 3
ruinous heap
City of Aroer = forsaken verse 2
Syria verse 3
Valley of Rephaim verse 5
Many peoples verse 12
Nations verse 12, 13
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Altars of false gods verse 8
Idols verse 8
Groves verse 8
Images verse 8
Forgetting God verse 10
Not mindful of the Rock verse 10
Spoil verse 14
Rob verse 14
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Respect verse 7
Salvation verse 10
Strength verse 10
Rebuke verse 13
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Ephraim verse 3
Children of Israel verse 3, 9
Glory of Jacob verse 4
be made thin
fatness of his flesh shall wax lean
Judgment on Israel verse 4- 11
Day of grief verse 11
Desperate sorrow verse 11
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
In that day verse 4, 9, 11
At that day verse 7
Day of grief and desperate sorrow verse 11
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DONATIONS:
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QUOTES regarding passage
The emphasis in this section is on the God of Israel. He is the Lord of hosts (the Lord Almighty), who controls the armies of heaven and earth (Isa. 17:3). He is the Lord God of Israel (v. 6), who called and blessed Israel and warned her of her sins. He is our Maker, the Holy One of Israel (v. 7); He is the God of our salvation and our Rock (v. 10). How foolish of the Israelites to trust their man-made idols instead of trusting the living God (v. 8; 1 Kings 12:25–33). But like Israel of old, people today trust the gods they have made, instead of the God who made them; these include the false gods of pleasure, wealth, military might, scientific achievement, and even “religious experience.” (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Comforted (p. 49). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Are we to take these words literally or figuratively? Possibly both, for they surely picture the folly of Israel in days gone by when although they had turned away from the Lord God of hosts, they still encouraged themselves to believe that they should prosper in their sinful condition, and so they planted lovely gardens and built great cities only to be visited at last by divine judgment. But may we not see in these verses something that perhaps has had its literal fulfillment on more than one occasion in the past, and at the present time is being fulfilled again? It is a well-known fact that during the long years of Turkish misrule, the land of Palestine was almost denuded of trees. The forests of Lebanon had long since been cut down and the wood used for many different purposes. The trees that once grew upon the Mount of Olives and Mt. Scopus were, we are told by Josephus, all cut down by Titus and used during the siege of Jerusalem. During the last century of Turkish dominion the Ottoman Government put a tax on all trees, which was so exorbitant that the inhabitants of Palestine rebelled against it, and rather than pay it cut down nearly every tree on their estates. But when, after the First World War, the mandate of Palestine was entrusted to Great Britain, one of the first things the British Government set in motion was the reforestation of the mountains of Lebanon, thousands upon thousands of young trees being planted upon those heights, while thousands of eucalyptus, or blue gum trees, were imported from Australia and planted in the swampier parts of the country in order to assist in draining the land. Following this, the returning Jews immediately began planting oliveyards and orchards of orange and other citrus fruits so that, literally, the entire country was planted with strange slips, and it certainly began to look as though Palestine had a wonderfully prosperous era before it. But all has not been according to the hope of the Jews. Troubles and disasters have fallen upon the land. Forest fires have again destroyed many of the trees on Lebanon, and what the future has in store we dare not attempt to say except that Scripture depicts great and terrible trials such as Jacob has never known in the past. Surely the harvest will be a day of grief and desperate sorrow. How this should move our hearts to cry to God for the salvation of Israel and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. (Ironside, H. A. (1952). Expository notes on the prophet Isaiah. (pp. 100–101). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)
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Ver. 10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, &c.] Who had been the author of salvation to them many a time, in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in various instances since; and yet they had forgot his works of mercy and goodness, and had left his worship, and gone after idols; and this was the cause of their cities being forsaken, and becoming a desolation: and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength; or strong Rock, who had supplied and supported them, protected and defended them: therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants; or plants of pleasant fruit, or plants of Naamanim; and so Aben Ezra takes it to be the proper name of a plant in the Arabic language, and which he says is a plant that grows very quick; perhaps he means Anemone, which is so called in that language, and is near to it in sound; though rather not any particular plant is meant, but all sorts of pleasant plants, flowers, and fruit-trees, with which the land of Israel abounded: and shalt set it with strange slips; with foreign ones, such as are brought from other countries, and are scarce and dear, and highly valued; and by plants and slips may be meant false and foreign doctrines, inculcating idolatry and superstition, which are pleasing to the flesh. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 5, p. 102). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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For much of history, people have marked deaths and marriages with religious ceremonies and sacraments. In a time of rapidly declining religiosity, some are now looking to alternative spiritual authorities to give meaning to their most important moments. Spiritual authorities like, say, Mickey Mouse.
Recently, a Reddit post by a newlywed couple went viral after they asked whether it was impolite to spend their entire catering budget on an appearance by Mickey and Minnie Mouse. “My fiancée and I are huge Disney fans,” wrote the 28-year-old bride, “…we travel to Disney World as much as we can throughout the year. Disney is such an important part not only to us, but also our marriage.”
The bride and groom chose to pay for a 30-minute appearance from performers dressed as the iconic characters rather than buy food for their wedding guests. Not surprisingly, some in attendance took umbrage, as did people online who read the post, calling the couple childish and selfish.
A professor of religious studies at Lehigh University, however, defended the couple and urged her Twitter followers to “stop pathologizing Disney adults.” She explained:
“Many of the Disney fans I have observed in person and online find immense meaning in the parks. People don’t just marry at Disney. They mourn lost relatives at Disney. They go to Disney to celebrate surviving cancer. They go there for one last trip before they die. Religion is a way of making meaning in the world through stories and rituals. It’s about a network of relationships with the human and non-human …. It’s about making homes and confronting suffering …. All of this happens at Disney.”
The professor is correct that some people view Disney and its theme parks in religious terms. Not long ago, reports emerged that Disney was secretly working to stop guests from scattering the ashes of their deceased loved ones at their parks. Apparently, urns of human remains are so often emptied, employees have code words to warn of that kind of cleanup.
The fact that some now look to cartoon characters and amusement parks to bless and sanctify their lives signals how spiritually impoverished and hungry their lives have become. Of course, Disney is just one of many religious alternatives on offer in a culture like ours. We could easily question the amount of money spent on sports or travel or distractions of various kinds. People who look to the state or the screen or to sex for meaning and purpose are just as lost as those who look to Disney for it.
There’s also the matter of how religion is understood in a secular society. If, as the professor wrote, “Religion is a way of making meaning in the world through stories and rituals,” then Disney fits the description. But this assumes that religious faith is subjective, based in fiction—not reality, a product of the imagination—not reason. If religion is merely a way of making meaning in an otherwise meaningless universe, then Mickey Mouse will work as well as Moses. (BREAK POINT)
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Disney Gospel
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Few men have had more influence on American society than Walt Disney. He pioneered the American animation industry and captivated children’s hearts with cartoon characters such as Micky Mouse and Donald Duck. He took Hollywood fantasy to a new level of influence with the building of DisneyLand in California and Disney World in Florida. The author of The Gospel According to Disney observes that Walt Disney preached a religious message through his cartoon characters, a message that “faith is an essential element–faith in yourself and, even more, faith in something greater than yourself, even if it is some vague, nonsectarian higher power” (Mark Pinsky, “Finding faith in the house of the mouse,” The Washington Post, Aug. 14, 2004, B7). Disney’s animated classics are filled with pagan and occult imagery such as witches and demons, sorcerers and spells, genies and goblins, all of which is strongly denounced by Scripture. Like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, Disney cartoons present the false and damnable concept that there is good and bad magic. Disney often depicted witches and sorcerers as likable heroes. The 1940 animated movie Pinocchio is about a man who brings a puppet to life by wishing upon a star; the puppet is subsequently visited by a Blue Fairy who advises, “Let your conscience be your guide.” This is a lie. Man’s conscience cannot be his guide, because he is a fallen creature whose “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). The Disney fairy preaches a works gospel that “the gift of life” is attained by “choosing right from wrong.” The Bible says that any gospel other than the gospel of salvation through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ is cursed of God. “… if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6-9). Disney fairies are depicted as cute and likable, and this is not a small error. The Bible warns that the devil appears as an angel of light in order to deceive people (2 Corinthians 12). Walt Disney did not attend church, and there are no churches on Main Street in Disneyland or Disney World, even though there were churches on practically every main street in America when Disneyland opened in 1955. Christian parents have unwisely allowed Disney’s cartoons and movies to influence their children. Pinsky notes that “few entertainment productions continue to have as profound an impact on young children as [Disney’s] animated features” and “millions of children around the world know from Disney much of what they do about the practical application of right and wrong.” Some years back, the Southern Baptist Convention called for a boycott of Disney, but that boycott was based on the newer, more morally edgy Disney productions and ignored the heretical New Age gospel preached through Disney’s earlier movies, movies that are typically found in the homes of Southern Baptist parents and grandparents. When Disneyland opened, Time magazine featured Walt Disney on its cover and called him “the poet of the new American humanism.” Indeed. The acceptance of Hollywood’s “entertainment” by American churches over the past half century helped paved the way for the wholesale apostasy that we witness today and the destruction of biblical morality in society at large. (Way of Life Literature, Inc) _________________________________________________________________ |
2 Kings 1
The Lord sends Elijah to inform Ahaziah that he will die.
INSIGHT
Ahab and Jezebel have become famous for their irreverence and disregard for the Law of the Lord. Yet Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, goes beyond them in his blatant disregard for the Lord. After an accident, he inquires of Baal-Zebub, the pagan god of Ekron, whether or not he will recover. Elijah informs the messengers that Ahaziah will die. No longer afraid, Elijah has been strengthened from his previous failure. We must always look at failure as an opportunity to grow. (Quiet Walk)
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REVIVAL OFTEN STARTS WITH ONE PERSON
And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation…which was without the camp.
Exodus 33:7
Here is profound teaching. This Tabernacle was a kind of tent that Moses set up in the middle of the congregation, in the middle of the camp of Israel, where he and others would pray, a “tent of meeting” where people might go together to meet with God. The tent of meeting—it is such a significant and such a wonderful term. The Nonconformist fathers generally referred to their places of worship as meeting houses, and it is a good old term. You see, it is a place not so much where people meet with one another, though that is included, but the essential meaning is this—the place where they meet with God.
It is important that we should understand that Moses was clearly led to take this peculiar action. He took this Tabernacle out of the center of the camp and put it outside, far off from the camp. This was an action taken by Moses himself. And I must pause with that, because you will always find as you read the history of these movements of the Spirit in the long story of the Christian church that generally the very first thing that happens, and which eventually leads to a great revival, is that one man, or a group of men, suddenly begin to feel this burden, and they feel the burden so much that they are led to do something about it.
Martin Luther, a very ordinary kind of monk, suddenly became aware of this burden. And it so burdened him that he was led to do something about it. Just one man, and through that one man, God sent that mighty movement to the church.
A Thought to Ponder
Generally one man suddenly begins to feel this burden, and he feels the burden so much that he is led to do something about it.
(From Revival, pp. 162-163, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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“It appears obvious to me that today’s global West spends considerable effort, significant time, and extensive resources attempting to differentiate Islam from Islamism. It is an effort to disassociate and unlink any violent extremist attack (that looks Islamic in its essence) with any religious motivation embedded in Islamic tenets. The emphasis is on choosing words that offend nobody without identifying the role of theology or the motivating sacred texts. Thus, we hear comments that ISIS is not really Islamic and Boko Haram is a bunch of lunatics who have nothing to do with Islam. Ironically, both of these militant groups constantly portray themselves as applying the authentic texts of Islam.” (Ayman Ibrahim is assistant professor of Islamic studies and senior fellow for the Jenkins Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. A native of Cairo, Egypt, Ibrahim earned his Ph.D. with an emphasis in Islamic studies from Fuller Theological Seminary.
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Sanctification is the ongoing process whereby the Holy Spirit works in believers, making their lives holy, separated from their old ways and to God in order to be more like Him. obedience: One reason that God chooses us is so that we might serve Him. sprinkling of the blood: This concept, the second reason why God chooses us, draws our attention to three situations in the OT when the Israelites were sprinkled with the blood of animals: (1) Moses’ sprinkling of blood on the Israelites at Mount Sinai, to symbolize their initiation into the covenant (Ex. 24:5–8); (2) the sprinkling of Aaron and his sons to be the priests of Israel (Ex. 29:19–21); and (3) the sprinkling of blood performed by priests over healed lepers to symbolize their cleansing (Lev. 14:1–9). Any of these three cases could be the one that Peter has in mind here.
1:3–11 God provides all our needs for this life and the future life. As a result, we are able to face our daily pressures with joy, knowing that God is in control of our present existence and our destiny. What He has given us is special—so special that the OT saints desired to understand it and the angels of heaven look in amazement at it. (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (1 Pe 1:2–11). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.)
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Genesis 9
God covenants with Noah never to flood the earth again.
INSIGHT
A person is only as good as his word. If he is true to his word, he can be trusted; if he is not, he cannot. It is as simple as that. God promised that He would never destroy the earth with a flood again. He went even further by saying, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (based on Genesis 8:22). Then God set a rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise.
For thousands of years, God has been true to His Word. We sometimes get discouraged during the tough times in life, because we tend to focus on our particular circumstances rather than the promises of God.
We must remember the rainbow. God is true to His Word. He can be trusted. (QuietWalk)
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THE HOLY SPIRIT’S DEITY
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit…. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which works all in all. 1 Corinthians 12:4,6
We must demonstrate the Holy Spirit’s deity. This is a vital part of the doctrine of the Trinity. It is only Christians who believe this doctrine; all other religions fail to do so, as do all errors and heresies. The Trinity is the key that unlocks all truth. So we must look at the evidence.
The Scripture itself specifically asserts the deity of the Spirit. I take you back to that terrible incident with Ananias and Sapphira. After asking, “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?” Peter continued, “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” (Acts5:3-4). “The terrible thing that you have done,” said Peter in effect, “is that you have not only been lying to men; you thought that you were just lying to us, the apostles, and to the other Christians, but no, you have been lying to God.” And just previously he had said that Ananias had lied to the Holy Spirit. So clearly that is a specific statement that the Holy Spirit is God.
But we also find that the Spirit’s name is coupled with the name of God, and this not only establishes His personality but His Deity. This is seen in the baptismal formula, in the apostolic benediction, and also in 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul writes, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit…. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which works all in all” (verses 4,6). At one point we are told it is the Spirit who does this, and the next moment we are told that it is God—the same God who works all and in all, and He is the Spirit. Therefore the Spirit is God—His deity is proved.
A Thought to Ponder: Scripture specifically asserts the deity of the Spirit. (From God the Holy Spirit, p. 15, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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We Are the Champions
The heart of the wise instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips. PROVERBS 16:23
I told you yesterday about a schoolteacher whose exasperated words left a permanent mark on my young spirit. How true it is that our words—especially those spoken in anger or under pressure—have the power to wound deeply and linger long in our memories.
But I also remember the words of another teacher—my sixth-grade basketball coach—who planted some positive thoughts in my mind. Funny, I don’t even remember his name, but I’ll never forget how he started each day’s practice. He would walk into the gym and shout, “What’s the good word, guys?”
We would stop our warm-ups and roar back in unison, “State champs 1966!”
Remember that we were only 12 years old. But he already had us looking forward 6 years down the road when we’d be seniors in high school, trying to win a state basketball championship. Even during breaks between drills, when we stopped for a breather and waited for his next instructions, he’d ask, “What’s the good word, guys?”
State champs 1966!”
I wish I could report that we won the state title in 1966. Unfortunately, we lost in the first round. But we did become much better players than anyone thought we would—all because of a sixth-grade coach who had a vision and who planted a goal in the minds of young basketball hopefuls who couldn’t dribble their way out of a wet paper bag.
In the same way, the words you speak to your spouse and children have a deep and lasting effect. Your tongue can be either a verbal ice pick that chips away self-esteem, or a paintbrush that adds splashes of vibrant color to it by your affirmation and encouragement. What’ll it be?
DISCUSS
When are the times you’re most likely to say hurtful, damaging things? How could you prevent that? What kinds of words could take their place?
PRAY
Pray that the Holy Spirit, who lives in you, will be the guardian of your lips and give you the courage to plant encouragement in the hearts of others. ( Moments with You Couples Devotional by Dennis and Barbara Rainey)
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I thought I needed many things
Along life’s toilsome way,
When days were long and heavy cares
Left scarcely time to pray.
I thought I needed many things
For those I held most dear,
When they were sad and longed for rest
Or change of portion here.
When it was Thee I needed, Lord,
To satisfy my heart.
To fill my days with rest and peace,
And every grace impart.
Grace E. Troy
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