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| Driving Through the Chaos |
Jul 23, 2010
7.23.2010
Jul 22, 2010
Thursday Bible Study 6 Am Panera Bread (Genesis 16 continued)
The LORD SEES US when we walk the line between a sacred place and a freezing rain.
Great is thy (God's) faithfulness,
all that I need God's hand has provided
Out of alignment the Caravan drifted for ten years into another lane. Slowly. Gradually. Abram, Sarai and Hagar drifted into a sinful way away from God. The drift took ten years to complete. But slowly, gradually they were in their own lane. They were seeing truth outside of truth, stupid is as stupid does. There are boundaries that God has provided to protect us from wavering to harmful collisions.
Abraham is without excuse sure he does not have the bible, but he had the direct commune with God. He spoke to God as a friend, but instead of listening to the LORD he listened to his wife first. The LORD is there to protect our relationships with each other. We should seek the LORD first before we are enabled to love our household correctly. How do we seek the LORD? We are enabled by Prayer, Church, and Biblical Meditation in proper perspectives alighted by the HOLY SPIRIT. We are a covenant people who need to stay in our lanes to properly glorify God.
*BTW: (Hagar's Perspective) Truly here I have seen him who looks after me. Therefore the well was called Beerlai-roi.* It lies between Kadesh# and Bered^.
Place names have importance in Scripture.
Beelai Roi*Well of the Living one who sees me.
Kadesh #Sacred Place
Bered ^Freezing Rain
Therefore the well was called (Well of the living one who sees me) it lies between (a Sacred Place) and (a freezing rain).The LORD SEES US when we walk the line between a sacred place and a freezing rain.
*BTW: (Hagar's Perspective) Truly here I have seen him who looks after me. Therefore the well was called Beerlai-roi.* It lies between Kadesh# and Bered^.
Place names have importance in Scripture.
Beelai Roi*Well of the Living one who sees me.
Kadesh #Sacred Place
Bered ^Freezing Rain
Therefore the well was called (Well of the living one who sees me) it lies between (a Sacred Place) and (a freezing rain).The LORD SEES US when we walk the line between a sacred place and a freezing rain.
Jul 21, 2010
CBR 7.21.2010
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Leviticus 26
LORD never forsakes himself. Our lives can be measure by the care we give to our gardens, when out of whack our gardens look terrible, strangled by weeds (flowers are choked off and die); but when our gardens are tended they look nourished. "I will be their God and they will be my people." (2 Cor. 6:16)
I Chronicles 17
God does not guarantee that all our prayers will be answered in our desired time. God knows more about his plan and his kingdom then we could possibly know; when our prayers go against the will of God they are turned aside. God turns down David's vision of building God a house. The LORD planned to build himself a house to glorify himself to the joy of Israel, but the time was not yet ripe. The time would be ripe when David had subdued all the nations, and then Solomon could build the temple. (Acts 7:50) Did not my hands make all these things.
Ezekiel 21
Your blood will be in the midst of the LAND. That means that in our life times we can hope of being joyful in our struggles. The new way is no longer in the way of worldly wisdom, so we must turn from our hope in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem but to put our hope on being built up in Christ.
1 Thessalonians 3
We will suffer afflictions. Now is the time to repent and turn our hearts to the LORD Jesus with all his saints. (VOM)
Church History: 1534 Founding of the Jesuit Order: Counter Reformation
The Catholic Counter Reformation entered the fray with the creation of the Jesuit Orders on this date in 1534. The Jesuits were headed by Xavier. The Order wanted to establish schools and social bettering organizations to lure people from the reformers back to Catholicism. The orders created theological debate and arose the dander of great thinkers like Blaise Pascal.
"You and I supposed that the controversy here would turn upon the great principles of grace; such as whether grace is given to all men? Or if it is efficacious of itself? But we were quite mistaken. You must know I have become a great theologian within this short time; and now for the proofs of it!" (Pascal, Blaise The Provencial Letters) Jul 20, 2010
Classic Worship Songs: Ziggy Marley Stand Tall
CBR 7.20.2010 pt 2
Somehow the Word Document would not quit on the link. I wanted to publish the second half of my reading notes, so here they are, enjoy.
Ezekeiel 20: Lamentation to Our Past
This passage is a lamentation. A lamentation is prose that contrasts hope and doom, and shows the reader where true faith is found. We often feel that we are seeds planted amongst the weeds. Our hope is the name of Christ. Christ on our behalf is the best lawyer money can buy. He will show again and again, that his remnant through his adoption are worthy of God’s gloried smiley face. God speaks for himself and will stay a true vision if we keep our eyes on him. The promise is in the next generation.
*Related Passage Mt 19:13b
1 Thessalonians 2: Walk Tall and Be an Adult
We still work; we do not quit being functional adults in society. We don’t say, “Well the devil is after me so I shall not do something I do not want to do.” We must grow up into Christ. Thessalonians was writing during a dark period of Christianity when the Romans were hoping to diminish the Christian Light in the world. Nero and his Chronies were roasting Christians as pits, forcing them to be eaten by lions, and other terrorizing things to see if they could work Christ out of them; they failed to be able to conquer the holy spirit from the Christian Witness.
CBR 7-20-2010
Leviticus 25: The sabbatical and the year of Jubilee
There is even rest for the land. Christ redeems the land not only the people. The passage deals with property rights, and slave issues. The main point is that "It is for me (The LORD) the people of Israel are servants." Christ has chosen a remnant from all of the land to carry his banner to glorify God, and take joy in him forever.
*Related Passages Dt 31:10
1 Chronicles 16:4-43 : Our Historical Walk and Our New Hope
When times are tough this passage shall be a rock against the mighty wicked waves of the world. When I was in Saturday School (yes I was raised Jewish) we would stand in a circle and cry out as loud as we could. We were attempting to bring the walls of the Synagogue down. We sang joy of our God. We were told to seek his presence continually. God has a plan, and has a way to send someone ahead to make sure his plan endures.
Even when Dathon (Numbers 16:1-40) says critical things:
12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, "We will not come! 13 Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? 14 Moreover, you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of [a] these men? No, we will not come!"
We can turn to Christ who will redeem those crazy loonies that are louder than the quite Christians.
*Related Passages: Dt 31:10 Pss 105-106; Numbers 16:1-40 (Especially vs. 12-15)Rom 15:9) (Rev 22:4)
Jul 19, 2010
CBR 7.19.2010
Memory Verse:
John 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Leviticus 24:
(v 1-5)
There is a continual light before the LORD that light never goes out. The light glorifies our LORD, who is full of grace and truth.
(v. 5-9)
All God's required a sacrifice. But out LORD is different in that he requires a sacrifice of himself for the people he has created. He is enough to supply his own needs and those of his 12 tribes. Let us glorify in our glorious LIVING GOD.
Let us glorify that our God is not a terrible monster like the one described in the Apocryphal story of Bel and the Dragon. Also thank God that our people are not hungry like bad rulers, today markes Nero's reign of state sponsored terrorism. Our God requires our leaders to be under the LORDSHIP of our LORD JESUS Christ.
1 Timothy 3:2 2Now the overseer (bishop) must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
(V. 10-24)
Blaspheming the LORD is a serious offense to be carried out on young, old, strangers, insiders, Law of exact justice, not of revenge. Not private vengeance, but public justice. Also the members of the community prayed first before they conducted any of their business. They did not just act, but they sought the will of the LORD.
I Chronicles 15
David repented of his mistake and returned to God's way of conducting business. The whole tribe of Jerusalem celebrated.
Ezekiel 19 (Cartoons from kerrywaghorn.com)
V 1-9
Confidence outside of the LORD is no Confidence at all. Dark ways will be washed away by the glory of the Son and the Father, truth will shine.
V10-14
God desires men ready to follow his plans. A prowling lion will no longer be a terror in the land. Nations will capture the Lion in nets of righteousness. The Lion will lie in Babylonian dens as a rug to keep ones feet warm before the fire. Pride destroys nations. Had Zedekkiah submitted to the Babylonians, Jerusalem may have been saved. Had Jesus not died on the cross the promise of a New Jerusalem would not be assured.
1 Thessalonians 1
All is well for we stand confirmed that Christ Works in you. You stand amongst Greek and Egyptian Idols, but still the Holy Spirit has put "steel in your convictions!"(The Message) Jesus will come again. Be servants and worshipers and Spread the gospel. Be servants through your love and a signal to others to repent from their Idols to a true God, before it is too late. There is grace and truth in our relationship with the LORD.
Church History: 64 AD Nero
64 AD Today marks the day that Nero officially state sponsored the terrorizing of Christians; he was a maniacal bully that hated weak kneed Christians.
Jul 16, 2010
CBR 7.16.2010
John 1:12-13
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Proverbs 28
Jesus came to fulfill the law not to abolish it. The law protects man from living a life of Chaotic Destruction. Prayer must be done that is aligned with God, if our prayers are not aligned with God's will, the prayer will not be answered. We can find a loophole in almost any law, as we grow in Christ we will be enabled to live more and more Christian Lives.
There are no shortcuts that are worth it, somewhere the short cut will send us down the chute.
1 Chronicles 14&15
God will gather his remnant from afar. We can easily say that we are faithful but what happens when the oxen stumble? David was so eager to bring the arc to his city that in his zeal a shortcut with a devastating effect was taken! He should have moved the arc like God had said, in Exodus 25:12-15. But this method designed by God would have taken a lot more time. Instead he put the arc on a donkey cart, the donkey stumbled, and one of his men reached out, then was dead because he had touched one of God's divine things. Numbers 4:15
God's army is a beauty to me, thinking of angels lightly brushing the tops of trees on their way to destroy the enemies of God's Children is delightful.
Ezekiel 17&18
LORD God will replant the nation of Israel, entwined as a light against the darkness that faces us in opposition. God promises to dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. The LORD is our security. Repent now and know me again! How does one repent and live righteously without Christ's enduring sacrifice?
Colossians 4
Ongoing process of renewal. I liked the description by James Fergussan that sees the old self as an old man, and the new self as a young man.
Church History: Edmond Campion
Edmond Campion, clung obediently to his banner of faith. He was a defender of Catholicism during the reformation. Catholics were being repressed and prohibited by a protestant government in England. Edmond pastored to the catholics in hiding, going from house to house to hold worship. He was betrayed by a cook on July 16, 1581. He died a Martyrs death, unwilling to renounce the Catholic Faith. We are called into a battleground for our faith, being Christian should never be boring.
Many innocent hands are lifted up to heaven for you daily by those English students, whose posterity shall never die, which beyond seas, gathering virtue and sufficient knowledge for the purpose, are determined never to give you over, but either to win you heaven, or to die upon your pikes. And touching our Society, be it known to you that we have made a league all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude must overreach all the practice of England cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or consumed with your prisons. The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted: So it must be restored.
Jul 15, 2010
Thursday Bible Study 6:00 AM Panera Bread: 7-15-2010
Chapter 16 lies between Chapter 15 the covenant given by God to Abraham that your nation will be numerous, and Chapter 17 where the covenant is shown by Abraham's people through circumcision. Genesis 16 is a warning against the sins of Synergism.
How do we know that something is Godly or Sinful? According to John Frame what God Bless is Good; and what God does not bless is not God.
Sarai wants to fulfill the needs of Abraham, she is getting older, and she does not think it possible that she would become pregnant. Sarai tries to fulfill Abraham's desires by having her maid servant become pregnant through Abraham. (This is a Jerry Springer episode, right? Totally!)
Hagar becomes pregnant. She then looks at Sarai with a poisonous eye that curses her master.
This event is a tragedy because instead of trusting God (that the covenant would be fulfilled), Sarai acts outside of God and attempts to make her household fruitful. The whole thing backfires and no one is happy, and everyone is blaming everyone. Because Sarai wants to be helpful and be a "demigod" she corrupts her household.
This event is similar to the one described in Genesis 3:6. Eve gave Adam an apple to eat; while Sarai gives Abraham Hagar to consume. Sin gets worse over time.
Hagar can no longer serve under Sarai. So she leaves back to where she is from "Egypt".
God finds her and tells her to return to her master. God says, "Servants serve your masters in Colossians 3.
Some blessing? Would we want to return to a bad situation if God instructed us to do so? Hmmm!
History of the Church: Bonaventura Poisoned?
On July 15, 1274, Benedictine Monk Bonaventura suddenly died. He was rumored to be poisoned because he was a spiritualist, (those that wanted to continue in the strict Benedictine Rule) in a battle with the Relaxti who wanted to relax the strict Benedictine Rule. When the world calls us against what God has called us to, we must restate what Jesus said to his apostles; "Get behind me you devils! I am called to worship God alone."
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon You, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Your savor; may it ever thirst for You, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fulness of the house of God; may it ever compass You, seek You, find You, run to You, come up to You, meditate on You, speak of You, and do all for the praise and glory of Your name..."
Jul 14, 2010
CBR 7.14.2010
Church History in One Sentence (Maybe More Than Just One Sentence (Definitely Not Less)): Mr. Keble preached the Assize Sermon in the University Pulpit. It was published under the title of 'National Apostasy"; and so began the Tractarian Movement in Oxford, 1833.
Leviticus 21
The LORD like a good father protects his Children from poisonous things. Need for Christ is shown in v. 19.
Impressions:
It may have been sufficient if the lord merely did this but much more was done.
I Chronicles 12
Lord to Vassels if then statement and covenant relationship shown here.
v. 8 Our calling is not one of boredom, but one of adventure and true hearted obedience. Shama Israel, "For your God (actually) helps you!" He is not like the other Gods who stay far away and laugh heartily at our weak ways. "For Your GOD HELPS YOU" God helps us find Joy in Israel.
Impressions:
Next year in Israel is always the end we (Jews) finish our passover cedar. Chronicles was written for those living away from Israel in exile. It gave hope that one day we may bring an army strong enough to conquer the world's evil ways. We ask that next year the LORD deposits us on the banks of Israel.
Ezekiel 16
We are whores and sell out to shinny things inside the world.
Colossians 2
We are knit together through the love of Christ, we should abound in Good News, in Thanksgiving, Shadows lurked before Christ, Christ has now come, and only Christ stops the indulgence of the world.
Prayer: "LORD enable us to come to You, and seek to abide in you, and have your words abide in us all the time. Endow us with your spirit to stand against the apostasy that threatens to send good men to hell" Provide us with the material to be a man of valor who represents God Well. Keep me from the evil ways of the world that may look good and shinny but are just wretched things that take me away from the LORD''s path. Make me quick to recognize the things that sanctify and the things that do not.
Why Heaven is a Bad Place for Earthy Men?
Check out the Newman Reader: John Newman was a contemporary of John Koble, and desired to reform the liberal ways the church was voyaging to.
Nay, I will venture to say more than this;—it is fearful, but it is right to say it;—that if we wished to imagine a punishment for an unholy, reprobate soul, we perhaps could not fancy a greater than to summon it to heaven. Heaven would be hell to an irreligious man. We know how unhappy we are apt to feel at present, when alone in the midst of strangers, or of men of different tastes and habits from ourselves. How miserable, for example, would it be to have to live in a foreign land, among a people whose faces we never saw before, and whose language we could not learn. And this is but a faint illustration of the loneliness of a man of earthly dispositions and tastes, thrust into the society of saints and angels. How forlorn would he wander through the courts of heaven! He would find no one like himself; he would see in every direction the marks {8} of God's holiness, and these would make him shudder. He would feel himself always in His presence. He could no longer turn his thoughts another way, as he does now, when conscience reproaches him. He would know that the Eternal Eye was ever upon him; and that Eye of holiness, which is joy and life to holy creatures, would seem to him an Eye of wrath and punishment. God cannot change His nature. Holy He must ever be. But while He is holy, no unholy soul can be happy in heaven. Fire does not inflame iron, but it inflames straw. It would cease to be fire if it did not. And so heaven itself would be fire to those, who would fain escape across the great gulf from the torments of hell. The finger of Lazarus would but increase their thirst. The very "heaven that is over their head" will be "brass" to them.
Church History: Great Awakening in Oxford England Began 1833.
National Apostasy by John KeblePreached at St. Mary's, Oxford, on July 14, 183
Reading John Keble's National Apostasy sermon some key remarks are made that can be applied to us and our churches today. (Mind you this was said in 1833). It amazes me how little of our world has changed since 1833, one hundred and seventy seven years ago. There is always a tendency for our churches to fall into comfortable living and forget what we are called to be, sons and daughters in arms for the Gospel.
- Are we disobedient sons who yearn, "To be freer and like the rest of the world."?
- Do we wish to divorce ourselves from our favored position of children of God? Due to too many responsibilities.
- Is our desire to be lead actors in our own dramas more important than stepping aside and putting the spot light on Christ?
- Are the modern times calling for modern responses?
- Are modern threats outside of the hands of God?
- How tolerant should we be of other men's religions under the guise of charity and good will? Cheering on the "supposed decay of what they call an exclusive system."
- Do we leave God in the temple on Sunday and not connect god to the rest of our lives?
- How do we separate social duty from the word of God? Do we leave sacred cows apart from God? God does want our whole hearts devoted to him, our all and all...
- "How may a man best reconcile his allegiance to God and his Church with his duty to his county? What happens when ones country becomes instep with apostates? Who really protects us?
- Whom are we letting our Children be taught by?
Jul 13, 2010
HEAT = SALVATION
Denis Lehane wrote in A Drink Before the War: "In some theological equation of my own making Heat=Salvation." page 93
CBR 7.13.2010
Church History in One Sentence (Maybe More Than Just One Sentence (Probably not Less)): Thomas Kelley born today in 1769. He was Ireland's Hymnal Writer.
- Praise the Savior, ye who know Him!
Who can tell how much we owe Him?
Gladly let us render to Him
All we are and have. - Jesus is the name that charms us;
He for conflicts fits and arms us;
Nothing moves and nothing harms us
When we trust in Him. - Trust in Him, ye saints, forever;
He is faithful, changing never;
Neither force nor guile can sever
Those He loves from Him. - Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us cleaving
To Thyself and still believing,
Till the hour of Thy receiving
The victorious Bride. - Then we shall be where we would be;
Then we shall be what we should be;
Things which are not now, nor could be,
Then shall be our own.
Scripture Memory
John 1:12-13
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Leviticus 21
The priests, the high priests especially are called to be holy, separate from the people, upholding the holiness that is the temple of God. Thank God Christ came so that all types of people can partake in the blessing of the LORD. Before only those who had no blemish could partake. Christ was perfect so the Liberator, could make total intercessions on our behalf. The high priest represented the holiness of God, so the Liberating King had to be without visible flaw. Jesus flies in the face of tradition: "He may not exhibit the usual tokens of grief, and may not defile himself with any dead body, the exceptions made for the ordinary priest being definitely withdrawn."
Interesting Note: Eunuchs were barred from the Congregation. But Jesus speaks in Matthew 19: 10The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."
11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage[c]because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
Acts 8:26-2926 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south [1] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” (The Ethiopian Church was started by a Eunuch, some one way outside the moral boundaries of the Congregation in the OT).
- Also how did a Eunuch receive a Torah portion when he could not be part of a church?
- What is the story about the Torah section, how did it come into the hands of an Ethiopian Eunuch?
- It is important that the priest, pastor, and others involved in God's church present the solution for sin, the adoption of God's children into the fabric of Christ.
1 Chronicles 11
This is a pivotal chapter, often used in Emergent Pastor's Sermons. Here we find David becoming Sovreign Lord over his people. The people are subjugating themselves to be his vassal. Because David was chosen by God to be the Lord of his people his kingdom spread. "David's success's are due not him but to God's favor and presence in his life." (Notes from ESV Study Bible) David at this point is still humble and is good to his men. Description of the "A-Team" David's men of Valor. Uriah is listed in the men of valor. "David reckoned his success, not as from the mighty men that were with him, but from the might God, whose presence is all in all." Matthew Henry 362
God will give as a good father gives, he will also discipline like a good father disciplines.
Ezekiel 15
And the word of God... it has power alone to save us to call us back to him. David's success was only due to his good will with God, other wise 8"And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the LORD God."(ESV) Like a Good father God is there to reward his children, and to punish them when they need redirection.
Colossians Introduction:
Setting: Small Community Small Church
Key Characters:
Epaphras founded the churches of Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicia, He described to Paul the condition of his church in Colossae, which moved Paul to write a letter to this congregation. 
Paul : writer of the letter to the Church of Colossae. There is a lot here and I need time to digest it all, so here are some questions to guide my understanding:
Do we really know who we belong to? Do we know how to keep our eyes on beautiful things in him? Do we get that to mix anything with Christ is to pollute the Gospel? How do we stay faithful in the tumult that the devil has us envision every day, especially on the television set and in our media saturation? Interesting that the VOICE New Testament uses Everyone to describe who the mystery is for, while the ESV states the Saints. But both are in agreement with the mission statement: "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ." The Christian is to stand mature in an immature world.
We are adopted sons of Christ Hallelujah
Prayer: "LORD enable us to come to You, and seek to abide in you, and have your words abide in us all the time."
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