July 8, 303 AD Procopius asked to sacrifice to the Greek Gods, he smirked "There is no God but one only, the maker and creator of all the age. ... 'the rule of many is not good: let there be one ruler and one sovereign ruler." He was sent to the LORD by the hand of the Romans because he would not go quietly into the night.
Scripture Memory
John 1:10-11
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Scripture Thoughts:
Leviticus 19
19:1-28 (We the chosen people are called to be holy, not part of the world at large. Notice in Genesis 15:16 "the inequities of the Amorities is not complete." We do not need to get caught up in the ways of the Amorites or Baal believers who thirst after flies, we must repent and be cleaned by the renewing of our minds in scripture. "You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind." Do not intermingle. Then God tells the reader ways that we must be different than the other tribes that surround us. We are holy because God is holy. We were made in the image of God. Faulkner stated once (paraphrased) "There is nothing worse than a male gossip."
19:29-37 The lord commands us to stand within him in faithful obedience. He also proclaims that the stranger is welcome into your tribe as long as that stranger upholds the statutes of God. (v. 35) "We are no to pick and chose our duty, but must aim at standing complete in all the will of God." (Matthew Henry)
Memory Verse Link
We must keep our minds clear of worldly gilt, least we become blinded,
so that we can keep our eyes on the eternal prize.
1 Chronicles 81-32 Of the Tribe of benjamin
33-40 Of the tribe of Saul
The Memory of the Just is Blessed. (Matthew Henry)
I prayed first that God would help me make sense of I Chronicles that seems so difficult to me. My pastor helped me buy Richard Pratt's book on I&2 Chronicles. Hopefully, the book will come in time and enable me to understand Chronicles better. The list in Chronicles is not an exhaustive list of all of the men present in the Redemptive History so far. They are lists of important tribal leaders eg. Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H. Bush, Clinton, W. Bush, Obama. v. 28
All these were Benjaminites. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil.) (Genesis 49:27) The Tribe of Benjamin were assigned to the calling of warriors, mighty men of valor.
Memory Verse Link:
We are called to be men of valor who courageously uphold the truth in a world that denys it.
Ezekiel 12v. 1-16
What I see is a man waiting for a train that will take him away from Sodom. We have no part in being caught by a drag net, we are dragged from the world with our without our consent. The LORD does not consult with us wither we think it ought to be a good idea to be one with him, but we must be prepared for a long journey.
v. 17-20
Anxiety and fear link up to create anger. Anger creates desolation. Desolation removes us from bettering our circumstances. (Need to explore this more).
v. 21-28
The LORD will do what the LORD wills, it is for us to give glory to the creator and fulfiller of all things. As Procupius said, "There is no God but one only, the maker and creator of all the age. ... 'the rule of many is not good: let there be one ruler and one sovereign." How much do we truly believe this? Are our God's any less real than the Greek Mythical Gods because we do not call them personal names?
Memory Verse Link:
v. 1 This is the passage that perhaps Jesus quoted, and John encapsulated
Philippians 2
Christ's Example of Humility
Christ made himself one with us, giving up the powers endowed to him by being God's son. He ate what the pigs ate even though a return to heaven would have been better. But his brothers did not know him, and threw him into a pit of dispair. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Lights in the World
We are all weak but we must carry the Gospel into the world as humble, timid servants of God.
Paul despite the pleasure he received in friendship from both Timothy and Epaphroditus, was willing to share his friends with another Church community.
Sometimes we must give up our strength in our church community to build up the strength in other church communities. In fact Paul does not grieve the loss of friends, but rather cheers when he hears the good news of the Gospel being renewed in outside Churchs. It is not a competition of who has the biggest churches, or the most christians per capita, it is a continued friendship and invitation to all believers across the globe.
Example of a believer from a mixed family background: (dad) Greek (mom) Jewish. He was at first timid in his approach to preaching the gospel. He was commissioned by Paul to deal with heretical false teachers and supervise public worship and the appointment of church officials. (Interesting to note that he was timid but asked to do a very public duty. This perhaps says something about how we might best approach teachers of heretical doctrine; with kindness and humility intended to build up the church by shining our light on false teaching.)
Epaphroditus
an example of life renewed in the flesh through faith. He had journeyed far to spread the gospel. His zeal left him exhausted. He was going to be able to return home to Phillipi and be a beacon of strength, like a light house is for a boat out at sea.
Memory Verse Link:
Questions: Would we elect leader like this to carry out our calling? How do we view our leaders, do we mock them because of their weakness's? Prayer: Glory be to God and his will and the work he does in our lives. Let our faith be renewed in friendships old and new, shared in our communion with the trinity.
