Monthly Archives: October 2014

Daily Bible Study

October 12, 2014 Bible Study — Be Sober and Clearheaded, But Do Not Stifle the Holy Spirit

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I am well along in reading through the Bible for the third time in as many years. I want to express what a blessing this has been to me. I want to encourage everyone to try to read through the Bible each year.

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Proverbs 25:9-10

    Do not use information given to you in confidence to win an argument, let alone revealing it for some other reason. If you get a reputation for revealing confidential information, no one will ever share such information with you again.

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Psalm 82:1-8

    God presides over all rulers, both secular and spiritual, those in the physical world and those in the spiritual world. He will bring judgement against those ruler who favor the wicked and hand down unjust decisions. Any ruler who wishes God’s favor must give justice to the poor and weak (such as the fatherless). They will uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. They will rescue the poor and the helpless from the hands of the wicked. God will judge the nations whose rulers fail to do these things. If we wish God’s favor, we will do these things to the best of our ability and strength.

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1 Thessalonians 5:4-28

    In yesterday’s passage Paul told us that Jesus’ return would come unexpectedly. Here he continues to tell us that if we stay alert and clearheaded we will not be surprised by that day. Night time, when it is dark, is when people sleep and get drunk. Since we live in the light of Christ, we should remain clearheaded and sober. Paul is using the contrast between drunkenness and sobriety here for the way we should live. He is not speaking just about the effects of too much alcohol, but other things which will distort our judgement if we let them. However, when Paul uses the word that the NIV translates as “sober” and the NLT translates as “clearheaded”, he does not mean serious and stern. Instead he means moderate and controlled.
    Paul’s final advice in this letter is a series of instructions that fit together to help us build Christ’s Body. Let us work to encourage one another and build each other up. This involves warning those who are lazy to work harder for Christ, and encouraging the timid to step out in faith. It involves caring for and supporting the weak. Perhaps most importantly, it involves being patient with everyone. I know that out of this list my two areas I most need work is laziness and patience.
    He goes on to tell us to always be joyful and to never stop praying (there’s that prayer thing again, God is not going to stop pushing me on this). He tells us not to stifle the Holy Spirit. However, let’s remember that just a few verses earlier he told us to be sober and clearheaded. As an example of how we should deal with this we have his instructions on prophecy. We should never scoff, or be contemptuous, when someone presents a prophecy. However, we should carefully test each prophecy, and everything else that is said, before we take it to heart. Does it match up with Scripture? Is it consistent with the will of God so revealed? As we listen to what is said, and in every other part of our lives, let us hold on firmly to anything and everything that is good, but keep our distance from any sort of evil.

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Jeremiah 19-21:14

    When I read this and similar Old Testament passages condemning the people of Israel for sacrificing their children to idols I cannot help but think of abortion in this country. I cannot but help think of those who readily sacrifice their children on the altar of their ideology and encourage others to do so as well. Do they not know how God condemns the murder of innocents? And none are more innocent than a child not yet born. Time is running out for people to turn away from such sins and back to God. Just as Jeremiah smashed the clay jar in this passage, so will God smash this nation if its people do not repent of their sins and turn to following Him. There are those who will persecute us for calling people to obey God, they will suffer greatly when God brings His judgement. Rather than feel anger at them, let us pity them for the suffering they will experience.

Daily Bible Study

October 11, 2014 Bible Study — Live To Please God

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 25:6-8

    Do not boast that you deserve great honour and try to insinuate yourself among the decision makers. It is better to wait for those in authority to request your input than to be humiliated when they tell you that you don’t matter. Do not rush to report events, make sure you really understand what happened first. Otherwise, you will look like a fool when someone else reports what really happened.

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Psalm 81:1-16

    If we, as a people, follow God’s instructions and do as He desires, we will live lives of plenty and joy. Let us praise His holy Name for all He has done for us. If, on the other hand, we refuse to follow His instructions He will allow us to suffer the consequences we have chosen. The consequences of following our own stubborn thoughts, living according to our ideas of what is right are not ones we will like, but God will allow us to experience them if we insist.

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1 Thessalonians 4-5:3

    Paul urged the Thessalonians to live to please God, even though he knew they were already doing so. He encouraged them, and us, to do so more and more each day. Let us focus on those things we do which please God, and do more of them each day, until there is no time left to do things which displease God. It is God’s will for us to be holy. We cannot be holy if we indulge our sinful desires with sexual immorality. Time and again Paul warns us against sexual sins and the importance of controlling our own bodies. It is important that we live in ways that are holy and honourable, not in the lustful passion which those who do not know God indulge in. Paul points out that we give in to our lustful passions we are wronging and/or taking advantage of someone else.
    As I am reading through the Bible I am coming to realize that while all sin separates us from God, there are two types of sin which cause problems beyond just the sin itself. Those two types of sin are sexual sins and greed in all of its manifestations.

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Jeremiah 16:16-18:23

    I will fully agree with Jeremiah when he says,

O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed;
if you save me, I will be truly saved.
My praises are for you alone!

The corollary to that is that if God does not heal us, we will not be healed and if He does not save us, we will not be saved.
    God gives Jeremiah the metaphor of the potter with clay. There are two pieces to this metaphor, the personal and the corporate. God is shaping us into a form that only He understands. If, as He is shaping us, we take on a form contrary to His desire, He will crush us down into a formless ball and start over. There are limits to this metaphor, but it explains much of the suffering we experience as followers of God. This forming process holds true for both individuals and for nations.
    God gives a further example about how He treats nations, groups of people, if God announces that a certain nation will be destroyed for its sin, but the people of that nation renounce their sins and turn to God, God will withhold His judgement. On the other hand, if God has announced that He will strengthen and build up a nation, but the people of that nation turn to evil ways and refuse to follow God’s will, He will destroy that nation.
    I look at what is going on in the world today, and it seems to me that God is announcing His intention to destroy the nations of “Western Civilization”. But this passage gives me hope that it is not yet too late. If the people of those nations will turn from their sins, God will intervene and save them from the destruction their sins have set in motion.

Daily Bible Study

October 10, 2014 Bible Study — Let Us Pray Night and Day

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 25:1-5

    It is to God’s glory that the way the world works is not always obvious or apparent. It is to a ruler’s glory to seek answers to how the world works. Just as a silver smith removes impurities from silver before trying to make something with it, so a ruler should eliminate the wicked from his administration before he tries to govern.

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Psalm 80:1-19

    I love how the NLT translates this psalm. The psalmist asks God how long He will be angry with His people and why He is breaking down their protections? Yet it is clear he knows the answer to the second part. The psalmist again and again in this psalm asks God to turn us to Him again. It is such a great way to sum up the Gospel message. We will not be saved until God turns us to Him. It is by God’s power that we realize our sinfulness. It is by God’s power that we recognize our need for Him. And it is by God’s power, and His power alone, that we turn to Him and accept His salvation.

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1 Thessalonians 2:9-3:13

    I do not get a theme out of today’s passage, rather I see a couple of points worth noting. Following up on yesterday’s theme about how to preach the Gospel, Paul tells us that he pleaded with, urged, and encouraged the Thessalonians to live lives worthy of God. We should take a similar approach with our friends. Let us plead with and urge those who have not yet accepted Christ to do so. Let us encourage those who have come to know the Lord to live ever more faithful lives.
    Paul reminds us that there are those who will strive to keep us from preaching the Gospel to those who do not already believe. They will claim that we should do the good things we do because we follow Christ without mentioning the reasons we do them. They will tell us that we could help more people and better if we would just help them with their problems and not teach them to change their lives so as to avoid those problems in the first place. The final thing I see in this passage is a reminder about the importance of prayer. Let us follow Paul’s example and pray night and day.

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Jeremiah 14:11-16:15

    Those who should have been warning the people of Judah about the coming troubles, their religious and secular leaders, were telling them that all was well: that their foreign policy was a success and peace had arrived; that their domestic policy was a success and prosperity was around the corner. God told Jeremiah that instead of these things, war and famine were coming to the land. God would no longer listen to prayers for the people of Judah. He was going to send destroyers against them, war, disease, and wild animals, to teach them the error of their ways. Have we reached that point today? The point where no intervention can deflect the coming judgement? I do not believe we are there yet, but we are getting close. We need to call the people to turn to God before it is too late to turn His judgement aside.
    There is another theme in this passage. Jeremiah is being persecuted for his faithful relating of God’s message. God promises that He will protect Jeremiah from his enemies, from those who seek his death. Even in the face of the coming destruction, God tells Jeremiah that He will protect him. Further God promises to do the same for all who turn to Him and speak His words to those rushing to destruction.

Daily Bible Study

October 9, 2014 Bible Study — How To Preach The Gospel

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:30-34

    The lazy leave things undone that need to be done resulting in poverty when only a little more effort could have allowed them to escape from it.

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Psalm 79:1-13

    When we cry out to God, He will come to our rescue. When we turn to Him He will forgive our sins. Those who scoff at God will learn of His power one way or another. Those who persecute God’s servants will learn of God’s power.

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1 Thessalonians 1-2:8

    Today I see this passage as giving us a tutorial on reaching the unsaved with the Gospel. We need to begin by making sure that the message we are conveying is not in error, that we are speaking and living the true Gospel message. In our efforts to convince people to follow Christ we cannot use trickery or deception. You cannot convince someone that you are speaking the truth by using trickery and deception. Further, we must make sure that our motives in preaching the Gospel are neither selfish nor impure. If we attempt to get people to follow Christ by using flattery, even if we initially succeed, we will leave them susceptible to being deceived into false beliefs later. The most important part is that we need to make those we wish to reach for Christ part of our lives. Let them see how we live out our faith day to day. Let them see our struggles and that we do not think of ourselves as perfect. But also let them see how our faith gives us hope in the face of adversity and the joy we get from serving God.

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Jeremiah 12-14:10

    If the people of any nation learn to follow God and cling to His ways, God will establish them safely in the land which they hold. Those who choose to love and honour God will be given a place among His people. On the other hand, if we refuse to obey His will, we will be uprooted and destroyed. We have been made to cling to God so as to bring honour and glory to His name. But if we refuse to listen to Him and follow our own desires, worshiping that which is not God, we are useless, like an article of clothing which was buried in the mud. It is not enough to cry out to God for help as we continue to live our sinful lives. We must allow His Holy Spirit to transform us, to guide us away from the sins which have brought us into this difficult place to begin with.

Daily Bible Study

October 8, 2014 Bible Study — Devote Yourselves to Prayer

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:28-29

    Do not testify against your neighbor just to pay them back for some perceived slight, especially if it involves lying.

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Psalm 78:56-72

    The people of Israel sinned so much against God that He allowed the Ark of the Covenant to be captured by the Philistines. He allowed His own glory to be sullied because of their sin. If God would do that to the people of Israel, what makes us think that He will turn His anger and judgement aside from us when we sin in similar fashion. Yet, even with those sins, God welcomed them back when they returned to Him. He will do the same today, if we turn to Him He will raise us up. If the people turn from sin and back to God, He will raise up a leader to lead them to greatness once more.

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Colossians 3:18-4:18

    Paul wraps up his letter to the Church in Colossae with a series of instructions. He tells wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives (elsewhere he qualifies this latter with “as Christ loves the Church). Today, the former is hard for us to hear, but part of the problem is that we overlook how hard it is to truly do the latter. It is hard to put your own wants and desires second, especially when that someone is submitting to you. When Paul tells husbands to love their wives he is telling them to put their wives interests and desires ahead of their own. As human beings we are very good at rationalizing how what is in our best interest and what we want is really the best for other people as well. We are all called to work at getting past that, because we are called to love our neighbor. But as a husband, I have a special obligation to do that with respect to my wife. Whenever I make a decision, I need to think about whether what I decide is in my wife’s best interest and does it fulfill her desires. The fact of the matter is, I often, perhaps even usually, fail to actually do that.
    Paul goes on to tell us that we should do whatever work we do wholeheartedly, as if we were working for the Lord, because we are working for the Lord. We should strive to work so that our boss will be pleased with what we do, even if they will never know what we did. If we are boss over someone, we need to remember that we answer to God for how we treat them.
    Then comes the part I was just thinking about last night. I have written how I have been challenged about my prayer life by the passages I have been reading. A week or so back I started a prayer journal, but I have not yet really gotten it going. Last night I was thinking about it and how since I got it I have not read a passage which challenged me on prayer. This morning I read, “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” Challenge accepted. Tonight I will dedicate some time to praying and writing in my prayer journal. Each and every one of us needs to find a way to have a disciplined prayer life.

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Jeremiah 10-11:23

    Jeremiah describes how idolaters worship things made by man. By doing so he illustrates how foolish it is to worship anything other than God. Today, many people worship things other than God, things made by human effort. I listen to sports radio and hear callers and hosts refer to the “football gods” or the “baseball gods”. They aren’t serious when they say these things. Yet, if you listen to them you realize that they worship sports. It is sports which gives them a sense of fulfillment and a sense of purpose. But it is not just those who worship sports who worship something made by man. There are those who tell us that believing in God is foolish superstition. If you talk with those long enough, you will discover that most of them put their faith in “science”, or human reason. Their high priests are scientists, people who supposedly are unbiased by their own interests and are just seeking after truth. Time and again, when they discover that a scientist has distorted his or her results in order to support a pre-determined conclusion, they insist that this was a special case. Let us not be fooled by such idols, rather let us worship the God who made the earth by His power.

Daily Bible Study

October 7, 2014 Bible Study — Set Your Minds On Heavenly Things

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:27

    Plan ahead and make sure you know how you will pay for it before you start building or buying a house. The same concept can be applied to any large project, make sure that you have figured out how you are going to feed yourself while you are undertaking the project and plan the project before starting work on it.

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Psalm 78:32-55

    Are we like the ancient Israelites, who saw the wonders God performed, yet refused to trust Him? Will it take God starting to kill us for the people of the United States to turn to God? And if we do turn to God, will we do so with sincerity, or will we merely give lip service to Him? Trouble is coming for the people of the United States and the rest of the world. There is still time to repent of our sins and turn to God, but we must do so with sincerity.

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Colossians 3:1-17

    I prefer the NIV translation of this passage. We have been raised with Christ, so let us set our minds on things above, on the things of heaven. We died with Christ on the cross and our life is now with Him. Just as we are not yet completely raised in our new life in Christ, neither is the death of our sinful nature complete. We need to continue to put to death those things of our sinful nature which live within us. Those things which we need to put to death are sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. The first four of these are variations on the same thing. These are all perversions of our God given sexuality. Paul lumps greed in with these distortions of sexuality and identifies them all as idolatry. The first four are the idolatry of worshiping ourselves. Greed is the idolatry of worshiping things, whether it is money, or food, or some other possession. In all of these the sin is serving our own pleasure ahead of serving God’s will.
    However, it is not enough to put aside and avoid these sins, which are readily seen as the sin they are. In addition to putting to death the idolatry of self contained in those sins, we must also put aside the desire to see others as less than ourselves. That is what the other sins really are, they are the attempt to put others below us. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language are all attempts to put others beneath our control, to make them less than ourselves. If we have truly allowed the Holy Spirit to strip off our old selves, we will not lie to one another. We will be honest about both our joys and our sorrows, about our successes and our failures. We will admit our sinfulness to each other and not try to pretend that we have it together.
    God has chosen us to be His holy people despite our unworthiness. Our response ought to be: compassion for others who are struggling with sin as we did and are; kindness towards those who are suffering the consequences of their mistakes; humbly recognizing that our mistakes are just as bad as theirs, even if we may have escaped some of the consequences they are experiencing; gentleness and patience in showing others how their sins are causing the problems they see in their lives. Let us always remember that we are no better than anyone else. The sins which God forgave me for are no less terrible than the sins which others need His forgiveness for. Considering that God forgave me for how badly I treated Him, how can I not forgive those who have done me wrong (especially since it may only be that I think they have done me wrong)?
    We cannot go wrong if we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and actively love those we come into contact with. In all of our actions let us remember that we represent Jesus to those who have not yet met Him.

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Jeremiah 8:8-9:26

    People twist the word of God to say what they want it to say, then proclaim themselves wise for doing so. They offer aspirin to those suffering from hemorrhagic fever and tell them that all will be well. But all will not be well. There can be no healing from the hurts people are suffering as long as they go on doing the things which have caused their hurt. People habitually lie to one another. They do not seek success through honesty, rather they attempt to take advantage of one another by lies and deception. We will do them no good if we continue to tell them that everything will be alright because God loves them. Everything will NOT be alright if people continue in the path that leads to death. God is willing to forgive, but His forgiveness does us no good if we continue to sin.

Daily Bible Study

October 6, 2014 Bible Study — Dead to Sin, Alive With Christ

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:26

    Giving an honest answer is an act of love. If you truly love someone, you will not lie to them. Since we are called to love our neighbor (which Jesus defines as everyone we come into contact with), we should give everyone honest answers.

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Psalm 78:1-31

    It is important to tell and retell the stories from the past. They can serve as a reminder not to repeat the mistakes made by those who went before us. While each generation must make its own mistakes, it is worth trying to learn from the mistakes of those who went before us. Let us teach those who come after us the mistakes which we made, so that they can avoid them. Let us not give up just because they have not listened to us before and have already repeated some of the mistakes we warned them about.
    The people of Israel in the Exodus story repeatedly saw God’s mighty hand work on their behalf, yet time and again they doubted His ability to deal with the next hardship which came their way. This sort of behavior is not limited to the ancient Israelites, people of every generation have made the same mistake. Time after time throughout history people have experienced God’s miraculous aid, then when a new problem arose they complained and whined, rather than asking God what new wonder He was going to show them.

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Colossians 2:8-23

    When we come to Christ, He cuts away our sinful nature and removes its authority to rule our bodies and lives. We do not overcome our sinful nature by rigorous bodily discipline. It is not by strict ascetic behavior that we are released from bondage to our sinful nature. The cleansing of our sinful nature does not happen by avoiding certain foods or drinks, nor by eating certain foods or drinks. It is not accomplished by following certain ceremonies or rituals. We should neither condemn others for what foods they eat or drinks they drink, nor should we allow others to make us feel wrong for those things. Following such rules makes us feel that we have earned our salvation and such is not the case. We do not become righteous by following rules and rituals. It is only by Christ that we receive righteousness through the Holy Spirit. We will not defeat our sinful nature by our own pious self-denial. Such things will only give our sinful nature another way to control us. It is only by surrendering our whole being to Christ that we can be freed from our sinful desires, our sinful nature.

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Jeremiah 6:16-8:7

    When we chose a path for our life let us choose the old godly path. All too many people when it comes time to choose a path do not want to follow the old, tried and true path of godliness. They want to find a new path to righteousness. They think the old path is stodgy and boring. They want a path that is exciting and new. They want to demonstrate that they are better, brighter, wiser, more cool, more hip, more with it than those who went before them. Be that as it may, the old, stodgy path is the only one there is, if you want a path to righteousness. I will tell you that it may appear stodgy and boring, but it is more exciting than you can imagine. In order to discover that you need to be willing to travel down that path some distance. If you stay within sight of the other paths so that you can change your mind, you will never see the excitement which the old godly path has on it.
    God has posted watchmen to sound the alarm when trouble is coming. Those watchmen are now calling out that trouble is coming, but the people have chosen to ignore their warnings. They rejected the idea that the watchmen God posted could tell them anything. People have become like the person who works in a building who ignores the fire alarm because they think it is just another drill. There is a reason we conduct fire drills. God has sent prophets to warn us before. As in a fire drill, people responded and turned to Him. The danger they were warned of never materialized, so they are convinced that it will not materialize this time either. They do not consider that perhaps the reason it did not materialize was because they turned to God.

Daily Bible Study

October 5, 2014 Bible Study — Let Your Lives Be Built On Christ

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:23-25

    Showing favoritism when passing judgement is wrong. Holding different people to different standards of conduct will lead to condemnation and problems. Letting those one likes get away with things that one would punish others for will lead to problems. Those who hold everyone accountable to the same standard will be blessed.

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Psalm 77:1-20

    The psalmist tells us what to do when our troubles are great and God does not seem to hear. When our troubles overwhelm us and God does not seem to hear our prayers and cries for help, let us remember what He has done in the past. When we bring to mind the great things He has done for us and for others in the past, we will realize that He is biding His time until the moment is right. Let us never forget God’s power and love.

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Colossians 1:18-2:7

    We were far from God and had made ourselves His enemies through our sins. Yet, He reconciled us to Himself through the death of Christ. Our sins have been covered over by Christ’s blood. Let us remain firm in our faith in the redeeming value of the Gospel message. It is God who has bridged the gap between God and man, which was created by man’s sin. We cannot bridge that gap by our own actions.
    Paul was happy to experience sufferings for the Church and for the Gospel because by doing so he was participating in the suffering which Christ experienced. We should be happy to experience suffering in the same manner. God has given us a responsibility to tell others about Christ, warning and teaching all who will listen. Let us seek to grow to maturity in Christ and to help others do so as well. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, continue to follow Him (If you have not accepted Him as Lord and have read this far, I beg that you do so now).
    Let us let our roots grow down deep in Christ. I have always loved the metaphor of roots growing down deep for our faith. If you have grown a significant number of plants, you will have noticed how the roots grow out in all directions seeking water. I have right next to be now an orchid which was poorly cared for before I got it. Its roots were growing out in all directions seeking water. But since I have had it and started to regularly water it, gradually those which grew out into the air have died back and only those roots going down into where the water actually is have remained. It should be the same with us. Before we knew Christ, we sought God’s truth in all directions, getting what little spiritual “water” wherever we could find it. But now that we are in Christ, we can sink our roots deep into Him to get all of God’s truth that we can use. We no longer need to seek to extract a little bit of truth, spiritual “water”, from wherever we can find it, mixed in among other things of no value. We can turn fully to the Gospel for all of the truth, and more, that we can use to grow.

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Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

    God has prepared His judgement against the world. The forces are gathered and are about to be unleashed. He is calling us to seek out the honest and the just. As in the time of Lot when God told Abraham that if He found just five righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah He would spare the cities, so today He is seeking five righteous people in each town. And just as in Jeremiah’s day, God is having trouble finding honest and just people among us today. This country does not need righteous laws. It needs righteous people. Are we, as the Church today, offering superficial treatments for mortal wounds? Let us not assure people of peace when there is no peace. Let us not seek to appear righteous by seeking “righteous” laws we will not follow. Let us call people to do God’s will, not call people to punish others for failing to do so.

Daily Bible Study

October 4, 2014 Bible Study — Do Not Stop Praying

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:21-22

    If you spend your time with those who rebel against authority, you are likely to get caught up in the troubles that come upon them as a result. At least in part this is a warning against getting caught up with those who have a problem with authority figures, those who push back against anyone they perceive as being in a position of authority. Such people often fight with authorities, even when the authorities are inclined to approve of their actions. They will often drag those around them into the confrontation.

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Psalm 76:1-12

    Where God is honoured the people live in peace and prosperity. None can stand against God. His anger will strike out against those who attack people who honour Him. God will break the pride of those who stand against Him. He will judge those who do evil and strike down those who oppress the weak. Let us honour and serve God so that His might will not be directed against us.

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Colossians 1:1-17

    The Gospel is bearing fruit throughout the whole earth. Let us never doubt that the Gospel has the power to transform lives and, through those changed lives, societies. If we listen to the Gospel message and truly understand it, we will be transformed both by the message and by the Holy Spirit. Let us have a confident hope in what God has planned for us.
    Once more as I read this I am challenged to improve my prayer life. Paul writes here that he has not stopped praying for the Christians in Colossae since he first heard about them. I know that I need to work on giving a more central place in my life. Paul prayed that they would be given a complete knowledge of God’s will in addition to spiritual wisdom and understanding. We should both pray those things for others and for ourselves, so that both we and they will honour and please God by bearing the fruit of righteousness. One essential to acquiring that knowledge and wisdom is developing a strong prayer life. Let us strive to spend our time in prayer.

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Jeremiah 2:31-4:18

    As I read the first part of this passage I thought about many people today. There are those who say that we do not need God. That it is possible to know what is right and what is wrong without God. We have grown beyond Him and do not need God anymore. Then there are those who promote abortion and policies which harm the needy while claiming to be people of God. Finally, there are those who claim that they are turning to God and seeking to do His will, those who strive to put on the appearance of righteousness while doing evil, whether it is greed, or sexual sin, or violence against the innocent, or all three. God is not fooled and will bring judgement.

    God is bringing judgement against those who refuse to follow His word. He will strike them down with pestilence and violence. The destroyer of nations is at the door. The time to light the signal fires to warn people to flee has come. Destruction is about to fall on us. Yet, even now, with the destruction unleashed, God tells us that if we throw away our idols and turn to Him, He will turn it aside. If we dedicate ourselves to truth, justice, and righteousness, He will listen to our cries and save us. Let us plow up the hard ground of our hearts and plant seeds of righteousness.

Daily Bible Study

October 3, 2014 Bible Study — Do Not Worry About Anything, Instead Pray About Everything

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:17-20

    It is natural for us to experience pleasure when others suffer, even when those others have acted against us or are our enemies. However, it is a mistake, and a sin, to take joy in their misfortune. God does not deal out punishment on evildoers because He enjoys seeing them suffer. He does so out of the desire to see them turn from their sin. We, likewise, should desire to see our enemies and those who have harmed us turn to God more than we desire to see them suffer.

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Psalm 75:1-10

    In a way this psalm seems to be counter to the proverb we just read. The psalmist seems to be rejoicing in the fact that God will bring judgement against the wicked, and indeed he is. However, the psalmist is not rejoicing in the suffering of the wicked, rather he is rejoicing that God will bring justice. Let us rejoice in the knowledge that God will not allow the wicked to prosper indefinitely. He will break their power to cause others to suffer and strengthen the ability of the godly to alleviate suffering. Let us praise God and use the strength He gives us to help those who are suffering.

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Philippians 4:1-23

    Paul makes it a point in his letter to beg two women who had worked with him to spread the Gospel to resolve their differences. This is a message to us if we are at odds with any of our fellow believers. Let us seek to put aside our differences and work together to further the Kingdom of God. I think that what follows is in part advice for how we can overcome our disagreements. We should put aside worry and pray. If something causes us to worry, rather than let it fill our minds with worry, let us pray about it. Our prayers should not just be about what is worrying us. They should be about everything. Let us tell God in prayer what we need and thank Him for what He has done. If we follow that advice carefully, we will experience God’s peace. He will take our worries from us.
    Paul then gives us some of the most important advice about how we can most successfully serve God and avoid sin (and perhaps further advice for avoiding worry). He tells us to fix our thoughts, to focus on, what is true, honorable, right,, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. If our mind is full of such things, we will not have time to be worrying about what might go wrong. In addition, while we are thinking about such things, we will not be thinking about sinful things, nor will we be tempted to do that which is wrong. If we fill our thoughts with those things and our time with doing those things, we will not have time to give in to our sinful desires (easier said than done).

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Jeremiah 1-2:30

    God knew us before we were born. He had already decided what He had planned for us before we were conceived. Knowing this is both comforting and frightening at the same time. God has put His words in our mouths and sent us to the place we are to be. The situations we find ourselves in did not come about by accident. God put us there to accomplish His purposes. He has given us words to speak to people. Some people we are to build up and help grow. Others need to be uprooted and torn down. Let us not be afraid to speak the words which the Spirit gives us just because they are not “nice” (although, let us be careful that when we speak words which are not nice that they are words which come from the Spirit and not from ourselves).
    This passage goes on to speak against society as a whole. God brought the people into a bountiful land. Yet, instead of seeking God and praising Him, they defiled the land. Rather than serve the Living God they chose to seek out and worship idols of various sorts. Time and again God called them back to Him. The people responded for a time, but soon began worshiping those idols again. All the while claiming to worship God, while in reality they were serving greed and their own pleasure rather than God.