Sunday, September 25, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
A Study in Jeremiah-Week 6
Chapter 26 Jeremiah in Danger for his life.
People don’t like getting a “word from the Lord.” They’d rather figure everything out for themselves and have God just leave them alone.
When Jesus made His claims to be God, the religious leaders wanted Him dead, too.
Chapter 27 God tells Jeremiah that people from many countries will become Nebuchadnezzar’s servants.
Jeremiah put on a yoke, like those worn by oxen, and went about the city saying, “Thus shall Babylon put on the necks of this people.”
In Matthew 11:29, Jesus speaks of His yoke. He invites us to take it on and learn of Him.
Chapter 28 Subjugation through Babylon
The false prophet, Hananiah, broke Jeremiah’s yoke and predicted that God would not do what He said He would do.
God promised Hananiah a yoke of iron that could not be broken.
Its not a good idea to be a false prophet “for God.”
God always keeps His word, and Hananiah died in the seventh month of the same year.
Sometimes, religious leaders get so full of themselves that they lose sight of the One whom they are supposed to elevate: Jesus.
That is what happened to the Pharisees. They were so full of their own “religious importance,” that they lost sight of the God they were supposed to be serving and substituted “logic and good sense” in their religious lives.
The church stands in danger of doing the very same thing, especially when she leaves the Word of God and starts following her own devices.
Chapter 29 Jeremiah is Comforting the Captives in Babylon
In a letter to the captives in Babylon, He prophesied the return to their homeland after seventy years.
There is always hope, always an opportunity to turn back to God.
Our country has decided to move away from the God of our founders and to remove Him from any and all “public” forums.
But it is not too late.
WE can be a part of bringing America back to the One who will bless and sustain her.
But we must each be involved in the turn-around.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
A Study in Jeremiah-Week 5
Jeremiah Chapters 21-25
Chapter 21: Zedekiah Consults Jeremiah. What Is to Be the Event of the War? God's Answer.
Zedekiah—a prince having some reverence for sacred things, for which reason he sends an honorable embassy to Jeremiah; but not having moral courage to obey his better impulses.
Nebuchadnezzar – The “chief of gods; the god of fire.
In verse 8. Jeremiah urges complete surrender to God’s will, instead of opposing their invaders.
God always requires complete surrender.
Verse 12 speaks of administering justice.
You do not want God to dispense justice to you. If He does, you will spend eternity in Hell. You want His mercy and grace, not justice.
Chapter 22: Exhortation to Repentance; Judgment on Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Coniah.
Verses 1-5 – God gives another list of the indications of His requirement for perfection from His people, something they could not offer.
Verse 24 Even if you were a “signet ring” God would reject you because He requires perfection and you can not meet that standard, even if you think you are perfect.
Failure to meet God’s standard (also called committing sin) results in His condemnation. Freedom from condemnation is found only in Christ; not in self and not in “proper” behavior.
Chapter 23: The Wicked Rulers to Be Superseded by the King. Who Should Reign over the Again United Peoples, Israel and Judah?
Verse 1ff - The “shepherds” are comparable to preachers or religious leaders.
Verses 5-6 – This is a prophesy of Messiah.
Verses 7-40 presents the idea of “prophets” who are really not prophets at all, because their prophesies are based on their own philosophies and lies, instead of on the Word of God.
Chapter 24: The Restoration of the Captives in Babylon and the Destruction of the Refractory Party in Judea and in Egypt, Represented under the Type of a Basket of Good, and One of Bad, Figs.
The baskets of “good” figs represent those who have found favor with God in Christ.
The “bad” figs represent those who have tried to accomplish life in their own power, strength and goodness.
God’s righteousness will prevail.
Chapter 25: Prophecy of the Seventy Years' Captivity; and after That the Destruction of Babylon, and of All the Nations That Oppressed the Jews.
Verse 5 - Each must separately repent and turn from his own sin. There is no corporate salvation.
Verse 28 – There is to come a cup from which each must drink if he/she is to receive God’s salvation. That cup is Jesus’ blood and His righteousness.
“I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sunday, September 04, 2011
Friday, September 02, 2011
A Study in Jeremiah-Week 05
Chapter 16
Verses 1-9 The Word of the Lord tells Jeremiah not to marry and have sons and daughters because, in the end, their disaster would be greater than their parents’.
Why?
Verses 10-13 tell us. It’s because their parents wrongdoings were those of action, but the children’s sins were those of the heart . (Verse 12 “…the stubbornness of his evil heart…”
Romans 2:29 requires a circumcision of the heart. I Corinthians 14:25 “…the secrets of his heart will be laid bare.”
Chapter 17
Verse 5 - From the beginning God designed us not to depend on our own strength, intelligence or philosophies, but to depend upon Him for everything.
Verse 9 – Man’s heart is deceitful and without God, the truth is not in him.
Verse 10a – It is God who searches and evaluates the heart of man.
Verses 19-27 The “rules” were simple: Don’t neglect a day of rest – the Sabbath. Verse 23 lets us know that they couldn’t even obey the one “rule.” If they could not obey the one, how were they going to obey them all? Answer: They couldn’t. That’s why we needed Jesus to come and fulfil the Law for us.
In Him, all the requirements of the Law are satisfied…All of them.
Chapter 18
There was a problem with the potter…his clay was marred. God wants His people to be clay in His hands that he may “…mould them and make them after His will…”
In verse 18 the people met to “make plans against Jeremiah,” just as the Pharisees plotted against Jesus. God’s message, although it is a message of unalterable love, is always seen as a threat to people, because they don’t know Him with their hearts.
Chapter 19
The “highlight” of chapter 19 is verses 14 & 15 where Jeremiah refers to those who heard the message but refused to follow God as “stiff-necked” people.
Stephen repeats this accusations in Acts.7:51, “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You are just like your fathers…”
What should have been a compliment (You are like your fathers) was, after all, a put-down, as we see their “fathers” had not been receptive to God’s word.
Chapter 20
When Jeremiah is arrested and placed in stocks, he is not exactly happy, with Pashhur or with God.
For proclaiming the word of the Lord, all he got was trouble. Like Paul, he ended up arrested. But Paul refused to stop proclaiming the gospel
Jeremiah curses the day he was born (much like Job did) in verses 15-18.
Monday, August 29, 2011
How Can We Forgive?
Then, we must understand the forgiveness offered us by God at the cross of Calvary in the person of Jesus as He died to forgive us.
From what did He forgive us?
He forgave us of all of our sin(s), past, present and future.
So what? What is so special about the forgiveness of sin?
To understand that is to understand why nothing else could pay for our sins, except the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
The tiniest sin is so abhorrent to God that it is worthy of an eternity separated from His presence in a place called “Hell,” a place not designed for us but for Satan and his demons. God won't send us there. We have to step over Christ to get there, but more get there than don't.
That is why James wrote: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of all of it.” (James 2:10)
The Law might be likened to a drinking glass. It is good. It does what it is supposed to do: it holds liquid.
But if the drinking glass developed just one little hole in it, it would no longer be useful. Even if the “whole” glass was not broken, the one little hole would make it leak and the glass would no longer serve it’s intended purpose.
So it is with the Law.
According to Paul’s letter to the Romans, the purpose of the Law is to reveal to us our sin and our need for a savior.
Sin is pictured in Scripture as any thought or action that is not in the absolute center of God’s will.
That’s pretty severe, for it means that every second of every day we are all guilty of sin.
In and of ourselves, there is no hope, for it is impossible for us to adequately keep the Law.
That is why Christ died for us.
He did for us what we could not do for ourselves: he bore the penalty for our sin.
He provided for us God’s eternal forgiveness!
Now, the Lord’s Prayer (properly called the disciples’ prayer) says, “…and forgive us our trespasses, as (in the same way) we forgive those who trespass against us.” (Luke 11:4 and others).
In Colossians 1: 13 & 14, Paul wrote: “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
He set the example of forgiveness for us, and taught that we should forgive others the same way He forgives us: not after we have “fixed” whatever wrong we have done, but just because forgiveness is the emulation of Christ’s forgiveness of us.
Realizing the depth and seriousness of God’s forgiveness toward us is the first step toward learning to forgive others.
When someone has wronged us personally (which is the way we wronged God through our sin), we feel hurt. We often want to strike back, or at best, strike them from our list of friends.
Through the teaching process afforded by God’s Spirit, we can learn how to forgive others.
After realizing how God has forgiven us, the next step is to realize that unforgiveness is really a result of our own, personal feeling of having been “wronged.”
In other words, it is about self.
He/she hurt ME. He/she did such-and-such to ME. He/she said so-and-so about ME.
I become the focus of my own perception.
Once we know that our difficulty with forgiveness is self-directed, we can begin the process of letting go of the real or imagined offense.
Forgiveness is not a wishy-washy “poor me” response. It takes determination and strength to forgive others.
Those attributes can only come from God.
True forgiveness does not even bother to take into account the seriousness of the offense.
It is not about forgetting, for memories are stored in our brain and are not easily overwritten like some computer code.
Forgiveness is about letting go and allowing God to deal with it.
Even if the other person does not change, let it go.
Even if the other person has not asked for forgiveness, let it go.
As God sees the redeemed person who sins through the eyes of Christ and therefore as having not sinned, so we must see the other person through Christ’s eyes and forgive.
It is not easy, for we like to harbor our hurts. We like to hang on.
If hanging on to our hurts did not benefit us in some way, we would not do it.
It makes us feel somehow “superior” to the other person to be able to point to their offense and say, “See! That’s how they are. I’m much better than that.”
But Jesus saw our offense and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” speaking more to you and me than to the people who hung Him on the cross.
Forgiveness must be directed toward those who have done us personal wrong.
There is no generalized forgiveness, such as: “I forgive all of the people who have done anything bad against me.”
In many cases, the person we have not forgiven does not even know we have anything against them.
Forgiveness is personal and specific.
There are benefits to learning to forgive others.
One benefit is the sweet release from emotional pain that accompanies unforgiveness.
Another is the ability to realize the “peace that passes understanding” that God provides those who are His.
There is also the knowledge that we have done what is right in God’s eyes.
Finally, there is the ability to re-direct our focus onto those matters that need our attention without the distraction of holding whatever attitudes we may have against the one who wronged us.
Prayer: Father, teach us to forgive like Jesus forgave us.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A Study in Jeremiah-Week 04
In theology, Jeremiah is a “type” of Christ.
What is A "Type?"
A type can be described as: "to mark an impression. A fore-shadow; a prefigure of things to come." A type can be seen as an object, person, symbol or event that is similar but not identical to the anti-type (the fulfillment of the type). So, a comparison between the two will bring out an analogy that will present a clear Biblical truth.
Jeremiah (Chapter 11)
Verses 2-5 - A covenant is a binding contract between two parties. Israel entered the covenant at Mount Sinai and God was calling them to obey that covenant.
COMPARING JEREMIAH WITH CHRIST
Jeremiah 11:19 - "I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, Let us cut him off from the land of the living, that His Name be remembered no more."
Christ
Isaiah 53:8 - "By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people he was stricken."
COMPARING JEREMIAH WITH CHRIST
Jeremiah
Verses 11:19 - "I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more."
Christ
Isaiah 53:7 - "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth."
Jeremiah (Chapter 12)
Verses 1-4 - Jeremiah’s question is: “Why do good things happen to bad people?”
Verses 5-17 - God’s answer is: “His people are NOT good.” As Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us: “There is no difference, Jew and Greek, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
COMPARING JEREMIAH WITH CHRIST
Jeremiah (Chapter 13)
Verses 1-11 - God’s people had soiled themselves with sin and became good for nothing.
Christ: Jesus said salt that has lost its flavor is good for nothing, (Matthew 5.13)
COMPARING JEREMIAH WITH CHRIST
Jeremiah 13:17 - "But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride, my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s block will be taken captive."
Christ
Luke 19:41 - "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it."
Jeremiah (Chapter 14)
Because of their sin, Judah would experience drought, famine and the sword.
Sin always has been, is now and forever will be a separator of man from God. Even though God cannot forsake those who are truly saved, sin will surely disturb our fellowship with Him.
How can one serve God and realize His righteousness and claim on one’s life while he/she is practicing sin?
In verse 13, Jeremiah states what the prophets have been saying. God responded by telling Jeremiah that the prophets are liars.
We live in a day of false prophets.
A false prophet is anyone who “brings a message from God” that contradicts, does not conform to or adds to His Word.
We must be able to “…test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (I John 4:1)
I John 4:2 tells us how to test the spirits: see what they do with Christ. If He has preeminence and if they are proclaiming Him as being Messiah (God) in the flesh, their message is valid. If they do not, they are liars (Jehovah’s Witnesses; Mormons; and many 7th Day Adventists, along with Islam and other “religions”).
Jeremiah (Chapter 15)
Verse 1 — The nation is in such a desperate condition of sin that even the prayers of Moses and Samuel would not be heard.
How is OUR nation today?
Verse 16 — Jeremiah finds comfort and joy in the Word of God, though it is hard to swallow.
Verse 19 — God emphasizes the importance of repentance and of telling His message.
He warns, however, that we must respond to people who “turn to you, but you must not turn to them.”
You cannot force salvation on people. You may introduce the subject, but if the Spirit has not prepared their hearts, don’t feel pressured to press the matter…just plant the seed. God will take care of the rest.
Verse 21 – God promises salvation. That salvation comes when He “incarnates” Himself in the form of the babe in the manger, Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
A CAT'S TALE
A blogger was weed-wacking her yard and accidentally cut off the tail of her cat which was hiding in the grass.
She rushed her cat, along with the tail, over to WAL-MART!
Why WAL-MART??
HELLOOOOOOOOO!
WAL-MART is the largest re-tailer in the world!!!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-Russian Orthodox chant
It is so harmonically rich, and very moving - even if you don't know the words exactly. The harmonies emote. You can hear the grief and pain.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
A Study in Jeremiah-Week 03
Jeremiah typifies Christ and his reward -- and our future reward as well:
Chapter 06 - Announcement of Jerusalem’s Siege – Why did God allow the “north” to lay siege on Jerusalem?
The Discourse in the Temple gate:
Chapter 07 – Five reasons for God’s Judgement on Israel.
1. False worship in the God’s temple.
2. Idolatry
3. Violation of God’s Law
4. Rejection of His messengers
5. Universal and incurable backsliding.
Verse 11 - "Is this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?” Does this not remind you of Jesus “cleansing the temple?”
Chapter 08 - The People’s Lack of Understanding
Verse 1 - Jeremiah's lament for his people evokes great similarities to Christ and his lament for the judgments to come upon his stubborn generation.
Verse 8 – “How can you say, ‘We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,’ when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?”
Verse 12 - Just like today, people call good, bad and bad, good, and have no shame at all.
Just watch a little TV or spend some time on the Internet and you’ll see examples galore.
Verse 22 – Jesus is the Balm of Gilead and the Great Physician. He heals all wounds.
Chapter 09 - The Prophet’s Lamentation
Verse 1 – Jeremiah again weeps for the people.
Verse 17ff – The Lord reveals that there will be weeping and wailing as the people discover the significance of disobedience.
Verse 25 – As we saw in Romans, Ephesians and Philippians, fleshly circumcision means nothing. Jesus said it is the heart that must be circumcised to please God, by faith.
Chapter 10 - Jehovah and the Idols
Verse 1 – This world will always lead you astray.
Verse 11 – There will come a time when the things (gods) of this world will yield to the power and will of God.
Verse 16 – This is a direct reference to Christ, the maker of all things (John 1:1).
Verse 23 – We are not our own, and we must not direct our own paths. God I Christ must be our leader and our portion.
Verse 24 – Jeremiah pleads with God to correct him as an adopted son.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A Study in Jeremiah-Week 02
One of the astonishing themes of Jeremiah is God’s unbelievable forgiveness of the constant waywardness of His chosen people.
If God was able to forgive Israel, who sometimes actively worshipped idols, He is certainly able to forgive us our sins.
II. God’s Appeal to the People’s Conscience
CHAPTER 2-5
Chapter 2 – This is a review of Israel’s past. It is a reminder to them of their former blessings. It is also a series of rebukes for their present backsliding.
Key Verses:
2 “…how as a bride you loved and followed me”
6 “…They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up our of Egypt”
8 “…The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord…”
11 “…But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.”
13 “My people have committed two sins: …forsaken me…dug their own cisterns…”
(“spring of living water” is a picture of Christ.)
Chapter 3 – God uses Jeremiah to remind Israel that ten northern tribes had been taken captive because of their idolatry.
Key Verses:
3 “…you have the brazen look of a prostitute…” (right out of today’s newspapers).
14 “…for I am your husband” (just as we are the Bride of Christ)
15 “…I will give you shepherds…who will lead you” (God’s forgiveness is near.)
22 “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of your backsliding.”
Chapter 4 – Here we have a call to repentance. Repentance is absolutely necessary for salvation, because is indicates our recognition of our sin and our willingness to turn from it.
Key Verses:
2 “…As surely as the Lord lives, then the nations will be blessed by Him…”
4 “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your Hearts.”
6 “…for I am bringing disaster from the north…” They’re about to be invaded.
22 “My people are fools; they do not know me.”
Chapter 5 – Judah hardened their hearts against Jeremiah and against God’s message. Because they rejected the appeal for repentance, God pronounced the judgement of the Babylonian Invasion.
Key Verses:
1 “…If you can find but one person who deals honestly…I will forgive this city.”
7 “…sworn by gods that are not gods…thronged to the houses of prostitutes.”
12 “…They have lied about the Lord…He will do nothing!” (Wanna bet?)
18 “…’I will not destroy you completely”
31 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my
people love it this way.”
The history of God’s people is replete with examples of them turning from and disobeying God. Yet He always stood ready to forgive…if they would repent
We are not better than the Jews. We have idols (money, vacations, family, things and so much more, yet in Christ, God stands ready to forgive our sins; past, present and future.
Admit that you are a sinner (Romans 3:23), and repent (change you mind about who Christ is).
Believe that Jesus is God’s Son and in His finished work at the cross of Calvary. (Romans 10: 9 & 10.
Commit your life to His Lordship and follow Him.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Saturday, August 06, 2011
A Study in Jeremiah - Week 1
By necessity, this study will be an overview of Jeremiah, since one chapter per week would take at least a year.
A prophet (Hebrew: nabi, “to bubble forth, as from a fountain”) is one who proclaims a message given to him by God. The foretelling of future events was not a necessary but only an incidental part of the prophetic office.
In the Old Testament, prophets are divided into four groups:
1. The prophets of the northern kingdom (Israel), viz., Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah.
2. The prophets of Judah, viz., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.
3. The prophets of Captivity, viz., Ezekiel and Daniel.
4. The prophets of the Restoration, viz., Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Chapter 1 – The Call of a prophet during reign of Josiah
Verse 1 — Jeremiah is the son of Hilkiah, the priest of Anathoth. Evidently this was the Hilkiah who found the book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses, which sparked the revival during the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 22:8; 2 Chronicles 34:14-21). Anathoth was a few miles directly north of Jerusalem.
Verses 4-10 — Jeremiah was called to the prophetic office before his birth.
The Lord knows ALL about you, from before you were born. You can hide nothing from Him and you cannot hide from Him.
The Lord told Jeremiah this to give him courage and conviction.
Verse 6 — Notice the reluctance and hesitation of Jeremiah. “Child” is “young man”; he was about 20.
Does this remind you of Moses (Exodus 3:11) and Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5-8)?
Verses 7-10 — God empowered Jeremiah and put His word in his mouth.
God’s word refers to three things: 1) The words God speaks; 2) The Living Word (Jesus) and 3) The words He gives you to say.
Verses 11-12 Sign of a rod of an almond tree — the almond tree is called “waker”
because it wakes first from the long night of winter to bloom in the spring.
Jeremiah was to be an alarm clock to wake the nation from a life of ease, luxury, and indifference to the coming danger.
Verses 13-19 Sign of the seething (boiling) pot in the north — Egypt and Assyria
were no longer a danger to the southern kingdom of Judah, but the boiling pot in the
North was the rising power of Babylon, which eventually would destroy the nation.
Verse 19 Jeremiah was to alert the nation to the new danger, but they would resist and reject his warning — in fact, they would attempt to destroy him.
It is a serious thing to ignore God. That is sin (sin is defined as anything said, done or thought that is not directly in the center of God’s will).
The only remedy is trust in Christ’s finished work at the cross of Calvary.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
A Study in Philemon Week 01
Onesimus was a slave belonging to Philemon, a Christian of Colosse. This slave had opportunity to run away and seized on it.
He made his way to Rome where he expected his identity and past life to be swallowed up by the great metropolis. One day he chanced upon a gathering where Paul was preaching. There he heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit regenerated him, making him a new creature in Christ. He told his story to Paul, and Paul sent him back to Philemon with this accompanying letter.
The primary purpose of this epistle is to reveal Christ’s love for us in what He did for us before God in pleading our case. This is the finest illustration of substitution: “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee anything, put that on mine account” (Philemon 18).
We can hear Christ agreeing to take our place and to have all our sin imputed to Him — “For he hath made him…to be sin for us…” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He took our place in death, but He gives us His place in life: “If thou count me, therefore, a partner, receive him as myself” (Philemon 17).
We have the standing of Christ before God, or we have none at all. He took our hell, and He gives us His heaven “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Onesimus, an unprofitable runaway slave, was to be received as Paul, the great apostle, would have been received in the home of Philemon.
Verse 1 Paul uses his “prisonship” as a basis for his plea for Onesimus’ release from slavery.
Verse 2 “Apphia” is the wife of Philemon. “Archippus” is the son of Philemon. He is a young man who is a fellow soldier, enduring hardness for the gospel. “Church in thy house” — there were no church buildings in the apostolic period. The church assembled in homes.
Verse 3 Grace and Peace God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense and the peace that passes understanding.
4-7 Why does Paul thank God for Philemon? Because of his faith in Christ, which is manifested in his love for other Christians.
Verse 6 tells us that sharing our faith leads to understanding what we really have in Christ: a salvation beyond our wildest dreams.
8-16 Onesimus became a Christian because of Paul’s witness to him. Remember how he called Timothy his son? That meant that he lead Timothy to Christ. The same thing applies here.
Paul says, in verse 11, “Formerly he was useless to you;” that is: he was a slave and only a slave, doing Philemon’s every command. “But now,” says Paul, “he is useful to both of us.” By that he meant that Onesimus now has a spirituality that comes from a relationship to God through Christ.
In verses 15-16, Paul tells Philemon that he should no longer consider Onesimus a slave, but should realize that he is now a brother in Christ.
17-21 Paul uses himself as a “type,” or picture of Christ and reminds us of the Good Samaritan, who told the innkeeper that if anything was owed, he would pay it.
Verse 22 tells us that Paul expected to be released from prison, and when he was, he assured Philemon that his release would be an answer to his prayer for Paul.
23-24 Imagine being in prison with Paul! It must have been one fine revival meeting. Each of those men listed in these verses got to experience Paul’s commitment and faith.
Verse 25 Paul closes with a reiteration of his greeting: GRACE.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
THE PHENOMENAL 2 LETTER WORD!
Do you know the one word in the English language that can be a noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb or a preposition?
This will further your education.
UP
This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.
We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.
At other times, this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time is UP!
Oh . . . one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?
U
P!
Did that one crack you UP?
Now I'll shut UP!
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