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Tag: Bible

ONLY Scripture – Sola Scriptura

The HOLY BIBLE IS: The written word of God from scripture.

Glory and Honor and Power
Worship requires the creature to bow down to it’s Creator. The Apostle John records the worship of the living creatures. Man must also bow down to the Lord our God.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

Revelation 4:9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

Worship – doxa
- opinion, judgment, view
- opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone
  
  in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory
- splendour, brightness
  
  of the moon, sun, stars
  
  magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
  
  majesty
  
  a thing belonging to God
  
  the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity
  
  a thing belonging to Christ
  
  the kingly majesty of the Messiah
  
  the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ; the majesty
  
  of the angels
  
  as apparent in their exterior brightness
- a most glorious condition, most exalted state
  
  of that condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth
  
  the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour’s return from heaven
Revelation 5:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
November 6, 2013
Moving on…

Luke 4:14-30 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.

Nazareth (inland); Tyre, Syria (top) to the N.; Capernaum (Sea of Galilee) to E.; Jerusalem to S.

23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.”

24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

Elijah worked miracles for the widow of Zarephath, who welcomed the Prophet and gave him a room.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

[MAP]

Jesus will heal a leper and raise a widow’s son from the dead: both in Galilee.

Luke 6: 20-26

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

A Tree and Its Fruit

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Matthew 10:

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction…

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.

11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

IF anyone will not listen.. Shake off the dust of your feet when you leave that house.. It will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah. + “Jesus – Matthew 10:14-15

14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Not Peace, but a Sword

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35 For I have come to set a man against his…

… a man against his nearest and most beloved family members. Rejection! Rejection by loved ones for taking up your cross… when your loved ones will not.

36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.

Do you receive the prophet’s reward?

Or does he shake off his sandals and move on?

To be continued…

October 31, 2013
Growing into Christ
The Christian community is built with fellowship, the Christian heart with prayer.

Let’s consider the community of believers we call ‘church’ for a moment. Paul addresses some of the ‘issues’ of worship style in his letter to the Corinthians [ch.14] and his first direction of guidance instructs: “Pursue love… agapē.”

1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

John writes to the churches in Asia a similar caution:

1 John 1: 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Peter in his first letter addresses Christians of churches in an even larger area:

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

The King James Version states: Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
- be of one mind
- have compassion one of another – sympathēs
- love as brothers – philadelphos
Do these words of the Apostles instruct any to be a lone chrisitian? Certainly not. The instruction to Christians is for fellowship.

The Apostles teach the nurturing of a loving community, believers who spend time with one another, who worship together, and believers who truly love each other as Christ Jesus loves us.

The Christian community is built with fellowship…

How is it that most of our busy 21st century churches don’t get this?

Does it take just a little more than an hour on a Sunday to build a relationship? to build a community? to establish a church in the love and fellowship of our Lord, Christ Jesus?

“christians” we call ourselves. Is your relationship and community with your fellow brothers in the Lord (your fellow sisters in the Lord) a loving commitment such as this?

The Christian community is built with fellowship, the Christian heart with prayer.

So let us repent of the busyness of our public lives and sacrifice a little more Christ-like love to embrace His love through the relationships of our church.

Which brings us now to our private lives:

How is your prayer life?

I must confess that I have never been one to think of prayer sufficiently. It was not until recently (by measure of years) that I finally engaged God in conversation through prayer every morning and throughout my day.

Do you suppose the mention of “prayer” 114 times plus “pray” 96 times in the ESV suggests its importance? Of course.

IF Jesus is our Lord and Master, we being His servants: certainly we must be obedient to His command:

Mathew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus said: “when you pray,” not ‘IF you pray.”

Jesus said: “bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” – Luke 6:28 I have a hard time with that one.

I remind myself: Pray without ceasing.

Jesus encourages us in Luke 18: And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Do you “loose heart” in your daily life? I do. Consider that in losing heart you have likely neglected prayer.

Our failing flesh is one thing, but our heart is quite another. Jesus points out that the flesh is weak, but for the heart He directs us to prayer. Our heart (Hebrew) is: the inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding and much more – kardia in the Greek.

How will our spirit dwell with the Holy Spirit if not through prayer?

… the Christian heart is built with prayer.

And oh, so tender, our torn-up hearts.

How broken our Christian lives. How broken our Christian families. How broken our Christian homes.

How broken our Christian husbands and how broken our Christian wives. How broken our Christian children and how broken our Christian youth.

What, then, must Christians do? (For in fact, our brokenness looks no different than the brokenness of so many who do not even know the love of Christ Jesus.)

The unturned pages of our Bibles tell an answer we claim as our ‘Good News.’ (Gospel.)

Have you been too busy to get the answers from God through prayer?

Have you been too busy to share your love with other Christians?

The Christian community is built with fellowship,

the Christian heart with prayer.
October 30, 2013