Thursday, July 31, 2014
Rev 3:20-21
Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. 21 Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That's my gift to the conquerors!
THIS GIFT IS NOT TAUGHT OR MENTIONED AT ALL!
Rev 3:18-19
Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.
19 "The people I love, I call to account — prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best
Jude 5-19
I'm laying this out as clearly as I can, even though you once knew all this well enough and shouldn't need reminding. Here it is in brief: The Master saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Later he destroyed those who defected. 6 And you know the story of the angels who didn't stick to their post, abandoning it for other, darker missions. But they are now chained and jailed in a black hole until the great Judgment Day. 7 Sodom and Gomorrah, which went to sexual rack and ruin along with the surrounding cities that acted just like them, are another example. Burning and burning and never burning up, they serve still as a stock warning.
8 This is exactly the same program of these latest infiltrators: dirty sex, rule and rulers thrown out, glory dragged in the mud.
9 The Archangel Michael, who went to the mat with the Devil as they fought over the body of Moses, wouldn't have dared level him with a blasphemous curse, but said simply, "No you don't. God will take care of you!" 10 But these people sneer at anything they can't understand, and by doing whatever they feel like doing — living by animal instinct only — they participate in their own destruction. 11 I'm fed up with them! They've gone down Cain's road; they've been sucked into Balaam's error by greed; they're canceled out in Korah's rebellion.
12 These people are warts on your love feasts as you worship and eat together. They're giving you a black eye — carousing shamelessly, grabbing anything that isn't nailed down. They're —
Puffs of smoke pushed by gusts of wind;
late autumn trees stripped clean of leaf and fruit,
Doubly dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 wild ocean waves leaving nothing on the beach
but the foam of their shame;
Lost stars in outer space
on their way to the black hole.
14 Enoch, the seventh after Adam, prophesied of them: "Look! The Master comes with thousands of holy angels 15 to bring judgment against them all, convicting each person of every defiling act of shameless sacrilege, of every dirty word they have spewed of their pious filth." 16 These are the "grumpers," the bellyachers, grabbing for the biggest piece of the pie, talking big, saying anything they think will get them ahead.
17 But remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master, Jesus Christ, told us this would happen: 18 "In the last days there will be people who don't take these things seriously anymore. They'll treat them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and lusts." 19 These are the ones who split churches, thinking only of themselves. There's nothing to them, no sign of the Spirit!
1 John 2:15-17
15 Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. 16 Practically everything that goes on in the world — wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important — has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. 17 The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out — but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
1 Peter 2:21-25
the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
22 He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.
23 They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. 24 He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. 25 You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.
1 Peter 2:9-12
you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you — 10 from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
11 Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. 12 Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
1 Peter 1:17-21
Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. 18 It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. 19 He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. 20 And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately — at the end of the ages — become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. 21 It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God
Read this again please
1 Peter 1:7-8
Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
8 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him — with laughter and singing. 9 Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.
James 4:1-2
Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. 2 You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it
James 2:23-25
The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." 24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape — that seamless unity of believing and doing — what counted with God?
James 2:23-24
The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." 24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
Fruitful in works
Heb 13:11-15
11 In the old system, the animals are killed and the bodies disposed of outside the camp. The blood is then brought inside to the altar as a sacrifice for sin. 12 It's the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates — that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God's altar to cleanse his people.
13 So let's go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is — not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. 14 This "insider world" is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. 15 Let's take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus' name
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Heb 12:22-24
You've come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels 23 and Christian citizens. It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just. 24 You've come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant
Heb 12:2-9
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed — that exhilarating finish in and with God — he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. 3 When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
4 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through — all that bloodshed! 5 So don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?
My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline,
but don't be crushed by it either.
6 It's the child he loves that he disciplines;
the child he embraces, he also corrects.
7 God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, 8 the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? 9 We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live?
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Heb 11
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. 2 The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.
4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.
5 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. "They looked all over and couldn't find him because God had taken him." We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken "he pleased God." 6 It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
7 By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
8 By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. 9 By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. 10 Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations — the City designed and built by God.
11 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. 12 That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
13 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. 14 People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. 15 If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. 16 But they were after a far better country than that — heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.
17 By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him — 18 and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." 19 Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.
20 By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.
21 By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own — as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.
22 By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.
23 By an act of faith, Moses' parents hid him away for three months after his birth. They saw the child's beauty, and they braved the king's decree.
24 By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. 25 He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. 26 He valued suffering in the Messiah's camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. 27 By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king's blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. 28 By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn't touch them.
29 By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.
30 By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.
31 By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.
32 I could go on and on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more — Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . 33 Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, 34 fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. 35 Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. 36 Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. 37 We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless — 38 the world didn't deserve them! — making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.
39 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. 40 God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
Heb 10:5-10
the mouth of Christ:
You don't want sacrifices and offerings year after year;
you've prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
6 It's not fragrance and smoke from the altar
that whet your appetite.
7 So I said, "I'm here to do it your way, O God,
the way it's described in your Book."
8 When he said, "You don't want sacrifices and offerings," he was referring to practices according to the old plan. 9 When he added, "I'm here to do it your way," he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan — 10 God's way — by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
Heb 8:8-13
God said,
Heads up! The days are coming when I'll set up a new plan for dealing with Israel and Judah. 9 I'll throw out the old plan I set up with their ancestors when I led them by the hand out of Egypt.They didn't keep their part of the bargain,so I looked away and let it go. 10 This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper,isn't going to be chiseled in stone;This time I'm writing out the plan in them,carving it on the lining of their hearts.I'll be their God,they'll be my people. 11 They won't go to school to learn about me,or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.They'll all get to know me firsthand,the little and the big, the small and the great. 12 They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
13 By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.
Heb 5:7-10I
7 While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. 8 Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. 9 Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, 10 he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.
Because it IS our destination it IS A GIFT FROM GOD but there are qualifications that must be met to get it…
Heb 4:8-11
this is still a live promise. It wasn't canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn't keep renewing the appointment for "today." 9 The promise of "arrival" and "rest" is still there for God's people. 10 God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we'll surely rest with God. 11 So let's keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.
Heb 3:15-19
15 These words keep ringing in our ears:
Today, please listen;
don't turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.
16 For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren't they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn't it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? 18 And when he swore that they'd never get where they were going, wasn't he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? 19 They never got there because they never listened, never believed.
You will not be a corpse!
2 Tim 3:15-4:1
There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another — showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. 17 Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
2 Tim 2:24-26
24 God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, 25 working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, 26 enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.
2 Tim 2:20-21
20 In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets — some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. 21 Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing
Monday, July 28, 2014
Col 3:1-4
if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. 2 Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life — even though invisible to spectators — is with Christ in God. He is your life. 4 When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too — the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
Col 2:9-11
You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. 10 When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
11 Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Phil 2:4-11
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death — and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
9 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, 10 so that all created beings in heaven and on earth — even those long ago dead and buried — will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, 11 and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Obedience…
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Eph 2:7-10
7 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. 8 Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! 9 We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! 10 No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Eph 1:3-12
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. 4 Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. 5 Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) 6 He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
7 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people — free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! 8 He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, 9 letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, 10 a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
11 It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, 12 part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
Gal 3:21
is the law then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise
Gal 3:11-12
The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God — and that's the real life." 12 Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping
Friday, July 25, 2014
1 Cor 15:35-50
35 Some skeptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" 36 If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. 37 We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a "dead" seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. 38 You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don't look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.
39 You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies — humans, animals, birds, fish — each unprecedented in its form. 40 You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies — 41 sun, moon, stars — all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we're only looking at pre-resurrection "seeds" — who can imagine what the resurrection "plants" will be like!
42 This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body — but only if you keep in mind that when we're raised, we're raised for good, alive forever! 43 The corpse that's planted is no beauty, but when it's raised, it's glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. 44 The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural — same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!
45 We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. 46 Physical life comes first, then spiritual — 47 a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. 48 The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. 49 In the same way that we've worked from our earthy origins, let's embrace our heavenly ends.
50 I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don't in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very "nature" is to die, so how could they "naturally" end up in the Life kingdom?
1 Cor 13
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
4 Love never gives up.Love cares more for others than for self.Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.Love doesn't strut,Doesn't have a swelled head, 5 Doesn't force itself on others,Isn't always "me first,"Doesn't fly off the handle,Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn't revel when others grovel,Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 Puts up with anything,Trusts God always,Always looks for the best,Never looks back,But keeps going to the end.
8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. 9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
1 Cor 12:11-14
11 All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
12 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts — limbs, organs, cells — but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. 13 By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain — his Spirit — where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves — labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free — are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
14 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together
1 Cor 10:1-5
10:1 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. 2 They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. 3 They all ate 4 and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God's fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. 5 But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much — most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased
Thursday, July 24, 2014
1 Cor 5:7-8
Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. 8 So let's live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread — simple, genuine, unpretentious
1 Cor 5:5
out with him! It will be totally devastating to him, of course, and embarrassing to you. But better devastation and embarrassment than damnation. You want him on his feet and forgiven before the Master on the Day of Judgment
you can clearly see that the purpose for withdrawal is noted in scripture BUT Churches don’t teach or follow this!
1 Cor 3:18-21
18 Don't fool yourself. Don't think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. 19 Be God's fool — that's the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It's written in Scripture,
He exposes the chicanery of the chic.
20 The Master sees through the smoke screens
of the know-it-alls.
21 I don't want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift
1 Cor 3:7-9
7 It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. 8 Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. 9 What makes them worth doing is the God I am serving. You happen to be God's field in which I am working
1 Cor 2:11-13
11 Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God — except that he not only knows what he's thinking, 12 but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. 13 We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way
Rom 15:3-6
3 That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out. "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it. 4 Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. 5 May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. 6 Then we'll be a choir — not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
Rom 14:17-18
17 God's kingdom isn't a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness' sake. It's what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. 18 Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you'll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you
Rom 12:1-5
Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3 I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5 The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Rom 11:7-10
The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy. The "self-interest Israel" became thick-skinned toward God. 8 Moses and Isaiah both commented on this:
Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways,
God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears,
Shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors,
and they're there to this day.
9 David was upset about the same thing:
I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals,
break a leg walking their self-serving ways.
10 I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors,
get ulcers from playing at god
Rom 10:5-8
5 Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy — every detail of life regulated by fine print! 6 But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story — no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, 7 no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. 8 So what exactly was Moses saying?
The word that saves is right here,
as near as the tongue in your mouth,
as close as the heart in your chest.
It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us
Rom 9:31-33
Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. 32 How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their "God projects" that they didn't notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. 33 Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
Careful! I've put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
a stone you can't get around.
But the stone is me! If you're looking for me,
you'll find me on the way, not in the way
Rom 9:20-23
Clay doesn't talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, "Why did you shape me like this?" 21 Isn't it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? 22 If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure 23 and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn't that all right?
Rom 9:15-18
God told Moses, "I'm in charge of mercy. I'm in charge of compassion." 16 Compassion doesn't originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God's mercy. 17 The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, "I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power." 18 All we're saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for good or ill
Rom 9:6-8
From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit. 7 It wasn't Abraham's sperm that gave identity here, but God's promise. Remember how it was put: "Your family will be defined by Isaac"? 8 That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise
Rom 8:5-8
5 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them — living and breathing God! 6 Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. 7 Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. 8 And God isn't pleased at being ignored
Rom 3:25-26
25 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public — to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. 26 This is not only clear, but it's now — this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.
Rom 3:21-24
What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. 22 The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. 23 Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, 24 God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
Rom 3:9-20
Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:
10 There's nobody living right, not even one,
11 nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
12 They've all taken the wrong turn;
they've all wandered down blind alleys.
No one's living right;
I can't find a single one.
13 Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mud slides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
14 They open their mouths and pollute the air.
15 They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
16 litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
17 Don't know the first thing about living with others.
18 They never give God the time of day.
19 This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? 20 Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin.
Rom 2:17-21
don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you're an insider to God's revelation, 18 a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! 19 I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God's revealed Word inside and out, 20 feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. 21 While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I'm quite serious
Rom 2:9-11
9 If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. 10 But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. 11 Being a Jew won't give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.
Rom 2:1-8
Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. 2 But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done.
3 You didn't think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? 4 Or did you think that because he's such a nice God, he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.
5 You're not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it's going to blaze hot and high, God's fiery and righteous judgment. 6 Make no mistake: In the end you get what's coming to you — 7 Real Life for those who work on God's side, 8 but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Rom 1:26-27
Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either — women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. 27 Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men — all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it — emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.
Rom 1:20-22
taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. 21 What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. 22 They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life
Rom 1:16-17
news I'm most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God's powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! 17 God's way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: "The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives."
Acts 28:23-24
Paul talked to them all day, from morning to evening, explaining everything involved in the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them all about Jesus by pointing out what Moses and the prophets had written about him.
24 Some of them were persuaded by what he said, but others refused to believe a word of it
Acts 23:26-29
From Claudius Lysias, to the Most Honorable Governor Felix:
Greetings!
27 I rescued this man from a Jewish mob. They had seized him and were about to kill him when I learned that he was a Roman citizen. So I sent in my soldiers. 28 Wanting to know what he had done wrong, I had him brought before their council. 29 It turned out to be a squabble turned vicious over some of their religious differences, but nothing remotely criminal.
People draw big a difference between religion and the law
Acts 23:12-14
12 Next day the Jews worked up a plot against Paul. They took a solemn oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed him. 13 Over forty of them ritually bound themselves to this murder pact 14 and presented themselves to the high priests and religious leaders. "We've bound ourselves by a solemn oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul.
Unfortunately humans believe that EVERYTHING depends on this life on Earth but there IS an eternity to consider
Acts 22:1-20
22:1 "My dear brothers and fathers, listen carefully to what I have to say before you jump to conclusions about me." 2 When they heard him speaking Hebrew, they grew even quieter. No one wanted to miss a word of this.
He continued, 3 "I am a good Jew, born in Tarsus in the province of Cilicia, but educated here in Jerusalem under the exacting eye of Rabbi Gamaliel, thoroughly instructed in our religious traditions. And I've always been passionately on God's side, just as you are right now.
4 "I went after anyone connected with this 'Way,' went at them hammer and tongs, ready to kill for God. I rounded up men and women right and left and had them thrown in prison. 5 You can ask the Chief Priest or anyone in the High Council to verify this; they all knew me well. Then I went off to our brothers in Damascus, armed with official documents authorizing me to hunt down the Christians there, arrest them, and bring them back to Jerusalem for sentencing.
6 "As I arrived on the outskirts of Damascus about noon, a blinding light blazed out of the skies 7 and I fell to the ground, dazed. I heard a voice: 'Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?'
8 "'Who are you, Master?' I asked.
"He said, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you're hunting down.' 9 My companions saw the light, but they didn't hear the conversation.
10 "Then I said, 'What do I do now, Master?'
"He said, 'Get to your feet and enter Damascus. There you'll be told everything that's been set out for you to do.' 11 And so we entered Damascus, but nothing like the entrance I had planned — I was blind as a bat and my companions had to lead me in by the hand.
12 "And that's when I met Ananias, a man with a sterling reputation in observing our laws — the Jewish community in Damascus is unanimous on that score. 13 He came and put his arm on my shoulder. 'Look up,' he said. I looked, and found myself looking right into his eyes — I could see again!
14 "Then he said, 'The God of our ancestors has handpicked you to be briefed on his plan of action. You've actually seen the Righteous Innocent and heard him speak. 15 You are to be a key witness to everyone you meet of what you've seen and heard. 16 So what are you waiting for? Get up and get yourself baptized, scrubbed clean of those sins and personally acquainted with God.'
17 "Well, it happened just as Ananias said. After I was back in Jerusalem and praying one day in the Temple, lost in the presence of God, 18 I saw him, saw God's Righteous Innocent, and heard him say to me, 'Hurry up! Get out of here as quickly as you can. None of the Jews here in Jerusalem are going to accept what you say about me.'
19 "At first I objected: 'Who has better credentials? They all know how obsessed I was with hunting out those who believed in you, beating them up in the meeting places and throwing them in jail. 20 And when your witness Stephen was murdered, I was right there, holding the coats of the murderers and cheering them on. And now they see me totally converted. What better qualification could I have?'
Acts 21:10-13
10 After several days of visiting, a prophet from Judea by the name of Agabus came doonalwn to see us. 11 He went right up to Paul, took Paul's belt, and, in a dramatic gesture, tied himself up, hands and feet. He said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: The Jews in Jerusalem are going to tie up the man who owns this belt just like this and hand him over to godless unbelievers."
12 When we heard that, we and everyone there that day begged Paul not to be stubborn and persist in going to Jerusalem. 13 But Paul wouldn't budge: "Why all this hysteria? Why do you insist on making a scene and making it even harder for me? You're looking at this backwards. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience
It's not a personal issue it's a good servant issue!
Monday, July 21, 2014
Acts 20:23-24
23 I do know that it won't be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. 24 But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.
Acts 17:22-31
Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. "It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. 23 When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, TO THE GOD NOBODY KNOWS. I'm here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you're dealing with.
24 "The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines 25 or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn't take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don't make him. 26 Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living 27 so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. 28 We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' 29 Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?
30 "God overlooks it as long as you don't know any better — but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he's calling for a radical life-change. 31 He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead."
Acts 16:16-40
One day, on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl ran into us. She was a psychic and, with her fortunetelling, made a lot of money for the people who owned her. 17 She started following Paul around, calling everyone's attention to us by yelling out, "These men are working for the Most High God. They're laying out the road of salvation for you!" 18 She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, "Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!" And it was gone, just like that.
19 When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them 20 and pulled them into a court with the accusation, "These men are disturbing the peace — dangerous Jewish agitators 21 subverting our Roman law and order." 22 By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood.
The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas's clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. 23 After beating them black and blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jailkeeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. 24 He did just that — threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them.
25 Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God. The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears. 26 Then, without warning, a huge earthquake! The jailhouse tottered, every door flew open, all the prisoners were loose.
27 Startled from sleep, the jailer saw all the doors swinging loose on their hinges. Assuming that all the prisoners had escaped, he pulled out his sword and was about to do himself in, figuring he was as good as dead anyway, 28 when Paul stopped him: "Don't do that! We're all still here! Nobody's run away!"
29 The jailer got a torch and ran inside. Badly shaken, he collapsed in front of Paul and Silas. 30 He led them out of the jail and asked, "Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved, to really live?" 31 They said, "Put your entire trust in the Master Jesus. Then you'll live as you were meant to live — and everyone in your house included!"
32 They went on to spell out in detail the story of the Master — the entire family got in on this part. 33 They never did get to bed that night. The jailer made them feel at home, dressed their wounds, and then — he couldn't wait till morning! — was baptized, he and everyone in his family. 34 There in his home, he had food set out for a festive meal. It was a night to remember: He and his entire family had put their trust in God; everyone in the house was in on the celebration.
35 At daybreak, the court judges sent officers with the instructions, "Release these men." 36 The jailer gave Paul the message, "The judges sent word that you're free to go on your way. Congratulations! Go in peace!"
37 But Paul wouldn't budge. He told the officers, "They beat us up in public and threw us in jail, Roman citizens in good standing! And now they want to get us out of the way on the sly without anyone knowing? Nothing doing! If they want us out of here, let them come themselves and lead us out in broad daylight."
38 When the officers reported this, the judges panicked. They had no idea that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 They hurried over and apologized, personally escorted them from the jail, and then asked them if they wouldn't please leave the city. 40 Walking out of the jail, Paul and Silas went straight to Lydia's house, saw their friends again, encouraged them in the faith, and only then went on their way.
Acts 16:16-40
One day, on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl ran into us. She was a psychic and, with her fortunetelling, made a lot of money for the people who owned her. 17 She started following Paul around, calling everyone's attention to us by yelling out, "These men are working for the Most High God. They're laying out the road of salvation for you!" 18 She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, "Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!" And it was gone, just like that.
19 When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them 20 and pulled them into a court with the accusation, "These men are disturbing the peace — dangerous Jewish agitators 21 subverting our Roman law and order." 22 By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood.
The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas's clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. 23 After beating them black and blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jailkeeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. 24 He did just that — threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them.
25 Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God. The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears. 26 Then, without warning, a huge earthquake! The jailhouse tottered, every door flew open, all the prisoners were loose.
27 Startled from sleep, the jailer saw all the doors swinging loose on their hinges. Assuming that all the prisoners had escaped, he pulled out his sword and was about to do himself in, figuring he was as good as dead anyway, 28 when Paul stopped him: "Don't do that! We're all still here! Nobody's run away!"
29 The jailer got a torch and ran inside. Badly shaken, he collapsed in front of Paul and Silas. 30 He led them out of the jail and asked, "Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved, to really live?" 31 They said, "Put your entire trust in the Master Jesus. Then you'll live as you were meant to live — and everyone in your house included!"
32 They went on to spell out in detail the story of the Master — the entire family got in on this part. 33 They never did get to bed that night. The jailer made them feel at home, dressed their wounds, and then — he couldn't wait till morning! — was baptized, he and everyone in his family. 34 There in his home, he had food set out for a festive meal. It was a night to remember: He and his entire family had put their trust in God; everyone in the house was in on the celebration.
35 At daybreak, the court judges sent officers with the instructions, "Release these men." 36 The jailer gave Paul the message, "The judges sent word that you're free to go on your way. Congratulations! Go in peace!"
37 But Paul wouldn't budge. He told the officers, "They beat us up in public and threw us in jail, Roman citizens in good standing! And now they want to get us out of the way on the sly without anyone knowing? Nothing doing! If they want us out of here, let them come themselves and lead us out in broad daylight."
38 When the officers reported this, the judges panicked. They had no idea that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 They hurried over and apologized, personally escorted them from the jail, and then asked them if they wouldn't please leave the city. 40 Walking out of the jail, Paul and Silas went straight to Lydia's house, saw their friends again, encouraged them in the faith, and only then went on their way.
Acts 15:8-18
God, who can't be fooled by any pretense on our part but always knows a person's thoughts, gave them the Holy Spirit exactly as he gave him to us. 9 He treated the outsiders exactly as he treated us, beginning at the very center of who they were and working from that center outward, cleaning up their lives as they trusted and believed him.
10 "So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? 11 Don't we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?"
12 There was dead silence. No one said a word. With the room quiet, Barnabas and Paul reported matter-of-factly on the miracles and wonders God had done among the other nations through their ministry. 13 The silence deepened; you could hear a pin drop.
James broke the silence. "Friends, listen. 14 Simeon has told us the story of how God at the very outset made sure that racial outsiders were included. 15 This is in perfect agreement with the words of the prophets:
16 After this, I'm coming back;
I'll rebuild David's ruined house;
I'll put all the pieces together again;
I'll make it look like new
17 So outsiders who seek will find,
so they'll have a place to come to,
All the pagan peoples
included in what I'm doing.
"God said it and now he's doing it. 18 It's no afterthought; he's always known he would do this.
Acts 14:8-10
There was a man in Lystra who couldn't walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his birth. 9 He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God's work, ready to believe. 10 So he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Up on your feet!" The man was up in a flash — jumped up and walked around as if he'd been walking all his life.
Acts 13:16-41
16 Paul stood up, paused and took a deep breath, then said, "Fellow Israelites and friends of God, listen. 17 God took a special interest in our ancestors, pulled our people who were beaten down in Egyptian exile to their feet, and led them out of there in grand style. 18 He took good care of them for nearly forty years in that godforsaken wilderness 19 and then, having wiped out seven enemies who stood in the way, gave them the land of Canaan for their very own — 20 a span in all of about four hundred fifty years.
"Up to the time of Samuel the prophet, God provided judges to lead them. 21 But then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, out of the tribe of Benjamin. After Saul had ruled forty years, 22 God removed him from office and put King David in his place, with this commendation: 'I've searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He's a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.'
23 "From out of David's descendants God produced a Savior for Israel, Jesus, exactly as he promised — 24 but only after John had thoroughly alerted the people to his arrival by preparing them for a total life-change. 25 As John was finishing up his work, he said, 'Did you think I was the One? No, I'm not the One. But the One you've been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear. And I'm about to disappear.'
26 "Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham, and friends of God, this message of salvation has been precisely targeted to you. 27 The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn't recognize who he was and condemned him to death. 28 They couldn't find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute him anyway. 29 They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though those same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places.
"After they had done everything the prophets said they would do, they took him down from the cross and buried him. 30 And then God raised him from death. 31 There is no disputing that — he appeared over and over again many times and places to those who had known him well in the Galilean years, and these same people continue to give witness that he is alive.
32 "And we're here today bringing you good news: the Message that what God promised the fathers 33 has come true for the children — for us! He raised Jesus, exactly as described in the second Psalm:
My Son! My very own Son!Today I celebrate you!
34 "When he raised him from the dead, he did it for good — no going back to that rot and decay for him. That's why Isaiah said, 'I'll give to all of you David's guaranteed blessings.' 35 So also the psalmist's prayer: 'You'll never let your Holy One see death's rot and decay.' 36 "David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, a long time now. 37 But the One God raised up — no dust and ashes for him! 38 I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. 39 He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.
40 "Don't take this lightly. You don't want the prophet's sermon to describe you:
41 Watch out, cynics;Look hard — watch your world fall to pieces.I'm doing something right before your eyes That you won't believe, though it's staring you in the face."
Acts 10:24-35
Cornelius was expecting them and had his relatives and close friends waiting with him. 25 The minute Peter came through the door, Cornelius was up on his feet greeting him — and then down on his face worshiping him! 26 Peter pulled him up and said, "None of that — I'm a man and only a man, no different from you."
27 Talking things over, they went on into the house, where Cornelius introduced Peter to everyone who had come. 28 Peter addressed them, "You know, I'm sure that this is highly irregular. Jews just don't do this — visit and relax with people of another race. But God has just shown me that no race is better than any other. 29 So the minute I was sent for, I came, no questions asked. But now I'd like to know why you sent for me."
30 Cornelius said, "Four days ago at about this time, midafternoon, I was home praying. Suddenly there was a man right in front of me, flooding the room with light. 31 He said, 'Cornelius, your daily prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God's attention. 32 I want you to send to Joppa to get Simon, the one they call Peter. He's staying with Simon the Tanner down by the sea.'
33 "So I did it — I sent for you. And you've been good enough to come. And now we're all here in God's presence, ready to listen to whatever the Master put in your heart to tell us."
34 Peter fairly exploded with his good news: "It's God's own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! 35 It makes no difference who you are or where you're from — if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open
Acts 10:1-16
There was a man named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea, captain of the Italian Guard stationed there. 2 He was a thoroughly good man. He had led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God, was always helping people in need, and had the habit of prayer. 3 One day about three o'clock in the afternoon he had a vision. An angel of God, as real as his next-door neighbor, came in and said, "Cornelius."
4 Cornelius stared hard, wondering if he was seeing things. Then he said, "What do you want, sir?"
The angel said, "Your prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God's attention. 5 Here's what you are to do. Send men to Joppa to get Simon, the one everyone calls Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is down by the sea."
7 As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two servants and one particularly devout soldier from the guard. 8 He went over with them in great detail everything that had just happened, and then sent them off to Joppa.
9 The next day as the three travelers were approaching the town, Peter went out on the balcony to pray. It was about noon. 10 Peter got hungry and started thinking about lunch. While lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the skies open up. Something that looked like a huge blanket lowered by ropes at its four corners settled on the ground. 12 Every kind of animal and reptile and bird you could think of was on it. 13 Then a voice came: "Go to it, Peter — kill and eat."
14 Peter said, "Oh, no, Lord. I've never so much as tasted food that was not kosher."
15 The voice came a second time: "If God says it's okay, it's okay."
16 This happened three times, and then the blanket was pulled back up into the skies.
Acts 9:32-41
Peter went off on a mission to visit all the churches. In the course of his travels he arrived in Lydda and met with the believers there. 33 He came across a man — his name was Aeneas — who had been in bed eight years paralyzed. 34 Peter said, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!" And he did it — jumped right out of bed. 35 Everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him walking around and woke up to the fact that God was alive and active among them.
36 Down the road a way in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, "Gazelle" in our language. She was well-known for doing good and helping out. 37 During the time Peter was in the area she became sick and died. Her friends prepared her body for burial and put her in a cool room.
38 Some of the disciples had heard that Peter was visiting in nearby Lydda and sent two men to ask if he would be so kind as to come over. 39 Peter got right up and went with them. They took him into the room where Tabitha's body was laid out. Her old friends, most of them widows, were in the room mourning. They showed Peter pieces of clothing the Gazelle had made while she was with them. 40 Peter put the widows all out of the room. He knelt and prayed. Then he spoke directly to the body: "Tabitha, get up."
She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 He took her hand and helped her up. Then he called in the believers and widows, and presented her to them alive.
Acts 9:10-19
10 There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: "Ananias."
"Yes, Master?" he answered.
11 "Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He's there praying. 12 He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again."
13 Ananias protested, "Master, you can't be serious. Everybody's talking about this man and the terrible things he's been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! 14 And now he's shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us."
15 But the Master said, "Don't argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to Gentiles and kings and Jews. 16 And now I'm about to show him what he's in for — the hard suffering that goes with this job."
17 So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, "Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul's eyes — he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized, 19 and sat down with them to a hearty meal.
Acts 9:1-6
All this time Saul was breathing down the necks of the Master's disciples, out for the kill. He went to the Chief Priest 2 and got arrest warrants to take to the meeting places in Damascus so that if he found anyone there belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he could arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem.
3 He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. 4 As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?"
5 He said, "Who are you, Master?"
"I am Jesus, the One you're hunting down. 6 I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you'll be told what to do next."
The main thing to realize and remember is that God’s plans are His alone and not ours!
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Acts 7:1-60
the Chief Priest said, "What do you have to say for yourself?"
2 Stephen replied, "Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, 3 and told him, 'Leave your country and family and go to the land I'll show you.'
4 "So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, 5 but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. 6 God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years.
7'But,' God said, 'I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.'
8 "Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve 'fathers,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.
9 "But then those 'fathers,' burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though — 10 he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.
11 "Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. 12 Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. 13 Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. 15 That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt.
"Jacob died, and our fathers after him. 16 They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor.
17 "When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large. 18 And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph. 19 He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death.
20 "In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months. 21 When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside — and immediately rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who mothered him as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete.
23 "When he was forty years old, he wondered how everything was going with his Hebrew kin and went out to look things over. 24 He saw an Egyptian abusing one of them and stepped in, avenging his underdog brother by knocking the Egyptian flat. 25 He thought his brothers would be glad that he was on their side, and even see him as an instrument of God to deliver them. But they didn't see it that way. 26 The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: 'Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?'
27 "The one who had started the fight said, 'Who put you in charge of us? 28 Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?' 29 When Moses heard that, realizing that the word was out, he ran for his life and lived in exile over in Midian. During the years of exile, two sons were born to him.
30 "Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush. 31 Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God's voice: 32'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away.
33 "God said, 'Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground. 34 I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.'
35 "This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, 'Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer. 36 He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to his congregation, 'God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.' 38 This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us, 39 words our fathers would have nothing to do with.
"They craved the old Egyptian ways, 40 whining to Aaron, 'Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere — who knows what's happened to him!' 41 That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together.
42 "God wasn't at all pleased; but he let them do it their way, worship every new god that came down the pike — and live with the consequences, consequences described by the prophet Amos:
Did you bring me offerings of animals and grains those forty wilderness years, O Israel? 43 Hardly. You were too busy building shrines to war gods, to sex goddesses,Worshiping them with all your might.That's why I put you in exile in Babylon.
44 "And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. 45 They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. 46 David asked God for a permanent place for worship. 47 But Solomon built it.
48 "Yet that doesn't mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote,
49 "Heaven is my throne room;I rest my feet on earth.So what kind of house will you build me?" says God."Where I can get away and relax? 50 It's already built, and I built it."
51 "And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're just like your ancestors. 52 Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you've kept up the family tradition — traitors and murderers, all of you. 53 You had God's Law handed to you by angels — gift-wrapped! — and you squandered it!"
54 At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed — he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. 56 He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!"
57 Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, 58 they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them.
59 As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life." 60 Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin" — his last words. Then he died.
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