Posts Tagged ‘religion’

Proverbs 18:17 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: May 8, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs 08, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me and those who seek me find me.

Lady Wisdom promises love to those who will love her, and she promises to be easily found by those who will seek her early. If you love wisdom, she will love you in return and bless your life. If you seek wisdom, you will find her easily, as she is not far from any man (1:20-23; 8:1-5). What is your problem? Love wisdom and seek her now!

Lady Wisdom in this text makes herself available to all who will love and seek her. What is wisdom? The power of right judgment! What is its basis? The fear of the Lord! Where is wisdom most clearly defined and explained? In the word of God! If a man loves Scripture and seeks it early, he will most certainly find knowledge and understanding.

Lady Wisdom loves those who love her. Her love brings honor, riches, life, and God’s favor. What more could you want? Her love is better than rubies, silver, gold, or anything you can imagine. Do you love her? She measures your love by the priority you give her.

Most of the world hates Lady Wisdom (Ps 14:1-3). They love her greatest enemy – the wicked woman Folly (Pr 2:16-19; 9:13-18). They want the world’s foolish lies and soap bubbles – gaily decorated by Hollywood, public education, the news media, and ignorant peers. They resent and despise God, wisdom, and truth. They love death (Pr 8:36).

But what about you? The value of Solomon’s proverbs in your life depends on what you do with them. Do you love wisdom? How do you show it? What emphasis or priority does wisdom have in your life? Do you seek her early? Do you aggressively seek her?

In much of chapters 8 and 9, Solomon personified wisdom as a lady offering affection and friendship. Contrasting Lady Wisdom with the strange woman Folly, he created a powerful image of two women seeking the souls of men. Compare the two women and their invitations of companionship that lead to very different results (Pr 9:4-5,16-17).

Lady Wisdom promises love to those who love her, and she promises to be easily found by those who seek her early. If you love wisdom, she will love you back and bless your life. If you seek wisdom, you will find her easily, as she is not far from anyone (Pr 1:20-23; 8:1-5). What holds back your affection and desire? Love wisdom and seek her now!

What does Lady Wisdom represent? What is wisdom? It is the power of right judgment, knowing the perfect response to every situation. What is its basis? The fear of the Lord! Where is wisdom most clearly defined and explained? In the Bible! If a man passionately loves and emphasizes God’s word, he will gain knowledge to drastically improve his life.

Lady Wisdom does not owe favor to any man. Men rejected wisdom in the Garden of Eden, so they have no right to truth; the asinine opinions now believed by educated men on all subjects prove their depravity. When a man chooses one lie, God will send him strong delusion to believe many more to his destruction (Ezek 14:7-11; II Thess 2:9-13).

Here is a sincere invitation and offer from God and Solomon, but it is only recognized and obeyed by the children of God. Most men have no faith, so they reject both the living God and His words in the Bible. What will you do with this gracious and kind invitation? The apostle Paul considered all things to be loss and dung in comparison with divine wisdom, which is most fully expressed in knowing Christ Jesus the Lord.

Wisdom expects you to love her. Wise men will separate themselves from foolish goals in life to focus on getting wisdom (Pr 18:1). They will make pleasing God first in their lives (Matt 6:33). Unless you have great passion for wisdom, you will search for it in vain (Pr 2:1-5). David said, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (Ps 119:97). Anything less will not work. Neglecting wisdom is to love death (Pr 8:36).

Wisdom expects you to seek her early in life, before you learn man’s foolishness, or damage your life with folly, and while you have the passion and strength of youth. Solomon wrote, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not.” (Eccl 12:1). Childhood and youth are vanity, so it is the best time to reject folly and seek wisdom to avoid youthful sins (Eccl 11:10; Ps 25:7; Pr 22:6; II Tim 2:22).

Wisdom expects you to seek her early in the day, before the duties and distractions of life take your heart and mind away from the most important love of your life. Take time first thing in the morning to read God’s word and tell Him how much you love Him and desire His wisdom (Ps 63:1-6; 84:1-2; 119:18). Great men in scripture did this (Gen 19:27; Ps 5:3; 119:147). Or do it three times a day like David and Daniel (Ps 55:17; Dan 6:10).

The precious news of the gospel is that God loved His children long before they loved Him, even when they were His enemies (I Jn 4:19; Rom 5:8). God’s love for His elect is so great He drew each one to Him, caused each one to love Him, will display His love to each one more and more as they love Him, and not a single one of them can be separated from His love in time or eternity (Jer 31:3; Hos 11:3-4; Jn 14:23; Rom 5:5; 8:35-39).

Spiritual Training 08 May 2013

Posted: May 8, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Romans 11:13-24 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I May somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

Paul was appointed as a missionary to the Gentiles. He reminded his Jewish brothers of this fact, hoping that they too would want to be saved. The Jews had been rejected, and thus Gentiles were being offered salvation. But when a Jew comes to Christ, there is great rejoicing, as if a dead person has come back to life.

Speaking to Gentile Christians, Paul warns them not to feel superior because God rejected some Jews. Abraham’s faith is like the root of a productive tree, and the Jewish people are the tree’s natural branches. Because of faithlessness, the Jews were the broken branches. Gentile believers have been grafted into the tree like a wild olive shoot. Both Jews and Gentiles share the tree’s nourishment based on faith in God; neither can rest on heritage or culture for salvation.

“Continue in his kindness” refers to steadfast perseverance in faith. Steadfastness is a proof of the reality of faith and a by-product of salvation, not a means to it.

Lets Bring it home: If you have not been grafted into the tree, trust the Lord now, and put your faith in Jesus right now. “Continue in his Kindness” refers to steadfast perseverance in faith. Steadfastness is a proof of the reality of faith and a by product of salvation, not a means to it. Remember: For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Proverbs 7:21 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: May 7, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 07, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:21With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk.

Women can overpower men – by words! Men crave hearing a woman’s praise, affection, and loyalty. A whore’s flattery is very dangerous. Wicked women use this power to entice men to sin; virtuous women use it to please, protect, and build up their husbands.

Solomon’s long parable about an adulteress seducing a young fool includes the power of her words tempting him to sin with her. Her speech is so powerful, she “caused him to yield” and “forced him” into sexual sin. He is fully guilty for sinning with her, but the wisdom of this proverb is to rightly grasp the danger and power of her flirting words.

In this perverse world, no matter how a woman dresses or acts, it is always the man’s fault for sexual problems. Sexual harassment occurs in only one direction for such weak minds and today’s courts. But the LORD and Solomon warned about women seducing and forcing men, and they were right. Women have power (Pr 6:24-25; 7:26; Eccl 7:26).

Whorish women create more sexual temptation for men than lewd men do for women (Pr 23:27-28). Only the basest of women are attracted to crude, forward, and lascivious men. Women are naturally protected by stronger inhibitions, need for commitment, families, laws, and social decorum. But what can protect men from a bold seductress? Proverbs!

Flattery is excessive praise used to seduce someone against his will. It is presenting a matter very favorably in order to make it more pleasant and to beguile the listener. Men love the praise of a woman, for winning the adoration, favor, and devotion of a woman is an instinctive drive placed in their hearts and loins by God. Evil women manipulate this desire in men to prey on them in their various schemes of seduction for selfish purposes.

Whatever inhibitions against sexual sin a man has – by religion, parental training, or noble character – he will often lose them due to the enticing and flattering speech of a desirable woman. The adoration of a woman is an elixir that only a few exceptional men can resist, and then only by the grace of God. Joseph may have resisted Potiphar’s wife, but he was an exception to the general rule of Scripture and human experience.

King Solomon often warned his son about the smooth and silky words of a whorish seductress (Pr 2:16; 5:3; 6:24; 7:5; 22:14). Wise men will take sober heed and avoid such women, before their lying words steal their souls and virtue. But here he has just described in detail the verbal approach of an adulteress enticing a naïve victim (Pr 7:13-20). His summary in this proverb states the case well. She forced the young man to yield!

Solomon described the whore as using an embrace, a kiss, and a bold, uninhibited face before her words (Pr 7:13). Then he gave a lengthy description of her much fair speech:

1. I am really a good girl: I am no whore: sleeping with me will not be sin (7:14).
2. I have made many preparations and have lots of things for a great time (7:14).
3. My motives are very noble in wanting to share a great time with you (7:15).
4. I have waited a long time and dreamed often of finding a man like you (7:15).
5. I am so glad I found you, because I do not want to be with anyone else (7:15).
6. It is so wonderful to be alone with you and feel the passion between us (7:15).
7. I have wanted to meet you for a long time; I have made preparations (7:16).
8. I have arranged things for the ultimate, perfect lovemaking between us (7:16).
9. I know special things you will love, that other boring women overlook (7:17).
10. I care about you more than any other woman, so I go to greater efforts (7:17).
11. We surely have a love between us that no one else has ever had before (7:18).
12. Let us fully experience the depths of this unique, special love we have (7:18).
13. No woman has ever felt as strongly about any man as I feel for you (7:18).
14. Our lovemaking will exceed all the lovemaking in the world’s history (7:18).
15. The comfort and pleasure we can find in each other will be wonderful (7:18).
16. Our love and pleasure will last all night – and all our lives – forever (7:18).
17. Don’t worry about any risk, for my old man is on a long business trip (7:19).
18. He loves business more than me: I need your love and body so much (7:19).
19. There is no risk of getting caught; I have figured everything out for us (7:20).
20. He has money, which he loves; we have a love his money cannot buy (7:20).

Young man, how strong was Samson? Was he stronger than any man? Indeed! He was stronger than you. But whores have slain many strong men (Pr 7:26). Delilah used words to destroy him, even though he knew she wanted to destroy him. Why could he not resist her? Because flattering words from a beautiful woman are too much for most men! Read about his weakness and helplessness before her manipulating flattery (Judges 16:4-21).

Young man, how wise was Solomon? Was he wiser than any man? Indeed! He was wiser than you. But whores have cast down and wounded many great men (Pr 7:26). Exotic women caused even Solomon to sin, against the good advice of his own proverbs (I Kgs 11:1-8; Neh 13:26). Among many nations there was no king like him, and God loved Him, but these women corrupted his great character by power over him (Eccl 7:26).

In avoiding the dangerous flattery of women, you must also guard against seducing words in notes, cards, emails, text messages, tweets, phone messages, letters, forums, or any other forms of communication. It does not matter how a woman’s words arrive in a man’s mind, they are powerful. She can communicate with you more easily today than ever before, and wisdom demands caution in all these new dangers of the 21st century.

Christian woman, guard your speech to men other than your father or husband. Be sober. Hate flirting or flattery. While praise is a wonderful thing, it is too powerful for you to give to men other than on rare occasions and with great discretion. But you should learn to use kind words and feminine adoration of your father and husband, for it can build a man’s soul and character to be the strong and noble creature God intended him to be.

Christian wife, why let the world’s women tempt your husband by your silence or prudery at home? A virtuous wife is skilful in all the arts of lovemaking (Pr 5:19; I Cor 7:1-5; Heb 13:4), including words that comfort, intrigue, arouse, and invite her husband. If you have not been taught such things, you need to read King Solomon’s Song! The book of Proverbs has lessons of wisdom, but his song describes two hot married lovers!

The subtle and damning nature of flattery is seen also in false religion, where good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of simple hearers to sell false doctrine (Rom 16:17-18; II Cor 2:17; 11:3-4,13-15; Col 2:4; II Pet 2:3,18). What is the protection? Look for the plain and simple churches of Jesus Christ with straightforward preaching of the Bible. Look for ministers who provide all things direct and honest (II Cor 4:2). Instead of pulpit manner, look for pulpit content. Instead of presentation, look for doctrine and instruction.

Spiritual Training 07 May 2013

Posted: May 7, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Romans 11:11-12 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

Paul had a vision of a church where all Jewish and Gentile believers would be united in their love of God and in obedience to Christ. While respecting god’s law, this ideal church would look to Christ alone for salvation. A person’s ethnic background and social status would be irrelevant (see Galatians 3:28) what mattered would be his or her faith in Christ.

But Paul’s vision has not yet been realized. Many Jewish people rejected the gospel. They depended on their heritage for salvation, and they did not have the heart of obedience that was so important to the Old Testament prophets and to Paul. Once Gentiles became dominant in many of the Christian churches, they began rejecting Jews and even persecuting them. Unfortunately, this practice has recurred through the centuries.

True Christians should not persecute others. Bothe Gentiles and Jews have done so much to damage the cause of the God they claim to serve that Paul’s vision often seems impossible to fulfill. Yet God chose the Jews, just as he chose the Gentiles, and he is still working to unite Jew and Gentile in a new Israel, a new Jerusalem, ruled by his Son (Ephesians 2:11-22)

Lets Bring it home: Do we persecute others? That’s a white church, and that’s a black church. What do we say about the Jews, and about ourselves? Are we guilty of this also? How much bad luggage are we carrying from back in the day?

Proverbs 6:27 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: May 6, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs 06, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Proverbs 6:27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

Casual sex will burn you! There is no protection against it. Marriage makes sexual pleasure honorable, but God will judge adulterers and fornicators (Heb 13:4). But before God judges you, those that know you and your own soul will punish you as well.

You know the answer to this proverb’s question. It is an emphatic, No! A man cannot take fire close to his body and keep his clothes safe. Fire that close will not only singe his clothes, it will burn them badly. And it is just as true that a man playing around sexually with another man’s wife will burn his life. There is nothing casual about sexual sin.

Solomon warned his son about the danger of the strange woman – a whorish woman or adulteress (Pr 6:23-35). He wanted his son to know that adultery would bring severe consequences, much the same as embracing fire will certainly burn a man’s clothes. The sin of adultery will burn your life as surely as fire in your bosom will burn your clothing.

How does adultery burn a man? The main point in the warning here is the adulterer’s reputation – he will not be innocent, because this sin cannot easily be forgiven or overlooked (Pr 6:29). Men do not despise a thief, if he steals due to hunger – his crime is understandable, even though he will be punished (Pr 6:30-31). But men do not understand or accept an outsider stealing personal intimacy with their wives (Pr 6:32-35).

The proverb asks a simple question: you know the obvious answer. A rhetorical question is a powerful tool of persuasive reasoning. You have no doubt as you visualize a man embracing fire in his bosom – his clothes will surely be burned! The image is to be transferred to adultery – the man holding another man’s wife will be burned just as surely! He will suffer severe and sure consequences for violating another man’s marriage.

You know the answer to the proverb, and you know its application. But many lie about this obvious lesson! Hollywood sells movies by appealing to sexual lusts and fantasies, so they never show the consequences of adultery; instead they work it into most every movie they produce. They want you to believe that fire will not burn your clothes. They are greedy liars directed by the devil to satisfy sinful lusts to fill their covetous purses.

Some psychologists say an affair can enhance marriage. The music industry by lifestyle and lyrics suggest it as the only exciting love. Soap operas would not exist without it. Romance novels create lustful fantasies for it. Nightclubs make a place to get it started. Euphemisms like “having an affair,” “having a lover,” or “playing around” hide its consequences. They lie! Adultery will hurt you as surely as fire will burn clothes! Run!

The greatest liar about adultery is inside you – your sinful heart inherited from Adam. If you give it the least freedom, your heart will tell you that you can get away with adultery and that the pleasure is worth it. Do you know your heart is this wicked (Jer 17:9)? If you do, you are partially protected. If you do not, you need to learn it. Then you need to reject every man or input that suggests or teaches that adultery is safe. It is not safe (Heb 13:4).

If you have committed adultery, you already know this proverb is true, unless God has turned you over to a reprobate mind and shut down your conscience (Rom 1:18-32; Eph 4:17-19). If you know you are guilty, and if you know you have sinned, God can easily forgive you through the Lord Jesus Christ. Never forget that He came into this world for sinners, and forgiven prostitutes were some of His followers (I Tim 1:15; Matt 21:31).

If guilt is crushing you, remember repenting adulterers and adulteresses in the Bible. God forgave David and used him mightily after adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband. The Lord Jesus accepted harlots into His kingdom, chose the adulteress of Samaria for the gospel in that city, forgave the woman taken in adultery by the Pharisees, and appeared first to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection. How could He be merciful to a sin God hates? Because He took the sin of adultery on Himself on the cross of Calvary. It will never again burn those who are found in Him (Is 54:4-12; I Cor 6:9-11)!

Spiritual Training 06 May 2013

Posted: May 6, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Romans 11:07-08 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.”

09-10 And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

“The others were hardened” was God’s punishment for their sin. It was a confirmation of their own stubbornness. In judging them, God removed their ability to see and hear, and to repent; thus they would experience the consequences of their rebellion. Resisting God is like saying to him, “leave me alone!” But because God is always and everywhere present, his answer to the prayer might be to agree and make that person less sensitive, more hardened to him. The very possibility of that happening ought to keep us asking God specifically for ears that really hear and eyes that really see-openness and responsiveness to him.

These verses describe the punishment for hardened hearts predicted by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:9-13).

Lets Bring it home: If people refuse to hear God’s Good news, they eventually will be unable to understand it. We need to keep asking God specifically for ears that really hear and eyes that really see.

Proverbs 03:13 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs 03, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Proverbs 3:13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding

How can you be happy? King Solomon told you how. The man who had everything knew more about happiness than anyone. What was his advice? Knowing that wisdom and understanding greatly affect every part of your life, he said to find and get them both.

Daily goals for your life should include seeking wisdom and understanding. They will do more for you than any other thing. They will bring you true happiness and many other blessings. What is your chief ambition in life today? Are you chasing vanity instead?

Solomon taught his son to search for wisdom (Pr 2:1-9); it would save him from much trouble (Pr 2:10-21). To encourage his son, and you as well, in pursuit of it, he described wisdom’s great blessings (Pr 3:14-18). It and understanding can make you happy.

Compared economically, obtaining wisdom and understanding is better than a prosperous business in gold and silver (Pr 3:14). They are of greater value than rubies (Pr 3:15). In fact, wisdom and understanding are more important than anything you could possible seek in your life (Pr 3:15). Financial gain does not give lasting happiness to any man, and it brings enormous worries and problems with it (Pr 23:4-5; Eccl 5:10-17; I Tim 6:9-10).

Wisdom and understanding will give you a long life, riches, and honor (Pr 3:16). They will bring you pleasantness and peace (Pr 3:17). They will be the source of a wonderful life; and if you keep them, you will be very happy (Pr 3:18). There is nothing this world has to offer that can compare. Why waste any more effort chasing their soap bubbles?

If this fabulous description of the benefits of wisdom and understanding were only half true, you should still make getting them a priority. Nothing else you are working for even comes close. But Solomon, king of Israel, knew what he wrote. Having tried every sort of project and pleasure to find profit and happiness in this life, he concluded that wisdom and understanding are the great goals (Pr 8:32-36). Trust his efforts (Pr 25:2; Eccl 2:12).

Wisdom and understanding know the basis and purpose for life and how to deal rightly with each situation life brings. Instead of the hopeless confusion of not knowing what man is here for nor how to handle life’s problems, those with wisdom and understanding find life a pleasant and peaceful experience with much happiness. They are successful and rich, as measured by noble standards, and they are honored among good men.

Wisdom and understanding are built on the foundation of fearing the Lord (Pr 1:7; 9:10). They are increased by rejecting your own ideas and trusting the Lord’s instruction (Pr 3:5-7), which is found in His holy scriptures (II Tim 3:16-17), especially Proverbs. God raised up Solomon and inspired these select proverbs to teach young men, and every reader, wisdom and understanding (Pr 1:1-4). Learning them should be your daily goal.

Every day should include begging God for wisdom (Jas 1:5), repudiating your own folly (Job 33:27), searching the Scriptures for it (Acts 17:11), and doing what you learn (Jas 1:22). With effort applied in these areas, you will find a liberal supply of wisdom and understanding (Pr 2:5,8; 8:17). But you must sacrifice to make this a priority (Pr 18:1).

Ultimate and infinite wisdom and understanding are in the Lord Jesus Christ (Col 2:3). He came to give His elect children the abundant life, as they believe and obey more and more perfectly (John 10:10). In Him is full and unspeakable joy (I Pet 1:8; I John 1:4). Believe on Him and follow His scriptures today for happiness in this world and the next.

Spiritual Training 03 May 2013

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Romans 11:1-6 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject this people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah-how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace then it is no longer by works; if it were , grace would no longer be grace.

Paul points out that not all Jews have rejected God’s message of salvation. There is still a faithful remnant (11:5). Paul himself, after all, was a Jew, and so were Jesus’ disciples and nearly all of the early Christian missionaries.

Elijah was a great reforming prophet who challenged the northern Kingdom of Israel to repent. See his Profile in 1 Kings 18.

God chose the Jews (“his people, whom he foreknew”) to be the people through whom the rest of the world could find salvation. But this did not mean the entire Jewish nation would be saved; only those who were faithful to God (the remnant) were considered true Jews (11:5). We are saved through faith in Christ, not because we are part of a nation, religion, or family.

Lets Bring it home: On whom or on what are you depending for Salvation? Do you think it’s easier for God to love you when you’re good? Do you secretly suspect that God chose you because you deserved it? Do you think some people’s behavior is so bad that God couldn’t possibly save them? If you ever think this way, you don’t entirely understand that salvation is by grace, a free gift. It cannot be earned, in whole or in part; it can only be accepted with thankfulness and praise.

Proverbs 02:15 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 02, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Proverbs 2:15 Whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways

The world is crazy! Its thinking is twisted. It is profanely wrong. When men reject God and the Bible, they invent crooked ways to live. And they love their insanity. If you try to correct them, they will hate you for it! Solomon’s warning is to save you from them.

Worldly men mockingly call Christians straight. And they are right! Christians call worldly men crooked, and they are right. Sin has twisted the heart and mind of man, so that worldly men rush headlong into crooked ways and down froward paths. Only the proper fear of God will save a man from the crookedness and frowardness of the world.

The long sentence here explains the saving virtues of wisdom, knowledge, discretion, and understanding (Pr 2:10-17). These gifts from God will protect you from the evil and froward man (Pr 2:12), “whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths.” King Solomon is your personal counselor against the dysfunctional lifestyles of worldly men.

Crooked ways are lifestyles deviating from what is right; they are dishonest, wrong, and perverse. Froward paths are lifestyles that are unreasonable, unruly, perverse, and evil. Crooked and froward have very similar meanings. They mean wrong and perverse (Pr 3:32; 4:24; 6:12; 8:8; 11:20; 17:20; 21:8; Deut 32:5,20; Ps 18:26; 101:4; 125:5; Is 59:8).

Give God the glory! When men reject the obvious display of God’s existence in the natural creation, and they are not thankful for His kindness, He darkens their minds and turns them over to reprobate thinking, to do inconvenient things (Rom 1:18-32; Eph 4:17-19). You should read His mocking and taunting ridicule of idolaters in Isaiah 44:9-20!

How inconvenient is the lifestyle He gives them? Very crooked and froward! Very wrong and perverse! They profess themselves wise, just weeks after learning not to mess on themselves, yet they make images of bugs to worship, rather than their Creator (Rom 1:22-23). Consider one of the most crooked ways and froward paths of all. God confuses them to dishonor each other by vile perversions with the same sex (Rom 1:24-27)!

Then He gives them over to more thoughts and acts to dishonor their race (Rom 1:28-32). Fornication, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, deceit, whispering, backbiting, rebellious children, covenantbreaking, and implacability are a few of their ways and paths. They are “without understanding” and “without natural affection.” Not only do they do such things, they also take pleasure in being with and watching others do them.

Christian reader, if the truth were told, as you well know, your depraved heart and mind from Adam is as crooked and froward as any. Even Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom 7:18). But there is a new man within, created in righteousness and true holiness, which you are to put on daily (Eph 4:24).

By God’s grace, you are not to conform to the world, but be transformed from it (Rom 12:1-2). God has called you to a different lifestyle! Paul called on saints to be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Phil 2:15). Reader, are you as different from the world as you should be? There should not even be a resemblance!

How can you be different? By wisdom, knowledge, discretion, and understanding (Pr 2:10-11)! Where do you find such precious things? In God’s word! You esteem God’s precepts right on all subjects, and you hate every false way (Ps 119:128). There is no shortcut, and there is no cheating. The only wisdom on earth is in the Bible (Is 8:20)!

There was only one Man, Whose ways were perfectly straight, and His paths perfectly right. There was nothing crooked or froward in Him. Paul said Jesus was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb 7:26). What did this world do to Him? They mocked and tortured Him, before hanging Him by nails on a cross; and they would do the same thing again, if they had another chance. And they want the same for His followers.

But the next time they see Him, He will not be coming to die on the cross for His elect. He will be coming to ferociously destroy His enemies. There will be no quarter or mercy given in that day, as judgment is poured out on the crooked and froward. They will call in vain to their Mother Earth, even “the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev 6:16-17).

“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day” (II Thess 1:7-10).

Spiritual Training 02 May 2013

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Romans, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Romans 10:16-20 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. “Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? Fist, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” And Isaiah boldly says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Many Jews who looked for the Messiah refused to believe in him when he came. God offered his salvation to the Gentiles (“those who are not a nation” and “a nation that has no understanding”); thus many Gentiles who didn’t even know about a Messiah found and believed in him. Some religious people are spiritually blind, while those who have never been in a church are sometimes the most responsive to God’s message. Because appearances are deceiving and we can’t see into people’s hearts,

Lets Bring it home: Beware of judging beforehand who will respond to the gospel and who will not

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