Posts Tagged ‘theology’

Proverbs 15:10 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 15, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 15, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 15:10 Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die.    

Prove the character of your soul! Can you take correction? Can you take it gladly? Do you appreciate reproof (Criticism)? Do you appreciate the reprover? Your attitude toward correction and reproof says more about your heart than any other measure. Fools and scorners hate correction and reproof, but both are going to die in their folly.

You arrived in this world ignorant and depraved. Your heart was dead to God and righteousness, and it was alive to rebellion and sin. You were given parents, who corrected your childish antics and prepared you to survive life. They reproved your youthful folly. If you rebelled against them, then they and a harsh world punished you.

If God has graciously changed your heart, the only way you can learn the way of righteousness is by correction and reproof. You need teachers to rebuke your folly and direct you to wisdom. God has chosen to do this primarily by parents and preachers. It is by warnings and instruction from the Word of God that you are prepared for success.

Your evil heart does not like to be corrected. You resent being reproved. You do not like to be told you are wrong and need to change. You want to keep your sins. You hate those who examine and condemn your conduct. But these are the very means by which you acquire wisdom and are saved from life’s pitfalls! Why do you resent what was ordained for your blessing and salvation? Because your depraved heart loves its own folly!

Two rules are taught in this proverb. First, if you dislike correction, it proves you have forsaken the way of righteousness and wisdom. A man seeking knowledge and truth does not have such a rebellious spirit. Second, if you hate reproof, you will die. Ignorance will trap you, and rebellion will condemn you. Folly and sin will certainly destroy you.

How do ignorant men obtain truth and wisdom? Obviously, they need warnings and rebuke. If you resent these means for obtaining wisdom, then you are going to die in your stupidity and stubbornness. The snares of wicked men will deceive you; the various authorities in life will condemn you; and the blessed God of heaven will destroy you.

Examine your heart! Do you love correction and reproof? Do you love the parents and pastors who correct and reprove you? This is the measure of your character and wisdom. If you have a problem with being told you are wrong or resenting those who rebuke you, humble yourself before God and beg for His mercy before it is too late. Death is coming!

Spiritual Training 15 January 2013

Posted: January 15, 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 6:1-2 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer. 

 If God loves to forgive, why not give him more to forgive? If forgiveness is guaranteed, do we have the freedom to sin as much as we want?  Paul’s forceful answer is By no means! Such an attitude deciding ahead of time to take advantage of God-shows that a person does not understand the seriousness of sin.  God’s forgiveness does not make sin less serious; his Son’s death for sin shows us the dreadful seriousness of sin.  Jesus paid with his life so we could be forgiven.

Lets Bring it Home:  The availability of God’s mercy must not become an excuse for careless living and moral laxness.

Proverbs 14:12 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 15, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 14, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.

The “way that seems right” may offer many options and require few sacrifices.  Easy choices, however, should make us take a second look.  Is this solution attractive because it allows me to be lazy? Because it doesn’t ask me to change my lifestyle? Because it requires no moral restraints?  The right choice often requires hard work and self-sacrifice.  Don’t be enticed by apparent shortcuts that seem right but end in death.

Spiritual Training 14 January 2013

Posted: January 15, 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 5:20-21 The law was added so that the trespass might increase.  But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

As a sinner, separated from God, you see his law from below, as a ladder to be climbed to get to God.  Perhaps you have repeatedly tried to climb it, only to fall to the ground every time you have advanced one or two steps.  Or perhaps the sheer height of the ladder seems so overwhelming that you have never even started up.

Lets Bring it Home: In either case, what relief you should feel to see Jesus offering with open arms to lift you above the ladder of the law, or take you directly to God!  Once Jesus lifts you into God’s presence, you are free to obey out of love, not necessity, and through God’s power, not your own.  You know that if you stumble, you will not fall back to the ground.  Instead, you will be caught and held in Christ’s loving arms.

Spiritual Training 11 January 2013

Posted: January 11, 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 5:15-19 (15) But the gift is not like the trespass.  For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!  (16) Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin:  The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  (17) For it, by the trespass of the one an, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.  (18) Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.  (19) For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 

 We were all born into Adam’s physical family-the family line that leads to certain death.  All of us have reaped the results of Adam’s sin.  We have inherited his guilt, a sinful nature (the tendency to sin), and God’s punishment.  Because of Jesus, however, we can trade judgment for forgiveness.  We can trade our sin for Jesus’ righteousness.  Christ offers us the opportunity to be born into his spiritual family-the family line that begins with forgiveness and leads to eternal life, if we do nothing we have death through Adam; but if we come to God by faith, we have the life through Christ.

Lets Bring it Home: Which family line do you belong to?

Spiritual Training 10 January 2013

Posted: January 10, 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 5:12 (12) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned

How can we be declared guilty for something Adam did thousands of year’s age?  Many feel it isn’t right for God to judge us because of Adam’s sin.  Yet each of us confirms our solidarity with Adam by our own sins each day.

Bringing it Home: We are made of the same stuff and are prone to rebel, and we are judged for the sins we commit.  Because we are sinners, it isn’t fairness we need-it’s mercy.

(13)-for before the law was given, sin was in the world.  But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.  (14) Nevertheless death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. 

 Paul has shown that keeping the law does not bring salvation.  Here he adds that breaking the law is not what brings death, Death is the result of Adam’s sin and of the sins we all commit, even it they don’t resemble Adam’s.  Paul reminds his readers that for thousands of years the law had not yet been explicitly given, and yet people died.  The law was added, he explains in 5:20, to help people see their sinfulness, to show them the seriousness of their offenses, and to drive them to God for mercy and pardon.  This was true in Moses’ day, and it is still true today.  Sin is a deep discrepancy between who we are and who we were created to be.  The law points out our sin and places the responsibly for it squarely on our shoulders.  But the law offers no remedy.

 Lets Bring it home: When we are convicted of sin, we must turn to Jesus Christ for healing.

Spiritual Training 09 January 2012 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 9, 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 5:10-11 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

God is holy, and he will not be associated with sin.  All people are sinful and so they are separated from God.  In addition, all sin deserves punishment.  Instead of punishing us with the death we deserve, however, Christ took our sins upon himself and took our punishment by dying on the cross.

 

Lets Bring it home: Now we can  “rejoice in God.” Through faith in Christ’s work, we become close to God (reconciled) rather than being enemies and outcast.

 

Proverbs 9:13-18 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 9, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 09, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 9:13-18 The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge.  She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way.  “Let all who are simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment.  “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.  

 Something is hypnotic and intoxicating about wickedness.  One sin leads us to want more; sinful behavior seems more exciting than the Christian life.  That is why many people put aside all thought of Wisdom’s spectacular banquet in order to eat the stolen food of Folly. Don’t be deceived, sin is dangerous.  Before reaching for forbidden frit, take a long look at what happens to those who eat it.

Proverbs 08:05 Wisdom for the Soul

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

Proverbs 8:05 – You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding. 

Are people willing to take the position to admit that they are not adequate, to say I am a sinner and that I really don’t have intellectual problems?  Sometimes I think it is a joke to listen to folk with “intellectual” problems. How many times do we hear people say, “I have intellectual problems about the Bible?”  What they really have is a sin problem, and he didn’t want to give up his sin.  I have discovered that if a person has a sin problem and will turn to Christ with that problem, it is amazing how often the intellectual problems will be solved.

 

Spiritual Training 08 January 2013

Posted: January 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 5:9-10 – Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 

The love that caused Christ to die is the same love that sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us every day. The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that saved you and is available to you in your daily life.

 

Lets Bring it home: Be assured that, having begun a life with Christ, you have a reserve of power and love to call on each day, for help to meet every challenged or trial.  You can pray for God’s power and love, as you need it.

 

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