December 8, 2015

From Gary... Refocus


Every so often I like to refocus my life. I do this by thinking about my roots- where I started, what life was like when I was young and so forth. This Bible verse is one of those beginnings. In my early 20's, I remember waking up one afternoon in front of the fireplace, covered in my own vomit and thought- will I ever change? Then this verse came to mind and I realized that with God's help I could be a different person. One thing led to another and eventually I became a Christian.

I am NOT PERFECT, but I am FORGIVEN- while I still have problems, drinking is not one of them. And those things that I have yet to overcome, I will continue to work on with the help of God. 

And you can do the same- because, with God, all things are possible (Written in stone, above)!!!!

From Gary... Bible Reading December 8



Bible Reading   

December 8

The World English Bible

Dec. 8
Ezekiel 45-48

Eze 45:1 Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to Yahweh, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all its border all around.
Eze 45:2 Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred in length by five hundred in breadth, square all around; and fifty cubits for its suburbs all around.
Eze 45:3 Of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.
Eze 45:4 It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to Yahweh; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.
Eze 45:5 Twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall be to the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession to themselves, for twenty chambers.
Eze 45:6 You shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and twenty-five thousand long, side by side with the offering of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.
Eze 45:7 Whatever is for the prince shall be on the one side and on the other side of the holy offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy offering and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border.
Eze 45:8 In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
Eze 45:9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people, says the Lord Yahweh.
Eze 45:10 You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
Eze 45:11 The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer: its measure shall be after the homer.
Eze 45:12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
Eze 45:13 This is the offering that you shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and you shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley;
Eze 45:14 and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor,which is ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer;)
Eze 45:15 and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel--for a meal offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the Lord Yahweh.
Eze 45:16 All the people of the land shall give to this offering for the prince in Israel.
Eze 45:17 It shall be the prince's part to give the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.
Eze 45:18 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the first month, in the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish; and you shall cleanse the sanctuary.
Eze 45:19 The priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it on the door posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.
Eze 45:20 So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple: so you shall make atonement for the house.
Eze 45:21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Eze 45:22 On that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.
Eze 45:23 The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to Yahweh, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.
Eze 45:24 He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Eze 45:25 In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, shall he do the like the seven days; according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meal offering, and according to the oil.

Eze 46:1 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
Eze 46:2 The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate; and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.
Eze 46:3 The people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.
Eze 46:4 The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to Yahweh shall be on the Sabbath day six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish;
Eze 46:5 and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Eze 46:6 On the day of the new moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish:
Eze 46:7 and he shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Eze 46:8 When the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by its way.
Eze 46:9 But when the people of the land shall come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate; and he who enters by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate by which he came in, but shall go forth straight before him.
Eze 46:10 The prince, when they go in, shall go in with of them; and when they go out, he shall go out.
Eze 46:11 In the feasts and in the solemnities the meal offering shall be an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Eze 46:12 When the prince shall prepare a freewill offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.
Eze 46:13 You shall prepare a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to Yahweh daily: morning by morning you shall prepare it.
Eze 46:14 You shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal offering to Yahweh continually by a perpetual ordinance.
Eze 46:15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.
Eze 46:16 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: If the prince give a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.
Eze 46:17 But if he give of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons.
Eze 46:18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession; he shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people not be scattered every man from his possession.
Eze 46:19 Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which looked toward the north: and behold, there was a place on the hinder part westward.
Eze 46:20 He said to me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the meal offering; that they not bring them forth into the outer court, to sanctify the people.
Eze 46:21 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.
Eze 46:22 In the four corners of the court there were courts enclosed, forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four in the corners were of one measure.
Eze 46:23 There was a wall around in them, around the four, and boiling places were made under the walls all around.
Eze 46:24 Then said he to me, These are the boiling houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.
Eze 47:1 He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; (for the forefront of the house was toward the east;) and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.
Eze 47:2 Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east; and behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
Eze 47:3 When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles.
Eze 47:4 Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the waist.
Eze 47:5 Afterward he measured one thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.
Eze 47:6 He said to me, Son of man, have you seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.
Eze 47:7 Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
Eze 47:8 Then said he to me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea shall the waters go which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed.
Eze 47:9 It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come there, and the waters of the sea shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes.
Eze 47:10 It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from En Gedi even to En Eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
Eze 47:11 But the miry places of it, and its marshes, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt.
Eze 47:12 By the river on its bank, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall its fruit fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and its fruit shall be for food, and its leaf for healing.
Eze 47:13 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This shall be the border, by which you shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
Eze 47:14 You shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I swore to give it to your fathers: and this land shall fall to you for inheritance.
Eze 47:15 This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;
Eze 47:16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer Hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.
Eze 47:17 The border from the sea, shall be Hazar Enon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
Eze 47:18 The east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border to the east sea you shall measure. This is the east side.
Eze 47:19 The south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth Kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the great sea. This is the south side southward.
Eze 47:20 The west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as over against the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.
Eze 47:21 So you shall divide this land to you according to the tribes of Israel.
Eze 47:22 It shall happen, that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to you and to the strangers who sojourn among you, who shall father children among you; and they shall be to you as the native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
Eze 47:23 It shall happen, that in what tribe the stranger sojourns, there you shall give him his inheritance, says the Lord Yahweh.

Eze 48:1 Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east and west), Dan, one portion.
Eze 48:2 By the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one portion.
Eze 48:3 By the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, oneportion.
Eze 48:4 By the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, oneportion.
Eze 48:5 By the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, oneportion.
Eze 48:6 By the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, oneportion.
Eze 48:7 By the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one portion.
Eze 48:8 By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the offering which you shall offer, twenty-five thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in its midst.
Eze 48:9 The offering that you shall offer to Yahweh shall be twenty-five thousand reeds in length, and ten thousand in breadth.
Eze 48:10 For these, even for the priests, shall be the holy offering: toward the north twenty-five thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length: and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in its midst.
Eze 48:11 It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my instruction, who didn't go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
Eze 48:12 It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.
Eze 48:13 Answerable to the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.
Eze 48:14 They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first fruits of the land be alienated; for it is holy to Yahweh.
Eze 48:15 The five thousand that are left in the breadth, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs; and the city shall be in its midst.
Eze 48:16 These shall be its measures: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.
Eze 48:17 The city shall have suburbs: toward the north two hundred fifty, and toward the south two hundred fifty, and toward the east two hundred fifty, and toward the west two hundred fifty.
Eze 48:18 The remainder in the length, answerable to the holy offering, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be answerable to the holy offering; and its increase shall be for food to those who labor in the city.
Eze 48:19 Those who labor in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it.
Eze 48:20 All the offering shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: you shall offer the holy offering foursquare, with the possession of the city.
Eze 48:21 The residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy offering and of the possession of the city; in front of the twenty-five thousand of the offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, answerable to the portions, it shall be for the prince: and the holy offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in its midst.
Eze 48:22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it shall be for the prince.
Eze 48:23 As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, Benjamin, oneportion.
Eze 48:24 By the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, oneportion.
Eze 48:25 By the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, oneportion.
Eze 48:26 By the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun, oneportion.
Eze 48:27 By the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad, one portion.
Eze 48:28 By the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the great sea.
Eze 48:29 This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their several portions, says the Lord Yahweh.
Eze 48:30 These are the exits of the city: On the north side four thousand and five hundredreeds by measure;
Eze 48:31 and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.
Eze 48:32 At the east side four thousand and five hundred reeds, and three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.
Eze 48:33 At the south side four thousand and five hundred reeds by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.
Eze 48:34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred reeds, with their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.
Eze 48:35 It shall be eighteen thousand reeds around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there.

 Dec. 8
2 Peter 1

2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue;
2Pe 1:4 by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
2Pe 1:5 Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience; and in patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9 For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10 Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.
2Pe 1:11 For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:12 Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.
2Pe 1:13 I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you;
2Pe 1:14 knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
2Pe 1:15 Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.
2Pe 1:16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2Pe 1:17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
2Pe 1:18 We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
2Pe 1:19 We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts:
2Pe 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit. 

From Roy Davison... What is precious to you?


http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/060-precious.html

What is precious to you?

Something is precious to us because of its high intrinsic value or because it means much to us personally. These two are not the same, since we often cherish something that has no intrinsic value. It might have extrinsic value to us, or it might be much less valuable than we think it is.
A disaster can reveal what is precious to us. I know a man who fell down a flight of sharp stone stairs. He lay sprawled at the bottom, groaning and moaning: “Oh no! Oh no! It’s broken! It’s broken! I broke my smartphone!”
Noticing what the Scriptures label as precious can help us cherish things that are truly precious, and recognize things that are not.

We may not cherish material things.
Remember Solomon’s evaluation of the material realm: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

On judgment day, precious stones will be worthless.
Many try to prop up their self-esteem by adorning themselves with expensive possessions, gems and jewelry.
The spiritual harlot, portrayed in Revelation as Babylon the Great, deals in “merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble” (Revelation 18:12).
There is an outward appearance of great wealth, but the harlot’s chalice is filled with filth, fornication and blood; and when she faces God in judgment, her wealth is gone: “The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more” ... “For in one hour such great riches came to nothing” (Revelation 18:14, 17).

Love of money leads to perdition.
“And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:8-10).

We should cherish spiritual things.
Spiritual values are eternal.

Wisdom is more precious than gold.
Of wisdom we read in Proverbs 3:15, “She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.”
Job declared:
“But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
It cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
Neither gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.
No mention shall be made of coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?”
...
“Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding”
(Job 28:12-20, 28).

Our faith is more precious than gold.
Peter addresses his second letter “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1).
In his first letter, referring to our living hope and incorruptible inheritance, Peter says: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6, 7).

Most precious are the gracious gifts of God.

God’s gifts in nature are precious.
“See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain” (James 5:7).
When Moses blessed Israel, he said of the tribe of Joseph:
“Blessed of the LORD is his land,
With the precious things of heaven, with the dew,
And the deep lying beneath,
With the precious fruits of the sun,
With the precious produce of the months,
With the best things of the ancient mountains,
With the precious things of the everlasting hills,
With the precious things of the earth and its fullness”
(Deuteronomy 33:13-16).
Let us value the precious blessings of the earth, and thank God for them.

God’s mercy is precious.
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings” (Psalm 36:7).

God’s thoughts are precious.
“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!” (Psalm 139:17). The word of God, which reveals His thoughts, is a matchless treasure.
In 1988 when I visited Dan McVey in Ghana, I was surprised that his bookshop contained many expensive leather-bound Bibles and only a few inexpensive Bibles. I asked why he had so many expensive Bibles for a country with much poverty. He explained that most people wanted a durable Bible because it was their most prized possession. They had to save up for it, so they wanted it to last a lifetime. They might not be able to afford glasses, so they wanted a Bible with large print.
How much are God’s thoughts worth to us? Is God’s word our most prized possession? Can we say with David: “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!”

God has given us precious promises.
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4).

We have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:17-19).
To redeem someone is to purchase his liberation. We sold ourselves into the slavery of sin but we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. We stand in awe of God who loved us so much. How precious we must be to Him that He was willing to pay such a price for our liberation. In gratitude we bow to His will and serve Him with joy.
“You are not your own. For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).

Christ is the precious cornerstone in God’s spiritual house.
“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation’” (Isaiah 28:16).
We need a solid foundation. Christ is the precious cornerstone of God’s temple. Only by aligning ourselves with Him can we be a living stone in God’s spiritual house.
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious” (1 Peter 2:4-7).

God’s kingdom is worth more than any earthly interest.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45, 46).
Serving God is worth more than physical life itself. Paul declared: “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

What is precious to the Lord?

A gentle spirit is precious to God.
“Do not let your adornment be outward - arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel - rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God” (1 Peter 3:3, 4).
Although this passage is directed to women, the principle applies to all: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Jesus was “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). The fruit of the Spirit includes “gentleness” (Galatians 5:23). Let us cultivate “a gentle and quite spirit,” which is precious to God.

Precious to the Lord is the death of His saints.
“He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight” (Psalm 72:13, 14).
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).
The day of death is victory day for the faithful Christian who can say with Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7, 8).

What is precious according to God’s word?
We may not cherish material things. On judgment day, precious stones will be worthless. Love of money leads to perdition. We ought to cherish spiritual things. Wisdom and faith are more precious than gold. Most precious are the gracious gifts of God. His gifts in nature, His mercy and His thoughts are precious. He has given us exceedingly precious promises. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. He is the precious cornerstone in God’s spiritual house. God’s kingdom is worth more than any earthly interest. Precious to the Lord are a gentle spirit, and the final victory of His saints.
As Christians, let us cherish these precious things. If you have not yet become a Christian, you are depriving yourself of life’s most precious treasure. Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

From Jim McGuiggan... THE RUBICON AND THE ATTIC

THE RUBICON AND THE ATTIC

Until the heart hungers for rich change it'll never come, especially if we’re comfortable at present. If life for us is a prolonged crucifixion how could we not want rich change? If we’re jogging along in a good measure of comfort and contentment we’ll not seek it much; why would we? It's the human condition, is it not, to prefer the "old wine" rather than the "new"?
Steve Weathers, ACU professor of English, several years ago gave a riveting address about kingdom righteousness and in the course of it taught us of the blessing and dangers of being “scribal” in our understanding of God and his word. The scribal tend to want to keep things as traditional as they are, to conserve; and they are a healthy balancing factor when those of us who worship at the altar of the new and the different are at a full gallop toward the presently appealing.
But of course, I'm certain that worshiping the old and viewing all that's new with the deepest suspicion is no better or worse than worshiping the new and despising the old. Wouldn’t you think that’s so? Fear can certainly be healthy but it can be a tyrant as well and if "what we've always believed" had determined the future, God could not have shown himself in and as the crucified Jesus. Still, whether we would keep him from "making everything new" he will do as he sees fit, won't he! Of this we're sure, it isn't the God of "the status quo" who announced in Revelation 21:5, "Behold, I am making everything new!" My new and your new may not be the kind of new we need but we all know his will be. Still, it isn't always easy to know which is his new and which is our own.
I’m neither wise nor pure enough yet to be able to maintain the balance though I think I’m now grown enough to recognize that I lack sufficient maturity to do it. But in a world where fashions and spouses change and are swapped with astonishing speed it is becoming difficult to see the worth of the old—old stuff or people or convictions.
The television program The Antique Roadshow (where Weathers got some of his wisdom and a favorite TV program of my sweet Ethel) allows us to see people coming in droves, streaming from their attics and outhouses, their basements and boxes with their arms full of old, dust-covered stuff that no one has bothered with for years. 
“Is it any good? Has it any value?” they ask the experts. They themselves are ignorant but have the good sense and humility to believe that someone else knows better. Out of the depths of his or her experience the expert tells marvelous stories and astonishing truths about the old piece of furniture or fabric, the old painting or piece of twisted glass. The owners who had shoved these items aside in the pursuit of the new, bowing to the culture of novelty, are astonished and now look with new eyes at old realities for which they had had no time. What a wonderful experience that is or must be. Can you imagine them as they hurry back home to tell whoever still doesn't know what they just learned?
At a more serious level a love for the old is not simply—or at least it isn’t always—a sentimental attachment to how things used to be. Sometimes it is a humble recognition of and respect and gratitude for our roots. A heart that knows nothing of that and goes on careering after the new, despising boundaries and borders as if they existed only to be scorned—such a heart is in need of mending.
Jesus speaks of a “Christian” scribe, one that has been “made a disciple” of the kingdom of heaven and instructed concerning it (see Matthew 13:1-53). “Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (13:52)
Don’t you know it must have been horrendously difficult for devout Jews to receive some of the things Jesus and Peter and Paul had to say? At one time or another we've all had difficulty receiving new truth, haven't we. But these three didn’t scorn the old though at times they had difficulty with it—they fully appreciated it and gladly gave it its place in the current development of God’s enterprise.
Not all boundaries are there to forbid us—some of them are challenges, calling us to enter with Jesus and make things new and fresh. Hideyo Noguchi wanted to be a doctor but a severe burn had ruined one of his hands so he turned to research and had already made his name in science and bacteriology before he arrived at the coast of Africa, a boundary and frontier. Beyond it was Yellow Fever that some friends said would take his life if he went there but there were millions that needed deliverance from it so he went and it did take his life at fifty-two. 
Crossing some religious frontiers and boundaries only appears to be less dramatic and costly than Noguchi’s laying down his life as a sacrifice or Julius Caesar’s crossing the Rubicon.
Things new and old. Forbidden to us or daring us to be brave?
Hmmm; it’s a challenge, isn’t it? A real challenge!
Spending Time with Jim McGuiggan

Adam and Eve, Good and Evil by Eric Lyons, M.Min.



http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=2728&b=Genesis

Adam and Eve, Good and Evil

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Q.

Did Adam and Eve know of good and evil prior to sinning? It was only after Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that the Bible says they came “to know good and evil” (Genesis 3:5,22). How could God punish them for an evil action if they did not know what evil was?

A.

Consider a hypothetical situation: What if two godly parents living in the most wicked city in the world chose never to let their children out of their house. They gave them everything they needed for survival inside the house. They filled their home with only good things. Their children never saw evil on television, heard of it on the radio, nor read of it in books. The children could play in any room in the house and open any door, except they had been forbidden to open the front door that leads to “Sodom and Gomorrah.” Do these children know what they can do and cannot do? Yes. Have they seen, witnessed, or experienced the evil outside their house (and compared that evil to the good within their own house)? No. Everything in their house was good. They had the freedom to do any number of things within their own house. They were forbidden to do one thing: open the front door. Did they know they were not supposed to open the front door? Yes. But did they know of the evil on the other side? No. They had never seen it, heard it, thought it, or experienced it.
The term “know” (Hebrew yada, Greek ginosko) or one of its derivatives (i.e., knew, known, etc.) is used in Scripture in a variety of ways. Several times it refers to a man and woman having sexual intercourse (Genesis 4:1,17,25; Judges 11:39; 19:25). Jesus used the term to refer to His regard for His sheep (i.e., people—John 10:27). In contrast to the way of the wicked that will perish, the psalmist wrote that God “knows” (i.e., approves, takes delight in, etc.) the way of the righteous (Psalm 1:6). Paul used the term “know” in Ephesians 3:19 in the sense of knowing “experimentally what intellectually is beyond our powers of knowing”—the love of Christ (Jamieson, 1997). The fact is, like so many other words in Scripture (and in modern times) the word “know” has a variety of meanings.
When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). They had the freedom to eat of “of every tree of the garden” (2:16), but were forbidden to eat of the fruit of one of them (2:17). They knew of God’s good creation and they knew that if they ate of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (the one forbidden tree), God said they would die (3:2-3). However, it was not until after they ate of the forbidden tree that they actually “knew” (experienced) evil. Thus, in one sense Adam and Eve did know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil (they knew what they should and should not do; they understood moral distinctions), but they did not know of good and evil experientially until after their disobedience.

REFERENCE

Jamieson, Robert, et al. (1997), Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown Bible Commentary (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).

Off With Their Heads! by Jeff Miller, Ph.D.


http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=2485

Off With Their Heads!

by Jeff Miller, Ph.D.

Killing unborn human babies is okay, but decapitating roses?—That is just plain wrong. At least, that is what the Swiss Confederation Federal Ethics Committee recently decided. Human beings are now playing God to the point that they are deciding for everybody else what is morally “right” and “wrong”: “The Committee members unanimously consider an arbitrary harm caused to plants to be morally impermissible” (Willemsen, 2008, p. 20, emp. added). As an example, they explain that if a farmer, on his way home after cutting his grass for his animals, “decapitates flowers with his scythe” without “rational reason” (p. 9), he has committed a moral wrong. Really. I suppose that would be either planticide (if deliberate), or plantslaughter (if accidental).
Why does the committee believe that killing plants arbitrarily is wrong? “A clear majority also takes the position that we should handle plants with restraint for the ethical reason that individual plants have inherent worth” (Willemsen, p. 10, emp. in orig.). They explain their use of the words “inherent worth,” by saying that plants, like the rosebush, have worth “independently of whether it is useful or whether someone ascribes a value to it” (p. 7). So, when the card soldiers in Alice in Wonderlandpainted the roses red, they were doing more than merely upsetting the queen (who called for their heads). They were committing a heinous unethical act of seismic proportions and deserved to be punished for their flagrant disregard of roses’ inherent worth—and their right to be the color they were born, or should we say, grown with.
The truth is, human beings have “inherent value” that surpasses the physical realm, because God made us in His image (Genesis 1:27). Unlike the rest of Creation, humans have a soul, and will exist forever. We were created on a different plane from the rest of Creation. Plants have “instrumental value,” because they are useful to humans. God created and protects plants for that reason. Sometimes plants have a “relational value,” if we ascribe value to them (e.g., a tree “planted in memory of a person who has died” [p. 7], or a rose garden that we value because of its beauty). However, a plant’s value is not equal to that of a human being. Jesus emphasized this very point when He contrasted the two: “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you?” (Matthew 6:30). Humans are of far greater value than flowers or grass.
But the committee says that plants “strive after something,” and should not be hampered without “good reason.” After all,
recent findings in natural science, such as the many commonalities between plants, animals and humans at molecular and cellular level [sic], remove the reasons for excluding plants in principle from the moral community.... Studies in cell biology show that plants and animals, which share a developmental history lasting 3 billion years, have many processes and reactions that do not differ fundamentally at the cellular level.... Plants react to touch and stress, or defend themselves against predators and pathogens, in highly differentiated ways (Willemsen, pp. 5,15, emp. added).
They continue:
[I]t could be that plants...fulfill the necessary conditions for a kind of sentience [sense perception, consciousness, the ability to feel—JM].... It is not clear that plants have sentience, but neither is it clear that this is not the case. It cannot therefore be argued that the reasons for excluding plants from the circle of beings that must be morally considered, have been eliminated.... The majority of the committee members at least do not rule out the possibility that plants are sentient, and that this is morally relevant (p. 15, emp. added).
Not quite half of the committee is doubtful that plants are sentient. So, almost half of the committee are not totally sure, but are “doubtful” that plants are sentient. “A small group considers it probable” that they are. Unbelievable! This sort of “reasoning” is the logical outcome of atheism and alienation from God. Are we to start considering the grass’s feelings before we step on the front lawn? If people of this stripe ever overcome their current doubt and convince themselves that plants really are sentient, plants will take their rightful place as “part of the moral community.”
They go further. “The majority opinion is that we require justification to disturb plants’ ability to develop” (p. 17). So, we have to justify ourselves to a plant before we “disturb” it. Concerning “ownership of plants,” the majority of the committee believes that plants are “excluded for moral reasons from absolute ownership. By this interpretation no one may handle plants entirely according to his/her own desires” (p. 20). So, if you live in Switzerland, your potted plant in the kitchen is legally protected. You might think that you own it and can do with it as you please, but you do not, and cannot. And, logically, if you mistreat it (forget to water it as often as you should, water it too much, fail to provide it with proper sunlight, or provide too much sunlight), you could be brought up on charges of—plant abuse. I wonder if plant nurseries in Switzerland will need to provide instructions, with every plant they sell, on how to respect the rights of plants.
Notice that as yet, if one has a “good reason,” it is not wrong to kill plants. But why should it matter if one has a good reason or not? If it is wrong to kill plants, why hesitate to say so forthrightly? Why the loophole? If plants have so many similarities to humans biologically at the cellular level, and it is not acceptable to kill human beings, why should it be acceptable to kill plants? Liberals say that we should not even kill human beings when they have committed heinous crimes worthy of death. Killing others through war is frowned upon, too. The only human killing that seems to be acceptable is euthanasia and abortion, and yet, it is not likely the committee would approve of plant abortion. They likely would rally around a dying plant to keep it alive rather than finish it off. So, why allow plant killing at all? The answer is that, without it, what would we eat? Eating animals is frowned upon by vegetarians. They insist we should exclude meat from our diets. But now killing plants is also being frowned upon. So what is left for us to eat? Insects and dirt? Should we become scavengers and eat only dead items, like road kill or rotting plants? Imagine a dozen starving human beings circling a tree waiting for an apple to die and fall off the tree. Notice the hypocrisy. “It is wrong to kill plants”—up until the point where it really affects me. If these plant-defenders, these champions of flowers, were truly loving and sacrificial towards plants, as they pretend, they would eat no plants or animals at all—any more than they would eat a fellow human being. In fact, given their cockeyed reasoning, they should not even eat dead plants or animals, since to do so would deprive poor little bacteria and microorganisms of their food source. Plus, it would be a desecration of the plant’s memory. Doesn’t the Swiss government committee care for them, too? The loving and sacrificial thing to do would be for humans just to die, and let the Earth be spared the horrible interference of humans.
Consider some implications. Ethically speaking, the arbitrary killing of a plant is now considered to be morally wrong, just like killing a human baby. Of course, to many in society, killing a baby, when it is on the opposite side of the mother’s skin, is not ethically wrong. So, that implies that plants now have more value than a human baby that is merely separated from us by temporary tissues and fluids!
If plants are now to be placed on a pedestal, the future will be bleak indeed. How long will it be until it is considered morally wrong to cut your grass and trim your bushes? What about the murder of trees in order to make room for new roads, houses, and buildings, or to make paper? Logically, all use of wood must be banned. We will have to live in tee-pees made from the leather of dead and rotting animal carcasses or build dirt huts, although doing so, again, would disturb the miniscule bacteria that inhabit such things. Killing cotton plants for clothing would be unacceptable. Humans will have to let the plants take over society. In fact, again, we humans just need to kill ourselves to protect the environment. Remaining alive will mean absolute submission to “Mother Earth” with zero interference so that we are not guilty of sinning against her or having dominion over her. Technological and economical progress must come to a screeching stop so that no harm is inflicted on the environment. We should eliminate all of our energy-using devices and technological advancements, and return to a more primitive time. But wait. There has never been a time when humans did not encroach on their environment. In fact, it would be virtually impossible not to affect the environment—even if you lived in a cave and ate dirt. Microorganisms reside in dirt. Even breathing air affects living entities. Don’t those many airborne microscopic organisms and viruses that are sucked into the human lungs have the right to be included in the “moral community”? This entire discussion is insane.

REFERENCES

Willemsen, Ariane, ed. (2008), “The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants—Moral Consideration of Plants for their Own Sake,” Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (Berne: Swiss Confederation), April.