October 5, 2018

Rest by Gary Rose

Last Saturday night, I just started to get into bed, turned and saw this. My dog, Pal was already in his bed and was laying on his toy. To me, this was the perfect image of rest. He looked tired, but satisfied. More than that, there seemed to be something about the relationship between Pal and his toy that gave him great pleasure!

I called my wife Linda and she went absolutely loved the pose. So much so, that she grabbed her cell and took this picture! I went to bed thinking about this and almost a week later, it is still on my mind.

Then, I rediscovered this Psalm...


Psalm 95 (World English Bible)
 1 Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh.
Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
  2 Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving.
Let’s extol him with songs!
  3 For Yahweh is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
  4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth.
The heights of the mountains are also his.
  5 The sea is his, and he made it.
His hands formed the dry land.
  6 Oh come, let’s worship and bow down.
Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
  7 for he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep in his care. (emphasis added)
Today, oh that you would hear his voice! 
  8 Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, 
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
  9 when your fathers tempted me,
tested me, and saw my work.
  10 Forty long years I was grieved with that generation,
and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart.
They have not known my ways.”
  11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They won’t enter into my rest.”


Those of us who belong to God have a relationship with HIM. We listen to HIM and HE in return, hears our prayers. There is great comfort in knowing that we have a “rest” in HIM today and an “Eternal REST” in HIM beyond this life.

Needless to say, I went to sleep rejoicing that I could see the love of God in a small dog and his toy!!!


Keep looking, the love of God is everywhere!!

Bible Reading October 5-7 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading October 5-7

World English Bible

Oct. 5
Psalms 135-137

Psa 135:1 Praise Yah! Praise the name of Yahweh! Praise him, you servants of Yahweh,
Psa 135:2 you who stand in the house of Yahweh, in the courts of our God's house.
Psa 135:3 Praise Yah, for Yahweh is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant.
Psa 135:4 For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself; Israel for his own possession.
Psa 135:5 For I know that Yahweh is great, that our Lord is above all gods.
Psa 135:6 Whatever Yahweh pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps;
Psa 135:7 who causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth; who makes lightnings with the rain; who brings forth the wind out of his treasuries;
Psa 135:8 Who struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal;
Psa 135:9 Who sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants;
Psa 135:10 who struck many nations, and killed mighty kings,
Psa 135:11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan,
Psa 135:12 and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people.
Psa 135:13 Your name, Yahweh, endures forever; your renown, Yahweh, throughout all generations.
Psa 135:14 For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants.
Psa 135:15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Psa 135:16 They have mouths, but they can't speak. They have eyes, but they can't see.
Psa 135:17 They have ears, but they can't hear; neither is there any breath in their mouths.
Psa 135:18 Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.
Psa 135:19 House of Israel, praise Yahweh! House of Aaron, praise Yahweh!
Psa 135:20 House of Levi, praise Yahweh! You who fear Yahweh, praise Yahweh!
Psa 135:21 Blessed be Yahweh from Zion, Who dwells at Jerusalem. Praise Yah!

Psa 136:1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.
Psa 136:2 Give thanks to the God of gods; for his loving kindness endures forever.
Psa 136:3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:4 To him who alone does great wonders; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:5 To him who by understanding made the heavens; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:6 To him who spread out the earth above the waters; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:7 To him who made the great lights; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:8 The sun to rule by day; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:9 The moon and stars to rule by night; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:10 To him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:11 And brought out Israel from among them; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:12 With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:13 To him who divided the Red Sea apart; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:14 And made Israel to pass through its midst; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:16 To him who led his people through the wilderness; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:17 To him who struck great kings; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:18 And killed mighty kings; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:19 Sihon king of the Amorites; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:20 Og king of Bashan; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:21 And gave their land as an inheritance; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:22 Even a heritage to Israel his servant; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:23 Who remembered us in our low estate; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Psa 136:24 And has delivered us from our adversaries; for his loving kindness endures forever:
Psa 136:25 Who gives food to every creature; for his loving kindness endures forever.
Psa 136:26 Oh give thanks to the God of heaven; for his loving kindness endures forever.

Psa 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Psa 137:2 On the willows in its midst, we hung up our harps.
Psa 137:3 For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
Psa 137:4 How can we sing Yahweh's song in a foreign land?
Psa 137:5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
Psa 137:6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you; if I don't prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Psa 137:7 Remember, Yahweh, against the children of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, "Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!"
Psa 137:8 Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who rewards you, as you have served us.
Psa 137:9 Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.


Oct. 6
Psalms 138-140

Psa 138:1 I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you.
Psa 138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.
Psa 138:3 In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.
Psa 138:4 All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, Yahweh, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
Psa 138:5 Yes, they will sing of the ways of Yahweh; for great is Yahweh's glory.
Psa 138:6 For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but the proud, he knows from afar.
Psa 138:7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.
Psa 138:8 Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me; your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever. Don't forsake the works of your own hands.

Psa 139:1 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
Psa 139:2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
Psa 139:3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Psa 139:4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
Psa 139:5 You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
Psa 139:6 This knowledge is beyond me. It's lofty. I can't attain it.
Psa 139:7 Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
Psa 139:9 If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10 Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
Psa 139:11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night;"
Psa 139:12 even the darkness doesn't hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
Psa 139:13 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.
Psa 139:14 I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
Psa 139:15 My frame wasn't hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.
Psa 139:16 Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Psa 139:17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Psa 139:18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
Psa 139:19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
Psa 139:20 For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.
Psa 139:21 Yahweh, don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
Psa 139:22 I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.
Psa 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
Psa 139:24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

Psa 140:1 Deliver me, Yahweh, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man;
Psa 140:2 those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war.
Psa 140:3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper's poison is under their lips. Selah.
Psa 140:4 Yahweh, keep me from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet.
Psa 140:5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.
Psa 140:6 I said to Yahweh, "You are my God." Listen to the cry of my petitions, Yahweh.
Psa 140:7 Yahweh, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Psa 140:8 Yahweh, don't grant the desires of the wicked. Don't let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah.
Psa 140:9 As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
Psa 140:10 Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.
Psa 140:11 An evil speaker won't be established in the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
Psa 140:12 I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy.
Psa 140:13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name. The upright will dwell in your presence.

Oct. 7
Psalms 141-144

Psa 141:1 Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you.
Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
Psa 141:3 Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.
Psa 141:4 Don't incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don't let me eat of their delicacies.
Psa 141:5 Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don't let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
Psa 141:6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.
Psa 141:7 "As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol."
Psa 141:8 For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord. In you, I take refuge. Don't leave my soul destitute.
Psa 141:9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
Psa 141:10 Let the wicked fall together into their own nets, while I pass by.

Psa 142:1 I cry with my voice to Yahweh. With my voice, I ask Yahweh for mercy.
Psa 142:2 I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles.
Psa 142:3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my path. In the way in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me.
Psa 142:4 Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.
Psa 142:5 I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
Psa 142:6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than me.
Psa 142:7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.

Psa 143:1 Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.
Psa 143:2 Don't enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.
Psa 143:3 For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
Psa 143:4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.
Psa 143:5 I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.
Psa 143:6 I spread forth my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.
Psa 143:7 Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don't hide your face from me, so that I don't become like those who go down into the pit.
Psa 143:8 Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.
Psa 143:9 Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me.
Psa 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Psa 143:11 Revive me, Yahweh, for your name's sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
Psa 143:12 In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am your servant.

Psa 144:1 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle:
Psa 144:2 my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues my people under me.
Psa 144:3 Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?
Psa 144:4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
Psa 144:5 Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
Psa 144:6 Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.
Psa 144:7 Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners;
Psa 144:8 whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Psa 144:9 I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.
Psa 144:10 You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.
Psa 144:11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Psa 144:12 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
Psa 144:13 Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields.
Psa 144:14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.
Psa 144:15 Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.

Oct. 5
Galatians 2

Gal 2:1 Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
Gal 2:2 I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.
Gal 2:3 But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
Gal 2:4 This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage;
Gal 2:5 to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.
Gal 2:6 But from those who were reputed to be important (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn't show partiality to man)--they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,
Gal 2:7 but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcision
Gal 2:8 (for he who appointed Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision appointed me also to the Gentiles);
Gal 2:9 and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.
Gal 2:10 They only asked us to remember the poor--which very thing I was also zealous to do.
Gal 2:11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.
Gal 2:12 For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
Gal 2:13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
Gal 2:14 But when I saw that they didn't walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?
Gal 2:15 "We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners,
Gal 2:16 yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
Gal 2:17 But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!
Gal 2:18 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
Gal 2:19 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
Gal 2:21 I don't make void the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!"

Oct. 6
Galatians 3

Gal 3:1 Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth among you as crucified?
Gal 3:2 I just want to learn this from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?
Gal 3:5 He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you, and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
Gal 3:6 Even as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."
Gal 3:7 Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you all the nations will be blessed."
Gal 3:9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.
Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who doesn't continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them."
Gal 3:11 Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, "The righteous will live by faith."
Gal 3:12 The law is not of faith, but, "The man who does them will live by them."
Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,"
Gal 3:14 that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Gal 3:15 Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void, or adds to it.
Gal 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He doesn't say, "To seeds," as of many, but as of one, "To your seed," which is Christ.
Gal 3:17 Now I say this. A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.
Gal 3:18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.
Gal 3:19 What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Gal 3:20 Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.
Gal 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
Gal 3:22 But the Scriptures imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Gal 3:26 For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise.

Oct. 7
Galatians 4

Gal 4:1 But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all;
Gal 4:2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father.
Gal 4:3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world.
Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,
Gal 4:5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.
Gal 4:6 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!"
Gal 4:7 So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Gal 4:8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
Gal 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?
Gal 4:10 You observe days, months, seasons, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.
Gal 4:12 I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong,
Gal 4:13 but you know that because of weakness of the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time.
Gal 4:14 That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn't despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Gal 4:15 What was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
Gal 4:16 So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Gal 4:17 They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them.
Gal 4:18 But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you.
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you--
Gal 4:20 but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Gal 4:21 Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don't you listen to the law?
Gal 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the free woman.
Gal 4:23 However, the son by the handmaid was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise.
Gal 4:24 These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.
Gal 4:25 For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27 For it is written, "Rejoice, you barren who don't bear. Break forth and shout, you that don't travail. For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband."
Gal 4:28 Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
Gal 4:30 However what does the Scripture say? "Throw out the handmaid and her son, for the son of the handmaid will not inherit with the son of the free woman."
Gal 4:31 So then, brothers, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free woman.

THIRD JOHN by Paul Southern

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Southern/Paul/1901/john3.html

THIRD JOHN

  1. THE TITLE
  2. This book is so called because it is the third of three epistles by John.
  3. THE WRITER
  4. It is generally agreed that the writer of this epistle was the apostle John. He calls himself "the elder," and the closing verses are almost identical with those of the second letter. The points presented concerning the authorship of the second would also apply to the third epistle.
  5. TO WHOM ADDRESSED
  6. Third John is addressed to an individual by the name of Gaius (1), a personal friend of the writer. The identity of the person is hard to determine. Although some connect him with the Gaius of Romans 16:23 and I Cor 1:14, it is difficult to identify him with any other person thus named in the New Testament. He was probably a convert of John (3,4). Gaius was known for his Christian hospitality, having cared for "brethren and strangers" (5).
  7. TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING
  8. Third John was probably written from Ephesus some time after First John, perhaps toward the close of the first century.
  9. PURPOSE AND CONTENTS
  10. There was some misunderstanding about receiving certain evangelists. The object of this letter was to commend to the hospitality of Gaius some Christians who were strangers in the place where he lived. These Christians probably carried this letter with them as an introduction to Gaius. The contents center around three men: Gaius, a charitable Christian; Diotrephes, an uncharitable church member; and Demetrius, another worthy Christian. The letter is of special importance because it affords us an insight to the church toward the close of the first century, giving both excellencies and defects, noble and ignoble characters.

  11. EXERCISES FOR STUDENT ACTIVITY

    1. Completion
      1. The word truth occurs _______ times in III John.
      2. The word love occurs _______ times in III John.
      3. The word church occurs _______ times in III John.
      4. The word friends occurs _______ times in III John.
      5. The word brethren occurs _______ times in III John.
      6. Third John is addressed to ______________.
      7. The addressee walked in the ___________.
      8. The writer of III John refers to himself as "the ______________."
      9. Gaius was probably a convert of ___________.

    2. True-False
      1. Gaius was a stranger to John T F
      2. Gaius was a Christian T F
      3. Diotrephes was known for his humility T F
      4. Gaius was a charitable man T F
      5. Demetrius was a man of good report T F
      6. Diotrephes had talked about John with wicked words T F
      7. Third John says nothing about prayer T F
      8. John hoped to visit Gaius T F
      9. Gaius showed hospitality toward Christians only T F
      10. John refers to Christians as "friends" T F

    3. Topics for further study
      1. What does the epistle teach concerning praying for prosperity?
      2. Contrast the character of Gaius and Diotrephes.
      3. What happens when an ambitious dictator attempts to control a congregation?

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

Bad Old Bible by Jim MeGuiggan

https://web.archive.org/web/20160426084546/http://jimmcguiggan.com/nonbelievers2.asp?id=6

Bad Old Bible

There's that startling text Psalm 137:8-9 that says, "O Daughter of Babylon...happy is he who...seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." You don't have to be one of those genuinely tedious "politically correct" people to find that passage a challenge. Here in "the word of God" we have someone exulting in the brutal killing of a child. To the non-believer who has little time for explanations the case is closed; there's no chance to say, "Wait, let me explain." Others would really like to know how the Bible could promote such feelings. Non-believers of that stripe gladly admit that the Bible ranks high as a book that has promoted justice and virtue and are willing to listen.
Believers handle such texts in different ways. There are those who dismiss this one as a vindictive outburst by a person who is best ignored. I suppose that's possible but since the psalm wasn't inserted into the canon by such a person we can't settle for that. Whoever included the psalm wanted it heard, and in fact, wanted it sung. Still, even the compilers of the psalms might have thought the original psalmist was being vindictive but still wanted his voice to be heard. To show, maybe, how mistreatment can drive a man over the edge. We've seen that kind of thing in movies and in real life where a person was driven to the point of madness and said what he wouldn't dream of saying under ordinary circumstances. We might nor approve it but we "understand" it.
Others, moving in the same general direction, insist that the psalmist might have felt this was how he should feel and that it wasn't simple vindictiveness. "But we've outgrown such a moral response," is what they'd tell us. They'd add that this shows the development of moral ideas in the Bible. I think there's something to that but it's not as simple as it appears because there are lots of things in the Bible that were never meant to be taken as "normative". The Bible doesn't mind rehearsing what this man or that generation felt and it sometimes does it without critiquing it as it records it. But even if we knew that the psalmist in 137:8-9 was speaking from a low moral level that wouldn't mean this was the biblical norm. When the chronicler tells us that God was thought to be a mountain-God and that's why he defeated their armies we're not to suppose that's the normative teaching of scripture. Even in this day and age we can find people whose views aren't as "advanced" as our own so we shouldn't think it strange if we find it in the truthful Bible.
But is the psalmist being vindictive? Is he approving of a low moral response? Well, of course, in a Western society where so many oppose the death penalty for even the most horrendous crimes there's no way to justify 137:8-9 but maybe it won't hurt to see what he might have been saying before we damn it.
Bear in mind the passage doesn't reflect an individual opinion about crimes perpetrated on individuals. It's speaks of war and the horrors committed against nations. Reflect on the World Wars and think maybe of the Kaisers and Hitler from the angle of the oppressed of Europe and we're beginning to set the scene correctly. Whatever we think of the grounds for beginning a war, when we're in the middle of one and the oppressor has savaged nations and hundreds of thousands have been butchered we might expect the kind of speech of 137:8. "O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us." Not everyone even in this modern age would call that vindictive or vengeful if it were uttered in light of early revelations of what the Nazis were doing to humans in the death camps. At least we would "understand" it and might think it a hope-filled wish for justice. What if this passage is just that, a nation expressing it's longing that justice be carried out on the oppressor?
But surely we shouldn't take it out on the infants? Of course not! But we don't need to read the psalm as "infant-phobia". The psalmist wants justice against Babylon and not against infants. He assumes that justice will take place via military conflict and he knows that in warfare the children will suffer this wicked violence (it was a common practice to kill children in this way--see a concordance for passages). Note that it's "your" infants that are killed. The object of scorn and indignation is not babies but a predatory nation! We all allow ourselves the room to condemn as immoral "a nation's" predatory behaviour even though we know it isn't the will of every individual in that nation. Even those who without remorse wage warfare express regret at times that the innocent suffer in the process. Maybe we should bear that in mind when reading this text.