June 13, 2018

Synergy by Gary Rose

Branch manager and assistant manager
I like this; a BIG dog and his little assistant!!! The first thought that came to mind is that some people seem to get all the recognition and others- not-so-much. That's life. But, in the Bible, the APOSTLE OF JESUS, Paul, had a lot of help and gave them recognition for it.

Consider the following verses (especially the emboldened words)..


Acts, Chapter 13 (World English Bible)
13  Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.  

Acts, Chapter 14, (WEB)
 14 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them;  

Acts, Chapter 17, (WEB)
  4  Some of them were persuaded, and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women. 

 14 Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there.  15 But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed. 

1 Corinthians, Chapter 1 (WEB)
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 

2 Corinthians, Chapter 1 (WEB)
 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:  

1 Thessalonians, Chapter 1 (WEB)
  1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Paul was a man of great intellect; someone who could write a theological book like Romans. A person whose reasoning is precise and whose logic was impeccable. However, this same man loved others, especially the brethren in Christ. This comes through in all his books, but especially in the book of 2 Corinthians and Philemon.

Christianity is spread by a TEAM effort. It is a religion of LOVE and FELLOWSHIP. There is a saying that seems appropriate: Many hands make light work. 

Follow Paul's example of LOVE and FELLOWSHIP!  It worked in the first century and can work in the 21st.

Bible Reading June 13, 14 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading June 13, 14
World English Bible

June 13
1 Samuel 19, 20

1Sa 19:1 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.
1Sa 19:2 Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you: now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live in a secret place, and hide yourself:
1Sa 19:3 and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.
1Sa 19:4 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Don't let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you:
1Sa 19:5 for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel: you saw it, and rejoiced; why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?
1Sa 19:6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.
1Sa 19:7 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.
1Sa 19:8 There was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
1Sa 19:9 An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.
1Sa 19:10 Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck the spear into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
1Sa 19:11 Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning: and Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If you don't save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be slain.
1Sa 19:12 So Michal let David down through the window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.
1Sa 19:13 Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with the clothes.
1Sa 19:14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
1Sa 19:15 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.
1Sa 19:16 When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head.
1Sa 19:17 Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped? Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I kill you?
1Sa 19:18 Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.
1Sa 19:19 It was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.
1Sa 19:20 Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
1Sa 19:21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.
1Sa 19:22 Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? One said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.
1Sa 19:23 He went there to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
1Sa 19:24 He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

1Sa 20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity?" and "What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"
1Sa 20:2 He said to him, "Far from it; you shall not die: behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so."
1Sa 20:3 David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, 'Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:' but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."
1Sa 20:4 Then said Jonathan to David, "Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you."
1Sa 20:5 David said to Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.
1Sa 20:6 If your father miss me at all, then say, 'David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.'
1Sa 20:7 If he says, 'It is well;' your servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him.
1Sa 20:8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you: but if there be in me iniquity, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?"
1Sa 20:9 Jonathan said, "Far be it from you; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come on you, then wouldn't I tell you that?"
1Sa 20:10 Then said David to Jonathan, "Who shall tell me if perchance your father answers you roughly?"
1Sa 20:11 Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out into the field." They both went out into the field.
1Sa 20:12 Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, be witness: when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?
1Sa 20:13 Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I don't disclose it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father.
1Sa 20:14 You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness of Yahweh, that I not die;
1Sa 20:15 but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever; no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David everyone from the surface of the earth."
1Sa 20:16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Yahweh will require it at the hand of David's enemies.
1Sa 20:17 Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
1Sa 20:18 Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon: and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
1Sa 20:19 When you have stayed three days, you shall go down quickly, and come to the place where you did hide yourself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.
1Sa 20:20 I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark.
1Sa 20:21 Behold, I will send the boy, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I tell the boy, Behold, the arrows are on this side of you; take them, and come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as Yahweh lives.
1Sa 20:22 But if I say thus to the boy, Behold, the arrows are beyond you; go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away.
1Sa 20:23 As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.
1Sa 20:24 So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat food.
1Sa 20:25 The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side: but David's place was empty.
1Sa 20:26 Nevertheless Saul didn't say anything that day: for he thought, Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean.
1Sa 20:27 It happened on the next day after the new moon, which wasthe second day, that David's place was empty: and Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why doesn't the son of Jesse come to meat, neither yesterday, nor today?
1Sa 20:28 Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem:
1Sa 20:29 and he said, Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he has commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away, I pray you, and see my brothers. Therefore he is not come to the king's table.
1Sa 20:30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don't I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?
1Sa 20:31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.
1Sa 20:32 Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"
1Sa 20:33 Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
1Sa 20:34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
1Sa 20:35 It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him.
1Sa 20:36 He said to his boy, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot. As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
1Sa 20:37 When the boy was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, Isn't the arrow beyond you?
1Sa 20:38 Jonathan cried after the boy, Go fast! Hurry! Don't delay! Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
1Sa 20:39 But the boy didn't know anything: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
1Sa 20:40 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city.
1Sa 20:41 As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of a placetoward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
1Sa 20:42 Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever. He arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

June 14
1 Samuel 21, 22

1Sa 21:1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you?
1Sa 21:2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you: and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.
1Sa 21:3 Now therefore what is under your hand? give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.
1Sa 21:4 The priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.
1Sa 21:5 David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days; when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey; how much more then today shall their vessels be holy?
1Sa 21:6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
1Sa 21:7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
1Sa 21:8 David said to Ahimelech, Isn't there here under your hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.
1Sa 21:9 The priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here. David said, There is none like that; give it to me.
1Sa 21:10 David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
1Sa 21:11 The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?' "
1Sa 21:12 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
1Sa 21:13 He changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard.
1Sa 21:14 Then said Achish to his servants, Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me?
1Sa 21:15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

1Sa 22:1 David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.
1Sa 22:2 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
1Sa 22:3 David went there to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab, Please let my father and my mother come forth, and bewith you, until I know what God will do for me.
1Sa 22:4 He brought them before the king of Moab: and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
1Sa 22:5 The prophet Gad said to David, Don't stay in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
1Sa 22:6 Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him: now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.
1Sa 22:7 Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, you Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,
1Sa 22:8 that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
1Sa 22:9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
1Sa 22:10 He inquired of Yahweh for him, and gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
1Sa 22:11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.
1Sa 22:12 Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. He answered, Here I am, my lord.
1Sa 22:13 Saul said to him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
1Sa 22:14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house?
1Sa 22:15 Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: don't let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more.
1Sa 22:16 The king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father's house.
1Sa 22:17 The king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and didn't disclose it to me. But the servants of the king wouldn't put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Yahweh.
1Sa 22:18 The king said to Doeg, Turn and attack the priests! Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod.
1Sa 22:19 Nob, the city of the priests, struck he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
1Sa 22:20 One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.
1Sa 22:21 Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh's priests.
1Sa 22:22 David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house.
1Sa 22:23 Stay with me, don't be afraid; for he who seeks my life seeks your life: for with me you shall be in safeguard.

Jun. 13, 14
John 15

Joh 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Joh 15:3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man doesn't remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
Joh 15:8 "In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.
Joh 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and remain in his love.
Joh 15:11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Joh 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
Joh 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn't know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
Joh 15:16 You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Joh 15:17 "I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
Joh 15:18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his lord.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
Joh 15:21 But all these things will they do to you for my name's sake, because they don't know him who sent me.
Joh 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Joh 15:23 He who hates me, hates my Father also.
Joh 15:24 If I hadn't done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn't have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father.
Joh 15:25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.'
Joh 15:26 "When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
Joh 15:27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Lest We Forget by J. C. Bailey

Lest We Forget

Churches of Christ started out with a noble aspiration. God gave to man a perfect Saviour. This perfect Saviour built a perfect church. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." He intended that God was to be served in that divine institution for all time and eternity. We read, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be the glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end" (Ephesians 3:20-21). Some say we should serve Christ and that the church is not important. But the above verse states clearly that Christ is to be served in the church for all time and eternity.
If one asks what church? It was the only church that existed then, it was the church of Christ. Paul told the Ephesian elders that he (Paul) had declared unto them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:17). In the next verse Paul says that the church was purchased with the blood of Christ. But it should also be noted that the falling away from the truth was foretold in the days of the early church.
Here is the warning, "I know that after my departure grievous wolves would enter among you, not sparing the flock, also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:28-30). Peter also warned of the apostasy. "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves" (2 Peter 2:1).
The Old Testament foretold apostasy as well. The Old Testament was unlike the New Testament because the New Testament would never be replaced. We read in Jeremiah 31:31-32, "...I will make a new covenant..., not like the covenant I made in the day I took them out of the land of Egypt." Again the difference between the old covenant and the new was explained in Hebrews 7:16, "...not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of endless life." John came as a messenger to announce Christ Jesus declaring that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17). Colossians 1:13 says, "Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." It is a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28).
Jesus said that heaven and earth would pass away but His word would not pass away. There will be no more revelation (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We were warned not to take from or add to the word of Christ (Revelation 22:18-19). Those who would add to or take from, should heed this warning. 
When we look at the teaching of many religious groups today that have added to and taken from the word of God, it should give us more desire to restore New Testament Christianity. What a noble thing to do. Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." He also said, "Come unto me and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). 
Only by following the teachings of Christ can one become a New Testament Christian. "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). We must repent of our sins. We must confess that we believe that Jesus is the son of God. Then we must be baptized for the remission of sins. Then and only then does one become a New Testament Christian and a member of the only church the Bible talks about -- the church that Jesus built -- the church of Christ.
J. C. Bailey, 1996, Weyburn, Saskatchewan

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

“YOU’RE MISSING THE POINT!” by Jim McGuiggan

https://jimmcguiggan.wordpress.com/2017/11/

“YOU’RE MISSING THE POINT!”

That’s Ezra 2:67. Ezra says that’s how many there were and I believe him.
We would have been just as happy with Ezra’s accurate record if he had recorded 438 and 6725. A few camels or donkeys more or less wouldn’t trouble us. What we got in Ezra 2:67 is accurate information but it doesn’t generate a lot of interest on its own. But we’re not supposed to read it “on its own.” We’re supposed to get up on a high place and look down.
If we were in the mood we’d count the number of camels and donkeys. “Yes, he got it right,” we might say, “for we saw it with our own eyes.” But then we’d notice horses and mules and maybe we’d count them to assure ourselves of Ezra’s accuracy. Then we’d notice there were flocks and herds! Then people; boys and girls and women and men—250 of them are singers. We give up all counting and recognize on Ezra’s count that the entire assembly numbered 42,360.
We might walk over to him and commend him for his accuracy as a chronicler. He’d probably thank us but if we made the throbbing center of our speech something about his good counting he would tell us, “You’re missing the point!”
Ezra wasn’t counting heads or hoofs—he was recording a momentous event of which the details were a part. He wasn’t just logging information—he was telling a story, he was rehearsing an event filled with glory! This event said things about mighty Babylon! The herds and donkeys, the flocks and the camels, the mules, horses, singers and the rest of the host sang the fulfillment of Isaiah 44 & 45 where Cyrus is named as God’s deliverer of His people.
To isolate two verses about the animals reduces the message that even the animals proclaim. Mules and camels, horses and donkeys all kicking up dust and chaos were stirring the dust of freedom and and proclaiming the chaos of freedom. These animals meant and mean something! But they only man something if we let them be what the Bible means them to be!
They function as a part of a great Return with the faithful God fulfilling His promise to bring them home. But He is more than faithful; He is capable of doing the wondrous things He promises. And that means He is the Lord of nations and the God who shapes and uses history.
Isolating verses, atomizing scriptures, slavishly repeating what they say without giving them their place within the Cosmic Adventure is no good kind of Bible study!
It not only misses the POINT of the text, it is robbed of the POWER of it; the power it brings! God makes His presence felt in the truth He gives, John 6:3.
(Holy One, thank you… but please…!   This prayer on the Lord Jesus Christ.)

SIN BY ANY OTHER NAME by Alfred Shannon Jr.

SIN BY ANY OTHER NAME

Many try to hide behind words to redefine, and justify what God strictly prohibited. They call fornication: cohabitation (a prelude to marriage). They call a prostitute: a call girl (showing her artistic and free expression). They call homosexuals: gay (Claim they were born this way). A thief is called: a kleptomaniac (a mental disposition to steal what they don’t need).A drunk is called: an alcoholic (A disease of which they have little control). The world can disguise it, redefine it, and even justify it, but God still calls it sin.

1 Tim 6:3-10; 2 Tim 2:14; 1 Tim 1:6; Job 9:20-22; Prov 17:5; Isa 5:23; Lk 16:15; Rom 3:4,20; Jam 2:24; 1 Jn 3:4

ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK by Ben Fronczek

http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?p=607

ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK
Luke 11: 5-13
Do you ever feel a wee bit impatient with God? Like, does it ever seem like it takes too long for Him to answer your prayers? Certainly all of us have had questions concerning prayer at some point in our life.  Like… – Is He really listening to me?
– Why do I have to keep praying for something I have already prayed for when I know that God is going to answer that prayer one way or another? Isn’t that unbelief Or…
– What about those times when we pray and waited for an answer, and yet no answer is forthcoming? What are we to do?
Now after talking about prayer already, in the Sermon on the Mount saying that we should not pray like the show off hypocrites of that time, the Lord continues his instruction by telling a story here in chapter 7 saying,  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Luke records it a little different,  Read: Luke 11:5-13 (click on link)  
I like Luke’s account because he recalls this story that Jesus told about the man coming to his friends house with a request. Both accounts are still meant to teach the same lesson.
So what is Jesus attempting to teach us by telling us this story, this parable? Just like in Matthew 7, Jesus instructs us to ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK. And if we approach Father God and ask, seek, and knock, something is going to happen. Those who seek will find. Those who ask will be answered, and those who knock, doors will be opened. But then Jesus goes on and tries to help clarify this by giving these two illustrations.
First of all, the one where a friend comes banging on someone’s door in the middle of the night. Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him…”
In order to understand this parable we need to understand a few things about first century culture. First of all, food was not as readily available as it is today. There were of course, no 24 hour stores to run to. Therefore enough bread was baked each day for the needs of that day.
Now it was also an accepted rule of hospitality that a visitor should be welcomed and cared for, regardless of the hour of his arrival. In order to avoid the intense midday heat, people often traveled in the evening and after dark. A traveler arriving near midnight was not uncommon.
Here is the dilemma. This poor unprepared host has a late arriving guest who is hungry after a long and exhausting journey and it is his duty as host to provide a meal, but he has no bread. And not to provide for his guest’s would not only bring shame upon himself and his family but to the village as a whole. But what was one to do if he had nothing to serve? Well he’d probably go to a friend’s house regardless of the time and to ask for his help. And this was possibly something they would all have considered doing if they had to.
The rest of the story speaks of this tension, as Jesus continues the story in verse seven,“…7 “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
Even today it is easy to understand this man’s reluctance to help his friend. Anyone who has ever wrestled to get children into bed, understands this man’s unwillingness to do anything that will wake them. But since the whole family slept in the same room, to get up and meet this man’s needs was a real inconvenience. The man inside the house initial refused the request; friendship alone was not a sufficient reason to upset the whole household.
Ultimately, the reluctant friend got up and gave his neighbor what he needed. Why? For one reason only, the persistence of the man making the request.
Jesus is not comparing God to a sleepy, selfish and angry neighbor. He is contrasting the two. He is telling the disciples that if a neighbor can be persuaded to meet the needs of a friend, how much more will your FATHER in heaven meet the needs of His children.
And likewise the second illustration is similar. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”    
So what can we learn from Jesus here?                                                            
#1. I believe that Jesus is letting us know, without a doubt that prayer is important.  Not just prayers of thanksgiving and praise, which I believe that God deserves to hear from us every day, Jesus lets us know that alright to ask God for things we need. 
As a matter of fact it seems as though He wants and expects us to ask. Doesn’t every father or mother expect their children to ask of them?  In doing so a child express their confidence in their parent helping them with their need as well as show the comfort they have in that relationship. Many times we won’t ask of strangers but we have no problem asking of someone we love and trust.
Same is true when we ask of God. God not only expects his children to ask, it is also a sigh of how much we love and trust Him.
#2. The second thing I see here is that Jesus seems to be indicating that there should be some degree of persistence as one asks of God.
It wasn’t because it was the man’s friend at the door that he got up out of bed to give him bread. Rather the text says in verse 8 that it was because of the man’s boldness or otherwise translated, ‘persistence’ in other versions.  It’s the only time the original Greek word used here for persistence appears in the entire New Testament. The Greek word carries the idea of “shamelessness.”
The text tells us that the man who came making the request was without shame, persistent and bold, as he continued pleading and pounding on the door until his friend responded.
Maybe the reason for our failure in prayer is that we have not been persistent enough. We haven’t been beating on God’s door asking and seeking enough.
#3. And that leads to the next thought.  We may wonder, ‘What gives us the right to come boldly or shamelessly come to God with our needs.’  Maybe this little story will help:
A Roman emperor traveled down the street in his chariot as a part of a parade, Cheering people lined the streets while the legionnaires were stationed to keep the people at a safe distance. The emperor’s family sat on a platform to watch him go by in all the pride of his position. As the emperor came near the place where his family was stationed, a young boy jumped from the platform, burrowed through the crowd, and tried to dodge a legionnaire so he could run to the emperor’s chariot. The soldier stopped him and said, “You cannot go near him.” The boy laughed, then said; “He may be your emperor but he is my father.” Then he ran into his father’s open arms.”
The writer of Hebrew reminds us as believer’s that because our high priest Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, we can  “come boldly before the throne of grace” (Hebews 4:14-16). We have no need to fear because we are children of the King of kings.
Over and over we see that if Jesus wanted to communicate anything it was that God is not some kind of distant, all powerful, impersonal deity. Rather God is our abba Father who art in heaven and Holy is his name. From the very beginning HE wanted sons and daughters that would be His children.
Listen to what the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:3-6 “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.”  NLT
As a son, and a daughter you have every right to plead to your Father in heaven, and I believe he expects us to do so.
I believe another thing we see here in the text is that…
#4 WE ARE TO PRAY EXPECTANTLY    
From the first story we learned that God does answer prayer, and from this second analogy we learn that His answers are always good ones. Because God is a good God, a loving heavenly Father, He can be expected not only to answer our prayers, but in answer them in such a way that they will be for our highest good. (Romans 8:28)  The bottom line of the whole matter is now given in Matt. 7:10, If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Now I believe that as we keep asking and seeking, part of this seeking is seeking to discover what God’s will is in the matter.
I don’t think God will put things into our hands until we’re ready or He first prepares our hearts. God has a plan and we need to accept His timing and plan. Someone has said it this way, “The greatest blessing of prayer is not just getting an answer but being the kind of person that God can trust with the answer.”  And sometime that answer will be a “NO.”
Today I want to remind you that you have a Father in Heaven who does care for your needs. He wants you to ask, seek, and knock with persistence and  expectation. We need to be reminded that He isn’t being mean by having us wait for what we ask for, nor is He being cruel by saying no. Rather, like a perfectly loving parent we need to trust Him, not only trust Him in His timing and but also trust His judgments as well. I pray that you can have that kind of relationship with Him.
(Based a little on a sermon by John Hamby)

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