FIRST THESSALONIANS by Paul Southern

https://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Southern/Paul/1901/thes1.html

FIRST THESSALONIANS

1. THE TITLE

This book is so called because it is the first of two epistles addressed to "the church of the Thessalonians" (I Thessalonians 1:1).

2. THE WRITER

Paul is named as the writer in the first verse of chapter 1.

3. THE CITY OF THESSALONICA

The town was formerly called Therma (Bath, or Hotwells), and was situated on the Thermaic Gulf almost 100 miles southwest of Philippi. In 315 B.C., Cassander, King of Macedonia, named it for his wife Thessalonica, half-sister of Alexander the Great. During Paul's time, it was a great commercial and political center, being the Roman capital of one of the four districts of Macedonia. The modern town goes by the name of Salonika. It compares favorably with many Mediterranean ports. During World War I it was the main seaport to the entire Balkan area.

4. TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING

It was written from Corinth about A.D. 52 or 53 (Acts 17:14-16; 18:1-5; I Thessalonians 3:1-6).

5. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH

Paul established the church on his second missionary tour. After leaving Philippi, the party passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica where they spent three Sabbaths preaching in the synagogue (Acts 17;1-4). On account of persecution by the Jews, they went on to Berea. Leaving Silas and Timothy there, Paul went on to Athens, and finally to Corinth where he spent eighteen months. Silas and Timothy rejoined him there (Act 17:5-8:11). While Paul was in Thessalonica he received support from the Philippians (Philippians 4:16). The evangelization of Thessalonica had far-reaching consequences. Here the normal course of the gospel was realized, for from this radiating center was "sounded forth the word of the Lord" (I Thessalonians 1:8). In no other Macedonian community was there found a more effective sounding board for the gospel.

6. THE EPISTLE

This is probably the first epistle by Paul, and perhaps the first written document of the Christian religion. It is full of the spirit of love for the Thessalonians, whose "work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope" was remembered by the apostle. The main idea is consolation (4:17,18). The keynote is hope, and the key words are afflictions and advent.

7. EXERCISES FOR STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. Questions
1. Who was with Paul when he wrote this letter? (1:1).
2. What are some of the things in the church for which Paul is thankful? (1:2-6).
3. Give a description of Paul's ministry at Thessalonica (2:1-16).
4. Who hindered Paul from returning to Thessalonica? (2:1-16).
5. Describe Paul's great solicitation for the Thessalonians (3:1-10).
6. Was Paul's prayer in 3:11 ever answered? (Acts 20:1-4).
7. What duties and exhortations are enjoined? (4:1-12; 5:12-22).
8. What does Paul say about Christ's second coming? (4:13-18; 5:1,2).
9. What should be our attitude in view of His second coming? (5:3-11).
2. Complete the following quotations:
1. "For from you _____________ out the word of the Lord."
2. "But we were _____________ among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children."
3. "Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, _____________ our way unto you."
4. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which _____________ in Jesus will God bring with him."
5. "Abstain from all _____________ of evil."
6. "_____________all things: hold fast that which is good."
7. "_____________no the Spirit."
3. Topics for further study
1. What evidences in I Thessalonians indicate that many of the Thessalonians came into the church directly from heathendom?
2. Discuss the position held by many that I Thessalonians is one of the most gentle and affectionate of Paul's letters.
3. Note statements in the epistle regarding the deity of Jesus.
4. What does the epistle teach regarding the use of sexual instinct?
5. Why were the Thessalonians unduly alarmed concerning their Christian dead?

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

THE DECEIVER AND THE DECEIVED by steve finnell

 

https://steve-finnell.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-deceiver-and-deceived-by-steve.html

 

 THE DECEIVER AND THE DECEIVED by steve finnell

There are usually two involved when God's word is perverted, the deceiver and the deceived.

 Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'? (NASB) [Lie number 1]

Genesis 3:4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! (NASB) [Deception number 2)

Genesis 3:6....she took from its fruit and ate; and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. (NASB) [Deception number 3]

When lie number 1 did not work, Satan changed the lie to another lie.

Eve was deceived by the second lie and then  encouraged Adam to accept that deception.

There are deceivers and the deceived among  contemporary believers in Jesus Christ.

Example: Many act as deceivers concerning the meaning of Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (NKJV)

The deceivers say that "for" means, be baptized "because your sins have already been forgiven."

Deceivers say your sins were forgiven and you received the gift of the Holy Spirit the minute you believed.

There are no English translations that I am aware of that translates "eis" as because of, I have read Acts 2:38 in 40+ translations.

Acts 2:38 Peter replied: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.(NIV 1973)

[Note: Acts 2:38 does not say receive gifts, it says gift.]

Deceivers say that "and" in Acts 2:38 is not a conjunction, therefore it does not connect repent and be baptized.

Note: The serpent could not convince Eve of his first lie, so he tried the second lie. It worked.

Most deceivers today cannot convince men that their sins can be forgiven before they believe, so they convince them immersion in water is not essential to the forgiveness of their sins.

There are deceivers and the deceived. Many are both. There are also those who take God at His word, which one are you?

It usually takes a skilled professional and a willing student to convince a person that, for, in order to, or so that yours may be forgiven, actually means "because" your sins were already forgiven.

-------------------------------------------------------

If Satan cannot convince you that you can be saved without believing that Jesus is the Son of God, and The Christ. Then he will say, you do not have to be baptized in order to be saved.  If that does not work, he will say you do not have to change you lifestyle, repentance is not essential in order to enter the kingdom of God. If that does not work, he will say once you are saved you can never be lost. If none of that works Satan will say, you are saved by grace alone, therefore, God will save you, and you have no responsibility to believe in Jesus, to confess him as the Son of God, to repent, nor to be baptized in water, nor to live a Christian lifestyle.             

What Does The Bible Say About Gender Identity? by Ken Weliever, The Preacherman

https://thepreachersword.com/2016/04/05/what-does-the-bible-say-about-gender-identity/

What Does The Bible Say About Gender Identity?

 

Hannah Holloway says, “I never really thought to myself, yes, I am a girl.  Or, yes, I am a guy.  I’m Hannah.”

Hannah’s story along with several others was reported in Sunday’s Kansas City Star in the Arts and Culture section.  The Star devoted three full pages to the issue of gender identity. Hannah and others want to be classified as nonbinary.  So, she doesn’t want to be called by the pronoun “she” but the pronoun “they.”

Another lead article discusses how the definition of transgender has continued to evolve. Kasimir Hazelwood thinks “normal” is a meaningless word. Hazelwood identifies as androgyne, someone masculine with feminine qualities.

Rogers claims to be “genderfluid.”  That means sometimes Rogers feels like a male and other times a female.  V is open to any sexual orientation and dates both men and women.  “I like the label queer,” says V, “because it is not clear cut.”

So, now the new controversy in our culture is gender identity.  This minority of mixed up people is clamoring for gender neutral public restrooms. Unisex locker rooms, and the right to identify however they choose on legal forms.  Some applications provide the choice “Male,” “Female” and “Other.”  Facebook now allows you to choose, “him,” “her,” or “their.”

How many others are there, you ask?

According to an ABC report they have identified at least 58 gender options.  They include bigender, pangender, transgender, Agender, intersex, Cis, Trans, and something called two spirit.

Don’t you miss the days when life was simple? There were just boys and girls.

I don’t claim to understand this confusion.  I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist.  I’m a preacher.  So, I will offer a simple Bible explanation.

Gender crisis and confusion exists because people have strayed away from God.  They have lost their spiritual identity. And they have denied the Creator and His purpose for their lives.

Our society is on the fast track to becoming like the pagan culture Paul described in Romans chapter one. “…They knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools,  and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things” (Rom. 1:21-25)

The Bible says that in the beginning God created the first pair “male and female.” He pronounced a blessing upon them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” (Gen 1:27-28). Later when Jesus was asked by the Pharisees a question relating to marriage, he responded this way.

“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matt 19:4-6)

The Bible does not give us free rein to choose our sexual preferences and gender identity.

Our culture has taken something simple, and obvious and made it so complex and complicated that it goes beyond the absurd! Yet, “enlightened” educators, politicians, journalists and sadly some church leaders, nod with some kind of knowing empathy that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, feelings, behavior and sexual identity or preference.

Our culture has lost its way. The real crisis today is a crisis of values.  G. K. Chesterton was right when he wrote, “The danger when men stop believing in God is not that they’ll believe nothing; but that they will believe in anything.”

The solution is not to seek our gender identity, but to seek God.  To desire spiritual communion with Him.  And to accept who He created us to be.

Parents, preachers and Bible teachers must now emphasize to a new generation influenced by the confusion of their culture, that God created us.  He made us male and female.  He gave us distinct gender roles.  And that our body does not belong to us, it belongs to the Lord.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman

"THE GOSPEL OF MARK" Three Responses To Jesus (3:7-12) by Mark Copeland

 

                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

                   Three Responses To Jesus (3:7-12)

INTRODUCTION

1. Our text describes the ongoing impact of Jesus' Galilean ministry...
   a. Great multitudes followed Jesus and His disciples - Mk 3:7-9
   b. They were drawn by His ability to heal the sick and cast out demons - Mk 3:10-12

2. Reflecting on this passage, I observed three distinct classes of individuals...
   a. The disciples of Jesus - Mk 3:7,9
   b. The great multitude - Mk 3:7-10
   c. The unclean spirits - Mk 3:11-12

[Upon further reflection, it occurred to me that these three distinct
classes illustrate "Three Responses To Jesus", and that everyone
responds to Jesus in one of three ways.  First, you have...]

I. THE COMMITTED

   A. LIKE THE DISCIPLES...
      1. Which included men like Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Levi
         (Matthew)
      2. Who answered the call to follow Jesus - cf. Mk 1:16-20; 2:14
      3. Who offered their service in whatever way He asked
         a. As when Jesus asked them to prepare a boat - cf. Mk 3:9
         b. As when Jesus would later send them out to preach - cf. Mk 3:13,14

   B. THE COMMITTED TODAY...
      1. Would include those who make up the Lord's church
      2. Who heed Jesus' call to discipleship - cf. Mt 28:19-20
      3. Who offer their energy and resources to the spread of Christ's kingdom
         a. By developing a Christ-like character - cf. 2Pe 1:5-11
         b. By developing a Christ-like service - cf. 1Pe 4:10-11

[Just as there committed followers of Jesus then, so there are today.
But there was another group of responders, those we might describe as...]

II. THE CURIOUS

   A. LIKE THE MULTITUDE...
      1. Which included those looking to be healed, or perhaps just to see a miracle
      2. Though following Jesus from place to place, they were not true disciples
      3. But those seeking some sort of personal satisfaction, whom Jesus often drove away
         a. As when they followed Him after He fed the 5000 - cf. Jn 6:24-27
         b. As when He challenged them with the call to true discipleship - cf. Lk 14:25-27
      4. Of course, some would eventually take up the challenge and become true disciples

   B. THE CURIOUS TODAY...
      1. Would include those who may visit churches, even regularly
      2. But they are like "tire kickers"; they never fully commit themselves
      3. Perhaps they attend just to appease their conscience
         a. But they never obey the gospel - cf. Mk 16:15-16
         b. They just put it off, like the Athenians and Felix  - cf. Ac17:32; 24:24-27
      4. Hopefully, one who is curious will eventually take the step to follow Jesus completely

[Finally, there are those whose response to Jesus is entirely negative,whom we can categorize as...]

III. THE CONDEMNED

   A. LIKE THE UNCLEAN SPIRITS...
      1. Unclean spirits were demons, whose origin is uncertain
         (possibly fallen angels)
      2. They knew who Jesus was - cf. Mk 3:11
      3. They knew that torment awaited them - cf. Mt 8:29; also 2 Pe 2:4; Jude 1:6
      4. Yet they showed no desire to repent of their evil ways

   B. THE CONDEMNED TODAY...
      1. Would include those who persist in sin and refuse to repent - cf. He 10:26a
      2. For whom there is no forgiveness while they remain in that state - cf. He 10:26b-31
      3. Who often think lightly of sin, and mock those trying to do good - cf. 1Pe 4:3-4
      4. Yet they will one day have to answer, even confess Jesus - cf.1Pe 4:5; Php 2:9-11

CONCLUSION

1. Dear friend, in which group would you place yourself in your response to Jesus...?
   a. Are you among the committed - a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ?
   b. Are you among the curious - interested, but have not yet made the decision?
   c. Are you among the condemned - determined to resist God and refuse to follow Jesus?

2. One day, we will either be in the group of the committed or the condemned...
   a. The time for curiosity will be over
   b. We will either be saved or lost forever
   c. Today is time to make your choice!

As Paul wrote in his second epistle to the Corinthians:

   We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to
   receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: "IN AN ACCEPTABLE
   TIME I HAVE HEARD YOU, AND IN THE DAY OF SALVATION I HAVE HELPED
   YOU." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
   salvation.
                                                       - 2Co 6:1-2

Receive God's grace by obeying the gospel of Christ, and join ranks with
those who are committed to following Jesus and serving Him through time
and eternity...! - cf. Tit 3:4-8 

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2016

A Higher Law by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=2687

A Higher Law

by	Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Concomitant with the decline of the American Republic with its inherent Christian connections, has been the infiltration of various segments of society, education foremost among them, by alternative philosophies and ideologies. Indeed, though once considered unthinkable, atheism and evolution have now achieved respectability within academia. The implications of these false systems of belief are sinister and destructive to civil (i.e., Christian) society. As French existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, openly acknowledged:

Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either within or outside himself.... Nor, on the other hand, if God does not exist, are we provided with any values or commands that could legitimize our behavior (1961, p. 485, emp. added).

Or, to put it in the words of prominent evolutionist, Richard Dawkins:

I am not advocating a morality based on evolution. I am saying how things have evolved. I am not saying how we humans morally ought to behave.... My own feeling is that a human society based simply on the gene’s law of universal ruthless selfishness would be a very nasty society in which to live. But unfortunately, however much we may deplore something, it does not stop it being true (1989, pp. 2,3, emp. added).

So if atheism, and its sinister protégé, evolution, are true, no higher standard for human behavior exists than human opinion, genetic tendency, and subjective inclination—animalistic impulse.

But such thinking is utter nonsense. No sane evolutionist would want to live in a society where the behavioral implications of his theory are enacted on a thoroughgoing, widespread scale. Yet, atheists and evolutionists continue their propaganda campaign to eradicate Christian principles from civilization. Tragically, the gradual encroachment of atheistic morality is evident in American society. Not only have crime statistics exploded since the systematic elimination of God and Christianity from public schools commenced in the 1960s, many immoral behaviors are openly, blatantly vying for legal and social sanction—from same-sex marriage, polygamy, and abortion to gambling, suicide, and a host of other evils.

No atheist or evolutionist desires to embrace the logical outcome of his godless philosophy. He seeks to distance himself from those moments in history where atheistic ideology has managed to assert itself over a society. One stark example is seen in the rise of the Nazis and their Third Reich in 1930s Germany. Their agenda included the persecution and elimination of Christian and Jewish elements of society. When their regime came crashing down and they were called before the world’s tribunal, one of their attempts to justify themselves was that they were merely obeying the law of the land. They insisted that they all had to obey Hitler’s orders, which had the force of law in the German state, and, hence, obedience could not be made the basis of a criminal charge. Dr. Stahmer, the defense attorney for Hitler’s “Successor Designate No. 1,” Hermann Goering, articulated the point on July 4, 1946 at the Nuremburg Trials in Nuremburg, Germany:

From whence will they [the victorious Allies—DM] take the standard by which to decide about justice and injustice in a legal sense? In so far as such standards exist by International Law, valid up to now, further statements are not required. That a special court for the trial was created by the Charter of this Tribunal I also do not object to. I must, however, vigorously protest against its use, in so far as it is meant to create a new material law by threatening punishment for crimes which, at the time of their perpetration, at least as far as individuals are concerned, did not carry any punishment.... Can one expect that hereafter punishment will be recognized as just, if the culprit was never aware of it, because at the time he was not threatened with such punishment, and he believed to be able to derive the authorisation for his way of acting solely from the political aims pursued?... Because internationally recognized standards outside the positive International Law by which the legitimacy of States and of their aims could have been judged did not exist, any more than did an international community as such. Slogans about the legitimacy of one’s own and of the illegitimacy of foreign aspirations served only the formation of political fronts just as the efforts to brand political adversaries as disturbers of the peace. In any case they did, indeed, not create law (The Trial of..., 1946b, 18:106-107, emp. added).

In his final argument, Dr. Stahmer further asserted that Germany was operating under a dictator: “A dictator does not enter into a conspiracy with followers, he does not make any agreement with them, he dictates” (1946b, 18:111). Hitler was the law of Germany. Hence, what right did America, Britain, or Russia (the Allied powers) have to call the Nazis to account for their actions? What standard of behavior, what law code, could possibly justify their condemnation of the Nazis? How could Nazis be judged on the basis of American, British, or Russian law, seeing they were Germans—not Americans, British, or Russians? Atheists, humanists, materialists, and evolutionists can offer no legitimate answer to these questions. The very nature of their viewpoint militates against the existence of objective, absolute morality. Indeed, to the evolutionist, morality can be nothing more than a function of the human mind—an expression of personal taste, likes, and dislikes.

U.S. Supreme Court justice, and U.S. Chief of Counsel for the prosecution (Chief Prosecutor) of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, Robert Jackson, made the following observation in his opening remarks on November 21, 1945: “The Charter of this Tribunal evidences a faith that the law is not only to govern the conduct of little men, but that even rulers are, as Lord Chief Justice Coke [said] to King James, ‘under God and the law’” (The Trial of..., 1946a, 1:78, emp. added). Similarly, on July 27, 1946, Sir Hartley Shawcross, Chief Prosecutor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, asserted the fundamental basis for human behavior: “Ultimately the rights of men, made as all men are made in the image of God, are fundamental” (The Trial of..., 1946d, 19:470, emp. added).

On Friday, July 26, 1946, Jackson included the following comments in his closing arguments:

As a Military Tribunal, this Tribunal is a continuation of the war effort of the Allied nations. As an International Tribunal, it is not bound by the procedural and substantive refinements of our respective judicial or constitutional systems, nor will its rulings introduce precedents into any country’s internal system of civil justice. As an International Military Tribunal, it rises above the provincial and transient and seeks guidance not only from international law but also from the basic principles of jurisprudence which are assumptions of civilization and which long have found embodiment in the codes of all nations (The Trial of..., 1946c, 19:383, July 26, emp. added).

The only legal guidance and authority that transcends international law, which is responsible for the moral assumptions of civilization as embodied in the codes of all nations, and which rises above “the provincial and transient” (geographical locale and time), is the law of God! Here is the only basis upon which human behavior may be rightly measured.

Atheists typically define morality in terms of “minimizing harm and pain,” and then insist that humans naturally possess an inherent recognition of morality—mores that have characterized human civilization throughout history. But this vague, ambiguous attempt to evade the existence of objective morality will not do. World-renowned atheist, Antony Flew, attempted this sleight of hand in his debate with Thomas B. Warren in 1976, when he insisted that the Nazis were tried for their crimes on the basis of “International” law (p. 248). Observe that this quibble side-steps the real issue, for at least three reasons: (1) There is no such thing as “International” law, since the entire international community has never established a single law code that can be bound on all countries. Even the United Nations lacks any such law code. Nor would they ever come to an agreement on one, if they tried! (2) Even if all nations on Earth somehow united to reach consensus on right and wrong, what right would those nations’ representatives have to impose their standard of behavior on all humans? (3) And, further, even if one generation of world leaders defined right and wrong for the entire world, what would prevent the next generation of world leaders from meeting and overturning that standard? All subsequent moral frameworks and law codes would be just as legitimate as the first one—though they may differ with each other in numerous instances. In the specific case of the Nazis, if some later tribunal convened to revisit the Nuremberg verdicts, and decided to overturn those decisions and declare to the world that the Nazis’ actions were actually noble, heroic, and moral—would their action make it so? If there is no God, the atheist must answer, “Yes.”

The Founders of the American Republic insisted that human government must be established on unchanging moral principles that transcend human opinions and feelings. These unchanging moral principles are derived from and based upon the unchanging laws of God—what the Founders styled in the Declaration of Independence: “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.” As Constitution signer and U.S. Supreme Court Justice James Wilson expressed: “Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine” (1804, 1:105). Or as Constitution signer Alexander Hamilton insisted: “The law...dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this” (1961, 1:87). Noah Webster said it so well when he observed that “our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion” (1832, p. 6).

The truth is that all human behavior that conflicts with the law of God is sin (1 John 3:4)—the only moral evil. Any civilization that jettisons this objective standard of morality is committing ultimate, national suicide. That society is leaving itself open to unimaginable horror—the natural consequence that logically follows from the expulsion of God from the minds of the citizens. Atheism, if honestly applied, must inevitably result in hedonism. The psalmist certainly connected the dots:

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good (Psalm 53:1).

The solution? Citizens must return to the founding principles: God exists, the Bible is the Word of God, Christianity is the one true religion, and citizens must govern themselves by Christian moral principles.

REFERENCES

Dawkins, Richard (1989), The Selfish Gene (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Hamilton, Alexander (1961), The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Harold Syrett (New York: Columbia University Press).

Sartre, Jean Paul, (1961), “Existentialism and Humanism,” French Philosophers from Descartes to Sartre, ed. Leonard M. Marsak (New York: Meridian).

The Trial of German Major War Criminals (1946a), 2nd Day: Wednesday, 21st November, 1945, (Vol. 1, Part 7 of 8), (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office), http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-01/tgmwc-01-02-07.html.

The Trial of German Major War Criminals (1946b), 187th Day: Thursday, 4th July, 1946, (Vol. 18, Part 7 of 8), (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office), http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-18/tgmwc-18-171-07.shtml.

The Trial of German Major War Criminals (1946c), 187th Day: Friday, 26th July, 1946, (Vol. 19, Part 1 of 12), (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office), http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-19/tgmwc-19-187-01.shtml.

The Trial of German Major War Criminals (1946d), 188th Day: Saturday, 27th July, 1946, (Vol. 19, Part 8 of 8), (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office), http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-19/tgmwc-19-188-08.shtml.

Warren, Thomas and Antony Flew (1976), The Warren-Flew Debate on the Existence of God, Creation and Evolution (Ramer, TN: National Christian Press). http://www.nationalchristianpress.net/NCPcatalog.pdf.

Webster, Noah (1832), History of the United States (New Haven, CT: Durrie & Peck).

Wilson, James (1804), The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, ed. Bird Wilson (Philadelphia, PA: Lorenzo Press).

A Leap Into the Dark? by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=558

A Leap Into the Dark?

by	Eric Lyons, M.Min.

One of the most abused verses in all of Scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:7: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Often, those who “expound” upon the apostle Paul’s statement explain that faith implies something less than knowledge—that is, they teach that we must accept evidence blindly and take a “leap of faith.” Many so-called teachers and preachers, when commenting on 2 Corinthians 5:7, argue for a separation of faith and facts. German theologian Hans Kung upheld this idea of “biblical” faith when he wrote: “Even in faith, then, there is no certainty entirely free from doubt. In faith, we must commit ourselves to something uncertain” (1980, p. 61). Similar to Kung’s ideas about faith is the statement of televangelist Robert Schuller, who suggested: “Faith is a commitment to an unprovable assumption” (1984). If these men are correct, faith is either something based on no proof at all or something composed of a small amount of knowledge and a big dose of uncertainty that allows men to “act like” they know something when, in fact, they do not. Is this the kind of faith to which Paul was referring when he wrote his second epistle to the Corinthians?

Second Corinthians 5:7 is both amplified and clarified by verse 16 of that same chapter: “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” In other words, in the past Jesus had been present in the flesh, and hence could be known by sight. But, at the time Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthians, the situation had changed—Christ no longer was on the Earth. Thus, the apostle Paul clarified his statement about not walking “by sight” with the phrase “now we know Him thus no longer.” Of course, Christ still could be known, but not “after the flesh.” Had Paul written 2 Corinthians while Christ still was living upon the Earth, these passages (5:7,16) never would have been included among his remarks. But since they were written at some point after Christ’s ascension, Paul therefore was compelled to make the comparison he did in 2 Corinthians 5:7.

His point, quite simply, was this. There was a time when faith and sight went together. That is to say, at one time in history, men walked by faith because of sight (cf. John 4:41; 20:25-29). However, eventually followers of Jesus possessed a faith in Him that was not based upon sight, but instead upon such things as credible testimony, deduction, and revelation. Jesus indicated His approval of those whose faith is based upon knowledge gained in ways other than by sight when he told “doubting” Thomas: “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

Today, Christians can have a genuine faith without sight, thanks to such things as credible testimony from reliable eyewitnesses (such as Peter, James, John, and Paul) and other means of knowledge that are not necessarily dependent upon having personally seen something firsthand (cf. 1 Peter 1:8-9). All of us believe in people, places, and events that we never have seen personally, yet that does not diminish their factuality. Nor does the absence of “sight” weaken the faith routinely produced via credible testimony from people of the past who did witness such things. Truly, one may “walk by faith, not by sight,” and still possess knowledge-based faith.

One thing is for sure: the Bible nowhere discusses or recognizes the legitimacy of any concept such as a “leap of faith.”

REFERENCES

Kung, Hans (1980), Does God Exist? (New York: Doubleday).

Schuller, Robert (1984), “The Hour of Prayer,” February 5.

A Lesson From the Sophists by Caleb Colley, Ph.D.

 

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=3525

A Lesson From the Sophists

by	Caleb Colley, Ph.D.

The ancient Sophists occupied the period in Greek philosophical history just after the physical philosophers had posited various explanations concerning the substance of the material world (ca. 450 B.C. [Kahn, 2005]). Sophists are often dismissed as charlatans or hypocrites, and to some degree this charge is just. Our purpose here, however, is not to evaluate the Sophists’ project, but rather to learn a lesson from the circumstance in which the Sophists found themselves and from the major question they posed. As the answer to this question highlights the value of special revelation, it is relevant to Christian apologetics.

The earliest Greek philosophers (e.g., Thales, Anaximander, Democritus, etc.), had focused primarily on developing accounts of physical reality, asking “Of what is the world made?” However, social and political unrest demanded that philosophers move beyond the merely physical questions (i.e., questions about substance) in order to address spiritual and ethical issues. The traditional Greek religion, with its accompanying supernatural explanations for the phenomenal world, were being questioned. Likewise, traditional laws were being questioned (see Rogers, 1923, p. 45). As all citizens in Athens had the opportunity to participate directly as legislators, those who wanted to advance in politics desired special training in rhetoric for the purpose of learning to persuade audiences in the legal/political realm. The Sophists occupied themselves as teachers of rhetoric, among other topics. Consider the following summary:

The basis [of the Sophists’] work was apt to be rhetorical, but with the abler Sophists, this was broadened out to cover the field of an all-round and liberal culture. Any knowledge that was available of the workings of the human mind, of literature, history, language, or grammar, of the principles underlying the dialectic of argument, of the nature of virtue and justice, was clearly appropriate to the end in view.... Now all this seems innocent enough.... In reality, however, there were some grounds for...suspicion. On the practical side, merely, there always was a danger lest the Sophistic skill be prostituted to unsocial ends.... Apart, however, from such chances for abuse, which no doubt were often taken advantage of, there was a more fundamental reason for the popular distrust. The habit of unrestricted inquiry and discussion which was crystallized by the Sophistic movement, the free play of the mind over all subjects that interest men, meant the overthrow of much in the existing civilization.... (Rogers, pp. 42-43).

While some of the Sophists had high ideals (e.g., Protagoras [see Plato, 1997, pp. 746-790]), nonetheless the legacy of the Sophists is that of a general ethical relativism.

Greek culture was at a crossroads. At issue was whether the traditions of previous generations of society would be maintained, or the desires of each present individual would be accepted as his own standard. Should the individual or society take prominence? The Sophists, exposing at times the lack of rational support for tradition, essentially offered the solution of “Every man for himself.” In so doing, they posed the following philosophical question: Is man the measure of all things (as modern secular humanists allege; see Colley, 2007), or is there some external, objective standard to guide human action? Some philosophers, such as Socrates, were rightly concerned that any solution whatever be subjected to the test of human reason, and that the solution be applied to all humanity. Yet, even a Platonic solution, such as that presented in the Republic, has aspects that are unsatisfactory to many (especially its communistic aspects [Plato, 1997, pp. 971-1223]).

This quandary is ancient, yet bears a strikingly current application. Our present culture is largely divided concerning the validity of divine authority and religious tradition. At least two lessons present themselves for the Christian apologist. The first, general lesson to be learned from this Greek predicament is that man needs divine guidance in order to flourish (Jeremiah 10:23). Anytime man rejects an objective standard concerning what is good, relativism threatens. “Someone who holds that nothing is simply good, but only good for someone or from a certain point of view, holds a relativist view of goodness,” and has invited revolution, as did the Greeks (Craig, 2005, p. 894). Yet, even a universally accepted standard, if not grounded in objective truth, is not desirable (it could happen to be philosophical pessimism, Nazism, etc.).

It is interesting to note that within a few generations of the Sophists, the greatest theophony Jesus Christ would appear, providing the way to human fulfillment and peace in the fullness of time (see John 10:10; 14:6; Galatians 4:4). The Greek-speaking world would be influenced heavily by Christianity, and many philosophers throughout the centuries would come to appreciate Christian principles, even developing philosophical systems involving biblical teaching (see Rogers, pp. 185ff.).

The second, specific lesson to be learned from the Greek situation during the Sophistical age is that Christianity provides grounds for perfect balance between emphasis upon the individual person and deference to his community. The individual is uniquely responsible for his own obedience and righteous lifestyle (Acts 2:40; 2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 11:6; Jude 21-23). The individual’s own rationality is central, but not for the purpose of originating religious truth. Rather, the individual uses his rationality to examine evidence for the validity of revealed truth, and to apply revelation properly. At the same time, he is divinely situated in the church, a community of believers who bear each others’ burdens (Philippians 2:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 John 4:7), exercise godly discipline (2 Thessalonians 3:6; 1 Peter 5:5), and appeal to a single standard for conduct (2 Samuel 22:31; Romans 10:13-17; Colossians 3:17). Christianity is not designed in such a way that its adherents exercise faith in isolation. No one Christian is more valuable or more important than another (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11).

CONCLUSION

The Bible contains the answers to philosophical questions—even those asked by the ancients. The Sophists indirectly raised the question of the degree to which such a source should be consulted when philosophers develop ethical and metaphysical arguments. To defend the affirmative answer is the task of the Christian apologist, who considers philosophy in light of divine revelation in order to develop the most effective response.

REFERENCES

Colley, Caleb (2007), “Secular Humanism and Evolution,” http://apologeticspress.org/articles/3336.

Craig, Edward (2005), “Relativism,” in The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward Craig (New York: Routledge).

Kahn, Charles H. (2005), “Sophists,” in The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward Craig (New York: Routledge).

Rogers, Arthur Kenyon (1923), A Student’s History of Philosophy (New York: Macmillan).

Plato (1997), Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett).

 

The time of the season by Gary Rose

What a beautiful picture! This varicolored scenery is associated with late fall and much cooler weather. The leaves along the side of the road have fallen in part due to the recent rain (as indicated by the wet pavement). What a beautiful fall scene!

If the leaves are falling, can winter be far behind, and with it an abundance of COLD and SNOW? The seasons change and we adapt. Shorts are exchanged for long pants and tee shirts for long sleeves and later heavy coats.

With the thought of these things, the words of that great king Solomon come to mind…

Ecclesiastes 3 ( World English Bible )

¹ For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

⁹ What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

¹⁰ I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

¹² I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live.

¹³ Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.

¹⁴ I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him.

¹⁵ That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago: and God seeks again that which is passed away.

As times passes, we think of things that have transpired during our life and naturally reflect upon what has happened. This reflection naturally leads to a wider consideration of life and then to the eternal nature of things (see vss. 9-11 and 14-15).

The truth is that there are questions that simply cannot be answered apart from God. Why do things change? Why am I here? What is the point of life? Why must I grow old and die? And… a thousand other things that, in this life are hidden from us. BUT, GOD… HE gives us understanding and direction in life and live to the fullest in this existence and beyond.

Seek God while there is yet time. Follow HIM and acknowledge HIM in all that you do. A great blessing awaits for those who do this. Be blessed, listen, heed the fleeting time and obey God’s every command and live forever. The TIME is NOW!

Bible Reading for December 7 and 8 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading for December 7 and 8 

World  English  Bible

Dec. 7

Ezekiel 41-44

Eze 41:1 He brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tent.

Eze 41:2 The breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits.

Eze 41:3 Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits.

Eze 41:4 He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy place.

Eze 41:5 Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, all around the house on every side.

Eze 41:6 The side chambers were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side chambers all around, that they might have hold therein, and not have hold in the wall of the house.

Eze 41:7 The side chambers were broader as they encompassed the house higher and higher; for the encompassing of the house went higher and higher around the house: therefore the breadth of the house continued upward; and so one went up from the lowest chamber to the highest by the middle chamber.

Eze 41:8 I saw also that the house had a raised base all around: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.

Eze 41:9 The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chambers, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side chambers that belonged to the house.

Eze 41:10 Between the chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits around the house on every side.

Eze 41:11 The doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits all around.

Eze 41:12 The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.

Eze 41:13 So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;

Eze 41:14 also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.

Eze 41:15 He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court;

Eze 41:16 the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, over against the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),

Eze 41:17 to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.

Eze 41:18 It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces;

Eze 41:19 so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. thus was it made through all the house all around:

Eze 41:20 from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.

Eze 41:21 As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance of it was as the appearance of the temple.

Eze 41:22 The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh.

Eze 41:23 The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.

Eze 41:24 The doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves: two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other.

Eze 41:25 There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.

Eze 41:26 There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side chambers of the house, and the thresholds.

Eze 42:1 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north.

Eze 42:2 Before the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.

Eze 42:3 Over against the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.

Eze 42:4 Before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.

Eze 42:5 Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the building.

Eze 42:6 For they were in three stories, and they didn't have pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the uppermost was straitened more than the lowest and the middle from the ground.

Eze 42:7 The wall that was outside by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, its length was fifty cubits.

Eze 42:8 For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and behold, before the temple were one hundred cubits.

Eze 42:9 From under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.

Eze 42:10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were chambers.

Eze 42:11 The way before them was like the appearance of the way of the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

Eze 42:12 According to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.

Eze 42:13 Then said he to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.

Eze 42:14 When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people.

Eze 42:15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it all around.

Eze 42:16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed all around.

Eze 42:17 He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around.

Eze 42:18 He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

Eze 42:19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

Eze 42:20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall around it, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

Eze 43:1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east.

Eze 43:2 Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory.

Eze 43:3 It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

Eze 43:4 The glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

Eze 43:5 The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

Eze 43:6 I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me.

Eze 43:7 He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places;

Eze 43:8 in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their doorpost beside my doorpost, and there was but the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: therefore I have consumed them in my anger.

Eze 43:9 Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.

Eze 43:10 You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.

Eze 43:11 If they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits, and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.

Eze 43:12 This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

Eze 43:13 These are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and its border around its edge a span; and this shall be the base of the altar.

Eze 43:14 From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.

Eze 43:15 The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns.

Eze 43:16 The altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve broad, square in the four sides of it.

Eze 43:17 The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad in the four sides of it; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom shall be a cubit around; and its steps shall look toward the east.

Eze 43:18 He said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.

Eze 43:19 You shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Lord Yahweh, a young bull for a sin offering.

Eze 43:20 You shall take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around: thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it.

Eze 43:21 You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary.

Eze 43:22 On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bull.

Eze 43:23 When you have made an end of cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

Eze 43:24 You shall bring them near before Yahweh, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to Yahweh.

Eze 43:25 Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.

Eze 43:26 Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it.

Eze 43:27 When they have accomplished the days, it shall be that on the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord Yahweh.

Eze 44:1 Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut.

Eze 44:2 Yahweh said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

Eze 44:3 As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before Yahweh; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

Eze 44:4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh: and I fell on my face.

Eze 44:5 Yahweh said to me, Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of the house of Yahweh, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary.

Eze 44:6 You shall tell the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: you house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,

Eze 44:7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.

Eze 44:8 You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.

Eze 44:9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.

Eze 44:10 But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

Eze 44:11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

Eze 44:12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity.

Eze 44:13 They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.

Eze 44:14 Yet will I make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.

Eze 44:15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me; and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord Yahweh:

Eze 44:16 they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.

Eze 44:17 It shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come on them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

Eze 44:18 They shall have linen tires on their heads, and shall have linen breeches on their waists; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.

Eze 44:19 When they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments.

Eze 44:20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

Eze 44:21 Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

Eze 44:22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Eze 44:23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

Eze 44:24 In a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall make my Sabbaths holy.

Eze 44:25 They shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.

Eze 44:26 After he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days.

Eze 44:27 In the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, says the Lord Yahweh.

Eze 44:28 They shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

Eze 44:29 They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

Eze 44:30 The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every offering of everything, of all your offerings, shall be for the priest: you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

Eze 44:31 The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or animal. 

 

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, one portion.

Eze 48:4 By the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, one portion.

Eze 48:5 By the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one portion.

Eze 48:6 By the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, one portion.

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, one portion.

Eze 48:24 By the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, one portion.

Eze 48:25 By the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, one portion.

Eze 48:26 By the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun, one portion.

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 hundred reeds 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. 7

1 Peter 5

1Pe 5:1 I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.

1Pe 5:2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;

1Pe 5:3 neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.

1Pe 5:4 When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn't fade away.

1Pe 5:5 Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;

1Pe 5:7 casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.

1Pe 5:8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1Pe 5:9 Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.

1Pe 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

1Pe 5:11 To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

1Pe 5:12 Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

1Pe 5:13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you; and so does Mark, my son.

1Pe 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

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.