Tag Archives: Bible Commentary

January 10, 2015 Bible Study

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 3:1-6

    Let us never forget the teachings we find in the Bible. If we practice loyalty and kindness in all of our dealings we will earn favor with both God and man. The next stanza of this proverb is most important:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.

Those two parts fit together perfectly. We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts and seek to do His will in all we do, but we cannot depend on our own understanding to know what His will is. It is only by listening to others who are also seeking to do God’s will that we can hope to truly discern what His will actually is.

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Psalm 9:13-20

    I beg of God that He save me from the troubles that I will face. I beg this of God so that I can praise Him. The reason I wish to be rescued is so that I can continue to do His will. The wicked seek only to accomplish their own will and will be trapped by the troubles their actions bring them. Those who seek only to do as God wishes will be rescued by God. Let us praise Him for all He has done.

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Matthew 8:1-17

    Today’s passage is three stories of Jesus healing people. Later in the Gospels Jesus tells His disciples (and through them us) that they will perform the same sorts of miracles He did and more. Yet, I do not see healing happening very often in the Church today. I do not know why, but I am convinced that our failure to see more miraculous healing says something is wrong in the Church today. I am convinced that part of the problem is that we do not really expect to see miraculous healing. Another part of it is our failure to discern the Holy Spirit’s leading. This is an area I struggle with.

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Genesis 23-24:51

    There are a lot of things in this passage about trusting God and how God will provide us guidance. However, what struck me today was Abraham’s vehement insistence that Isaac not return to the land of Abraham’s ancestors. There are hints throughout the story of Genesis that Abraham came from a community which shared worshiped God, but there are also suggestions that there was something “wrong” with that community.
    We have Abraham sending his servant to his relatives back where he came from to get a wife for his son from among his relatives. This suggests that there is something about them that makes them a better match for Isaac than the local people (this theme is brought up again with Jacob and Esau getting married). However, there is something about them that leads Abraham to not want his son to live among them. I am not sure what this means for us, but it is something I think is worth some thought.

January 9, 2015 Bible Study — Judge a Tree By Its Fruit

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 2:16-22

    It is wisdom that will keep you from entering into a sexual relationship with an immoral man or woman. If they were willing to break their promises to former promises, what makes you think they will keep their word to you? That lifestyle leads to loneliness and death. Instead of following after the immoral, follow the example of the righteous. It is the righteous who will live a good life, dying surrounded by those who love them.

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Psalm 9:1-12

    I will sing praises to the Lord and tell anyone who will listen about the marvelous things He has done. God will shelter the oppressed and offer refuge when trouble comes. Whatever troubles you face, God will offer you a refuge and solace for your sorrow. This psalm words it so well. I cannot do it justice.

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Matthew 7:15-29

    Jesus tells us that we can identify false prophets by their fruits. This passage is often used to say that we should judge people by their actions, not by their words. While I agree that we should judge people more by their actions than their words, that is not what I see Jesus as saying here. I believe that Jesus is telling us that we should judge people, especially those who preach and teach, by the results they produce rather than the intentions they claim. And when it comes to judging a preacher, this is not just a matter of judging the results of their actions, but the results of the actions of those they acknowledge as their disciples. If someone claims to preach peace, but numbers from among their followers keep turning to violence, we can judge that they are not really teaching peace (at least, not the way most people define peace).

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Genesis 20-22:24

    We know that Abraham was a man of great faith. Yet on two occasions, he was afraid that the local ruler would kill him so as to take his wife Sarah. This passage recounts the second of those occasions, when Sarah was 90 years old. Rather than trust in God’s protection, Abraham told the partial truth, that Sarah was his sister (actually, she was his half-sister). As a result, the local ruler, Abimelech took Sarah to be one of his wives. Despite Abraham’s lack of faith in this instance, God intervened to return Sarah to him completely unharmed. This is a reminder to us that everyone has shortcomings, even Abraham did. Yet, God will act on behalf of those who love Him and seek to serve Him.

January 8, 2015 Bible Study — Seek First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 2:6-15

    It is the Lord who grants wisdom. God is the source of knowledge and understanding. Those who are honest and righteous gain common sense as a natural result, because God designed the Universe that way. If we seek wisdom and follow where it leads, we will find and come to know God. If we seek God and follow where He leads, we will find and know wisdom.

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Psalm 8:1-9

    Every time I look into the night sky I am reminded of God’s majesty and power. Yet, because of this psalm, I am also reminded how much He loves me. But not just how much He loves me, how much He loves every single individual. It is interesting because this psalm combined with the night sky reminds me that I am little and insignificant. Yet I am also reminded that God wants me to use what little insignificant power which I possess to help those around me. I will praise God for how He has made the Universe to remind me that I am loved and that I am to love.

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Matthew 6:25-7:14

    Today’s passage looks like three different pieces, and in some ways it is. However, these three pieces fit together. Jesus tells us not to worry. Just look around, birds do not farm, or otherwise gather and store up food, yet God provides them with food to eat. Wild flowers do not spin, or otherwise manufacture clothes, yet are they not more beautiful than anything we could hope to buy? God knows that we need food and clothes. We do not need to worry about how we will get them. God will provide our needs.
    One of my favorite verses is right here in Jesus’ teaching us not to worry. Instead of worrying about food and clothes and shelter, let us seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. If we pursue God’s kingdom with the same energy and urgency we are used to spending on satisfying our physical needs and desires, we will find those physical needs being met without us seeming to put any effort into them whatsoever.
    The next piece of this lesson is that whatever standard we use to judge others, that is the standard by which we will be judged. I never realized before how closely this fits with something my father taught me. My father taught me not to trust someone who is sure that everyone is out to betray them. That person is sure that everyone is out to betray them is because they will readily betray others. In many ways, that is what Jesus was teaching from the opposite perspective. We will judge others by the standard by which they can best judge us. However, my father would have been quick to point out that there is more to Jesus’ teaching than the reverse of the lesson from my father to which I just referred. Jesus was telling us that if we judge others by the standard by which we would like to be judged we will find ourselves living as people who deserve to be judged that way.
    Then there is the third piece of this. If we do not ask, we will not receive given. If we do not seek, we will not find. If we do not knock, no one will open the door for us. On the other hand, if we ask, we will receive; if we seek, we will find; if we knock the door will be opened for us. Let us ask God for wisdom. Let us seek God’s kingdom and righteousness. Let us knock on the door to our neighbor’s heart.

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Genesis 18:16-19:38

    I have always loved the story of Abraham bartering with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham starts by questioning God’s justice and fairness.
“Will you really destroy 50 righteous people just because they live among wicked people?”
To which God replies that if He can find 50 righteous people in Sodom, He will not destroy the city. Abraham than asks, “Well, what if you are only a few short of that number?” Again God replies that if He finds even that number, He will not destroy the city. This continues until Abraham gets God to agree not to destroy the city if there are even 10 righteous people there. At which point, Abraham does not feel that he can argue any further.
    I do not really believe that if Abraham had not argued with God and there had been 10 righteous people in Sodom that God would have destroyed the city. However, it does not mean that it would have been OK for Abraham to not make the attempt. When we see trouble coming we should do everything in our power to save those in its path, just as Abraham did here. We should beg and plead with God to turn aside the coming destruction. We should care that people are going to suffer and desire to relieve them of that suffering, even if they brought it on themselves. Sometimes that caring means telling them that their actions are going to bring them suffering.
    There is another important lesson here. As wicked as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were, God agreed to not destroy them if He could find TEN righteous people in them. I do not know how many people lived in Sodom, but it was probably many more than 1,000. However, if it was only 1,000, that would mean that it only takes 1% of the population to be righteous to save a city from destruction. Think about that. It does not take many people to actually make a difference, to save a city. It only takes a few righteous people to keep a society from degenerating into a mire for which the only solution is destruction. As bad as things look around us, there are still a few righteous people in this nation. Just as Abraham did, let us pray that it is enough, but when we find ourselves in the situation Lot was in, let us stand up for righteousness.

January 7, 2015 Bible Study — Do Not Put On a Show of Being Righteous

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 2:1-5

    Let us seek after understanding and insight as if they were valuable treasures, because they are. If you truly seek those two things you will learn to fear the Lord and gain knowledge about God. Knowledge of God and fear of the Lord are an integral part of understanding and insight. All too many people seek to find understanding and insight apart from God and reject any that involve Him.

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Psalm 7:1-17

    Let us turn to God for protection, remembering that we will have to face the consequences of our actions. If we have sinned those consequences will be negative. If we do not repent of our sins, it will go even worse for us. It is only when we repent of our sins and turn to God that He will offer us protection from those out to destroy us.

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Matthew 6:1-24

    The first two teachings in this passage can be summed up by saying, “Do not put on a show about being righteous.” We should not give to charity in order to be recognized for it. We should not do good deeds in order for others to say how good we are. In the same way, we should not fast so as to attract attention and receive recognition for how righteous we are. Rather, we should do our best to keep others from being aware of our good deeds and self-sacrifice. Whether others see it or not, God knows what we do and will reward us accordingly. There is a limit to how stringently we should follow this instruction, because there is value in being a good example as well.
    Jesus then warns us against valuing and accumulating material wealth. If we put our efforts into acquiring wealth, we will make wealth the center of our universe. If we put our efforts into acquiring knowledge, we will make knowledge the center of our universe. If we put our effort into serving the Lord, the Lord will become the center of our universe.

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Genesis 16-18:15

    We have another story where it would be easy to choose one or another of the people as victims of circumstance. We could blame Sarai for mistreating Hagar. We could blame Abram for not controlling the situation. We could blame Hagar for being contemptuous of Sarai. It is quite clear that all of the individuals in this story bear some of the blame for how it turned out. After Ishmael was born, Abram asked God to apply His promises to Ishmael. God responded that Ishmael would be blessed, but Sarai (renamed Sarah at this point) would bear Abram a son. It would be through Sarah’s son that God’s promises to Abram would be fulfilled.
    This passage reminds us of the importance of being patient and waiting for God to carry out His promises. When we try to make things work out our way, we generate many problems we could have avoided by waiting for God to show us His plan.

January 6, 2015 Bible Study

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 1:29-33

    Those who refuse to listen to facts which do not support their beliefs, who do not fear the Lord, are rejecting wisdom. Wisdom is there for us to learn, if we start with fear of the Lord and accept knowledge, even when we don’t like what it implies. If we reject wisdom we will end up being destroyed by our folly. Those who listen to wisdom, and thus fear the Lord, will live in peace and have no other fears.

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Psalm 6:1-10

    The psalmist wore himself out praying to the Lord. He did not give up. He continued to cry to the Lord, even as his troubles mounted. In the end, God heard his prayers and answered them. Let us follow the psalmist’s example and cry out to the Lord in our troubles. Let us turn to Him. He will hear our prayers and answer them. However, let us not forget to be listening so that when God answers our prayers we will hear Him.

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Matthew 5:27-48

    Jesus continues His teachings about what it means to righteously keep the Law. It is not about obeying the letter of the Law. Rather it is about the spirit of the Law. The Law says that it is wrong to commit adultery. Jesus tells us that even looking at someone with lust is committing adultery. Both involve looking at others as mere objects to satisfy our desires. Jesus goes on to say that even though the Law says a man may divorce his wife by giving her a letter saying so, it is wrong to do so. If a man divorces his wife, he causes her to commit adultery. These two teachings taken together set a very high bar for sexual fidelity. They also set a standard for Christians on sexual behavior. If the Church had held itself to these standards, we would not be having the conversation with society about “gay marriage”.
    Jesus goes on to teach about the honesty, justice, and love. Jesus tells us that if we do not lie, ever, there is no need to take vows to support what we say. If people can trust that every time we answer a question our answer is the truth to the best of our knowledge, they will not need to ask us to take an oath that we are telling the truth. Further, if we are willing to lie in the first place, why should they believe our oath that this time we are telling the truth?
    The next teaching is one of the hardest: “do not resist an evil person.” There is more to it than this, but part of what Jesus is saying here is that we should not let others provoke us. Let them continue to abuse us rather than rise to the bait, but make it obvious. His instructions here are more than just not retaliating. Jesus tells us that if someone strikes us on the cheek, turn the other cheek. If someone forces us to carry their burden one mile, carry it two. I have a situation I deal with where someone I work with frequently tries to get me angry so that I respond defensively and attempt to strike back at his accusations. I need to learn not to rise to his bait.
    Jesus tells us that it is not enough to love our neighbors, we need to also love our enemies. It is important to remember that love is not just an emotion. It involves action. If we love someone we will actively work to promote their well-being. That is a very difficult thing to do. It is so easy to passively stand aside and allow our enemies to suffer harm. Jesus tells us that if we can, we should take action to prevent that harm.

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Genesis 13:5-15:21

    When Abram and Lot arrived in Canaan they soon ran into a problem. Their herds were too big to share the same pastures. As a result, their herdsman were in constant conflict. Abram sought a solution and suggested to Lot that they separate. Each going their own way. Abram gave Lot first choice. Lot chose the territory that appeared to be better land. As a result of his choice, Lot ended up getting caught up in a war and taken captive. In the meantime Abram had prospered and formed alliances. He was no caught up in the war, but was able to launch a retaliatory raid to rescue Lot. It is important to realize that the consequences of our choices are not always apparent when we make those choices.

January 5, 2015 Bible Study — Is Being Angry As Bad As Murder?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 1:24-28

    Wisdom is there for us if we are willing to listen. If we seek wisdom, we will find it. However, it is too late to seek wisdom once things have gone wrong. If we wait until we are in trouble to seek wisdom, no amount of wisdom will allow us to escape our problems. Seek to act wisely before things go wrong, otherwise it will be too late.

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Psalm 5:1-12

    If we wish for God to hear our prayers and listen to our cries we must be sure to pray to no one, and nothing, but Him. He takes no pleasure in wickedness and will not tolerate sin, neither should we. I was going somewhere else with this, but that caught my attention. In our world today there is a lot of talk about tolerance, and the importance of being tolerant. There is something to that. We should be tolerant of others. However, we should not be tolerant of sin.
    Back to discussing how this psalm applies to our lives: God will destroy those who tell lies and detests murderers and deceivers. If we do not put such things away from us we will be unable to approach God. Fortunately, because of God’s great love we can enter His House and worship Him. And verse 8 will be my prayer:

Lead me in the right path, O Lord,
or my enemies will conquer me.
Make your way plain for me to follow.

I struggle to see the path which God wants me to follow, but I know that He will make it plain to me if I but trust Him. God will drive away those who are too proud to admit their sins and turn to Him. But He will spread His protection over those who turn to Him for refuge. I will sing joyful songs of praise to Him.

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Matthew 5:1-26

    This passage contains the Beatitudes and I am not going to write much about them today. Except to say that I like the way the NLT translates them as a change of pace from the way we usually read them, “God blesses…”. It reminds us that all blessings come from God. However, I generally prefer the traditional way of translating them, “Blessed are…” because it reminds us that being blessed for those things is built into the Universe.
    What I really want to focus on are the teachings which come after the Beatitudes. Jesus uses the example of salt for how we should live several times. It really is a great metaphor for being a Christian. If we, as Christians, are not different from those around us, what good are we? But it is not enough to be different. We need to be different in a way which transforms the people around us into something better than they would be otherwise. You should observe your non-Christian acquaintances behaving in a better, more “Christian”, way the more time they spend with you. This will only happen if you are open about your faith and how it governs your behavior. In order to maintain our “saltiness” we must let our light shine. We cannot serve the Lord by hiding that we seek to serve the Lord.
    Jesus goes on to tell us that the Law of Moses is not going away. God’s basic laws are here to stay and if we want to have a good life we need to follow them. Those laws exist for a reason and ignoring them because we don’t like them will end no better than ignoring the oil in our car because we don’t like it. However, we cannot obtain righteousness by making a big show about how much better we are than others. The purpose of the law is not to distinguish who is better than who. Rather the purpose of the law is to teach us how to have a good life and avoid pitfalls and unhappiness.
    Finally for today, Jesus gives an example of what He means about the Law. The Law says that someone who kills someone else is subject to judgement. Jesus tells us that if we allow our anger to control our actions we are no better than a murderer. If we are in the midst of worshiping God, or anything else, and realize that someone has a gripe with us, we are to drop what we are doing and go resolve the issue.

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Genesis 11-13:4

    I have heard many interpretations of the story about the Tower of Babel. Several of them made good sense to me. However today when I read it two things struck me (I find it interesting that I seem to usually break things down into two parts). The first thing is that if people work together and communicate with each other effectively, they can accomplish anything to which they set themselves. That looks like two things, but they are really two parts of the same thing. A group will not remain united if its members do not communicate with each other. Nor will its members continue to communicate with each other if they stop being united in purpose.
    The second, and more important, lesson is that if we attempt to do this without putting God at the center, our communication and unity will fail. If our focus is not on serving God, no matter what other common goal we share, we will seek to advance OUR understanding of that goal and OUR personal interests, rather than the goal as shared by everyone. As that happens we will start to interpret what others say as agreeing with our understanding, rather than actually listen to what they say. In addition, we will start to word what we say so as to disguise how what we say goes against what the other person wants.

January 4, 2015 Bible Study

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 1:20-23

    Wisdom is there to be found by any who seek her. It is not hidden and we do not have to go to far away exotic places to find it. Wisdom is there in our every day life just waiting for us to pay attention. No one is condemned to remaining foolish unless they choose to be so. It is up to us, we can choose to listen to wisdom or choose to ignore it.

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Psalm 4:1-8

    The psalmist calls out to God when he needs relief from his troubles. He reminds us that God sets aside His faithful servants. Let us stop turning God’s glory into shame. It is time to give up delusions and false gods, those things which promise to give us what we want if only we turn to them rather than God. I will spend my nights searching my heart and seeking how I can better serve God tomorrow, rather than let my mind wander on to how I can satisfy my own pleasure.
    The people of this world are seeking to follow the one who will give them prosperity and worldly pleasures. I will follow God because the joy of doing His will is greater than what I can get from material things. I will not let prosperity nor poverty distract me from seeking God’s face.

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Matthew 4:12-25

    As I read the passage today, I saw something that had never really registered before. The passage tells us that when Jesus heard that Herod had arrested John the Baptist, He left Judea (where Herod ruled). I had read that before, but it was always just a comment about the order in which things happened. However, today I realized that Jesus left Judea because He (and probably His disciples) thought that Herod might follow up the arrest of John the Baptist by arresting Him. This tells us more than just that. Why would Jesus (and others) think that Herod might follow up John’s arrest by arresting Jesus? The answer is because people at the time viewed Jesus as being a leader of the same movement of which John was also a leader. There are other indications later in the New Testament that suggest that the followers of Jesus and the followers of John the Baptist considered themselves part of the same movement well after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

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Genesis 8-10:32

    Five months after the flood began, the Ark came to rest. It was another two and a half months before other mountain tops became visible. After forty more days, Noah released birds to see if there was dry ground. Seven days later, he released a dove. This dove did not return until the end of the day. When it returned it was carrying an olive branch. After another seven days, Noah released the dove again. This time it did not come back. At this point, Noah has been in the Ark, with his wife, three sons, and their wives (and maybe grandchildren) for over nine months. The passage tells us that Noah stayed in the Ark for over a year, until God told him it was time to leave it. I am not sure I would have been able to wait any longer after I saw that the ground was basically dry at around ten months. This passage reminds us of the importance of patience and waiting until God tells us that it is time to act.

January 3, 2015 Bible Study — Who Are Today’s Pharisees and Sadducees?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 1:10-19

    The writer warns us against those who see easy money in taking advantage of the innocent or unwary. They may seem like easy prey, but not everyone who appears to be unwary is the easy mark they appear. Those who seek to ambush the unwary will, sooner or later, find themselves caught in the trap they laid for others.

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Psalm 3:1-8

    Our enemies may say that God will not rescue us, but we can sleep safely in the knowledge that He will indeed do so. I will put my trust in God and seek to allow His Spirit to guide my actions. Then I will be confident that He will rescue me from all dangers.

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Matthew 3:7-4:11

    When the religious leaders came to where John was baptizing, perhaps to be baptized (the text is unclear), John called them out. They had not come in response to his message. Rather they had come in order to feel superior to those they felt needed to heed his message. They did not need to repent, they were teachers of the law. John was having none of it. They were not better than anyone else and their heritage would not save them.
    When we read this we often think of the Pharisees and the Sadducees as the hypocritically religious. That is not wrong, but there are others who are not traditionally religious who fall into the same category. The Pharisees and the Sadducees thought they were better than everyone else. They felt that the “common people” should listen to them and run their lives according to the rules which they, the Pharisees and Sadducees, laid down. But those rules did not really apply to them. Oh, it was important to put on the appearance of obeying the rules, but they did not have to actually follow them, just appear to do so.
    You can spend a lot of time trying to figure out who the Pharisees and Sadducees of today are. I will tell you the only important question to ask yourself: Am I a Pharisee or a Sadducee? If your response to that question is, “Oh no, I am much better than they were.” you are one of them. If on the other hand, you read the passages and either wish you had it that together (even with the condemnation they receive), or worry that you are one of them, you are, at least, on the path to NOT being one of them. I talk with someone from time to time who spends a lot of time identifying who the modern Pharisees are, the thing is, it is always some group with which he disagrees. When he does that, I always get the feeling that he is being one of them.

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Genesis 5-7:24

    We have here the account of Noah building the Ark to prepare for the flood and then of the flood itself. I remember that as I was growing up, and since, hearing Noah described as a man who stood up in the face of ridicule for following God. As I read this passage today I realized that there is nothing in this story to make us think that anyone took any particular note of what he was doing. I actually think it likely that Noah was off somewhere away from everyone else, except for his family. How else was he able to get two of every type of wild animal. In addition, if he was around other people, they would want to know what he was doing. When he told them, most of them would have laughed at him, but some would have wanted to stop him and made efforts to destroy the Ark before it was completed.

January 2, 2015 Bible Study — The Original Sin

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. Well, it is the second day of the new year. I am sure that one of these days I am going to publish this blog before I catch the fact that I typed 2014 as part of the date.

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Proverbs 1:7-9

    Fear of the Lord is the starting place of knowledge and understanding. When we fear God’s discipline we begin the process of acquiring wisdom. Those who despise discipline also despise wisdom. They are immoral fools.

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Psalm 2:1-12

    The rulers of the nations of this world do not want to be limited by rules laid down by God. They wish to be free to do as they please without fear of any consequences. They refuse to recognize that God laid down those rules because that is how He designed the world to work. Those who fight against God are destined for defeat because not only is He infinitely more powerful than anyone else, but He created the rules which govern how everything works.

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Matthew 2:13-3:6

    When the wise men left, once more God sent a messenger to Joseph. Joseph took his family to Egypt to escape Herod. Herod then demonstrates both the reaction of the powers of this world to God’s actions and the futility of that reaction. Jesus is a threat to the powers of this world because He demonstrates that our first loyalty must be to God. The powers of this world demand that we give them our first loyalty and attempt to make our religion subservient to them. God will never accept that position and as a result there is inevitable conflict between those who serve Him and those who have power in this world. And as we see in this passage, every attempt by the powers of this world to stop God’s plans results in actually fulfilling them.

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Genesis 3-4:26

    We often blame women in the form of Eve for original sin. However, Adam was standing right there when Eve had her conversation with the serpent. He could have, and should have, argued for obeying God. Instead, he merely stood there and allowed Eve to be convinced to eat the fruit and then, once she had done so, did so himself. One could argue that the original sin was a sin of omission. The original sin was Adam’s failure to stand up for what was right.
    Ultimately, the serpent’s argument was , “What harm can there be in that?” All too often our response to such arguments is, “Yeah, that rule is just there to keep me from enjoying myself.” We learn to late that the rule was there to keep us from pain, even when we were told that was the case when the rule was given. I have learned that, even when I cannot understand how it can work that way, when God tells us that something is a bad idea, it is a bad idea.

January 1, 2015 Bible Study — Happy New Year

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. This is the first day of a New Year. Let us dedicate ourselves to serving God each and every day in everything we do. I will ask His Holy Spirit to make me more faithful in service to God this year than I was last year.

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Proverbs 1:1-6

    As we start a new year, it is worth considering how reading the Book of Proverbs can help us live better lives. The Book of Proverbs was written in order to teach people wisdom and discipline. It even answers the question: why do we need wisdom and discipline?
    The answer to that question is: so that we may do what is right, and just, and fair. So, join me in this new year in finding guidance for our lives by exploring the sayings recorded in this book. May God grant us understanding so that we may receive guidance for living our lives.

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Psalm 1:1-6

    Speaking of receiving guidance, this psalm gives us some good guidance about living our lives. If you want true joy in your life, this psalm gives you a couple of things not to do and a couple of things to do. Things not to do:

  1. Follow the advice of the wicked
  2. Hang out with sinners
  3. Join in with those who mock others

It is not enough to know what not to do, we must also know what to do:

  1. Delight in the law of the Lord
  2. Meditate on that law day and night
  3. That sounds fairly simple. Why do I have so much trouble doing it?

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    Matthew 1-2:12

        When Joseph discovered that his arranged bride was pregnant, he did not become vindictive and demand she be publicly shamed. Instead, he planned to quietly step aside, perhaps to allow her the opportunity to marry the father of her child. However, God sent a messenger to Joseph in a dream. Joseph listened to the messenger and married Mary. There is a lesson there for us. Joseph did not seek to assuage the hurt he must have felt by shaming Mary. As a result he was receptive to hear God’s guidance when it was given to him. Joseph suffered a lot for Jesus to come into this world and apparently did not live to see Jesus begin his ministry.
        The other part of this story is the wise men. Actually what I notice here is that when someone asked Herod where the Messiah (because that is the only “king” that he would have expected to be heralded by a star) was to be born, he knew just who to ask. And when he asked them, they knew the answer off of top of their head. Yet out of all of the political and religious leaders not a single one of them chose to go and see this long awaited Messiah. They knew the answers, but when it came time to do something, they did nothing.

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    Genesis 1-2:25

        It is appropriate to study the creation story on the first day of the year. This story tells us the power of the Word of God. Time and again we are told, “Then God said…” and what He said came to pass. Not only did it come to pass as God said, but it was good.
        To cap it all off, God created mankind. God placed man in the Garden, where He decided that man needed a companion. First God showed all of the animals to the man and the man named them. However, none of the animals were found to be suitable companions for the man. When I was growing up, I was under the impression that God brought each of the animals to the man in order to see if they might do. But now when I read it I realize that God brought all of the animals to the man to show him that none of them would do. God already knew that none of the animals was a suitable companion for the man. Having shown the man that none of the other animals would do, God created woman. After having seen all of the animals, the man knew that the woman was meant for him. He realized it at once that she was to be his wife. I wish I could say that the same was true for me. It took God a lot longer to convince me that the woman He had brought into my life to be my wife was the right one, but I am glad He finally convinced me (her persistence had more than a little to do with that as well)