For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

    It is harder to bear up under the resentment triggered by the foolish things people say and do than under a weight of stone or sand. Give careful thought to what you say or do so that you do not foolishly provoke others to resentment and anger.
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    God shows His power in wonderful and marvelous ways so that we will honour Him and follow His commands. God does not do these things because we follow His commands. He does them so that we will follow His commands. Christ did not die for our sins because we were righteous. He died for our sins in order to make us righteous. Thus it is with all of God’s great deeds.

    Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek. As the author here points out, Melchizedek means “king of justice”. In addition, Melchizedek was king of Salem, and Salem means “peace”. This connection reinforces what we read in other places where we are told that Jesus is the King of Justice and King of Peace. One thing the author does not point out is that Salem was the city we now know as Jerusalem, so Jesus was also King of Jerusalem (which also follows from His being the descendant of David).
    The take away from all of this is that the priesthood of Aaron has been superseded. The priesthood of Aaron interacted with God on behalf of the people. Under that structure, the high priest approached God and made offerings on behalf of himself and the people. But even after the high priest had made his offerings, the people still needed to go through the priests in order to approach God. However, under the new priesthood, our High Priest has made offering on our behalf once and we can now approach God with only Jesus as our intermediary.

    Ezekiel speaks out against prophets and religious leaders who, rather than call on people to give up their sins and turn to God, tell the people that all will be well. He warns against encouraging people to make cosmetic changes to their lives when what they need is fundamental transformation. It is not enough for us to show the appearance of righteousness, we must live righteous lives, doing what we can to help the impoverished and oppressed. Going to Church on Sunday is just not going to cut it. God is calling us to do more than that. We need to live our lives each day to bring healing to those around us who are suffering.
    Further, Ezekiel speaks out against those prophets who offer We must also call others to make genuine changes in their lives. It is not enough to offer them “charms” and rituals for them to follow. We must call people to turn from the sin which is causing their suffering. God is bringing judgement against those who do not turn from their sin. He is also going to bring judgement against us if we tell the sinners that they can avoid the judgement by making cosmetic changes when what they need is the fundamental transformation of accepting Jesus and the Holy Spirit into their lives.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

    Lying will hurt others, and no matter what else you say, you will never convince them that you do not hate them. Flattering someone may cause them to try things they do not have what it takes to accomplish, leading them into all sorts of trouble.

    Give thanks to the Lord, let the whole world know what He has done. Search for the Lord, continually seek Him (not just some times, all the time). I love this psalm. It gives me joy to read. But it is also a challenge. Do I let everyone I meet know what God has done for me? Do I tell them about the things I have seen Him do in the world around me? The answer, unfortunately, is that I do not tell everyone I meet those things. And part of the reason I do not do so is because I do not continually seek Him. Oh, I seek the Lord, but then I get distracted and forget about Him while I pursue other things. Oh God, give me the discipline to seek You and Your will all of the time!

    This passage talks about how no one becomes high priest simply by choosing it themselves. In order to become high priest one must be chosen by God. Jesus did not choose to become our high priest, a priest in the order of Melchizedek. I think there is a lesson here for how we choose all types of Church leadership. We should not choose our Church leaders from those who have chosen to be Church leaders. Those among us who have been chosen by God and the Church for leadership positions should choose to accept such a calling.
    The writer talks about how his readers are not ready for solid food spiritual teaching. He says that they are like infants who still need milk, they are not yet ready to move beyond the most basic of spiritual teaching. There comes a time when we need to move on from the basic spiritual teaching that we give those who are new to Christian faith. In order to do so we must train ourselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong. I will use another metaphor here to explain what I think the author is saying. Just as an infant needs to train its muscles by pushing itself up to all fours, then by crawling, and then by standing helped by an adult, or by holding onto a solid object, so to must we train ourselves in spiritual knowledge by using what we have learned. Until we develop our ability to use what we have already learned, we cannot learn more. And why do infants struggle to master the abilities in order to learn to walk? They do so because they are encouraged both by seeing adults and older children doing so, and by the positive reinforcement those adults and older children give them as they master the steps in learning to do so. Our congregations should be structured in the same way, with believers at different levels of spiritual maturity encouraging those less mature in the faith to develop.

    God gave Ezekiel a message for those remaining in Judah and Jerusalem telling them that the end was approaching, that the coming disaster was no longer avoidable. Their wickedness and pride and born its full flower and the time had come when judgement would fall. It was too late to avoid judgement. There comes a time for each and everyone of us, and for each and every society, when it is too late to repent of our sins and turn from our sins. If we have not turned from our sins before that time arrives, it will be too late to avoid the judgement and disaster that are coming.
    Then God took Ezekiel to show him why the judgement that was coming on Jerusalem was no longer avoidable (the language suggests to me that Ezekiel was reluctant to witness these things, but was given no choice in the matter). He was shown how the people were worshiping an idol where they should be worshiping God. Then he was shown how the leaders (I get the impression that this group was composed of both religious and secular leaders) were worshiping idols so despicable that they could not do so openly, even among a people who would openly worship other idols. Then Ezekiel is shown women partaking in a pagan worship ritual in the Temple gates. Finally he was shown men in front of the altar to God with their backs to the altar worshiping the sun. All of these incidents indicate people not just worshiping idols but doing so as part of what they would portray as worship of God. In what ways are we, or the society around us, worshiping idols in the name of worshiping God?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted over the last few weeks to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

    Those who attempt to set things up so that others come to harm without anyone knowing they were involved end up getting caught in the trouble they aimed at someone else.

    This psalm reminds me of why I feel close to God when I look out over the ocean, or from a look out point high on a mountain. From that perspective you can see the many wonderful things which God has made. Then there is verse 33, which I echo every day:

    God has established a place of rest for us. A place where we will be able to enter and be free of all of the temptations and troubles of sin. However, in order to enter into that rest, we must remain His faithful servants. Let us not follow the example of disobedience set by the people of Israel in the Sinai after they left Egypt. Let us not think that our disobedience can be hidden from God, for nothing can be hidden from Him.
    The word of God is both alive and active. It is not a dead letter which will no longer apply because times have changed. If we study His word it will expose our inmost thoughts and desires. More importantly, if we allow it, God’s word will separate us from those thoughts and desires which keep us from faithfully obeying Him. No matter how closely those thoughts and desires are to who we understand ourselves to be, God’s word is sharp enough to cut them loose without damaging our true selves. Everything we think, do, and are will be exposed before God. Yet we have an intercessor, Jesus Christ, who fully understands our weaknesses, so we can approach God boldly knowing that He is merciful. Let us cast ourselves before Him and beg His mercy, for if we do so, He will grant us that mercy and forgive our sins.

    We are God’s watchmen. When God gives us a message to warn people about the dangers coming, it is our job to warn them. This is an important job. However, we are not responsible if they do not heed our message. We are only responsible for delivering God’s warning. Just as a sentry is not responsible for mustering the troops to prepare for an attack, so are we not responsible for what people do once we have delivered the warning. It is up to those who hear God’s warning to decide if they will respond to the message.
    If we fail to deliver God’s warning to people, He will hold us responsible for their death. If we deliver His warning and they do not listen, they will still die, but He will not hold us accountable. We have a responsibility to warn those who are pursuing sin to destruction about what is coming. It is worth noting that we are only responsible for warning those for whom God has given us a message. I struggle with knowing when God has given me a message for people. Does this cover everyone I see where I know their actions are sinful and will lead to their ultimate death? Does this cover all of those who are in that situation that I count as friend? I think the answer to both of those questions is: Not necessarily. It is an ongoing prayer of mine that the Holy Spirit guide me to know to whom God is sending me with a warning. There are some that I know and have delivered that warning, but I know that there are others where I failed to deliver God’s warning…and just as bad, there are some where I have given warning for whom God had not given me a message. That last is important because when we give warning where God has not given us a message, we take the risk of causing the person not to listen when God does send them a message.