Thoughts on Christ and His Word

Picking a Marriage Partner is no joke.  It is the single most influential decision a person could make that will direct the course of their life for the rest of their life. This is why God forbade intermarriage with the women of the land they were to conquer - because these women would lead them to idolatry.  And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. Exodus 34:16 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods Deut. 7:3-4 And this is exactly what happened. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Judg 3:6 Thus God has always been against His children marrying unbelievers.  That's why even in the N.T. God commands His children...

1. Opposition provides an environment  for spiritual growth. 2. Opposition is normal. Hopler - Heroism in Bad Circumstances -Esther 4:16a - Mobilize people in prayer for a breakthrough in difficult situations. -Esther 4:16b - Act courageously to meet the need of the moment. -Esther faith as seen in the previous 2 points  lead to great victory for her people.  Esther 9:2

⊙ Leaders need to care deeply about the mission and goals of the church (Neh. 1:4) ⊙ Leaders need to confess their sins and the sins of their people (Neh 1:6-9) and lead their people to confession and repentance (Neh 9:1-3) ⊙ Leaders need to be people of prayer, showing their dependence on God (Neh 1:4-11; 2:4; 5:19; 6:9, 14); Praying against the enemy (4:4 6:14). ⊙ Leaders need to conquer their fears and attempt great things for God (Neh 2:1-3) ⊙ Leaders have clear goals and a plan to achieve them (Neh 2:6-8) ⊙ Leaders make a realistic assessment of where they are right now (Neh 2:13-16). Leaders make periodic assessments in order to monitor where they are at at any given time (Neh 4:10). Then they tweak or change their plans accordingly (4:10-23) ⊙ Leaders communicate the vision/goals and the plan to achieve them (Neh 2:17-18). They must clearly and passionately communicate why this vision or goal is important (Neh 4:14) and encourage th...

Romans 16:17-18 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. DIVISIONS - Dissensions; parties; factions; 1 Cor 1:10-13; 3:3; Gal 5:20. The very "attempt" to form such parties was evil, no matter what the pretence. They who attempt to form parties in the churches are commonly actuated by some evil or ambitious design. (from Barnes' Notes) Contrary to the Teaching you have learned -  To the "teaching" which you have received in this Epistle and elsewhere; the teaching that these divisions should cease; that the Jewish ceremonies are not binding; that all should lay aside their causes of former difference, and be united in one family; see Rom 14; 15. (from Barnes' Notes) Keep away from them -...

Does man have free will to choose God or does God move a man's heart so that he must choose God? Jer 24:7 - I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. Jer 29:13 - You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. These verses seem to answer the question in contradictory ways. And so do many verses in Scripture point to two different and opposite conclusions. This falls into what can be called an antimony. Antinomy: A contradiction between two apparently equally valid principles or between inferences correctly drawn from such principles. Miriam Webster Dictionary A contradiction between two beliefs or conclusions that are in themselves reasonable; a paradox. Oxford Dictionary What to us are irreconcilable principles, to God its not a problem because He's got a bigger brain. Let's accept what God has said and move on.

The Israelites had few swords. The Philistines had taken away their swords and blacksmiths Goliath was 9 FT. Tall with heavy weapons and armor David ran to kill Goliath. Where did David get the courage to do what he did? He believed that God was with him. Psalms 18:32-35

The Fear of the Lord is fearing God’s discipline and/or punishment to such a degree that it keeps us from sin and walking according to His commands.

Proverbs 9 says "Wisdom has built her house...she calls from the highest point of the city. "'Let all who are simple come in here!' she says to those who lack judgment." But wisdom is not the only one calling for our attention. In the same chapter, verse 13 says "Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge....she sits at the door of her house on a seat at the highest point of the city. She calls out 'Let all who are simple come in here' she says to those who lack judgement". So both Wisdom and Folly sit at the highest point of the city calling out to people - to come and eat what they have to offer. Wisdom leads to life and understanding. But Folly, who offers "stolen waters and food eaten in secret", leads to death and the depths of hell (18). Whom will you listen to?

Many Christians think that they love God solely because they have a warm and fuzzy feeling for Him. They sing real spiritual songs at church and come out of the church service with a tingly feeling. They conclude I must love God and be close to Him. And while that kind of affectionate love is great, it must be followed up by real practical love. 1 John 5:3 says "This is love for God: to obey his commands and his commands are not burdensome." To be truly in love with God requires more than warm fuzzy feelings. It requires making the hard choices of living righteously and obeying the commands of God even when we don't want to or like it. Loving God requires obedience to Him.

numbers 25 This chapter reminds us of the evil of sexual sin. When we allow our sex organs to drive our life we end up allowing someone else lead our spirituality which normally leads to spiritual ruin. Israel fell into this trap and 24,000 were killed by God's discipline.

God told Moses to go up the mountain and look at the Promise Land because he was about to take him out. Moses prayed. "Let the Lord ...set a man over the congregation who may go out before them and go in before them who may lead them out and bring them in that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no Shepherd." (Numbers 27:16) Moses knew that the people needed a leader. Every man needs to be a leader within the capacity given to him. Some need to lead five, others 10 others 50 others a hundred and others 1000. But let each man lead to the capacity given to him by God.

In 2017 what can be our most logical resolution? The Apostle Paul says it's offering our bodies as a living sacrifice. (Rome 12) E. Stanley Jones writes that a person "arrives at his highest level of rationality when he has sense enough to surrender himself to God. It is the sanest moment of a man's life when he does it. From that moment life begins to add up to sense."

The title above Numbers 30 in my Bible is "The law concerning vows". However it could be called "Principles of Family Authority". In this chapter God says that an unmarried woman who makes a vow that her father disagrees with, he can overrule her, making her vow null and void. Further on it says that her husband can overrule his wife's vow if he doesn't like the vow she made to God. So these two principles exemplify the principles of human authority especially within the family. For an unwed daughter these principles are a subset of honor your mother and your father.

In Numbers 31 God told Moses to gather an army to go fight and destroy the midianites. Moses selected 1000 men from each tribe for a total of 12000 men. By the amount of plunder brought back and the number of captives brought back which included 675,000 sheep 72,000 cattle + 32,000 virgin girls, we can tell that the amount of men that they faced and killed must have been a force that probably quadruple their own. Yet God gave them the victory. As they reported to Moses "not one man was missing of their army". So God can take our weak and feeble efforts and turn them into great fruitfulness. May God give us an extremely fruitful year multiplying us from 300 to 600 in 2017.

It seems to me that God has two types of desires or wills A determined will and a permissive will. God's determined will (or desire) is what God has determined will happen. He will cause it to happen regardless of any human desires. So when he wanted to harden Pharaoh's heart because it was His will to deliver ten plagues, He hardened Pharaoh's heart  (Exodus 7:3). Pharaoh basically had no choice. God hardened his heart so that He could deliver 10 plagues and show Himself powerful to Israel and everyone else. But I believe God has a permissive will also. This is God allowing people to choose between right and wrong, faith or disbelief, obedience vs rebellion. In God's permissive will He wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim. 2:4). But he does not force people to come to Him, rather he lets them choose to believe in Jesus or not. I believe both of these principles operate in the world simultaneously. What God has determined to happen w...

Deuteronomy 30:19 Moses tells us to choose life. In verse 20 he tells us that God is our life. Then in Deuteronomy 32:47 Moses says that the Word of God is our life. So the closest thing that we can do to actually stand in the presence of God and listen to his voice is to read and meditate on his word. By doing this and obeying His Word, we are choosing life.