Saturday, February 21, 2009
Growing Pains
The Lord is working in my wife and my hearts. We have been looking for an apartment to live in and there have been several places that have fit what we have wanted, but the Lord's will has not been with these places. It is difficult to pass over things when your heart is set on a place, but it is another reminder that our hearts should be focused on heavenly things and not caught up in the thicket of worldly things. I do not find it wrong to desire nice things, but when your heart gets tied up in them, that is when your focus has been diverted. Praise the Lord for growth in Christ, because if we do not grow such things as these would not be so easy to set aside. Praise the Lord for His Word, because it is the milk and meat that our souls long for. To quote H.A. Ironsides father "God will supply all our needs, someday He will supply my need of starving." It is the pains of grow that are a sign that we are growing, but I believe it is the flesh dying that causes the pain.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Christ's virgin bride, Satan's great whore
As I was studying for a sermon I am going to do on our enemy, Satan I came across something interesting. Christ is building His Church, His bride. In II Cor.11:2 she is called a "chasted virgin". In contrast in Revelation 17:1 we find Satan's counterfeit to Christ bride the "great whore". Ephesians 5:26 says " That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." speaking of the Church. The water refers to the Word of God. Having said that lets go back to Rev. 17:1 where we find the "great whore" and it says "...the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." God calls Satan's counterfeit a whore which would contrast to His Son's bride the "chasted virgin" when we look at this counterfeit religion of Satan's we see that it sits on many waters, where I draw the conclusion that the waters refer to many religious scriptures, a great ecuminecal work.
Just some thoughts that I had concerning those passages. I hope this could be of some help.
Resting in Christ
Justin
Just some thoughts that I had concerning those passages. I hope this could be of some help.
Resting in Christ
Justin
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Psalm 1:1 & 2
Vs. 1 The three different verbs that are used in this first verse are all saying the same thing "remaining or abiding". They carry with them the idea of making these sinful actions a lifestyle. God is telling us that we must not have a lifestyle of wickedness in our walk our stance or our seat. It covers all areas of life.
Vs. 2 What we ought to do is to find our pleasure in the Word of God, to the Jew the Law was his direction for life, to live a godly life all the Jew had to do was to follow the Law, salvation was not found in the law though. Now that Christ has fulfilled the Law we must follow after Christ. Christians are not bound to the Law, but we are bound to Christ, bought with a price. We find our delight in Him and we meditate in His word day and night. Why do we do this? 2 Tim 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth; 2Tim 2:2 "And the things that thou hast heard of me...commit thou to faithful men..." and finally 2Tim3:15-17. Vs. 17 "That the man of God may be perfect , throughly furnished unto all good works." It is for our growth towards Christ likeness!
Vs. 3 The Psalmist goes on to tell the benefits of this. "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." When your life is planted in God's word, your growth will be steady, pure, and abundant. The principle of water, a type for God's word can be brought out here. When we are planted in His word daily we will bear fruit consistently, the world will quicken us for use by God and our work will prosper because our focus is on heavenly things not earthly things.
Vs. 2 What we ought to do is to find our pleasure in the Word of God, to the Jew the Law was his direction for life, to live a godly life all the Jew had to do was to follow the Law, salvation was not found in the law though. Now that Christ has fulfilled the Law we must follow after Christ. Christians are not bound to the Law, but we are bound to Christ, bought with a price. We find our delight in Him and we meditate in His word day and night. Why do we do this? 2 Tim 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth; 2Tim 2:2 "And the things that thou hast heard of me...commit thou to faithful men..." and finally 2Tim3:15-17. Vs. 17 "That the man of God may be perfect , throughly furnished unto all good works." It is for our growth towards Christ likeness!
Vs. 3 The Psalmist goes on to tell the benefits of this. "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." When your life is planted in God's word, your growth will be steady, pure, and abundant. The principle of water, a type for God's word can be brought out here. When we are planted in His word daily we will bear fruit consistently, the world will quicken us for use by God and our work will prosper because our focus is on heavenly things not earthly things.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Discussion of Ephesians
I would like to have an open dicussion on the book of Ephesians. A chapter by chapter, verse by verse walkthrough of what God was saying through Paul. We will look at it's grammatical and historical context and try to dive into it head long for a fruit growing experience.
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