kjv@Psalms:51 @ @ RandyP comments: This is clearly one of the most substantial passages of the Bible. If we only understood it to it's deepest and truest meaning. Behold thous desirest truth in my inward parts; create in me a clean heart; restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; then will I teach transgressors thy ways.... We better memorize this one!
kjv@Acts:28:1-15 @ @ RandyP comments: Paul took courage. Even for a man of such deep faith and conviction the process is long and tiring. The sign of other brethren and time spent with them no matter how little has to be a strong encouragement. Not everyone sees fellowship in the same light as Paul. It is a wearing experience all it's own. It is easier fellowshiping with sports fans or business associates even strangers. Perhaps the expectations and roles we assume are too much different. Perhaps we should re-learn what it is to be in Christian fellowship.
kjv@Romans:1 @ @ RandyP comments: This passage is often used in the debate over homosexuality and gay marriage. You'll notice though that that the list of reprobate tendencies is longer than just that. Though sexual preference is mentioned prominently, it is mentioned in the context of why God gave them over to this along with the list of things equally abhorrent. To continue in any of these behaviors, to attempt to reason that any are anything less than what they are, to seek out those that are similarly minded, is to continue in the defiant and reprobate nature Paul calls to attention. To judge one ill behavior while performing another is out right hypocrisy. We must all beware.
kjv@Romans:1:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Why have we received grace? For obedience. Why have we received apostleship? For obedience. Obedience to what? The faith! Many would associate "the faith" with whatever they are willing to believe. Paul gives the impression that "the faith" is fixed and set by Jesus for us all to obey. Where do we obey? Among all nations. Why do we obey? For His name!
kjv@Psalms:66 @ @ RandyP comments: Affliction serves the purpose of purging and cleansing in the life of believers. It is not a bad thing other wise we'd likely go back to the way we were before. This way we've not only learned to depend solely on God, been removed from our selfish and ill advised motives, seen the hand and operation of God, but, also have some investment into the process. The praise and prayer offered becomes real and sincere, organic and experiential instead of merely academic.
kjv@Romans:2 @ @ RandyP comments: No one is above judgement. Our only salvation in judgment is in Jesus Christ. In the previous chapter we've read of the ways of the reprobate. It would be natural for us to be judgmental of others given this impressive list. The problem with that is in the many things for which we ourselves will be judged, things perhaps more hidden than for example overt homosexuality. Persons on both sides of the line draw their own conclusions and judgements. A wall builds up between us with sinners on both sides. God's long suffering and forbearance has been shown to us all. It is time for us on both sides to think in terms of the spirit verses the letter of the law. Let us set aside any sin that would so easily beset us.
kjv@Romans:3 @ @ RandyP comments: There is the Law given by Moses, the full purpose of which is to expose all men as sinners. All have sinned, not one is righteous. That is the best that the Law can do for no man is justified by the Law. The Law is not done a way with now days, it fully fulfills it's purpose of convicting souls. Then there is the Law of Faith, this is where salvation out of the judgement is found. Only by faith in the sacrifice, resurrection and Lordship of Jesus Christ, the God/Man person and completed work of Jesus do we escape the judgement of the Law. The two Laws work together, one against the non-believer, the other for the believer in Christ Jew or Gentile alike. Once on board in the faith the two laws cannot be commingled without bringing back the judgement present in the Mosaic Law. The Law of Faith is perhaps better described as Grace.
kjv@Romans:4 @ @ RandyP comments: This law of faith not only separates us from our Jewish brothers but also our Muslim; it is our dividing point in many respects. Their reward is essentially boiled down to "God owes them" because of their obedient works. They do what He commands them and He is obliged/indebted to pay them back. God is committed thus only to their blood seed or proselytized seed. It is our belief that God owes no man no thing, that what He does give us is freely given of His own supreme grace through and for the establishment of His own son Jesus Christ's reign and lordship. We have the entirety of the Bible including the accounts of Abraham and David to confirm this Law of Faith. It's reward is available to all peoples who like Abraham hope beyond hope in imputation and God's providential grace. The story of Abraham thus becomes a prophecy of God sacrificing His son in substitution for reasons of His own love and grace and not because of indebtedness to some percieved goodness we may or may not of performed. The difference is huge!
kjv@Romans:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember where to find this chapter. Memorize it and it's key versus or at the very least understand it fully. This is one of the gems of all human literature; one of several found in Romans.
kjv@Romans:5:13-14 @ @ RandyP comments: The Law spoken of here is clearly the Mosaic Law. Without/before the Law sin was not imputed and yet all people died showing proof of a Adamic curse. One does not have to sin in the same form as Adam (freely choosing to eat from the tree of knowledge of good/evil) because his descendants are cut off from the tree of life. This condition causes all the descendants to unavoidably sin, the option of choice in this instance is totally removed. Our options now are in how we will sin. Now that the Law is imputed we fully know that our condition is one of sin as well as our available options. Though we seek to do godly right we can not do so knowing only what is right in our own eyes. In this sense Jesus has become the light in our darkness.
kjv@Psalms:76 @ @ RandyP comments: In Judah God is known for the miraculous protection provided. Many a enemy has risen against her and against most incredible odds Judah has seen the Lord deliver. There is no tactical reason or military advantage they possessed for them to be victorious; other than God's hand. God's judgment is for the meek. There is then a sense of reverence and obligation to the Lord that must be paid. That He has done this for Judah is equally important for modern Christians as well as we have been grafted into this heritage too.
kjv@Romans:6 @ @ RandyP comments: Baptized into His death. How many of us realize that? That we may be free of sin... Let not sin therefore reign. There was a time when we had no choice, we were servants of the flesh. Being crucified with Christ now there is a second choice; and it does not appear that it is automatic that we will make the right choice in this new freedom. There are only two choices presented however. The other choice is to be servants of righteousness. We may think that that there is a third choice to do whatever we determine ourselves but that is the same as serving the flesh. This is the test of our faith, whether is strong enough to serve righteousness single mindedly and whether it is real enough to know that it is not automatic.
kjv@Romans:1:21 @ @ RandyP comments: Glory and thanks not just belief in God's existence. Two tests of the ReprobateMind.
kjv@Romans:7 @ @ RandyP comments: In Christ our previous husband (the Law) is dead; we've seen our inescapable sin nature, we know the will to do right is there but not how to perform it, we sense the war raging against the law of our minds. Now we are married to a new husband, a husband that has raised from the death dictated by the Law and brought us into a completely new and living hope.
kjv@Psalms:80 @ @ RandyP comments: Just as the shepherd's flock in the previous chapter, the picture of the vine has been used in many places in the Bible, used by our savior in fact, and is a good way of describing what has happened and what will happen to Israel. This account suggests that it was brought out of Egypt, land cleared aside and planted. The vine elsewhere is also pruned and trimmed by a husbandman to produce it's greatest fruit and gentile believers are being grafted into it. It may feel to them like they are being ransacked but, in the bigger picture they are being seasoned and groomed into something grand.
kjv@Psalms:81 @ @ RandyP comments: Other gods, the plague of Israel. Why was it so easy for them to slip back into this? After all the reproofs, the bondage and countless turning back. It would be wise for us to consider this answer. It may not be as simple as finding the right god and sticking to it. It could be that we use gods to serve us which the false gods are very willing to do. It could be that we feel better being fulfilled and exalted than being brought low and humbled. It could be that we believe the here and now and not the future, that our hearts are never satisfied, that we are driven by lust and fear. There are processes and separations being used by the Lord to make us what we will one day be. It is easier though for us to think that we are now what we will be. Such are our presumptuous sins. Such is the shame of what this life should have been.
kjv@Romans:8:1-18 @ @ RandyP comments: The importance of separating flesh from spirit cannot be stressed enough. It is just as separating death from life. We have grown comfortable in our flesh; it is all that we have ever known. We may have had a particular problem so we think with a part of the flesh such as addiction or anger, so we look to religion to rectify that one fleshly weakness. The problem is that all the flesh is corrupt and in no way can please God. Good Intentions? Certainly. Good deeds? In part. Atonement with God? Only by crucifying the flesh, being quickened in our mortal flesh, walking in the spirit. Without strict abiding in Jesus Christ none of this is remotely possible by our own hand.
kjv@Romans:8:19-39 @ @ RandyP comments: This chapter being one of the most quoted in the Bible is often being picked apart into bite size pieces instead of being taken in as a whole. In bites we can make it say all sorts of nice comfy things. As a whole we should see it as an intense spiritual battle over the souls of men. Being saved by hope, helped even still in our infirmities, being drafted into the allied ranks, being counted as sheep for the slaughter, Paul is persuaded that nothing can separate believers from the love of God, that all these trench level struggles and persecutions work for together for the good. No matter what this war can throw against us our Supreme Commander is there.
kjv@Psalms:84 @ @ RandyP comments: Judgment/Compassion. Have you ever worked for a company that was failing miserably? The employees/customers were pulling it apart at the seems? When a new manager comes in the first thing for him/her to do is to right the ship, and to do this he/she must pronounce judgment. The judgment is even handed; "it is my way or the highway". As hard as these transformations are, I cannot tell you the relief these judgments have especially to the loyal and invested and badly abused workers. To see a company go from a delinquent detention center to a fully functioning productive enterprise is perhaps the best compassion available. This is more like God's judgments; they are only harsh to those who deserve them.
kjv@Psalms:85 @ @ RandyP comments: I wonder how much of the anger of God read about here is His anger and how much is either our sense of shame or rebelliousness. We often transfer the blame or misinterpret the real situation; which may make Him all the more angry. We have to be careful not to present ourselves as being ready for being turned if only God were not still so mad. If God is angry there will be good cause. If He is still distant then perhaps we are not fully ready to be turned and revived. With God, mercy and truth are always met together, it is never a point that we wish He would return to.
kjv@Romans:9 @ @ RandyP comments: It is difficult for us to perceive that God will do whatever He will and that we are subject to that. Even when we rebel against the notion He is the only sovereign one. He has done no wrong for there is no wrong for Him to do. We are His vessels, some to honor others to dishonor.
kjv@Romans:12 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a sure transformation that follows when a soul has becomes a living sacrifice unto the Lord. It gives the capability of the fruitful produce of ones gifts, the striving for the unity of fellowship, the nurturing of others gifts. More and more it becomes a cooperative strength, cooperative love and cooperative outreach to the world within and beyond.
kjv@Romans:13 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@Romans:12-13 pair up nicely as a practical explanation of the daily Christian walk. These things take place because of our daily sacrifice and presentation to the Lord. They are a result of faith living forth and not being forced by mere religion.
kjv@Romans:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Notice how this theme of the brethren and striving for the unity of the spirit ties in with what we just read in kjv@Romans:12. This teaching is a very practical way of considering the more general commands of 12.
kjv@Romans:14:23 @ @ RandyP comments: What is not of faith is sin. Almost too bad this major universal truth is tagged on to a line considering the observance of foods and days; it gets over looked. Too many people consider sin the breaking of the one of the ten commandments. The reprobate mind reduces and compartmentalizes down to the un-approachable minimum. The scale of sin is much broader than we observe bringing every living breath and action into doubt. To know this scale of sin and it's human inescapably is to know why Jesus had to die one for all to it.
kjv@Psalms:105 @ @ RandyP comments: All this He did for the purpose that they might observe His statutes and keep His law. We might say well they didn't really do that, at least not for long. Is that to say that God was wrong or had failed? That God could have found a better way? Or is that to say that it was and is the right way? That by us failing to do this by our own means serves to draw us toward His son the true fulfillment of statute and law? Surely God's doings each and every one are perfect and without failing.
kjv@Romans:15:1-20 @ @ RandyP comments: "And not to please ourselves". It is so easy even in the course of ministry to do the things we do for the sake of the ministry and not so much for the sake of the person whose infirmities we intend to bear. The person becomes another notch in our belt, a mark to our tally. Perhaps one of the greatest successes of Paul's ministry, his outreach to the Gentiles, was due to his attention to the individual person. This is why we hear of so many people coming to his aid and joining beside his ministry later. Paul encourages us that we are more than capable of doing the same.
kjv@Romans:15:21-33 @ @ RandyP comments: Finally Paul will make a visit to Rome on a trip that will eventually take him into Spain. His work never ends. He mentions that the saints in Jerusalem have provided spiritual blessing to the Gentiles in Macedonia and Achaia and in response these Gentiles are contributing to the saints physical needs in Jerusalem which at this time were dire. By going into Judea to perform this gift Paul is placing himself in great danger in several ways. In that day before money wires and bank transfers I imagine a great deal of care and secrecy/diversion was required to safely do transfers like this. Having a well known and greatly despised envoy do this was even more risky.
kjv@Romans:16 @ @ RandyP comments: A long but partial list no doubt of the people Paul has marked out as being good brethren, people he would encourage us to hang out with and emulate. A leader would be wise to make public mention of these role models frequently. There are people to mark out to avoid as well, people that appear to be goodly but serve their own belly. Maybe it is not as important to us individually to mark them out, but, as leaders of a ministry or congregation it certainly is. Be sure to address this fault with them first personally as is proper but, if nothing yet changes avoid them. In any event they must be cut off from their position in the services of the church. A leader would be wise like Paul to search this list out system wide especially in the areas where food or money or barter-able services might be changing hands.
kjv@Psalms:113 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord God's Son not only was high above doing these great and countless things, He humbled Himself to become part of these experiences as well, to the effect that now He is by no means a stranger to the human feelings and human nuances and human temptations that we experience within these great foundations and frameworks. He has been both here and there. Having returned back to His position alongside the Father, having completed the necessities for our redemption, He waits at the right hand as the Father puts His enemies beneath His footstool so that He the Son can return in His much deserved glory. Who is like unto our Lord God?
kjv@1Corinthians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Notice here that Paul has not yet concluded his discussion of the Church's division. This is not him getting side tracked. He is using the explanation of worldly knowledge verses spiritual knowledge as part of a larger address of what ails the church.
kjv@1Corinthians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The spirit of a man alone knows the secrets held within a man. How is it that we think that knowing God would be any different? To know of God one must inquire of His Spirit, search through that which is spiritually discerned, compare spiritual to spiritual. The Spirit searches all things. This is where the natural man fails to understand.
kjv@Psalms:119:1-48 @ @ RandyP comments: From the very core of his heart outward the psalmist is asking God to perform a thorough work. By God placing his eyes/his heart/his understanding on the righteousness of His judgments, guiding his path with precept and statute and command, by blessing and standing for him as he stands against those that rage against truth, man is transformed in God's way. This petition reaches all areas of his walk.
kjv@1Corinthians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Paul continues to address the divisions in Corinth. He could have just said to stop it, but, instead used the opportunity to teach important doctrines. The carnal mind has not been escaped to this point as there are envying and strife. Thinking oneself to be wise, glorying in certain men over others when all are doing their work for the Lord are caused by spiritual immaturity. We are taught to look at a much larger picture of what God is doing and how other men and ourselves fit into that.
kjv@1Corinthians:4 @ @ RandyP comments: How is it that a steward is found faithful? In the apostle's case it was in the style of life that he had given himself over to. It was a rough life, much of the luxury that is part of our life were absent in theirs. Much of the danger and persecution that we shy away from they stood toe to toe against. They were made spectacles. A faithful steward today must expect similar. kjv@Psalms:119 speaks of faithful afflictions meant to stir us up from God.
kjv@1Corinthians:5 @ @ RandyP comments: We see that sin is not only what an individual does but how the congregation reacts to it. In the Law, the precept was given not only to the fornicator not to do it it but, to the citizens to revile and punish it. Their reaction either furthers lawfulness or furthers lawlessness in the community. In this new covenant they weren't to go to the extent of stoning the fornicator in the square but they were to strictly warn him and should he continue reject him from their fellowship. This assembly mistakenly gloried in their pious tolerance of this man and his acts.
kjv@1Corinthians:6 @ @ RandyP comments: Just as this divides itself over it's leadership, just as this assembly tolerates fortification, just as they tolerate civil matters between themselves to be brought before a secular court, this body joins itself as if in marriage to these grievous forms of unrighteousness. The leaven mentioned in the previous chapter has raised up into a spiritual adultery of congregational proportions; and this among fellow believers. Surely not all have done individually these sinful things, but, the congregation is effected as a whole none the less. Tolerance and passiveness in this case is a sin just as pungent.
kjv@1Corinthians:7:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Their salvation still requires belief and repentance just as the rest of us. This sanctification he is speaking of is of a setting apart. There are varying levels of sanctification. The unbeliever and the household are being blessed tangibly because of the blessing of God toward the believer and the children are raised in a better and more wholesome environment. It still would be better however that they all believe.
kjv@1Corinthians:7:1-24 @ @ RandyP comments: These are general rules for marriage but, the principals involved are far reaching. Principal one: you are not your own, you are the others'. Principal two: don't hold back yourselves from one another except by mutual consent for spiritual matters. Principal three: stay engaged/invested in the marriage even if your spouse is a unbeliever if they are consenting.
kjv@1Corinthians:7:25-40 @ @ RandyP comments: What would a personal opinion be doing in the Bible? It shows me an example of applying principal. There are areas in our lives where we will find no direct scriptural answer or command. I don't think that God sought for each and every area to be commanded. There are several areas however we will find where it is best to apply principal. We are allowed to see how an apostle would reason such an area forward by principal. Yes it is his opinion and we have to take it as such, but, principals are born out great truths that have been meditated and applied in different areas that have similarity to the issue presently considered. Most people don't spend enough time even meditating these God given truths enough during to day to know how that they might relate to the question at hand.
kjv@1Corinthians:8 @ @ RandyP comments: The principal is that knowledge is likely to puff us up. The example illustration is eating food offered to idols. The knowledge may be correct that the offering to idols means nothing, but so is the knowledge that some believers will be offended by it (right or wrong). Instead of puffing up about it and insisting to be right, bend towards the matters of another's conscience. What other areas can we apply this principal to?
kjv@1Corinthians:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Seems that there is always a fuss over money, be it tithes or church salaries or building funds or pastor's portions etc. It comes to the point where the gospel is hindered by all the fuss. Some concern is rightly placed. Most concern is nothing more than serving the master of mammon more than the master of grace. Paul was well within his rights to eat of the grain he had milled, but, made a personal decision as an apostle not to partake of his portion simply because it would surely become an offense to weaker less mature believers. Not all ministers are in that same position nor should they be expected to be either.
kjv@1Corinthians:10:1-13 @ @ RandyP comments: Ensamples they are, written for our admonition. Let's look at just the pure mathematics of probability. It is immensely more probable that we are beset by one of these traits than not. Idolaters, fornicators, tempters of Christ, murmurers, each trait more diverse and profound than first glance; and there are more. If one today thinks he stands he should take heed lest he fall. God knows this and is faithful. He has made a means to escape and bear it!
kjv@1Corinthians:10:14-33 @ @ RandyP comments: We often look for clear and concrete guidelines when it comes to the many grey areas of life. Concrete guidelines are not always found. No clearer principal exits however than the conscience of others and the profitability to souls being moved/directed toward the kingdom of God. If it offends, set aside any personal liberty for the moment. Do all to the glory of God.
kjv@1Corinthians:11:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Our attention gets caught up in the controversial roles of man and woman and by this misses the inclusion of Christ being subject to God.
kjv@1Corinthians:11:1-15 @ @ RandyP comments: There will always be a tension between the sexes that the mischievousness can manipulate into near frenzy. The fact is that Paul could have said anything about male female relations, gone any direction with it and still have been sharply criticized. In the culture to which Paul was specifically addressing certain customs took on profound spiritual meaning. Their assembly was being torn on both sides by the debate over these roles as related to public worship. The debate inflamed them to the point that meaningful worship and assembly ceased. Our culture is plagued by much the same debate and sadly to much the same end. What then is the principal to follow? Subjection for the sake of worship. Do not let your liberty inflame the conscience of a weaker believer or your worship get in the way of everyone else's. And remember if allowed into worship that God is not the author of chaos.
kjv@Psalms:148 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a place where even inanimate objects can praise the Lord, in our eyes and hearts. They praise Him just by being, by the place that they fulfill amongst all creation. Animate creatures as well, though they may not intellectually know they experience which is just as good as knowing. Humans may well place too much on knowing and too little on simply connecting and being part of the praise all around.
kjv@1Corinthians:11:16-34 @ @ RandyP comments: There is concern over the way this congregation views and implements it's Holy Communion. This is not to be a drunken party nor a food line, it is a solemn partaking symbolically of the flesh and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Anything other, anything reason less becomes a curse or judgement.
kjv@1Corinthians:11:16-34 @ @ RandyP comments: Interesting tid bits that should not be overlooked. There are divisions today just as there were back then. We are to look at divisions as a means to observe who is approved, they will stand out all the more. Also, the churches are judged within so that they will not be judged without; if so what happens when they are unwilling to accept judgment? Also, there seems to be a connection between the misuse of the Holy Communion and sickness even fatal sickness.
kjv@1Corinthians:13 @ @ RandyP comments: Hope now abides because we know that it wont be long through this dark glass, we will see face to face. Partial shall become full.
kjv@1Corinthians:14:1-20 @ @ RandyP comments: The building/edification of the congregation is the key to spiritual gifts. If they do not build others of what use are they in the assembly. Tongues publicly require interpretation and prophecy clear spiritual revelation.
kjv@Proverbs:8 @ @ RandyP comments: I sense the suggestion that before creation the plan was all laid out, Jesus was to be our redeemer. Wisdom became all that which moved that plan forward, the establishment of the covenant, the law, Israel, the prophecies, the conviction of the Holly Spirit. Wisdom was there when all these essential things were framed, it is there evident in all creation revealing even the Godhead so that we are without excuse kjv@Romans:1:20. Wisdom is the purpose and direction and establishments leading all men back to their savior.
kjv@1Corinthians:14:21-40 @ @ RandyP comments: All things are to be done decently and in order, everything done to the edifying. Notice that even if a word of knowledge were to come to you sitting that there is a time and a patience and an order. The earlier church I sense was a much more organic and participatory fellowship than we would allow for today. Perhaps we should lighten up on the reigns a bit!
kjv@1Corinthians:15:1-32 @ @ RandyP comments: Without any doubt the central core of the Gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, buried and raised the third day according to scriptures, witnessed by many and ascended to where all things have been put under subjection to Him and He to the Father. It is not just that He did it, it is that the scriptures all along said that He was going to do it. Of this core in particular the resurrection can not be separated without voiding the remainder.
kjv@Proverbs:11 @ @ RandyP comments: Several of these proverbs in this section are dealing with the rewards of pursuing righteousness, many rewards here in this life. So often we view the wealthy as having received their wealth by ill means without knowing the slightest thing about how they achieved/maintain it. To wrap all rich men/women into the same corrupt bundle is to ignore what God is saying about what He wants to do.
kjv@Proverbs:12:13 @ @ RandyP comments: Again it doesn't say that he wont see trouble, it says that he will come out of. Trouble here is associated with transgression. It could be that he will come out of his own transgressions by willingly repenting or it could be that the wicked man's transgression will cause him trouble that he will emerge from safely.
kjv@1Corinthians:15:33-58 @ @ RandyP comments: It is asked by many "how could it be that God is righteous when He allows this and that and there is such pain and obvious corruption"? A mystery is revealed here about how this corrupt life that God has planted in becomes righteous, what is incorruptible must be born out of what is corruptible much like a seed of grain. We tend to look at this life as if this were all that there is and not see the eternal purposes for which God has set our paths on. This explains much about God's patience and love and forgiveness even when considering the events/actions of the day as they appear to our simple minds.
kjv@Proverbs:13:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Instruction often comes in the form of rebuke/reproof. Being willing to listen to it is the key to being wise. The rebuke/reproof has to wise of course otherwise it is mean cruel for it's own sake. Parents for instance need to be as wise or wiser than their own fatherly instruction, which many times means being wise enough to listen to our Father's rebuke as well.
kjv@Proverbs:14:6 @ @ RandyP comments: There are some that pride themselves in their scientific and analytical technique but, that gets them nowhere further toward an answer if they are still are at the core scoffers/scorners at heart. They can talk circles around most of us lesser educated but, really what do their words actually say that this simple proverb does not?
kjv@1Corinthians:16:3 @ @ RandyP comments: I may have mentioned before that the long distance transfer of monies was dangerous business back in this day. Not only did the actual envoy have to be fully trusted, I assume that diversions and disguises and stealth's had to be planned to avoid being robbed. Larger volumes of money may have to be sent out by multiple and less obvious means. A charitable Christian church was no doubt a target for thieves and a good place for them to plant conspiring informants. Paul's public announcement may itself be a ruse. This is my hunch and not a revelation. Would it be wrong if he did?
kjv@1Corinthians:16 @ @ RandyP comments: If the church in Jerusalem was in urgent need of this gifting it was likely that they were going to have to be patient. Things were moving at the pace of the old world and various considerations were having to be made. Amongst all this wonderful doctrine and teaching the real world remains. I think that it is a refreshing to see that they were working through issues much like we have to today.
kjv@Proverbs:15:14 @ @ RandyP comments: What does it mean to have understanding? It means to know to seek after knowledge. If we purse an issue thinking that we know everything about it from the start, this is not understanding. If we pursue thinking that simply by the strength of our own determination exerting force we will bend the issue to our favor, this is not understanding. Seeking knowledge means first seeking the fear of the Lord, humbling ourselves and our cause to His presence, listening for direction and knowing that it may well include correction and faithful obedience, this is understanding.
kjv@Proverbs:16:9 @ @ RandyP comments: If the preparations of the heart are the Lord's kjv@Proverbs:16:1, if his goings forth are from the Lord and his way cannot be understood outside of the Lord kjv@Proverbs:20:24 and if it is only the counsel of the Lord that will stand kjv@Proverbs:19:21, what do we have other than to choose which of His steps to take? In light of kjv@Romans:1:18-24 God prepared hearts to follow after Him, He gave them a choice, as much as He prepared they still chose contrary, their steps now are directed (that choice leads to these steps) yet His counsel must stand - they are condemned for transgressing the preparation laid into their hearts.
kjv@2Corinthians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Whether Paul's team was afflicted or comforted, it was for our comfort and salvation. Both abounded with his team, sufferings and comfort because they abound in Christ. They were afflicted even to the point of death. They considered themselves dead and only by the deliverance of God did they continue. Our consolation is effectual in all sufferings but particularly in the same sufferings which they suffered.
kjv@2Corinthians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: God causes us to triumph in Christ. He causes doors to open of the Lord and makes manifest the savour of His knowledge. To some that means life, to others death, to us sufficiency to speak forth. At times it requires strict obedience to those placed above us and at times it allows for forgiveness by proxy. There is great sorrow of heart and great joy as well, but, there is always thanks to God in all things.
kjv@2Corinthians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: You will recall that there was a glory that shone from Moses after he had received the commandments that the people dared not look upon. The glory began fading and Moses began wearing a veil so as not to show the diminishing. Paul is saying that this was symbolic of the fading glory of the Law, it wasn't meant to remain as 'the' exceeding glory, it was meant to become a schoolmaster, as the sting of death. Liberty in Christ is 'the' exceeding glory, it cannot fade, the veil has been lifted. The Jews have yet to be awakened to this fact until the time of the Gentiles be complete.
kjv@Proverbs:22:16 @ @ RandyP comments: A government driven false economy develops around the service of the poor. Money that should be flowing to the truly needy is sucked up by the service providers and delivery mechanisms installed. It is not so much the rich who desires to increase his riches that oppresses, but the workers and providers who see the service of poor as their employment career and retirement. The government sees the system as a means of inflating their employment numbers. Where are the poor left? Better off? Oppressed?
kjv@Proverbs:22:17 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@Proverbs:22:17-21 changes meter for a moment. Note that it spans these several verses all at once.
kjv@2Corinthians:4 @ @ RandyP comments: Is Paul saying that only the Apostles are called to this stringent a life? That we should just sit back and bask in the glory that has been revealed in their work and sacrifice? Surely we are not Apostles, but, we are disciples, we are followers, we are partakers of the divine nature. If this is what Christ suffered, if this is what the Apostles suffered, then we too should be willing/expecting to suffer the same. It is in this manner after all the life and glory of Christ is revealed.
kjv@2Corinthians:5 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a constant debate over works and faith. If because of faith you no longer live to yourself what do you now do? Some would say nothing for Christ did it all, grace not works. Others would counter you do what He would do, you work His work having given us the ministry of reconciliation, not for the salvation which is by grace but for the reward as His ambassadors.
kjv@2Corinthians:6 @ @ RandyP comments: The unequal yoke in context seems to apply to the burden of Christian work and ministry not so much marriage. While unequal marriages might hinder the work, so too might other gods, so might cultural/political/ecumenical alliances and causes etc..; I think of the Lutheran and Roman Catholic Churches' yoke to the Nazi and Fascist party's in WWII. Paul speaks of marriages elsewhere to unbelievers and does not make so definite a conclusion. This context would also change our perception of the 'temple of the living God' phrase as well.
kjv@2Corinthians:6 @ @ RandyP comments: The Church can also get yoked to unbelievers via following secular polls and surveys, by secular liberal intellectualism, cowardice, false association, etc.. It appears to be an accumulative marriage that is by cohabitation and commingling; by common law so to say.
kjv@2Corinthians:7 @ @ RandyP comments: It is plain to see the thought and care that Paul put into the charge he had been given over his church plants. Even in the face of severe tribulations word of them gave him great comfort and he was always thinking toward their edification.
kjv@2Corinthians:8 @ @ RandyP comments: The ministry to the saints should be a ministry assumed by all believers. There is an expectation of equality where by my surplus at this time supplies to your needs and your surplus at another time will supply mine. Even during the difficult times, there are wonderful examples of believers squeezing extra out resources to others. We should not only commit to such causes but follow through on our commitments. In this we prove our love for the brethren. Sometimes we just expect God to take care of it not realizing that this is often how God takes care of it.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Just days ago we had read kjv@1Corinthians:15 that the righteousness of God in putting us through this corruption was to break us down, have us die to ourselves that we might germinate to a spiritual plant/being (be born again). Here it says similarly the travail God has given the sons of men to be exercised with. From the observation from heaven it is a unnecessary and righteous thing and from our sense it is a grievous and sorrowful thing. This is because of the weight with which we invest ourselves into making something carnal out of this present corruption. We do not see the things under heaven as they were before nor the things as they will be. All is vanity, but, God submitted us to this vanity because of a much greater righteous hope kjv@Romans:8:20-23.
kjv@2Corinthians:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Professed subjection to is demonstrated by liberal distribution of. The Corinthians had made a promise. It was good for them to have made the promise but, now they are more than a year behind on their promise and their good example has been used to convince others. God had supplied them both for their need and surplus and yet their gift was still not yet presentable. What kind of subjection is that? Are we given to the same subjection?
kjv@2Corinthians:10:3-6 @ @ RandyP comments: This is all one sentence. These items are connected as one. The idea of obedience coming before revenge is just as vital to the statement as the means of our warfare. tsk@2Corinthians:10:3-6 has some good links to look to.
kjv@2Corinthians:11:1-15 @ @ RandyP comments: The fact that Paul has been addressing these things throughout this letter must mean that somebody(s) were accusing Him him of such. Other Jesus's are what we still face today. Selling another Jesus often involves placing doubt upon character of the saints of the true Jesus. Paul is attacked even today by numerous groups presuming to have a clearer definition of Jesus. It is not the same Jesus however.
kjv@2Corinthians:11:16-33 @ @ RandyP comments: You would think that a messenger of love and truth would be well accepted as people need a good bit of love and truth. You would think that people would be thankful for a man willing to suffer such things to bring us such truth and not complain that he was too soft or too hard or too.... We would like to think that if we are anything as believers that we are much like this man. Most likely though it is overwhelmingly possible that we are like the many that inflicted such upon him or looked away and that the people that we have put in charge of putting us in rememberence of these truths are not this type of man who has for a long time suffered our whims.
kjv@2Corinthians:12:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Are we to take this that there are signs/wonders/deeds that only an apostle can do? Almost like an confirmation of apostleship? WHat signs and wonders would these be?
kjv@2Corinthians:12 @ @ RandyP comments: An uncleanness/fornication/lasciviousness is sweeping through this church. Instead of being repentant and chaste they are seemingly becoming accusatory and slanderous of Paul. He had sent Titus but, it is quickly becoming an issue that he will have to address himself to answer his accusers. Sin has this manner where it puffs itself up, justifies itself by attacking/diminishing the person that represents righteousness.
kjv@2Corinthians:13 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a fine line between edification and destruction when addressing situations like this. The sense that Paul has is that his accusers are attempting to rattle him, make him say something or do something that would turn out to their advantage. By challenging him to prove himself as an Apostle their hope is to make him over react or be over bearing enough to push people away, show that he is operating from his own pride and sense of possession. There is also the chance that he may shy away and underplay the situation as well. We, much like Paul, must be prayerful, direct and and Spirit led in these situations too.
kjv@Galatians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The opposition in Corinth seemed to focus their attack directly on Paul. The difference here in Galatia seems to be the infiltration of another form of doctrine which seems to center itself against the doctrine of grace. One seemed to be rooted in a very liberal grace outwardly that allowed for perversions and divisions, this one seems to be inward toward the vehicle of salvation.
kjv@Galatians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: This account of Paul's conversion fills in a 3 year hole between kjv@Acts:9:26 and kjv@Acts:9:27
kjv@Songs:5:16 @ @ RandyP comments: There are internet reports that the Moslim's believe lovely here to be a reference to Muhammad. They translate the Hebrew muhammadim as Pbuh (Muhammad). Strong's does not us muhammadim it uses machmâd and I am not sure of the correlation. Even so, 956bc usage of the word does not necessarily suggest that the word is accurately translated into 700ad counter-evangelical doctrine. It could have meant "lovely".
kjv@Galatians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There is no doubt that the doctrine of Grace is hard to understand down to it's deepest core, even by those of the early church and by Apostles that should have known better. The mind naturally wants to flip it around to do works towards justification. Our works fall short each and every time, even our best works. They are certainly not payment for sin and reconciliation. Christ's death would be in vain otherwise.
kjv@Galatians:2:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Peter received correction. Had he been the first Pope and had the Pope been given immutable divine interpretation as supposed by Roman Catholic doctrine, he would not have needed correction. Paul would have shamefully exceeded his lesser authority. Their doctrine follows from a possible misinterpretation on the proclamation Jesus made that on 'this Rock' He would build His church. Rock more likely meaning the divinely revealed faith and not just Cephas 'the rock' personally kjv@Matthew:16:17-20 (literally - You are 'piece of rock' and upon this 'massive Rock' (which flesh and blood have not revealed) I build my church).
kjv@Galatians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: mhcc@Galatians:3 M. Henry's commentary
kjv@Isaiah:9 @ @ RandyP comments: How important to know that His anger is not turned but His hand is still extended. Israel/Judah/Manasseh have long strayed from any resemblance of covenant partnership with God; they have become exactly what covenant had told them not to be. The Lord has been more than long suffering towards them and is now prepared to do what He said would be done. This does not mean that it is all over though, that it all was a big mistake and that He is moving on without them; it means that they will serve His purpose just the same. For the present time it is to our benefit that this be, until the fulfillment of this Gentile age.
kjv@Isaiah:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Should now we Gentiles glory that we have done better than Israel in obeying the Lord? No, no man shall glory except in Christ kjv@1Corinthians:1:27-31
kjv@Galatians:4:15 @ @ RandyP comments: It appears that Paul's infirmity at this time may have been in his eyes or eye sight. Remember that his eyes at one time had been blinded and scaled over by the light of the Lord's glory.
kjv@Galatians:4:25 @ @ RandyP comments: dict:easton Sinai
kjv@Galatians:4:25 @ @ RandyP comments: Did you know that this Mount Sinai is supposedly also where Mohammed's horse Boraq ascended into heaven?
kjv@Galatians:4 @ @ RandyP comments: Notice the passion with which Paul speaks of/to the Galatians as he extols the difference between the two covenants, how they are not to be inter-mingled.
kjv@Galatians:5 @ @ RandyP comments: For Paul to say be not entangled in the yoke of bondage means that it is quiet possible to if not likely. It is something that we must guard ourselves from. In this case it centers around our perception of what justifies us in the end, the Law or Grace. In other ways it seems to be in resembling too closely the ways of this world or reverting back into our fleshly appetites and habits. The works of the flesh are manifest as are the fruits of the Spirit.
kjv@Isaiah:14 @ @ RandyP comments: Removed from the context of the passage the section on Lucifer can be looked at as a description of the Devil; which may or may not be the author's intent. In context, we might think of it as a description of the king of Babylon who had similarities to the Devil and may have been heavily under his influence. The remainder of the prophecy in context namely the desolation of the city of Babylon has for a long time been fulfilled; the city ruin only recently haven been located by aerial satellite in Iraq. Plans are being made by some to rebuild it. It is mentioned again in latter day prophecy.
kjv@Galatians:6:14 @ @ RandyP comments: There are those it has been reported who believe that cross was a symbolism added to the faith later by Constantine. Paul is not explaining a symbolism here, he is describing his key life principal. Whether he wore or prayed to a cross is of secondary consequence.
kjv@Galatians:6:11 @ @ RandyP comments: I have heard theories that Paul may have been crippled or have a deformity in arm or hand. We have already summized that he could well have problems with his eye sight. We also know that he was beaten and stoned near to death on several occasions and therefore be severely damaged. The Galatians here would have been deeply moved by whatever this sentence points to; he does bear the marks of Christ.
kjv@Isaiah:16 @ @ RandyP comments: The thought of invading troops walking freely through our streets is something we as Americans have not had to face. The long dreaded enemy of the Moabites, the lords of the occupation, doing as they pleased to whatever or whomever they pleased is one thing, but, to have it told to you three years in advance and to be told why another. You would know that you had done wrong!
kjv@Ephesians:1:3-6 @ @ RandyP comments: We know at the very least that this predestination means that anybody/all that were going to be received into the eternal life to come was going to have to come to it through the adoption of Christ. Whether this means I or you specifically were chosen/singled out beforehand is not suggested by the language here but, may be quiet possible. The later may but a debatable point, not the former. Let us start off by what we know.
kjv@Ephesians:1:11-12 @ @ RandyP comments: If this were to mean singled out beforehand, it could just as well mean that those specifically who first believed (early church, disciples) were singled out and not necessarily the rest of us who believed because of their testimony. Jesus for instance chose Peter at the shoreline and may have chosen him before even creation. This is not to disregard the predestination of all but to confirm at least this much.
kjv@Ephesians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: An interesting unity of thought between Paul here and Peter's 'like precious faith' kjv@2Peter:1
kjv@Ephesians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: I sense that Paul is describing the larger body of believers; us, all, ye, we, both, together, strangers, foreigners, household, temple. The Holy Spirit inhabits a body of believers. He may work on/in us individually but, always for the benefit of the body. We often reverse this foundational truth, blaming/accusing the body, separating ourselves from it, criticizing/judging what is the work and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
kjv@Isaiah:22 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord does not do anything this serious without serious reason. He does not do without first making known the consequence and the transgression. There is a iniquity deep at heart. It is an iniquity that is of the type that cannot be purged even with this serious action except by death. Notice that they will be purged however. God has not given them up.
kjv@Ephesians:3:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Jesus cannot be just another man. He was there with the Father before creation. The Father created it by Him.
kjv@Ephesians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Unsearchable riches, mysteries, things abundantly above all that we ask or think; this is our Lord and His Father. You ask me what kind of things. How could I know if they are unsearchable mysteries? You would say then they don't exist. Do things only exist that you can comprehend? Are they only believable if they can be comprehended? In a sense I can know the unknowable things by the things that can be known. In another, I don't really even know fully the things that I do know. All this does not mean that things are unbelievable, they are simply unknowable. Anything beyond that requires revelation.
kjv@Isaiah:26 @ @ RandyP comments: It is by the grace of God that we have everything that we have today. What if that is taken back or diminished? It would seem like a cruel punishment to those who think that it was all by their hand would it not? To those that knew that it was all by His grace it would seem well within His rights, deliberate and purposeful, even transformative almost like child birth.
kjv@Ephesians:4 @ @ RandyP comments: We see the importance of the body of believers to our own personal growth process; it can not be escaped. Much of our development is in the striving for the unity of the Spirit, a most difficult but yet essential task. The bonds of peace, the unity of faith, the whole body fitly joined together, these are the works of the Holy Spirit and the directions given our pastors teachers and evangelists. When we give ourselves over to Christ this is what we give ourselves over to. Anything other is of our old corrupt selves.
kjv@Ephesians:5 @ @ RandyP comments: There are those who follow after the darkness of this world in it's many components. There is us who have been called out of darkness into the light, to be light, light that manifests. Ways listed to do this include separating ourselves from that darkness, not partaking in their darkness, walking circumspectly, speaking joyfully to one another in psalms and songs etc, giving proper structure and definition to marriages. Walk in love as did Christ.
kjv@Ephesians:6:1-9 @ @ RandyP comments: Do as unto the Lord, unto Christ, knowing that your master.... no matter what profession/station of life.
kjv@Ephesians:6 @ @ RandyP comments: The amour of the Lord is not occasional attire; it is not 'Parade Dress'. Each item points to spiritual necessity not option. Spiritual warfare does not stop on those days that we wish not to play. These are the days which we need it most.
kjv@Isaiah:33:1 @ @ RandyP comments: There are those that can take advantage of others even in desperate times. Tragedy, catastrophe, evacuation, desperation always brings out those treacherous scheming thieves to prey upon the unfortunate and transitional souls.
kjv@Philippians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Christ is being preached, by Paul's life and by his death, by others responding to Paul's absence some in contention some in love, by the churches outreach and operation even under extreme persecution. Some would think that they have the upper hand but, who has the upper hand over God? Is this not how He said it would be? Is this not a necessary part of our sanctification to share in His sufferings? Is He not sovereign and in complete control? Has any one or anything snuck up on Him that he had mistakenly underestimated or poorly considered? Of course not, for Christ is preached!
kjv@Philippians:2:12 @ @ RandyP comments: There is the eternal salvation direct from our confession and repentance acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord, the salvation that because of His sacrifice was purchased and imputed to us. There is also the salvation having the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we are fruitful with as applied toward our daily circumstances and situations; this is the type of salvation that we work out. One can be saved in the one sense but yet be a poor worker of the salvation that effects daily life, even by the things in this same chapter Paul speaks to, contention and strife and isolation from the broader body etc..
kjv@Philippians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: Paul has returned Epaphroditus to the brethren in Philippi to cheer this congregation up. Paul is also about to send Timothy his prize student to strengthen them. In his letters Paul seems to make everything even general matters as a teaching opportunity. We also see that Paul could only trust certain people for certain types of missions. Paul not only thought of who needed help but who it was that he was sending.
kjv@Isaiah:37 @ @ RandyP comments: We tend to imagine the worst. If this enemy was strong enough to do this or that to the others than what chance do I have. The other nations stuck to their flase gods; God was using Assyria to clean their house. Judah had their false gods but, there was also a remnant of those committed to Jehovah; God was using Assyria as a means of cleansing and correction. What a tremendous testimony especially being that the Assyrian defeat was prophicied. God also used a false messenger from Ethiopia. All things work for God's purposes, the more open, the harder we look for that common thread, the sooner we will see the events and circumstances in our lives in their truer light.
kjv@Philippians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Pressing toward the mark, not that we have already attained perfection; having no other confidence but in Christ, the fellowship of His death and sufferings that we may know the power of His resurection. How different this sacrifice/pursuit is from mere religion.
kjv@Philippians:4:5 @ @ RandyP comments: How do we best show moderation to all men? Something to seriously consider.
kjv@Colossians:1:2 @ @ RandyP comments: dict:easton Colossians
kjv@Colossians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: What better explanation of who Jesus is to us!
kjv@Colossians:4:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord makes evangelical opportunities to speak for those that are watching for them. For most of us that means the daily one on one talks. For some that means the larger event or location based individual or team efforts. The fact that Paul asks us to pray for these means that the Lord does seek these types of prayers.
kjv@Colossians:4:12-13 @ @ RandyP comments: Some are given the burden of prayer. It does not say what other positions or responsibilities this person may of held. To be saluted as a warrior of prayer and acknowledged for a particular burden for some specific congregations is illustrative of how Paul's team operated.
kjv@Colossians:4:15 @ @ RandyP comments: Church is where ever people regularly meet. Often we get too wrapped in buildings and architecture and pipe organs and stain glass. A house, a park, a drive-in theater, a school, a rodeo grandstand, a prison cafeteria all work just as well if not better. It is not the type of place that is important but the types of hearts that gather.
kjv@Colossians:4:16 @ @ RandyP comments: There are other epistles that Paul wrote. Perhaps several. Perhaps daily. Paul was not attempting to write for inclusion into some soon to be published New Testament collection. He was not seeking to dominate the other writers with his massive content. He was addressing the needs of the people and congregations that he was placed directly over (Romans possibly being the exception - perhaps planted by acquaintances that he had discipled). His letters were treasured enough that people kept hold of them. By the time the Testament was canonized several years after his death there were enough of these verifiable copies still circulated for them to be included into what we hold today as scripture. Many of these other letters, though I am sure were treasured have either been lost or cannot be accurately verified as there were many plagiarizers of his name and authority even yet today.
kjv@Isaiah:53 @ @ RandyP comments: Again we read of the 'Servant' as being the 'Arm of the Lord'. His visage so marred beyond any other; a tender plant wounded for our transgressions. He has poured out His soul unto death. The details here are exquisite. Can there be any doubt as to who Isaiah is talking about? The Father sees the travail of this particular soul and shall be satisfied. He bares their iniquities and justifies many.
kjv@1Thessalonians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: People do notice. There is not a particular individual mentioned here. The congregation is likely acting together as one, they are working and laboring doing things as a body that are being observed and talked about. One thing that stands out is that they are not doing what everybody else is doing, in this case having turned from idols. For this they suffered affliction yet withstood the pressure with patience and hope. Such things stand out and are talked about distances beyond our personal knowing and causing the gospel to be spread. Where can we stand out in our churches today?
kjv@1Thessalonians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: We see the effort and attitude that the Apostles team took on to plant the Church of Thessalonica; the burden that they had, the focus, the care and diligence. Peter's team may have had a similar framework as described in kjv@2Peter:1:5-8.
kjv@1Thessalonians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: We know from past writings that Paul was aware of when the Lord had closed or opened a door for the ministry. Given the level of public opposition, affliction and persecution etc.. it makes me wonder what a closed door looks like. Here we see Satan hindering. How does that look different enough to know the difference between the two?
kjv@1Thessalonians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: It is hard to know how people will react to pressure. You work hard to establish something. You may have to step aside knowing that the work is not yet completed but progressing forward. You hope and pray and send envoys to check in now and then, but, it is a nerve racking ordeal no doubt. The pressure these early churches were under was considerable. The forces (even Satanic) specifically following the team of Paul extreme. The hindrance mentioned may not have been so much upon the team being able to travel there as much as what their arriving might have brought. Were they ready? Was the lack in their faith something to do in the armament of believers against the Satanic warfare being experienced?
kjv@1Thessalonians:4:5 @ @ RandyP comments: concupiscence is a forbidden lustful longing
kjv@1Thessalonians:4 @ @ RandyP comments: It is clearly evident that this church is operating in a good amount of love. Paul exhorts them to love all the more and gives them a picture of what that is to look like working quietly and honestly with their own hands, abstaining from the prevalent idolatrous fornications and lusts.
kjv@1Thessalonians:4:13-18 @ @ RandyP comments: There are differing theories that can be scripturally supported regarding the dead in Christ. The most common would suggests that this passage is speaking of the body being at sleep but the spirit being fully awake and present with the Lord. This would allow for Paul's 'being absent from this body means being present with the Lord' comment as well as Jesus' 'this day you will be with me in paradise' statement as well as others (beggar and rich man etc..). Others suggest this is a literal sleep (like Lazarus), that time is imperceivable in eternity, that from our side this sleep is for a while, from eternity it would be instantaneous. There are other plausible explanations as well. Either way, the Lord has matters well in hand, and the soul is at a state of grace and peace.
kjv@Isaiah:64:4 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@1Corinthians:2:9 quoted by Paul
kjv@Isaiah:64:8 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@Romans:9:20-24 alluded to by Paul
kjv@1Thessalonians:5:18 @ @ RandyP comments: So what is the will of God concerning us? What is it that He is grooming in us no matter what our situation? Intelligence? Superior charm and tolerance? Personal mastery and the ability to channel His energy to achieve our many goals? No, thanks!
kjv@1Thessalonians:5:18 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@1Thessalonians:4:3 suggests that the will is to sanctify us. Could these two seemingly different concepts go hand in hand? kjv@STRING:will+of+God
kjv@1Thessalonians:5:23 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@1Thessalonians:4:3 sanctify to abstain from fornication was previously mentioned at least in the Thessalonian's case. sanctif
kjv@2Thessalonians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The work of Christ here is explained as being two fold: using the tribulation of others to grow and stir us, using the persecution of others as the mark against them in the day of judgment. We should not be discouraged by tribulations which to us is a righteous token of His judgment, a sharing in the same things He Himself suffered.
kjv@2Thessalonians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There are purposes to His plan beyond the simplicities of our daily life and struggles. There is the revealing of the Wicked One who must be outed before the Lord's return.
kjv@2Thessalonians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: For those who say that the Bible does not teach about Hell and a Satan, one would have to remove 2Thessalonians from the Bible to make that conclusion. While they were at it they would have to remove the very words of Jesus Christ and the remainder of the Old and New testaments as well.
kjv@Jeremiah:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The language of these pictures paint an indelible image that cannot be erased nor altered no matter what translation. Withered vines and broken cisterns, insolent camels and wild asses, brides in harlots attire, butchers stained in blood declaring themselves innocent. These things cannot be mis-interpreted into being something better or good about the state of Israel/Judah. The Lord is extremely upset there can be no doubt.
kjv@Jeremiah:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Signs of sin of the nation Israel here are refusing to be ashamed, adulterous idolatry, dealing treacherously, seeking salvation from hills and mountains, perverting ways, not obeying voice of Lord. In their division with Judah, which may have been rightful in and of its self, they had moved the their center of worship from Jerusalem to the two high places within their own borders to avoid having to go into Judah to worship. Which was a massive transgression. They were also fighting apparently over the possession of the Ark of the Covenant. The cure? Return from backsliding, acknowledge your transgression against the Lord and the scattering of your ways to strangers.
kjv@Jeremiah:6 @ @ RandyP comments: The Word of the Lord to them is a reproach and their ears will hear nothing of it. How then should this be dealt with by Yahweh? Does the people's 'god of unconditional compassion' have to just sit back and take it? Many today continue this notion of God's unconditional compassion not knowing what compassion even is nor knowing what an extremely compromised position a righteous God is placed under by such faulty/selfish definition. Rather, God's unconditional compassion is in that no matter what one has done/no matter how badly one may have sinned and acted, Jesus Christ died and raised for the purchase providing means for your return. Should you choose to return/repent/compromise yourself and thus receive this unconditional grace He will unconditionally pardon and accept you into His everlasting kingdom. God's great compromise is in the giving of His Son. If you are unwilling to accept that alone for your salvation, what more can/would He do?
kjv@2Thessalonians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Who is it disrupting this church? Men who do not work but that are expecting to eat, to be fed from other's labor. How many are there of these men in our church today? How have we responded to them? Have we admonished them? Have we set them out? We think of our modern church as an open invitation to the Gospel not realizing that to them we have presented an open invitation for us to feed and shelter them and allow them to cause divisions amongst us playing upon our compassionate (but blind) intentions. This is true in a physical daily living sense as well as in a spiritual ministerial/evangelical sense. One must work to eat and eat of his own hands.
kjv@1Timothy:1 @ @ RandyP comments: This letter is a interesting change of focus from Paul's previous. Those letters were written church congregations and regions of churches. This is personal letter to one of Paul's dearest team members, a man that he has taken on somewhat as his protégé. We are afforded a look into a much more personal and professional part of the Apostle's outlook. Much like two artisans/composers comparing insights/notes, the elder to the younger.
kjv@1Timothy:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Matters of the Law today as in their day have stirred divisions and confusion in the Church. The Law is of course good when understood in it's rightful/lawful context. The Law brings us to the knowledge of Christ. It is a hired nanny who brings us by the hand from distances where we were to the very doorsteps of the master. It is not the master, the Lord is the master and His grace is the primary curriculum. Paul himself testifies to this fact. The Law is a yoke, a bond, a sentence, the sting of death. We would not have know sin except for the Law. It shows us how we are, how futile our situation is against our sin, the need for the Christ and His complete redemption. (see kjv@Romans:5-6)
kjv@1Timothy:2 @ @ RandyP comments: Hard as it is to understand, Paul's restrictions upon women teaching were not because of some hatred or prejudice he had upon women. We see from his letters that many women loved him and that they held important positions in his ministry team. Paul honestly expresses his reasoning, a fact that cannot be denied, Eve was the one deceived not Adam. How that further plays out in the daughters of Eve is not so clear but, it must be considered. To inflame one's self, to jump hastily to the womans defense can be just as much a proof of what Paul is cautious of as it is proof against. One must also consider the types of women drawn to a woman pastor, who might see her position for something she does not intend, and what the make up of the church then becomes. The verse actually does not forbid women from teaching per se, it forbids a teaching that gives an feminist impression or that could be percieved to be in conjunction/tainted with usurping authority over men.
kjv@Jeremiah:11 @ @ RandyP comments: The chief complaint seem to be of the worship of false gods. From that branch out a multitude of other whoredoms and transgressions. As God has amplified Israel/Judah that all the nations of all the times might watch and hear of His dealings, such a nation as this called by His name and home of His tabernacle hear on Earth cannot be allowed to much leeway. Double measure blessings. Double measure curse and reproof. Today, we should know well the Lord's feeling towards other gods and false worship, but instead we seem to glory in it.
kjv@Jeremiah:13 @ @ RandyP comments: The antidote for national pride is national shame. In shame the false reasonings and consequences cannot be ignored. The base of wicked's power is broken up and the people are forced into a moment of thinking for themselves. People will reflect upon the words of these many prophets. How can transgression be explained away when the case against them is so well presented beforehand?
kjv@1Timothy:5 @ @ RandyP comments: The full time charge of the church is for those with absolutely no other means. They are to be given shelter and provision and daily tasks to do for the church as is proper. The church produces outreach to others as well in attempting to connect them to the resources of their own families, the community, redevelopment or retraining, fostering marriage/match making within the fellowship. There are many to take advantage of the church and few wise enough to commingle compassion with prudence. The church is forced off task and those most needy are neglected. If the church is to act this way then so should we as individuals as well.
kjv@Jeremiah:21 @ @ RandyP comments: Pashur inquires of Jeremiah, perhaps while Jeremiah was imprisoned by Pashur, perhaps later we are not told. Either way it has to be an odd situation for both men. The answer given Pashur is much the same but now with detail as to the king's demise.
kjv@Jeremiah:25 @ @ RandyP comments: Many would place the first world war in the early nineteenth century A.D., a major reshuffling of the power structures of the world. What is described here is perhaps the first world shift in the fifth B.C.. What had begun in a smaller scale in the 6th included Israel but, not Judah nor Eygypt etc... No nation now was allowed by the Lord not to drink from this cup. It was not a war of powerful alliances but of fracturing splits and singular domination. We see here God's greater vision, we have been focused too narrowly on Israel/Judah (false prophets, kings,etc..) and not on the entirety of mankind. The cup is prepared and filled in Jerusalem, but, is shared on all the nations. Babylon is used to begin the drunken slug-fest but, it too fractures soon after and is forced to drink as well by the much inferior Medes. The void is later filled by the Persians and then the Greeks.
kjv@Jeremiah:33 @ @ RandyP comments: The Branch of Righteousness (Christians take to mean Jesus) grows unto David (comes down dwells among us in the flesh) executes judgment/righteousness in the land (some would take to mean an earthly rule but could mean a spiritual rule as well) Judah will be saved (again could mean spiritually) and Jerusalem dwell safely (spiritually secure in the knowledge and spirit of the risen Christ) David shall never want a man on his throne (because Jesus has moved the Davidic throne to the eternal kingdom, the right hand side of God the father, the God/Man rightfully sits on it forever more) neither shall there be needed any sacrifice or offering (for the God/Man on the throne has become unto us our final sacrifice, the complete atonement that the Father provides for us all). If this is not so, I see no other way that this covenant has not been broken or ceased for over two thousand years. Do you?
kjv@Titus:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The necessity of maintaining good works; all of us. It is not just having an intention to do them, it is not just us studying to know how they might be done, it is us stepping forward into them and adapting within them to get them done. It is not just beginning them, it is us maintaining them for the long run. Notice how many people Paul has involved in his good works. They are part of his, he is part of theirs, we are part of the Lord's; small works, large works, works we don't even know are being done we are striving to be fruitful in. Peter shared a similar vision of being fruitful in the knowledge of Christ kjv@2Peter:1. See also kjv@Romans:12. In fuller context, these works are to be done yet with an eye on reasonable subjection to the civic and legal principalities that govern all.
kjv@Jeremiah:36 @ @ RandyP comments: One might ask "why does the Word of God need to be written"? "Can't He just speak it into our hearts"? Jehoiakim knew the things written in Baruch's scroll. It testified against him recording a long history of the king's rebellion and transgression. The king's advisers knew well how he would react for they had the scribe and prophet to hide away. The Lord undoubtedly knew as well, just as He knows today. The heart hears what the heart wants to hear, it reasons as would serve it's own desires the best. Nothing is beyond the scope of the deceitful heart. The written word is as much to testify against the fleshly heart as it is to convince it. Today we have the testimony of several thousands of years and several other Jeremiahs in written form. Is the heart then any different today?
kjv@Jeremiah:38 @ @ RandyP comments: We can sense how others perceived Jeremiah. He was a traitor bent on the surrender of Jerusalem to the Chaldeans. He was causing division within the ranks and was using religious sounding speech to dishearten the masses. Left at liberty, he would use highly visual grandstanding techniques such as wooden yokes and ancient vessels to invoke dissent. The word was out on him. Imprisoned, Jeremiah would of course not be stopped, but, at least perhaps contained; his where-abouts known.
kjv@Jeremiah:42:7 @ @ RandyP comments: Even a man of God as Jeremiah was had to wait on the answer of the Lord. One would think the Lord would be eager to get the remnant up and running, after all they seem sincere and honest in their desire. The Lord's timing is perfectly right however, even if it is not what we would expect.
kjv@Lamentations:5 @ @ RandyP comments: He questions why it is that this must last so long, but, you will remember it was part of the promise, they had their chance to avoid it. You might also remember recently we read that not all were yet convinced that the God of Abraham was the means of proceeding forward from this, many females were blaming Jeremiah's God for not allowing them to provide drink offerings to their imaginary Queen of Heaven. The question might better be how long will it take them to get past their continuing iniquities?
kjv@Hebrews:9 @ @ RandyP comments: The purging of the conscience from dead works is one of the more interesting phrases in this passage. kjv@Hebrews:6:1 was the other mention of these dead works and in the context of that seems to center on the obedient works of Christ having their work on us by means of our obedience.
kjv@Hebrews:10:24-39 @ @ RandyP comments: There are times in all Christians lives where they miss the mark, where they become drowsy or sloppy or unfruitful even counter productive. There are times even when we shake our fist and blame God (as in the death of our young child). We have all encountered times when we wondered if this draw back passage wasn't written for us. Self condemnation can be a tremendously discouraging thing. I would imagine however, if it is still in your heart to get back to the things of God, if there is still the will to repent and rejoin the body in fully restored standing, if the love of God is still wanted and sought after, then you definitely have not crossed this final point yet. This is written for the man where there is none of crushing sorrow, confussion and desire that remains, he has completely given himself over to his own condemnation, forever sealed in the hardness of his own heart.
kjv@Ezekiel:18 @ @ RandyP comments: He hath no pleasure in the death.. Several times here it is illustrated what the righteous man would be doing and what the wicked do as well. These are not new things, they have been known all along. Yet so many choose the wrong path. There appears to be a decision, one can make themselves a knew person by choosing to do right. So why then do people not choose? Elsewhere we learn that this answer has to do with the sinful nature of man, a nature only curable by the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ; imposing moral law upon this nature only illustrates its depravity all the more. Did great numbers turn to the living God by in the time of this prophecy? Certainly not.
kjv@James:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There is an eternal salvation and justification accomplished on our behalf strictly by the work of Jesus Christ our savior at the cross of Calvary. No other work can replace that. What James means by works leading to justification here is similar to what the author of Hebrews meant by 'the evidence of things unseen/substance of things hoped for' ( kjv@Hebrews:11 ), the effect faith has in producing corresponding action. It is difficult for one man to justify that another man has faith if their is no tangible evidence outwardly of said faith. It should be just as difficult for us ourselves to justify our reasoning for believing in Christ if we yet disallow His natural effect upon us causing us to act forward in a new and living way. If our faith leads us to no more than what faith in any other god would lead us to do or not do, what justification would we have for such faith? The question then must be asked 'how much does Christ's redemptive work on the cross mean to us personally'? 'To what extent does it/will it effect us'? Jesus called it 'abiding in' and Peter called it 'being neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ'.
kjv@Ezekiel:26 @ @ RandyP comments: With the judgments on these other nations, the Lord is producing a ripple effect even to the Isles to whom these nations had commerce. On the one hand I am thinking what if these nations hadn't acted out of the 'old hatred' would God's word have rang out? On the other hand I know that the Lord knew full well which heart they were going to react out of and was secure in His plans. The fact is however, that the word moves outward and forward in ways that no brilliant king nor strategist can consider, nor can we; effect upon effect, twist after human twist, sympathy or rebellion or not. His word does not return to Him void but accomplishes what He purposes.
kjv@James:4 @ @ RandyP comments: The mention of friendship with this world along with lust to envy is used to describe our spirit. All of the things we want and have not, all the things we ask but do not receive, the strivings and wars, they have their roots in this combination. It appears to be within our power because if we are to come to Christ we must put aside these things. But, putting this aside involves humility and affliction, mourning and cleansing, which are the opposite of our envy and destructive to our friendship with this world. This mention may be just as much for the body of believers as for the individual.
kjv@Ezekiel:33 @ @ RandyP comments: The way of the Lord unequal? I doubt that anything He could choose to say or do would be perceived as fair. It has nothing to do with His fairness and everything to do with our perception of who we want Him to be. For those that do not want Him to be at all absolutely everything about even the notion of Him is defiled. To those that want him to be their good luck charm and means to prosperity anything other than that which He would do is unnecessary and labeled as the work of the devil.
kjv@1Peter:1 @ @ RandyP comments: I marvel that Peter can say as much so plainly to the common and intellectual both in one chapter as most men would take in volumes of books. We often think as Paul and John as the writers and Peter as the doer. If you were to go back over what he has just said and how much he just said floods of tears would suddenly flow. These are not the words of human genius, they are the words of a man who has lived this faith face to face with his Lord. He speaks of tremendous desire in the end to see Him again, to be willing to endure this present tribulation to see Him return in the glory that he himself has briefly seen in a transfiguration moment, and his love for those of 'like precious faith' who not having seen as he yet believe. If we were barely able to model our approach to life and faith similar to this man we would be all the better off.
kjv@Ezekiel:34 @ @ RandyP comments: The flock here is identified as Israel. The Lord had set shepherds over them; they fed themselves on the flock instead. Some were driven away, some lost, some diseased, many scattered. Their good pasture was trampled and their good water muddied. These shepherds are no doubt spiritual and civic leaders. The answer is that the Lord himself becomes the shepherd; He is the Good Shepherd. In the end, when His glory is come, He will set David over them (David is not the Shepherd himself). There is a shame of the heathen that they bare (perhaps that the heathen recognize this Shepherd before they do).
kjv@Ezekiel:35 @ @ RandyP comments: The descendants of Esau from the Seir mountains, the Edomites are to be judged. Esau and Jacob had reconciled, but, his seed had renewed the quarrel and become frequent enemies of Israel shedding their blood. They had supposed that both lands Judah and Israel would one day be their own and had taken strength in the desolation of Israel. I am unsure of the time frame for this judgment as it seems to be when the whole earth rejoices (which may refer to the Millennium?). The Geneva notes call the people mentioned Idumeans, I'm not sure if there is a link.
kjv@Ezekiel:36 @ @ RandyP comments: Idumeans/Idumea these are Edomites.
kjv@Ezekiel:37 @ @ RandyP comments: Some of the dispersed have been regathered here since 1947 + 1968. Many are still left to come. Judah and Israel are again solidified as one. The things not yet achieved is the revelation of the true Shepherd, the cleansing of their hearts, the installment of David as His king. Whether the raising of the bones is literal or symbolic, it would have to be at least in the case of David. These things are moving ahead quickly.
kjv@1Peter:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Again Christ is given as the absolute example. Not only how He acted, but, how He saw Himself in the role of obeying The Father. Having this mindset more naturally produces these particular actions and influences this certain outlook. The picture is complete in the symbolism of water baptism, the good conscience answers to God, dying to the flesh and alive to the Spirit, fully immersed in sanctification. In the same way, whether in marriage, or business, or fellowship, conducting all daily activity being willing to suffer unjustly for His good rather than be condemned for participating in their bad. To the hope of perhaps saving some of their souls along with.
kjv@Ezekiel:39 @ @ RandyP comments: Seven years of burning nothing but weapons for fuel. A gathering of many birds and creeping things to eat on the carcasses. Seven months of flagging and burying the dead. A national effort by every citizen to cleanse the land. This would be an effective way of making yourself known again to your people. It would certainly lift the veil from their eyes. Imagine being in Israel at this time. Given the odds of the battle this sight would only be by the hand of God.
kjv@1Peter:4 @ @ RandyP comments: You can see just how much the subject of trials and suffering for Christ play into Peter's theology. He sees it as the necessary cleansing and separating agent in the believers life, thus the will of God. This leads him to conclude that the end judgment begins with the house of God and works outward. Essentially, it is suffering in Christ that shapes us and our reaction to and obedience in that we are judged by. It is the measure of just how faithful we believe Him to be.
kjv@Ezekiel:40 @ @ RandyP comments: The chapter reads much faster than the vision would have played out. Imagine the time involved making these measurements 6 cubits at a time. In order to remember all this detail, Ezekiel must have been writing it down as each transpired.
kjv@Ezekiel:40 @ @ RandyP comments: What is the importance of these details to us today? That God has a great many (if not all) details planned out; that He is trying to tell us something needed to be known. Consider that this temple fell and was desecrated just as the first and yet it is not a mistake that God gave it such detail and foresight; it is all part of a much greater plan/dialog. Often physical things and events described in the Bible are shadows/pictures/blue prints of things occurring in the spiritual world put into a language we could more readily understand. I have heard men like Dr. Vernen Mc Gee attempt to show how the Temple, the things of it, the predetermined rituals spell out a spiritual description of salvation and atonement; things like the 'holy of holys' that only the high priest was able to enter after being cleansed once a year. North gates, south gates, having to go in one gate and out another, tables and hooks, borders of pomegranate and palms, etc..., they all have their meaning in a spiritual sense. The thing for now to know is that Jesus is the complete fulfillment of all of these descriptive types. To go back and rediscover what each of these types means is to study what Jesus was able to accomplish and who we are in Him; for us each detail measured out precisely.
kjv@Ezekiel:44 @ @ RandyP comments: I find this an extremely challenging section of prophecy. The consequences of interpretation shape deep doctrinal foundations. The reader must study and ponder this deeply and come to their own conclusions; which is a very good thing. We are challenged by scripture every day. We are stirred. We are unsettled. We are encouraged to examine and re-examine. Nothing but Christ at times seem fully settled. This is what makes faith in the Bible real and living and dynamic; the constant challenge. Thereby we grow, we are shaped, we are moved. Some seek the answers that are readily available and figure if it is not readily there it is not there at all. Others however seek deeper into the broad context and the doctrinal consequence to shed light upon that which is not readily answered. Just because I am presently confused over this passage does not mean that the answer is not there, it means that I am being challenged. My curiosity is thus thrilled to explore it much further.
kjv@Ezekiel:45 @ @ RandyP comments: A large parcel of land is sectioned off for the the ministers of the temple as a sanctuary for their homes. The home of particular interest is the home of the prince. Weights and measures are corrected by the princes under the prince to make right the tithes and gifts and commerce. Sacrifices are being made for errors, there remain sin offerings, reconciliation is mentioned twice. New moons and Sabbaths are ordained, there is a monthly cleansing performed for the alter and for the priests. All of this specifically detailed as for the children of Israel.
kjv@2Peter:3:15-16 @ @ RandyP comments: It has been the doctrine of some cults (even the universal church at times) that the unlearned masses must be kept from the holy scrip based on the possible misinterpretation and destruction it might cause them identified by this passage. The context however of this passage in light of kjv@2Peter:2 is more properly of those who once knew of the Gospel/Grace of Christ but chose not to continue, turned to oppress and afflict and teach falsely after their own increased unrighteousness and gain. Paul's writings in particular are targeted by these cherry picking wicked souls as points of fierce contention, points of apparent contradiction, points to slander and attack. Peter here stands up for Paul in uncompromising fashion and therefore endorses the distribution of his works. The general masses are greatly helped rather by the availability of unfiltered scripture, their trust in leadership deeply enhanced in the things that are not easily understood by the things that are. Those who are going to fall away are going to fall away any way. Disputes and factions may arise amongst us over certain points as we try to become learned, but, even that is used to challenge and stir and put essential truths into our remembrance. Challenge does not mean destruction, challenge means hunger and thirst and utter trust in the most certain hope of an eventual divinely revealed answer.
kjv@1John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The core doctrines of the gospel are simply put to the reader by John in terms anyone even child can understand. From these core points we can expand the doctrine outward. The over arching truth is that any notion contrary to these points is either a lie by us or else a lie by Him; there is no middle ground. Light, fellowship with the Light, fellowship with each other, sin, confession of sin, forgiveness of sin and the cleansing of sin from unrighteousness are all a one way or no way proposition. Who shall be the liar here; man or Christ?
kjv@Daniel:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord is always moving ahead with His plans. As a nation Judah has now fallen into Chaldean hands but through the obedience of four young souls He plans to move Israel forward through the seventy year captivity. He has gifted these four with the skill, the knowledge, the situation and the opportunity needed. They won't be the only ones that He builds up and moves into place.
kjv@Daniel:2 @ @ RandyP comments: They sought the mercies of God concerning this secret. Perhaps they would have rather thought that the king was losing his marbles and hastily making a way for them out wit the king for their freedom. The mercies of God in this case were much different. God was intending to share a revelation with the king and establish these Hebrew boys in the kings eye. The four's action saved not only themselves but, the other soothsayers and magicians as well.
kjv@Daniel:4 @ @ RandyP comments: I sense a subtle transition in this testimony of Nebuchadnezzar from a belief in the mighty God of gods and the spirits of holy gods (polytheism) to 'Him' the blessed 'Most High' Him that liveth in dominion forever 'King of Heaven'. There is not enough said here to say that he became monotheistic but, his respect for one particular God certainly heightened. Without doubt his worship of self was tangibly altered to have published this account.
kjv@1John:3 @ @ RandyP comments: There is so much said here that entire books can be (and have been) written. For the moment it should be enough to consider that these things are all expansions of the core doctrine that John presented in kjv@1John:1 , namely that God is light and in Him is no darkness. If we are in God, so too there can be no darkness in us. Knowing the 'how' this is possible is knowing the 'what' Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection and the 'who' He is. The working of this knowledge produces unfeigned love in us for the brethren, which is the proof positive of possessing this knowledge. It can be produced in no other way.
kjv@1John:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Cain is purposely used as the counter example. This key information steers the understanding of this passage a direction it otherwise would not go. The context becomes the inseparable fusion of love and righteousness, it's perceived source/manner and the resultant actions occurring from. Two men make the same effort to worship the living God, the means of which produce two opposite ends. The same can be said of two men that worship, one finding the ability to love unfeigned, the other finding the ability to hate and inflict judgment.
kjv@Daniel:8:25 @ @ RandyP comments: 'By peace he shall destroy many'. For many peace is the ultimate. Even for many religious God is all about peace. I am not sure whether this antichrist ever brings actual peace, but, the promise of peace would certainly be enough to motivate the masses. Peace while deceit prospers? Peace while the temple is desecrated? Peace while the Persians and Medes are being subjected? Peace while he stands up against the Prince of princes? This does not sound anything like real peace, it sounds like deception and domination. That is what these people think peace is however.
kjv@1John:5 @ @ RandyP comments: I find the rhythm in the end odd. Such a metered and descriptive examination of godly love throughout the passage, to end in such an abrupt change of cadence 'keep yourself from idols' (out!). Is the transition from love to idols as so abrupt however? Are they not essentially the same thing? All that he has spoken of love and heavenly wittiness and sinlessness and divine providence, can they not be wrapped up in the few words of keeping yourself from idols? Where then do our idols exists?
kjv@1John:5 @ @ RandyP comments: The idols spoken of here can be as simple as a Jesus other than the one testified of by the Father. A Jesus that isn't God made flesh. A Jesus who is not His only begotten Son. A Jesus who is not His beloved. A Jesus who is one of many ways acceptable to the Father. Any other Jesus makes this Jesus a liar. Try this translation: "keep yourselves from the Jesus that makes this Jesus a liar".
kjv@Daniel:10:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Daniel had done two things right in order for his prayers to be answered, he sought/set his heart to understand, he chastened himself before God. From that point (even though at times it may not have seemed to him like it) his prayers were heard. Now the Lord comes.
kjv@Daniel:12 @ @ RandyP comments: I feel presently that I am not equipped to explain this kjv@Daniel:10-12 passage. There are a great many scholars that have looked into this much more deeply who disagree one to another. I started to add further reading resources as starting points, but, don't want to outright endorse any of these particular views. Like with much of bible prophecy, I believe that every single word is true and that when it is all fulfilled we will everyone say 'boy Daniel sure nailed that'. Until it is all fulfilled however, I marvel at the detail, I marvel at how it could explain this and that, I marvel at the angels and the means of communication they use. I seek to understand these things and I dig deeper and deeper into them.
kjv@Daniel:12 @ @ RandyP comments: I know many people that have had much opportunity for productive spiritual fruit fall from the limb because of their insistence in figuring all of these prophetic clues together. It almost becomes a destructive addiction. If our commandment is to love one another as God loves us, certainly there must be a balance between the mental pursuit of knowing and the spiritual pursuit of simply acting based upon trust. Knowing how to comfort a friend is just as important as knowing 3 1/2 years for this and this king was... Some times sealed means sealed. Not to diminish the importance of prophecy mind you, but, to elevate the importance of being amongst the living and being fruitful in the knowledge of Christ.
kjv@Jude:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Contending for the faith once delivered begins with praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping oneself in God's love, looking for His mercy unto eternity, having compassion for some, making the difference, saving some with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. The fact that we would have to contend with others supposedly within our own faith means that it is not an easy list of things to do. We are warned that these apostates have crept in unaware and that there is a certain advantage and admiration inherent for them to do so. They are defined as dreamers defiling the flesh, despising dominion, speaking evil of dignities. They preach out of what they know naturally.
kjv@Hosea:9 @ @ RandyP comments: It seems that critics are consumed with the translations of small words. A translation of few corrupted and the entire text is called into question. The message of the Bible however in such large grandiose pictures that the changing of words here would have to be repeated throughout and still would not change the picture. The picture here is that chosen Israel has gone very wrong, and is left to receive the punishing end of a firm covenant. Is there not the picture of God's love? Is there not the picture of His blessings upon them? Is there not the picture of them chasing after gods other then Him? Is there not the picture of His patience and efforts for their return? How many words would have to be changed in how many places to alter this picture? Being confident of this picture we are all the more confident in the fitting of the other pictures in the collection that God's word so vividly paints, such as the picture of Christ.
kjv@Hosea:11 @ @ RandyP comments: Hosea has spoken almost exclusively about judgments on Israel as a whole and namely the component areas of Ephraim/Samaria with little mention of Judah which for now remains mostly faithful. He is a prophet for this region. Comprised of 10 of the tribes, Ephraim itself being 3, their first and foremost transgression is that their worship of Jehovah was moved to two unsanctioned high towers in their own land so that they wouldn't have to cross into Judah to get to Jerusalem. Worship of Jehovah quickly morphed into worship of Baalim. Their jealousy toward the seat of David (corrupt as many descendant kings were) and resultant hatred was the beginning of the end for themselves.
kjv@Hosea:13 @ @ RandyP comments: I get the sense that Ephraim was the dominate coalition driving Israel (he exalted himself). Samaria was just plain rebellious (she rebelled against her God). Still we see throughout the desire of God to have them return. He sets about them as a lion/leopard/bear to devour in their faithless idolatry but as a king in their faithful regathering. In Him is their help/ransom.
kjv@Revelation:5 @ @ RandyP comments: We just read and commented that these things must happen; it is not a matter of us holding them off. Now we read of why it must happen. This is not a terrible thing, the crowning achievement of our worthy Lord to open the book. The judgments inside this sealed book are terrible to those outside the coverage of His blood, but, the purging that will result by opening it is much needed in the hearts of men and angels alike. All creation groans as in travail for this to happen.
kjv@Amos:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Many today think of their sins as personal things that have little or no effect on others such as the just, the poor, the oppressed, the needy. This passage speaks of such transgressions causing a nation's judgment as a whole to become as soft porous wormwood and it's righteousness to be left off. The stark evidences can be found in how the just are more and more rebuked, abhorred and afflicted (to the point the just are better off personally to keep silent). The results are a form of personal prosperity and social suave that comes quickly to an end having no bases of support (earlier described as being lead away by fish hooks). The nation as a whole is judged not only by it's failed condition, but, by God. Doesn't sound all that personal to me.
kjv@Revelation:6 @ @ RandyP comments: Six of the seals from the book are now open. Remember that the only one worthy of opening these was the Lamb our Lord, no other could have done this but, a great many wanted it to be done. Having been sealed means that each of these were predetermined yet held off until the right to do so had been claimed. Even when He was proved worthy upon resurrection He then had held off until certain numbers had been fulfilled and the go ahead was given by the Father. Each unsealed judgment alone would be devastating. Together or in sequence they become a time like the earth has never known.
kjv@Revelation:8 @ @ RandyP comments: The prayers of the saints; thy kingdom come... thy will be done... on earth as it is in heaven... thine is the power and the glory. Special pause is given to acknowledge that this is precisely what the saints have prayed for all along. To get to the answer of those prayers from here this judgment must first take place. Perhaps we didn't fully realize the depths of sin's nature or the fierceness of the spiritual war all around. Perhaps we thought God could just change this thing and that, otherwise everything else is cool. There are however some drastic changes that have to occur beginning with the elimination of evil; an evil that runs deep. Remember God is light and Him there is no darkness. How then can He dwell amongst us if there is yet evil in our midst? Evil must be judged and use of these natural forces should make it clear to the inhabitants that this is none other than THE JUDGEMENT so clearly prophesied.
kjv@Jonah:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Jonah had let his fear of what the Assyrians might say or do cloud his judgment as to what God needed him to do. He may have also been prejudice as to who was worthy of his prophetic gifts and who was not. It is apparent that God had been working long and hard in Nineveh to the point where when Jonah finally did speak to them they were willing and receptive to the message.
kjv@Revelation:11:18 @ @ RandyP comments: It is a time for judgment and reward. How do the nations respond? They are angry. It doesn't say repentant notice, doesn't say sorry, doesn't say softening or contemplative. Such horrific events they have witnessed, so many catastrophes. Yet they see these matters in the opposite. To them it is not their anger and hatred and transgression that destroys the earth, it is God's.
kjv@Micah:7 @ @ RandyP comments: What God will do for those who will bear His indignation: 1. plead my cause 2. execute judgment for me 3. bring me forth to the light 4. pardon iniquity 5. pass by the transgression 6. retain not his anger 7. turn again 8. have compassion 9. subdue our iniquities 10.cast all sins into the depths 11. perform the truth to Jacob 12. mercy to Abraham
kjv@Revelation:13:7 @ @ RandyP comments: Are the saints the not yet raptured Church? To make war with the saints suggests that the saints are no longer dispersed or that they are dispersed but banded into target-able formations. To be overcome as the Church however rubs against a whole lot of scripture, namely kjv@1John:2:14 kjv@1John:4:4 kjv@1John:5:4 kjv@John:14:16 kjv@2Peter:2:19 kjv@2Peter:2:20 kjv@1Corinthians:3:16 kjv@Hebrews:1:14
kjv@Revelation:13:7 @ @ RandyP comments: The point I am trying to make is that if the Church and these saints are one in the same, then it is the Church that is overcome. In order for the Church to be overcome then the Holy Spirit has to be overcome or He has to leave us to our own. Scripture suggests that neither can happen! To be overcome is to be put back into bondage to. The Church being put back into bondage after the blood and resurrection of Christ? After the forever indwelling of the Comforter? Even for a short time - Where is the sense? If instead these are new believers after the Church has been raptured, they are by virtue of this peculiar time frame merely transitional (Spirit-less/Church-less) believers still awaiting the Spirit with patience and faith.
kjv@Habakkuk:2 @ @ RandyP comments: So this is where Paul twice and the author of Hebrews once get "the just shall live by faith". Now we have the original context. Given our tendency to box God into the corners of what we think He should and should not be doing, given our blindness to everything except what is immediately before us, given our own personal track record and what we ourselves are being chastised over, we if seeking through this to become just should live by faith. kjv@Romans:1:17 kjv@Galatians:3:11 kjv@Hebrews:10:38
kjv@Zephaniah:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There are many nations involved here. Their transgression namely having reproached the chosen for the sake of magnifying themselves. The chosen certainly were not blameless and deserving of reproach, but, it was for the Lord to reproach not them. Reproach in order to magnify is a different thing however. We see people practice it in our lives all the time. I know of men who speak of the Church in the same way. It is not that they have any desire for the Church to correct itself, it is that by moving the church out of the way they themselves look all the better. This is done even by Christians to the greater Church at large.
kjv@Zechariah:1:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Two separate identities, the Angel of the Lord and the Lord of Hosts are identified here. The Angel asks a question of time frame, how long. In a sense the mercy has not left, it is there all along. In another sense on the ground the appearance is one of His displeasure; which itself ties back into His mercy. It would not be mercy if He had not had a plan/means of dealing with it.
kjv@Zechariah:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The Angel of the Lord and Satan stand near Joshua the high priest. The Angel intends to change the filthy clothes of the priest (cleansing) and alter his mitre (position of authority). The Branch (Messiah) will remove the iniquity of the land in one day. Satan not only knows the plan but, is powerless to stop it. (some details as to the stone tsk@Zechariah:3:9)
kjv@Revelation:17:18 @ @ RandyP comments: This is very revealing, a power/principality that rules over the kings of earth. It is put into their hearts, it is God's will (just as He has given them over kjv@Romans:1 ) to follow. They will follow wholly to make war against the Lamb. She is identified as a city with seven hills (often thought of as Rome). The seventh and eight king of which are the beast. She is presented in continuous present tense as old as Babylon and young as the martyrs of the Lamb.
kjv@Zechariah:5 @ @ RandyP comments: A two sided curse flies over the entire earth, one side curses all theft, the other curses all swearing. Theft and swearing comes in big and small ways, ways each of us try to justify and reduce, but, assuredly spring from the same heart. Think of it for now though as one whole. The collective heart can be measured out like a ephad of wheat, often Jesus described the Kingdom as wheat. Yet in the middle a woman is found sitting in the wheat adding to the weight thereof as a weight heavy as lead. This complete measure of wickedness is transported to be housed in Babylon. A woman of similar geographic description is described in Revelation as 'MYSTERY, THE GREAT HARLOT OF BABYLON' who reigns over the kings of earth. Could she be tied to the theft and swearing as well?
kjv@Zechariah:7 @ @ RandyP comments: The command seemed simple enough, to execute true judgment, show mercy, oppress not. To do these things as an individual is one thing; as a nation quite another. When the Lord cried out they would not hear. Now that they are crying out the Lord seems to not hear. What was so hard about the command? The answer may be within. Now they fast in the fifth month these many years, but, is it to the Lord they fast or to themselves? They send men to inquire of the prophet, but, is it for the truth or to bend God's ear? Why should He listen if they do not listen? Why should He do for them when they intend to do plenty for themselves only as well? Worship is not about doing better for yourself. It is not about bending His will around yours. It is not Him plucking you out of the pit that you've dug yourself so that you can run along to dig yet another. Worship is about Him, it is about what you most value, what you are most willing to serve. One cannot perform the command without the deepest reverence and worship towards Him who wants you first to listen. And to best do that one must do this worship as a nation. That is what is so hard.
kjv@Revelation:19:6 @ @ RandyP comments: It is not that the Lord has just become omnipotent and reigns, it is that He always has and always will. Remember that this present vanity we've been subjected to comes out of a hope kjv@Romans:8:20, what better hope than to come to know Him for who/what He truly is. One can say the Lord is omnipotent but, what does that mean until all involved have experienced that? One can say the Lord is full of compassion in the same sense, what does that mean until all involved have experienced it? This then is a time when all of us have experienced the experience and we can conclude with knowledge and eternal confidence that this Lord God reigns omnipotent. These are not now just words!
kjv@Zechariah:13 @ @ RandyP comments: The question may come to mind that if the Lord can cut off the names of idols and lying prophets in that coming day why doesn't He just do it now? The answer may lay in the object of a process we are being brought through to be able to identify and desire this ourselves as well. It is one thing for Him to cut off when no one knows what He is doing and why He is doing it and many possibly be angry or taken back by it, it is another to have everyone on board and aware and even participants along with Him in cutting it off. We are told here of parents willingly striking their wicked prophet son through. We are told here of a refining fire. In effect, what good does it do for the Lord to cut something off if it grows right back again? If it means cutting off more people than already need be cut off? If it can serve a better purpose temporarily being allowed?
kjv@Revelation:21:8 @ @ RandyP comments: Is Hell really that hard to understand? If your family was moving from it's remote frontier outpost to a new thriving city and you refused to go, what would you have left? If your ship was abandoned and left to sink and you refused to go, what would you have left. If your leprosy was cured by a shot and a new healthy location and you refused...you get the idea! We tend to think of God when we think of Hell in terms of "how could He" instead of "why did we not". If it is the course of creation to proceed from A (a temporal/carnal existence) to B (a transitional/spiritual existence being set apart and prepared) to C (a new and spiritual living eternal existence far removed from the corruption of sin/death) and we stick to our guns and stay at A, what happens to us when A and B are no more? Are no longer supported? Are removed from available options? What happens to the seed that refuses to sprout?
kjv@Revelation:21 @ @ RandyP comments: The glorious new heavens and new earth. Jesus said that He goes to prepare a new place for us. It took Him six days to prepare the place that we are at. He has been over 2000 years preparing the place upcoming. It is a place obviously much different than this place, for one thing it is a place where the internal beauty of man's cleansed and purified heart unites as one to commune with its Lord and maker. In another way, it is a place where there is no more death, no more fear of death, no more pain, no more sorrow. It is a place too good to be true from a God too good for it not to be true. Today then, it is a faith, a hope, a truth unseen that guides us through the darkness of this day, an evidence of the long time goodness and intents of our Savior.
kjv@Malachi:1 @ @ RandyP comments: After this many years and this much history, it can still come back to the Lords consideration of Jacob and Esau. Something about Esau He hated and his descendants alike. Jacob He loved even though it has been a constant struggle. The descendants argue with the Lord at almost every turn when He says that they are doing this or that. Then there are the gentiles who the Lord wants to look on Him honorably, but, the religious inconsistencies of His chosen alter that perception. If Esau be this way and Jacob be another why does the Lord even continue with them? I believe the answer would be the same no matter who He choose, it is a matter of the truest nature of sin, the spirit of man is at complete enmity with God in all cases. In fact, the best results obtainable may be from Jacob's seed. Remember that is not from these people that the Lord will be praised it is from the actions of Lord upon these people, His incarnation and redemptive plan. The gentiles may be the first to see and bring Him honor, but, the lines of the two brothers will someday wonder what it is that the gentiles see and begin to wonder and look into it themselves.
kjv@Malachi:2 @ @ RandyP comments: One can almost sense what religion has become to them; an alter to shed their tears upon. I suppose that tears are well and fine but, what about the wholesomeness of their offering? If all one does is cry and complain and petition and yet goes about their lives in the same sinful way, making dirty offerings with dirty hearts and hands, what good is this religion? The two parts make one whole. It is not just emoting your fears about what concerns come against you, it is how the strength of the Lord is always sufficient. It is not just this sacrifice you made or that offering you gave, it is about the sacrifice that He made and you wholehearted submission and faithfulness to living in it. One without the other is a means of dealing treacherously with self and master. When religion is only a crying alter, the alter becomes more and more a place where everyones evil is declared as good. This treacherous form of religion wearies the Lord. The fear is best placed in His judgment and not just His pity.
kjv@Revelation:22 @ @ RandyP comments: It is interesting to compare kjv@Revelation:1 where we started this journey with kjv@Revelation:22 where we end. A lot will take place in a very short amount of time. But, when will it take place? We don't know. Here in this chapter Jesus repeated 'I come quickly' 'I come shortly' 'the time is at hand'. In human terms it can be argued that it has been a long time. Did Jesus lie? How long is long? How short is short? How soon is soon? Isn't it better to think that if it means that we have been given time then we would be use this time as wisely as possible? From an eternal viewpoint, is not any amount of time here but brief? In terms of relativity, can not this have happened, be happening, and be yet to happen all at the same time? So much to ponder!
kjv@Genesis:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Of the many details about creation given in this first chapter, perhaps the most peculiar is the division between verse strkjv@Genesis:1:1 'in the beginning' and verse strkjv@Genesis:1:2 'and the earth was'. To me the key word is 'was' which I suggest more properly should be translated 'became' as used in other text. Notice Heaven and Earth created in the beginning strkjv@Genesis:1:1. Notice Heaven and Earth not being divided till strkjv@Genesis:1:9. What happened that they were in the beginning but not divided until the third day? Many would say that they were created without form and void, the native language can just as easily say they became uninhabitable being a place suffering judgment.
kjv@Genesis:3:1-5 @ @ RandyP comments: The deception is a subtle twist of words over the meaning/extent of death. If the serpent had said that she'd die spiritually first, be exiled from the garden, live her and her generations in toil and turmoil, suffer famine and war and horrid transgressions from one another, and die a slow degenerating sometimes cancerous death, the deception would not have been as inviting. What is at question here is whether God would stand behind what He said and follow through; if so why? The why gets us into areas far beyond the thoughts of man.
kjv@Genesis:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Many liberal interpretations have been made of this story as to what the forbidden fruit might have been. The fruit however is not the import object here however, it is the transgression. The fruit could have been anything, the fact is that they were told not to do it, the transgression that they did it anyway. Some see the freedom of choice given Adam/Eve as broad as their own, and hold the freedom of choice as essential to sin. The fact is that because of the sin of these two all of mankind has been cursed and quarantined, the choice not to sin removed, not one man escaped. This is why the prophecy of a particular seed of Eve against the seed of the serpent.
kjv@Matthew:2:3 @ @ RandyP comments: All Jerusalem? The Persians had (as recently as 40+/- years) invaded and temporarily held Jerusalem. This visit of the magi may have been seen in the city as a plot to regain the city. It is an interesting way to create a public buzz around the messianic arrival.
kjv@Genesis:7:21 @ @ RandyP comments: Fish/amphibians and sea creatures are not mentioned in this list. They were surely disrupted but not destroyed by this judgment.
kjv@Genesis:8:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Where did all the water come from and where did it go? The answer lays under your feet in the sub terrain aquifers. How did it drain so fast? Look at your canyons and salt plate washouts.
kjv@Genesis:8 @ @ RandyP comments: Our understanding of what wickedness means and what it means to God surely differ. We severely reduce it down to bite size pieces that we think we have some control over. Now that wickedness has been drowned away does it not come right back? Later, when it is legalized and sacrificed away does it not come right back? This isn't God making a series of experiments as to what might rid us of these tendencies, this is God speaking directly to us saying 'this is what is wrong and this is how serious it all is'. You can't solve this or justify it away, you can't swim your way passed this. And He can't help you by the one vessel He has made available unless you are willing enter it.
kjv@Genesis:9:22-24 @ @ RandyP comments: The language or translation seems to be holding something back here. If Ham only saw (caught a glimps), why does it say Noah knew what the younger son had done to him? There was some type of violation or deeper shame committed to warrant the severe curse that followed. In seeing it may be in how he saw and in telling it may be in how/what he told his brothers. Or else it may be something worse.
kjv@Genesis:16 @ @ RandyP comments: I think it is a part of all of us when considering God's promises to rationalize how God would be able to do that unless I do this (fill in the blank). Though we may start out strong in the trust, after delay, we begin to think that God is waiting for me to do this, or that He has left it up to me, or that He must have meant something other; well you can see how the purer form of trust dissolves. Like Sarah, we can create a lot of turmoil and anguish for ourselves. I don't see this as a peculiar fault of Sarah, it is more of a trait in all of us. This is not to say that there may not be something that we do need to do, it means we should continuously seek the Lord's direction and wait upon His answer before proceeding.
kjv@Genesis:22 @ @ RandyP comments: It might be thought that all men are tested in this severe of a way. No other man has received a covenant from God the size of Abraham's however. Should we expect that any other man's test would be so large? Abraham's belief in the promise of God that in Isaac the covenant will continue is what was being tested, that God will provide. While certain religions focus upon what Abraham was willing to sacrifice, the deed that would have been done, the supposed earning of grace, we as Christians focus on what God alone eventually sacrificed/provided, we focus on the prophecy that by His hand alone did come true. It remains a covenant totally comprised of His grace; the Lord used Abraham's willingness in this case to sketch out plainly to us that it was nothing other than this grace.
kjv@Genesis:24 @ @ RandyP comments: The angel had prepared the servants way to prosper at this task. The blood line was to remain pure. I take it (way) to mean that he prepared Rebekah and her family's heart. The servant put a test before the angel so that he would know when he found the right woman. I have known people to put other tests out in their own prayers and dealings; I think that we need to be careful. Remember that Isaac was to become the continuation of the covenant with Abraham, this wife was to birth a great many seeds of the covenant. There is a righteousness there that may not be there if we place a similar test on which job shall we take or what city. Often our tests favor preconceived notions of what we would most like the answer to be and the situations leading to them born out of our dissatisfaction or restlessness. I am not saying that tests such as these are not good in certain cases, I am saying one must truly search out their intentions and honesty before making demands upon the righteous will of God.
kjv@Genesis:25:17 @ @ RandyP comments: Is this being gathered unto ones peoples a saying? or a biblical truth of death? I don't know kjv@STRING:gathered+unto+his and kjv@STRING:gathered+unto+thy . If so, would Ishmael's people be Abraham? The Egyptians? Who? Most likely, at least in the end, people of the same regenerate or non-regenerate spiritual heart. The fuller interpretation is that physically it simply means that they ended up in the same spot 'dust to dust' as all the loved ones who have gone before him. Spiritually however, added to 'giving up the ghost' it means dead in body (dust), the ghost yeilded, spiritually gathered to their just reward.
kjv@Genesis:25:34 @ @ RandyP comments: We have a spiritual birth right similar to what is discussed in this passage. Any number of us at any number of times have sold our rights for mere morsels of common bread and drink thus in effect despising our birth right. What is the intellectual make up of this? Could it be our narrow perception of our Father's love and wealth? What this birthright means? Could it be our own appetites? Is it that we feel that in the long run we have no right or that our right is somehow ordained to be given another? Some would say in this case 'didn't God make it so?' to which I reply 'didn't God foresee?'. In Jesus we not only have the opportunity to be born again but, also to be born into an inheritance of saints. Where does this heavenly birthright stand with you today?
kjv@Genesis:31 @ @ RandyP comments: In our day, we would have legal documents written and the weight of our legal system available to enforce such an agreement (whatever weight that be). In Jacob's day what was there beside a heap of rocks, an oath between men of questionable pasts, and a suggested threat of God's judgment? The Lord had made Himself clear to both men to this regard. It seems to me that this pact was an exercise of manly oneupmanship cloaked in necessary compromise. Maybe I am seeing it wrong!
kjv@Genesis:45 @ @ RandyP comments: The reaction of Pharaoh should be noted. We know from previous text that the Hebrews were not looked favorably on by the Egyptians during these days; they were not even to be eaten with. Here we see how differently Joseph was viewed, as a man in whom the spirit of God dwelt. That Joseph had been reunited with his Hebrew kin was a favorably endorsed event by Pharaoh.
kjv@Genesis:46:34 @ @ RandyP comments: Joseph is having them make a cultural shift here, because of the sentiments of Egyptians against shepherds they are to call themselves cattlemen. They most like had been both before this.
kjv@Genesis:47 @ @ RandyP comments: We should be mindful as to just how serious famines can be. Within the first year the people of Egypt had sold Joseph their cattle and by the second year had sold all but the priest' land. This is a sanitized way of saying that they were absolutely desperate. The dust bowels of Great Depression are the closest thing we Americans have seen to this, not nearly as devastating but requiring a buy back program from the government for many as well, some had to walk away from everything.
kjv@Exodus:6:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Does God work miracles in an instant? He certainly can. Does it ever take longer? It certainly can. If you are in the market for a good healthy miracle, perhaps you should consider this Exodus passage. Sometimes miracles are purposely a lengthy process. Hearts are stirred, personalities tested, set backs are encountered, belief is pressured to it's core. In the end it is no less of a miracle, in fact it may now be more so. Delay does not mean that it will not happen, it may just mean that it will not happen by the means one first expects.
kjv@Exodus:8:19 @ @ RandyP comments: The same may be true in our own witnessing. A hardened heart is rarely convinced by rational conclusions. If signs and wonders are not enough, if the heart has given it's word and then turned on it, it now has much more than it's own image to rescue and maintain, it now must bend the situation developing by it's own will. His own magicians he must feel are weak and deserters, under the spell of others. Everyone else is wrong but him. Have you seen it?
kjv@Exodus:12 @ @ RandyP comments: This is the first plague where the people of Israel had to participate. Everything up to now they sat back and watched. Their action is to be reenacted yearly as a remembrance to all future generations and is very specific as the symbolism is exact and points to the coming Messiah. kjv@1Corinthians:5:7 describes Christ as our passover. He in every way fulfills the role of the lamb sacrificed (before the congregation) and the lamb's blood protecting/covering the chosen from a death otherwise meant for all. His death brings about our immediate release and exodus from the bondage of sin. Now the proofing of the believer begins.
kjv@Exodus:14:15 @ @ RandyP comments: I am sure that the Lord is always encouraging of prayer and communication. Crying out may not always be appropriate however. David for instance often cries out in his Psalms but, his desperation often leads him to the conclusion that God is truly great and a mighty deliverer in times of need. How often do we cry out however with desperation alone, seeking for answers that we are not prepared to follow, directions we are not observant to go, pleading for self strength without having established ourselves within His. We can not be too hard on these Israelites for they are experiencing God many of them for the first time. We should be harder on ourselves for having had their experience plus our own plus that of others and still yet crying out for the sake of crying out. Is there not reason to be communicating with God on a totally different level?
kjv@Exodus:14:20 @ @ RandyP comments: There are a number of secular (even some theological) scholars that have gone to great lengths to explain how the parting of the sea may have happened in natural terms. None of these go to explain the prerequisite element of the Angel of the Lord and Pillar of Fire keeping the Egyptians at distance from the Israelites as they prepared to cross the dry land. If you are going to explain one thing by natural terms, you must be able to explain them all.
kjv@Exodus:16:4 @ @ RandyP comments: Have you ever wondered if the dry spell that you are going through now is a time where God is seeing whether you will obey His command or not? There may be a section of time in advance where your expectations are not met when you begin to murmur. And maybe you think you are murmuring at somebody (a boss or a spouse a pastor) but, really you are murmuring of God. The problem may be in your expectations. Then there is a second phase where God in His wisdom has provided an answer for you. Again it may not be what you expected; instead it is an intermediary answer as in this case to see if you will perform the steps mandated in the frame of heart that is needed. Again the problem comes with one's expectation. When following the deliverance of God one must expect that our own expectations and His may differ grossly. His offering may not be the final answer all at once, it may be a series of processes that lead us to His ultimate answer. In our own personal wilderness experience, not only do we need learn to trust/depend on Him, to be thankful for anything when do or do not have, but, also to obey what He has impressed upon us to obey.
kjv@Exodus:16:9 @ @ RandyP comments: How many of our prayers are not prayers at all but, murmurings? A couple? A few? Some? A lot? A whole lot? God hears hears our words. He knows what we need before we ask it. Often, He has to sift through all the complaints about what He hasn't done or needs to be doing. Often He has to see past the complaints about others we are making in prayer form. So do we not pray to Him at all? No. We pray to Him in a manner worthy of His Holiness. Prayers where we focus on who He is and what He is doing big picture and where we fit in His big picture and where He fits in ours. He will answer either way, the difference is that the exchange has benefited our appreciation and attitude all the more.
kjv@Exodus:16:35 @ @ RandyP comments: Not to get ahead of ourselves, but, it was forty years of Manna only because of their disobedience and lack of trust. Since the chapter began with God wanting to prove whether they would obey or no, we should know that almost immediately from outset onward the answer was no. For the manna obedience was somewhat locked in, it would spoil overnight and not grow on Sabbath. For the many other things God was doing the obedience was more voluntary. You have to remember also that these people were in a desert isolated from foreign influences and still had these disobedient tendencies. Is our nature any different? Where do we stand in our proving yet today?
kjv@Exodus:18 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord instructs us Himself one to one. He instructs through the counsel of others as well. Moses had taken too much upon himself. Not only was it bad for his health and endurance it was bad for the people he was trying to lead. Notice that the Lord did not tell him this, the Lord used his father in law. The Lord did not object. Perhaps Moses had been praying for an answer but was too busy/distracted to listen for it. Perhaps the Lord had told him but, he did not receive it for some reason. Maybe the Lord choose this method from the beginning to develop Moses in the areas of friendship and counsel that he needed developed himself. Regardless, the point for us to take is the importance of counsel, of grooming trust relationships, of allowing opportunity to receive, of being able to compare and line up with the known word of God and correctly decide. Not just any counsel mind you, not just the advice we want to hear, the right godly counsel.
kjv@Exodus:20:5 @ @ RandyP comments: The curse to third and fourth generations is tied specifically to the iniquity of utterly hating God as shown in the worship of other gods. I would think that this would be someone having already known of God and His mercy systematically choosing not retain God in their thoughts rebelliously worshiping the creature rather than the creator. We are not told what the curse will be here but, scripture suggests that the fathers are given over to that which is not convenient kjv@Romans:1 , their generations perhaps suffer after their consequences. Note that the threat of this was not enough to keep many from this; a testament to man's evil heart.
kjv@Matthew:13:19 @ @ RandyP comments: This understanding is not a matter left to human intelligence, it is plain and evident to persons of all IQ's/literacy/backgrounds. Satan is not omnipresent so he utilizes man's sheep like pack and conforming nature. He will twist and distort ones intentions and honest curiosity, even God's own words to produce doubt and apparent contradiction to foster rejection and rebellion. It is not understood because the heart has fattened and calloused against it. A mans own peers become the fowls of the air as much as any demon.
kjv@Matthew:13:24-30 @ @ RandyP comments: This is not to say that the Devil has created his own humans and planted them amongst God's. This is better explained by whom the God created human becomes moral agent of/to. The Kingdom of Heaven becomes firmly planted into one and the false kingdom of heaven becomes established in the other. The differences nearly indistinguishable until the fruit from each is bore out.
kjv@Matthew:16:21-28 @ @ RandyP comments: The comment about the leaven of the Pharisees is just as much a observation of what is currently transpiring against Him as it is a doctrinal fidelity teaching. Jesus sees what is developing and the rage mounting against Him so He checks to see how far along the Disciples hearts are in the revelation process. They are currently far enough to know that He is Christ but, not so far as to know what Christ must suffer for them in the very near future. Until they grasp this further more complete revelation they will not grasp their own future pathway - the baring of their own cross for Him in His absence up until His return.
RecentComments @ kjv@James:2:21 @ RandyP comments: Justification can be thought of on two scales, one being made right with God overall (this is by faith and faith alone), the second as proof one to another of our pre-existing overall faith (the faith that I have can be proven to you by the works that this faith has executed on/through me). If faith has not produced demonstrable works, one must wonder if that having been made right with God actually exists. For, the "made right with God" faith will unalterably cause corresponding demonstrable proofs. The larger scale justification is all important first and foremost, each of us must be made right with God by the imputation of Jesus' own righteousness covering over us. This is the justification Paul largely speaks to us of. The smaller scale justification then (and only then) is inevitable should this first condition be met. This is the obvious point James here in chapter 2 furthers.
So many unbelievers today look at Christian faith as a dead thing. One response is that they (unbelievers) want that to be. The opposing response might be that perhaps on an observable scale it indeed is dead is if we (Christians) have not the works to counter their disbelief with. Dead in this inference is to mean unprovable or yet to have tangible effect, not necessarily that the faith in some smaller but saving form does not exist.
RecentComments @ kjv@James:2:21 @ RandyP comments: Justification can be thought of on two scales, one being made right with God overall (this is by faith and faith alone), the second as proof one to another of our pre-existing overall faith (the faith that I have can be proven to you by the works that this faith has executed on/through me). If faith has not produced demonstrable works, one must wonder if that having been made right with God actually exists. For, the "made right with God" faith will unalterably cause corresponding demonstrable proofs. The larger scale is all important firt and foremost, each of us being made right with God. This is the justification Paul largely speaks to us of. The smaller scale justification then (and only then) is inevitable should the first condition be met. This is the obvious point James furthers. So many unbelievers today look at Christian faith as a dead thing. One response is that they (unbelievers) want that to be. The opposing response might be that perhaps on an observable scale it indeed is dead is if we (Christians) have not the works to counter their disbelief with. Dead in this inference is to mean questionable as to whether the first scale has actually been met.
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