kjv@Psalms:136 @ @ RandyP comments: In each and everything His mercy is a constant. Even when He is slaying a king our smiting a people He is kind. How could that be? Field of vision! We are also told that in God mercy and truth have met together. In establishing Israel He established the microscope for us of all ages to clearly view all human nature and established the bloodline for our redeemer to come through. We are told of the wickedness of these kings and the hardness of the heart of this pharaoh and the blood guilt of Canaan to the extent that the land was spitting them out. We are told of a people that were not a people becoming God's chosen, established for the good of all mankind and through which His greatest gift/mercy/grace would come.
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@Galatians:4:25 @ @ RandyP comments: Did you know that this Mount Sinai is supposedly also where Mohammed's horse Boraq ascended into heaven?
kjv@1Timothy:3:16 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember this verse. It should roll off the tongue just as fluently as kjv@John:3:16
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@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@1John:2 @ @ RandyP comments: To abide in Him is to love and to walk as He walked. This does not come naturally. The special anointing that we receive as repentant believers teaches us of all new and necessary spiritual things. We are taught by abiding in Him, abiding is our school. We love as He, we learn. We walk as He, we learn. How then can we love unless we abide in Him? His love is not just any love, His walk not like any either. This love and walk we are unfamiliar with even to the point of being at enmity with it. It is only by His unction that we are able to do it. Some then by not abiding have come out from us and have become our opposite, the antichrists.
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@1John:4:6 @ @ RandyP comments: filter:NT spirit+of
kjv@1John:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If I were to ask nearly any non-believer 'what is God?' the near unanimous reply would be "God is love". If I were to ask then 'what is love?' I would receive a multitude of varying replies mostly having something to do with tolerance for their sins. The question then to ask is 'doesn't that mean that love is whatever one wants/needs it to be?' or better 'that God is whomever we want/need Him to be?'. What kind of god can we ourselves make up? Is your wife whomever you wish her to be? Is your son? Is there any other working relationship that you know of that is determined by what you wish it to be? Are we not individual? Do we not have structure and backbone, interests and opinions and needs of our own that you yourself have to accept navigate and familiarize your self with? Isn't that the beauty of relationships? Why should it be any different with God? We love God because he first loved us. It was not our minute and varying personal perceptions of God with which He loved us, it was His gigantic eternal design for present and future, a love that would redeem us from our sins and set us aright into eternity. It was not our selfish 'I need you to be this' love or 'do this now for me or else' love or 'if you even exist' love for His love came before our love. What then is love? God is love? What is God? Creator and perfecter and possessor of our souls in whom no darkness dwells and in that He is absolute love.
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@2John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: It really wouldn't surprise me if there weren't a great number of these letters written to various individuals by all of the Apostles. What is surprising is that this one was still able to be verified years later when the New Testament was canonized. This great lady must have been extremely well known, must have cherished this and taken such good care of it. She must have shown it to some influential people as well. I can see her eyes light up when she would begin to recount receiving it.
kjv@3John:1:9 @ @ RandyP comments: How would you like to be remembered throughout history as the man who more loved his preeminence and received them not?
kjv@3John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: We should know that not everyone in the fold is for the fold. John may have written some of these smaller letters in part to gather intel and to make sure that the things/persons that he had sent were being received and used. He has taken the time to develop networks of 'wellbeloved' and so should we. We should be participants in this network that our true spiritual leaders are maintaining as well. Who knows, maybe one of these letters will be arriving at our desk one day.
kjv@Hosea:4 @ @ RandyP comments: No truth, no mercy, no knowledge. Swearing, lying, killing, stealing, adultery. The Apostle John had said that God is light and in Him is no darkness. How can Israel be in Him and yet have this obvious darkness? His plan is for them to be removed from their darkness. First, they must be made to realize and understand their darkness. How does one that doesn't listen, that thinks opposite come to realize? Something is done to get her attention.
kjv@Revelation:1:13 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@Luke:9:28-36 John has seen this glorified Son of Man before. He knows of whom he is talking.
kjv@Revelation:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There are those that for for the sake of their own individual faith have deserted the corporate faith of the church body. Our Lord does not address the church of Randy in this revelation which should be an indication of what kind of church the church of Randy is; it is not. Notice that our Lord did not say 'oh members of the church of Thyatira, run away, split, your church is corrupt, it is getting too hard for you to grow and be productive'. Instead it says 'hold fast/overcome'. Why is the church so important? Ask the Lord.
kjv@Revelation:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If you have ever been blessed with revelation you know that your attention to detail is un-human. The things that you remember are remembered because there is divine meaning planted in each and every little thing, they are sealed in your memory because they are meant to be sealed. There is no doubt coming out that you are granted occasion to be a part of something foreign and miraculous and you want to go back into it without letting the moment get away from you. You try to get back into it for days, but, eventually realize that it has ended. It may be the only revelation you ever again receive or it may be years until another. Part of you however searches for it again in your dreams, in strange little occurrences, in voices you think that you might of heard. John here receives perhaps the greatest and most complete revelations ever recorded. The imagery and symbolism and threads tied to other bible prophets and covenant history that God uses is utterly mind blowing. John must have been exhausted afterward beyond human strength.
kjv@2John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: It really wouldn't surprise me if there weren't a great number of these letters written to various individuals by all of the Apostles. What is surprising is that this one was still able to be verified years later when the New Testament was canonized. This great lady must have been extremely well known, must have cherished this and taken such good care of it. She must have shown it to some influential people as well. I can see her eyes light up when she would begin to recount receiving it.
kjv@Revelation:10 @ @ RandyP comments: Six angels have opened their seals, the seventh is mentioned in yet future tense. It is almost as if we are at a pause, as if the focus has briefly changed from the prophetic time-line to the current tense restriction and enablement specific to the John the prophet. John himself and by his writings has gone on to prophesy before many people and nations and kings (and continues to today).
kjv@Revelation:10 @ @ RandyP comments: John is kept from revealing too much. There is an importance to mentioning vaguely what he was about to record, but, being told not to reveal it any further. Instead he is given a book to eat that will make him to prophesy that which is required by others to be known. We must consider that not everything is for us to know outright, though to a few it may have been shown. Somethings are to be searched for like hidden treasure, other things to be merely trusted. This may in part be because of our best interest, more fully it may also be because of who else would be reading this.
kjv@Revelation:11:15 @ @ RandyP comments: Now the seventh angel sounds. There has been time for John to be prepared, and there has been time for the two witnesses.
kjv@2John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: It really wouldn't surprise me if there weren't a great number of these letters written to various individuals by all of the Apostles. What is surprising is that this one was still able to be verified years later when the New Testament was canonized. This great lady must have been extremely well known, must have cherished this and taken such good care of it. She must have shown it to some influential people as well. I can see her eyes light up when she would begin to recount receiving it.
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@Matthew:3:16 @ @ RandyP comments: Who is 'he' that saw this? Jesus or John? The reflexive pronoun suggest he himself; Jesus. John may have known his cousin's mission, may have known his role in preparing the way, may have known the prophecies surrounding, but, later he will ask for confirmation whether Jesus is the the 'Promised One'. Did he not see this divine confirmation? Perhaps not!
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@Exodus:5:2 @ @ RandyP comments: They are testing the waters of Pharaoh's with a much smaller thing, a three day prayer fest in the wilderness. Pharaoh's decision is not only based upon the request of the Hebrews, but, his image and perception of their God. In a sense he is absolutely right to ask who is this god and why should I obey him.
kjv@Exodus:5:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The Hebrews are in somewhat of a predicament. When asked who God is as of yet they really don't have the experience of God to describe who He is or what He has done; most everything He has promised to them remains future tense. How would you convincingly describe God to another at this stage in your faith. Instead, Moses and Aaron appear to the ruler as rebel rousers leading their people to idleness and fantasy. This test is as much for the Hebrews sake as it is for Pharaoh.
kjv@Exodus:5:20-23 @ @ RandyP comments: So the first approach did not work, in fact things got worse. The people blame Moses and Moses blames the Lord. It was actually a pretty lame approach to begin with, but, one has to realize that you don't just go up to a pharaoh and ask him to let my people go. Things have to be proven, leaders have to be tested, effort and sacrifice invested, God has to be depended upon.
kjv@Exodus:7 @ @ RandyP comments: Pharaoh's heart was going to harden more and more. Most would consider that a hard heart would cause this mission to fail, but, in this case God is using it to make a bigger statement. A hard heart in other words can serve the Lord's purposes. Is the Lord making his heart hard directly? Or, is the heart reacting as it wills?
kjv@Exodus:8:27 @ @ RandyP comments: Because Pharaoh is still being approached on this as a three day religious event and not a complete deliverance, I get the feeling that Moses knows that Pharaoh will again turn. What would Moses do if the Hebrews were allowed the three days and had to come back?
kjv@Exodus:9 @ @ RandyP comments: It concerns me how we might perceive how that the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart. Is the condition of the heart caused by the Lord or was it known that he would react in this way? Was Pharaoh created or coerced to be so? One almost gets the impression that with each plague that the heart relaxes and then hardens again. How much harder successively can the heart get? Other than the bricks and straw Pharaoh has not really lashed out, he simply has resolved not to let them go. I do believe that the choice of heart has been Pharaohs all along. The Lord knows his heart well enough to know how he will react and knows just how far He will be able to go in showing the rest of the world mighty works without immediately tipping Pharaoh's hardness over. It is a testament to just how hard and oblivious the human heart can be.
kjv@Exodus:10:7 @ @ RandyP comments: I think of some of the people that I have come across whose lives are utterly destroyed at yet seemingly they are oblivious to it. The mind/heart has a shrewd way of justifying itself even in the midst of desolation. Men that have lost absolutely every thing to drugs and alcohol living drink to drink behind a dumpster thinking that they are somehow better off this way, that it is everyone else that has the problem. God's mighty works are not simply finding ways to show off but, illustrations of just how far the human heart will go to avoid/disobey Him and His call.
kjv@Exodus:10:20 @ @ RandyP comments: Hardness can be the mere thought of the Lord, what the Lord represents, what the Lord expects one to do. Once of this mind, anything said or done, even suggested, only goes to harden all the more. This Lord represents something other than what Pharaoh wants a lord to represent. His lords expect little from him other than to stand firm like their statues against any other. Reasoning and tangible proofs have little effect.
kjv@Exodus:11 @ @ RandyP comments: Think about now how far we've come. From Moses being embarrassed and chided even amongst his own people, thinking that he had done the Lord wrong, to a spot where everyone but Pharaoh sees what is going on. Remember that Israel has done nothing of it's own. It is not by their good works nor even a pressing faith that this is done; they have not been called by a proven obedience. This has been done solely by God to fulfill a promise made to Jacob/Joseph centuries ago. Moses has played a role as has Aaron but not even they knew what to do or how much that it was going to take. Not one of these works could anyone have done themselves.
kjv@Exodus:14:18 @ @ RandyP comments: Honor at another man's expense is typically not a good thing. Honor if by the hardness of ones own heart after being given every opportunity to do otherwise and after having given one's oath not to pursue this any further... that is honor above and beyond, especially when it is the course of two nations and not just single men. The men that will die along with him have made their choices long ago to blindly and courageously serve regardless of Pharaoh's right and wrong. They by their personal honor/allegiance will die by their Pharaoh's utter dishonor. Make your choices wisely my friends!
kjv@Matthew:14:1-12 @ @ RandyP comments: This passage almost reads backwards. At some point earlier the disciples of the Baptist told Jesus and His disciples the outcome of John's imprisonment - beheading. The crew is aware of the circumstances therein. What is happening now that Herod Antipas is associating Jesus with as a haunting of John. We do not know how this becomes known (perhaps one of Herod's servants) but, it does.
kjv@Matthew:16:28 @ @ RandyP comments: Could this be referring to John and the visions of the Book of Revelations?
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