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CR18Day_03 @ nkjv@Genesis:3 @ RandyP comments: This is the first recording of an external influence being placed upon man: the fallen angel Satan. This appears rarely in scripture as it then is depicted as the damage man himself is responsible for. We know that the influence is present (prince of the air/this world etc..), but the bible is not written to be about Satan per se. As the Holy Writ continues however it is Cain that becomes murderous, Lamech that is murderous and boastful, the antediluvian world prior to Noah that becomes wicked in it's every imagination etc... It is not said much at all how much blame is Satan's directly (other than him having deceived the nations), but it is stated repeatedly and compellingly how much this present state of affairs is man's doing for which he alone is accountable.

CR18Day_04 @ nkjv@Genesis:7 @ RandyP comments: Noah had to be in pretty good shape as a 600 year old man to keep up with his boys in the daily building and later ship tasks. Also of interest is that in the biblical genealogy we know it common in this time for the men listed to live into the 900's, but was this common among all mankind? or just the line of Seth? or just this particular lineage within the line of Seth? We think of living a good life as the secret to living a long life. This is not born out by early scripture per se.

CR18Day_04 @ nkjv@Psalms:104 @ RandyP comments: Gap Theory is often flagrantly misrepresented by those that oppose it as being an un-biblical attempt to meld scripture with man's current interpretation of the geologic record. The true basis of the theory however is that scripture consistently uses overwhelming deluges of water as signs of God's judgment. Scripture therefore may suggest that while God "bara - created" the heavens and the earth whole nkjv@Genesis:1:1, something happened between that and nkjv@Genesis:1:2 that required God's judgment; it is during this alleged gap that Gap Theorist place the fall of Lucifer and 1/3 of the angelic host strkjv@Isaiah:14:12-15 strkjv@Ezekiel:28:11-19, perhaps even a pre-adamite world on earth. Consider also that all the LORD's works are perfect strkjv@Deuteronomy:32:4 strkjv@Job:38; beautiful/hidden from the beginning strkjv@Psalms:3:11. Consider that "was - hayah" means became, that "void - tohu va bohu" means empty/waste (thus became waste), that the Spirit of God then hovered over (another symbol of judgment) the waters and that God later had to divide the waters from the land in order to "let there be - hayah (become)" what the theory would say is an "awah - make/restoration" in six days. This of course is one possible explanations of scripture and there are more scriptures then presented here used to support it. But, even if one does not agree with Gap Theory one should not so callously disparage the possibility. The opposing more coventional view has just as many difficulties being that God would have then created an dark empty flooded waste (perfect however?). This passage in 104 I believe speaks of Noah's flood (not to return again), though it does also suggest that the foundations were laid before the waters covered it as a garment.

CR18Day_12 @ nkjv@Mark:9 @ RandyP comments: "..All things are possible to him who believes." Let's get this straight. The belief Jesus is talking about is much different than what the majority of us believe. As we would have it there would be little need for Jesus, we would simply believe for our healing, believe and not doubt, healing then comes as a result, Jesus is just some sort of facilitator helping us to draw the confidence out from within us. Belief of this kind equates to the strength of one's own mind and self determination. There are millions upon millions of people trusting their hoped for healing to this brand of self determination, quoting fragments of cherry picked scripture to help buttress it's resolve from within. It is such a simple minded belief, why did it take someone like Jesus to assure us of this truth if that is all that it took? The truth is that it takes Jesus, all things point to Jesus, it cannot be done without Jesus even if through disciples under His commission. The belief first and foremost is in Jesus, that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him strkjv@Hebrews:11:6. This is true for those receiving the healing just as it is true for those commissioned to be His healing emissaries. Fasting and prayer, what do they have to do with with us being productive emissaries? 1. They place our focus properly back on to Christ. 2. Being ourselves focused, they help us to help others to focus on Christ as well. Paul once was recalled strkjv@Acts:14:9 to have perceived in a man that he had the faith to be healed. Paul likely had been in much prayer and fasting, had not the man been ready Paul would have known to prepare the man by teaching him more about Jesus. Without prayer and fasting emissaries simply go through the motions, some cases it might work, the tougher cases they often miss the mark. Christ's reward to the victim comes through the emissary who truly seeks Him. Note that there is always an emissary whether Christ or disciple standing in the gap in between, this is so all may know that it is not from within one's self but from the Father through Jesus Christ.

CR18Day_17 @ nkjv@Mark:12 @ RandyP comments: "Are you not greatly mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?". The Sadducee errors believing not that God can/will raise saints from the dead, an example of the power and decree of God. Also they fail at the point that the historical fathers are presently dead. The reason for this deficit is of course explained as them not knowing scripture. Scripture is more than a story or moral code to live by, scripture is the declaration of God's awesome power, a power that has exhibited itself in many fashions before the children of Israel at many times. The issue of bodily resurrection is important for these minions to understand for Christ Himself will be the first resurrected of many more to come. Though the fathers live at present, they await the physical resurrection of what they left behind earlier here on earth. This not according to the traditions of men but, according to scriptures and the revealed power of God.

CR18Day_26 @ nkjv@Galatians:3 @ RandyP comments: This chapter goes along way to prove the Doctrine of justification by faith alone. It does not rule out the utility of the law and works in everyday practical matters, it places the ultimate justification found in Christ received by faith far above law/works instead. Justification means for one to be declared by God as righteous. The scripture has declared us all to be under sin no matter how good our works and obedience is to the law. If we miss one point of the law (and we often do) we are guilty of the whole law. So then, as observant as the Pharisee were, each was still guilty of the whole law if only by the fact of falling short in one particular facet. Even in this, we are talking about that hypothetical person that is only short in one specific area; that person does not exist, matters are actually much worse. There is one person however that has ever lived an entire life without any short fall/sin as concerning the law: Christ Jesus. Being declared right with God in the believers case is a matter of substitution only, He bears upon Himself the punishment of each of our sins in full, we receive His righteousness as a covering by imputation from His in full. It then becomes not our righteousness by works or by law or by birthright but, His righteousness covering over us that God looks upon and judges to be sufficiently righteous. The law and works are then given their proper place as a means of exercising/evidencing the curse-less state the believer now is under thanks to Christ. He/she might still miss at points of the law (and often does) but, the humble believer is now energized and tooled by the Spirit to do the better at it not being judged guilty of all of law in Christ.