For Love and Fear of the Lord – 8-31-22

“For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.” 1 Timothy 4:10 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.

Do you want to know truth? Be able to discern lies? Know how to figure it all out in these confusing times and have peace? The Bible says Jesus is the truth. I have experienced it and it has changed my life. I was once a hot mess of sin, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use and so much more. But I was lost and when I could not find my way, or find a truth, I numbed it with bad choses. When I found Jesus, and truth – I found peace and deliverance from those things.

If you want a relationship with God without truth you will get the counterfeit, hypocritical Christianity that has kept some of you away for too long. You need truth and relationship. You need to be honest with yourself and God (including honest repentance) and God will reveal truth to you. It becomes the two way, interaction that your relationship with God is built on. This is why Jesus is called the truth, because he is our only way to the Father.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

BIBLE READING:

Dear Heavenly Father – Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. Open the eyes of our understanding, please, so we may know the hope of our calling and the vast sovereignty and power of the grace of the cross. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. Lord, I pray that your word prepares us and not scares us! We forbid the works and influences of fear over your word and our sound mind. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! And we pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Today’s reading is the First Book of Timothy chapter 4 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

The Great Apostasy

4 Now the Spirit ^[a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, ²speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, ³forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; ⁵for it is ^[b]sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

A Good Servant of Jesus Christ

⁶If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. ⁷But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. ⁸For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. ⁹This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. ¹⁰For to this end ^[c]we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. ¹¹These things command and teach.

Take Heed to Your Ministry

¹²Let no one ^[d]despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, ^[e]in spirit, in faith, in purity. ¹³Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to ^[f]doctrine. ¹⁴Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. ¹⁵Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. ¹⁶Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Footnotes
a1 Timothy 4:1 explicitly
b.1 Timothy 4:5 set apart
c.1 Timothy 4:10 NU we labor and strive,
d.1 Timothy 4:12 look down on your youthfulness
e.1 Timothy 4:12 NU omits in spirit
f.1 Timothy 4:13 teaching

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

First we are all called, like Timothy, into His (God’s) service. Each of us with our own special place and task, some janitors and some preachers.
Second, Paul told us how to behave – like a good parent overseeing a car full of their children and their children’s friends. He clearly states what is expected of us.
Third, Paul shows us we have fruits to bear, fruits of maturity – and when we accomplish these qualifications we are ready. Now, realize – it is a list of minimum qualification that all adults should reach within a relatively short time (a few years) if walking out the faith. And know he is not talking about maturity in the spirit, where you learn to walk and stay in the spirit and change the spiritual atmosphere, and receive revelation of the deep mysteries.

Paul may be hopeful that his imprisonment in Rome will be short and he’ll be able to see Timothy soon, but this is starting to look like “here is everything I need to tell you, in case I don’t see you again”. And it is starting to look like a letter to each of us, and not to Timothy.

Paul says, once you get that – let me tell you what is coming.
But before you and I dig into that – let us rewind to chapter one and take a moment on a verse I failed to give enough time to:

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Tim. 1:17 NKJV

And today I am unable to give this enough time – but I am asking God to speak into each of you and that you are open to receive what He is saying. HE IS AN AWESOME GOD. Awe is a level of reverence, fear and amazement.

When Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, was confronted with the glory of God he cried out in terror: “I am undone!” Immediate conviction and realization of all of His sins – he gladly took coal to burn this lips to clean and consecrate his mouth for God.
Moses stood on a mountain top, in the storm of blackness with terrifying thunder and flashes of lightning; and the people cried out that God was too frightening and begged for Moses to go between them and Him.
Elijah walked in the fearful presence of the Lord and could call down fire and raise the dead! (But God did not show up in the storm for Him. God showed up in the still small voice. God does not always walk in the storm.) None the less it is a terrifying thing that God, with little effort and even some jest, shows up in fire from heaven instantly consuming the offering and the altar.

My point today, is to repent for not understanding the full magnitude of God and His glory. Not one of us does. It is too great for our finite minds – nonetheless, we are in a relationship and we take His holiness, purity, love and goodness for granted – because this glory is too much – so we put it from our minds. As scary as it is we should think on it and ask for revelation as much as we can handle and press in and not turn away. Repent more and press in more. Jesus died so we can have a relationship with God – he is our mediator and intercessor, but we can go to God direct if we understand HIS GLORY! It is a time to restore reverence and fear to our worthy God. It is time to know our place, which we cannot know if we have yet to meet our God. It is not time for our corrupted idea of a daddy and projecting it onto the HOLY HOLY HOLY.

I have been saying for 2 years that judgment is coming. Well our Father has stood up and the heavens and earth have shook and He is gently moving his finger and our world has been shaken again and again. Everything that is shakable, shakes. Those that cannot be shook are being tried by fire. We are in the time of judgment and it is a fearful thing!
You and I look around and see so many people living life as if none of this is happening around them. We aren’t crazy, they are blind. And my heart breaks because those blind people who fail to see, refuse to see, and try to look away, will all fall under this same judgment. The difference is we are tried to come out holy and pure and like cleaned gold. And they will get to the end of this season and face wrath.

The judgment of the Lord is a fearful thing because it is more honest than we are with ourselves. But Judgment is just the verdict. It is just the review of each of us and the decision as to if our faith is counted righteousness and we get blessings and crowns. Or if we are found lacking and then His wrath comes in equal measure. During the time of judgment we can repent – once He has a verdict nothing will stop or sway His hand. He has shown us this over and over throughout the Bible.

I took the time to explain all that (and all the supporting verses, I have shared so many times over the past 2 years, feel free to go back and look) in order for us to come to this chapter in the right, humble, repented state of mind – so the Lord can speak more clearly into our daily lives and what more is coming upon us.

Paul had a vision of our world and shares as much as he can.

“¹ Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,”

Jesus spoke to His own disciples warning them that they could be deceived. Paul himself fell for a demonic agendas and though he attended temple and prayed, he still was deceived into killing Christians. So Paul often warns of this tricky, these ploys are subtle and muddied truths and so we are to stay humble – any one of us can fall for it. Test the spirits. Test the word of others to the Word of God. Make sure they are pointing to Jesus – not to a weird watered down fake Jesus they dress up to mock God. Keep the Word Clean. Watch out for those who try to offer God at a price. Freely they received and freely they shall give.
This is a great place to take note – I will not ask for money. If you get messages from me asking for money in exchange for prayers, it is not me. I have done my best not to permit ads or other intrusions that can distract from the word of the Lord. Do I need money? Yes. But God Himself provides. NOT His gift to you through me. Some pastors and preachers have alternative convictions – I do not judge them and do not want you to. Let the Lord Judge in this season. I just find it unbearable to watch a preacher and in the middle of the spirit moving, an ad pops up and something worldly tries to infiltrate while I am open and receiving. Guard your receiving to be sure not to receive deception, lies or evil.

We understand deceiving spirits. We have seen the fake news. We have heard the “conspiracies”. We have prayed diligently for discernment and help from God to clean things up so we do not fail in this time.

But the ‘doctrines of demons’ part is harder for us to understand. The term conspiracy theorist has been weaponized. But to learn some of the dark demonic doctrines being spread you’d have to be somewhat of a conspiracy theorist. But once you look at those evil people’s websites, they literally have it spelled out on their websites. I do not wish to go down that rabbit hole. But if I am to discuss scriptures with you, I must make you aware that the days we live in are dark, and much more evil than you think. We have all been desensitized so much that it is difficult to discern. I am sitting on my porch in the sun as I write and with the beauty of today, it is hard to understand how dark it is. We look at Lot and his family in Sodom and Gomorrah and think we would never stay in a place that evil. Yet, two doors down on the left was just a domestic dispute and police came. Across my street to the right I see a family of addicts come out to smoke cigarettes on their porch and whatever it is they are smoking in that strange pipe, while their yard is littered with alcohol cans and the needle marks on their arms are so bad I can see them from here. And this is a small town in upstate New York – it is so much worse in and near cities.

“²speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,”

This alone is proof that Paul speaks of our time. They say: Masks work. Masks don’t work. Masks do work. Masks don’t work. And then get mad at the people for questioning them. But their conscience is seared – they cannot even see the error of their ways.

“³forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

I was a paralegal working family/divorce law for many years. So when I see articles on the changes of the law and legal things, I often read them. I saw one just the other day and I was shocked! Because of the high divorce rate and the expense, time and resources it draws from the courts. They were talking about abolishing legal marriage. They are saying people can still have weddings. And people can have religious marriages (thinking it will quiet the Christians, maybe it will).

Canada’s Prime Minister and Green Initiative has waged a war on beef. If you want a juicy steak or a juicy burger in Canada, in many places you will find a chemically created alternative or locust and mealworms.

“⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; ⁵for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

There are way too many good things in this chapter to get hung up and confused as Paul is making one point – Paul is speaking to this time, to the year 2022. Paul is saying we (you and I) have liberty and grace. Now, there are still some Jews who keep the covenant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They cannot eat all foods. They would NOT be confused and start eating ham. Paul said “I am a Pharisee”. Paul was under the covenant. Paul could NOT eat certain things. So, we should understand Paul here and know the heart of what he is saying.

“⁶If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. ⁷But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.”

Paul praises Timothy here saying he has carefully followed these things. I love the word carefully. I know we have profane, fables, and deception all around us and we must follow the word of God CAREFULY and let God reveal and work within us to make his word new and fresh to our hearts.

The word does not change, but our eyes are opened and our understanding enlightened. The word of God is fresh manna, new food for us daily. The times are different and the word hits a little different in this darkness – besides He is doing a new thing!

“⁸For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

Paul is NOT telling young Tim to skip the gym. Paul IS telling him to keep the priorities in line – stay focused. And HOW RELEVANT IS THIS TODAY! Everything has the potential to be a distraction, even good things for taking care of ourselves. But God needs us to stay focused on Him.

It is like the “self-care” thing. People obsess with self-care rituals and buying all the bath stuff, lotions, candles, and stuff – having to take time away to do these extra things, calling it self care when it is really a trap and a distraction and they would feel better if they just washed their faces, anointed their heads with oil and got busy, being focused on the task the Lord has for them to do.
The Egyptians may have the first recorded self-care routines which seem to be enjoyed by the wealthy, but the Romans made it common to the people and were the first to market frivolous extras to pamper yourself to the common person. Paul was speaking to the very same distraction that catches many of us today. It is not bad to take time for the gym or a fragrant bath with candles – but our godliness comes from being in His will. Do that first and stay in His will. And when He says to take a break and jump in a bath or go to the gym, obey Him there too.

“⁹This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. ¹⁰For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. ¹¹These things command and teach.”

I can fulfill verse 11 right now. I command you and teach you to trust God and obey the word of God (the stuff in bold on this page)! Everything else, even my words will fade away. Know the word of God and keep it.

“¹²Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

We painted this on the youth group’s wall at church when I was a teen. He is a 40 something year old man. But like I explained earlier in this study. He joined as the kid and was type casted as the kid ever since.
You and I should learn from this that we should never say you are doing a god job for your age. It is a good job. Period. That is it.
I am 10 years or so older than a friend of mine who was a youth when I met her. And she is reading this and shaking her head at me for using her example. She is a strong woman of God and hears from Him. She also reminds me of me when I was a young. I am a bit protective of her like she was a child. And sometimes I even mother her. I correct her. I lead her places and let her figure it out. I trust her words from God and I rely on her prayers. I utilize her discernment to confirm or deny my insights from God – so she is definitely not a child. But to me she is young. She hates to be treated like a child – and I try not to. I shall not despise her youth. But as I mentor her, and she is younger, it sometimes appears to be. But I rely on her strengths and giftings – and I respect her as a woman of God.

So I feel like I get it when Paul says to not so young Tim:

“¹³Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. ¹⁴Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. ¹⁵Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. ¹⁶Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

And I can understand if Timothy feels like Paul is Fathering him a little here. All it is missing is: Don’t forget to brush your teeth before bed!

So Paul starts out with telling Timothy how bad it will be. And you and I know it will be worse than this and we are not afraid because we also have the end of the chapter when we know if we keep going, keep growing, keep our eyes on Jesus, and if we fear the Lord – then we will be ok.

I have a friend who professes Christ. He is “saved” because he has a profound fear of hell. Although hell is terrible, fear more God. People who fear hell do just enough to, in their minds NOT go to hell. People who fear hell do not strive to get to know God with reading the Bible and pressing in and understanding. My friend needs to learn to fear God, or he may land in hell.
I conclude with this idea, today so you can reflect on yourself. Think about your understanding of the terror of God and if you really fear him, or are you here because you fear hell. Maybe you fear a godly person in your life who pushes you to be a better Christian – but it is not driven by love and fear of God.
We all can use a refreshing of our Love of the Father! Fall in love all over again. And remember how big and powerful He is.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace. Walk in wisdom.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

30 Aug 202229 Aug 2022

Qualifications – 8-30-22

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of Timothy chapter 3 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Qualifications of Overseers

3 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a ^[a]bishop, he desires a good work. ²A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; ³not ^[b]given to wine, not violent, ^[c]not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not ^[d]covetous; ⁴one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence ⁵(for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); ⁶not a ^[e]novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. ⁷Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Qualifications of Deacons

⁸Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, ⁹holding the ^[f]mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. ¹⁰But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. ¹¹Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not ^[g]slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. ¹²Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. ¹³For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The Great Mystery

¹⁴These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; ¹⁵but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ^[h]ground of the truth. ¹⁶And without controversy great is the ^[i]mystery of godliness:

God^[j] was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.

Footnotes

1 Timothy 3:1 Lit. overseer
1 Timothy 3:3 addicted
1 Timothy 3:3 NU omits not greedy for money
1 Timothy 3:3 loving money
1 Timothy 3:6 new convert
1 Timothy 3:9 hidden truth
1 Timothy 3:11 malicious gossips
1 Timothy 3:15 foundation, mainstay
1 Timothy 3:16 hidden truth
1 Timothy 3:16 NU Who

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Let’s talk about qualifications. This is a VERY important topic for a group of zealous believers like us who eagerly obey and ‘Go, ye, therefore, and teach, preach, and make disciples.’

What are the actual qualification you need, and what do you have? Does God ‘Qualify the Called’, as we often hear? Who is qualified? Are your local leaders qualified? What do you do when imposter syndrome hit?
These are great questions and things we do not talk about as often as we think about them.

And since we are ALL called to teach, preach and make disciples – these are good questions for all of us to find answers to. AND in a day and age when end time prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes, about to enter into the month of September and the time of the Feast of Trumpets, and both Jew and Gentile look to the sky for the trumpet call, you may wonder why we are even going to spend an entire post talking about such frivolous musings. Shouldn’t we be busy?!

We will ALL be more effective if we ‘stay in our lane’. On the highway, if we are in the wrong lane we may miss our turn off. This could lead to backsliding, false teaching, and even leaving our calling.
In a swimming pool we might get tangled in the ropes or bump into someone if we don’t stay in our lane. In most, races that are not pro or Olympic you will not be disqualified, but you will lose precious time when split seconds count.
The Bible says we should go from Glory to Glory and on the running track, during a sprint, if you do not stay in your lane while dashing from glory to glory – you are disqualified!

But if you are a driver and you are sitting next to the running track – we also have a problem! We need to address both.
So for those of you who are scared to speak up – tend to hide from speaking rolls in a service position? Always feeling like the Go, Ye, Therefore can never be accomplished by you… let me speak to you with GOOD NEWS and peace. Some people learn through words and MOST people learn through watching other’s actions! People are watching us to LEARN about this Christian thing. We can TEACH by doing, loving and obeying God.

And EVERYONE in service to the King of Kings must meet a few vital qualifications.
Salvation and justification is a free gift. We must participate in our sanctification; although it is God who completes the work, we must surrender, sacrifice, die to self, and be quick to obey.
Living a life or using words of “Go, ye, Therefore…” just requires the free gift and that we have started to be transformed in the sanctification process – and continue in it. That is the only qualification needed to get started.
After you have been around for a year or so… you might start to learn of God’s plan and want to run right out into it. But you must then press in deeper in consecration and sanctification to ensure you are qualified according to today’s reading. In other words: there are a few milestones of Christian growth that must be met and they are things WE must do. (God will give us the grace, but WE must take action and do it.)

This is important for ALL of us. We must know and discern if our leaders are qualified and ALL of is should long for Christian growth that will grow us up to be qualified for a title or position – even if we will never hold a title.
I once me a man who served. If it needed doing, he did it. I was amazed at his selflessness and willingness to do even the lowest of jobs. And he glorified God in all that he did. He was a witness and a testimony. He lived so well, he was qualified for any calling – but he was called to be a servant. It was beautiful.

So let us take a look at today’s reading starting with the Overseers. Who is the “bishop” also translated as the overseer. Do you remember when I tried to explain the organizational chart of the first century church? Paul was the church planter and head. Timothy was sent to administer a groups of local house churches, that combined were called the church of Ephesus. The local house church leaders, who shepherded their flocks and taught the word and lead the people – we would call them Pastors. That is who Paul speaks of. Each of these “house churches” could grow to hundreds of people or be only 20 people. These were no small task to be the head of.

“¹ This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.”

In contrast to our quiet doers who do not desire to lead a church, many Pastor’s today achieve and almost celebrity level. So many desire the fame – this is not desiring a good work. But if you love the sheep and long to care for them and their growth, then it is good for you to desire it. We can’t have too many churches! The problem we do have is too many not working together for the Kingdom.

“²A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; ³not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;”

Blameless DOES NOT mean perfect. It means if you have something in your past – take care of it. Resolve it. Settle it, so not one can come back and blame you. And if someone brings it up to discredit you, you can say to them, it is resolved and none of your business.
Husband of one wife does not mean he must be married!! In Roman times it was legal to have those servant wives when someone is paying off a debt or a slave wife. Paul is saying, if the preacher is to have a wife – he must be a one women man – not having a few. I do not believe Paul is speaking to divorce, because Paul has a history of choosing his words well and speaking to what he is speaking to. I do not know why we assume he is speaking to things he does not say.
Not given to wine does not mean he cannot celebrate his wedding anniversary with a toast of champagne. Paul is not forbidding alcohol, he forbids drunkenness. Now, if it causes a brother to sin (we talked about that back in Corinthians) we abstain in order not to offend.

“⁴one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence”

Let’s admit, children are children. They are prone to high energy running and loud excited talking. It IS POSSIBLE to be a submitted and reverent child and still catch the zoomies around the church lobby. Let us be careful when judging parenting and give grace to the children who are learning.
AND let’s admit, teenagers are aliens! Giggles! Ok not literally. But their hormones short circuit their judgment sometimes. They make bad decisions. Give those parents grace about their parenting as teens fight to make their own choices, often times intentionally contrary to their parents (rebellious) in order to gain independence and autonomy. This is how our little birds learn to adult, stretch their wings and fly. Give grace!
But if the parent is hosting wild parties, full of the lusts of the flesh, for these teens – well, there is a problem.

“⁵(for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);”

Paul’s logic is sound. All the more reason to give grace – because you want a pastor who will love you through your shortcomings and downfalls – not cast you out, be overly stern and break you spirit. You want a pastor you will hug you like a loving father and help lead you to restoration – and God taught him to do it through him having to do it with his own son.

“⁶not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.”

True, true, true! And I have to say it: REPENT AND GET HUMBLE! It is the key to everything. And mature Christians make that a daily activity and have learned to fight for it and value it and know the power and authority that comes from repenting and being humble. But if you have not learned it yet – you will be set up to fail.
Now, many of you have heard that young Timothy was dealing with these elders and struggling and lazy and ready to give up so Paul wrote these letters. Personally I think those teachers are projecting their own experiences and I think Paul was just reminding Timothy of all the things and putting it in writing.
But those same people question because of this verse if maybe timothy was too young and promoted too early. Well, our young friend at the time he was assigned the church of Ephesus was about 40. Yet Paul calls him young.
The women in my local church all call me young, and I’m 50.
You see I was 18 when I left for college and I never aged. I came home 6 years later with a baby and they all thought it was a teen pregnancy. I left again and came back and I was still 18 in their eyes. I left and came back again and I am still 18! I have found the fountain of youth! SO did Timothy. He will forever be that young eager lad so zealous for God and to be mentored by Paul.

“⁷Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”

There is a man who is well known in this town on social media for complaining about the children (teens) playing basketball at the park after dark. They are loud and it must be very intrusive on a quiet evening. I can feel bad for the man (I have loud neighbors too). This man is known in all the local groups as the mean guy who complains too much. If you say his name around local law enforcement they roll their eyes knowing how many times he has called them. On Sunday, he not only attends a local church, but he also works with the children/youth ministries! Works to minister to the same people he yells at, berates, calls the cops on, and publicly complains about for playing basketball?! This is an example of what not to do.
OK, I hear what you are thinking – we are speaking of the pastors and this children’s church worker is not the pastor.

So what are the qualifications of the servants? The word deacon can also be, and more accurately be translated into server. It is the same word the Romans used in place of our word “waitresses” or “wait-staff” at a restaurant.
You and I may think of deacons, elders, and board members as a step below pastor and above those of us in the pew and above those to lead Sunday school classes or children’s church. That is NOT how it is laid out in the Bible.
Paul is clear – Timothy is there to look after a bunch of Bishops (local pastors) and their worker bees/server. EVERYONE working from cleaning the toilets to advising the pastor is the same level, one down from the pastor. So my aforementioned grumpy children’s worker is in this category. SO ARE YOU AND I (unless you are a pastor of a church and then you are the above).

“⁸Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, ⁹holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. ¹⁰But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. ¹¹Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. ¹²Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.”

I have made you a chart, and will post it below this paragraph, comparing the two offices and looking for the differences.
The pastor must be ²temperate, ²hospitable, ²able to teach; ²of good behavior, ³not violent, ³but gentle. And those are not listed for those who serve – But Paul does use the term “likewise”. Which probably covers those things.
The one who serves has one that is NOT listed in the pastor’s. It is “⁸must be reverent”.

Paul only speaks to the server’s spouses and not the spouse of the pastor. That does not mean the pastor’s wife has liberty, she is still to be a proverbs 31 woman. Of course she matters – what he is saying is that the spouses of those in service at the church ALSO matter!

“¹³For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Yes, it is tough to live to a higher standard, but we all should and to choose this is to obtain a good standing. Makes me think of “stand therefore … having done all, stand.” (from the armor of God) makes me think that it give you an advantageous standing place. Which is probably true, since people who are about the business of souls are attacked all the more.

“¹⁴These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; ¹⁵but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

Paul hoped to go visit Timothy, which is so sweet. But it would seem this letter was written when Paul had first arrived in Rome as a prisoner. I think he thought he would get there and they would say this is a waste of time, free him and Paul would be free. He also knew this could be the last time he sent a message.
So instead of assume Paul is writing to address problems, giving Paul situation, I think he wrote in love to leave a legacy of answers to questions and problems he know could arise, having known the Ephesians and knowing the strong personalities at the other churches.

Paul breaks out into poems at the end of different sections of this letter. I heard a teacher once say he is guessing Paul was singing old hymns from that time – especially since Paul was good at quoting philosophy, poetry, hymns, and scripture and seldom sighted his work. Paul is also NOT known for writing poems.

“¹⁶And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”

We need worship songs like that. We forget to reverence the mystery and stand I awe of God.
Why does Paul break out into song at this point? I suppose when Paul says ‘how to conduct yourself in the Lords house’ the reverence of God struck a chord. It is long past overdue that we bring back fear and reverence, especially in the Lord’s house. I have been writing out and mediating on all sorts of holiness and fear of the Lord things – related to the humility and being repentant. This goes along with acting in reverence and understanding it. And recently I heard another preacher preach on it and will not reiterate His sermon – instead, as it relates here, I will say this much: thinking about revering Him and being qualified – by actions from fruits of the spirit, and how this is obtainable for all man, by faith through grace – it makes me want to break out into worship as well.

***

29 Aug 202229 Aug 2022

Behave Your Self – 8-29-22

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of Timothy chapter 2 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Pray for All Men

2 Therefore I ^[a]exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ²for kings and all who are in ^[b]authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and ^[c]reverence. ³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, ⁷for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth ^[d]in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Men and Women in the Church

⁸I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; ⁹in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and ^[e]moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, ¹⁰but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. ¹¹Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. ¹²And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. ¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. ¹⁵Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

Footnotes
a. 1 Timothy 2:1 encourage
b. 1 Timothy 2:2 a prominent place
c. 1 Timothy 2:2 dignity
d. 1 Timothy 2:7 NU omits in Christ
e. 1 Timothy 2:9 discretion

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Walking in to church when I was 7 or 8, my momma would look at me and my brother and say: Behave Yourself. It is a very parental thing to do.
Paul, acting as Timothy’s spiritual father is reminding Timothy of the expectations – the behave yourself. You and I can read this and read right from the head, the boss’s mouth, what is expected of you and me in a local body of Christ.

I suppose to understand Paul’s authority we need to see the structure of the early churches. I suppose we should ALSO understand Timothy’s position. It is usually called the pastor of the church at Ephesus. He was appointed to oversee the church at Ephesus, yes. BUT it was not a big old church building and a couple services on a Sunday. It was more like how modern churches run their small groups or in home Bible studies. Those had the shepherd and the true pastor. While Timothy was more like a district leader. As big as the membership of the church was – they still needed to hide a bit and stay safe. So they met in small groups and had dinners and fellowship along with a study from the letters from the apostles, the Old Testament, and other documents in the early canon.

Timothy was young and appointed, not voted in. So of course he experienced some push back. So in this letter Paul lays out expectation in order to make it all very clean and to support Timothy. Timothy could show this letter and say to everyone – well Paul says (if he had to).

So, today is the expectations for “Behave Yourself”. I wish my mother was clearer on what she expected when we went to church, because based on the amount of trouble I’d get in, I obviously did not have the rules laid out.

Today’s reading is the expectation for all men, women, leadership, servants, children, and EVERYONE.

“¹ Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,”

Pray. Pray for everyone. Pray for all men – that term for men in Greek translates to men and women. It is the universal everyone.
Let’s start with your local pastor. Then the leaders in your church, even the one you always disagree with. Then the rest of the body, even the person who seems to not like you (or maybe you do not like them). Then all the pastors of all the local churches. Maybe instead of division Kingdom builder can unite and further the kingdom in these last days! Pray for EVERYONE! Say EVERYONE!

“²for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”

Modern governments do not have kings like old governments had. So does that make this verse irrelevant? Or should we be praying for Biden? Smailov? Johnson and The Queen? Trudeau? (wait, didn’t Johnson resign? Well, we will still pray for him!) “And all who are in authority!” “all”.
I hear that I should not be as political as I am. But according to the Bible I should be involved in my government and all governmental affairs – praying for them, interceding on behalf of God’s will and saved souls! Praying daily for the peace of Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Heaven on the rest!

“³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Imagine, if you would, that the earliest church did not pray for Saul (aka Paul) – or if Stephen did not cry out to God for Paul’s salvation and forgiveness as he died. Paul may never have come to the experience with grace that transformed him and compelled him to go ye therefore and teach all nations!
And quite honestly someone was praying for each of us – and God prepared our hearts and helped lead us to Him.

“⁵For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,”

Now, back in the first century the Jews and Pagans had a priest who would go to God (or their god) on their behalf. Now this idea that they could go directly was scary. Have you ever experienced the Father?
Do you remember when Moses climbed the mountain and the storm and the lightening and the fire? And the Israelites were scared and asked Moses to go between them and God. Yea. We think that just because we can go to God, that we do. BUT, with all respect and awe of how HOLY he is and pure. God hung the stars in the heavens! How dare we think we are so bold as to be flippant, demanding and un-careful before the Most Holy Father? This is why Jesus stands in the gap. That is why Jesus prays and intercedes for us.
Now, recently while suffering the migraine, I went to God direct (aka through Jesus), but I did not receive relief. So I called on prayer warriors, and they interceded on my behalf. NOT because I needed more mediators? No. But because I needed more in agreement to fight whatever it was in the spirit hindering my healing.

“⁶who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, ⁷for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

How did Paul start with telling us all to pray for everyone and land on his own testimony? I once thought of Paul as very arrogant and proud – but I have learned if you use other people as your examples they hate you and if you use yourself they say you speak of yourself too often!
Praying leads to Jesus – and Jesus leads to us testifying of His goodness. Praise the Lord. Whenever we read Paul’s testimony we should be inspired to go tell others what Jesus did for us!

Now, in the next verse Paul changed the Greek word for men. Up to this point he is using the one that means all of mankind and womankind, humanity, plural. Now he is addressing only the men.

“⁸I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;”

First, more on the customs and structure of the early church. You see it was weird and against Roman culture the way these meeting took place. Jews, Romans, slaves, women and children, and every race and nationality would come together under one roof for “church”. In Roman custom, none of these people could sit together. So outsiders must have assumed that they each went to separate places, or thought the slaves and servants were sub-contracted out to serve at the gathering – no one could fathom the unity of the church.
In synagogues and temples the women and men were separate.

Our dear brothers, especially the Jews, whose custom was to argue and debate Holy Scriptures would seemingly come to these new church gatherings and tried debating and arguing. Which might have been scary and unsettling for women, slaves, and children. And (as many of us have seen in our church’s prayer meetings) prayer, especially when people take turns – quickly become sermons speaking down to and correcting others or prayers of doubt which become contagious.
So men – walk into church and pray.
My local church has a strong dynamic and some spiritual warfare it is enduring. I assume it is not uncommon. The last church I attended did as well. So I walk in ready to pray, and I pray for eyes to be open and ears to hear. I pray for understanding and revelation. I pray for dry bones to come back to life and sleeping people to wake up and be set on fire. I pray for the pastor and leaders. I am guessing Paul is calling all the MEN to do this. To go in with a spirit of prayer and to keep it throughout and to leave in that same spirit.

Now for the women: So now all the ladies get a little guarded and maybe defensive. Because these verses have been weaponized to attack modern women. Speak out loud right now: “Jesus” into the wounds and “Jesus” into the pain and “Jesus” into the disappointments that these verses hold. Heavenly father, we ask through Jesus for the blood of Jesus to reveal the sin of grudges and un-forgiveness held because these verses were used against women. We repent, ask forgiveness and humbly ask for the blood to wash us and sooth these wounds into healing. We ask for releases from bondages and chains and oppression that these verses erroneously held. In Jesus is life and liberty – not oppression and bondage. In the name of Jesus we break rebellion that came from this attack – we renounce it, rebuke it, and cast it away. That we may close that door and open the door to the revelation knowledge of what it is Paul is saying to the women. That we may be pure and holy, acceptable sacrifices to you our Lord. In the name of Jesus- Amen.

Give yourself permission to heal, and go through this with the mindset of freedom. So that you have the grace for God to speak to you. And if no one ever weaponized this passage against you (women) then you are blessed! And men who are reading this – please tread lightly when speaking this passage recognizing many women have been wounded.

“⁹in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,”

I cannot dress “normal” no matter how hard I try. And I have tried. The mere fact that I wear a scarf on my head every day in the USA, makes me abnormal. I have definitely come out from this world. But am I modest enough to not draw attention to myself? I honestly do not try to draw attention to myself. I am a large presence in a room, but I arrive with a team of warring angels and even if I was invisible people would notice when I arrive.
I used to love to braid my hair in simple braids. I do love to paint my face – but I am a painter.
You see – Ephesus was like New York City. A big city with high fashion. When I was in Art School I did a research paper on the fashion from this period and place because there is enough evidence that something interesting was happening in Ephesus at this time. You see it was a Greek god influenced region and when Rome assimilated it something different happened. In most places Romanization looked the same and women were eager to wear the new high fashion clothes from Rome. Like the old time Paris fashions would spread around the world. But when the French fashions hit New York, New Yorkers changed them and made them into something new and unique – and this is what happened in Ephesus. The fashion was unique and a fusion of Roman and Greek styles. It was a fashion hub. It was a place to worship vanity and beauty. And even the pagan temples began to offer a fusion of Greek and Roman instead of adapting the Romanized versions.
So when you hear that women were turning gatherings into a fashion show in Ephesus. It is true. Now, I may continually try to dress less loud – but I am not fashionable in a runway show kinda way or in vanity. I just buy the least expensive or thrift store clothes and throw them together and people say they look stylish and artsy.

Now Paul did NOT say fashion, gold, and braids were wrong. He said put on the right garments for professing godliness. there is a time and place for adornment. It is not about wrong – it is about being right with God.

“¹⁰but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.”

So – for those of you who are healing, and for the rest of us for understanding – this verse (10) is the operative verse. We should pray about what is proper for our dress. You see when I first returned to the Lord, I continued to wear tank tops in public. Now I make sure my shoulder are covered. What is right for me then, and now depends on my personal relationship with the Lord. And same with you.
Keep in mind that we are the bride of Christ and he is our husband. He is also holy and a prude. He also decorated the earth with magnificent beauty and the Garden of Eden with unmeasurable, incomparable beauty. He dressed the fields with flowers. He demanded the temple be decorated with the best and most beautiful. And he made us to now be the temple.
If not in vanity – and in holiness, modesty and good works – there is a balance here of how women can dress. AND another standard for in church where you are NOT to draw attention away from God. And if you can wrap your head around that and you ask God what he wants you to put on. You will be fine. And If God needs to provide new clothes, He will.

So – put on godliness.

Now onto the next obstacle.
“¹¹Let a woman learn in silence with all submission.”

We have already studied this and learned there was a very specific issue happening that Paul was addressing. And we have made many assumptions about what it was, but what we do know from the last study (when Paul addressed the church directly) is that there were women disrupting the service. Here we learn a little more about the situation – they were apparently correcting men:

“¹²And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. ¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”

The description of women being deceived and rebellious and the fact that when this passage is preached in an oppressive manner women become rebellious tells me Paul was fighting against the Jezebel spirit in Timothy’s church. And it is very applicable today. Women DO need to be cautious because more often than not, women do catch that jezebel. It can be in a man – but often it is in a woman. We should know about it and be guarded against acting in any way like a jezebel. Stay humble. It is the only way.

I refuse to get into a battle or debate over if a woman can teach a man – many of you are men and have willingly come here to read the Bible with us. God speaks to and uses women. The first person to share the complete story of the gospel was Mary when she shared that the tomb was empty. She was the first with the Good News. The first to carry the message of the Messiah’s birth was the other Mary who birthed Him! Don’t try to tell me, a woman submitted to Jesus and in His service, that I cannot obey Him by putting this blog out there into the internet. God lead you here – and we know it was God because the enemy will never lead you to a place that says daily: repent and get humble!
There were plenty of women in the first century church who were leaders. God will make a donkey talk if no man will open his mouth. He will cause rocks to cry out if no human did. So when you see a woman praying for people and they are healed – do not be surprised! Isn’t your mother your first nurse – the first to lay hands on you and pray for you? Aren’t women designed to be healers and life bearers? Why wouldn’t they bear the river of eternal life – and why couldn’t a man be touched by its anointed overflow?! Are men too proud and must limit God to only men?
I know I word things in a very direct “do this” kind of way – but it is up to you read and study and decide what you will do. I may be bossy in my wording – but I do not take any authority over any of you! I am commissioned to share the word and pray for you – to tell you my experience. I am not disrupting the church.
NOW – let me give you an example with Paul’s wording make sense. I went to a church with a young pastor. It was obvious that the older people did not respect the younger ones including the pastor. Men and women alike. In a small group of about 20 – the pastor was doing a Bible study, line by line. And he mispronounces a name. An old man moaned to show disapproval. The preacher continued and tried to make his point and in order to do so he presented a few things in a different context, not wrong or right – but to make a point. And an old lady literally corrected him and sidetracked the whole study off on a tangent and everyone started talking and it was all so disrespectful.
You all would be so proud of me – I did not punch the old lady.
The lady was disruptive and out of line. She tried to take authority over the pastor, a man. This is EXACTLY what Paul was talking about in this passage. Woman should stay within their chain of authority, and in that chain of authority – there is freedom to share the gospel with men and women all over the world.
And finally on this subject. If I was out of line and not in authority – God would not have blessed this, and none of you would be touched by Him. And He would not be speaking to you and exhorting you and building up your faith in grace. You are here reading as testimony that God can use even me, or a rock, or a donkey.

“¹⁵Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.”

Dear childless women – you are still saved. The word saved here mean women should continue in the work of making a home. It is hard work to stay home and manage a home and children. It is the Godly thing to do. I am never married. My son is grown. There is still more to do in this home to make and keep it godly than there are hours of the day. AND a good proverbs 31 woman, also has her own business. As get to it. Running a business is lots of hours and hard work – requires discipline and time management knowing when it is the Lord’s work to be flexible and when the Lord says, buckle down and get the work done. It is a great matter of self-control and planning. That is what women should be about along with sharing the gospel.

Men are to pray. Their only correction is to pray. While women have a longer rebuke. Prayer is no small rebuke. If you are in a relationship with God, you need to talk with him regularly and often. Men failed. That is kinda big. At least women were not told to pray – and I will bet they were praying. Every church I have been at the prayer team, the prayer chain was mostly or completely women. Paul only reminded us to dress godly.

Let us remember these are the rules for in church. Not for women’s bible study night where women can ask questions. Women who disrupt and turn the topic (every topic) back to them and vanity – those should ALWAYS be reminded to get quiet and back under submission.
But in church – this is in general some guidelines on how to behave and what is expected of you.

***

28 Aug 202227 Aug 2022

WEEKEND READING – 8-28-22

“This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Ecclesiastes 9:3-4 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Ecclesiastes chapter 9 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Death Comes to All

9 For I ^[^a^]considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. ²All things come alike to all:

One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;
To the ^[^b^]good, the clean, and the unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy,
And drink your wine with a merry heart;
For God has already accepted your works.
⁸Let your garments always be white,
And let your head lack no oil.

⁹^[^c^]Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

¹¹I returned and saw under the sun that—

The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.
¹²For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.

Wisdom Superior to Folly

¹³This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: ¹⁴There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great ^[^d^]snares around it. ¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶Then I said:

“Wisdom is better than strength.
Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised,
And his words are not heard.
¹⁷Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard
Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war;
But one sinner destroys much good.”

Footnotes
a.Ecclesiastes 9:1 Lit. put
b.Ecclesiastes 9:2 LXX, Syr., Vg. good and bad,
c.Ecclesiastes 9:9 Lit. See life
d.Ecclesiastes 9:14 LXX, Syr., Vg. bulwarks

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

27 Aug 202227 Aug 2022

WEEKEND READING – 8-27-22

“Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, And the sternness of his face is changed.” Ecclesiastes 8:1 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Ecclesiastes chapter 8 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

8 Who is like a wise man?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
And the ^[^a^]sternness of his face is changed.

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

²I say, “Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God. ³Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”

⁴Where the word of a king is, there is power;
And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
⁵He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
And a wise man’s heart ^[^b^]discerns both time and judgment,
⁶Because for every matter there is a time and judgment,
Though the misery of man ^[^c^]increases greatly.
⁷For he does not know what will happen;
So who can tell him when it will occur?
⁸No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.
There is no release from that war,
And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

⁹All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

Death Comes to All

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten^[^d^] in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. ¹¹Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. ¹³But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁵So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

Footnotes
a. Ecclesiastes 8:1 Lit. strength
b. Ecclesiastes 8:5 Lit. knows
c. Ecclesiastes 8:6 is great upon him
d. Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Heb. mss., LXX, Vg. praised

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

26 Aug 202225 Aug 2022

Welcome to the Book of 1 Timothy – 8-26-22

“And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 1:14 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of Timothy chapter 1 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,

²To Timothy, a true son in the faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

No Other Doctrine

³As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may ^[a]charge some that they teach no other doctrine, ⁴nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. ⁵Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from ^[b]sincere faith, ⁶from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, ⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

⁸But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, ⁹knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is ^[c]contrary to sound doctrine, ¹¹according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

Glory to God for His Grace

¹²And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, ¹³although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an ^[d]insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. ¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to ^[e]God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Fight the Good Fight

¹⁸This ^[f]charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, ¹⁹having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, ²⁰of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Footnotes
a.1 Timothy 1:3 command
b.1 Timothy 1:5 Lit. unhypocritical
c.1 Timothy 1:10 opposed
d.1 Timothy 1:13 violently arrogant
e.1 Timothy 1:17 NU the only God,
f. 1 Timothy 1:18 command

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Welcome to the study of the books of Timothy. In tradition these letters were written by the Apostle Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome, awaiting his trial and death. However, when you use google to try to study this book (I never recommend google, wiki, etc. for Bible study, but if you do) you will see multiple articles claiming Paul did NOT write these letters and say they were written after Paul’s death!

Paul died around 64-65 ad. Not much is known other than Rome sentenced him to death and as a Roman citizen he would have been beheaded. SO WHY?!?! would Paul’s friends write to Paul’s disciple, who he felt was like his child, claiming to be Paul – when Timothy certainly knew when Paul passed. It is an absurd idea that Timothy would not have ripped it up and set it on fire.

You see, Paul was more wise and tender and less sarcastic in these two letters. Even more so than he was in the letter to the Colossians. Because Paul matured, and changed in his writing – people question it. Paul was also genuinely tender – because he saw Timothy as a son.
I suppose anyone can read this blog from two years ago and then from today and think it was not all me, if you think I cannot change and grow in the Lord and that growth, if it did happen, could not touch all areas of my life.
There is probably a whole lesson in this idea – but let us get back to these books before the corrupt critics begin to say they do not belong in the canon of the Bible. Let’s learn it – get it deep in our hearts before the enemy steals it from us.

When the Bible says it, believe it.

“¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,”

It literally says that Paul wrote it.

“²To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.”

And it was written to Timothy. Timothy was a teen when he met Paul during one of Paul’s missionary journeys and Timothy joined them. Paul treated Timothy as a son, both as a physical son and as a disciple.
Now, If Paul was writing to his son – I would expect it to be full of wisdom and tenderness. Which this is. Then when Paul had opportunity to write a second letter, thinking it might be his last… well, let’s just say these two book show a different and very intimate side of Paul. And we should read them with humility and reverence as a child reading the last letter of their teacher and father.

“³As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, ⁴nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.”

Many years after Paul’s 3 year stay in Ephesus, that church came under attack by false teachers – like we have seen in other letters. Paul sent Timothy to that church to convince them to stand fast in truth and not accept any other doctrine. Paul begins this letter bringing back to Timothy’s mind the original mission and reason for heading over and pastoring this church.

“⁵Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,”

Paul reinforces the POWER of love. Remember God is love (1 John 4:16) so when you use real love it is more powerful than anything we know – because God is more powerful than anything we know (except Him of course). Ask God to make love real to you and to fil you with real love and see what happens in your life.

“⁶from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, ⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.”

We have talked about the first century culture of Ephesus before, but by way of quick review: Ephesus had more pagan temples than any other area. Everything was corrupted and melted together with pagan rituals and thinking – including the local Jews. So when Christianity came along and people left that way of thinking, it wasn’t long until Jews who were raise in that weird blend of pagan and Jewish custom and ‘law’ (used loosely) came into the church and wanted to spread their belief.
This narcissistic witchcraft practicing spirit parading as Christian spirit is named after a queen who famously was possessed by it – Jezebel. So this book is also a great tool in understanding the battle against Jezebel (who can influence men as well as women) and still loving and handling the people who are played and manipulated by this spirit.

“⁸But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, ⁹knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, ¹¹according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”

So in these false teachers mind it made sense to preach the law – they are still harboring sins that permit the enemy to influence and use them. Sin longs for law. And law not used lawfully drags people back into bondage and entanglements.

You and I MUST in such a similar environment all over this earth – understand the glorious gospel of God which is being committed to our trust. We are handed the responsibility to steward the word. Take this job seriously and fight to keep it clean and uncorrupted.

Next Paul offers his testimony and praises God for God’s grace. But Timothy already knows Paul’s testimony. Sometimes when I speak to my friends I repeat things, because they bear repeating, sometimes it is so they understand it another way and sometimes it is to set the spiritual structure to deliver a spiritual bomb. When they cut me off and say they know – I say, I am not talking to you. I do not know if a spirit is influencing them to cut in – or if they are just thinking so loud they do not realize they’ve cut in and are obviously not listening, in which case it is not for them who do not have ears to hear. Let us HAVE ears to hear and give thought today as to why Paul repeats his testimony to Timothy.

“¹²And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, ¹³although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

Paul never forgot where he came from and what Jesus did for him. Many modern Christians forget their testimony or when they give it they give glory to the sins and to themselves and forget the work that Jesus did. Paul’s formula: I was bad. Jesus happened. Glory to God. Amen! And I was given mercy. Glory to God Hallelujah.
It never gives any praise to Paul for his work of sanctification and consecration. It never gave himself praise for surviving. It always gives God glory! That is a POWERFUL testimony. It is the kind that overcomes like Revelation 12:11.

“¹⁴And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

Paul had an experience with grace – and no one can argue against an experience – this is why I say “if not for grace….”

“¹⁵This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

Now that I have an experience, I am not just someone who can teach you the word – but I have been where you are and I am relatable. That is what Paul is saying. That is what Timothy and you and I should be saying and understanding. We are not afraid of our testimony as it has the power to reach people!

“¹⁶However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. ¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Imagine when it is Testimony Tuesday or Sunday Share and you stand up and give your testimony like this and end with the prayer and praise to King Jesus: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen! I promise you – you do that and God will show up and change people as a response to your worship!

“¹⁸This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,”

Now, if the devil is defeated and disarmed – what are we fighting? If he has no authority to even step up to us – what is the fight? I will be honest. It is usually our flesh – we left a compromise for him to come in and cause chaos. Same with hexes, vexes and curses –
“Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.” Prov. 26:2 NKJV
We must focus more on Christ and getting closer, being more humble and maturing so these thing do not distract us.
The times are getting more evil – it will be harder. And I do not understand why, but pain and sickness still seemingly prevail over prayers. Not over God. So sometimes the prayer of faith and cries for help seem to go unanswered or answered with a NO. And I have no answer other than, read the book of Job. It is for a season – even if that season is your remaining time on Earth.
So if he does not save you, if God does not deliver you from the pain and sickness, if he does not stop the attacks in your life – will you still serve him. Will you determine the difference between a trial (ordained to refine you), a tribulation (chaos meant to ensnare your flesh) and an attack?
Some will not. Therefore then you teach them, rebuke them, and point then in the right direction and show them the error of their ways – some will not change. Some will stand fast in corrupt doctrine. Some refuse to see past the lies.
When you did your part to show them that they are wrong and they still reject it – you need to have faith and a clear conscience.

“¹⁹having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, ²⁰of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

Wait, Paul delivered people to satan? What? Some say this was an excommunication. Some say it was a curse. It is interesting that it was for the purpose of restoration and these two to get their lives right. I do know it was not to slander them on Facebook. I do know it was not a smear campaign to get people to unfollow. I am certain it was not because Paul was acting in the office of a heresy hunter.
I met a man of God who is greatly attacked and smeared. I have watched him grow from a casual Christian to someone who reads and understand while applying the word of God. He is a modern day version of a Paul. And early on his doctrines were wishy-washy and some were wrong. But God showed me the way God sees him and I cried tears of joy. And I know he is God’s anointed and I have watched him grow into something beautiful. So – for those who question him, be careful because HE IS GOD’S ANNOINTED. Do not slander and attack.
THEN, there are some I, myself, question. But I asked God and he has not revealed or confirmed in any way solid enough for me to make a public stand. I leave them alone. They might be the Lord’s anointed.

Paul may be strong enough in God to deliver someone to satan. I am not even mature enough to know all the meanings of that – although I have studied many and there are too many to try to explain to you and none I feel confident gives justice to the depth of the spirit of this saying. So let us default to loving everyone – even the false teachers. And praying for God to do His will, knowing we are covered by grace.

Stick around this weekend for some weekend wisdom reading and I’ll see you back here on Monday when we continue in the book of 1 Timothy. Be blessed.

***

25 Aug 202224 Aug 2022

Walk in Wisdom – 8-25-22

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Colossians 4:5-6 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Colossians chapter 4 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Christian Graces; Final Greetings

4 Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Christian Graces

²Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; ³meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the ^[a]mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, ⁴that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

⁵Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ⁶Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Final Greetings

⁷Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. ⁸I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that ^[b]he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, ⁹with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here.

¹⁰Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), ¹¹and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision; they have proved to be a comfort to me.

¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and ^[c]complete in all the will of God. ¹³For I bear him witness that he has a great ^[d]zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis. ¹⁴Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. ¹⁵Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and ^[e]Nymphas and the church that is in ^[f]his house.

Closing Exhortations and Blessing

¹⁶Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. ¹⁷And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

¹⁸This salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.

Footnotes
a.Colossians 4:3 hidden truth
b.Colossians 4:8 NU you may know our circumstances and he may comfort
c.Colossians 4:12 NU fully assured
d.Colossians 4:13 NU concern
e.Colossians 4:15 NU Nympha
f.Colossians 4:15 NU her

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Today we conclude Colossians. This letter was sent with (at the same time as) a second letter to Philemon. We will read that letter in November. As I mentioned, that letter was written regarding an escaped slave. It is believed that verse 1 of today was separated from the instructions to the masters in the last chapter because of the existence of the letter to Philemon. There are some who speculate that the letter to Philemon should be read between chapters 3 and 4 of Colossians because of the separation of this one verse of instruction to the masters that is separated from the last chapter.
And as we know there are lots of interesting schools of thoughts on lots of things in the Bible. This is not a matter of doctrine of life or death as to when and where we read which letters. I was just letting you know because I always thought it was an interesting thought.

“¹ Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.”

And this verse does have a bit more impact when you know Paul was asking Philemon not to have his escaped slave put to death – which was the law. Moreover Paul asked Philemon to accept and treat this slave as an equal and brother in Christ, because the slave has accepted Jesus and has been disciple by Paul. This book is not just encouragement – but it is also full of wisdom.

“²Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;”

Our sleepy version of Christianity has been such that urgency, earnestly, and fervency are all just words and none of them motivate people of light a fire under their bum. Some of us – like most of you – have had your eyes opened and see that there was an urgency, earnestly, and fervency in the first century and is even more now.
We are in a time where we are watching the meeting of the three rulers of the north meet, and where prophesy, even into revelations, are being fulfilled. And we are under many “IF” prophesies. Like
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
If we do not – then our land will not be healed. But more pertinent to our lives is If we humbly pray and fast – then God will give us one more time, one more revival, one more big chance to reach the lost.
We must choose the wise course of action and get humble, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

“³meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, ⁴that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”

Paul teaches us here how to pray for people like me, and pastors, and teachers, and others who take the great commission serious. I also pray that you all catch the fire for sharing the word of the Lord and grow more and more hungry for the word – in which case I pray this prayer over you as well!
When Paul teaches us how to pray or when Jesus teaches us how to pray or when ANYWHERE in the Bible teaches us how to pray – pay attention. Then be honest about your own prayer life. I can honestly say – the day that it dawned on me that I was not praying some of these Pauline prayers over the people in my life, that I was missing out on praying the Lord’s will and missing out on the blessings that come from praying these things for others – it changed my life. And now when I see a prayer in the Bible, I take note.

“⁵Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ⁶Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

This is another great verse to pray. To pray that we walk in wisdom, that we redeem the time, and that we speak with grace, words seasoned with salt. And pray the Lord gives us the knowing – of how you ought to answer.

“⁷Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. ⁸I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, ⁹with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here.”

Paul concludes this letter with mention of His team again and an update on who is where. It is strange because these people never met Paul and his team. It dos give us the opportunity to track those around Paul and know more about what happened to them. Like that Mark character that started off on the mission’s journey with Paul and Barnabas – but then he left and it caused a huge fight between Paul and Barnabas. We know Mark spent time with Peter, wrote the book of Mark, had a successful missions journey to Egypt, and we know he and Paul experienced some reconciliation. How do we know the Mark and Paul made up? Well…

“¹⁰Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), ¹¹and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision; they have proved to be a comfort to me.”

Mark is on Paul’s team while Paul was in Rome in prisoned waiting for his trial and death. And Mark proved to be comfort to Paul! What a beautiful story of God bring reconciliation. In a book that preaches Jesus as complete and whole and we are complete and whole in Him – of course in the fullness that is Christ is not just the redemption story of all mankind through Christ, but also Mark is redeemed and reconciled to Paul. This is important because with this letter is that second letter to Philemon instructing him to redeem his escaped slave – restoring him to life and reconciliation.

“¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. ¹³For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis. ¹⁴Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. ¹⁵Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas and the church that is in his house.
¹⁶Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. ¹⁷And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

We learn here of other epistles that were lost in time. It makes me wonder how many more letters and teachings we are missing. Laodicea is prophesied as lukewarm in the book of Revelation – so it doesn’t seem a surprise to me that their letter would be carelessly handled and lost in time. Maybe that is why Paul focused so much on wisdom in this book.

“¹⁸This salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.”

Some say this is NOT written by Paul. I agree the wording is more matured and wise and less sarcastic than most of Paul’s letters. But it does say it came from Paul. But Paul’s writing do seem to be changed slightly and in those variations there are different members on his team. I often thought they all got together and wrote these letters as a group effort.
Paul’s eyes were failing, he said in one letter, so why wouldn’t he utilize his team for writing and working out the points for discussion.

Regardless – it is the holy word of God breathed from Jesus Himself, inspiring the letters and us even today. And that concludes Colossians, a small but powerful book.

Tomorrow we will begin the two letters Paul wrote to Timothy. Letters also written later in Paul’s ministry and full of wisdom to mature believers. Please come back and join us.

***

24 Aug 202223 Aug 2022

Being a New Person in Jesus – 8-24-22

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:15 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Colossians chapter 3 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Not Carnality but Christ

3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ²Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁵Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

⁸But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, ¹¹where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Character of the New Man

¹²Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; ¹³bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. ¹⁴But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. ¹⁵And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

The Christian Home

¹⁸Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.

²⁰Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

²¹Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

²²Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. ²³And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for^[a] you serve the Lord Christ. ²⁵But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.

Footnotes
a.Colossians 3:24 NU omits for

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

The real challenge of this book is to fully understand that Christ is complete and what that means. THEN, once you grasp that, it’s time to act like it.

I often ask, do we really believe this (all the things in the Word of God) and are we walking this out? It can be a challenging question, especially when we are constantly receiving revelations and going a little deeper and drawing a little closer to God. Because some of these steps make us re-evaluate how we are walking this out and think about what is expected of us.
It reminds me of my son. When he was three, I expected him to be near me in the kitchen when I was cooking and cleaning to see the process and participate with hand over hand. When he was a child, I expected him to throw stuff in the trash, sweep the floor, and learn to use kitchen tools while I was cooking and cleaning. When he was a preteen, I expected he could make a few dishes on his own with my guidance. And when he was a teen, I expected him to make himself breakfast, help pack a lunch and make dinner once a week on his own. Now he is an adult and he has exceeded my expectations, making himself banana bread when his banana’s turn and making himself healthy and nutritious meals (or at least that is what he tells me).
Hopefully each time you read Colossians you realize you have grown and made it to the next level – and challenge yourself on how you are walking out your relationship. Make sure that as much as you know Jesus – He also knows you. And you aren’t carrying on in powerless vanity.

“¹ If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”

If I was breaking this book into chapters I would not have separated the beginning of this chapter from yesterday’s reading. So you have to be in the state of mind, remembering our exercises with death to self and the flesh. Let’s be honest, since the enemy is disarmed our flesh is the easiest thing to use against us. So once we die, we can rise again as a new person – a new creature – one with the desire for the will of the Father in our lives and filled with Jesus – the complete Jesus – inside of us.
If that truly is the case – why aren’t we seeking those things which are above more? Why aren’t we remembering we are seated in heavenly places filled with Jesus who is sitting at the right hand of the Father? It is a lit abstract and the metaphors are a little mixed – none the less ALL of them point towards the will of the Father and things that are above.

“²Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Can Paul make it any more clear?

“³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

Above I asked if Jesus knew you, while you study and learn Him – The idea comes from Matthew where Jesus warns some that they may arrive in heaven and say, but I knew you and did things in your name and Jesus will respond – I never knew you. (Matt 7:21-24)
And here Paul explains that Jesus knowing us comes from this unity of being dead, rising again, and being hidden in Him to appear with Him in glory. It is an intimate relationship.
I will admit – I thought I was in a relationship when I came back to God. I listened to him and talked with Him, but the closer the relationship becomes I wonder at what point did I actually let him in. I was deceived into thinking me knowing Him – was equivalent to Him knowing me intimately. I thought that since he knew everything and made me – He knew me. But He is asking for intimacy.

“⁵Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

He is holy and these works of the flesh are unholy. They separate us from that intimacy.

“⁶Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

And it is a time of judgment – be ever so careful, therefore NOT to be in a position to be judged as flesh and given over to wrath. We want to be judged as holy and have our faith counted for righteousness!

“⁸But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,”

Lord, we take a moment to think on these things and examine ourselves again – let us choose humility before you and repent and expose ourselves privately to you. Reveal to us any fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language and / or lies in us. We confess them to you Lord, right now. I am sorry for any known and unknown participation in ______________. Please forgive me. I renounce any evil ties that came upon me when I opened that door and ask you break any bondages to these things entangled me in. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness, in the blood of Jesus. Heal me and make me whole, filled with you and complete. Close that door and keep me from evil; help me to forsake my dead flesh. Please make me a new person according to your word. In the name of Jesus – amen!

“¹⁰and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,”

So if we are dead to our flesh – what flesh is it that tempts us? Isn’t ours dead? Is it the enemy disguised as our flesh?

“¹¹where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”

Now, hold up – let us not get lost into the humanistic ideals of our modern world. We are different sexes – it is written he made man and woman (Gen. 1:27) and we are also different nationalities and races and cultures – like Jews and gentiles. Paul is not leveling the playing field and saying there is no more separation – because there are somethings that literally are different. Like as a woman I cannot counsel a man one on one. The point is that now, our loyalties are not to one temple or the other – our loyalty is to Christ and we are all one body for the working and edifying of the saints. I hope you understand the difference. I wanted to make it solely because I heard a weak argument using this, and other verses like it, trying to justify the humanistic lack of pronouns some people insist on.

“¹²Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; ¹³bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

We are the elect, the body, foreigners in this earth, and children of God. We should behave with fruit.

“¹⁴But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

God is love. Love is God. There is a power and that power is the power of God – not attraction or seduction just innocent love without ties, without reason, without condition. Love – not even because He made us. Yet as fragile as we are we only love Him because He first loved us. We are only capable of unconditional love when we are IN HIM.

“¹⁵And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

We have been speaking a good deal lately about this warring peace that fights and guards. It must have taken Paul a number of shipwrecks and multiple beatings and imprisonments to come to the realization that peace is a warrior.

“¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

LOVE THIS VERSE. Jesus is the word – the word of the word dwell in you RICHLY! Memorize the Bible! And of course the rest of this verse will fulfill itself.

“¹⁷And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

You go to work? Do it in the Name of Jesus. You go to school? Do it in the name of Jesus! You write a blog while suffering a migraine? Do it in the name of Jesus! Ha! No seriously if you are sick or suffering or like when I used to work for the boss who said she was going to make my life he11* – Do your work unto Jesus and IN HIS NAME! There is power and completeness in Jesus.

“¹⁸Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. ²⁰Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. ²¹Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

This letter is starting to look like the cliff notes of many of Paul’s other letters. But I only write to you all and I repeat myself ALL the time! AND if you know me in person, I repeat myself all the time! There are some things worth repeating since you never know when one of your other letters might reach this church. Let’s just cover it all.

“²²Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. ²³And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. ²⁵But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.”

Well now, this is slightly more specific and detailed. It almost sounds like one bondservant escaped, met Paul, got saved, and now has to reconcile his offense as he grows in the Lord. AND it sounds like that bondservant is coming back to this church, to his owner who is also in this church. AND we know that is an offense that by law, deserves death.
And we start to see that Paul DID have something he needed to address in this church. But Paul writes a letter to the slave owner privately and we will read that letter another day. As for today, we are neither slaves nor owners and the only way to apply this is to realize we are bondsmen to Christ, as Paul often describes himself, and need to behave accordingly. Not that we are slaves, but we submit to His will and Christ did buy us with His own blood.

BUT the point of this chapter is – after we are saved and justified we should become consecrated, set apart, sanctified – and transformed into something new. And even then, we should continue to draw closer to God.
There is no such thing as stagnant. You are either becoming more intimate with God or you are backsliding.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

23 Aug 202222 Aug 2022

Not Philosophy or Legalism – Just Jesus – 8-23-22

“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians 2:15 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Colossians chapter 2 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Not Philosophy but Christ

2 For I want you to know what a great conflict^[a] I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, ²that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, ^[b]both of the Father and of Christ, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. ⁵For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing ^[c]to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

⁶As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding ^[d]in it with thanksgiving.

⁸Beware lest anyone ^[e]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead ^[f]bodily; ¹⁰and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all ^[g]principality and power.

Not Legalism but Christ

¹¹In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body ^[h]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹²buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴having wiped out the ^[i]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a ^[j]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷which are a shadow of things to come, but the ^[k]substance is of Christ. ¹⁸Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has ^[l]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

²⁰^[m]Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ²¹“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²²which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and ^[n]neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Footnotes

Colossians 2:1 struggle
Colossians 2:2 NU omits both of the Father and
Colossians 2:5 Lit. and seeing
Colossians 2:7 NU omits in it
Colossians 2:8 Lit. plunder you or take you captive
Colossians 2:9 in bodily form
Colossians 2:10 rule and authority
Colossians 2:11 NU omits of the sins
Colossians 2:14 certificate of debt with its
Colossians 2:16 feast day
Colossians 2:17 Lit. body
Colossians 2:18 NU omits not
Colossians 2:20 NU, M omit Therefore
Colossians 2:23 severe treatment, asceticism

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

In this book Paul addresses the conflict (which was in all the early churches) of Greeks wanting to fall back under philosophy and the Jews trying to pull the gentiles into legalism/circumcision (and some falling back under it themselves). Paul has addressed this issue over and over and it seems like we run into it in every book. In our modern world it is the draw to humanism (the grown up version of first century philosophy) and the draw to religion (the true spirit behind legalism and the counterfeit to a real personal relationship with a living God). As we have discussed with other books – there are other sins and corrupted schools of thought that this also applies to, like those churches who are preaching Fauci instead of Jesus – Just Jesus.

Jesus is entirely complete as we read yesterday and will continue to read in this book – that this message is simple. Need saving? Jesus. Need deliverance? Jesus. Need healing? Jesus. Need breakthrough? Jesus. Need food and provisions? Jesus. Need finances? Jesus. Need love? Jesus. Need anything? Jesus. Don’t need anything? Jesus!
We do not need to think it through or seek deeper understanding in our minds – the deep spiritual understanding is simplistic = Jesus. We do not need rules to jump through or works to do – we just need Jesus. We can be the most disciplined and well-studied Christian (praise the Lord for the work He did in you to make that happen) or we can be the worst, slipping up and falling down Christian (praise the Lord for keeping you and His grace working in you) – still all we need is Jesus!

So let us dig in to chapter 2:

“¹ For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face. ²[For my hope is] that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in [unselfish] love, so that they may have all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding [the joy of salvation], resulting in a true [and more intimate] knowledge of the mystery of God, that is, Christ, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [regarding the word and purposes of God].” (AMP)

Paul’s struggle is that he cannot be there face to face to encourage them, teach them, build them up, answer questions, and fellowship with them. Every church is under attack and he isn’t there to keep them from the lies, to teach them how to fight for the truth, and how to stand firm and unshakeable.
The same applies to us today – we must have the firm foundation of the full assurance of our salvation and have a strong intimate relationship with Christ, or we will fall for these crazy lies, that change in nature daily or weekly causing chaos and confusion.

“⁴Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.”

So Paul wrote this chapter to expose the lies. Just like in our world it is time to expose. It is time to expose lies, plots, evil people, plans, curses, vexes, hexes, curses, and all the works of the enemy. It is time to expose. Shine your lights, get in the word and pray that your light shines bright. That Jesus will reveal and expose.
If anyone knows about how vulnerable humanity is to lies – it is Paul. Paul quoted “thou shall not kill’ regularly as a Pharisee and also gave permission for the stoning of Stephen. He also had orders to imprison or kill the believers in Damascus. Yes, Paul bought a serious lie – and thought he was zealously serving God for his glory. Paul fights corruption of the clean teachings of Jesus, fights the lies of religion and humanism, fights the temptations of the flesh that are justified by lies – instead of our spirits being justified by the blood of Christ, because Paul understands how easy it is to slip a little and suddenly find yourself so far off.

“⁵For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.”

Paul rejoices and has hope though, because this church seems to be fighting the good fight of faith already. And even though they are already doing well, Paul still sends them this letter. Encouragement looks like reminders of lessons and prayers for revelations. Which is important to take note of in a society that loves to correct and criticize others. Sermons do not always point out what you are doing wrong.

“⁶As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

I have sat in sermons where I think, well that does not apply to me. But I will honestly say I have not sat through many sermons where the preacher lists things we are doing right and says “right on, good job!”
I told God I wanted to be more of an encouragement to other people, and even without strong examples I can thankfully say I have pointed out the good things people do – and not just in a correction sandwich (where you says something positive, then give the correction, and follow with something positive to soften the blow). But Paul is ALL encouragement here.
Paul says: you are doing all these things right, keep it up and watch out for deceit. I love this for the Colossians and I want to be this for others.

“⁸Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;”

In Christ dwells all fullness. Say fullness! Of the Godhead. So when we dwell in Christ we dwell in all that is the Godhead and are full! Because we are full of God, we should know the difference between the basic worldly principles and man’s wisdom and the strange and higher ways of our Lord. We should know.
BUT it is not always that easy. Sometimes we forget how simple this all is and that God is inside of us as we dwell in Him and therefore have access to Him. And sometimes we do not forget – but the breakthrough is slow coming in our eyes even though God is inside and can answer immediately.
Daniel, in the Old Testament, prayed and it took 21 days for the angel to break through the spiritual battle to bring Daniel the answer from heaven. And now, Jesus is inside us – there is no war or battle between He and me. Jesus is inside us, and He healed us by His stripes over 2000 years ago – so our healing is in there too.

“¹⁰and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
So He is complete – everything we need and because He is inside us we are complete. Yet here I am taking 7 hours so far to type this because of a headache that is hindering my sight.
So why am I still under this pain?! It is a question we all ask. You with your seemingly unanswered prayers and me with my headache.
I suppose, maybe like Paul we assumed we were IN HIM and HE IS IN US – when actually we bought some lie and it’s not true. We may need to sure a few things up and get ourselves right with God. Maybe take care of some unrepented, unforgiven sin(s).
Maybe He is in us – but we aren’t IN HIM – so we are running around the outskirts of His presence and not enjoying the fullness. Probably holding onto something carnal or fleshly and unsurrendered that keeps us on a leash that is just not long enough to let us get IN HIM. Or maybe, the answer is just not something we have grown enough in the Lord to understand, because we know in part according to our ability.
He is the head of ALL things. He is able. We are nothing without Him.

So as Paul collapses philosophy and humanistic ideals he then aims to take on the religious spirit and legalism. Covid and Monkeypox are NOT pandemics – humanism and religion are! And Paul is our leader successfully holding back this enemy for years in person and through his written inspired word which God spoke through and Jesus breathed life into and is now HERE for us to use to hold back the hindrances and evil that stand between us and living an abundant life, shining in freedom.

“¹¹In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹²buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

The freedom for those in the first century was to NOT have to be circumcised. Both them and us experience the same when we die to flesh – Do you remember that excruciating experience? The first 8 or so chapters of Romans? When we did that study and we set ourselves the homework of working through identifying our flesh that was still alive – identifying our trespasses (wrong things most commonly referred to as sins), confessing them (breaking apart our pride) and nailing them to the cross, asking forgiveness and turning away from them. Letting our will, our desires, our plans, and our sins all die. Surrendering ourselves and things and activities to Christ. If you need a reminder – scroll back to April 25^th and take a look, maybe revisit the activities. They aren’t for nothing. They are for…

“¹³And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,”
First they are for your sanctification. Dying to self IS your circumcision – your mark – your being set apart unto God! Instead of it being a physical mark – your mark is in the spirit. The activity of choosing to sacrifice and kill your flesh in the spirit leaves a mark like the blood of the Passover lamb on the door posts in Egypt. And moreover IT IS the BLOOD of JESUS, the final sacrificial lamb that washes away the sins and the death! So we can walk in newness of life.

“^14ahaving wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us…”

The handwriting of requirements is the atonement law – which Jesus completed and finished. It was contrary because it always required one more sacrifice, one more animal. It was contrary because it required a temple and that was torn down by Rome in the year 70AD (7 or 8 years after this letter was written).

“^14b And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
It was contrary because it stood between Jesus’s ability to live inside of us completing all things including us.

“¹⁵Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

Jesus. Just Jesus. A strong Jewish man who could build with simple tools and his own strength. Who the enemy tore down making look weak, meek, and feminine. Jesus who was fully man. Jesus who was fully God. He disarmed principalities and powers. DISARMED.
I mean we all know that no weapon formed will prosper – BUT JESUS DISARMED THEM. ALREADY!
He disarmed and humiliated them! Made a public spectacle – shaking the earth, turning the sky black, ripping the curtain in the temple, raising the dead, including Himself, etc and so on!
Seriously. So we struggle under these attacks due to lack of faith? No. It is lack of spiritual growth. Let your eyes be open and your ears hear – let your understanding receive revelation. It is finished. Jesus cannot lie. They are disarmed and fighting us without weapons. All they have is to deceive us and cause us fear. This is why a sound mind, love, and power are so effective.
And by the way – God is NOT disarmed.
The enemy that is influencing public policy and politics – that enemy IS disarmed! Do you hear me?! HE HAS NO WEAPONS! We destroy our self when our flesh comes out from submission and acts chaotic in fear. We destroy ourselves when our flesh believes lies and trips us up into doubt and unbelief and not dwelling IN HIM and acting contrary to HIS WILL (and calling our own actions the attacks of the enemy).
He does attack. With lies and fear and make-believe weapons. He uses us against ourselves. Leave NO ROOM for the enemy.

“¹⁶So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ¹⁸Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.”

The enemy has stolen many things from me – by man (under evil influence), by demon, and by myself forfeiting my own inheritance without understanding. I’ll admit it. It happened to Paul at least once as well. God has finished this and you and I should climb up into His hand – dwell IN HIM, in the secret place spoken of in Psalms 91, in the Ark in these evil days of Noah.

“²⁰Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ²¹“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²²which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?”

A thousand cannot fall at your side and ten-thousand at your right hand if you are not covered in HIS pinions (IN HIM) during the battle (Ps 91). So why do we fall into the world’s system? We are told to walk in the spirit and with understanding and here we can understand if we have revelation. It is finished.

“²³These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”

The world’s system has no value. The idea that it is finished is outside of time (although it is) and now we must watch it play out and get knocked about in the battle holding onto a hope that it is true that it is finished happened years ago but actually will not happen until the future ….. it seems so confusing and not as simple as Jesus. It seems so much like the enemy may actually have a chance or maybe the predestination has stripped it all of free will.
It is finished means: no more atonement – but true washing and liberty and the ability NOT to sin. It is finished means the enemy is disarmed and using harmless children’s toys and stage props to scare us. It means the battle rages because the enemy is trying to steal, kill, and destroy – by getting us to surrender to HIM. That is why we have LOTS of defensive armor and only one sword – the word. Our prayers are good, but the word is our sword. It may take quite a few swings because we are human and not principalities BUT JESUS IS INSIDE OF US AND HE IS OVER ALL PRINCIPALITIES.

I need to take a whole year to go through this book of Colossians so you can truly understand. Meanwhile, as you begin to receive revelation, bear with those who have not yet. The Lord hears their prayers, like He heard our prayers before we learned we are seated in heavenly places filled with Jesus and that is ALL we need to succeed on earth in the lie of an existence that it is. Pray for their hearts to be ready for such revelation, and God will bring it to them. It is literally right here in the book.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

22 Aug 202221 Aug 2022

Welcome to Colossians – 8-22-22

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:15-17 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Colossians chapter 1 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

²To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father ^[a]and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Their Faith in Christ

³We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; ⁵because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, ⁶which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth ^[b]fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; ⁷as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Preeminence of Christ

⁹For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; ¹²giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has delivered us from the power of darkness and ^[c]conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption ^[d]through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or ^[e]principalities or ^[f]powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Reconciled in Christ

¹⁹For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

²¹And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²²in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— ²³if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Sacrificial Service for Christ

²⁴I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, ²⁵of which I became a minister according to the ^[g]stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, ²⁶the ^[h]mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. ²⁷To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: ^[i]which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. ²⁹To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

Footnotes
a.Colossians 1:2 NU omits and the Lord Jesus Christ
b.Colossians 1:6 NU, M add and growing
c.Colossians 1:13 transferred
d.Colossians 1:14 NU, M omit through His blood
e.Colossians 1:16 rulers
f.Colossians 1:16 authorities
g.Colossians 1:25 dispensation or administration
h.Colossians 1:26 secret or hidden truth
i.Colossians 1:27 M who

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Welcome to the Bible book which is a letter from Paul to the Church at Colossae. Colossae was known for its wool and fiber crafts trade. It is believed to be written by Paul in Rome in the year 62 ad. Some question the language and think it was penned by one of Paul’s students or member of Paul’s team. I have always been under the thought that Paul and his team discussed these letters as they were penned and one in the group wrote it out – which is where we get these letter we question. But we have been told that Paul’s eyes had problems, so it is a fair to deduce that someone else penned them and did not write word for word. That would have to be someone who was part of the process to feel comfortable adding his own language and way of writing. Although, it could have also been a hired scribe – they would take your thoughts and write them out in the structure and style of writing of the day. And so many of Paul’s letters do follow the same writing compositional structure. Paul may have told all scribes and team members to use it.

Paul never met the Church in Colossae – if was started by Epaphras, who Paul did seem to know. It appears Epaphras visited Paul with the good news that the church was doing well, and seems to still be with Paul (4:12) when Paul sends this letter. Paul wrote to them to encourage them.

The overall message Paul wants us to get from his letter is that the Love of Jesus activates transformation – that there is power in love. This concept is expressed in fullness and completeness in Christ and a challenge to seek to be more IN CHRIST. I’m

So as we read through this book – let us open ourselves up to God, to Jesus’s love and leave no stone unturned no prat of our existence untouched and unchanged by Christ. Let us keep the mindset of “I surrender all” and if there is an area we hold onto and hold too dear, let us work through it in this book and learn that Jesus loves us and we can trust Him with every area.

Lord, we long to be in complete surrender. Help us be tender and gentle as we give up all to you. We trust you with everything. You shall work it all out for our good. We shall fear you, and your holiness and justice – but not fear you thinking you will harm us or destroy us. You came to give life abundantly and the enemy steals, kills, and destroys. Soften our hearts and send revelation. Remove scales from our eyes and hearts, open our ears to hear, and open our understanding. Please change us while we study your word and receive what you are saying to us through it. In the name of Jesus we pray. amen.

And Paul says, Greetings.

“¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ²To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
³We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; ⁵because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, ⁶which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; ⁷as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.”

Paul begins this letter with 2 prayers. That was the first, which is blended into a greeting. This is where we learn Epaphras, learned about Jesus and went back to his home city of Colossae and shared Jesus, forming a church there.
If someone took news of me to Paul – I hope and pray they say I am full of faith and love, and I bring forth fruit. How people see us matters. Christians often say they do not care what people think – only what God thinks. But we are supposed to be pointing people to Jesus, so it is vital to our mission that we aren’t known as angry people, backbiting gossips, or other fleshly things.

Over the last week, I spent some time with a Pastor and when I left that person I was high on Jesus and my fire was rekindled and I was encouraged. Then I spent time with another Pastor and when I left that person I was filled with confusion about things God had told me and I was discouraged and felt I was not actually called or able to fulfill that calling.
Then I spent time again with the first Pastor again and felt forgiven and able to stand fast in the liberty wherein I was made free.
And I said to a friend of mine: we can either be like Pastor number 1 or like Pastor number 2.
Lord, please make me [personalize this prayer] the kind of person that is so on fire for you that my fire is contagious and those around me are set ablaze. That you speak life through me. And if you speak correction, it will bring life and energy and motivation for transformation to follow through with that correction. Let me always point people to you at the very least. Or let them SEE ONLY YOU, when they look at me! I pray for this anointing knowing that it is written that I can be filled in it to overflowing! In the precious name of Jesus I ask, amen!

“⁹For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”

While we are talking about prayer – do you pray for me like this? Do you pray for the other people reading this blog, like this? Do you pray like this over yourself? Christianity 101 should teach us to pray over our pastors, teachers and leaders daily – AND pray for ALL SAINTS! ALL believers!
Lord, Please fill my Pastors and teachers with the knowledge of your will in wisdom and spiritual understanding! (But shouldn’t your pastors and teachers already have knowledge of God’s will in wisdom and spiritual understanding? Sure they should have at least some. But we ALL only know in part {1 Cor. 13:12}. They need your prayers as much as you need theirs!) Please fill my leaders with the knowledge of your will in wisdom and spiritual understanding! (Leaders? As in political leaders? It would be glorious if all leaders both in church and in government were Godly men and women acting in their knowledge and wisdom of God’s will and in spiritual understanding. SO YES! Pray for them to!) Please fill my friend, brothers and sisters in Christ and all believers with the knowledge of your will in wisdom and spiritual understanding! In the name of Jesus! AMEN!

“¹⁰that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

That certainly sounds so much like being saved by works when the verse is isolated like this. So why did I isolate it? To remind us of the work of the cross and transformation of grace – especially as we are expecting more transformation in this book! Jesus saves – we are forgiven, washed clean and justified. Just Jesus and not Jesus and works. But once we freely receive this pure and simple gift, we should be converted not just make a decision. We should begin a relationship and read God’s love letters (aka the Bible). And this is called sanctification – that as we draw close to God, we learn and change, we become more and more clean. We break free from more lies and chains. We learn about the things he has for us to do and we long to please Him and do His will to further His kingdom. We no longer identify as a denomination or a nationality or a race – we become kingdom builders because of the actions of faith in which we are worthy because our faith is counted as righteousness. Never worthy because of the works we obediently fulfill. It is all grace to the glory of God!

“¹¹strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;”

Those who wait upon the Lord rise up on wings of eagles (Is 40:31). And …
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Gal. 6:9 NKJV

So last weekend God sent me and a friend off on a little business trip to handle some of His business. We were sent to work. We prayed and fasted and went expecting and received. God said turn left, we turned left. He said turn right and we turned right. God spoke to her and we did what he told her. He spoke to me and we did what he told me. Until He stopped speaking. She heard nothing and sat down and said to me, ‘what is He telling you?’
All I heard was “Trust me.”
Neither of us had any direction. So we sat. We did not move. We waited on Him. After a little bit we decided to seek him and after getting no answer we asked if it was time to leave. Our work was done. So we left.
And even though we left that meeting, and that assignment – we are in the waiting place and the trusting place. We are waiting so we can again rise on wings of eagles. We are working out patience and longsuffering (especially with the migraines which she and our prayer partner also got) and trying to declare healing in all JOY! Because we are being strengthened! With all might!! According to His glorious power! We are hanging in, waiting for our next assignment.

“¹²giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

Leave it to Paul and Jesus to pull it all back into perspective. We were so excited and blessed to be able to cast off demons, pray for others, see miracles, healings and deliverances! But…
“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20 NKJV
You see, it was ALL GOD. God qualified us to be there. God qualified us to know how to pray. God qualified us and placed a stamp on us so that the Pastor knew to call us in to pray for and with others with him. I would not let a virtual stranger pray in my ministry – but God qualified us and said so. And as much as we are to be about our Father’s work, qualified and reaching people, we are moreover qualified to have our names written in heaven – inheriting with the saints in the light!

“¹³He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Psalm 139 – speaks to our creation. That God made us for such a time with everything we need for this time, knowing ahead of time what we would suffer and qualified and equipped us with ALL TOOLS to fulfill HIS plan for us. And we are the only creature in all of creation that is eligible for redemption.

Verses 15 through 20 are a poem; it echoes Genesis 1, Exodus 40, Proverbs 8, and Psalms 2, 8, and 68. And then the rest of this book echoes this poem.

“¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. ¹⁹For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

This poem has so much meat in it. There is a lot to unpack about authority, spiritual warfare, Christ’s love, and the violent and imposing power of real peace to war on our behalf – the peace of the blood – the peace that guards us – that peace that has resolved the eternal conflict of sin. So do yourself a favor and meditate on it today.

“²¹And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²²in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— ²³if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Our shared testimony – we were separated from God, Jesus’s blood resolved that conflict and now we are reunited and because of that we are motivated to continually present ourselves holy and blameless, continuing in faith, grounded and steadfast, unshakeable and made new!

“²⁴I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,”

No matter the circumstances, rejoice. In struggles, conflicts and suffering we are participating with Christ and the Apostles and the prophets before them. It is part of the human experience. But in God we have a way through and a promised victory.
Without God you cannot guarantee the outcome to be in your best interest and for your good. But for those of us in a relationship we have help going through it and we have a guaranteed victory.

“²⁵of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,”

We have studied all the parables Jesus gave us about stewardship. And in October we’ll look at the last of the four gospels and see them again. Paul is saying that “go ye therefore” was given to him to steward. So he went. He told everyone the good news. Then he made disciples. He stewarded it well. I am not even remotely stewarding it as well as Paul did – how about you?

“²⁶the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.”

Of course that mystery is the depths of what was accomplished on that cross on Calvary and it making a way for all mankind!

“²⁷To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Making a way for Christ himself to come and live in us. The hope of glory inside of us without separation or priest or sacrifice at a temple! Glory to God!

“²⁸Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Now be careful here not to fall into a legalistic trap here. What Paul is saying for your liberation, others have used to oppress you further with laws. The moment you repent of all sins, known and unknown – and ask forgiveness AND ask to be washed in the blood – AT THAT MOMENT you are perfect in Christ. In that moment you are compelled NOT to sin further and to please Him.

“²⁹To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”

So you labor to do His will and to let Him work a mighty working in you and through you. At that moment! Glory to God! Right up until you slip in sin (which Paul describes in Romans as a normal battle of our flesh nature being bent to do wrong regardless our desire to do right). The secret is to be a good repenter. I repent once a day and anytime I realized I slipped up. When fasting I often repent at eat meal prayer. We do not always even know when we slipped – it is god to repent often so we may be presented perfect in Christ. NOT perfect, but perfect in Him.

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Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!