Resource Manager Posted March 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 26 March 2014Numbers 7Proverbs 4Luke 18“HEAR … ACCEPT MY WORDS”We “hear” by reading what God has caused to be written preserved and translated – the challenge to all of us is to read and then “accept” into our hearts what we read, so that they become a real influence on the principles by which we guide our lives.Solomon writes [Proverbs 4] “Let your heart hold fast my words” - this is the vital next stage after we accept them. The first verse tells us that these are “a father’s instruction” on what the acceptance of his words should lead to - “Keep my commandments and live” [Proverbs 4:4] “and whatever you get, get insight” [Proverbs 4:7] We must develop inward vision so that we can reflect on what we have accepted, comparing scripture with scripture so that our understanding becomes increasingly greater.After saying, “Get insight” Solomon adds, “Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honour you, if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown” [Proverbs 4:8-9] This poetic language has substantial literal meaning! Recall the thoughts we developed 2 days ago on “the eyes of our hearts.”In our Luke [Luke 18] reading, Jesus makes the point that his followers must have the attitude of children – for when his disciples tried to stop adults bringing children too him “that he might touch them,” Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” [Luke 18:15-17]As we read God’s word we must have a child-like attitude to “hear” and then “accept” (the) words” we read and then “we will have treasure in heaven” Jesus told a ruler, adding, “and come, follow me.” [Luke 18:18,22] The very last chapter in the Bible, the final message of Jesus, tells us that, when Jesus returns, this treasure will be revealed, for I will be “bringing my reward (or recompense) with me to repay everyone for what he has done” [Revelation 22:12]So we start by hearing (through reading), then we “accept” and then we “do” what God desires in the way we live using our individual abilities and opportunities to serve God and his Son, our Saviour every day – and then the wonder of the time to come – which is getting ever closer – the time of divine repayment with life in his kingdom on earth, for “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” [Matthew 5:5] Will you be there? You make the answer now!-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 27 March 2014Numbers 8; 9Proverbs 5Luke 19“AT THE END OF YOUR LIFE YOU …”We continue reading the blunt and challenging words of advice by Solomon in the Proverbs – how appropriate they are to counteract the values of life, or lack of them, that surround us today. “My son, be attentive to my wisdom,” writes Solomon, “incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.” [Proverbs 5:1-2]In today’s chapter Solomon particularly warns about the “forbidden woman” whose “speech is smoother than oil” [Proverbs 5:3] Such women abound in today’s world, less and less women (at least in Australia) desire to settle down to wholesome married life, some of course prefer a worthwhile business career. The type of woman Solomon is referring to is clear, “her steps follow the path to Sheol (the grave); she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander …” [Proverbs 5:5-6] He advises, “Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house …” [Proverbs 5:8]The climax to the lesson Solomon is teaching is the warning, that if you fail to follow his advice, “at the end of your life you groan … and you say, ‘How I hated discipline and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.” [Proverbs 5:12-13]Today, the instruction from God we can all easily possess - in God’s word – the Bible. “At the end of your life” may it be, that you will not groan – and this will be because you have read and listened and acted upon the words’ God caused to be written and preserved.Our final thought is rather parallel to this, it is in our chapter 19 in Luke. It tells us that when Jesus “drew near and saw the city (Jerusalem) he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” [Luke 19:41-42]It is not just an association with the wrong sort of woman that can ‘destroy’ our lives, but our wilful ignoring of the teaching of Jesus – what a terrible end came upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And as our Luke chapter for Saturday makes very plan, a disastrous end faces our world today – and when that happens may that not be “the end of your life.” You make the answer NOW.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 28 March 2014Numbers 10Proverbs 6Luke 20"LIVE TO HIM"In one sense, no man or woman can be “considered worthy” by God to be in his kingdom “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23] . But we have that marvellous chapter on FAITH in Hebrews 11, men and women who demonstrated their faith by what they did in serving God and doing his will.Abraham and Moses are outstanding examples of this, but remember Hebrews 11:29 in that chapter; “By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land” – what a remarkable foundation to their faith as they stepped out on the far shore after seeing the water towering on either side! This was their baptism, said Paul – see 1 Corinthians 10:2.But we are about to read in Numbers of how most of them failed to maintain their faith and “fell” in various ways in the wilderness. Maintaining faith is essential to being “considered worthy.”This brings us to what Jesus said to the Sadducees, as we read today in Luke 20. They refused to believe in a resurrection. In some ways they were like the modern humanists. They posed to Jesus a story of a woman who had 7 husbands in succession who all died, so if there is a resurrection, they asked, who would be her husband “for the seven had her as wife.”“Jesus said to them, ‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons (children) of the resurrection” [Luke 20:35-36]We particularly noted his final words in correcting the Sadducees; he said God “is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to him” [Luke 20:38] If we “live to him” as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did, then we, like them, will not die, but sleep a timeless sleep to awake (instantly, not having sensed the passage of time) when we will become “equal unto the angels.” So let us walk with an ever stronger faith as we travel through the wilderness that is the world scene today - conscious of the failure of those who “by faith … crossed the Red Sea” in baptism - but their wilderness destroyed their faith. Our daily reading and reflections on what we read is an essential part to maintaining our faith at we journey through today’s wilderness.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 29 March 2014Numbers 11Proverbs 7Luke 21“THE SEA AND THE WAVES”The perplexity among the nations today is remarkable. A factor in this is that the USA has to some degree lost its power and strong influence. Money has been king, the ability to influence others has been achieved by having plenty of money and strong military power.Today’s reading in Luke 21 tells us that Jesus said that his return to the earth would be at a time of “distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves.” [Luke 21:25]The threat of roaring seas, especially tsunamis, has caused great anxieties, The massive earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan caused very serious problems – and these continue. Warning systems have now been put in place, but these will not stop the seas roaring – only just give a few minutes warning.However, we can see that the words of Jesus, as do several others things he said, reflect words written in the Old Testament and indicate even greater distresses are to come. Look at the language in Psalm 46. “we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling … the nations rage, the kingdoms totter ; he utters his voice, the earth melts … Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has wrought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth … [Psalm 46:2,3,6,8,9].Just as one is able to pick out the prophecies that were fulfilled at the first coming of Jesus, so we ponder those that we judge must apply to his second coming. Jesus continued by speaking of “people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world” [Luke 21:26]. But those who know the Bible will carefully read the words of Jesus that follow and take them to heart, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” [Luke 21:28] This “redemption” of course, is for his committed followers. Make sure that includes you..Returning to Psalm 46, take special note of the positive message in the last 2 verses, “Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” [Psalm 46:10-11] Make sure that he is your fortress – remember how Jesus told the parable of those who knocked at the door – but it was too late – remember what you read in Luke 13:25.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 30 March 2014Numbers 12; 13Proverbs 8; 9Luke 22“LIKE GRASSHOPPERS”Can you imagine yourself as a member of the Israelites who miraculously escaped from Egypt? After seeing all the remarkable plagues, the wonder of crossing the Red Sea, then camping beside Mt. Sinai with the earth quaking, the clouds, the fire and the voice from the mountain! After that the miraculous provision of manna, also quails, and the water from the rock. Then, the teamwork to build the tabernacle as a centre of worship, with the divine presence indicated by fire and cloud! Next the great celebration of a ‘Passover’, one year and one month after leaving Egypt.Surely, if we had been part of all that, our confidence and anticipation of God’s power to lead us to the promised land would be very great. Well might we be astonished at what we read today in Numbers! Why did 10 of the 12 spies sent to explore the land, come back in such a negative frame of mind? Although they said the land ‘flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit.” [Numbers 13:27] They spoke against the two other spies who came back and had said, “Let us go up at once and occupy the land for we are well able to overcome it.” [Numbers 13:30]But the 10 said “We are not able … for they are stronger than we are … all the people we saw in it are of great height … we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers” [Numbers 13:31-33]We are going to read of God’s anger with them because of this failure of faith after all the evidence they had experienced of his power that had surrounded them to their benefit.Let us examine all the evidence for our own faith. How strong are our convictions in serving God? If serious difficulties arise will our faith falter? Will we only follow in the way of faith, when all is readily provided and there are deliverances and blessings?Recall that remarkable Psalm 139 we read recently, David wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me … see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” [Psalm 139:23-24].Next month we will read Moses’ final message to the people before he dies, “and you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” [Deuteronomy 8:2].It was a message to the next generation, for their parents had died during the 40 year journey. They had learnt their lesson the hard way! Are we sure we have learnt ours? If massive problems arise as this world falls apart – will we seem “like grasshoppers”? Or will our faith be such as to give us “full assurance” - Read Hebrews 10:22-23.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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