Introduction to First Thessalonians Chapter Two

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2014 6:47 PM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Introduction to 1 Thes. Chapter 2

            In today’s SD we will begin to look at the second chapter of First Thessalonians even though this is not what I had planned to do for today’s SD. 

            In Warren’s Wiersbe’s beginning commentary on chapter two of First Thessalonians he states “Chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians introduced us to Paul the Evangelist.  This chapter introduces us to Paul the pastor, for it explains how the great apostle cared for the new believers in the churches that he founded.  Paul considered ‘the care of all the churches’ (2 Cor. 11:28) a greater burden than all the sufferings and difficulties he experienced in his ministry (2 Cor. 11:23ff).”  I think that this statement should make us think about how Paul’s mind and spirit worked, for his care for all of the churches that he founded meant more to him than all of the difficulties that he went through and those were a lot of difficulties explained in 2 Corinthians 11:23 and following.

            Now I am going to next put into this SD something that I used in an earlier SD when looking at Jeremiah, but the quote came from John MacArthur’s commentary on 1 Thessalonians. MacArthur writes and spoke about what kind of man God calls to be one of His Pastors, and when I first looked at this statement I began to incorporate it to my prayers form the pastors at or church, for as he states in this statement without the Holy Spirit involved in a Pastor’s life he would not accomplish anything. 

“Praying for Pastors and Leaders

The following is a quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of 1 Thessalonians.

“Those called to be elders in the church, who preach, teach and lead God’s flock, are entrusted with the unequalled duty of proclaiming the gospel to unbelieving sinners, and bringing those who believe and are baptized into the fellowship of the local church.  There the Holy Spirit will sanctify them as they worship God in spirit and truth, submitting to the exposition and application of Scripture.  Pastors also must intercede for their people through public and private prayer, oversee the administration of the Lord’s Table so their people will regularly confess their sins and renew their covenant of obedience, equip other teachers and workers within the church, superintend and enforce church discipline, and provide biblical counseling to the congregation.  All of this spiritual work is to build up the saints to maturity—‘to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13).

“The elder must be a spiritual physician who can capably apply biblical cures to those vices and heresies that might afflict members of his church.  He also must be a tender shepherd who, while feeding the flock, also heals their wounds, clams their fears, protects them from spiritual dangers, and comforts them in their distresses.  In short, he is to be a champion for biblical truth (1 Tim. 4:12), a provider of spiritual resources (1 Peter 5:1-2), a guardian and protector (Acts 20:28-31), and always a model of spiritual virtue (1 Tim. 4:12), for all of which he is directly accountable to his Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:17; James 3:1).

“Even the uniquely gifted apostle Paul asked the question, ‘And who is adequate for these thing?’  (2 Cor. 2:16).  He realized that no man could effectively discharge the immense obligation of spiritual leadership by human wisdom, effort, and strength alone.  He knew that only God could provide the power to be an effective leader, although he struggled with his flesh and found himself not doing the things he wanted to do and doing the things he did not want to do (Rom. 7:14-25).  God graciously game him suffering and pain to continually humble him and make him dependent on divine power (2 Cor. 12:7-10).”

            As we go through the first six verses of chapter two we will find out that these verses speak of what a leader needs to be, and the sad fact is that there are not many good leaders in the Church today in our country.

3/31/2014 7:16 PM

 

 

 

More about Greed

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2014 9:54 AM

            This Spiritual Diary will be a bit different because I have a desire to write about the sin of Greed, which is what we have been looking at in our last two SD’s from Jeremiah chapter seventeen.

            I believe that we can look at the last days of the people of Judah just before the Babylonians took them captive and see similar things that are going on in our country today, and this is greatly troubling to me.  I can give an example that may not be the best, but it does make a point about being greedy in our country.  I like to watch older TV shows and so I was looking at “Dragnet” which I got from my Netflix account.  The show which took place back in the late 1960”s all the way up to the early 70’s was a half hour show.  When you watch on Netflix you don’t have any commercials and so you can see how much show you are watching and how much time was spent on commercials.  The shows were 25 minutes long with only five minutes of commercial time.  Now compare that to another hour long show that I recently watch and it had 43 minutes of show and 17 minutes of commercial.  The percentage of show has greatly decreased and I believe it is all because of greed.  People seem to be inventing different ways to make sure that they make more money in or country.

            Let us look at a few verses in the Scriptures that speak of greed.  10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11  If they say, "Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12  Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13  We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil (Proverbs 1:10-13).”  In these verses Solomon is speaking to his son about how he can avoid trouble and part of the things that he describes here is that thieves are greedy, and they are also too lazy to work so they steal to make a unjust living.

            1 When Samuel got to be an old man, he set his sons up as judges in Israel. 2 His firstborn son was named Joel, the name of his second, Abijah. They were assigned duty in Beersheba. 3 But his sons didn’t take after him; they were out for what they could get for themselves, taking bribes, corrupting justice (1 Samuel 8:1-3).”  These verses speak of Samuel’s sons and they surely did not take after Samuel for they were greedy unjust crooks.

            27 A greedy and grasping person destroys community; those who refuse to exploit live and let live (Proverbs 15:27 Message).”

            “11 And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one (Isa. 56:11).”  Isaiah, like Jeremiah was speaking about the greedy rulers of Judah.

            Now we can look at a solution to this problem of greed and it is found in the book of Hebrews chapter thirteen and verse five:  “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,’”  We see here that the love of money will bring a flaw to your character and this can cause all kinds of problems in our lives.  Paul writes to Timothy the following “1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”  Now as we go back to our verse in Hebrew we can see that we are to put our trust in the Lord and as I have written in earlier SD’s we are to trust the Giver of the gifts and not the gifts of the Giver.  God has promised to the believer that He will never leave us or forsake us, so He will take care of us. 

            We live in a world that promotes the idea that we need a lot of things in order to be happy, and that is not true for things only make us happy for a little while and then they get old, but our relationship with the Lord is fulfilling and it does not get old as long as we continue to grow in our relationship with the Lord.  The last thing that Peter wrote, and this very soon before he would be crucified upside down for the cause of Christ was “17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”  This is wonderful advice for the believer.

            I once heard a message that the speaker was quoting from a book that spoke about giving funds for the cause of Christ and the author said that by doing this it is the best investment that one can give.  We can put our money in stocks and bonds and mutual funds but they will all be gone one day, but our Lord said “19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:19-21)

            As the end of March is tomorrow I wanted to say what I desire to be studying and therefore putting on my blog.  We will continue in the book of Jeremiah and we will also begin to look at the second chapter of First Thessalonians.  I am not sure how much of chapter two we will look at as it is a longer chapter than chapter one, and when we look at the NT it does take longer to go through verses as in some cases we have to look at individual words to better understand the verses and what the author is conveying to us.

3/30/2014 10:33 AM 

More Sins of Judah from Jeremiah 17:12-27

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2014 8:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Looking at the rest of Jer. 17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 17:12-27

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we want to finish looking at Jeremiah chapter seventeen which speaks of the sins that Judah was committing against the Lord.  Jeremiah gave this message to the people of Judah.

            Forsaking the Lord (Jeremiah 17:12-13):  “12 A glorious throne on high from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the LORD.”

            Jeremiah is speaking of the throne of God in heaven for the Jews believed that the throne of God on earth was the Holy of Holies that was in the temple of God in Jerusalem.  “You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!”  (Psalm 80:1b)  “The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!”  (Psalm 99:1)  However Judah had sinned and this throne would be taken away from them because they would be taken to Babylon for 70 years.  The ark of the covenant and other articles would not be destroyed, but eventually put back into the new temple that would be built after God called His people back to Jerusalem. 

            Judah would be disciplined by the Lord because they had forsaken Him, for the Lord did not forsake Judah.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Instead of being written in the Book of Life, those who forsook God were written in the dust where their names perished with them.  (Ex. 32:32; Ps. 69:28; Phil. 4:3).”

            Rejecting God’s Servant (Jeremiah 17:14-18):  “14 Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise. 15 Look, they keep saying to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!" 16 But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You, Nor have I longed for the woeful day; You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips Was in Your presence. 17 Do not be a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of disaster. 18 Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them a day of disaster, And crush them with twofold destruction!”

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that this was the fourth of Jeremiah’s personal prayers to God for help.  I must admit that this prayer is not like some of the others he has prayed to the Lord regarding the people of Judah, for this prayer seems to be calling God’s wrath on the people who were trying to harm him. 

            There was one time when Jeremiah seemed to be trying to get out of his responsibilities as we saw in Jeremiah 15:15-21, but not this time as he was praying for deliverance form those who were trying to harm him.  The people were asking when the things that he was telling them about the future would come true, but God was delaying to give them time to repent. 

            God would answer the prayer of Jeremiah and deliver him from those who wanted to harm him.

            Profaning the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:19-27):  “19 Thus the LORD said to me, "Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem; 20  and say to them, ’Listen to the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates: 21  ’Thus says the LORD, "Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. 22  "You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers. 23 “Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction. 24  "But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me," declares the LORD, "to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, 25  then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. 26  "They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the LORD. 27  "But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched."’"”

            We have spoken about the Sabbath day in earlier SD,’ but this bears repeating.  God gave the Sabbath day to the children of Israel as a special token of their relationship with Him as seen in the Law from Exodus 16:29; 20:8-11; 31:13-17.  God wanted them to rest on this day and to worship the Lord on this day.  They were not to work or have their farm animals work either, however when we come to the NT Gospels we see that the Pharisees put restrictions on the Sabbath day that were not in Scripture and this was one thing that got them in trouble with the Lord Jesus Christ.   

            The problem here as described by Jeremiah was that people were commercializing the  Sabbath day, making it a day to make money instead of worshiping the Lord, a problem we have in our day as well even though we do not fall under the OT Law, but the principle is still there.  The people were making a mechanical obedience to the Sabbath law and this did not come from their hearts and therefore was not pleasing to the Lord. 

            Let me take the time to quote an endnote from Dr. Wiersbe on the Sabbath day:  “Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament epistles for believers to obey, but the Sabbath commandment isn’t among them.  The Sabbath was a special sign given to Israel (Ex. 3:12-18), not to the church.  Believers are free to honor special days as they feel convicted by the Lord (Romans 14:1-23; Col. 2:16-17) and must not judge one another.  To make Sabbath-keeping a means of salvation or a mark of special spirituality is to go beyond what the Scriptures teach, and to equate the Sabbath with the New Testament Lord’s Day is equally unbiblical.  The Sabbath is identified with the Law; You work six days and then you rest.  The Lord’s Day is identified with grace: You begin with a resurrected Christ and the works follow.”

            I will close this section by writing about what Nehemiah faced when he came to Jerusalem, which was similar to what we read about in this passage.  Nehemiah actually saw a revival in Jerusalem after being there for a while, however after he left and went back to Babylon and then returned a while later he saw the very same thing that Jeremiah writes about here.  History was repeating itself, and it was wrong the first time and therefore it was wrong in Nehemiah’s day also.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Warren Wiersbe mentioned judging another person for what they do in honoring different days and at times this is kind of hard to do for me.  I need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in my life and the lives of those that I believe are doing wrong.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to aid and help us in our preparation for going on vacation so that what we do will bring glory to Him.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-7

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth, and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What remedy for snake bite did Moses make at the Lord’s direction?

Answer in our next SD.

3/29/2014 9:56 AM

           

Judah's Sin of Greed from Jeremiah 17:11

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2014 9:24 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Judah’s Sins PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Jeremiah 17:11

            Message of the verse:  In today’s SD we continue to look at a message from Jeremiah that speaks about the sins of Judah.

            Greed (Jeremiah 17:11):  “11  "As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool.’”

            Let us begin by looking at a parable that Jesus spoke to a crowd that was around him.  This parable is found in Luke 12.  “16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ’What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ’This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19  ’And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."’ 20 “But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’”

            We can also find out a lot about who a fool is in the book of Proverbs, for that seems to be one of the themes of Proverbs as the word fool is found forty times in the NASB from the book of Proverbs.  Here is the meaning of that word in the Hebrew.  The Hebrew word looks like this “nabal naw-bawl’ and if that word sound familiar it is because we saw it in the book of 1 Samuel where there was actually a man whose name was Nabal: 1Sa 25:3  (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite), The word means foolish, senseless, fool and when one reads the story of Nabal they will see that this man lived up to his name.  It is hard to believe that a family in Israel would name his son this name, for that would be like naming a son “fool” in our language.

            In the book of Proverbs there are different Hebrew words translated “fool” and so let us take a look at a number of verses with that word in it and then look at the Hebrew word that is translated fool.  “Pr 7:22 Suddenly he follows her As an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool.”  The following is what this word “Fool” means “1) be foolish, foolish  1a) (subst)  1a1) of one who despises wisdom 1a2) of one who mocks when guilty 1a3) of one who is quarrelsome 1a4) of one who is licentious”

Next we look at “Pr 10:18 He who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool.”  Here is what this word translated fool means: “1) fool, stupid fellow, dullard, simpleton, arrogant one.”

            Now let us go back to our verse in the book of Jeremiah and talk about what this verse means.  It was during this time that the rich were exploiting the poor and the courts were doing nothing about it “"For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is greedy for gain, And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely.”  (Jeremiah 6:13) 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following to help us understand about the partridge:  “Jeremiah quoted a familiar proverb about the partridge, who is supposed to hatch eggs she didn’t lay and have the brood desert her—a picture of wealth deserting the rich people who unjustly acquired it.  What good would their wealth be when the judgment of God fell on the land? 

            We will look at the remaining verses from the 17^th chapter of Jeremiah in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Bible has a lot to say about money and as I think about that I can truthfully say that there have been times when I have done some foolish things with the funds that God has entrusted me with, however God has graciously forgiven me and has taught me things from those foolish mistakes that have brought glory to His name.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Perhaps we could say that the opposite of being foolish is being wise and in being wise I must be wise in the ways of the Lord.  I spoke about this in yesterday’s SD, but I want to repeat it in today’s SD.  The following will be a quote from Richard Strauss: 

“The Recognition of God’s Wisdom”

            “How do we know whether the wisdom we are exercising is from God or from men, whether it is divine wisdom or human wisdom?  One way will be to compare it to the truth of God’s Word.  His wisdom will always be consistent with all of His Word.  But there is one special passage in the Word that tells us particularly how to identify God’s wisdom:  ‘But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy’ (James 3:17).  Here is the acid test.

            “First, God’s wisdom is pure, unmixed with error, untainted by immorality, unclouded by selfish motives, cleansed of all personal ambition.  If we are looking out for our own interests, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.  Secondly, God’s wisdom is peaceable, not quarrelsome, contentious, or cutting, but promoting the harmony and peace that draws people together.  If our words or actions are arousing antagonism in others, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.  Thirdly, God’s wisdom is gentle, that is, fair, moderate, forgiving, forbearing, and considerate in the demands it puts on others.  If we are putting pressure on others to conform to our way of thinking, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.  Fourthly, God’s wisdom is reasonable, easy to be entreated, not stubborn or inflexible, but pliable and willing to listen to reason.  If we have already made up our minds and refuse to be influenced by any more acts, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.

            “Fifthly, God’s wisdom is full of mercy and good fruits.  It shows genuine concern and extends practical help toward others in need, even when they have wronged us.  Sixthly, God’s wisdom is unwavering, not hesitant or vacillating, but standing firm on Biblical principles, undivided in allegiance to God and consistent from day to day.  And finally, God’s wisdom is without hypocrisy.  When we are operating by God’s wisdom we do not wear masks, play roles, or deceive people by putting on a good front.  We do not try to conceal our true thoughts, feelings, or motives in order to make ourselves look good or to accomplish our own ends.  We are open, honest, and straightforward.

            “Here is God’s standard for measuring His wisdom.  When we begin to get our wisdom from Him, our homes will be happier, our lives more effective, and our God greatly glorified.  And there is really no time to lose.  As the Psalmist put it, ‘So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom’ (Psalm 9-:12 KJV).”

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Queen of Sheba”  (1 Kings 10:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Name the books of the Law.”

Answer in our next SD.

3/28/2014 10:14 AM

 

Part Two of Jeremiah's Message on Judah's Sin from Jer. 17:5-10

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2014 8:32 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT -2 of Message about Judah’s Sin

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 17:5-10

            Message of the verses:  We move into the second of six parts that Jeremiah preaches to the people of Judah, telling them of the sins that they have committed against the Lord.

            Unbelief (Jeremiah 17:5-10):  “5 Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 “For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. 8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit. 9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

            I can think of two different Psalms that speak of the same things that Jeremiah is writing about in this small section of Scripture.  Verses 7-8 goes along with the following verses from the first Psalm and verses “3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Next we look at verse ten and it goes along with Psalm 139:23-24 “23 Who remembered us in our low estate, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, 24 And has rescued us from our adversaries, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

            I have not posted any of my studies from 1Kings, 11Kings, 1 Chron. or 11 Chron., but in those books we will see that Judah and also Israel did not trust the Lord, but trusted in foreign powers to help them out of trouble and it got them in a lot of trouble, for the nations they trusted ended up conquering them in some cases.  I think of the godly king Hezekiah who put his trust in the Lord and the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrians who were trying to conquer Judah, and this was the exception to what most of the kings of Judah were doing.  Jeremiah compares two different plants to illustrate the difference from depending upon the Lord and other nations in verses 6-8.

            In verse nine we see the truth about the heart, for the heart of every problem is the problem of the heart, and Jeremiah makes this clear in verse nine, for all men’s hearts are corrupt and this happened as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden.  God is the only one who knows our hearts, for we don’t know our own hearts like the Lord knows it, for God knows all things and we surely do not. 

            It was because the hearts of the leaders was turned away from the Lord that caused all of the problems in the land of Judah.  The leaders had the problem of unbelief, the same problem that plagued Israel since God brought them out of Egypt.  Numbers 13-14 tell of the unbelief that kept the first generation out of the Promised Land.  Unbelief caused them to worship idols which invited them to be disciplined by the Lord all through the book of Judges.  And as we have mentioned it was unbelief in the times of the kings that caused Israel to sin against the Lord by again worshiping idols and trusting in other nations. 

            Would it be fair to say that they did not listen to what Solomon and others wrote about godly wisdom?  I think so and so I want to take a moment to write a bit about God’s Wisdom and most of what I am going to write comes from the book “The Joy of Knowing God” by Richard L. Strauss.

            “When applied to God, wisdom seems to refer to His establishing the best goals and choosing the best and most effective means to accomplish them.

            “Wisdom is mental excellence in its greatest sense, more comprehensive and far-reaching than mere knowledge.  Knowledge is an awareness and understanding of the facts.  Wisdom is the ability to adapt those facts into accomplishing a desired end.  God knows all the facts, but also has the ability to work everything He knows into a perfect plan that accomplishes His perfect purpose.  Wisdom implies a final end or goal. 

“His (Gods) chief end must there be to bring glory to Himself.  He has the skill to weave everything there ever was or ever will be into the ultimate accomplishment of His glory.”

“The Enjoyment of Wisdom”

            ‘For the Lord gives wisdom’ (Proverbs 2:6)  But how do we get it.  There are several basic prerequisites.”  I am only going to list them without going into the details.

            “The first is to admit our need.”

            “The second prerequisite is to fear the Lord.”

            “The third prerequisite is to study God’s Word.”

            “The final prerequisite is to pray.”

“The Recognition of God’s Wisdom”

            “How do we know whether the wisdom we are exercising is from God or from men, whether it is divine wisdom or human wisdom?  One way will be to compare it to the truth of God’s Word.  His wisdom will always be consistent with all of His Word.  But there is one special passage in the Word that tells us particularly how to identify God’s wisdom:  ‘But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy’ (James 3:17).  Here is the acid test.

            “First, God’s wisdom is pure, unmixed with error, untainted by immorality, unclouded by selfish motives, cleansed of all personal ambition.  If we are looking out for our own interests, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.  Secondly, God’s wisdom is peaceable, not quarrelsome, contentious, or cutting, but promoting the harmony and peace that draws people together.  If our words or actions are arousing antagonism in others, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.  Thirdly, God’s wisdom is gentle, that is, fair, moderate, forgiving, forbearing, and considerate in the demands it puts on others.  If we are putting pressure on others to conform to our way of thinking, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.  Fourthly, God’s wisdom is reasonable, easy to be entreated, not stubborn or inflexible, but pliable and willing to listen to reason.  If we have already made up our minds and refuse to be influenced by any more acts, we are probably operating by man’s wisdom rather than God’s.

            “Fifthly, God’s wisdom is full of mercy and good fruits.  It shows genuine concern and extends practical help toward others in need, even when they have wronged us.  Sixthly, God’s wisdom is unwavering, not hesitant or vacillating, but standing firm on Biblical principles, undivided in allegiance to God and consistent from day to day.  And finally, God’s wisdom is without hypocrisy.  When we are operating by God’s wisdom we do not wear masks, play roles, or deceive people by putting on a good front.  We do not try to conceal our true thoughts, feelings, or motives in order to make ourselves look good or to accomplish our own ends.  We are open, honest, and straightforward.

            “Here is God’s standard for measuring His wisdom.  When we begin to get our wisdom from Him, our homes will be happier, our lives more effective, and our God greatly glorified.  And there is really no time to lose.  As the Psalmist put it, ‘So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom’ (Psalm 9-:12 KJV).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I don’t want to be like the leaders of Judah in Jeremiah’s day, but I do want to learn about and practice God’s wisdom in my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth, and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jerusalem” (2 Kings 22:1).

Today’s Bible question:  What queen came from a long distance to visit Solomon?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/27/2014 9:58 AM

             

Jeremiah Speaks out Aginst Judah's Idolatry from Jeremiah 17:1-4

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2014 8:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  A Message about Judah’s Sins PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 17:1-4

            Message of the verses:  We begin a new section in our study of Jeremiah as we look at the 17^th chapter of Jeremiah.

Idolatry (Jeremiah 17:1-4):  “1 The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart And on the horns of their altars, 2  As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills. 3 O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, Your high places for sin throughout your borders. 4  And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.”

            Jeremiah was against the sins of Judah and in this 17^th chapter of the book he wrote he will name six sins that Judah is guilty of, starting out with the sin that the Lord was so displeased with, the sin of Idolatry.

            In this section Jeremiah describes what and where Judah worshiped that went against the Word of God, and the God of the Word.

            Judah like the rest of Israel had great opportunities to worship the one True Living God, the God of creation, the God who sustains all of His creation, the God who would send His Son to pay for the sins of the world, the God who made known His Word to the people of Judah so that they could get to know Him and so that they could pass it along to the next generation.  However they decided to live like their neighbors, the people that they were suppose to destroy, but failed to, and so they worshiped idols, which displeased the Lord.

            God is a jealous God, and this is not something that is bad when it comes to the Lord.  The first of the Ten Commandments states “3  "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4  "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”  Israel knew this and yet cared not to keep it. 

            My wife told me of some disturbing news that she heard on the radio yesterday that “World Vision,” a ministry that she help to collect money for, for a long time, and a ministry that we gave faithfully to for years has decided to bow to the pressure of the homosexual movement and hire “married homosexual couples” to work for them.  There is no difference with this organization and Judah in their sin of idolatry for both sins are forbidden in the Word of God, and yet somehow both think they could get away with it.

            We will close with the Apostle John’s final admonition to believers in his first letter that he wrote, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  May I do as John writes and guard myself from idols.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to get me through the job that I have to do this morning that it will bring glory to His name.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did no regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Peter” (John 21:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “In what city did Josiah reign?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/26/2014 8:34 AM

A Message about Jeremiah's Strange Conduct PT-4 (Jeremiah 16:19-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2014 10:23 AM

My Worship Time                             Focus:  A Message about Jeremiah’s Strange Conduct PT-4

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Jer. 16:19-21

            Message of the verses:  We will be looking at the last part of Jeremiah’s strange conduct in this SD.

Jeremiah’s affirmation (Jeremiah 16:19-21):  “19 O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility and things of no profit." 20 Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods! 21 “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know-This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.’”

            In this vision that Jeremiah has he sees a day when all the nations of the world will bow and worship the Lord, that will throw away all of their idols and worship the One True God.  I want to look at similar visions that Isaiah and also Zechariah saw. 

Isaiah 2:1-5 “1 The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2  Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. 3 And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war. 5 Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.”

Isaiah 45:14 “14  Thus says the LORD, "The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush And the Sabeans, men of stature, Will come over to you and will be yours; They will walk behind you, they will come over in chains And will bow down to you; They will make supplication to you: ’Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God.’"

Zechariah 8:20-23 “20 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 21 ’The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, "Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go." 22 ’So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ 23  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

            We can see that this will happen during the 1000 year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is explained more fully in the book of Revelations.  Israel had been given a promise that they would have a kingdom with their Messiah as the ruler of it, but the time period is given in the book of Revelations 20:1-5  “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section with the following words: “The Gentiles will confess their sin of idolatry and admit that the idols were worthless.  Then they will be taught to know the Lord.  Meanwhile, it’s the task of the church today to spread the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth so that sinners might abandon their false gods, whatever they may be, and trust in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.”  As believers we need to be up to that task.  One of the ways we can be up to this task is to be worshiping in a church where there are good spiritual leaders.  I want to copy a quote from John MacArthur that comes from my study in 1 Thessalonians, something I want to get back to early next month.  In this quote we will see what good leaders are to do, and even though we can see what they can do we will realize that without the help of the Holy Spirit of God it is impossible to do.  I have entitled this quote from John MacArthur “Praying for Pastors and Leaders” and the reason I have entitled it this way is because our Pastors and leaders need our prayers so that they can be up to the task that God has given to them.

 Praying for Pastors and Leaders

The following is a quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of 1 Thessalonians.

“Those called to be elders in the church, who preach, teach and lead God’s flock, are entrusted with the unequalled duty of proclaiming the gospel to unbelieving sinners, and bringing those who believe and are baptized into the fellowship of the local church.  There the Holy Spirit will sanctify them as they worship God in spirit and truth, submitting to the exposition and application of Scripture.  Pastors also must intercede for their people through public and private prayer, oversee the administration of the Lord’s Table so their people will regularly confess their sins and renew their covenant of obedience, equip other teachers and workers within the church, superintend and enforce church discipline, and provide biblical counseling to the congregation.  All of this spiritual work is to build up the saints to maturity—‘to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13).

“The elder must be a spiritual physician who can capably apply biblical cures to those vices and heresies that might afflict members of his church.  He also must be a tender shepherd who, while feeding the flock, also heals their wounds, clams their fears, protects them from spiritual dangers, and comforts them in their distresses.  In short, he is to be a champion form biblical truth (1 Tim. 4:12), a provider of spiritual resources (1 Peter 5:1-2), a guardian and protector (Acts 20:28-31), and always a model of spiritual virtue (1 Tim. 4:12), for all of which he is directly accountable to his Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:17; James 3:1).

“Even the uniquely gifted apostle Paul asked the question, ‘And who is adequate for these thing?’  (2 Cor. 2:16).  He realized that no man could effectively discharge the immense obligation of spiritual leadership by human wisdom, effort, and strength alone.  He knew that only God could provide the power to be an effective leader, although he struggled with his flesh and found himself not doing the things he wanted to do and doing the things he did not want to do (Rom. 7:14-25).  God graciously game him suffering and pain to continually humble him and make him dependent on divine power (2 Cor. 12:7-10).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can’t help but remember the prayer that is in Daniel chapter nine where Daniel is praying for something that God had already promised to the children of Israel, but he continued to pray about it.  I realize that the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will come just as He has promised it will, but I still believe that I need to be like Daniel and pray for it to come, for the Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples to pray for it in what we call the Lord’s Prayer:  “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Pray for opportunities to advance the cause of Christ as the Holy Spirit gives them to me.  1 Peter 3:15.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likens of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Woman of Samaria” (John 4:9-12).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘ I’m going fishing?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/25/2014 11:00 AM

 

 

Third Part of Jeremiah's Messabe about His Strange Conduct from Jer. 16:14-15

SPRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2014 9:00 AM

My Worship Time                            Focus: 3^rd Part of Jeremiah’s Message about strange conduct

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Jeremiah 16:14-15

            Message of the verses:  We are looking today at the third part of Jeremiah’s message that has to do with his strange conduct.

            Jeremiah’s Consolation (Jeremiah 16:14-15):  “14 ‘Therefore behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, ’As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ’As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.”

            We mentioned in yesterday’s SD that we saw different attributes from the verses we looked at, and one of them was God’s wrath.  Hab. 3:1-2 says “1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. 2 LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.”  The last part of verse two, the highlighted part is similar to what is said in our verses from Jeremiah that we are looking at today.

            In the middle of all the terrible things that Jeremiah is telling the people of Judah he gives them hope.  This hope comes from something that we have seen since the book of Exodus where we read many times about the Lord bringing the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but now that will change for God has promised to bring the people out of Babylon back to the land they had come from, the Promised Land.  We can call this the second Exodus and this Exodus will far outshine the one from Egypt.  Later on Jeremiah will write about the exiles being in Babylon for 70 years and we have already seen from the book of Isaiah that God would raise up Cyrus to allow them to return to their land.  One may wonder why it is that this second exodus will be far greater than the first one when the Children of Israel came out of Egypt.  I remember early on in my Christian life that the pastor I set under asked a question at the end of the morning service that would be answered in the evening service.  He asked why the temple that was built by the exiles would be greater than the one that Solomon had built.  The temple that Solomon built was much larger than the one that the exiles built, and some of the people who returned from the exile who had remembered the temple that Solomon had built actually cried when they say how much smaller the new temple was.  The answer to the question is that this new temple would be more glorious because the Lord Jesus Christ would minister from that temple, and perhaps this answers the question why this second exodus would be far greater than the first one, for the first one ended up in great sinfulness by the people of Israel.  Now we know that the Lord Jesus told the people of Jerusalem that the temple in His day on the earth would be destroyed and that the people would be scattered all around the world.  This happened in 70 AD and this was also prophesied in the book of Deuteronomy, and chapter 28.  Ezekiel prophesied that that God would call His people back to the land as seen in chapters 36-37 and this happened in May of 1948, as by the grace of God the nation of Israel was established in one day as the prophet Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah 66. 

            Getting back to Jeremiah we know that God fulfilled this promise and that when the children of Israel returned to their land they would not worship idols as they did before they went into captivity, and have not since.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I study the attributes of God it is more understandable to me how He does things as demonstrated by in the passage from the book of Habakkuk.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the grace of the Lord to be active in my life for Paul writes "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘Art thou greater than our father Jacob?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/24/2014 9:37 AM