219 Friday, August 7, 2009

219 Obadiah 001; Acts 027

Jan and I moved into our first house in 1977. It was ours to live in but the church owned it. They told us we could have pets and we did. We had two cats, two dogs, fish, and birds. We named the fish and the birds after the prophets. The oscar we owned was named, you guessed it, Obadiah. This prophet was writing to Edom which had been started by Esau (remember his twin brother Jacob had become Israel). They feuded as siblings and they did so as nations as well. Edom by this time was thinking, "oh boy good ol’ Israel sure has taken a beating and here we still sit, high on our perch." Edom literally was a nation built high up in the mountains. Hence they thought they could never be defeated since they had the high ground. God had not over looked their sin and here comes the judgment. God tells them that they brought down to earth. The hope is found in the last verse; they will rule with Israel one day in a just way.

Paul's cruise ship experience was not a pleasant one. Paul in this chapter as a prisoner wound up leading the group. You can lead from the middle, the backside, and from the front because if you can lead you can lead from anywhere. I am assuming here that the definition of leadership is influence. Wherever Paul went you could feel his influence.