192 Ezekiel 001 – 003; Acts 012
Lightening, wheels within wheels, strange beings, and some human like figure--how is that for some light reading? God was trying to convey to Ezekiel what the Glory of God looked like. What kind of language does one employ to communicate what the Glory of God looks like? One might use metaphorical language with a splash of apocalyptic thrown in. God was on the move. Remember the gentiles are coming to destroy the temple. God is on the move in many ways.
On the menu tonight we have lamentations, mourning, and doom. Ezekiel, you will eat the whole meal. This scroll contains what I want you to say to Israel whether they listen or not. God then draws some boundaries for Ezekiel. If you tell these people to repent and they don't then the judgment is upon them. If you do not deliver the message then the judgment is upon you as well. Ezekiel must preach and leave the results with God and the people. Sharing the Good News with your friends is your responsibility, but not the results.
Peter is in jail and could lose his life. The church gathers to pray. The answer to prayer is standing at the door but don't bother the Christians who are praying with the answer to prayer at the door. They did not believe Peter had escaped. Yet that is what they had prayed for. Those crazy Christians! Prayer works. Prayer works. Prayer works--period.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
191 Friday, July 10, 2009
191 Jeremiah 052; Acts 011
A broken dream or dreams thrown on a pile of heartaches oiled with only more pain. It is more than an old heart can take. Think of all that Israel used to stand for and it's standing in the world still. The people that knew there was something dramatically different about this nation because of their God, Yahweh. Now they are carried off like a bunch of slaves, the butt of jokes, and have lost the song of Zion. You have already read this once, yet the Lord places it in the Scripture again as if to say, ‘look at this pathetic ending.’ Nations should start well and finish well. They don't because people by and large don't start well or finish well. As we have witnessed, just because you start well is no guarantee that you will finish well. Trust and obey for there is no other way. Are you trusting and obeying today?
God has really broken through to the gentiles. God had been working through a nation called Israel. God has shifted how He works and it is causing quite a stir. God is now going to work through people called “the church.” At Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. We believe that those who called them Christians were not yet part of the church. The people witnessed God working in and through them and gave them this nick name--Christian, Christ like ones. A great name if it applies.
A broken dream or dreams thrown on a pile of heartaches oiled with only more pain. It is more than an old heart can take. Think of all that Israel used to stand for and it's standing in the world still. The people that knew there was something dramatically different about this nation because of their God, Yahweh. Now they are carried off like a bunch of slaves, the butt of jokes, and have lost the song of Zion. You have already read this once, yet the Lord places it in the Scripture again as if to say, ‘look at this pathetic ending.’ Nations should start well and finish well. They don't because people by and large don't start well or finish well. As we have witnessed, just because you start well is no guarantee that you will finish well. Trust and obey for there is no other way. Are you trusting and obeying today?
God has really broken through to the gentiles. God had been working through a nation called Israel. God has shifted how He works and it is causing quite a stir. God is now going to work through people called “the church.” At Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. We believe that those who called them Christians were not yet part of the church. The people witnessed God working in and through them and gave them this nick name--Christian, Christ like ones. A great name if it applies.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
190 Thursday, July 9, 2009
190 Jeremiah 050 – 051; Acts 10.23 – 10.48
Israel is still in the game. Israel is still speaking their original language in their ancient land of their ancestors. Israel is a miracle. There are no Moabites, Amorites, Assyrians, or Babylonians--all gone. When Jeremiah was saying these prophetic words against these nations and especially the Babylonians and Assyrians people must have thought he was crazy. The big ones are going down, but Israel will come back. Yea, and one day men will land on the moon.
Cornelius became an object lesson for Peter and some of the believing Jews. Cornelius could not be denied his baptism. We must be careful as to who we think should get in or be left out. God wants everyone to come to faith.
Israel is still in the game. Israel is still speaking their original language in their ancient land of their ancestors. Israel is a miracle. There are no Moabites, Amorites, Assyrians, or Babylonians--all gone. When Jeremiah was saying these prophetic words against these nations and especially the Babylonians and Assyrians people must have thought he was crazy. The big ones are going down, but Israel will come back. Yea, and one day men will land on the moon.
Cornelius became an object lesson for Peter and some of the believing Jews. Cornelius could not be denied his baptism. We must be careful as to who we think should get in or be left out. God wants everyone to come to faith.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
188 Tuesday, July 7, 2009
188 Jeremiah 048 – 049; Acts 10.1 – 10.23
These are not some wholesale judgments being made by God against all the nations that surrounded Israel. These nations had fought, challenged, and had tried to lure Israel into worshiping other gods for hundreds of years. God had had enough of Israel but the Lord had had enough of these godless nations as well. What we are reading is a very important time in history as the big power houses were going down and so were the smaller ones. The whole region of the Middle East was going to change forever. There is a feeling to these passages that lend themselves to where we live today. I wonder how much longer the current power structure of the world can hold up? Much of the power in the world is about the Middle East and who controls it. One day Jesus, the root of David, will come back and that region and the world will change forever.
Peter was struggling to understand just how "in" the gentiles really were in the kingdom of God. God had to give Peter a vision concerning the consumption of non kosher foods which was really about non kosher gentiles. Christ in you, the gentiles, this is the mystery of the ages.
These are not some wholesale judgments being made by God against all the nations that surrounded Israel. These nations had fought, challenged, and had tried to lure Israel into worshiping other gods for hundreds of years. God had had enough of Israel but the Lord had had enough of these godless nations as well. What we are reading is a very important time in history as the big power houses were going down and so were the smaller ones. The whole region of the Middle East was going to change forever. There is a feeling to these passages that lend themselves to where we live today. I wonder how much longer the current power structure of the world can hold up? Much of the power in the world is about the Middle East and who controls it. One day Jesus, the root of David, will come back and that region and the world will change forever.
Peter was struggling to understand just how "in" the gentiles really were in the kingdom of God. God had to give Peter a vision concerning the consumption of non kosher foods which was really about non kosher gentiles. Christ in you, the gentiles, this is the mystery of the ages.
Monday, July 6, 2009
187 Monday, July 6, 2009
187 Jeremiah 045 – 047; Acts 9.19 – 9.43
The whole world was in upheaval. There was a major shift in power. Nations who had strutted their stuff would be crawling and pawing. Nations who had struck fear in the hearts of opposing nations now would be struck with fear. What needs to be front and center is that Yahweh is over all the nations and not just Israel. The news today is front and center in heaven. God is in charge.
Saul, who had become Paul, is having to give a witness to other Christian leaders and they are struggling to believe this man. Their contentions did not deter Paul from proclaiming Christ. Perhaps the theme in Paul's life is just that, nothing deterred him from announcing the good news of Jesus Christ. What is deterring you?
The whole world was in upheaval. There was a major shift in power. Nations who had strutted their stuff would be crawling and pawing. Nations who had struck fear in the hearts of opposing nations now would be struck with fear. What needs to be front and center is that Yahweh is over all the nations and not just Israel. The news today is front and center in heaven. God is in charge.
Saul, who had become Paul, is having to give a witness to other Christian leaders and they are struggling to believe this man. Their contentions did not deter Paul from proclaiming Christ. Perhaps the theme in Paul's life is just that, nothing deterred him from announcing the good news of Jesus Christ. What is deterring you?
Sunday, July 5, 2009
186 Sunday, July 5, 2009
186 Jeremiah 042 – 044; Acts 9.1 – 9.19
What do you do with the leftovers? What do you do with people that have been marginalized? God had a message for these people. Stay in the land and do not fear Babylon or anyone else. These people had escaped or had been purposely left behind by Babylon and the Lord is saying you can make a living right here in Judah. They wanted to go to Egypt and God said, "NO." They had promised to do whatever the Lord told them to do and now they call Jeremiah a liar. Obedience must be a hard thing. Imagine you have seen everything come to pass that had been spoken by Jeremiah and now he is a liar. Jeremiah tells them ‘if you go to Egypt that doom and destruction will follow you in Egypt, for Egypt will be destroyed.’ People just don't listen.
In Acts 9 we have one the most famous testimonies ever recorded. Saul of Tarsus becomes the Apostle Paul. The persecutor of the church becomes it best known spokesman. He wrote more of the N.T. except for Luke. His conversion to the cult of Christianity caused quite a stir. It can still cause quite a stir. When is the last time you shared how you came to know Christ with a believer or better yet a seeker?
What do you do with the leftovers? What do you do with people that have been marginalized? God had a message for these people. Stay in the land and do not fear Babylon or anyone else. These people had escaped or had been purposely left behind by Babylon and the Lord is saying you can make a living right here in Judah. They wanted to go to Egypt and God said, "NO." They had promised to do whatever the Lord told them to do and now they call Jeremiah a liar. Obedience must be a hard thing. Imagine you have seen everything come to pass that had been spoken by Jeremiah and now he is a liar. Jeremiah tells them ‘if you go to Egypt that doom and destruction will follow you in Egypt, for Egypt will be destroyed.’ People just don't listen.
In Acts 9 we have one the most famous testimonies ever recorded. Saul of Tarsus becomes the Apostle Paul. The persecutor of the church becomes it best known spokesman. He wrote more of the N.T. except for Luke. His conversion to the cult of Christianity caused quite a stir. It can still cause quite a stir. When is the last time you shared how you came to know Christ with a believer or better yet a seeker?
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