December 13, 2010 (2 Timothy, 2 Peter, Jude)

Well, I know what my new years resolution will be - blog/journal every day. This has been pitiful! Hebrews had so much in it.

As I'm reading these final books of the New Testament, I can tell these writers are at the end of their lives. It's as if they are again reminding their readers of the important things of life. And in Paul's case, he was imprisoned for what he believed. A lot of the content in these ending books is about suffering for Jesus - something we don't know that much about, but may be coming in this godless world as we take a stand for Jesus.

I'll summarize from 2 Timothy first the verses that I thought were particularly pertinent to these days.

^2:3 Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ And as Christ's soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in his army. ⁵ Follow the Lord's rules for doing his work, just as an athlete either follows the rules or is disqualified and wins no prize.

^2:22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

^3:1 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. ² For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.³ They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. ⁴They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. ⁵ They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

^4:1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: ² Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

³ For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

⁵ But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.

⁶ As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. ⁸ And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

⁹ Timothy, please come as soon as you can. ¹⁰ Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus has gone to Dalmatia.

And now from 2 Peter. These beginning verses tell us the benefits of what happens when we know Jesus better:

^1:3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

And Peter reminds us that it isn't easy - we need to work at it. But the reward will be worth it.

^1:10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. ¹¹ Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He gives us an answer for those that laugh at the truth:

³ Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. ⁴They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

⁸ But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. ⁹The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgement.

And he ends his book with a solemn warning as to how we are to live:

^3:11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, ¹² looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. ¹³ But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

¹⁴ And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

¹⁵ And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.

December 8, 2010 (Titus 1-3, I Peter 1-5)

Why did Peter write this book? It's in his closing:

5:20 My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.

I Peter is all about enduring under trials. Our trials are God's grace for us? I guess we experience His grace more as He helps us to endure. He explains more about trials at the beginning of his book:

^1:6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. ⁷These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

⁸ You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. ⁹ The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

We are all accountable for our actions and God has no favorites:

^1:17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”

Again, we are reminded that this world is not our home:

^2:11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. ¹² Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

When I read and thought about this next verse, I had a visual image of the majesty of Christ.

^3:22 Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers are bowing before Him.

Do we really think about what is happening in heaven? We were just reminded the world is not our home - heaven is. And right now in heaven everyone is bowing to the aouthority and honor of Jesus. That is what true faith is - bowing to the authority of Jesus even when we can't 'see' Him.

The end of the world is coming soon - what are we to do?

⁷ The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. ⁸ Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹ Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.

God has given us all gifts - are they so that people can 'praise us' for what we do?

¹⁰ God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ¹¹ Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

No, when we exercise our gifts we only do it as God works through us - all praise and glory and honor belong to Him, not us. It's so easy for us to take the credit. God, forgive us and remind us that it is Your Son working through us - Christ in me, the hope of glory.

December 5, 2010 (I Timothy 1-6)

Paul's instructions to Timothy have a lot of wisdom in them:

1:19 "Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked."

There was a time when I was deliberately violating my conscience - and it absolutely killed my walk with Christ. I had no assurance of His love, no assurance of His answers to prayer, and was continually 'at war' in my soul. I truly felt like a 'shipwrecked' soul. That is no way to live and I'm grateful for His love that led me out of that period.

The spiritual life is one of training. Paul tells us "Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness." and then he acknowledges that physical training has some value but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the life to come. A few verses later we see the importance of taking our spiritual life seriously:

4:15-16 Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and your teaching. Stay true to what is right, and God will save you and those who hear you.

Can everyone see my spiritual progress? I would dare say "no".

And now for the "love of money" section and Paul's teaching about wealth:

^6:6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. ⁷ After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. ⁸ So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.

⁹ But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

¹¹ But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. ¹³ And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. ¹⁵For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. ¹⁶ He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.

¹⁷ Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. ¹⁹ By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

²⁰ Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. ²¹ Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.

May God’s grace be with you all.

December 4, 2010 (Philippians 1-4)

There is so much in these epistles of Paul. Chapter 1 contains the encouraging verse that God will never give up on us, but will continue to work in us until Christ returns:

⁶And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.

And then, another one of Pauls' prayers -

⁹ I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding. ¹⁰ For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. ¹¹ May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

What really matters in this life? That our love for each other will overflow more and more and that we will grow in our knowledge and understanding. We can't take credit for any of the good things produced in our life - Jesus is the One who does them - and this brings glory to God.

This next verse is another reminder that our focus should not be down here on earth:

²⁷ Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.

Now to Chapter two - and this verse is always convicting. I am really going to try to put this verse into practice today. I'm going to focus on it, and not forget about it. I feel like that is what I do so often....I read God's word, am convicted by it, and then just go on my merry way without really implementing the things I just read. How's verse 14 for 'impossible' -

¹⁴ In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, ¹⁵ so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. ¹⁶ Hold firmly to the word of life;

Chapter 3 contains a string of verses I have posted to my mirror. The trouble is, they are posted there, but do I read them every day? No, not in the past. But today I am renewing my commitment to read this section every day. I just timed myself - one minute. One minute to get my focus on Christ and be reminded that everything else is worthless when compared with knowing Him.

⁷ I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. ⁸ Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ ⁹ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. ¹⁰As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, ¹¹so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!

¹² I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. ¹³ No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.

¹⁵ I hope all of you who are mature Christians will agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. ¹⁶ But we must be sure to obey the truth we have learned already.

Chapter 4 has another section that needs to be on my mirror that I should read every day. I will print this out later today and tape it up there.

⁴ Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! ⁵ Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And then to end, this ties into not complaining and arguing. If we can control our thoughts, we will control our actions:

⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

Jesus, may Your grace and Your Spirit enable us to put all these things into practice. Please continue to rid us of ourselves and allow us to live in You.

December 1, 2010 (Ephesians 1-6)

Ephesians - another book like Colossians - rich in truth.

Again, we hear of God's secret plan - a plan centered on Christ. What is God's purpose?

¹² God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. ¹³ And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

And now, for the prayer verses. How would our lives change if we prayed this for one another? How convicting is verse 16? - "I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly." And now for the complete verses on the prayers we should be praying for one another.

1:16 I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people.

¹⁹ I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power ²⁰ that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. ²¹ Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.

^3:12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. ¹³ So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

¹⁴ When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵ the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. ¹⁶ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots will grow down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

²⁰ Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. ²¹ May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.

November 30, 2010 (Colossians)

Jesus is everything to us - or at least He should be.

"For God, in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes you, who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly."

What an amazing amount of truth in such a little segment. God lived in Christ. Think about that - really think about that statement. The truth of the gospel is contained in that. That is why the death of Christ was so crucial - because God punished Himself - He died to sin so that we could live through Christ. Through Christ, God reconciled everything to Himself. I used to be God's enemy, but now I am His friend. I am holy and blameless without a single fault. He has brought me into His very presence. All of that is proclaimed as truth and as being so. The last line of that paragraph is key - But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly.

"For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory."

"And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up mourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done."

And then, the first part of Chapter 3 - again, so rich in truth and in how we are supposed to act:

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. ³ For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

⁵ So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don’t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. ⁷ You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. ⁸ But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. ⁹ Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. ¹⁰ In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you. ¹¹ In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

¹⁶ Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

November 28, 2010 (Acts 20-28)

I haven't been very faithful about blogging. So pretty much all of Romans is unrecorded. I guess I just start again today. Pretty much this short blog will be based on Chapter 20:

²⁴ But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

Do I feel that way? Is my life worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned to me? Is the problem that I'm not sure what my assignment is? I guess all of us have the assignment of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

Paul had a profound dependance upon God as evidenced by this next verse:

³² “And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

That's pretty much all that any of us can do with the events/people in our lives - entrust them to God and the message of His grace. God help us to do just that.