Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Acts 4:1-37
Nothing to Hide
1While Peter and John were addressing the people, the priests, the chief of the Temple police, and some Sadducees came up, 2indignant that these upstart apostles were instructing the people and proclaiming that the resurrection from the dead had taken place in Jesus. 3They arrested them and threw them in jail until morning, for by now it was late in the evening. 4But many of those who listened had already believed the Message--in round numbers about five thousand!
5The next day a meeting was called in Jerusalem. The rulers, religious leaders, religion scholars, 6Annas the Chief Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander--everybody who was anybody was there. 7They stood Peter and John in the middle of the room and grilled them: "Who put you in charge here? What business do you have doing this?"
8With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: "Rulers and leaders of the people, 9if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, 10I'll be completely frank with you--we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the dead, by means of his name this man stands before you healthy and whole. 11Jesus is "the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.' 12Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one."
13They couldn't take their eyes off them--Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. They recognized them as companions of Jesus, 14but with the man right before them, seeing him standing there so upright--so healed!-what could they say against that?
15They sent them out of the room so they could work out a plan. They talked it over: 16"What can we do with these men? By now it's known all over town that a miracle has occurred, and that they are behind it. There is no way we can refute that. 17But so that it doesn't go any further, let's silence them with threats so they won't dare to use Jesus' name ever again with anyone."
18They called them back and warned them that they were on no account ever again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John spoke right back, "Whether it's right in God's eyes to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. 20As for us, there's no question--we can't keep quiet about what we've seen and heard."
21The religious leaders renewed their threats, but then released them. They couldn't come up with a charge that would stick, that would keep them in jail. The people wouldn't have stood for it--they were all praising God over what had happened. 22The man who had been miraculously healed was over forty years old.
One Heart, One Mind
23As soon as Peter and John were let go, they went to their friends and told them what the high priests and religious leaders had said. 24Hearing the report, they lifted their voices in a wonderful harmony in prayer: "Strong God, you made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 25By the Holy Spirit you spoke through the mouth of your servant and our father, David:
Why the big noise, nations?Why the mean plots, peoples?
26Earth's leaders push for position,Potentates meet for summit talks,The God-deniers, the Messiah--defiers!
27"For in fact they did meet--Herod and Pontius Pilate with nations and peoples, even Israel itself!-met in this very city to plot against your holy Son Jesus, the One you made Messiah, 28to carry out the plans you long ago set in motion.
29"And now they're at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, 30as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God's Word with fearless confidence.
32The whole congregation of believers was united as one--one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't have it." They shared everything. 33The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.
34And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale 35to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person's need.
36Joseph, called by the apostles "Barnabas" (which means "Son of Comfort"), a Levite born in Cyprus, 37sold a field that he owned, brought the money, and made an offering of it to the apostles.
~ Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
Have you noticed as we read through the New Testament (NT), that from the beginning of the announcements of who Jesus is/was, even beyond His resurrection, that the religious people, especially those who spent their entire lives studying laws of religion, and those who had climbed the authoritative “ladder” of leader success, always wanted to know WHO the preachers were and with what AUTHORITY they preached?
Have you also noticed that those who were not so religious and whom the religious community had disregarded, usually recognized and welcomed Jesus and His followers as though they were sent by God?
How we receive the gospel’s words to us individually, as from God or not, and through specific messengers is directly related to the love of God that is in our hearts. Sometimes knowing too much gets in the way of the ability to recognize by the spirit. The spirit of God is not found very easily inside of the reasoning of man’s mind. He is known by the spirit inside of the man.
Those who had studied so much did not even recognize God! They knew Him in the letter of the word, but did not know Him in a personal way, enough to recognize Him themselves.
There is only One name in which true eternal authority is executed, the name of Jesus. How can one know about Him without knowing Him? He is known in His word, but that word has to be made alive with living action following its book knowledge.
Think of God’s word as an instruction manual for life. If we do not act upon the instructions, they are NO good to us at all, may as well set the book down. It’d be better to take a few instructions and do them, live them, rather than to say we’ve read and know them.
Notice that even though Peter and John were not “scholars” and had no “formal” scriptural education, they were remarkably and visibly of and from God’s spirit? They were a living demonstration of God’s words, Jesus’ words were made alive for people to see. Seeing is the most impacting way of preaching, by demonstration. We can say a lot, but if there’s no proof, then the word has not been proven. People are looking for living truth and living proof!
Peter and John were so alive in Christ, they were willing to take risks, the same kinds of risks Jesus took, before a religious world, to show that world God’s love in demonstration.
What would it take for you, for me, to demonstrate that kind of love to our world? What kind of risks would it take for us to be the living word to others? I know one great risk; our own life, our own identity, our own goals, our own successes, our own self lives, these would be at great risk in order to truly demonstrate the kingdom of God to others.
I always think of what we have been given to develop God-likeness, and the 9 fruits of being filled with the spirit of God in demonstration. What would it take for me to demonstrate Him this way?
With:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Gentleness
Kindness
Faith-full-ness
Goodness
And self-control?
What would that take today to demonstrate? It would take all of me, it would take the laying down of my own life to be after the reflection of His light in others. To lift someone else up, to my own pressing down. It would take preference, doing it someone else’s way without argument or discontent.
The religious are after their own kingdoms, their own agenda’s their own exaltations, and what it takes to get their needs met, even by using others to do so.
The righteous, are after His will, and the demonstration of His love towards a lost world.
It says the disciples gave all for each other, so that no one had any needs.
The Strong’s concordance definition for the word “all” means ALL!
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Today Our Daily Bread Acts 2 ++
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Acts 2:1-47
The Holy Spirit Comes
1On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, F6 the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, F7 as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said.
Peter Preaches to a Crowd
14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel:
17 'In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.
19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred, before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
21 And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' F8
22"People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23But you followed God's prearranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him. 24However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip. 25King David said this about him:
'I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
26 No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in hope.
27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead F9 or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will give me wonderful joy in your presence.' F10
29"Dear brothers, think about this! David wasn't referring to himself when he spoke these words I have quoted, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. 30But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on David's throne as the Messiah. 31David was looking into the future and predicting the Messiah's resurrection. He was saying that the Messiah would not be left among the dead and that his body would not rot in the grave.
32"This prophecy was speaking of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and we all are witnesses of this. 33Now he sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven, at God's right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 34For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,
'The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in honor at my right hand
35 until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.' F11
36So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah!"
37Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"
38Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles F12 —all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all. 42They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer.
The Believers Meet Together
43A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. 45They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
FOOTNOTES:F6: Greek When the day of Pentecost arrived. This annual celebration came 50 days after the Passover ceremonies. See Lev 23:16. F7: Or in other tongues. F8: Joel 2:28-32. F9: Greek in Hades; also in 2:31. F10: Ps 16:8-11. F11: Ps 110:1. F12: Greek to those far away.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~ Today
It really helps us to understand the power in New Testament (NT) symbolisms, if we understand Old Testament (OT) historical celebrations.
One mentioned here is Pentecost. Pentecost was a Feast celebrated in the OT. It was also called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot, and was celebrated by the Hebrew nation. The Festival time was to celebrate the first harvest of the year. The winter was over and the spring had come and had brought its fruits from the earth. It is 7 Sunday’s after Easter time. It is 49 days after Easter, 50 days in all. 7 is the number of completion, 49 is 7 -7’s, and 50 is jubilee.
It was a great time for the people of God and time to thank Him for the labor from their work of sowing that was reaped in harvest. The work was complete and evidenced in the bounty of the harvest.
Jesus came, died, and was resurrected. He died at Passover as THE Passover Lamb who washes away the sins of the whole world. (He was a seed in the ground towards a harvest of wholeness for the world)
He rose in 3 days, which we celebrate as Easter. (His seed sprouted up unto the opportunity for the world to be saved through Him) He was seen alive after His resurrection for 40 days by as many as 500 eye witnesses. He ascended to heaven, leaving us with the promise of His Divine presence being invited on the inside of each man and woman alive from that day forward.
Do you remember how He’d said I desire to dwell in temples made without human hands? He was speaking of dwelling inside of individuals, by His spirit. The same spirit that raised Christ Jesus would come and make our physical bodies alive with eternal resurrection life, to whoever would believe and receive it.
He said, I will not leave you alone, go and wait for the part of Me to come that will fill up each of your lives, the part of Me that can live in each of you separately, making each of your one with Me, one with My earthly and heavenly purposes.
So they went to wait for His spirit as He’d told them to. They were in waiting for 10 days, making it a total of 50 days since His resurrection. Just as He was the Lamb of God at Passover, He was also the celebration of Pentecost now. The Holy Spirit came to the earth to dwell in men on the day of Pentecost. The Day of Pentecost had fully come, 7 x 7 = 49, fully, wholly, completely- come.
Why is that completeness? Because God came to forgive men, and clean them all up by Jesus’ blood, so He could live in men. Pentecost or Feast of Weeks means it’s done- finished, the celebration was about the work being over and the promise of the harvest coming in, in a visible and manifested way.
I think it is cool that the reference is made here to drunkenness, being it was the time of a festival and a celebration and thus many people from many lands had gathered around in the city for the festivities. This was a great opportunity for the Lord to show His complete work in people of the earth, who really are the harvest of the earth.
Another thing to note, the last crop of this first fruit harvest is wheat, the first crop was barley. Barley + wheat can mean many things to many, many people. Barley and wheat are used to make bread, and do we remember Jesus saying He is the Bread of Life?
There are also other uses for barley and wheat. Can anyone here guess the use I’m speaking of? Rotted, fermented, unused, not fresh grain can be made into alcohol, which intoxicates. Everyone needs something that brings them joy and peace, is that thing fresh and alive, or old and dead?
One is real and leads to eternal life, and one is temporary leading only to temporary peace and personal satisfaction for the moment. With the joy of the Holy spirit, by 9 o’clock in the morning, you can already be happy!
With the life of God in a person they can be saved, stay saved and save others from a life of sin and damnation. Death is abolished and has no sting. Also it is for all people everywhere for all time, not just a select few of a certain race, color, religion, etc.
Everyone can approach God through the shed blood of the Lamb and everyone can live each day in His presence. In times past it was only priests from certain family lines who knew the approach. Women never became priests, Gentiles and people of other races never became priests, but now we all can approach God and be kings and priests unto Him in our own homes everyday.
So, "Brothers, what should we do?"
"Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles —all who have been called by the Lord our God." "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
Believe and receive Him into your own personal life.
And come and join yourselves to the body of Christ which is the fullness of Him in demonstration, where you will be fed living eternal bread, daily and be filled with the real joy of God’s spirit, rather than every other substitute that really only leads to a temporary high, but does not eternally satisfy.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Acts 2:1-47
The Holy Spirit Comes
1On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, F6 the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, F7 as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said.
Peter Preaches to a Crowd
14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel:
17 'In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.
19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred, before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
21 And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' F8
22"People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23But you followed God's prearranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him. 24However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip. 25King David said this about him:
'I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
26 No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in hope.
27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead F9 or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will give me wonderful joy in your presence.' F10
29"Dear brothers, think about this! David wasn't referring to himself when he spoke these words I have quoted, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. 30But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on David's throne as the Messiah. 31David was looking into the future and predicting the Messiah's resurrection. He was saying that the Messiah would not be left among the dead and that his body would not rot in the grave.
32"This prophecy was speaking of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and we all are witnesses of this. 33Now he sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven, at God's right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 34For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,
'The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in honor at my right hand
35 until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.' F11
36So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah!"
37Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"
38Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles F12 —all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all. 42They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer.
The Believers Meet Together
43A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. 45They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
FOOTNOTES:F6: Greek When the day of Pentecost arrived. This annual celebration came 50 days after the Passover ceremonies. See Lev 23:16. F7: Or in other tongues. F8: Joel 2:28-32. F9: Greek in Hades; also in 2:31. F10: Ps 16:8-11. F11: Ps 110:1. F12: Greek to those far away.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~ Today
It really helps us to understand the power in New Testament (NT) symbolisms, if we understand Old Testament (OT) historical celebrations.
One mentioned here is Pentecost. Pentecost was a Feast celebrated in the OT. It was also called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot, and was celebrated by the Hebrew nation. The Festival time was to celebrate the first harvest of the year. The winter was over and the spring had come and had brought its fruits from the earth. It is 7 Sunday’s after Easter time. It is 49 days after Easter, 50 days in all. 7 is the number of completion, 49 is 7 -7’s, and 50 is jubilee.
It was a great time for the people of God and time to thank Him for the labor from their work of sowing that was reaped in harvest. The work was complete and evidenced in the bounty of the harvest.
Jesus came, died, and was resurrected. He died at Passover as THE Passover Lamb who washes away the sins of the whole world. (He was a seed in the ground towards a harvest of wholeness for the world)
He rose in 3 days, which we celebrate as Easter. (His seed sprouted up unto the opportunity for the world to be saved through Him) He was seen alive after His resurrection for 40 days by as many as 500 eye witnesses. He ascended to heaven, leaving us with the promise of His Divine presence being invited on the inside of each man and woman alive from that day forward.
Do you remember how He’d said I desire to dwell in temples made without human hands? He was speaking of dwelling inside of individuals, by His spirit. The same spirit that raised Christ Jesus would come and make our physical bodies alive with eternal resurrection life, to whoever would believe and receive it.
He said, I will not leave you alone, go and wait for the part of Me to come that will fill up each of your lives, the part of Me that can live in each of you separately, making each of your one with Me, one with My earthly and heavenly purposes.
So they went to wait for His spirit as He’d told them to. They were in waiting for 10 days, making it a total of 50 days since His resurrection. Just as He was the Lamb of God at Passover, He was also the celebration of Pentecost now. The Holy Spirit came to the earth to dwell in men on the day of Pentecost. The Day of Pentecost had fully come, 7 x 7 = 49, fully, wholly, completely- come.
Why is that completeness? Because God came to forgive men, and clean them all up by Jesus’ blood, so He could live in men. Pentecost or Feast of Weeks means it’s done- finished, the celebration was about the work being over and the promise of the harvest coming in, in a visible and manifested way.
I think it is cool that the reference is made here to drunkenness, being it was the time of a festival and a celebration and thus many people from many lands had gathered around in the city for the festivities. This was a great opportunity for the Lord to show His complete work in people of the earth, who really are the harvest of the earth.
Another thing to note, the last crop of this first fruit harvest is wheat, the first crop was barley. Barley + wheat can mean many things to many, many people. Barley and wheat are used to make bread, and do we remember Jesus saying He is the Bread of Life?
There are also other uses for barley and wheat. Can anyone here guess the use I’m speaking of? Rotted, fermented, unused, not fresh grain can be made into alcohol, which intoxicates. Everyone needs something that brings them joy and peace, is that thing fresh and alive, or old and dead?
One is real and leads to eternal life, and one is temporary leading only to temporary peace and personal satisfaction for the moment. With the joy of the Holy spirit, by 9 o’clock in the morning, you can already be happy!
With the life of God in a person they can be saved, stay saved and save others from a life of sin and damnation. Death is abolished and has no sting. Also it is for all people everywhere for all time, not just a select few of a certain race, color, religion, etc.
Everyone can approach God through the shed blood of the Lamb and everyone can live each day in His presence. In times past it was only priests from certain family lines who knew the approach. Women never became priests, Gentiles and people of other races never became priests, but now we all can approach God and be kings and priests unto Him in our own homes everyday.
So, "Brothers, what should we do?"
"Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles —all who have been called by the Lord our God." "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
Believe and receive Him into your own personal life.
And come and join yourselves to the body of Christ which is the fullness of Him in demonstration, where you will be fed living eternal bread, daily and be filled with the real joy of God’s spirit, rather than every other substitute that really only leads to a temporary high, but does not eternally satisfy.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Today Our Daily Bread Isaiah 58 ++
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Isaiah 58:1-14
True and False Worship
1" Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Tell my people Israel F119 of their sins!
2Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf.
3'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!'
"I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing your workers. 4What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. 5You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6"No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. 7I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8"If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind. 9Then when you call, the LORD will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply. "Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors! 10Feed the hungry and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. 11The LORD will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy, too. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. 12Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
13"Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don't pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day. Honor the LORD in everything you do, and don't follow your own desires or talk idly. If you do this, 14the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and give you your full share of the inheritance I promised to Jacob, your ancestor. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
FOOTNOTES:F119: Hebrew Jacob.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journailn’ Today~
WOW what a passage, huh?
I hear in here, Don’t be religious, looking like you’re good when you’re with people who you think you can impress with your religious look, making them think you’ve got it together with God, as though your life points the way. Live the ways the word has taught us to live - daily.
It is specifically saying let’s not point fingers. That means while you read this, don’t say, “I knew it, the church is full of a bunch of hypocrites, see I was right, they’re a bunch of phony no goods”! THAT is pointing the finger. Ever heard the saying that when we point one finger there are 3 or 4 pointing back at ourselves? It is true. When we hear the word we absolutely need to use it as a mirror and a measuring tool for our own souls.
Here are a few things to measure with today
Do I receive the words that tell me I’ve sinned, or do I resist them, saying I’m ok as I am?
Do I ever act like it is great to go to church and paint a picture to others of being a church goer who seeks God and then when it comes down to living as He’s asked , we do our own thing?
Do I do things for God with the expectation of reciprocation from Him? Like saying, “Lord, I’ve gone to church and tithed all of these years, now why am I need of money, doesn’t Your word work, I’ve obviously worked Your word”?
Do I ever say in my heart, “I’ve made lots of sacrifices for You, can’t you see that, now where is my reward?”
Do I live for myself, my own comfort, my own glory, my own way and not want anyone to tell me what to do?
Am I an independent spirit?
Do I ever oppress anyone, ever?
Do I fight and quarrel with those I could be a demonstration of the true love of God to?
Do I need to always make my own point & opinion known?
Do I bow my head in prayer, acting humble?
Do I need to show people I’m suffering to be more like the Lord, or do I need to show them I’m trying to do what He’s asked me to do, for Him? (so they can SEE how holy I am?)
Do I free people from the bondage that my unforgiveness has locked them in spiritual imprisonment to?
Will I stop pressing down the people under my “authority”, and rather encourage them and lift them up?
Will I share food with the hungry, spiritually and naturally speaking?
Do I/will I welcome people into my home?
Will I help cover people, who have been naked in many aspects of their life, or am I one who wants to expose (their sins) to others so everyone knows what they are really like?
Do I escape what is hard on me where people who are close to me are concerned, like shrinking into a turtle shell Or do I willingly, by my sincere trust of God come out and deal with whatever needs to be dealt with? Even ifI know it will be insult or injury to my own person? Even knowing they will be lashing out at me? Do I listen with receptivity or a closed off mind? Even when they are wrong?
Do I spread rumors, trying to prove to others how right I am and how wrong others are?
Do I help people who are in real trouble, putting their needs above my own?
How much (percentage wise) do I live my own life for me?
How much of my time is spent in pursuit of my own interests?
How much thought, effort, etc do I put into God’s desires for this earth? Spiritually speaking.
How many of my prayers are about God showing me what He’d like for me to do or be a part of, even if I know I won’t want to do it, right away?
How much of my talking is truly for the magnification of the Lord, His word and His plans for the earth’s salvation?
How much do others hear me speak of how great it is to go to God’s house, because I want to, not because I feel I have to do my weekly sacrifice before God, so He’ll love me and favor me?
If I never fast from eating physical food and I do these things, I will have gained a tremendous amount of favor with God and men.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Isaiah 58:1-14
True and False Worship
1" Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Tell my people Israel F119 of their sins!
2Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf.
3'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!'
"I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing your workers. 4What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. 5You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6"No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. 7I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8"If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind. 9Then when you call, the LORD will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply. "Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors! 10Feed the hungry and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. 11The LORD will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy, too. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. 12Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
13"Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don't pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day. Honor the LORD in everything you do, and don't follow your own desires or talk idly. If you do this, 14the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and give you your full share of the inheritance I promised to Jacob, your ancestor. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
FOOTNOTES:F119: Hebrew Jacob.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journailn’ Today~
WOW what a passage, huh?
I hear in here, Don’t be religious, looking like you’re good when you’re with people who you think you can impress with your religious look, making them think you’ve got it together with God, as though your life points the way. Live the ways the word has taught us to live - daily.
It is specifically saying let’s not point fingers. That means while you read this, don’t say, “I knew it, the church is full of a bunch of hypocrites, see I was right, they’re a bunch of phony no goods”! THAT is pointing the finger. Ever heard the saying that when we point one finger there are 3 or 4 pointing back at ourselves? It is true. When we hear the word we absolutely need to use it as a mirror and a measuring tool for our own souls.
Here are a few things to measure with today
Do I receive the words that tell me I’ve sinned, or do I resist them, saying I’m ok as I am?
Do I ever act like it is great to go to church and paint a picture to others of being a church goer who seeks God and then when it comes down to living as He’s asked , we do our own thing?
Do I do things for God with the expectation of reciprocation from Him? Like saying, “Lord, I’ve gone to church and tithed all of these years, now why am I need of money, doesn’t Your word work, I’ve obviously worked Your word”?
Do I ever say in my heart, “I’ve made lots of sacrifices for You, can’t you see that, now where is my reward?”
Do I live for myself, my own comfort, my own glory, my own way and not want anyone to tell me what to do?
Am I an independent spirit?
Do I ever oppress anyone, ever?
Do I fight and quarrel with those I could be a demonstration of the true love of God to?
Do I need to always make my own point & opinion known?
Do I bow my head in prayer, acting humble?
Do I need to show people I’m suffering to be more like the Lord, or do I need to show them I’m trying to do what He’s asked me to do, for Him? (so they can SEE how holy I am?)
Do I free people from the bondage that my unforgiveness has locked them in spiritual imprisonment to?
Will I stop pressing down the people under my “authority”, and rather encourage them and lift them up?
Will I share food with the hungry, spiritually and naturally speaking?
Do I/will I welcome people into my home?
Will I help cover people, who have been naked in many aspects of their life, or am I one who wants to expose (their sins) to others so everyone knows what they are really like?
Do I escape what is hard on me where people who are close to me are concerned, like shrinking into a turtle shell Or do I willingly, by my sincere trust of God come out and deal with whatever needs to be dealt with? Even ifI know it will be insult or injury to my own person? Even knowing they will be lashing out at me? Do I listen with receptivity or a closed off mind? Even when they are wrong?
Do I spread rumors, trying to prove to others how right I am and how wrong others are?
Do I help people who are in real trouble, putting their needs above my own?
How much (percentage wise) do I live my own life for me?
How much of my time is spent in pursuit of my own interests?
How much thought, effort, etc do I put into God’s desires for this earth? Spiritually speaking.
How many of my prayers are about God showing me what He’d like for me to do or be a part of, even if I know I won’t want to do it, right away?
How much of my talking is truly for the magnification of the Lord, His word and His plans for the earth’s salvation?
How much do others hear me speak of how great it is to go to God’s house, because I want to, not because I feel I have to do my weekly sacrifice before God, so He’ll love me and favor me?
If I never fast from eating physical food and I do these things, I will have gained a tremendous amount of favor with God and men.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Today Our Daily Bread John 7 ++
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 7:1-53
Jesus and His Brothers
1After this, Jesus stayed in Galilee, going from village to village. He wanted to stay out of Judea where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2But soon it was time for the Festival of Shelters, 3and Jesus' brothers urged him to go to Judea for the celebration. "Go where your followers can see your miracles!" they scoffed. 4"You can't become a public figure if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, prove it to the world!" 5For even his brothers didn't believe in him.
6Jesus replied, "Now is not the right time for me to go. But you can go anytime, and it will make no difference. 7The world can't hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of sin and evil. 8You go on. I am not yet F32 ready to go to this festival, because my time has not yet come." 9So Jesus remained in Galilee.
Jesus Teaches Openly at the Temple
10But after his brothers had left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12There was a lot of discussion about him among the crowds. Some said, "He's a wonderful man," while others said, "He's nothing but a fraud, deceiving the people." 13But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.
14Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15The Jewish leaders were surprised when they heard him. "How does he know so much when he hasn't studied everything we've studied?" they asked.
16So Jesus told them, "I'm not teaching my own ideas, but those of God who sent me. 17Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. 18Those who present their own ideas are looking for praise for themselves, but those who seek to honor the one who sent them are good and genuine. 19None of you obeys the law of Moses! In fact, you are trying to kill me."
20The crowd replied, "You're demon possessed! Who's trying to kill you?"
21Jesus replied, "I worked on the Sabbath by healing a man, and you were offended. 22But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses' law of circumcision. (Actually, this tradition of circumcision is older than the law of Moses; it goes back to Abraham.) 23For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it, so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should I be condemned for making a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24Think this through and you will see that I am right."
Is Jesus the Messiah?
25Some of the people who lived there in Jerusalem said among themselves, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that our leaders know that he really is the Messiah? 27But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from."
28While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I represent one you don't know, and he is true. 29I know him because I have come from him, and he sent me to you." 30Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
31Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. "After all," they said, "would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?"
32When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were murmuring such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus. 33But Jesus told them, "I will be here a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me. 34You will search for me but not find me. And you won't be able to come where I am."
35The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. "Where is he planning to go?" they asked. "Maybe he is thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands, or maybe even to the Gentiles! 36What does he mean when he says, 'You will search for me but not find me,' and 'You won't be able to come where I am'?"
Jesus Promises Living Water
37On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "If you are thirsty, come to me! 38If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within." F33 39(When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
Division and Unbelief
40When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, "This man surely is the Prophet." F34 41Others said, "He is the Messiah." Still others said, "But he can't be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? 42For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born." F35 43So the crowd was divided in their opinion about him. 44And some wanted him arrested, but no one touched him.
45The Temple guards who had been sent to arrest him returned to the leading priests and Pharisees. "Why didn't you bring him in?" they demanded.
46"We have never heard anyone talk like this!" the guards responded.
47"Have you been led astray, too?" the Pharisees mocked. 48"Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? 49These ignorant crowds do, but what do they know about it? A curse on them anyway!"
50Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, then spoke up. 51"Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?" he asked.
52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!"
[The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11.]
53Then the meeting broke up and everybody went home.
FOOTNOTES:F32: Some manuscripts omit yet. F33: Or "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow from the heart of those who believe in me." F34: See Deut 18:15, 18. F35: See Mic 5:2.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
Dear ones, have you ever felt anger towards God? Being completely honest with my own soul, I have.
As I read today I realize that the very acts of obedience to God are the very core of anger towards him. Such as, If you love me you will obey Me…But if he asks us to obey Him, we get angry. If we feel the word is telling us what to do, and that things is against what our natural soul had already decided to do, or how to live, then we get upset and the request for a change of plans.
Where does that resistance come from?
It actually started in heaven long ago, when Lucifer, a created by God being who orchestrated continual worship of God, rose up, deciding he was tired of giving away praise all of the time to God, and he wanted praise himself. He wanted to make the decisions himself, rather than “someone” telling him what to do, he wanted to be god. Pride started it and rebellion led it.
Isn’t that the natural struggle we all have in our daily lives. We want to decide, we want to be praised, we want to rule and have the say, without having to be told by “anyone else”?
It’s root is from way back before man was ever created on earth.
Man struggles with the root, because the result of the rebellion came right here down to earth and lives here in this atmosphere with 1/3rd of the angelic realm helping feed it’s cause. Their dominion became the very realm we live in everyday.
Then, God set another freewill being on the planet to prove His unconditional love and the power of that love to draw men and change them into His image no matter what had been done.
Men are men and they failed and they fail, they need/needed help to take that rule in God back. Wow God actually placed that rule man so desires into his hands, and the first place to practice that rule is in one’s own life in relation to one’s Creator and father God. It’s not to rule instead of God, but to rule with God, so He’d have a plurality of ruler ship. He was giving man His desires to rule, over himself first and then if it was proven or developed in the man personally, then he would also help others to get to a place of ruling themselves also.
So these religious guys were fiery hot enough to want to get rid of Jesus, why? He was getting in the way of their backwards pride-filled rule. He was here to take back right order and to show them how to rule self first before ruling others. They’d been ruling others, but not self, and now they were mad.
I like how Jesus says, It was/is not yet My time.
Notice how Nicodemus who had heard truth spoken to him personally from Jesus, argued for Jesus?
He had a personal revelation enough to begin to change his mind. Have we?
If we find ourselves resisting any words from God through any vessels of God and saying to ourselves or to others things like, we don’t do it THAT way, and I don’t have to change, and you can’t or won’t tell me what to do, or who do they think they are judging me, or if all we can do is reason out the words of God, we need to check our measure of rule and see who is in charge, God or my ascension which rides above God nature. Good thing to correct now, before it may be too late.
He will tell us later who He knows and who he doesn’t. Those who love Him enough to change in obedience to His words, know Him, personally. Those who always serve themselves, know themselves very well. They know their own needs, their own desires, their own plans, their won ways, they rule and they are king, but there IS another King, we decided whether He rules us or not, or we de-seat Him and we get on the throne. Would you like to know a person like that and be their fine friend, if they de-seat you? If they don’t ever listen to you or disregard your advise?
We are a lot like God in our nature and He is a “gentleman”, if we don’t want Him on out thrones’, he won’t be.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 7:1-53
Jesus and His Brothers
1After this, Jesus stayed in Galilee, going from village to village. He wanted to stay out of Judea where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2But soon it was time for the Festival of Shelters, 3and Jesus' brothers urged him to go to Judea for the celebration. "Go where your followers can see your miracles!" they scoffed. 4"You can't become a public figure if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, prove it to the world!" 5For even his brothers didn't believe in him.
6Jesus replied, "Now is not the right time for me to go. But you can go anytime, and it will make no difference. 7The world can't hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of sin and evil. 8You go on. I am not yet F32 ready to go to this festival, because my time has not yet come." 9So Jesus remained in Galilee.
Jesus Teaches Openly at the Temple
10But after his brothers had left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12There was a lot of discussion about him among the crowds. Some said, "He's a wonderful man," while others said, "He's nothing but a fraud, deceiving the people." 13But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.
14Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15The Jewish leaders were surprised when they heard him. "How does he know so much when he hasn't studied everything we've studied?" they asked.
16So Jesus told them, "I'm not teaching my own ideas, but those of God who sent me. 17Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. 18Those who present their own ideas are looking for praise for themselves, but those who seek to honor the one who sent them are good and genuine. 19None of you obeys the law of Moses! In fact, you are trying to kill me."
20The crowd replied, "You're demon possessed! Who's trying to kill you?"
21Jesus replied, "I worked on the Sabbath by healing a man, and you were offended. 22But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses' law of circumcision. (Actually, this tradition of circumcision is older than the law of Moses; it goes back to Abraham.) 23For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it, so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should I be condemned for making a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24Think this through and you will see that I am right."
Is Jesus the Messiah?
25Some of the people who lived there in Jerusalem said among themselves, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that our leaders know that he really is the Messiah? 27But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from."
28While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I represent one you don't know, and he is true. 29I know him because I have come from him, and he sent me to you." 30Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
31Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. "After all," they said, "would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?"
32When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were murmuring such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus. 33But Jesus told them, "I will be here a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me. 34You will search for me but not find me. And you won't be able to come where I am."
35The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. "Where is he planning to go?" they asked. "Maybe he is thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands, or maybe even to the Gentiles! 36What does he mean when he says, 'You will search for me but not find me,' and 'You won't be able to come where I am'?"
Jesus Promises Living Water
37On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "If you are thirsty, come to me! 38If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within." F33 39(When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
Division and Unbelief
40When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, "This man surely is the Prophet." F34 41Others said, "He is the Messiah." Still others said, "But he can't be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? 42For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born." F35 43So the crowd was divided in their opinion about him. 44And some wanted him arrested, but no one touched him.
45The Temple guards who had been sent to arrest him returned to the leading priests and Pharisees. "Why didn't you bring him in?" they demanded.
46"We have never heard anyone talk like this!" the guards responded.
47"Have you been led astray, too?" the Pharisees mocked. 48"Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? 49These ignorant crowds do, but what do they know about it? A curse on them anyway!"
50Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, then spoke up. 51"Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?" he asked.
52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!"
[The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11.]
53Then the meeting broke up and everybody went home.
FOOTNOTES:F32: Some manuscripts omit yet. F33: Or "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow from the heart of those who believe in me." F34: See Deut 18:15, 18. F35: See Mic 5:2.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
Dear ones, have you ever felt anger towards God? Being completely honest with my own soul, I have.
As I read today I realize that the very acts of obedience to God are the very core of anger towards him. Such as, If you love me you will obey Me…But if he asks us to obey Him, we get angry. If we feel the word is telling us what to do, and that things is against what our natural soul had already decided to do, or how to live, then we get upset and the request for a change of plans.
Where does that resistance come from?
It actually started in heaven long ago, when Lucifer, a created by God being who orchestrated continual worship of God, rose up, deciding he was tired of giving away praise all of the time to God, and he wanted praise himself. He wanted to make the decisions himself, rather than “someone” telling him what to do, he wanted to be god. Pride started it and rebellion led it.
Isn’t that the natural struggle we all have in our daily lives. We want to decide, we want to be praised, we want to rule and have the say, without having to be told by “anyone else”?
It’s root is from way back before man was ever created on earth.
Man struggles with the root, because the result of the rebellion came right here down to earth and lives here in this atmosphere with 1/3rd of the angelic realm helping feed it’s cause. Their dominion became the very realm we live in everyday.
Then, God set another freewill being on the planet to prove His unconditional love and the power of that love to draw men and change them into His image no matter what had been done.
Men are men and they failed and they fail, they need/needed help to take that rule in God back. Wow God actually placed that rule man so desires into his hands, and the first place to practice that rule is in one’s own life in relation to one’s Creator and father God. It’s not to rule instead of God, but to rule with God, so He’d have a plurality of ruler ship. He was giving man His desires to rule, over himself first and then if it was proven or developed in the man personally, then he would also help others to get to a place of ruling themselves also.
So these religious guys were fiery hot enough to want to get rid of Jesus, why? He was getting in the way of their backwards pride-filled rule. He was here to take back right order and to show them how to rule self first before ruling others. They’d been ruling others, but not self, and now they were mad.
I like how Jesus says, It was/is not yet My time.
Notice how Nicodemus who had heard truth spoken to him personally from Jesus, argued for Jesus?
He had a personal revelation enough to begin to change his mind. Have we?
If we find ourselves resisting any words from God through any vessels of God and saying to ourselves or to others things like, we don’t do it THAT way, and I don’t have to change, and you can’t or won’t tell me what to do, or who do they think they are judging me, or if all we can do is reason out the words of God, we need to check our measure of rule and see who is in charge, God or my ascension which rides above God nature. Good thing to correct now, before it may be too late.
He will tell us later who He knows and who he doesn’t. Those who love Him enough to change in obedience to His words, know Him, personally. Those who always serve themselves, know themselves very well. They know their own needs, their own desires, their own plans, their won ways, they rule and they are king, but there IS another King, we decided whether He rules us or not, or we de-seat Him and we get on the throne. Would you like to know a person like that and be their fine friend, if they de-seat you? If they don’t ever listen to you or disregard your advise?
We are a lot like God in our nature and He is a “gentleman”, if we don’t want Him on out thrones’, he won’t be.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Today Our Daily Bread Isa 12 ++
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
Today, being that the passage was only 6 verses long, I decided to post it in several translations to show comparison and how even reading the same passages more than one time or saying it another way can help us better se what is being said to us personally.
Ever felt God’s displeasure with your life, choices you’ve made and places your choices have brought you to? I’m in a time like that right now, and I could stay here and dwell on wrongs, displeasure disappointment or I can make a right choice and see it and use it to lead me away from it and on to greater areas of the rule of Christ in my life.
Yeah maybe God was angry, but it is only because His love for us is so great, that he desires all that is good for our lives. In Him is the only place to find true peace. Most of us search for that peace in relationships with other people, and after awhile we find that the peace we really need can never ever come from any person on earth, and we must go deep into the heart of God. It’s funny, because we can’t get the eternal satisfaction we really need from people, but we also are not to live separated from them, and even all of the hurts they may cause us. That seems backwards at times, doesn’t it? The thing is if we’ve gotten to a place in God where we are confident in His peace and he is the sole source of that peace, what can man do to me, because without God, if a man fails me I have no place to go, but with God, if man fails me, I just go where I always go, to the Rock of my salvation, to My Father God, to m Divine Daddy & to His Son Jesus. Really what can man do to us? “Kill” us? If we don’t have Christ that would be tragic, because our lives would be spent, all the way, the best years of our lives would have been on earth, where if we are in Christ, if men were to “kill” us, where would we be, but with our Father. I feel such a fear when I think of people living only for satisfaction of getting through what makes one happy today, because if they are not living for God looking at eternal wellness they may in their supposed “happiness” be reaching into the wrong “hat” to pull out their eternal destiny. Sometime even sin satisfies us for a time, gives us a sense of peace and a rest from the call for needed change. That peace is Not the peace of God, beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothes, he’s out for your eternal soul in the name of relief!
How do we give praise to God? Songs? Yes, Hymn’s? Yes, Life? Love? Obedience in living righteously? Yes! Give God the praise, don’t give praise to God’s enemies, the enemies of our souls.
Anyway,
Here are the comparative words fro the day.
Love U, Lena
Isaiah 12:1-6 Multi Translations (for comparison and the example of the opening of the door of the word for greater insight)
New Life Bible
You will say on that day, "I will give thanks to You, O Lord. Even though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me.
See, God saves me. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and song. And He has become the One Who saves me."
As water from a well brings joy to the thirsty, so people have joy when He saves them. In that day you will say, "Give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Make known His works among the people. Help them remember that His name is honored."
Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done great things. Let this be known in all the earth. Call out and sing for joy, O people of Zion. For the Holy One of Israel is great among you.
The Amplified Bible
AND IN that day you will say, I will give thanks to You, O Lord; for though You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You comfort me.
Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and song; yes, He has become my salvation.
Therefore with joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation.
And in that day you will say, Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name and by means of His name [in solemn entreaty]; declare and make known His deeds among the peoples of the earth, proclaim that His name is exalted!
Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent things [gloriously]; let this be made known to all the earth. Cry aloud and shout joyfully, you women and inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
The New American Standard Bible
Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted." Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation. "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation."
Then you will say on that day, "I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me.
Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
"Yes, indeed--God is my salvation. I trust, I won't be afraid. GOD-yes GOD!-is my strength and song, best of all, my salvation!" And you will say in that day, "I thank you, GOD. You were angry but your anger wasn't forever. You withdrew your anger and moved in and comforted me.
Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation.
And as you do it, you'll say, "Give thanks to GOD. Call out his name. Ask him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done, spread the news of his great reputation!
"Sing praise-songs to GOD. He's done it all! Let the whole earth know what he's done! Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion! The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel."
GOD'S WORD
At that time you will say, "I will praise you, O LORD. Although you had been angry with me, you turned your anger away from me, and you comforted me. Look! God is my Savior. I am confident and unafraid, because the LORD is my strength and my song. He is my Savior."
At that time you will say, "Praise the LORD. Call on his name. Make his deeds known among the nations. Make them remember that his name is highly honored. Make music to praise the LORD. He has done wonderful things. Let this be known throughout the earth. Shout loudly, and sing with joy, people of Zion! The Holy One of Israel is great. He is among you."
The King James Version (Authorized)
And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
The New King James Version
And in that day you will say: "O LORD, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; "For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation."'
Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say: "Praise the LORD, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted.
Sing to the LORD, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!"
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
In that day you will say: "I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
Today, being that the passage was only 6 verses long, I decided to post it in several translations to show comparison and how even reading the same passages more than one time or saying it another way can help us better se what is being said to us personally.
Ever felt God’s displeasure with your life, choices you’ve made and places your choices have brought you to? I’m in a time like that right now, and I could stay here and dwell on wrongs, displeasure disappointment or I can make a right choice and see it and use it to lead me away from it and on to greater areas of the rule of Christ in my life.
Yeah maybe God was angry, but it is only because His love for us is so great, that he desires all that is good for our lives. In Him is the only place to find true peace. Most of us search for that peace in relationships with other people, and after awhile we find that the peace we really need can never ever come from any person on earth, and we must go deep into the heart of God. It’s funny, because we can’t get the eternal satisfaction we really need from people, but we also are not to live separated from them, and even all of the hurts they may cause us. That seems backwards at times, doesn’t it? The thing is if we’ve gotten to a place in God where we are confident in His peace and he is the sole source of that peace, what can man do to me, because without God, if a man fails me I have no place to go, but with God, if man fails me, I just go where I always go, to the Rock of my salvation, to My Father God, to m Divine Daddy & to His Son Jesus. Really what can man do to us? “Kill” us? If we don’t have Christ that would be tragic, because our lives would be spent, all the way, the best years of our lives would have been on earth, where if we are in Christ, if men were to “kill” us, where would we be, but with our Father. I feel such a fear when I think of people living only for satisfaction of getting through what makes one happy today, because if they are not living for God looking at eternal wellness they may in their supposed “happiness” be reaching into the wrong “hat” to pull out their eternal destiny. Sometime even sin satisfies us for a time, gives us a sense of peace and a rest from the call for needed change. That peace is Not the peace of God, beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothes, he’s out for your eternal soul in the name of relief!
How do we give praise to God? Songs? Yes, Hymn’s? Yes, Life? Love? Obedience in living righteously? Yes! Give God the praise, don’t give praise to God’s enemies, the enemies of our souls.
Anyway,
Here are the comparative words fro the day.
Love U, Lena
Isaiah 12:1-6 Multi Translations (for comparison and the example of the opening of the door of the word for greater insight)
New Life Bible
You will say on that day, "I will give thanks to You, O Lord. Even though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me.
See, God saves me. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and song. And He has become the One Who saves me."
As water from a well brings joy to the thirsty, so people have joy when He saves them. In that day you will say, "Give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Make known His works among the people. Help them remember that His name is honored."
Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done great things. Let this be known in all the earth. Call out and sing for joy, O people of Zion. For the Holy One of Israel is great among you.
The Amplified Bible
AND IN that day you will say, I will give thanks to You, O Lord; for though You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You comfort me.
Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and song; yes, He has become my salvation.
Therefore with joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation.
And in that day you will say, Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name and by means of His name [in solemn entreaty]; declare and make known His deeds among the peoples of the earth, proclaim that His name is exalted!
Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent things [gloriously]; let this be made known to all the earth. Cry aloud and shout joyfully, you women and inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
The New American Standard Bible
Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted." Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation. "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation."
Then you will say on that day, "I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me.
Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
"Yes, indeed--God is my salvation. I trust, I won't be afraid. GOD-yes GOD!-is my strength and song, best of all, my salvation!" And you will say in that day, "I thank you, GOD. You were angry but your anger wasn't forever. You withdrew your anger and moved in and comforted me.
Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation.
And as you do it, you'll say, "Give thanks to GOD. Call out his name. Ask him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done, spread the news of his great reputation!
"Sing praise-songs to GOD. He's done it all! Let the whole earth know what he's done! Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion! The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel."
GOD'S WORD
At that time you will say, "I will praise you, O LORD. Although you had been angry with me, you turned your anger away from me, and you comforted me. Look! God is my Savior. I am confident and unafraid, because the LORD is my strength and my song. He is my Savior."
At that time you will say, "Praise the LORD. Call on his name. Make his deeds known among the nations. Make them remember that his name is highly honored. Make music to praise the LORD. He has done wonderful things. Let this be known throughout the earth. Shout loudly, and sing with joy, people of Zion! The Holy One of Israel is great. He is among you."
The King James Version (Authorized)
And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
The New King James Version
And in that day you will say: "O LORD, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; "For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation."'
Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say: "Praise the LORD, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted.
Sing to the LORD, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!"
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
In that day you will say: "I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Toady Our Daily Bread John 4
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 4:1-54
A Woman Of Samaria At The Well
1Jesus knew the proud religious law-keepers had heard He was making and baptizing more followers than John. 2Jesus did not baptize anyone Himself but His followers did. 3Then Jesus went from the country of Judea to the country of Galilee. 4He had to go through the country of Samaria. 5So He came to a town in Samaria called Sycar. It was near the piece of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there. Jesus was tired from traveling so He sat down just as He was by the well. It was about noon.
7A woman of Samaria came to get water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8His followers had gone to the town to buy food. 9The woman of Samaria said to Him, "You are a Jew. I am of Samaria. Why do You ask me for a drink when the Jews have nothing to do with the people of Samaria?"
10Jesus said to her, "You do not know what God has to give. You do not know Who said to you, 'Give Me a drink.' If you knew, you would have asked Him. He would have given you living water." 11The woman said to Him, "Sir, the well is deep. You have nothing to get water with. Where will You get the living water? 12Are You greater than our early father Jacob? He gave us the well. He and his children and his cattle drank from it."
Jesus Tells Of The Living Water
13Jesus said to her, "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. The water that I will give him will become in him a well of life that lasts forever."
15The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I will never be thirsty. Then I will not have to come all this way for water."
The True Kind Of Worship
16Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back." 17The woman said, "I have no husband." Jesus said, "You told the truth when you said, 'I have no husband.' 18You have had five husbands. The one you have now is not your husband. You told the truth."
19The woman said to Him, "Sir, I think You are a person Who speaks for God. 20Our early fathers worshiped on this mountain. You Jews say Jerusalem is the place where men should worship."
21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me. The time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22You people do not know what you worship. We Jews know what we worship. It is through the Jews that men are saved from the punishment of their sins. 23The time is coming, yes, it is here now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father wants that kind of worshipers. 24God is Spirit. Those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
Jesus Is The One The Jews Are Looking For
25The woman said to Him, "I know the Jews are looking for One Who is coming. He is called the Christ. When He comes, He will tell us everything." 26Jesus said to her, "I am the Christ, the One talking with you!"
27Right then the followers came back and were surprised and wondered about finding Him talking with a woman. But no one said, "What do You want?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"
28The woman left her water jar and went into the town. She said to the men, 29"Come and see a Man Who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Christ?" 30They went out of town and came to Him.
Jesus Tells Them Of A New Kind Of Food
31During this time His followers were saying to Him, "Teacher, eat something." 32He said, "I have food to eat that you do not know of." 33The followers said to each other, "Has someone taken food to Him?" 34Jesus said, "My food is to do what God wants Me to do and to finish His work. 35Do you not say, 'It is four months yet until the time to gather grain'? Listen! I say to you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are white now and waiting for the grain to be gathered in. 36The one who gathers gets his pay. He gathers fruit that lasts forever. The one who plants and the one who gathers will have joy together. 37These words are true, 'One man plants and another man gathers.' 38I sent you to gather where you have not planted. Others have planted and you have come along to gather in their fruit."
The People of Samaria Believe In Jesus
39Many people in that town of Samaria believed in Jesus because of what the woman said about Him. She said, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So the people of Samaria came to Him. They asked Him to stay with them. Jesus stayed there two days. 41Many more people believed because of what He said. 42They said to the woman, "Now we believe! It is no longer because of what you said about Jesus but we have heard Him ourselves. We know, for sure, that He is the Christ, the One Who saves men of this world from the punishment of their sins."
Jesus Goes To Galilee
43Two days later He went from there and came to the country of Galilee. 44Jesus Himself said that no one who speaks for God is respected in his own country. 45When He came to Galilee, the people there were glad. They had seen all the things He did in Jerusalem. It was at the time of the special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt. They had been there also.
Jesus Heals The Dying Boy In Capernaum
46Jesus came again to the town of Cana of Galilee where He had made water into wine. A man who worked with the king had a son who was sick in the city of Capernaum. 47This man went to Jesus. He had heard that Jesus had come from the country of Judea to Galilee. The man asked Jesus if He would go to Capernaum and heal his son who was dying. 48Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see special things and powerful works done, you will not believe." 49The man said to Him, "Sir, come with me before my son dies." 50Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son will live." The man put his trust in what Jesus said and left.
51As he was on his way home, his servants met him. They said to him, "Your son is living!" 52He asked them what time his boy began to get well. They said to him, "Yesterday at one o'clock the sickness left." 53The father knew it was the time Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." He and everyone in his house put their trust in Jesus. 54This was the second powerful work that Jesus did after He came from the country of Judea to the country of Galilee.
Copyright Statement: New Life BibleScripture quotations are from the New Life Bible, copyright © 1969 by Christian Literature International. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’ Today ~
This baptism thing really stands out to me these days, as I’ve been learning about the tabernacle of old and how it relates to Jesus and how it relates to our personal relationship with our Father God. Everything Jesus did and was and all of the actions He made were very significant to the Jewish people and quite bold, because they had done thing just so for 1,000’s of years now and as they watched Jesus do these things differently their faith was quite challenged. He was bringing change to their customs and in a very visible blatant way. In the tabernacle the priests would wash themselves in the place of the people, after offering the sacrifices for people’s sins, as a symbolism of being washed clean from sins. He did it for the people in the outer court and he only washed his hands and feet off symbolically. The people did not go into the tabernacle and wash, they stayed outside believing that the priest was standing for them in the outer court. When John baptized, they asked , who are you? Now Jesus’ disciples clearly NOT priests, were also baptizing. They asked by who’s authority do you (not being a priest for the people) do these things? Now Jesus was not doing it, but had His followers, who clearly were nothing of the sort of priests, doing it, and to another extreme, they weren’t going in to the temple and acting as priests washing ceremonially for the people, they were out in the open, and washing people, FROM SIN! By who’s authority and lineage did THEY do these things? How can they forgive sins? How can they baptize, washing the whole person, rather than just part, don’t they know how “we” do it here? I mean they are JEWS, this was blasphemy to them. They weren’t even of the tribes of Levi specifically. Oh what has the world come to?
Now Jesus is again upsetting their customs with this sinner woman, but the upsetting of their customs have brought Him to the place of the salvation and the repair of the breaches between God and man. THAT was/is the will of God, food for God. In the tabernacle the sacrifices were “food” for God, and the priests were able to partake of God’s food. Jesus was eating God’s food today, How dare He, who was he anyway?
Jesus tells her worship is not about what all she’s been told it is. Worship is not all about sacrifices made because we have to make them. He was sharing with her that being God’s will in earth was worship and you can be that wherever you are! God got outside of the box- the ark of the covenant was in the holy of holies in the tabernacle, God’s presence was being represented in a box.
The woman was about to see who exactly He was. In the Bible the woman many times represents the Body of Christ, Jesus’ bride. This “woman” must see who He is, her Savior, her Messiah, her priest unto God. Her subject of worship.
Can He tell you all you’ve ever done and change your mind about a few traditional things? Enough that you would change and go tell others they also can be changed?
Miracles demonstrate His power, His power to change, a changed mind is a miracle at work, He did a miracle in His relationship with the woman as well as the one He did with the young boy.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 4:1-54
A Woman Of Samaria At The Well
1Jesus knew the proud religious law-keepers had heard He was making and baptizing more followers than John. 2Jesus did not baptize anyone Himself but His followers did. 3Then Jesus went from the country of Judea to the country of Galilee. 4He had to go through the country of Samaria. 5So He came to a town in Samaria called Sycar. It was near the piece of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there. Jesus was tired from traveling so He sat down just as He was by the well. It was about noon.
7A woman of Samaria came to get water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8His followers had gone to the town to buy food. 9The woman of Samaria said to Him, "You are a Jew. I am of Samaria. Why do You ask me for a drink when the Jews have nothing to do with the people of Samaria?"
10Jesus said to her, "You do not know what God has to give. You do not know Who said to you, 'Give Me a drink.' If you knew, you would have asked Him. He would have given you living water." 11The woman said to Him, "Sir, the well is deep. You have nothing to get water with. Where will You get the living water? 12Are You greater than our early father Jacob? He gave us the well. He and his children and his cattle drank from it."
Jesus Tells Of The Living Water
13Jesus said to her, "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. The water that I will give him will become in him a well of life that lasts forever."
15The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I will never be thirsty. Then I will not have to come all this way for water."
The True Kind Of Worship
16Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back." 17The woman said, "I have no husband." Jesus said, "You told the truth when you said, 'I have no husband.' 18You have had five husbands. The one you have now is not your husband. You told the truth."
19The woman said to Him, "Sir, I think You are a person Who speaks for God. 20Our early fathers worshiped on this mountain. You Jews say Jerusalem is the place where men should worship."
21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me. The time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22You people do not know what you worship. We Jews know what we worship. It is through the Jews that men are saved from the punishment of their sins. 23The time is coming, yes, it is here now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father wants that kind of worshipers. 24God is Spirit. Those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
Jesus Is The One The Jews Are Looking For
25The woman said to Him, "I know the Jews are looking for One Who is coming. He is called the Christ. When He comes, He will tell us everything." 26Jesus said to her, "I am the Christ, the One talking with you!"
27Right then the followers came back and were surprised and wondered about finding Him talking with a woman. But no one said, "What do You want?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"
28The woman left her water jar and went into the town. She said to the men, 29"Come and see a Man Who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Christ?" 30They went out of town and came to Him.
Jesus Tells Them Of A New Kind Of Food
31During this time His followers were saying to Him, "Teacher, eat something." 32He said, "I have food to eat that you do not know of." 33The followers said to each other, "Has someone taken food to Him?" 34Jesus said, "My food is to do what God wants Me to do and to finish His work. 35Do you not say, 'It is four months yet until the time to gather grain'? Listen! I say to you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are white now and waiting for the grain to be gathered in. 36The one who gathers gets his pay. He gathers fruit that lasts forever. The one who plants and the one who gathers will have joy together. 37These words are true, 'One man plants and another man gathers.' 38I sent you to gather where you have not planted. Others have planted and you have come along to gather in their fruit."
The People of Samaria Believe In Jesus
39Many people in that town of Samaria believed in Jesus because of what the woman said about Him. She said, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So the people of Samaria came to Him. They asked Him to stay with them. Jesus stayed there two days. 41Many more people believed because of what He said. 42They said to the woman, "Now we believe! It is no longer because of what you said about Jesus but we have heard Him ourselves. We know, for sure, that He is the Christ, the One Who saves men of this world from the punishment of their sins."
Jesus Goes To Galilee
43Two days later He went from there and came to the country of Galilee. 44Jesus Himself said that no one who speaks for God is respected in his own country. 45When He came to Galilee, the people there were glad. They had seen all the things He did in Jerusalem. It was at the time of the special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt. They had been there also.
Jesus Heals The Dying Boy In Capernaum
46Jesus came again to the town of Cana of Galilee where He had made water into wine. A man who worked with the king had a son who was sick in the city of Capernaum. 47This man went to Jesus. He had heard that Jesus had come from the country of Judea to Galilee. The man asked Jesus if He would go to Capernaum and heal his son who was dying. 48Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see special things and powerful works done, you will not believe." 49The man said to Him, "Sir, come with me before my son dies." 50Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son will live." The man put his trust in what Jesus said and left.
51As he was on his way home, his servants met him. They said to him, "Your son is living!" 52He asked them what time his boy began to get well. They said to him, "Yesterday at one o'clock the sickness left." 53The father knew it was the time Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." He and everyone in his house put their trust in Jesus. 54This was the second powerful work that Jesus did after He came from the country of Judea to the country of Galilee.
Copyright Statement: New Life BibleScripture quotations are from the New Life Bible, copyright © 1969 by Christian Literature International. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’ Today ~
This baptism thing really stands out to me these days, as I’ve been learning about the tabernacle of old and how it relates to Jesus and how it relates to our personal relationship with our Father God. Everything Jesus did and was and all of the actions He made were very significant to the Jewish people and quite bold, because they had done thing just so for 1,000’s of years now and as they watched Jesus do these things differently their faith was quite challenged. He was bringing change to their customs and in a very visible blatant way. In the tabernacle the priests would wash themselves in the place of the people, after offering the sacrifices for people’s sins, as a symbolism of being washed clean from sins. He did it for the people in the outer court and he only washed his hands and feet off symbolically. The people did not go into the tabernacle and wash, they stayed outside believing that the priest was standing for them in the outer court. When John baptized, they asked , who are you? Now Jesus’ disciples clearly NOT priests, were also baptizing. They asked by who’s authority do you (not being a priest for the people) do these things? Now Jesus was not doing it, but had His followers, who clearly were nothing of the sort of priests, doing it, and to another extreme, they weren’t going in to the temple and acting as priests washing ceremonially for the people, they were out in the open, and washing people, FROM SIN! By who’s authority and lineage did THEY do these things? How can they forgive sins? How can they baptize, washing the whole person, rather than just part, don’t they know how “we” do it here? I mean they are JEWS, this was blasphemy to them. They weren’t even of the tribes of Levi specifically. Oh what has the world come to?
Now Jesus is again upsetting their customs with this sinner woman, but the upsetting of their customs have brought Him to the place of the salvation and the repair of the breaches between God and man. THAT was/is the will of God, food for God. In the tabernacle the sacrifices were “food” for God, and the priests were able to partake of God’s food. Jesus was eating God’s food today, How dare He, who was he anyway?
Jesus tells her worship is not about what all she’s been told it is. Worship is not all about sacrifices made because we have to make them. He was sharing with her that being God’s will in earth was worship and you can be that wherever you are! God got outside of the box- the ark of the covenant was in the holy of holies in the tabernacle, God’s presence was being represented in a box.
The woman was about to see who exactly He was. In the Bible the woman many times represents the Body of Christ, Jesus’ bride. This “woman” must see who He is, her Savior, her Messiah, her priest unto God. Her subject of worship.
Can He tell you all you’ve ever done and change your mind about a few traditional things? Enough that you would change and go tell others they also can be changed?
Miracles demonstrate His power, His power to change, a changed mind is a miracle at work, He did a miracle in His relationship with the woman as well as the one He did with the young boy.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Today Our Daily Bread Romans 8 ++
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Romans 8 1THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. †1 2For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.3For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [ ‡1 the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [ ‡2 subdued, overcame, ‡3 deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], †2 4So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].5For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and ‡4 pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and ‡5 seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.6Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that ‡6 comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].7[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.8So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.9But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God]. †3 10But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].11And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.12So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.13For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.15For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!16The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.17And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.18[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and ‡7 for us and ‡8 conferred on us!19For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].20For the creation (nature) was subjected to ‡9 frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it--[yet] with the hope †4 21That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God's children.22We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. †5 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons).24For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?25But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.26So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.27And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will. †6 28We are assured and know that [ ‡10 God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.29For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was ‡11 aware and ‡12 loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.30And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].31What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] †7 32He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?33Who shall bring any charge against God's elect [when it is] God Who justifies [that is, Who puts us in right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us?]34Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?35Who shall ever separate us from Christ's love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?36Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter. †8 37Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors ‡13 and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.38For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things ‡14 impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,39Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
I really don’t want, nor do I need to say much about this passage today. I’ve printed it out in the Amplified Version on purpose, because it actually explains it as we read, it expounds the word to us. If you read it intently searching for treasure you’ll find it here for sure.
I was thinking I’d like to take a chart- yes Cindy, a chart! And evaluate my day before the LORDship of Christ, I guess today is as good as any, huh?
On one side I’d place the heading “Walking in the Spirit and Lordship of Christ”, and in the second column I’d write “Deeds of the flesh- self satisfying deeds”.
Then as I go throughout the day I’d put lists of who I act like and what I do and the thoughts of my life that day in the appropriate columns. I was thinking we could do this together and we would just be who we’ve been lately. Then maybe make a 2nd blank copy and do the same listings the following day, this time with a concerted awareness of being in Christ and under the desire of His Lordship.
Anyone game?
We don’t have to compare lists- Praise God- hallelujah!
It reminds me of being on a diet and having to count the calories or chart the food intake to come to a place of honesty or to see what I’ve not really looked at before this time of check up.
It would be a spiritual diet of sorts for the good of viewing ones’- self in the spirit.
There is therefore now NO condemnation for those who walk in the spirit and Not in accordance with the desires and satisfaction of the flesh. IF walking in the spirit removes the judgments against us that the law placed on us, then it would be great to practice seeing how strong our spirit man has become or can be developed into.
Of Day 1
Spirit-led behaviors/thoughts......._______________________
Flesh Natured behaviors/thoughts......______________________
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Romans 8 1THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. †1 2For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.3For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [ ‡1 the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [ ‡2 subdued, overcame, ‡3 deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], †2 4So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].5For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and ‡4 pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and ‡5 seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.6Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that ‡6 comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].7[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.8So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.9But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God]. †3 10But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].11And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.12So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.13For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.15For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!16The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.17And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.18[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and ‡7 for us and ‡8 conferred on us!19For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].20For the creation (nature) was subjected to ‡9 frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it--[yet] with the hope †4 21That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God's children.22We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. †5 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons).24For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?25But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.26So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.27And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will. †6 28We are assured and know that [ ‡10 God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.29For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was ‡11 aware and ‡12 loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.30And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].31What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] †7 32He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?33Who shall bring any charge against God's elect [when it is] God Who justifies [that is, Who puts us in right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us?]34Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?35Who shall ever separate us from Christ's love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?36Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter. †8 37Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors ‡13 and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.38For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things ‡14 impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,39Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
I really don’t want, nor do I need to say much about this passage today. I’ve printed it out in the Amplified Version on purpose, because it actually explains it as we read, it expounds the word to us. If you read it intently searching for treasure you’ll find it here for sure.
I was thinking I’d like to take a chart- yes Cindy, a chart! And evaluate my day before the LORDship of Christ, I guess today is as good as any, huh?
On one side I’d place the heading “Walking in the Spirit and Lordship of Christ”, and in the second column I’d write “Deeds of the flesh- self satisfying deeds”.
Then as I go throughout the day I’d put lists of who I act like and what I do and the thoughts of my life that day in the appropriate columns. I was thinking we could do this together and we would just be who we’ve been lately. Then maybe make a 2nd blank copy and do the same listings the following day, this time with a concerted awareness of being in Christ and under the desire of His Lordship.
Anyone game?
We don’t have to compare lists- Praise God- hallelujah!
It reminds me of being on a diet and having to count the calories or chart the food intake to come to a place of honesty or to see what I’ve not really looked at before this time of check up.
It would be a spiritual diet of sorts for the good of viewing ones’- self in the spirit.
There is therefore now NO condemnation for those who walk in the spirit and Not in accordance with the desires and satisfaction of the flesh. IF walking in the spirit removes the judgments against us that the law placed on us, then it would be great to practice seeing how strong our spirit man has become or can be developed into.
Of Day 1
Spirit-led behaviors/thoughts......._______________________
Flesh Natured behaviors/thoughts......______________________
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Today Our Daily Bread 1 Cor 14 ++
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
1 Corinthians 14:1-40
The Gifts of Tongues and Prophecy
1Let love be your highest goal, but also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the gift of prophecy. 2For if your gift is the ability to speak in tongues, F67 you will be talking to God but not to people, since they won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. 3But one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them. 4A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally in the Lord, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.
5I wish you all had the gift of speaking in tongues, but even more I wish you were all able to prophesy. For prophecy is a greater and more useful gift than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church can get some good out of it.
6Dear brothers and sisters, F68 if I should come to you talking in an unknown language, F69 how would that help you? But if I bring you some revelation or some special knowledge or some prophecy or some teaching—that is what will help you. 7Even musical instruments like the flute or the harp, though they are lifeless, are examples of the need for speaking in plain language. For no one will recognize the melody unless the notes are played clearly. 8And if the bugler doesn't sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle? 9And it's the same for you. If you talk to people in a language they don't understand, how will they know what you mean? You might as well be talking to an empty room.
10There are so many different languages in the world, and all are excellent for those who understand them, 11but to me they mean nothing. I will not understand people who speak those languages, and they will not understand me. 12Since you are so eager to have spiritual gifts, ask God for those that will be of real help to the whole church.
13So anyone who has the gift of speaking in tongues should pray also for the gift of interpretation in order to tell people plainly what has been said. 14For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don't understand what I am saying.
15Well then, what shall I do? I will do both. I will pray in the spirit, F70 and I will pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will sing in words I understand. 16For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don't understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don't understand what you are saying? 17You will be giving thanks very nicely, no doubt, but it doesn't help the other people present.
18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19But in a church meeting I would much rather speak five understandable words that will help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.
20Dear brothers and sisters, don't be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature and wise in understanding matters of this kind. 21It is written in the Scriptures, F71
"I will speak to my own people through unknown languages and through the lips of foreigners. But even then, they will not listen to me," F72 says the Lord.
22So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers. 23Even so, if unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your meeting and hear everyone talking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. 24But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin, and they will be condemned by what you say. 25As they listen, their secret thoughts will be laid bare, and they will fall down on their knees and worship God, declaring, "God is really here among you."
A Call to Orderly Worship
26Well, my brothers and sisters, let's summarize what I am saying. When you meet, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in an unknown language, while another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must be useful to all and build them up in the Lord. 27No more than two or three should speak in an unknown language. They must speak one at a time, and someone must be ready to interpret what they are saying. 28But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.
29Let two or three prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said. 30But if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation from the Lord, the one who is speaking must stop. 31In this way, all who prophesy will have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged. 32Remember that people who prophesy are in control of their spirit and can wait their turn. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the other churches. F73
34Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. 35If they have any questions to ask, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings. F74
36Do you think that the knowledge of God's word begins and ends with you Corinthians? Well, you are mistaken! 37If you claim to be a prophet or think you are very spiritual, you should recognize that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself. 38But if you do not recognize this, you will not be recognized. F75
39So, dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don't forbid speaking in tongues. 40But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.
FOOTNOTES:F67: Or in unknown languages; also in 14:4, 5, 13, 14, 18, 22, 28, 39. F68: Greek brothers; also in 14:20, 26, 39. F69: Or in tongues; also in 14:19, 23, 26, 27. F70: Or in the Spirit; also in 14:15b, 16. F71: Greek in the law. F72: Isa 28:11-12. F73: The phrase as in all the other churches could be joined to the beginning of 14:34. F74: Some manuscripts place verses 34-35 after 14:40. F75: Some manuscripts read If you are ignorant of this, stay in your ignorance.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin;Today~
Just a few words today,
I want to post 5 words of understanding our Pastor has been teaching us:
Give God the frst part/place
Of everyday
Of every week
Of every decision
Of your income (meaning tithe, offerings, alms)
Of your heart
Add to that
Offer to God:-
A flowing river (spiritual life force, prayer in the spirit makes the living river water flow)
Answerable prayer (prayer in line with God’s word and will, not our natural understanding)
Sacrifice of Unity (it takes unity to sacrifice with any persons)
There are two- more here- Cindy do you have them???
And about women not speaking, I do not believe it means they don’t preach or teach, it is about not interrupting what is being said to learn it, as was the case of this early church. I wonder if they sat with their husbands for the first time, or if they did not sit with their husbands, maybe they would ask them things across the room, This passage is about practical manners in church. These kinds of meetings were a first for these people, they’d been accustomed to meeting in synagogues, with synagogue services.
Also , about Eph 6 yesterday and honoring your parents. Don’t be disheartened by thinking you can never do all your parents have ever desired you to do or be, It is about living a life of honor before God and that life of honor before God will bring honor to your parents’ names. We all stand before God, He IS our Father. If we honor God , our natural and spiritual parents will also be honored.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
1 Corinthians 14:1-40
The Gifts of Tongues and Prophecy
1Let love be your highest goal, but also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the gift of prophecy. 2For if your gift is the ability to speak in tongues, F67 you will be talking to God but not to people, since they won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. 3But one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them. 4A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally in the Lord, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.
5I wish you all had the gift of speaking in tongues, but even more I wish you were all able to prophesy. For prophecy is a greater and more useful gift than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church can get some good out of it.
6Dear brothers and sisters, F68 if I should come to you talking in an unknown language, F69 how would that help you? But if I bring you some revelation or some special knowledge or some prophecy or some teaching—that is what will help you. 7Even musical instruments like the flute or the harp, though they are lifeless, are examples of the need for speaking in plain language. For no one will recognize the melody unless the notes are played clearly. 8And if the bugler doesn't sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle? 9And it's the same for you. If you talk to people in a language they don't understand, how will they know what you mean? You might as well be talking to an empty room.
10There are so many different languages in the world, and all are excellent for those who understand them, 11but to me they mean nothing. I will not understand people who speak those languages, and they will not understand me. 12Since you are so eager to have spiritual gifts, ask God for those that will be of real help to the whole church.
13So anyone who has the gift of speaking in tongues should pray also for the gift of interpretation in order to tell people plainly what has been said. 14For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don't understand what I am saying.
15Well then, what shall I do? I will do both. I will pray in the spirit, F70 and I will pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will sing in words I understand. 16For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don't understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don't understand what you are saying? 17You will be giving thanks very nicely, no doubt, but it doesn't help the other people present.
18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19But in a church meeting I would much rather speak five understandable words that will help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.
20Dear brothers and sisters, don't be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature and wise in understanding matters of this kind. 21It is written in the Scriptures, F71
"I will speak to my own people through unknown languages and through the lips of foreigners. But even then, they will not listen to me," F72 says the Lord.
22So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers. 23Even so, if unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your meeting and hear everyone talking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. 24But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin, and they will be condemned by what you say. 25As they listen, their secret thoughts will be laid bare, and they will fall down on their knees and worship God, declaring, "God is really here among you."
A Call to Orderly Worship
26Well, my brothers and sisters, let's summarize what I am saying. When you meet, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in an unknown language, while another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must be useful to all and build them up in the Lord. 27No more than two or three should speak in an unknown language. They must speak one at a time, and someone must be ready to interpret what they are saying. 28But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.
29Let two or three prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said. 30But if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation from the Lord, the one who is speaking must stop. 31In this way, all who prophesy will have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged. 32Remember that people who prophesy are in control of their spirit and can wait their turn. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the other churches. F73
34Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. 35If they have any questions to ask, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings. F74
36Do you think that the knowledge of God's word begins and ends with you Corinthians? Well, you are mistaken! 37If you claim to be a prophet or think you are very spiritual, you should recognize that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself. 38But if you do not recognize this, you will not be recognized. F75
39So, dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don't forbid speaking in tongues. 40But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.
FOOTNOTES:F67: Or in unknown languages; also in 14:4, 5, 13, 14, 18, 22, 28, 39. F68: Greek brothers; also in 14:20, 26, 39. F69: Or in tongues; also in 14:19, 23, 26, 27. F70: Or in the Spirit; also in 14:15b, 16. F71: Greek in the law. F72: Isa 28:11-12. F73: The phrase as in all the other churches could be joined to the beginning of 14:34. F74: Some manuscripts place verses 34-35 after 14:40. F75: Some manuscripts read If you are ignorant of this, stay in your ignorance.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin;Today~
Just a few words today,
I want to post 5 words of understanding our Pastor has been teaching us:
Give God the frst part/place
Of everyday
Of every week
Of every decision
Of your income (meaning tithe, offerings, alms)
Of your heart
Add to that
Offer to God:-
A flowing river (spiritual life force, prayer in the spirit makes the living river water flow)
Answerable prayer (prayer in line with God’s word and will, not our natural understanding)
Sacrifice of Unity (it takes unity to sacrifice with any persons)
There are two- more here- Cindy do you have them???
And about women not speaking, I do not believe it means they don’t preach or teach, it is about not interrupting what is being said to learn it, as was the case of this early church. I wonder if they sat with their husbands for the first time, or if they did not sit with their husbands, maybe they would ask them things across the room, This passage is about practical manners in church. These kinds of meetings were a first for these people, they’d been accustomed to meeting in synagogues, with synagogue services.
Also , about Eph 6 yesterday and honoring your parents. Don’t be disheartened by thinking you can never do all your parents have ever desired you to do or be, It is about living a life of honor before God and that life of honor before God will bring honor to your parents’ names. We all stand before God, He IS our Father. If we honor God , our natural and spiritual parents will also be honored.
Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
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