October Meditation

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Albums"><B><U><IMG SRC="03a0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></B></A></FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=354 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>  <A NAME="oct_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="400" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 148 ><NOBR><div> Daniel 12:4<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> But you, O Daniel, </div> <div> shut up the words and seal the book, </div> <div> even to the time of the end. </div> <div> Many shall run to and fro, </div> <div> and knowledge shall be increased. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     One retired preacher counseled a younger preacher not to preach the book of Romans.  He told him he could 'keep the heat off' by preaching prophetic books.  People want to hear about prophecy, so give 'em what they like.  Doctrinal books like Romans will just embroil a church in controversy.</div> <div>     This should be enough to prove that the retired preacher's view of prophecy was incorrect.  So-called prophecy books are still part of the Bible, and one of God's descriptions of <I>all </I>Bible books runs thus:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>2 Timothy 3:16</B></FONT>   <U>All Scripture</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>God-breathed and <U>profitable for</U> doctrine, for <U>conviction</U>, for correction, for instruction in righteousness</div> <bR> <div>     If a Scripture does not convict, correct, and instruct in righteousness, it is actually being treated as non-Scripture.  We can twist Scripture into many other things, but whatever <I>else </I>it becomes makes it automatically dangerous:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>2 Peter 3:15, 16</B></FONT>   And think of the long-suffering of our Lord <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>as</I></FONT> salvation, as also our beloved brother <U>Paul wrote</U> to you, according to the wisdom given to him; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the <U>unlearned</U> and unsettled <U>twist</U>, as also <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>they do</I></FONT> the rest of the <U>Scriptures</U>, <U>to </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>their</U></I><U> </U></FONT><U>own destruction</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     If someone is only interested in fascinating stories and predictions from the Bible, he has never become acquainted with the real Bible.</div> <div>     For him, the Divine character of Scripture is in the amazing correspondence between what was written and what is happening on the world scene today.  For the Christian, the Divine character of Scripture is mostly seen in the marvelous correspondence between its descriptions of sin and his own deceivable heart.</div> <div>     If you have fallen into the trap of making 'end time prophecies' into sensationalism, be warned.  Such teaching does not actually prepare you for the coming of the Lord:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 John 2:28</B></FONT>  And now, little children, <U>abide in Him</U>, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not <U>shrink</U> from him in shame <U>at His coming</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Someone who abides in Christ will be ready for Him.  No one else will, no matter how well refined his 'prophecy chart' ended up.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="359" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 14:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> The fool has said in his heart, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>There is</I></FONT> no God! </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     When you see a French braid in a girl's hair, is it in the least bit conceivable that the hair wound itself thus by her normal coming and going?</div> <div>     How about if the girl had been dancing about strenuously?  </div> <div>     Well, how about if the girl actually tried to wind her hair into braids by the purposeful shaking of her head?</div> <div>     No.  Nice French braids would never come to pass by anything but the application of someone's hands to the girl's hair.</div> <bR> <div>     The winding of a DNA strand is infinitely more complex than the braiding of a girl's hair.  DNA is the building block for life.  <I>It  </I>had to come first before any intelligent force in nature could braid it.</div> <div>     How was DNA supposed to entwine itself by incidental forces?  That is an infinitely more ridiculous thought than a girl simply finding finished French braids in her hair.</div> <bR> <div>     The atheist is certainly a fool.</div> <div>     The practical atheist, though, is just as much a fool.  It is <I>in his heart</I> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT>that the fool says there is no God.  He may not say it loud enough inwardly ofr it to be a conscious thought.  In fact, he may say <I>with his lips</I> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT>that there <I><B>is </B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I><B> </B></I></FONT>a God!  Yes, many professing theists are practical atheists!  As they commit iniquity, their heart whispers, "Well, I get away with it.  If there <I>were </I>a God ..."</div> <bR> <div>     On the other hand, even a believer can be as foolish as an atheist.  When we fail to stand in awe of the Bible as much as we do when hearing the wonders of DNA (which are truly great wonders of God), we show a decided ignorance of true greaters and lessers:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Psalm 119:96</B></FONT>  I have seen an end to <U>all perfection</U>; <U>Your Commandment</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>exceedingly broad. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="359" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 127 ><NOBR><div> <B>2 Timothy 4:2</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> preach the word; </div> <div> be urgent in season and out of season; </div> <div> reprove, rebuke, and exhort, </div> <div> with all patience and teaching. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Here is a Biblical description of preaching.  We must wonder how many preaching schools teach preaching based on this outline.</div> <div>     There are three elements listed in true preaching:  reproving, rebuking, and exhorting.</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1</FONT>)  Reprove.  Greek, <I>elenkho</I>, to convict, refute, confute.</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2</FONT>)  Rebuke.  Greek, <I>epitimao</I>, "to tax upon", censure, charge sharply.</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >3</FONT>)  Exhort.  Greek, <I>parakaleo</I>, "to call near", invite or invoke.</div> <div>     The first two elements are decidedly negative.  Preaching is to tell us something wrong with us.  The third element seems to primarily carry the idea of following up God's wounding with comfort as we are redirected.</div> <div>     There are many profitable analogies a preacher can use to put these fundamental elements into action.  Here are some.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="683" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="193"><div> <B>Reprove</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> <B>Rebuke</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> <B>Exhort</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="193"><div> Set up</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Knock down</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Raise up</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="193"><div> Reason</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Ruin</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Resurrect</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="193"><div> Bring around</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Drown</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Crown</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="193"><div> Draw forth</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Drain out</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Drench full</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="193"><div> Remind</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Remonstrate</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Remodel</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="193"><div> Awaken</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Afflict</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="232"><div> Affix</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     The preacher is not only responsible to see to it that he preaches this way.  The congregation is responsible to see that they listen this way.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="359" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 105 ><NOBR><div> <B>Matthew 6:22</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> The lamp of the body is the eye; </div> <div> if therefore your eye is single, </div> <div> your whole body will be light: </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Most modern versions of Scripture say "if your eye is sound / clear / good" in the above verse.  They supply a description of the eye that seems sensible.</div> <div>     The Greek word is <I>haploos</I>.  The meaning is very simply "without folds".  Its primary reference is to cloth.  "Simple" would be a good translation.  "Single" is a perfectly good translation.  "Sound / clear / good" do too much interpreting.  Let the reader figure out how an eye can be "single".  Other words that would convey the meaning of haploos would be "unmixed" and "unified".</div> <div>     Jesus' intention in using this word was to contrast the Christian's <I>singleness </I>of focus to the counterfeit Christian's <I>duplicity</I>.  The pseudo-Christian focuses on God AND possessions ("mammon" in the upcoming verse).  His treasures are on <B>earth</B>, while he <I>talks </I>of <B>Heaven </B>as his aim.  This insight can only come from a more literal rendering like "single".</div> <div>     Our question, then, is this:  HOW single is a Christian's vision to be?</div> <div>     Is true Christian vision to be <I>absent </I>of duplicity?  I have <I>no </I>mixed motives, <I>no </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>hidden cravings?  Must my heart be totally free of any attraction to any earthly treasure for me to say that my vision is unmixed?</div> <div>     No, for sin still dwells within me; but the singleness of true Christian vision <B>is </B><I>contention with</I> duplicity.</div> <div>     A simple question we may ask ourselves is, "Do I really <B>want </B>to overcome my vain thoughts?"</div> <div>     In other words, is there a real root of righteousness in our lives which seeks expression but is frustrated by the presence of competing desires?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Galatians 5:17</B></FONT>  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are <U>opposed</U> to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. </div> <bR> <div>     The true Christian's singleness of vision is not the absence of any competing desires.  It is the constant clearing away of the brush that keeps entangling his motives.  </div> <div>     A mere professing Christian can talk about yearning for God, but he really has no desire to clear away the distractions which occupy his attention.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_5"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="325" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 105 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 119:26</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> I have declared my ways, </div> <div> and You answered me; </div> <div> teach me Your Statutes. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     The Hebrew root word behind "Statute" means to engrave.  This connotes a <B>permanent </B>decree.</div> <div>     The psalmist, then, is contrasting his own <B>temporary</B>, changeable ways to God's permanent, unchanging instructions.</div> <div>     Implied here is that there is an answering Statute for every one of my own unstable patterns.  There is not necessarily a one to one correspondence between God's Statutes and my character deficiencies, but God definitely "answers" every area of my old life with one or more of His new directions for me.</div> <div>     God's Statutes are living.</div> <div>     They are not dead, stuffy, cramp-your-style, or one-dimensional laws.</div> <div>     The root word "engraved" might make us think of inflexible codes carved in stone.  But God's engraving is a marvelous etching into every level of human character.  It is living writing which gives life.</div> <div>     If we think of God's commandments as stifling, we betray the stoniness of our own hearts:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 John 5:3</B></FONT>  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are <U>not burdensome</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     The sin within me, seeking escape from commands, whispers to me that my own ways are full of subtleties and individuality which transcend static divine laws.  God's statutes are not blessed with the unique experience of human-to-human communication.</div> <div>     Yet it is God's Law that tells me to convey love to my neighbor and shows me how to do it.</div> <div>     God's Law is living, and it corresponds to human life.  God made His Law, which flows from His own character, and God made man, who flows from His own image.  They are friends- the Law and man.*  This is part of the Christian's new insight into the world.</div> <div>     God makes us permanent parts of His permanent order by fixing His Statutes in us.  We, as the psalmist, must ask Him to expose our impermanent, unrighteous ways so they can be changed over.</div> <bR> <div>  *  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Obviously we are talking about the new man here.  Unregenerate men will always oppose God's law</FONT>.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_6"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="445" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 170 ><NOBR><div> <B>Matthew 9:15</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> And Jesus said to them, </div> <div> Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn </div> <div> as long as the bridegroom is with them? </div> <div> But the days will come when the bridegroom </div> <div> will have been taken from them, </div> <div> and then they will fast. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Jesus indicated that the interim period in which His disciples did not fast would soon be over.  By a similar token, the disciples had a hard time learning other spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, during this period:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Matthew 26:40</B></FONT>  And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>He</I></FONT> said to Peter,  "So!  Were you not able to watch one hour with Me?" </div> <bR> <div>     Spiritual disciplines are not easy to learn <I>any time</I>.  The disciples were only allowed a three year break from fasting as a symbol of the Bridegroom's special presence.</div> <div>     Most Christians take a much longer break.  They show up to the first training session with five minutes left and then search for a pencil the whole five minutes.  They take a lunch break, take the afternoon off, and soon find themselves on their deathbeds with their stomachs empty for the very first time because they're on an I.V.  Yes, most Christians never fast.</div> <div>     Most Christians find their addiction to food insuperable.  To be sure, we are addicted to food.  Our bodies crave food.  Yes, our stomachs will revolt if we do not send offerings.</div> <div>     Jesus is not suggesting that we give up food for good.  He is saying that we should give it up one day a week.*</div> <div>     The Greek word for fasting literally means "not eat".  Drinking is allowed on fasting days.  Obviously, Jesus drank during His forty day fast.  May we drink something other than water?  Water consumption is certainly the purest fast, but any liquid consumption might be claimed as a fulfillment of "not eating".  The body still rebels when it doesn't get solid food.</div> <div>     So what's the benefit of making our bodies rebel?</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1</FONT>)  Self-control.  We only learn to be the masters of our bodies when we can make decisions contrary to them.</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2</FONT>)  Sorrow:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Matthew 9:15</B></FONT>  And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber <U>mourn</U> as long as the bridegroom is with them?<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div>     Fasting is directly associated with mourning.  We can mourn in a whole new way when our bodies are 'way into' mourning by absence of food.  Then we are surer to have the second blessing of the beatitudes:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Matthew 5:4</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Blessed </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the </FONT><I>ones</I> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" ><U>mourning</U>!</FONT></div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >3</FONT>)  Humility.  We don't know how weak and dependent we are until we try to give up food for a day.  We are then pressed to consider our comparative sense of need for God and righteousness (per the fourth beatitude, interestingly).</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >4</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" >)  Obedience.  There's nothing like a loathsome task to test our simple obedience.  Are we going to do what we were told, or are we going to make excuses?</FONT> </div> <bR> <div>     To be sure, we can find 'safety' in the crowd.  No one, it seems, is fasting.  No one will ever check up on whether or not we're <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT>fasting.  </div> <div>     But that's setting up a huge and unpleasant checkup on the Last Day.</div> <bR> <div>  *  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >The frequency of fasting is suggested by God's created cycle of the week.  Any repetition less frequent will not be 'remembered' by the body so as to be incorporated profitably in our regular pattern of life</FONT>.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_7"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="445" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 170 ><NOBR><div> <B>Hebrews 4:12</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >For the word of God </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >living and operative, </FONT></div> <div> and sharper than any two-edged sword, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >and penetrating to </FONT><I>the</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >division of soul and spirit, </FONT></div> <div> both of joints and marrow, </div> <div> and is a sifter of the reflections</div> <div> and conceptions of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the</I>  </FONT>heart. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     The Bible is power-  God's power.</div> <div>     One who proclaims Its power sincerely, Scripturally, <I>has </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>Its power within him, sanctifying him.</div> <div>     One who proclaims the Word power<I><B>fully </B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT>has God's power behind what he testifies.  Speaking the Word powerfully includes the "soft tongue that breaks the bone" (Prov. <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >25:15</FONT>).  God's support for what we testify is <I>despite </I>appearances (Enemies of the Word often appear to have the upper hand).</div> <div>     The biggest test for one who proclaims the Word is that he proclaims just that- the Word.  To proclaim the Word, he must know the Word; both any Word specifically as needed, and the Word as a whole generally, properly harmonizing and fitting parts together.</div> <div>     The biggest <I>personality </I>test for one who proclaims the powerful Word is that he be humble.  Only a humble man is a proper vessel for God's power.  The essential trait of a humble man is that he claims no strength of his own.  He claims to be a servant because that office is not his own doing.  He has been called as a servant; he has been called to testify.</div> <bR> <div>     If you are under the ministry of the Word through a servant of the Lord, then you are called to learn the part of a servant.  And is this not so that you, as a humble servant, can be a proclaimer of the Scripture's power as well?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_8"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 119:29</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> Remove from me the way of lying; </div> <div> and grant me Your Law graciously. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     The psalmist requests to have the workings of lying removed from him.</div> <div>     Satan is the originator of lies:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>John 8:44</B></FONT>  You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you desire to do. That one was a murderer from <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the</I> </FONT>beginning, and he has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>a</I> </FONT>lie, he speaks from <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>his</I> </FONT>own, because he is a <U>liar</U>, and the <U>father of</U> it. </div> <bR> <div>     What, then, was Satan's first lie, seeing that he originated lying?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Ezekiel 28:17</B></FONT>  Your heart was lifted up <U>because of</U> your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom <U>because of</U> your splendor. </div> <bR> <div>     Here we have the Biblical reason for Satan's fall.  This was the first lie he told:  that his own beauty made him worthy of worship.  He was enamored of SELF, and this caused his error.  (The fact that he was beautiful was not a lie; that was how God made him.  It was his beauty set in competition with God that was evil).</div> <div>     Every lie, then, has SELF as its basic motivation.</div> <div>     THE Lie is that God has not spoken the Truth (in this or that particular area; in <I>every </I>area in general).  I trust <I>my</I><I><B>self </B></I><I> </I>and my ability to detect Truth <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Castellar" >more</FONT> than I trust Scriptures.*</div> <bR> <div>     Note the psalmist's remedy for a lying way:</div> <bR> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Psalm 119:29</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  ... and grant me Your Law graciously. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>    God's Law is <I>His </I>testimony.</div> <div>     A liar will not allow the free access of God's Law into his soul, for his <I>own </I>testimonies must reign supreme within him.  The Pharisees were liars who had contradictory <I>counterfeits </I>of God's Law ruling their lives.  That's why it's important to know the <I>true </I>Law.</div> <bR> <div>     Am I worthy to carry God's testimony to a lying generation?  If so, I carry a bruden they desire NOT to hear.</div> <div>     It's easier to define myself by society's standards and walk burden-free.  It's easier to adopt the backslidden Church's standards and walk burden-free.</div> <bR> <div>  * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >Notice that this doesn't necessarily rule out trust in God altogether.  Every liar acknowledges some truths</FONT>. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 105 ><NOBR><div> <B>Malachi 1:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> The burden of the Word of Jehovah </div> <div> to Israel </div> <div> by the hand of Malachi: </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Nahum, Habakkuk, and Malachi all begin with a "burden".  Burden is a good English word to convey the idea of the Hebrew word <I>masa</I>.</div> <div>     God not only burdened prophets with words to preach, but <I>generally </I>burdens Christians:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Matthew 11:29</B></FONT>  Take My <U>yoke</U> upon you and learn from Me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest to your souls. </div> <bR> <div>     Jesus tells us to wear His animal towing collar.  Man was made to be dependent.  But God knows how to treat a man who is in servitude to Him.  He treats him gently and kindly.</div> <div>     A Biblical burden, then, is a most blessed possession.  To be without one is the curse.</div> <div>     To walk <I>at liberty</I> with a burden- this is a test for whether or not the burden is Biblical.  If the burden does not set us at liberty, it will become a load that we will eventually <B>avoid</B>.</div> <div>     The specific burden a Christian must carry is the same one the prophets carried, the Word of God.  If the Word of God is our standard, then it burdens us with the weight of expectation.  It burdens us with restrictions.  It burdens us with duties.</div> <div>     The Word of the Lord always contrasts to what is commonly believed.  That makes it a burden.  The Church at her best is always fighting a learning curve, always overcoming inborn ignorance with new heavenly knowledge.</div> <div>     At her worst, the Church is beset with ignorant maxims.</div> <div>     The Church in our day parrots the worldly idea of the specialness of man, for instance, seeking to instill a high self-esteem in men.  One <I>can </I>teach the specialness of man 'from' Scriptures and avoid offense, avoid a burden.</div> <div>     When we teach Biblical Christianity, people will respond, "But I thought Christianity was all about ... (fill in the blank: love, getting people saved, making people happy, following Jesus)."  In other words, Biblical teaching will always stretch men's credos.  It will usually stretch them to bursting, a result most men will avoid.</div> <div>     There is an 'Americana Christianity' that recognizes common sense morality, a recogniztion we should acknowledge is a result of God's mercy.  We concede that there are many correct items in a corrupt theology; yet we are not looking for common ground.  </div> <div>     The burden of the Word of the Lord weighing on us gives us an edge that we need.  Not edginess, but an edge.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_10"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 127 WIDTH="391"><div> <B>Jude 1:23</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> But save others with fear, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >snatching </FONT><I>them</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >out of the fire, </FONT></div> <div> hating even the garment </div> <div> being stained from the flesh.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>      "The garment stained by the flesh."  There is a world of information behind that phrase.  Leviticus chapters <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >11 - 15</FONT> contain the bulk of the Old Covenant clean and unclean laws.  We are somewhat familiar with skin leprosy, but there was also house leprosy and garment leprosy.  The section on garment leprosy begins:</div> <bR> <div> <B> Leviticus 13:47</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And if a sore of leprosy is in a garment, in a woolen garment, or a linen garment ...</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This stained garment was apparently Jude's reference.</div> <div>     Characteristic of the leprosy laws and all the clean/unclean laws was a plethora of details.</div> <div>     As we learn from the New Testament (as well as the Old), the clean/unclean laws were never meant as an absolute prescription for good and evil:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Romans 14:14</B></FONT>  I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that <U>nothing is unclean</U> in <U>itself</U> ...</div> <bR> <div>     Leprosy was not unclean in itself.  That's right, dreadful leprosy was not the uncleanness.*  Even the offending item, the flesh, was not itself unclean.  It merely represented spiritual uncleanness.</div> <div>     This would cause us to wonder how much of a man's life God is willing to consume to make a point.  The Jews lived under the constant burden of endlessly detailed restrictions.  James challenged the Jews who were insisting on Gentile circumcision by saying:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Acts 15:10</B></FONT>  Now therefore why do you tempt God by putting a <U>yoke</U> on the neck of the disciples, a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? </div> <bR> <div>     Circumcision was just one aspect of the ceremonial law which has been replaced by its spiritual counterpart, by spiritual reality, in the New Covenant.  But God was pleased for the Jews to live under this burden.</div> <div>     What sort of lessons did the endless details of the clean/unclean laws teach?</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1</FONT>)  How completely distinct godly and ungodly lifestyles are.  This distinction was the basic lesson of the clean/unclean laws;</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2</FONT>)  How necessary <I>details </I>are to the achievement of an <I>overall </I>change;</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >3</FONT>)  Two different destinies are a result of two different lifestyles.</div> <div>     </div> <div>     The devil is <I>not </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>in the details, at least not in these details.  The clean/unclean laws are still just as effective teachers of spiritual reality today.  That's why Jude could quote from them and assume a universal lesson for us.  </div> <bR> <div>   * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >If a man was completely covered with leprosy, he was clean, not uncleanLev. 13:12, 13.  So much for common conceptions.</FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 127 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 127:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> If Jehovah does not build the house, </div> <div> they who build it labor in vain; </div> <div> if Jehovah does not keep the city, </div> <div> the one guarding it stays awake in vain. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Humans, including Christians, naturally build and then guard what they build.</div> <div>     Jehovah either <I>is  </I>or<I> is not</I>  the real builder and protector of our edifices.</div> <div>     Therefore, we should <I>ask </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>God to build and guard on our behalf.  We should pray to him concerning our building projects, physical and spiritual.  </div> <div>     Our most important building project, implied in the last half of the Psalm, is the rearing of our children:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psalm 127:3</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Behold! Children </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >an inheritance of Jehovah; the fruit of the womb </FONT><I>is His</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > reward. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     It is easy to have wrong motives when we ask God for help in building and guarding.  Our natural approach is to seek God's 'rubber stamp' approval of what we're doing, to ask for Him to guard what we built without His initial approval.  We tend to rear children as we see fit then expect God to keep them good Christians.</div> <div>     This brings up a vital point.  It is more important to actually build by Scriptural principles in the first place than it is to request God's favor.  (This is only a hypothetical contrast.  One who builds by Scriptural principles would certainly seek God's favor before, during, and after his project.)  It is more important to <B>do </B>what God says about child-rearing.  This is the real basis for requesting His help.</div> <div>     The warning of the Psalm is that all <I>our </I>building and guarding may well be in vain.  However well our projects arise or are maintained, the lack of God's true involvement will eventually become apparent.  </div> <div>     By the same token, the attacks of man or nature upon our lives may wear the paint off and warp the windows, but our building is safe when it is founded in Christ.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Corinthians 3:11</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This means that any foundation men build on <I>besides </I>Christ will ultimately crumble, as will whatever was built thereon.</div> <div>     A Christian builds on a laid foundation.  Every measurement we make in our building must be relative to the existing foundation.  It does no good to say, "I'm a Christian.  My foundation is automatically Christ."  The foundation is there, but we only build on it by being conscious of it.  We are only conscious of it when we think on Christ's words and plan by them.</div> <div>     Some things are simply not fit to be laid on the foundation of Christ.  To build with them is to make our house unstable.  We are constantly in need of <I>new insights</I> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT>from the Spirit to show us foreign materials we are building with.  We need <I>new words</I> for asking God tp show us our contracts on foreign foundations.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_12"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 237 ><NOBR><div> <B>Deuteronomy 14:26</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> And you shall pay the silver </div> <div> for whatever your soul desires, </div> <div> for oxen, or for sheep, </div> <div> or for wine, or for fermented drink, </div> <div> or for whatever your soul desires. </div> <div> And you shall eat there </div> <div> before Jehovah your God, </div> <div> and you shall rejoice, </div> <div> you and your household. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     There are those who seem to have complete power of censorship over their own happiness.  Worse, many who thus choose unhappiness for themselves also tend to see all happy people as ignorant fools.</div> <div>     We sometimes call these purposely unhappy people cynics.  And they can be 'evangelistically' unhappy.  They call their view of life realism, but it is actually pessimism.  Something happened to squash their happiness in the past, and now they are dedicated pouters.  </div> <div>     They may be idealistic cynics ("You should learn to take the realistic view"), or they may by sadistic cynics ("I'm unhappy; you're not <I>allowed </I>to be happy").  Sadistic cynics basically blame everyone for the misfiring of their own potential for happiness.</div> <bR> <div>     How are we to approach deliberately unhappy people?</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1</FONT>)  Be happy towards them (not irritatingly, of course) and give them a chance to thaw.</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2</FONT>)  This failing, gently inform them that they are responsible for their own bitterness, a bitterness which <I>does </I>include anger against God.</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >3</FONT>)  Further inform them that God is compassionate towards pain and is willing to tend wounds that are submitted for His treatment.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 130 ><NOBR><div> <B>Matthew 7:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> "Stop judging,</div> <div> so that you shall not be judged, </div> <div> for with what judgment you judge, </div> <div> you will be judged ..."</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" ><I>Improper judging = I make justice</I></FONT>.</div> <div>     We are all incurable judges since the Fall.  That's why Jesus told us to "stop judging."  We will be putting the kibosh on our superior attitudes and ensuing critiques <I>all our days</I> if we obey Christ.</div> <div>     Our false kind of judging is to be replaced by righteous judging:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>John 7:24</B></FONT>  "Stop judging according to appearance, but <U>be judging</U> the righteous judgment." </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT>   Jesus qualifies the prohibition on judging.  He makes an equivalent requirement TO judge.  To cease from judging is to deny our sinful nature; this brings us back to 'zero', so to speak, from the 'negative' territory of wrong judging.  But a Christian has been enabled to walk in 'positive' territory.  We can actually judge correctly.  What's more, we are <I>commanded </I>to render right judgment in every case.  A mere refusal to judge falls short of a Christian position.</div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" ><I>Righteous judging = God makes justice</I></FONT>.</div> <div>     It is simply a matter of perspective which changes judgment from wrong to right.  If  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><B>I </B></FONT>manufacture justice, my judging will be wrong.  If, in my thinking, <B>God </B>is the sole manufacturer of justice, my judgment based thereon can be right.</div> <div>     THINKING that God, not I, makes justice is the starting point for right judgment.  I can be His tool for distributing His justice, but such judgment will be decidedly impartial and meek.  Once I begin prosecuting my own case again, I return to being the self-appointed distributor of justice.  God will eventually have to dethrone me, because Judge = King, and there is only one King.</div> <div>     So I must think correctly concerning the origin of justice, then I must speak and act consistently with that source NOT being me.</div> <bR> <div>     It would be nice if we could be neutral- no responsibility to judge.  Righteous judging is such a weight!  But God made man a weighty being with a weighty destiny attached.  </div> <div>     Step up and claim your manhood.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_14"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 148 ><NOBR><div> <B>1 Peter 3:9</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> not giving back evil for evil, </div> <div> or reviling against reviling; </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >but, on the contrary, </FONT><I>give</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >blessing; </FONT></div> <div> knowing that you were called to this </div> <div> in order that you might inherit blessing. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     A Christian's humility is tested by the underhanded, coercive intrusions of the haughty.</div> <div>     Our humility can transform into haughtiness when we lose patience.  We say, "My lack of self-assertion will never gain me proper respect.  If I take no countermeasures, I will always be a doormat."</div> <div>     The proud seem to exert no effort and bear no expense in hurling or cleverly sliding under the door their cheap shots that wreck us.  "I have to fight back!" we cry.</div> <div>     But meekness is not necessarily the complete absence of countermeasures.  If someone is manipulating me or a situation with me in it, I may speak for myself.  My meekness is manifested in not pursuing my own agenda.  I may represent myself as a human with whatever say-so is appropriate in the situation.  I may even represent my point of view and interests in the situation (again, if that is called for).  What I am forbidden by God is fighting fire with fire.  When choice of weapons is extended, I must reach for another box; <I>neither </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>musket presented will do for me.</div> <div>     I must say, "However you minimize me, I know who I am.  I will make <I>you  </I>aware of who I am by my gracious response.  You are only minimizing <I>yourself  </I>when you pick a fight with me, for I will decline, and you will be shadow-boxing."  No man ever beat his own shadow.</div> <div>     Furthermore, we take our assailant to God in prayer.  This makes it His problem, not ours (if we have prayed correctly).  God's accounting book is very precise in tallying and penalizing men's coercions.</div> <div>     The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.  Deliverance from my personal evil is a more worthy focus than self-protection.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_15"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 127:1</B></div> <div> If Jehovah does not build the house, </div> <div> they who build it labor in vain</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     This is a good witnessing verse.</div> <div>     We may tell an unbeliever that his life is very much like a house.  The likeness may be drawn in the fact that his life is an ongoing building project to be inspected by God when it is finished.  Or the likeness may be drawn in his soul as a building that is presently either being built by God <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Engravers MT" >or not</FONT>.</div> <div>     All men's efforts to build their own houses are doomed for failure, we may tell him.  "In vain" shows the futility of building apart from God.</div> <div>     This analogy allows the unbeliever to picture God eyeing his life.  He can imagine God sizing him up.  He can see that God may respect his building prowess, but that leaving God out of the process is a direct insult against Him.  This is a valuable insight for an unbeliever.</div> <div>     He can furthermore see that God gives him plenty of leeway to build his own house.  God allows him the luxury of fine building materials (the good things of this life), but God will call him to account at the end.  This is an important intersection for the unbeliever to reach.</div> <div>     We might even ask the unbeliever what he would do if <I>he </I>were the building inspector.  Would his life include enough attention to doing good in general and honoring God in particular that he would pass inspection?  Would God, then, likely approve his building's transfer to an eternal dwelling?  Most people who have not been living for God will admit that they haven't given Him His due.</div> <div>     Here's the most important part.  If we can bring the unbeliever to see that his building is condemned at this point (no matter if he only sees it tentatively for the moment), <I>we must not give the impression</I> that with a little brushing up on his building codes he can probably pass the next inspection.  We must insist (politely) that a condemned building can never be renovated.  The dishonor to God demands bulldozing.  Only buildings God has overseen from blueprint onward will ever pass inspection.  </div> <div>     The good news is (and we now see that everything to this point has been bad news: a proper presentation of the gospel) that God contracts the bulldozing work, the new blueprints, and the new building <I><B>all in one operation</B></I><I><B>!   </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Castellar" ><I>And He does it all at His own expense ! !  </I></FONT>(Notice we did not say "for free".  It is better to highlight that fact that salvation <I>is </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>paid for, just not by us).    </div> <div>     Christ's death is the hub of all God's renovating work.  Dying with Him on the cross bulldozes our former lives; being reborn in Him draws up our new blueprints; living by God's directions and power is our new building project.</div> <div>     </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_16"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="372" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 127:1</B></div> <div> Unless Jehovah builds the house, </div> <div> they labor in vain who build it</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     God IS building a house:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Peter 2:5</B></FONT>  <U>you</U> also as living stones <U>are being built</U> <U>a</U> spiritual <U>house</U>, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. </div> <bR> <div>     <I>We </I>are the house God is building.</div> <div>     Therefore, if my own building project competes with His, mine cannot stand.  Any house I build must be a 'subset' of the house God is building.</div> <div>     The house God is building is the Church.  "Church" means "those called out".  God calls men out of <I>DEstruction</I> to <I>CONstruct</I> them into something good.  The 'house' of my own life must simply be part of this overall reconstruction God is doing.</div> <div>     When we pray, "Let Your kingdom come," we are asking God to build His kingdom.  We should be asking, "Let me and what is mine be built <I>into </I>Your kingdom."</div> <div>     There are some guidelines by which God's construction of His kingdom works:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Peter 2:5</B></FONT>  you also as <U>living stones</U> are being built a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. </div> <bR> <div>     We must be <B>living </B>stones, not dead ones.  Christ Himself is the stone who is alive and who gives life:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Peter 2:4, 5</B></FONT>  As you come to Him, a <U>living stone</U> rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,  you yourselves like living stones ...</div> <bR> <div>     If I am a stone who has been made alive, mu life is derived from Christ, the ever-living one.</div> <div>     The quality of this life, one which defines it, is <B>purity</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>2 Timothy 2:20, 21</B></FONT>  Now in a great house there are not only <U>vessels</U> of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for <U>honorable</U> <U>use</U>, some for dishonorable.  Therefore, if anyone <U>cleanses</U> himself <U>from</U> what is <U>dishonorable</U>, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     God invites our participation in the building of His kingdom.  He therefore bids our <I>preparation</I>.  He enables us to leave off with material which is unworthy of His kingdom.  AS we desire His kingdom, we <I>do </I>leave behind self-seeking and defilement.</div> <div>     God is building a building.  Christ is the key to that building.  Anyone who yearns for purity will look to Him:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 John 3:2, 3</B></FONT>  Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, <U>we shall be like Him</U>, for we shall <U>see Him</U> as He is.  And everyone who <U>has this hope on Him</U> <U>purifies himself</U>, even as that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>One</I></FONT> is pure. </div> <bR> <div>     Looking to Christ is the actual channel of purity into our lives.  Looking to Him, our eyes become like funnels channeling His purity into us.  </div> <div>     Look to Him every way you can.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_17"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="372" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 127 ><NOBR><div> <B>Philippians 3:19</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >whose end </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >destruction, </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >whose god </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the belly, </FONT></div> <div> and who glory in their shame, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the </FONT><I>ones</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >thinking earthly things. </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Food makes us forget Heaven.</div> <div>     Food is the stuff that fuels our earthly existence.  Nothing in my stomach will last into Heaven.  I am rather provoking a competition by eating, am I not?</div> <div>     The tension between earth, where we must live, and Heaven, where we have never been, we mostly overlook.  It is too uneven a comparison for our liking.  Nearly everything about us is geared to earth.  Only our faith is geared to Heaven.  </div> <div>     If an unbeliever told me, "You are an earth creature, exactly like me, except that you have this bizarre notion of some life beyond," what could I respond?  What <I>am </I>I more than he?  </div> <div>     To my shame, I would have to ask myself how many moments in the day I even think differently than he does, actually following my 'bizarre notion' that far.</div> <div>     Many Christians more honest than we have faced this dilemma with warfare.  They waged war on their bodies.  They resolved not to promote the comfort of their bodies for one more moment.  For them, the rest of life on earth became a <I>real </I>competition.  They were determined to set their minds on Heaven by completely removing luxury from their earthly existence.  These men are called ascetics.  </div> <div>     We rather roundly despise ascetics in our day.  We always cast them in an insincere light, as though they had no moderation, choosing to fight a battle of two appetites by simply denying one of them.</div> <div>     It is true that an ascetic has only got one half of a complete Biblical formula.  The half they possess is reflected in Paul's words:</div> <bR> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Corinthians 9:27</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The half they are missing is also reflected in a Pauline phrase:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Timothy 6:17</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  ... the God who affords us all things richly for </FONT><I>our</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >enjoyment</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The problem is, we- the ones who accuse the ascetic of insincerity- are clearly equally insincere.  We simply choose the half of the formula they neglect and neglect the half they have embraced.  Most Christians do not know how to deny their bodies at all.    </div> <div>     Certainly Christianity is a balance.  Certainly we must have both self-denial <I>and </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>enjoyment of creation to truly reflect the Spirit of Christ.  This balance is once again summed up well by Paul:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Philippians 4:12</B></FONT>  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have <U>learned the secret</U> of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. </div> <bR> <div>     "Learned the secret" is from a Greek word meaning to be initiated, as into a religious rite.  It <I><B>is </B></I>a 'club' only a few seem to join- the exercise of balancing self-denial with enjoyment of created things.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_18"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="624" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 298 ><NOBR><div> <B>Numbers 15:38 - 40</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> Speak to the sons of Israel </div> <div> and you shall say to them that they shall make themselves fringes </div> <div> on the corners of their garments, for their generations. </div> <div> And they shall put a thread of blue with the fringe of each corner. </div> <div> And it shall be to you for a fringe, </div> <div> that you may look on it and remember </div> <div> all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; </div> <div> and that you do not go about after your own heart </div> <div> and your own eyes after which you fornicate; </div> <div> that you may remember and do all My commandments, </div> <div> and be holy to your God. </div> <bR> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     God had the Israelites add tassel-like fringes to their garments to remind them of who they were as servants of God, that they were set apart ("holy") for Him.</div> <div>     As a man under the Law, Jesus had to keep this precept, and we seem to have a reference indicating His compliance:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Luke 8:44</B></FONT>  She came up behind him and touched the <U>fringe</U> of His garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. </div> <bR> <div>     The Pharisees certainly kept the fringe command:  as usual, in ostentatious manner, as Jesus explained:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Matthew 23:5</B></FONT>  And all their works they do, to be seen of men: for they make their phylacteries broad, and extend the <U>fringes</U> of their garments. </div> <bR> <div>     This injunction had no sooner been given to Moses than certain Israelites misconstrued it:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Numbers 16:1 -3</B></FONT>  And Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, took also Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben; and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty rulers of the congregation, elect men of the assembly, men of name.  And they were assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>presume</I></FONT> too much! For all the congregation, <U>all of them</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I></FONT> <U>holy</U>, and Jehovah is among them. Why then do you <U>lift up yourselves</U> above the assembly of Jehovah? </div> <bR> <div>     They were right that all the people were holy.  This was part of what the tassels were to remind them of.  But they let this general truth wipe out the specific truth that Moses was their leader chosen by God.  He was 'extra holy', if you will.  He wasn't just set apart as an Israelite, he was set apart as a leader as well.  </div> <div>     It is very easy for the human mind to focus in on one truth it prefers to the exclusion of any competing truth.  The men challenging Moses did this very thing.  They chose the truth of their <I>equal </I>holiness and ignored the truth of Moses' <I>unique </I>holiness.  If you would like to read about God opening up the earth to consume them for their ignorance, the story is in the remainder of the passage.</div> <div>     Moses could just as easily have taken the truth of his special holiness too far; but he didn't.  He kept his special holiness as leader in perspective with the general holiness of all God's people.  </div> <div>      Church leaders today must remember these same truths.  </div> <bR> <div>     God says what He says.</div> <div>     God selects whom He selects.</div> <div>     When God gives teaching gifts, those who employ them in a leadership capacity are representatives of His words.  No democratic ideal will alter this.</div> <div>     Handled properly, the leadership gifts will never impose the will of God by force on a congregation.  Teachers will explain the will of God from Scriptures, and the congregation will come to one mind concerning it.  All will proceed together in an orderly and agreeable manner.</div> <div>     What happens when there is a hitch in this orderly process?</div> <div>     The leader must first:</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1</FONT>)  use additional teaching to bring the dissenters around (<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2 </FONT>Timothy <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2:25</FONT>), then, </div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2</FONT>)  use excommunication proceedings against stubbornly divisive persons:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Titus 3:10</B></FONT>  As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have <U>nothing more to do with him</U></div> <bR> <div>     Dreadful that it's all so dangerous, eh?  </div> <div>     If we truly believe that God gifts certain men as teachers, we will seek to discover and do God's will under their instruction.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_19"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="447" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 127 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 127:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> If Jehovah does not build the house, </div> <div> they who build it labor in vain; </div> <div> if Jehovah does not keep the city, </div> <div> the one keeping it stays awake in vain. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <U>PART FOUR</U></div> <div> (Belatedly)</div> <bR> <div>     When a church lets down her guard on matters important to God, God may well cease in His guard duties over her.</div> <div>     She may have many areas 'on the ball', but if she is missing a crucial ingredient, God's presence may depart from her.  Christ gave this warning to the Ephesian church:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Revelation 2:2</FONT>  <U>I know</U> your works, and your labor, and <U>your patience</U>, and that you cannot bear evil ones; and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>you</I> </FONT>tried those pretending to be apostles and are not, and found them<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" > <I>to be</I></FONT> liars... </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Revelation 2:4, 5</FONT>  <U>But I have against you</U> that you left your first love.  Then remember from where you have fallen, and <U>repent</U>, and do the first works. And <U>if not</U>, I am coming to you quickly, and <U>will remove your lampstand</U> from its place, unless you repent. </div> <bR> <div>     Here would have been a church seeking to bear God's light <I>without </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>any light!  Could her "light become darkness"?  Yes.  If she failed to repent as warned, she certainly would have continued to call herself a church and think of herself as one, but in reality, she would not have been.  </div> <div>     There would have been a turning point.  There would be one moment when they still maintained their lampstand for God, and a following moment when it was gone.  All following generations within that church would have been in the dark.  They would have to become so apostate that they were no longer recognizable as a church before they would be open to a word of repentance again.  <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" >How important was this moment Christ presented the Ephesian church</FONT>!</div> <div>     God is under no compulsion to honor churches that dishonor Him.  The Ephesian assembly was a first century church.  They were planted by apostles.  It did not take generations for them to go astray.  It took one generation.</div> <div>     What makes us think that God is obligated to shine His light in our church?  How are we different than the Ephesian church?</div> <div>     If we do not have a sense of, "I'd better be about the business of shoring up what's lacking," it's a bad sign for us.  Here was a basically good church with one 'little' thing wrong, one unnoticeable thing, and they were standing on the precipice of oblivion.</div> <div>     The Ephesian church had the <B>mental </B>content of the Faith right; Christ even commended them for it.  It was the <B>heart </B>content that had gone missing, and not even altogether.  They were only missing a love for God that matched the level of their conversion days.  God deemed that unacceptable.  </div> <div>     Jesus condemned another church for the opposite error:  for fervency of heart but failure to renounce false teachings (<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >3:1 - 6</FONT>).</div> <bR> <div>     Churches scrambling to beg their Potentate for a little more time before He forecloses on their lease?  A sensible scenario by our newly realized standard.  Churches satisfied with the status quo?  Sounds dangerous ... or already 'safely' in the dark zone.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="447" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 148 ><NOBR><div> <B>1 Thessalonians 2:12</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> we exhorted each one of you </div> <div> and encouraged you </div> <div> and charged you </div> <div> to walk in a manner worthy of God, </div> <div> who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Consider the word "calls" in the above verse.</div> <div>     It is from the Greek word <I>kaleo</I>.  </div> <div>     This Greek word <I>kaleo </I>plus the prefix <I>ek</I>, meaning "out", gives us the word usually translated "church".  "Church", then, means "those called out".</div> <div>     Two verses after the one above, Paul uses the Greek compound word for "those called out", <I>ekklesia:</I></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Thessalonians 2:14</B></FONT>  For, brothers, you became imitators of the <U>assemblies</U> of God being in Judea in Christ Jesus, because you also suffered these things by <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>your</I> </FONT>own fellow countrymen, as they <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>did</I> </FONT>also by the Jews</div> <bR> <div>     The Literal Version of the Bible translates <I>ekklesia </I>"assemblies".</div> <bR> <div>     So having spoken of God <B>calling </B>the Thessalonians in verse twelve, Paul further speaks of their similarity to other <B>called out</B> assemblies in verse fourteen.</div> <div>     We should definitely think of the church, the gathering of God's set apart ones, as a called out group.</div> <div>     The Church IS the Church <I>in that</I> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT>it is always being called out.</div> <div>     There are some particular areas we have been called out <I>of </I>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Peter 2:9</B></FONT>  But you <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him who has <U>called you out</U> of darkness into His marvelous light</div> <bR> <div>     Here Peter uses the two words "called" and "out" separately, but they are the same two words which together mean "church".  He specifies darkness as an area we're called out of.</div> <bR> <div>     How closely connected is Jesus to His Church?  At the risk of following a rabbit trail, the only other verse which uses "call" and "out" in a similar sense is:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Matthew 2:15</B></FONT>  And he [Joseph] was there until the death of Herod; so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the LORD through the prophet, "<U>Out</U> of Egypt I have <U>called</U> My Son." </div> <bR> <div>     Jesus fulfilled an archetype of Israel by coming out of Egypt.  Jesus came to do what He did TO become one with His Church.  He sanctified Himself for our sakes, and now He <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Castellar" >calls </FONT>us to Himself, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Castellar" >out </FONT>of where we were.  The Church distinguishes herself from counterfeits in that she <I><B>continues </B></I>to be called out to follow her Shepherd.</div> <div>     The Church is the Church in that it is <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Castellar" >always being called out</FONT>.</div> <bR> <div>     Would you fit the description of being the Church today?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_21"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="387" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 127 ><NOBR><div> <B>1 Timothy 2:8</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> I wish, therefore, </div> <div> that men pray in every place, </div> <div> lifting up kind hands, </div> <div> apart from anger and reasoning</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     This is from Young's Literal Translation of the Bible.  Young's is perhaps the only translation that uses "kind" as the adjective describing hands.  All the other translations use some form of "holy", "pure", "devout", etc.</div> <div>     A good case can be made for "kind" or "compassionate" hands.</div> <div>     The Greek word in question is <I>hosios.</I></div> <div> <I>    </I>The word <I>hosios </I>is used by Paul in Acts:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Acts 13:34</B></FONT>  But that he raised him from among <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the</I> </FONT>dead, no more to return to corruption, he spoke thus: I will give to you the faithful <U>mercies</U> of David. </div> <div>  </div> <div>     Paul is referencing a verse in Isaiah:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Isaiah 55:3</B></FONT>  Bend your ear and come to Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will cut an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful <U>mercies</U> of David. </div> <bR> <div>     The Hebrew word for "mercies" is <I>chesed</I>, meaning kindness.  Of the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >247 </FONT>times the word is used in the Old Testament, it is not translated by any form of "holy".  It is almost always some form of "mercy", "lovingkindness", or "goodness".</div> <div>     In Paul's sermon above, he uses <I>hosios</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I>  </I></FONT>again:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Acts 13:35</B></FONT>  Therefore he also says in another <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>place</I></FONT>, "You shall not allow Your <U>Holy</U> One to see corruption." </div> <bR> <div>     This time he's quoting from a Psalm:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Psalm 16:10</B></FONT>  For You will not leave My soul in hell; You will not allow Your <U>Holy</U> One to see corruption. </div> <bR> <div>     The Hebrew word for "Holy", <I>chasiyd</I>, is from the same root as <I>chesed</I>.  <I>Chasiyd</I>, however, is translated by forms of "holy" and "saint" most of the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >32 </FONT>times it is used in the Old Testament.</div> <bR> <div>     The question, then, is whether Paul had the meaning "merciful" or "holy" more in mind when he used the word in describing men's hands in prayer.</div> <div>     The verse in question uses the word "therefore" connecting it to the preceding verses.  Paul is saying that men should pray because of what he had just concluded.  What he had just concluded concerned his apostleship to the Gentiles:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Timothy 2:6, 7</B></FONT>  the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>One</I> </FONT>having given Himself a ransom on behalf of all, the testimony <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>to be given</I></FONT> in its own time,  to which I was appointed a herald and apostle (I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie), a <U>teacher of </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>the</U></I><U> </U></FONT><U>Gentiles</U>, in faith and truth. </div> <bR> <div>     And this is still part of the whole context of prayer begun in the first verse of the chapter:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Timothy 2:1, 2</B></FONT>  First of all, then, I exhort <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>that</I> </FONT>supplications, <U>prayers</U>, intercessions, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>and</I> </FONT>giving of thanks be made for all men,  <U>for kings</U> and all who are in authority, so <U>that we may lead</U> a quiet and <U>peaceable life</U> in all godliness and reverence. </div> <bR> <div>     Prayers are to be made for kings so we Christians can live peacefully.  We pray that God guide national leaders' hearts into decisions that keep our lands at peace and the church out of persecution.</div> <div>     Was God granting Christians peace in the era in which Paul wrote?  No.  There was recurrent persecution.  THIS was the context in which Paul instructed men to pray.</div> <div>     When Paul told men to pray "without anger and debate",  he was checking his brothers' impulse to request cursings from God on Rome, her emperors, the Sanhedrin, and all who persecuted the Church.  We may pray imprecatory prayers, but not in a spirit of vengefulness.  The quarrel is between God and persecutors, not <I>us </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>and persecutors.</div> <div>     That is why it is "merciful hands" that should be lifted.  We ask God for mercy on the nations despite their obsessive hatred for us and their injuries to our brothers and sisters.</div> <bR> <div>     There's some prayer instructions.  Incorporate them first thing.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_22"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="387" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 170 WIDTH="375"><div> <B>Philippians 2:5 - 7</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> For think this within you, </div> <div> which <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>mind was</I></FONT> also in Christ Jesus,  </div> <div> who subsisting in the form of God, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >thought </FONT><I>it</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >not robbery to be equal with God,  but emptied Himself, </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >taking </FONT><I>the</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >form of a servant </FONT></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Jesus "emptied" Himself.  This is the exact meaning of the Greek word.</div> <div>     Paul is telling us to be like Jesus in this regard.</div> <div>     Is this why there are so many 'robot Christians' running around?  (Well, walking stiff-leggedly around, perhaps)</div> <div>     Many sincere Christians seem to think that true devotion to God means losing their personality and becoming someone else- whatever a servant of God is.  No thought for myself, no reference to myself, no me.  That's emptying myself, right?</div> <div>     No, that would be a kind of self-emptying that would dishonor God.</div> <div>     When Christ emptied Himself, He merely laid aside His privileges as King and took the Father's will as His only office.  He became a slave.  But did He lose His personality?</div> <div>     Is a slave devoid of personality?  A robot is devoid of personality, but not a slave.  A slave merely channels his character- his joys and his sorrows- into doing the will of His master, in Jesus' case the will of His beloved Father.</div> <div>     If we are to become God's servants as Christ did, we must subjugate our own reputation and agenda to make God's name our honor.  We will uphold the worthiness of <I>His </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>reputation, not our own.</div> <div>     There is a direct connection between this kind of emptying and the expression of our personalities.  If, as a human, I seek to magnify God's name, what <I>is </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>God's name?  His name is simply WHO HE IS.  His name, therefore,<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" ><I> includes His personality</I></FONT>.  We cannot honor God's personality by becoming devoid of personality.  We honor God's personality by having a <I>full </I>personality, like He does.  We <I>discover </I>our personality <I>in </I>service to God.  </div> <div>     Every part of human personality will remain when sin has left us.  If we are suppressing our personalities now, it is not helping to suppress sin.  We are not only blunting the image of God within us, we are allowing sin a 'free ride', pulling a visor over it to allow operation with impunity.</div> <div>     True, sin is so interwoven into who we are, we cannot simply become uninhibited.  Then we will certainly sin.  But a general <I>in</I>hibition will also play into the hands of darkness.  </div> <div>     It is a difficult balance, the Christian life.  Discovery of God's will in Scriptures both promotes the righteousness of our new, true, full selves AND dulls the iniquity that insinuates itself into everything we do.  The more we uncover of God's will, the more we identify God's personality.  The more of His personality we discover, the more we rejoice in it and find it reflected in our own.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_23"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="387" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 151 ><NOBR><div> <B>2 John 1:12</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> Having many things to write to you, </div> <div> I do not want <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>to say</I></FONT> with paper and ink. </div> <div> But I trust to come to you </div> <div> and speak face to face, </div> <div> so that our joy may be full. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     John wanted to interface with his fellow Christians.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Corinthians 15:39, 40</B></FONT>  For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.  There are heavenly bodies and <U>earthly bodies</U>, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the <U>glory of</U> the earthly is of another. </div> <bR> <div>     God made each kind of body in the universe with a unique glory.  Part of the glory of the human body is the face, making up our countenance, by which we interface with other men:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Ecclesiastes 8:1</B></FONT>  Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's <U>wisdom</U> <U>makes</U> his <U>face</U> shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. </div> <bR> <div>     What is in our souls can be seen on our faces.</div> <div>     We need to be aware that our facial expressions are probably the main component of our communications with others.  Hopefully, we are not using our faces to mask our feelings.  Hopefully we can speak and express ourselves transparently with others, especially Christians.*</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>2 Corinthians 1:12</B></FONT>  For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly <U>sincerity</U>; not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God; we have had our conduct in the world, and more abundantly <U>toward you</U>. </div> <bR> <div>  * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >There are appropriate times to veil our true feelings; e.g., Prov. 12:16</FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_24"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="387" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 119:29</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> Remove from me the way of lying; </div> <div> and grant me Your Law graciously. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     ".... Law graciously ..."  The word Law and a form of the word grace side by side.</div> <div>     Christendom in general has made a great divide between Moses' Law and the grace by which we as Christians relate to God.  There seems to be some justification for this chasm between Law and Grace because of certain verses, such as:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>John 1:17</B></FONT>  For the <U>Law</U> was given through Moses, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>but</I> </FONT><U>grace</U> and truth came through Jesus Christ. </div> <bR> <div>     On first glance, there does seem to be a rather absolute dichotomy between Law and Grace.  But consider this:  Is John saying that Moses' writings lacked <I>truth</I>?  Truth is also being contrasted to the Law.  Whatever way truth contrasts to Law is probably the same way grace contrasts.</div> <div>     And what way does truth contrast to the Law?</div> <div>     Both grace and truth contrast to Law simply in the fact that they were historically inaugurated by Christ.  Moses historically inaugurated the EXPLANATION of the truth, the Law, but Christ came as truth's EMBODIMENT.  Furthermore, Moses' Law explained God's grace in <B>shadow </B>form.  Christ came as the <B>reality </B>to which the shadow finally connected.</div> <div>     John follows up on this theme throughout the book.  Christ would be having six of Moses' water pots for ceremonial purification filled to the brim and turn them to wine.  <I>Ceremonial </I>cleanness was now being replaced with <I>real </I>cleanness because the One had come who would take our real defilement within Himself.  </div> <div>     Jesus would be fulfilling all the shadows in the Law.  The six (signifying incomplete) cleansing pots would be transformed into the reality they prefigured.  Instead of <I>symbolic </I>cleansing, they would be giving <I>actual </I>joy to men; a seven (completion) suggested by the wine.</div> <div>     So John was not absolutely contrasting Law and Grace in John <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1:17</FONT>.  He was merely locating the historical beginning of two of God's great phases of redemption.  First, the Explanation phase (Moses), then the Fulfillment phase (Christ).</div> <div>     One more note:  "Came" is also being contrasted to "given" in John <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1:17</FONT>.  "Came" is from a Greek word meaning "to cause to be" or "to become".  Also, the definite article appears before the words "grace" and "truth".  Finally, there is no disjunction between the two clauses.  The verse then could read:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>John 1:17</B></FONT>  For the Law was given through Moses; the Grace and the Truth came to be through Jesus Christ. </div> <bR> <div>     This suggests in an even more definite way that John means to point to Christ as the reality to which Moses' symbols pointed.</div> <bR> <div>     Men were saved by grace in Moses' day.  Christians still want the Law "granted graciously" to them in our day, per the box at the top:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Romans 7:22</B></FONT>  For I <U>delight in</U> the <U>Law of God</U> according to the inward man</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_25"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 194 ><NOBR><div> <B>Leviticus 10:6</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> And Moses said to Aaron </div> <div> and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, </div> <div> "Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, </div> <div> and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, </div> <div> and wrath come upon all the congregation; </div> <div> but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, </div> <div> bewail the burning that the LORD has kindled." </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Aaron and his two remaining sons were not allowed to mourn the death of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's first two sons.  Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar had been consecrated to a week of priestly service which could not be interrupted.  Their service to God took precedence over their loyalty to family.</div> <div>     What we as Christians are supposed to give our hearts TO is often very hard.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Footlight MT Light" >Holiness </FONT>is a gift in which we largely fail to rejoice, for instance.</div> <div>     But what we are to keep our hearts FROM- this is certainly just as hard!</div> <div>     The new heart God gives us is a properly human heart.  Our new, softened, human heart causes us to feel more deeply.  But we are also constrained by God to feel <I>less </I>with it in certain regards.</div> <div>     How, for instance, are we to feel about the great mass of humanity who are already suffering in the flames of hell?  Should this bother us?  Apparently, men's eternal punishment is almost entirely a matter between themselves and God.  We are not in the middle of it; it is largely none of our concern.  Yet we are certainly aware of it.  This could definitely bother our hearts if we let it.</div> <div>     We are very much like Aaron and his remaining sons.  We have God's reputation to think about.  It is not so important what our natural sentiments are.</div> <div>     God is not seeking to make us inhuman; far from it.  He is the one who gives us our first experience of true humanity.  But there are some matters in which our feelings are not the primary concern.  Death was the consequence for Aaron breaking his week of consecration.  A death in the family was not a sufficient exemption from this.</div> <div>     We have entered a holy place as Christians.  Those with us in this holy place are not safe.  Matters of life and death confront us daily.  We are consecrated.  We have fallen into the hands of a holy, living God.  Let us render our feelings and the restraint of them to Him.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_26"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 127 ><NOBR><div> <B>Zechariah 12:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> The burden of the Word of Jehovah for Israel, </div> <div> says Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens, </div> <div> and lays the foundation of the earth, </div> <div> and forms the spirit of man within him. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     One name God gives to a certain kind of His communications to us is a <B>burden</B>.</div> <div>     A burden from God is, as the name suggests, a felt weight.</div> <div>     Consider some of the ways that we are to perceive and carry the burden of the Lord:</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >1</FONT>)  A confrontation with God's reality, presence, and personality:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Psalm 32:4</B></FONT>  For by day and by night Your hand <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT><U>heavy</U> on me; my sap was turned into the droughts of summer. </div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >2</FONT>)  The conviction of sin that comes from this awareness;</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >3</FONT>)  The weight of the glory of our salvation:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>2 Corinthians 4:17</B></FONT>  For the lightness of our present affliction works out for us a far more excellent eternal <U>weight</U> of glory</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >4</FONT>)  The necessity to speak for God:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Jeremiah 20:9</B></FONT>  And I said, I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name. But <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>His Word</I></FONT> was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary of <U>holding in</U>, and I was not able. </div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >5</FONT>)  The offense of the world against us:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Mark 13:13</B></FONT>  And you will be <U>hated</U> by all on account of My name. But the <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>one</I> </FONT><U>enduring</U> to the end, that <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>one</I></FONT> will be kept safe. </div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >6</FONT>)  A longing for the salvation of others:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Romans 9:3</B></FONT>  For I could <U>wish</U> that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. </div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >7</FONT>)  The difficulty of self-denial:</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Mark 8:34</B></FONT>  And calling near the crowd with His disciples, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and <U>take his cross</U>, and let him follow Me. </div> <div>  </div> <div>     These are all weights that pull on us, strain us.</div> <div>     But burdens from God and for His sake are necessary for the accomplishment of our goals as His people.  We are being called out of bondage.  The power of our bondage, sin, remains in us.  The choice, therefore, is ever before us whether we will submit to our former yoke or press on to serve our good Lord.</div> <div>     To introduce another term, God gives His people a <B>vision </B>to <I>see </I>the goal ahead of us, especially in contrast to the hindrances from attaining the goal.</div> <div>     The burden of the Lord supplies the necessary pressure to <I>achieve </I>that goal.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_27"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 70 WIDTH="477"><div> <B>Psalm 119:30</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> I have chosen the way of truth ...</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Here is a confession which unmasks insincerity.  </div> <div>     It contains a great way to clarify whether I walk according to truth.  Without this verse, I may let myself off easily with a vague notion of walking in the truth.  Perhaps I <I>am </I>walking in the truth.  I am a Christian, no?  I'm not walking in any known falsehood.  As likely as not, then, I'm walking in the truth.  </div> <div>     But I can be much more specific in answer.  I can ask, with the psalmist, whether or not I have <I>chosen </I>the way of truth.  The psalmist could look at himself and say, "I have considered the path of truth, and I have chosen it.  I am walking in it now.  I am choosing it now."  The choice of the path (Hebrew meaning of "way") of truth is a deliberate one.  It is an ongoing one.</div> <div>     If I am not <I>choosing </I>the way of truth, therefore, I do not <I>walk </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>according to the truth.  Walking in truth is not accidental.  Nor is it incidental:  if I have chosen the Christian path as the truthful one some time in the past, that does not mean that I am choosing the path of truth today.  If my choice of truth affects my life, I should be able to say today, "I have chosen the way of truth."  Saying that, I should mean, "I stand where I stand now <I>because </I>of my choice of truth."</div> <bR> <div>     Is your choice of truth a fresh one?  When is the last time your commitment to the truth forced you to endure a hard sacrifice?  The longer we dwell in the vicinity of the truth, the less we tend to feel its cutting edge.  We are always apt to settle into a comfort zone, but when we do so with the truth, the truth moves out of that district.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_28"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="423" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 119:31</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> I have stuck to Your testimonies; </div> <div> O Jehovah, do not put me to shame. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     "I have stuck to Your testimonies."  Well, there's a humble confession for you!  Apparently, the psalmist had a high estimation of his own sanctification.</div> <div>     But wait.  "O Jehovah, do not put me to shame."  Well, that certainly <I>is </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><I> </I></FONT>a humble request.  Perhaps the first 'boast' is really not a boast, but only a sane self-estimate.</div> <div>     Indeed, it comes down to this.  Either I am or I am not sticking to God's testimonies.  The psalmist is not implying that he had stuck to them perfectly, but at least that he had consciously chosen and stayed with what God had said.</div> <bR> <div>     We should be able to make the same 'boast'.</div> <div>     But if you are not <I>presently </I>sticking with God's testimonies, you cannot truly say that you <I>have </I>stuck to them.</div> <div>     God is letting us know through this example of prayer that it is appropriate to ask for freedom from shame <I>when </I>we have really taken God's part.</div> <div>     This request is not asking God to keep men from reproaching me.  It is asking Him to keep <I>me </I>from acting or speaking shamefully.  The psalmist is asking God for that extra power necessary to STAY with the godliness he had chosen.  "I have stuck to your testimonies.  But my glue dissolves rather easily and without warning.  Stick me with some of Your glue, faithful God."</div> <div>     Hence, far from making any kind of unseemly boast, the psalmist is acknowledging his powerlessness to <I>keep  </I>even what he had already <I>committed</I> to God.  He is expressing a full awareness that God had granted him bonding strength in the first place, and God must be the one who sees him to the end of his attachment:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Philippians 1:6</B></FONT>  being confident of this very thing, that <U>he who began</U> a good work in you <U>will complete</U> it until the day of Jesus Christ. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_29"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="423" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 119:32</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> I will run the way of Your Commands, </div> <div> for You shall enlarge my heart. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     Something about running in the way of God's commandments seems too hurried.</div> <div>     When we think of the path of God's commandments, we can think easily enough of walking thereon.  But try to imagine breaking into a run.  What commandment would justify shifting into a jog or a sprint?  Am I now going to love God, only faster?</div> <div>     The adjustment our mind makes when seeking to make a '<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >100-</FONT>yard command' seemly is simply approaching God's commands more vigorously.  That's an analogy of effort.  I can put forth a certain amount of effort in doing what God says (walking), or I can exert an extra amount (running).</div> <div>     In fact, the psalmist is suggesting that running itself is a proper gait for keeping God's commandments.</div> <div>     What does running do that walking doesn't?  It <I><B>covers more ground</B></I>.</div> <div>     This raises a very sensible question.  How much ground are we <I>supposed </I>to cover in commandment-keeping?</div> <div>     And this is where our verse comes in handy.  By expressing the desire to run in his obedience, the psalmist answers the question this way.  How much ground are we supposed to cover in commandment-keeping?  <B>All of it</B>.</div> <div>     In other words, there are not a set number of miles we're supposed to cover in a day, there is simply an ongoing road with progressively greater sanctification ahead.  The more ground we can cover each day, the closer we will be to our greatest possible sanctification by the end of our road.  Since the end of the road is our perfect glorification, we want to be closer to that than to the spiritual infancy with which we entered the road (and this is by no means guaranteed by our simply having been on the road for a long time).</div> <div>     And just as the athlete's training increases his organs' capacities to process oxygen, so through discipline and trials, God equips our hearts to support a running pace in our sanctification.</div> <div>     That's the unique picture our verse today gives us.  We should envision and be striving for our greatest possible sanctification.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_30"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="423" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 105 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 119:73</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> Your hands have made me and formed me; </div> <div> give me understanding </div> <div> so that I may learn Your commandments.  </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     To learn God's commandments.</div> <div>     The psalmist requests intelligence (so the Hebrew) for the purpose of comprehending God's commandments.</div> <div>     But what is there to learn about commandments?  Aren't they all rather straightforward: "Do this," "Don't do that"?</div> <div>     According to the psalmist, he needed special help from the creator of his mind to be able to properly grasp the meaning of God's commandments.  The psalmist is certainly asking for the ability to understand God's Do's and Don'ts, but he is apparently asking for more.  He apparently wants to thoroughly compute <I>and be infused with</I> God's negative and positive directions.</div> <div>     God's commandments, then, must be more than just simple Do's and Don'ts.  The fact that the psalmist sees it so is obvious:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Psalm 119:96</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  I have seen an end to all perfection; Your commandment </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >exceedingly broad. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The psalmist could conceive of perfection and could conceive of various aspects of the world in relation to their perfection ("Perfection" in Hebrew means completeness or the ending point of something).  God's commands, by comparison, were hard to categorize.  They are so expansive.  They challenge the mind's ability to see to their end.</div> <div>     Hence, when God assigned His commands to us, He was not 'talking down' to us.  He was not saying, "Here's some kindergarten stuff until you can learn to think maturely."  </div> <div>     Yet that is exactly how most Christians relate to commandments.  We see them as restrictive tests of our willpower and not much more.  Those who see them thus have put themselves in position to never truly learn God's commandments.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you in the psalmist's position, working on your 'spiritual doctorate', allowing Professor God to enlighten You concerning His amazing Do's and Don'ts?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv]vzv</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="oct_31"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="373" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 105 ><NOBR><div> <B>Psalm 119:20</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT></div> <div> My soul breaks for the longing </div> <div> that it has to Your judgments </div> <div> at all times. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     How many of us can say that our souls break for the longing they have for Scriptures?</div> <div>     Yet how many of us would deny that our souls <I>should </I>be thus constrained?</div> <div>     In daily life, where our spiritual sensitivity may be sapped from us, we may more profitably cry to God from the <I>opposite </I>vantage point:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Psalm 63:1</B></FONT>  O God, You <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>my God; I earnestly seek You; <U>my soul thirsts</U> for You; my flesh longs for You, <U>as in a dry</U> and <U>weary land</U> without water. </div> <bR> <div>     The point is, there is no situation in which we should not be crying earnestly to God.  Our sense of need should be acute, whether over direct longing for God and His words or over the parched dryness of our souls.</div> <div>     It's much like James' admonition:</div> <bR> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>James 5:13</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing psalms. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     James is basically categorizing life into our two emotional responses.  We can either be happy or sad.  James is saying to use a Biblical grid to exercise both our happiness AND our sadness.  Take your happiness and make it God-oriented.  Take your sadness and do the same.</div> <bR> <div>     A direct hunger for Scriptures?  Great if you have it.  Nurture it as much as possible.  If you lose it, no big deal.  Use your parched state to cry out even more intensely to the Fountain of Living Waters.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ssvwv]vwv]vtv]vwv]vwvss</div> <div>     </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>