Category Archives: New Testament

Compete Glory

Posted on April 12, 2023 | Leave a comment

Around the Truth of God spoken in the Old Testament
— Exodus 32:9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” 11 But Moses implored the Lord his God 

Premise: The weight and heaviness of God’s Sovereignty and Glory were captured within the Words he wrote on those stone tablets of His testimony so they would last.  How would you describe Glory?  I’d go for words like majestic and powerful.  Paul has given us a vivid word picture of God’s complete glory that includes four unusual aspects to think about.  These  10 Words were God’s own Testimony of the purpose of His Glory — to reveal what He required for the people to live in relation to Him and to make sin so obvious, the reality of it could not be denied. That Testimony was to be administered not just through the power of the Words themselves but because they were infused with evidence that the completeness of  God’s Glory was designed to overcome the corruption of sin, death and condemnation with the ministry of the Spirit and righteousness for His people.

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Posted in 2 Corinthians, Exodus, Light, New Testament, Old Testament, Wednesday

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Risen

Posted on April 9, 2023 | Leave a comment


Acts 13:32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’ 34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ 

“Wherever we bury Jesus, he comes back to life. We can bury him in the Bible or in stained glass windows. We can bury him in creeds and formulas and the heritage of our own tradition. We can bury him in movies and plays and music. We can bury him in our past. We can even bury him in bread and wine. And each time from each place he rises from the dead. He sheds the words and images and walks right on out into the world.a”

a Br. Curtis Almquist, Society of St. John the Evangelist, a monastic community of The Episcopal Church.

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Posted in Acts, Easter, Light, New Testament, Risen, Sunday

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Shiloh

Posted on April 5, 2023 | Leave a comment

To the Truth of God fulfilled in the Old Testament
Genesis 17:6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
Genesis 49:10 [KJV] “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Judges 1:1 “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”

God is establishing His family tree based on the new Blood Covenant given to Abraham in Genesis 17 not on the law of blood lines and first-borns. God chooses Isaac over Ishmael, his first son. Then history repeats itself and from Isaac’s sons God chooses Jacob,  his second born twin.  The line is shifted even further when Jacob gives his fourth son a prophetic blessing of authority in Genesis 49. FYI: Shiloh is a name of Hebrew origin, meaning “tranquil,” “abundance,” and “His gift” — and it’s “unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

Luke 1:33
When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce she had been chosen by God to give birth to the Messiah, these were the words used to describe what he (the Gift) would accomplish:
“And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever”

 

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Posted in Acts, Genesis, Judges, Light, New Testament, Old Testament, Wednesday

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Riches

Posted on April 2, 2023 | Leave a comment

It was kind of you to share my trouble. I’m thankful for your gift because it confirms our partnership in the beginning of the gospel.  I received your sacrifice as full payment and more because it came with the sweet aroma of the fruit of God to your credit and my benefit.  God was pleased, along with me, to accept your gift.  You are His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, and according to that He will supply every need of yours.  To our God and Father be glory forever and ever!

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit.
❤️

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Posted in Light, New Testament, Philippians, Sunday

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Don’t Miss the Details

Posted on March 29, 2023 | Leave a comment

This is a perfect example of the premise of letting one Testament read you the other.  Jesus talks in John 16:25 about using “figures of speech.”  The “horn of salvation” is like that.  I have read it, I know it’s Jesus, I have no reason to disagree. It’s a “figure of speech” I can easily skip over except this exercise has caused me to see a tiny little letter that directs my attention to Psalm 18 and I find details of worship for that moment I would have otherwise missed.

I love you, Jesus, my strength. You are my rock and my fortress and my deliverer the rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield AND “the reality of my salvation,” my stronghold.  Amen.

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Posted in John, Light, Luke, New Testament, Old Testament, Psalms, Wednesday

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Rejoice!

Posted on March 26, 2023 | Leave a comment

Can I do all things through Christ?  Is it my strength or His? What have I learned?

I learneda a Greek word [αὐτάρκεια] which in English letters looks like “autarkes.”  According to Strong’s Concordance it comes from autos (“self”) and arkein (“sufficient”). It’s the word Paul used that is translated in Verse 11 as “content.”  The link I put at the end of the post is a good explanation of why Paul would choose a word that mentions “self” in relation to Christ, or being strengthened and being content.  The secret lies in three other words I want to share with you today that do relate to self — “I have learned…”   The Grace of God and daring to trust His Providence over every circumstance of life is the secret of being “autarkes.” 

The “secret” is the mysterious and wonderful reality that within myself God has placed HimSELF to help me learn “in whatever situation I am to be content”…because I am SELF-sufficient.  May it be so!

 a John Piper 

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Posted in Light, New Testament, Philippians, Sunday

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It’s Personal [Full Stop]

Posted on March 19, 2023 | Leave a comment


It seems radical to edit Paul, but if I were his editor I might advise him to begin with “The Lord is at hand” and then carry on with his first truth that connects “rejoice in the Lord” to reasonableness.  Then I’d suggest he connect “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone” directly to “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” Right there, after “thanksgiving” I’d ask him to place a big “.” [a full stop].  There’s something  holy about connecting rejoicing to our “reasonableness”…reasonableness to our “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving”…and “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” to our belief. Those are the connections of holy truth that verify we do believe “the Lord IS at hand” in our life for his purpose .

Did you notice how personal everything Paul writes is, even without my editing?  It’s about your rejoicing, your reasonableness, your prayer, your supplication and your thanksgiving.  Today if you dare to believe that, use my “full stop” and take a moment to rejoice over the Godly reality that sometimes His truth really is about you!  Then read on.  Paul is going to make your rejoicing even more personal with God’s promise to “guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus“.”

That’s very personal for God too! “Again I will say, rejoice!” Take my dare! “Rejoice” over what He is making known to, and about, you.  Rejoicing is reasonable evidence that you’re practicing “what you have learned and received and heard and seen” in your personal relationship with Him“.”  He’ll love it!

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Posted in Light, New Testament, Philippians, Sunday

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The Integrity of Grace

Posted on March 15, 2023 | Leave a comment

And Old Testament Verses 
— Isaiah 6:9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:  “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
— Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

John repeats some of the most troublesome Words in the Bible.  They are God’s judgement given to Isaiah to let unbelievers know He will use their unbelief for His purpose.  Not all judgment of God is punishment, but it is always reality.  God sets the rules.  He has judged this group of unbelievers will be made deaf, blind and dull of heart.  I see that, but I wish it weren’t so.  

What possible purpose could the Sovereign Lord have in making such a judgment?  Why has He identified these unbelievers in this way?  He’s obviously not punishing them for what He’s done.  I have an idea that this judgment has to do with the reality of grace and glory.

I wonder if what He has seen in this group of people is the nature of man’s heart to listen but not heed His truth and see that truth as a useful tool to manipulate life but not believe it’s His power.  The nature of God’s Sovereignty is driven by grace that must respond to belief.  Could it be that God has judged these unbelievers in order to protect the integrity of His grace for those who DO see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,and understand their transformed heart is for the sake of God’s glory and for His purpose.

“God is sovereign over all belief and unbelief.
He knows exactly how to plan both of them in ways
that exalt his sovereignty and preserve man’s accountability.”
[John Piper]

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Posted in Isaiah, John, Light, New Testament, Old Testament

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Imitating

Posted on March 12, 2023 | Leave a comment

Today is a word salad of definitions. I sometimes use definitions to help me see the truth of familiar words in a new and meaningful way.  Paul was not patting himself on the back when he said “imitate me.”  In fact his life was filled with circumstances no one would want to imitate.  These are the words that stood out to me that defined what Paul asked as the inspiration of his ministry, not his self-promotion.

Join: connect
Imitating: using someone as an example to follow
Keep: continue in a specified way
Example: characteristic of its kind
Citizenship: legal status and relation with specific rights and duties
Await: to be in the future of someone
Transform: a thorough or dramatic change in character
Subject: cause to undergo a particular experience
Stand: maintain a position
Beloved: cherished

Friends, connect with me to the truth I have shown you. Specifically continue to walk according to the characteristics of Jesus you have in us.  For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our legal status in heaven comes with specific rights and duties that insure our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is our future. He will, by a thorough and dramatic change in our character, cause our lowly body to be like His glorious one.   He’s the power that enables our heart to undergo the particular experience that draws it to Himself.   Therefore, maintain your position in the Lord, my cherished friends.

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Posted in Light, New Testament, Philippians, Sunday

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One Purpose

Posted on March 5, 2023 | Leave a comment

There is no more important truth than the one Paul writes here: Jesus came to offer His own perfection, not ours, for one purpose — to make us His own.  It was God’s perfection that redeemed the imperfect faith of clay-footed heroes in the Bible.  It was God’s perfection that urged them to “press on.”  Could I have understood there is transformation and forgiveness for unwilling prophets, errant kings, guilty persecutors, and even for willing followers whose failures break God’s heart as well as their own without their stories?  The answer is so obviously no!  

My story begins way back in Genesis with an evil serpent who’s goal was to teach people how to curse themselves. Throughout both Testaments of the Bible I see how well mankind learned that lesson. Thank God for His never-wavering faithfulness to His one purpose — to make us His own.  Without reading of the redemption of those other clay-footed heroes, would I ever have recognized that “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to the promise of what lies ahead” is what I needed to “press on toward the goal…the upward call of God in Christ Jesus?”  The answer is so obviously no!  That is the prize!

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Posted in Light, New Testament, Philippians, Sunday

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