Bible Verse of the Day
Monday August 15th
thru Saturday August 20th
Monday August 15th
2016
Romans
14:8
8 If
we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether
we live or die, we belong to the Lord:
The primary thesis of this chapter is the
relationship that the more and less knowledgeable Christians should have with
each other. There were some that refused to eat meat and some who did eat meat.
Whichever category one fell in, he or she should not judge the other, because
all will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10).
To understand the issue of eating meat we must go
back to the 15th chapter of Acts and take a look at the final
decision of the Jerusalem Council. The reason for the “Council” meeting was to
end any disagreements as to whether or not one must follow the Mosaic Law to
become a Christian. The only directive that came out of the council was a
three-part mandate: 29 You are to abstain from food
sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from
sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things (Romans 15:29).
These were practices that occurred at Pagan religious ceremonies, which the
directive was to keep the Gentile Christians from becoming involved in these
Pagan rituals
Today there are some that misunderstand certain
Christian concepts from God’s Holy Word. The ones that have a better handle on
certain Christians concepts should not judge the ones that, as of yet, do not
fully understand. In the same way the ones that have not yet fully grasped
certain concepts of Christianity should not judge the ones that have.
If
we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether
we live or die, we belong to the Lord: No matter where we are in our Christian
walk, growth and development, we all serve and love the same Lord and Savior,
we will all be judged by the same Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. All Christians
have been bought and paid for by Jesus, who lived a perfect life and paid the
ultimate price, because He knew none of us could ever live that perfect life
that was required by God to stand in His presence. Let the ones that have just
begun the journey into the life of studying God’s Word lean on those that have
more time on the path. Let those who have been walking down the road of the
knowledge longer be more patient and kind to the other. More importantly let
none of us judge others because of an abundance or a lack of knowledge and
understanding of the Word of God.
2
Corinthians 7:1
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1
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Therefore, since we have these
promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that
contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
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Therefore, since we have these
promises: In the previous chapter Paul
admonished them to separate themselves from anything that had a worldly
influence, “come out from them and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17). He also
encourages them with a wonderful promise from God that He will be their Father
and they will be His sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18). This is to say
that the closeness of our Relationship with God is proportional to our
connection to the world and its charms and appeals. In other words, if you want
to experience the maximum closeness and intimacy with God then you must cut off
all ties with the ways of the world. The reward being that He will be our
Father and we will be His children. Draw near to God and He will draw near to
you (James 4:8). The same petition to open your hearts to God as
seen in 2 Corinthians 6 and 7, is also seen in James 4:8.
Let us purify ourselves from
everything that contaminates body and spirit: As we have seen in our Monday Bible
class, the Gentile Christians were having a problem cutting all ties to Pagan
ceremonies and festivals. This is most likely what Paul was referring to when
he admonished the Corinthian Christians to purify themselves from any and all
things that might not only pollute their bodies but their spirits as well. When
we trust Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior and surrender our hearts and souls
to Him, we experience a cleansing or purification that can come only from God.
On the other hand, there is also a cleansing that we, ourselves, do on our own effort.
In other words, we can experience the cleansing from God only when we separate
ourselves from the ways of the world, the second part is up to us. We cannot
expect God to purify and cleanse our hearts if we continue to indulge
ourselves in the evils of this world.
Perfecting holiness out of reverence
for God: Paul is not
speaking of some state of sinless perfection, that we all know we will never
attain in this life (Romans 3:23; Romans 3:10). He is speaking of removing
ourselves from the evil, that continually surrounds us every day of our lives.
However, it is not enough that we should only separate ourselves from this
worldly, immoral influence, we must focus ourselves on doing good work for God.
There is also a
contrast between the pollution of the body and of the spirit. There are times
that we might find it more difficult to deal with the pollution of the spirit
than of the body.
During the
earthly ministry of Jesus, the harlots and tax collectors, with a contamination
of the body, found it easier to come to Jesus than did the Pharisees, who were
suffering from a contamination of the spirit.
2
Corinthians 10:17-18
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17
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But, "Let the one who boasts
boast in the Lord."
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18
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For it is not the one who commends
himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
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This chapter shows clearly the difference in the Views of
Paul and His critics. Some had different motives in carrying forth the gospel,
some different loyalties, objectives, and even different procedures. Paul’s
point here and in many other place is that we can do nothing without Christ,
but through Him we can do all things (Philippians 4:13).
There is today, so many that want to use earthly models to
build their ministries upon, so that they can stay up with the times and be
politically correct. The New Testament will show that these earthly models are
inadequate and that the Word of God never changes.
Paul’s objectives here was to show first, that spreading
the gospel is and should be every Christian’s number one priority. He also
wanted to implant in the minds of the Corinthian Christians, as well as all who
might read this, that the Lord commends His servants for the fruit of their
ministry. It is not our place to hold any human up in glory, the Honor and
Glory for all that we are, and all that we will ever do goes to God.
I was driving along yesterday, in northeastern North
Carolina, when I passed a church that was named, “Give the Glory to God
Ministry.” If we all would simply realize that we are all “poor in spirit”
(Matthew 5:3), that Jesus is the vine and we are just the branches (John 15:5),
it would not be a problem to see that Jesus is the only way, and that all the
Honor and Glory is His.
Philippians
1:21
Years ago, I knew a lady that was
within hours of her death, the one thing that she kept repeating, over and
over, was that she was so scared and afraid. For most of the world this is the
case, people are afraid of death because they are not sure what is going to
happen. This could have something to do with the abundance of stories and
theories that are circulating throughout the world, and people don’t know what
to believe. The sad part of this is that the truth of the gospel is right there
for all that want to embrace it. For the Christian, however, he or she does not
have to fear death because we know what is going to take place.
1
John 5:11-13
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9-We
accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the
testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
10-Whoever
believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe
God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the
testimony God has given about his Son.
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11-And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son.
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12-Whoever
has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have
life.
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13-I
write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that
you may know that you have eternal life.
Our
verse this morning is verse 12, however it would be difficult to fully grasp
and comprehend the full meaning of that verse without looking at verses 9-13.
Verse 9 clarifies the contrast between the testimony of man and the testimony
of God. There is not a day that goes by that we do not receive some testimony
from man, however, man’s testimony can be flawed, whereas God’s testimony is
far greater and without doubt or un-surety.
Verse
10 covers an aspect of the writing of the New Testament that we are very
familiar with, that of false teachers. The simple fact is that these false
teachers and legalist were trying to say that salvation was through the works
of man (The Law) instead of the mercy and grace of God, through the shed
blood of Christ Jesus. When they do this they, in essence, say that the
testimony of God is flawed and that God is a liar. There are still legalist
out there today, that say that salvation is dependent on some work we do and
that we can lose our salvation if we do not continue in this certain work.
Whether the legalist (the false teacher) lived during the first century AD or
the 21st century AD, they are still trying to make God out to be a
liar.
Verse
11 sheds much light on this because first, it connects eternal life and our
salvation to our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Secondly, it is saying that
both aspects, salvation and eternal life, are one and that we receive this
wonderful gift from God when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, put our
faith and trust in Him and not in anything we might do.
Verse
12 drives home the point of this issue, if we put our faith and trust in
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, we can have the gift of salvation, of which
eternal life is one in the same. If we on the other hand, try to add
something to salvation, some work we might do, then we do not have salvation
of which eternal life is connected.
The
last verse is a great encouragement to all that have this wonderful gift, and
that is that we can know that we have this without any doubt. Sleep every
night comes much easier when we know that there is nothing that can tear us
apart from the bonds we have with Christ Jesus, not even the jaws of physical
Death.
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| Saturday
August 20th 2016
Psalm 16:8
8-I keep my eyes always on the
LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
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David, although bringing forth a prophecy of the coming
promised Messiah, was also speaking of himself in one regard. God was the
primary focus of David and all that he was and all that he stood for. Because
of this he knew that no human could “shake”
him from the stability in life, that he enjoyed because of his relationship
with God. Symbolically placing someone at your “right hand” was, in the
ancient eastern culture, the greatest honor that could be bestowed on someone.
Because David had committed his defense to God and figuratively placed Him at
his right hand, he knew that he would never be “shaken.”
I keep my eyes always on the LORD: David made the decision early in his
life to put God first, if we today would do that same thing, put God first in
our lives, we could go through our trials and tribulations with the same firm
confidence as King David. In the supreme sense, Jesus was the only one that
ever did this perfectly. The focus of Jesus while He was on the earth was to do
the will of His Father. Our Lord and Savior, during His earthly ministry, also
put His complete trust in His Father in Heaven. If we would only keep our total
focus on Christ, commit our lives to doing His will and not our own, put our
complete trust in Him in all that we do, no power under heaven would be able to
shake us from the sweet walk
we have with our Savior.
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