Chapter 15: verse 1... I wonder if this is where some of the rules for bankruptcy came from, since bankruptcy can be done every 7 years and is cleared from the credit report after 7 years (I think)? verse 4-5...interesting, especially in conjunction with verse 7-8 verse 6... the US should follow this rule... individually we should as well verse 9... I like this caution verse 10 reminds me of Paul's letter to the Corinthians (see 2 Corinthians 9, specifically verse 7, and 12-15) verse 12-15... I wonder how many people did this to better their situation? would it be worthwhile? reminds me of Buddhist boys who join the monestary to be able to have a future and survive day to day... how many people sell themselves (in many ways) to provide for their basic needs?... how can we, as Christians, help them in this area, so they can be free to learn how to trust God soley for all that they need... physically and spiritually? verse 16-17... now that is love!... oww!... this must be the verses that my parents were always thinking of when they told me I should never peirce my ears because that was a sign I was a slave (or something like that)... the great thing about Jesus is that when once I was a slave to the world (by symbol and lifestyle), now I am a loving servant to my Savior!... I wonder how many people peirce their ears nowadays with that thought in mind?! verse 18... never thought about it that way... there is always a positive way to look at anything, I think!
Chapter 16: the Study Notes have some new thoughts on these verses... 'Why were children included at this party? Why do you think God wanted different social classes, age groups, and ethnic groups to celebrate together? How were these feasts tied to the economy? How similar in scope was it to the American Thanksgiving?' verse 15... when we are blessed by God our joy is complete... even though this is a celebration recounted here, we must remember that not all blessings are happy times (think of Job!), but all blessings produce joy.... it is not about who we are, it is about who God is. verse 16-17...we have no excuse to not use all we have been given by God, to serve God. verse 19... this sounds like it should be in Proverbs... it isn't, but there is another verse like it in Ecclesiastes 7:7, though verse 20... I like this motto... 'follow justice and justice alone'... kind of funny that it is followed by 'so that you may live'... makes me thankful that God is also loving and merciful in addition to 'just'. verse 21-22... my first instinct was to say, 'well, duh'... but then I thought about how sometimes we do this... we incorporate the worldly ways into our worship and then act like it is something pleasing to God... I'm not saying that contextualization is wrong, nor am I saying that rock music and electric guitars are wrong... what I am saying is that maybe we should be a very intentional and prayerful when we choose to incorporate things that could be portrayed as worldly (like Bingo into church fellowship time, or whatever?)
Chapter 17: verse 1-5... can you imagine if we in America held that strongly to our Christian convictions? Not that we should likely go around stoning people, but maybe we shouldn't sit quietly by without saying anything, and maybe we should start expressing God's viewpoint a little louder and with more frequency, huh? verse 6... good rule to go by, as otherwise it is one man's word against another... is this the way the court system works now, too? verse 7... wow, you would have to be really sure about what you saw/knew/testified about, if you were the first to stone a person to death for your testimony... makes you want to think twice (or more times) about the validity of what you say/gossip/accuse others of! verse 10-12... all authority is put in place by God (Romans 13:1-2) verse 14-15... I love how God is able to see things in advance and warn the people of them... but they don't take it to heart and listen... see 1 Samuel 8 verse 16... when God leads us out of our past, He does not want us to return to our previous sinful ways... we are to 'not go back that way again.' verse 17...isn't this what happened to King Solomon... all his many foreign wives turned his heart away from God? (maybe not remembering story completely, so we'll have to look for this in future readings to clarify here) verse 18-19... this must be one of the reasons that King Josiah was happy to finally have the rules of God to guide him in his kingdom... see 2 Kings 22 where the scroll of Deuteronomy was rediscovered verse 20... if we remember that we are all sinners and only given our positions because of God's grace, then it is not hard to humble ourselves to others... but it is a trap that can be fallen into quite easily, unfortunately, to forget that we did not do anything to earn our status/possessions/place of birth/life... we must diligently remain focused on God... afterall, what do we have to boast about... Jesus, who being the very nature of God, humbled Himself, gave up EVERYTHING, and came to earth as humble a man as ever was one (see Philippians 2:3-11; and John 13:1-17)
Chapter 18: verse 1-5... the Lord is their inheritance and allotment... and the Lord gets and gives only the best... why would you want anything else? verse 13... is God just waiting for the people to realize that they can't be blameless? do we ever come to that conclusion on our own... without the prompting of the Holy Spirit? verse 15... who? was it John the Baptist? Jesus? or someone before Him? was this about a specific prophet, or just a cautionary peice about 'prophets' (true and false) in general? verse 20... scary because this implies that prophecies can be given by Satan, not just God... that is why it is so important to test everything and hold on to what is true (1 Thesselonians 5:19-22) verse 21-22... so, does this mean that anytime a 'prophet' makes a 'mistake' or 'gets one wrong', then they must not be a true prophet of God? If so, then why do we continue to look into the teachings/sayings/predictions of people who got it 'mostly right'?... It seems pretty clear here... if they don't get it right all the time then they are not listening to or prophesying from God... I like how it says not to be afraid of him... reminds me of the verse, 'He who is in you in greater than he that it in the world' (see 1 John 4:1-6)
The IDEA: Romans 1:12-That we may be mutually strengthened, encouraged, and comforted by each others faith. Have you ever read the whole Bible before? We have never done it. We want to share God’s Word, but how can we if we do not know it.
The PLAN: Ecclesiastes 4:12-One person is easily overcome, but two can stand together and conquer. Three is even better, though, as a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. With each others help we can succeed-So, let us team up and read the Bible in a year.
The DATE: We will start Dec 26, 2009 - Dec 26, 2010.
The FYI: We will read 3-4 chapters each day, starting in Genesis, and post thoughts daily. If you do not have a Bible, you can access many translations at www.biblegateway.com. You can also download an audio for each chapter at: http://www.audiotreasure.com/webindex.htm
Read it.
ReplyDeleteSandj
Chapter 15: verse 1... I wonder if this is where some of the rules for bankruptcy came from, since bankruptcy can be done every 7 years and is cleared from the credit report after 7 years (I think)?
ReplyDeleteverse 4-5...interesting, especially in conjunction with verse 7-8
verse 6... the US should follow this rule... individually we should as well
verse 9... I like this caution
verse 10 reminds me of Paul's letter to the Corinthians (see 2 Corinthians 9, specifically verse 7, and 12-15)
verse 12-15... I wonder how many people did this to better their situation? would it be worthwhile? reminds me of Buddhist boys who join the monestary to be able to have a future and survive day to day... how many people sell themselves (in many ways) to provide for their basic needs?... how can we, as Christians, help them in this area, so they can be free to learn how to trust God soley for all that they need... physically and spiritually?
verse 16-17... now that is love!... oww!... this must be the verses that my parents were always thinking of when they told me I should never peirce my ears because that was a sign I was a slave (or something like that)... the great thing about Jesus is that when once I was a slave to the world (by symbol and lifestyle), now I am a loving servant to my Savior!... I wonder how many people peirce their ears nowadays with that thought in mind?!
verse 18... never thought about it that way... there is always a positive way to look at anything, I think!
Chapter 16: the Study Notes have some new thoughts on these verses... 'Why were children included at this party? Why do you think God wanted different social classes, age groups, and ethnic groups to celebrate together? How were these feasts tied to the economy? How similar in scope was it to the American Thanksgiving?'
ReplyDeleteverse 15... when we are blessed by God our joy is complete... even though this is a celebration recounted here, we must remember that not all blessings are happy times (think of Job!), but all blessings produce joy.... it is not about who we are, it is about who God is.
verse 16-17...we have no excuse to not use all we have been given by God, to serve God.
verse 19... this sounds like it should be in Proverbs... it isn't, but there is another verse like it in Ecclesiastes 7:7, though
verse 20... I like this motto... 'follow justice and justice alone'... kind of funny that it is followed by 'so that you may live'... makes me thankful that God is also loving and merciful in addition to 'just'.
verse 21-22... my first instinct was to say, 'well, duh'... but then I thought about how sometimes we do this... we incorporate the worldly ways into our worship and then act like it is something pleasing to God... I'm not saying that contextualization is wrong, nor am I saying that rock music and electric guitars are wrong... what I am saying is that maybe we should be a very intentional and prayerful when we choose to incorporate things that could be portrayed as worldly (like Bingo into church fellowship time, or whatever?)
Chapter 17: verse 1-5... can you imagine if we in America held that strongly to our Christian convictions? Not that we should likely go around stoning people, but maybe we shouldn't sit quietly by without saying anything, and maybe we should start expressing God's viewpoint a little louder and with more frequency, huh?
ReplyDeleteverse 6... good rule to go by, as otherwise it is one man's word against another... is this the way the court system works now, too?
verse 7... wow, you would have to be really sure about what you saw/knew/testified about, if you were the first to stone a person to death for your testimony... makes you want to think twice (or more times) about the validity of what you say/gossip/accuse others of!
verse 10-12... all authority is put in place by God (Romans 13:1-2)
verse 14-15... I love how God is able to see things in advance and warn the people of them... but they don't take it to heart and listen... see 1 Samuel 8
verse 16... when God leads us out of our past, He does not want us to return to our previous sinful ways... we are to 'not go back that way again.'
verse 17...isn't this what happened to King Solomon... all his many foreign wives turned his heart away from God? (maybe not remembering story completely, so we'll have to look for this in future readings to clarify here)
verse 18-19... this must be one of the reasons that King Josiah was happy to finally have the rules of God to guide him in his kingdom... see 2 Kings 22 where the scroll of Deuteronomy was rediscovered
verse 20... if we remember that we are all sinners and only given our positions because of God's grace, then it is not hard to humble ourselves to others... but it is a trap that can be fallen into quite easily, unfortunately, to forget that we did not do anything to earn our status/possessions/place of birth/life... we must diligently remain focused on God... afterall, what do we have to boast about... Jesus, who being the very nature of God, humbled Himself, gave up EVERYTHING, and came to earth as humble a man as ever was one (see Philippians 2:3-11; and John 13:1-17)
Chapter 18: verse 1-5... the Lord is their inheritance and allotment... and the Lord gets and gives only the best... why would you want anything else?
ReplyDeleteverse 13... is God just waiting for the people to realize that they can't be blameless? do we ever come to that conclusion on our own... without the prompting of the Holy Spirit?
verse 15... who? was it John the Baptist? Jesus? or someone before Him? was this about a specific prophet, or just a cautionary peice about 'prophets' (true and false) in general?
verse 20... scary because this implies that prophecies can be given by Satan, not just God... that is why it is so important to test everything and hold on to what is true (1 Thesselonians 5:19-22)
verse 21-22... so, does this mean that anytime a 'prophet' makes a 'mistake' or 'gets one wrong', then they must not be a true prophet of God? If so, then why do we continue to look into the teachings/sayings/predictions of people who got it 'mostly right'?... It seems pretty clear here... if they don't get it right all the time then they are not listening to or prophesying from God... I like how it says not to be afraid of him... reminds me of the verse, 'He who is in you in greater than he that it in the world' (see 1 John 4:1-6)
Much Love,
sandJ