The Bible Explains the Bible

 

Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Boulder, Colorado

I looked in Wikimedia Commons for graphic with the Greek Alpha and Omega letters because of four  verses - and this one is my favorite:

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)

I like the difference between "It is done," and "It is finished."

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)

Which word do you use when you've completed a significant part of a project, as opposed to when the entire project is complete? 

When Jesus died on the cross, several prophecies were fulfilled, but there was much more coming down the road. John outlined Jesus life and death on earth, then was given the task of showing the completion of God's plans for Earth, the entire planet and every soul who had ever been on it. 

It is impossible to put the whole story in one verse, though John 3:16 comes close:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

It is important to have read the full discourse Jesus had with Nicodemus beginning with John 3:1 and running through John 3:21 to understand the outline of the discussion. Entire sermons have been written on John 3:16-18, and entire study cousrses on all 21 verses. No one gets it in one reading without finding out who Nicodemuis was and why this discussion was important.

Nicodemus is mentioned in other verses. He was a Pharisee. Pharisees are mentioned in many verses, and when you know them, you understand how different this discussion could be. Verses may appear to be important when they are quoted alone, but it is how they fit into the entire biblical story of God that we can see their importance.

Never allow your salvation - or any one else's - to stand on a single verse. Find where the subject or the person is through the entire Bible, being certain you get the full picture that you are shown.

The majority of people who have lived on Earth believed/believes in a deity. Some do not, but tend to "worship" something all of their lives. They have an earthly goal while not believing there is more to living. Christians are consistent - there is life after death. God, the name applied to the deity that created the seeable universe we live in, supplied the book that introduces Him to mankind. He also supplied all the information to reach Him and accept living with Him eternally. 

I've written of Pascal's Wager - most recently three years ago - and you can Google about it and find tons of information. Each one of us must determine what we will bet our lives upon. I have deliberately (see the freedom to do so in the middle of that decision?) chosen to put my faith in God's merciful love. Have you? If not, would you be kind enough to tell me why not? It can be done anonymously, right here.

Can We Talk About Goals?

 

This was just sketched on a wrinkled piece of paper that I had used heaven only knows when. Doubting it came from a work meeting (but it could have), I prefer thinking it came from some Ladies Meeting, or a weekend of fellowship thinking about God's word (or Word.)

Frankly, my five-year goal is to celebrate my 90th birthday five years from next Friday. A weekly goal is getting to next Friday - but we worked pretty hard at that this past year, so I'm feeling comfortable. It's the "Someday" goal from the above list that's on my mind.

My "Someday" goals have changed over the decades. Too many decades to really look at the changes, but I made one "Someday" goal back when I was a young teen and decided I was being taught correctly and needed to make a decision. Some day, I wanted to be in heaven with most of the people I knew. There is a God that is both created and still cares, who provided an eternal home for His creation. Simple and unbelievable unless you find Him.

I not only knew the Roman's Road that outlines the reasons for and ability to achieve salvation. These verses in the Bible do not stand alone, but they encompass the wording needed to understand we live in an imperfect world, why that affects everyone. At one time I had it memorized and marked in my New Testament. Back then I was eager to share that information.

Life decisions moved my path into creating a family. I fell in love in a week, and married a year later. Together we made and met several awesome goals. Missed a few along the way, too, but none of them were earth-shattering. This year we celebrated our 65th wedding anniversary. We feel grateful and blessed - many of our dear friends did not make that. Our own son-in-law missed his 37th, and they would have been an awesome couple at 50th, 60th, or 70th. 

Not everyone gets to complete a goal, but we should set them. The heavenly one I set is available to everyone I know, and many have turned it down. I would love to know the specifics on those that have. Where/when did they make the specific decision to turn down what Gof has for them?

Oh, I do ask that question. The older I get, the stronger is my desire to believe I have done what I could to explain why I am interested. You see, the offer of a heavenly eternity is open to every one, to whosoever, all mankind. And yet many turn it down. The answer I do get is the same as many celebrities, "I don't believe there are any gods. Science proves the universe is simply a natural occurrence."

Can it be that it's simply a matter of having an open mind and using prayer as a companion to reading the Bible?

As the Bible teaches, all mankind has sinned - that's a problem, but is true:

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10)

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)

In spite of our willfully damaging other people's lives, God loves us all:

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Willfully continuing to reject God has only one solution, accepting God has the other:

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

The needed action is simple and life changing:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

Of course these aren't the only verses. They are a convenient way of getting to the center of "what is wrong and how to set it right." There are tons of other verses - Romans 3:10 is a quote from the Old Testament. Prophets before Christ were specific in where men were sinning. If we look with truth in our own lives, we know where we have fallen short of truth with those we love, much less those we don't.

The Bible is full of truth. However, single verses can carry falsehoods, so it is best read in context. Read through Romans. Better yet, read through the four Gospels and see what you find in Jesus. Then read Acts to meet Paul and why he was involved with Jesus' followers. Then read Romans.

Of course, then you'll need to read the Old Testament to find out where Jews came from, why their religion is important, how promises made to God were not kept, but promises made by God were kept. Never skip the Prophecies! Every book of the Old Testament speaks of God's promise of a coming savior. Can you see Jesus there? If not, please let me show you what you've missed.

Come, set your goal. Read with me, and learn of our Lord and Savior. One God who is always with mankind.

Take Note, or Heed Words

 

File:Taking Learning Seriously by Lee Shulman

Thursday, October 4, 2012, I published my blog "I Love Our Members." Neither of the men mentioned in the first two paragraphs are with us today, but I am firm in my belief I will see both of them again. They, among many others, kept notes, as I do. 

I keep notes from Sunday sermons in notebooks which fit into back pockets of blue jeans. They were designed by a constructor worker who needed them, adopted by the company who hired him, were used for decades as a tool by all employees for decades, and called "Homer Books" after the man who cut down stenographer notebooks to fit into his jean's pocket. What do you use to take notes?

Some might use a digital device. I have one of those and can type almost as fast on one as I can a keyboard. However, I keep a Homer Book in my church bag for sermon notes, and have several in my work area here, filled with notes. Many have shown up in blogs over the years. None of them are expected to last as long as notes written that became scripture.

We don't know who took notes as King David spoke to his son, but we do know the advice given:

That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. (1 Kings 2:4)

The "if-then" statement is the basic decision-maker in programming. It tells the computer to check a defined condition. If that condition is true, then the computer perform a specified action. If the condition is false, then the computer skips that action and performs a different action.

God often spoke to prophets and people with "if-then" statements.  In this particular story, David is passing along the promise God made David about his children. If you are familiar with I Kings, you know David had a rather disfunctional family, with a couple of adult children working to make themselves his replacement.

I've given all that background just to be certain it is important to know when to heed the words in the Bible, and to take notes when they are being explained. David was carefully explaining to Solomon that it was necessary for his own children to note, to take heed of what was written generations before:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

It is of that very verse, the oneness of God, that Jesus said:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38)

Just in case you didn't get it when Matthew wrote his note, Mark wrote his:

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (Mark 12:29-30)

Solomon did not do what Israel was told to do:

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

Just in case you haven't take note, nor heeded the words, scripture repeats important information:

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)

There were Israelites then, and today, who physically wore scripture. However, we serves a spiritual being and we need to have these in the center of our being, in the center of our heart, our very soul, the essence of who and what we are. We need to have the love we hold for God so evident that people who know us also know our love of God is the reason we take note and pay heed.

I've made "notes"  here on this blog for literal decades. People I will never meet in my lifetime here have read some. I pray for my readers to understand God's good news for all mankind. For those who do read and understand, we will have time in eternity to meet, and rejoice. Looking forward to seeing you there, too, because you noted and heeded God's message.

Send A Philip

 

Detail from: Aelbert Cuyp - Saint Philip Baptising the Ethiopian Eunuch

Recently I was requested to pray for a person I did not know. My favorite verse when an unknown request is made, or one that is noted to be unspoken, is:

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

I don't need to know the person nor the request, because I know who God sent following Jesus' resurrection:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)

John is the only gospel writer to speak of the Comforter, but Luke also wrote of the Holy Ghost, and whether it is Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, the remainder of the letters connect the three aspects of our God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I know that has been taken to mean that Christians worship three different God's, but the example I like best is me.

I am a daughter, a wife, and a mother. I interact differently with people depending on the individual aspects required. I also am a woman, an employer, and an employee. Depending on the situation, I make a wide range of decisions based on those attributes. I am bound by physical limitations and can be in only one place at a time, and one time or place. But that simplicity should give you a clue.

God is not limited. Not by time, not by place, not by flesh - except when He appeared here on earth as the child of Mary and Joseph. That was His choice. Jesus was limited by flesh and somewhat by time, but the spirit that is the God we worship was not. Nor is He now. Nor is He divided into three separate beings. The name He gave to Moses is good enough for me: I AM.

God provided the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. He remains with us. My favorite story about the Holy Spirit includes the disciple, Philip and is found in Acts:

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. (Acts 8:26-35)

Spend some time thinking about the two men in this story. One walked with Jesus for three years, watched Jesus die, spent time with Him after the resurrection, and has been talking about it for years. The other is reading scripture from another language, a different people, and only God knows why it was that the two of them were brought together for such a time as this, but neither hesitated to converse.

After thinking about the prayer request, and reading Acts 8:26-27, I had a suggestion form in my mind. "Lord, send a Philip. Send someone who will allow the Holy Spirit to work through them, as Philip did. Let the person open their heart to be receptive to the Holy Spirit and understand the gospel message is for them."  Yes, a prayer. Amen - may it be so.

There are Philips in our world today. I know a couple of them - ready to answer the questions "... of whom speaketh the prophet ..." In fact, both you and I can be the Philip for someone. I actually have been, I believe, speaking with someone at a specific time when they were open to the Holy Spirit's message. I spoke without thinking about what I was saying, and frankly I was surprised at what I said, and it wasn't exactly the same each time. It fit the moment. 

No, I was not requested to baptize anyone. That certainly is not my calling. But I am called to tell others about Jesus. All Christians know this:

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)

Simply share it and you can be a Philip, too.