September 21, 2007 6:22 AM
Sam wrote:
To Tony from yesterday---very hard to understand passage, for sure....maybe later will attempt to provide a guess.
Sorry about the late start today...for some reason, hit the snooze button (a very bad habit) too many times.
Prov 21. Verse 24...a 'new' word. OVERWEENING. Never noticed this one before. Let's see what MW has to say. AH! "Arrogant, presumptuous, exaggerated". NOW I understand what this verse is saying. Are we often overweening? Do we get arrogant when someone tells us we might be wrong? Is it presumptuous to say we are presumptuous (overstepping our bounds) on occasions? Do we exaggerate our abilites some time? I believe the answer to these questions is a resounding 'YES'! We exaggerate our Christianity to others....we pretend to be oh-so-good, when in fact, we are concealing sin from our brothers. We have STILL not had a good James 5:16 session lately...when do you guys want to get together to do this? I know you probably don't WANT to, but we NEED to. Let me know. Am I being presumptuous when I say we ALL need this? How arrogant we are to Christ! We claim to be His followers, yet, Jesus might want to know, as the saying goes, "What have you done for me LATELY?" Again, am I being presumptuous by saying that for most of us, not very much. Now I know Mike is a much newer Christian than the rest of us, and I see him being a ball of fire for Christ. Most days of the week he is doing something with someone for his church to honor God. It WILL wear off some in the future Mike, trust me (too presumtuous of me?), so just be aware so that you can try to avoid this as much as possible. My goal, not trying to be arrogant here, is to get 10 people by the end of the year to 'religously', meaning, regularly, to participate in this blog on chapters of the Bible as we have now been doing for over three months. Rich has joined us, but I sure hope he can find the time to participate more often....we need him as much as he needs us. So, lets not be overweening Christians except for being arrogant FOR Christ (let your light shine brigher), being presumptuous that we can grow this little 'ministry' of ours, and start exaggerating our Christianity to the rest of the world, starting with friends, co-workers and strangers you meet on the street.
Oh, oh...not too much space left for Acts 21. Here we go.....the beginning of the end of Paul. He finishes his last missionary journey (although I consider his trip to Rome a missionary one as well) with a flourish--praying together with a bunch of Christians on a beach before he departs that area. Jerusalem finds him facing the beginning of a lot more hardships. He is being beaten by a crowd of Jews before the commander of the Romans troops broke up the mob. And all along, Paul knew there was going to be trouble for him in Jerusalem, but along he went. Agabus foretold it, using a belt for a demonstration. BUT, at the end of the chapter, Paul is ready to give a great speech. Reply to this
September 21, 2007 7:32 AM
Tony wrote:
Morning y'all, Proverbs has a couple of interesting verses today. Starting with verse 3"To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." Would God rather we do what is just and right than to tithe? I know allot of people struggle with the 10%, but I think it goes back to the widow who gave 2 copper pennies and it was more than the people who had given 10% because they were being ritualistic (?). Verse 14 is interesting as it seems to contradict,"A gift given in secret soothes anger, and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath." I thought God hated bribes, yet here we see that a hidden bribe will pacify great wrath. I don't have too much jumping out at me today, but it is good to start the day with the Lord, even if it is just reading His word, and listening. It seems to me that Paul is a little arrogant. How does he know what the Lords will is? Twice he is warned by the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem yet he goes anyway. He has guts, ya gotta give him that. I'm glad we have this blog and the Mighty Mac to keep us in line. Without his constant where are you, where would we be? Reply to this
September 21, 2007 8:08 AM
michael wrote:
Prov.21 verse 2-3 is a great lesson.We sometimes have to make difficult decisions in life,especialy we as leaders of our household.Sometimes we want things so badly that we convince ourselves that its the right decision.Or for some people they have to be right all the time.But I think before we make these difficult decisions we always should pray,and humble ourselves to ask advise from someone you trust.A person that is more mature in their spirtual journey.It says to do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.It dos'nt matter if we go to church every Sunday,smile,go out to lunch after,give our tithe,and then the rest of the week we act as if we were a part of the secular society.I have seen this too many times.I call them the one-timers.I see it every Easter and Christmas.Pharasees.Following Christ is a lifestyle not a show.We must let our light shine for others to see,lets not be one-timers lets be eternity-timers. I forgot to post Acts:20 so I will combine it with Ch 21.However,I consider my life worth nothing to me,if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying the gospel of Gods grace.Paul understood and lived this way.It makes me think about running a marathon.We al start out the same way.But some of us running cramp up,others may fall and hurt themselves.We as Christ followers are running the same race,the task of testifying about Jesus.This intimidates some of us.I have heard people say it's not politicaly correct to talk about God at work,school,etc.Those people are cramping up,I say throw out the politicaly correct stuff and get up and start running.Or you may miss the finish. Acts:21 Paul knew what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem and he went anyway.He took a beaten.If I am being honest and I knew I was about to go somewhere and have a bunch of people that hate me beat the crap out of me I probably would not go. Reply to this
September 21, 2007 1:11 PM
rik wrote:
I am struggling this week on focusing in on what I am trying to read, It has been a long week. I have heard of writers block, I kind of have scripture block. the brain is being uncooperative and stubborn. I try to read and it does not enter my mind. this is why i only said "hey" yesterday. I have not given up reading this week, and I like the stuff you guys are writing. My intellect has nothing to give today, so I thank you that I at least can receive something from the Word through others eyes. Reply to this
September 21, 2007 2:53 PM
Sam wrote:
ARE YOU PRAYING ABOUT THIS? DON'T GIVE UP. Look up the word 'perseverence' in the concordance and see what God has to say about this. Let me know if you find anything interesting. Reply to this
September 21, 2007 2:52 PM
Rich wrote:
Hello to all. Things are a bit better and I want all of you to know that I appreciate your prayers. Prayer is so much more powerful than I ever thought possible. I am ashamed to say that I have been a christian for over 20 years and I am just now beginning to fully appreciate the gift of prayer. I have always prayed, but I am not sure that I ever really believed that what I was saying really mattered. I went through the motions because it was the right thing to do, but did I actually BELIEVE that God was listening and the God was going to act? I don't think so. Some time ago I decided to step out on a limb, let go and believe. I cannot say that magic has happened and that all is okay - that should be obvious! However, I can definitely say that my faith has gotten stronger and that I am beginning to understand the concept of 'waiting upon God.' I am also starting to understand what it means to turn things over to God. I find myself trusting that God is more capable to handling situations than me - what an amazing concept!!! Seriously, I have always 'believed' this in my head, but now I am finally starting to believe it in my heart!
Acts 21. One thing I love about Paul is that he was often in trouble. Stuff was always happening to him. Always on the move. I cannot relate to his level of faith or his effectiveness, but I can relate to some of his struggles. I just wish I had the same attitude that he had. He seems to just go with the flow, trusting that somehow something good would come from it all. He lived his life like his hope really was based in heaven and not on just this world. It seems to me that Paul figured out and lived his life believing (in his heart) that God was in control. How awesome.
I have to go to Greenville this weekend - back Sunday night. I will get on the blog if I can use a computer at the hotel. Reply to this
To Tony from yesterday---very hard to understand passage, for sure....maybe later will attempt to provide a guess.
Sorry about the late start today...for some reason, hit the snooze button (a very bad habit) too many times.
Prov 21. Verse 24...a 'new' word. OVERWEENING. Never noticed this one before. Let's see what MW has to say. AH! "Arrogant, presumptuous, exaggerated". NOW I understand what this verse is saying. Are we often overweening? Do we get arrogant when someone tells us we might be wrong? Is it presumptuous to say we are presumptuous (overstepping our bounds) on occasions? Do we exaggerate our abilites some time? I believe the answer to these questions is a resounding 'YES'! We exaggerate our Christianity to others....we pretend to be oh-so-good, when in fact, we are concealing sin from our brothers. We have STILL not had a good James 5:16 session lately...when do you guys want to get together to do this? I know you probably don't WANT to, but we NEED to. Let me know. Am I being presumptuous when I say we ALL need this? How arrogant we are to Christ! We claim to be His followers, yet, Jesus might want to know, as the saying goes, "What have you done for me LATELY?" Again, am I being presumptuous by saying that for most of us, not very much. Now I know Mike is a much newer Christian than the rest of us, and I see him being a ball of fire for Christ. Most days of the week he is doing something with someone for his church to honor God. It WILL wear off some in the future Mike, trust me (too presumtuous of me?), so just be aware so that you can try to avoid this as much as possible. My goal, not trying to be arrogant here, is to get 10 people by the end of the year to 'religously', meaning, regularly, to participate in this blog on chapters of the Bible as we have now been doing for over three months. Rich has joined us, but I sure hope he can find the time to participate more often....we need him as much as he needs us. So, lets not be overweening Christians except for being arrogant FOR Christ (let your light shine brigher), being presumptuous that we can grow this little 'ministry' of ours, and start exaggerating our Christianity to the rest of the world, starting with friends, co-workers and strangers you meet on the street.
Oh, oh...not too much space left for Acts 21. Here we go.....the beginning of the end of Paul. He finishes his last missionary journey (although I consider his trip to Rome a missionary one as well) with a flourish--praying together with a bunch of Christians on a beach before he departs that area. Jerusalem finds him facing the beginning of a lot more hardships. He is being beaten by a crowd of Jews before the commander of the Romans troops broke up the mob. And all along, Paul knew there was going to be trouble for him in Jerusalem, but along he went. Agabus foretold it, using a belt for a demonstration. BUT, at the end of the chapter, Paul is ready to give a great speech.
Reply to this
Morning y'all, Proverbs has a couple of interesting verses today. Starting with verse 3"To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." Would God rather we do what is just and right than to tithe? I know allot of people struggle with the 10%, but I think it goes back to the widow who gave 2 copper pennies and it was more than the people who had given 10% because they were being ritualistic (?). Verse 14 is interesting as it seems to contradict,"A gift given in secret soothes anger, and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath." I thought God hated bribes, yet here we see that a hidden bribe will pacify great wrath. I don't have too much jumping out at me today, but it is good to start the day with the Lord, even if it is just reading His word, and listening.
It seems to me that Paul is a little arrogant. How does he know what the Lords will is? Twice he is warned by the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem yet he goes anyway. He has guts, ya gotta give him that. I'm glad we have this blog and the Mighty Mac to keep us in line. Without his constant where are you, where would we be?
Reply to this
Prov.21 verse 2-3 is a great lesson.We sometimes have to make difficult decisions in life,especialy we as leaders of our household.Sometimes we want things so badly that we convince ourselves that its the right decision.Or for some people they have to be right all the time.But I think before we make these difficult decisions we always should pray,and humble ourselves to ask advise from someone you trust.A person that is more mature in their spirtual journey.It says to do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.It dos'nt matter if we go to church every Sunday,smile,go out to lunch after,give our tithe,and then the rest of the week we act as if we were a part of the secular society.I have seen this too many times.I call them the one-timers.I see it every Easter and Christmas.Pharasees.Following Christ is a lifestyle not a show.We must let our light shine for others to see,lets not be one-timers lets be eternity-timers.
I forgot to post Acts:20 so I will combine it with Ch 21.However,I consider my life worth nothing to me,if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying the gospel of Gods grace.Paul understood and lived this way.It makes me think about running a marathon.We al start out the same way.But some of us running cramp up,others may fall and hurt themselves.We as Christ followers are running the same race,the task of testifying about Jesus.This intimidates some of us.I have heard people say it's not politicaly correct to talk about God at work,school,etc.Those people are cramping up,I say throw out the politicaly correct stuff and get up and start running.Or you may miss the finish.
Acts:21 Paul knew what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem and he went anyway.He took a beaten.If I am being honest and I knew I was about to go somewhere and have a bunch of people that hate me beat the crap out of me I probably would not go.
Reply to this
I am struggling this week on focusing in on what I am trying to read, It has been a long week. I have heard of writers block, I kind of have scripture block. the brain is being uncooperative and stubborn. I try to read and it does not enter my mind. this is why i only said "hey" yesterday. I have not given up reading this week, and I like the stuff you guys are writing. My intellect has nothing to give today, so I thank you that I at least can receive something from the Word through others eyes.
Reply to this
ARE YOU PRAYING ABOUT THIS? DON'T GIVE UP. Look up the word 'perseverence' in the concordance and see what God has to say about this. Let me know if you find anything interesting.
Reply to this
Hello to all. Things are a bit better and I want all of you to know that I appreciate your prayers. Prayer is so much more powerful than I ever thought possible. I am ashamed to say that I have been a christian for over 20 years and I am just now beginning to fully appreciate the gift of prayer. I have always prayed, but I am not sure that I ever really believed that what I was saying really mattered. I went through the motions because it was the right thing to do, but did I actually BELIEVE that God was listening and the God was going to act? I don't think so. Some time ago I decided to step out on a limb, let go and believe. I cannot say that magic has happened and that all is okay - that should be obvious! However, I can definitely say that my faith has gotten stronger and that I am beginning to understand the concept of 'waiting upon God.' I am also starting to understand what it means to turn things over to God. I find myself trusting that God is more capable to handling situations than me - what an amazing concept!!! Seriously, I have always 'believed' this in my head, but now I am finally starting to believe it in my heart!
Acts 21. One thing I love about Paul is that he was often in trouble. Stuff was always happening to him. Always on the move. I cannot relate to his level of faith or his effectiveness, but I can relate to some of his struggles. I just wish I had the same attitude that he had. He seems to just go with the flow, trusting that somehow something good would come from it all. He lived his life like his hope really was based in heaven and not on just this world. It seems to me that Paul figured out and lived his life believing (in his heart) that God was in control. How awesome.
I have to go to Greenville this weekend - back Sunday night. I will get on the blog if I can use a computer at the hotel.
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What would you have spent a million dollars?
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It would have been willing)
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It would have been willing)
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