January 9, 2009 7:58 AM
Sam wrote:
2nd Kings 8 was another one of the chapters which mainly concentrated on war. I won't bore you with reapeating what it says, except to say that God works in mysterious ways! How can killing be a part of God's plan? It would be like me creating a bunch of toy soldiers out of wood, each intricately made, and then causing a 'war' between two or more teams and breaking up all the work I had done. It does not seem that this would be the work of a God. Not a loving God, that is. I know, I know. I hear all of the stories of how God 'lets' man do his own will, and that those who don't follow the true God are wrong. But the wars pictured in the OT are generally not only allowed by God, but also generated by Him as he tells people through his prophets to kill others. And did not Jesus tell us to love our enemies? He didn't say KILL them! This is one aspect of God's master plan I have a lot of difficulty with, and sometimes really wonder how much of this Bible to be truly considered the Word of God.
One of God's great commandments was 'do not murder'; yet, He encourages murdering those who are against His ways. Jesus never did that. Is it possible the NT writer got it wrong when he said that God never changes? Just a thought. Reply to this
Confidence. (Spoken about in the last verse as we 'approach the throne')
What is confidence? Is it knowledge? Is is boldness? Is it a combination of the two? Dictionary definitions include: "faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way" and "the quality or state of being certain" and "a relation of trust or intimacy". So, I guess, a could description of confidence is belief. Not weak belief, but FULL belief. ALMOST to the point of knowing, but not quite, if you know what I mean. For example, I KNOW I am sitting here typing, but I am CONFIDENT you will read this later. That is, I believe you will do so.
What do you have confidence in? Are you confident you are competent to do God's will? That is, do you have enough faith in yourself to trust that you will share the Word of God sometime today? Are you confident that whoever hears your words, your conversion story, your discussion of Jesus' love, that they will respond positively? Do you believe you have the right tools in your mind's arsenal to say the right things? Are you confident that the Holy Spirit will help you find those words once you start a conversation? Confidence is not necessarily knowing, but belief. So, get out there and confidently approach someone new today and talk about Jesus. You might just be surprised how competent you really are. Reply to this
January 9, 2009 9:35 AM
Johnbob wrote:
Confidence - this was also a theme in Hebrews 3 (sorry for no comment yesterday) - in v. 6, it said "And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast." (other versions such as the NKJV translate 'courage' to be 'confidence'). And in v. 14 - "We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." (other versions translate this 'confidence' to be 'boldness').
And finally, chapter 4 says "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
In general, I don't think I have confidence in myself - too many mistakes/failures for that. When I pray, I don't tend to think of 'confidence' though this says I need to. That is encouraging because it basically says that I can be assured that God cares, wants to listen, knows what I am going through, wants to help, want to have a real relationship with me. That should help us pray and approach his throne at any time, even when --- no ESPECIALLY when we are struggling.
Our confidence is in Jesus - not our jobs, our hair (I won't name any names), our physique (no names again), etc. I think this economy has exposed hearts and though it is scary for me to say (because of impending layoffs soon), it is a good thing. In America, we KNOW that with a little effort, we will have housing, food, clothing, and most of us have a lot more (cars, boats, houses, etc.)--- I have blogged about this before). Losing some of this reminds me that life is short, that my confidence can't come from anything in this world. It is a good reminder and very humbling for me (and for America). Reply to this
January 9, 2009 9:36 AM
rik wrote:
My head is pounding this morning, please pray for it to go away.
the word therefore, whenever I see it I try to go back a little way and see what the therefore is refering to. therefore I can get the whole picture. this morning I see H4 started with therefore and when I went back to H3 and read the last paragraph. here is what I see. Moses's people were told they would not enter His rest because of there unbelief. we still have an open door to his rest and need to take full advantage of it. we should not doubt and have any unbelief. we need to be certain of what we hope for and sure of what we do not see. Mac spoke on confidence which translates to belief. this chapter starts and ends with the same message. where is your confidence? where is your belief? is it in yourself? your possessions? or is it in God the author and perfecter of our faith? Reply to this
January 9, 2009 9:48 AM
Johnbob wrote:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." This is the 3rd time this phrase from the Old Testament is mentioned in the last 2 chapters, so it is an important point to discuss. This is in reference to Moses and the Israelites being led out as we recently read.
Since the book of Hebrews is written to Jews, who believe that their salvation is dependent on being part of the chosen race, this is stating that --- it doesn't matter that you are part of the Moses crowd (earlier it states that Jesus was greater than Moses), it only matters about your heart and whether you are hearing God. (how's that for a run-on sentence...) i.e., don't put confidence in that we are church of Christ...
It then goes to the scripture we used so often in the Word study - "The word of God is living and active" ---- I haven't even thought about the context of this scripture in so long. Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. I am sure you guys have many other takes on this. Reply to this
January 9, 2009 10:17 AM
rik wrote:
For some reason I felt compelled to look up simple, in the noun form, and here is what I have: Simple: (noun) an ignorant, foolish, or gullible person.
The word simple is used 21 times in the Bible, 11 of them are nouns, all but one (Ps 119:130) in Proverbs. (1) The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: (4) for giving prudence to the simple,
To think you can remain simple minded and not dig into Gods word and you will be o.k. is foolish (another good word to reference as a noun). Put simple ways behind you. "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?" Prov 1:22.
ask God for wisdom and insight. "You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding" Prov 8:5
the way we once were was simple and unproductive. follow in Jesus footsteps. "Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding." Prov 9:6
Psalms 119: 129 Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. 130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. 131 I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.
Do we all long for Gods wisdom? or do we continue to choose to remain simple?
I do not know why I chose to do this, this morning, I suppose the Holy Spirit lead me to do it. I hope it helps someone. Reply to this
January 9, 2009 1:29 PM
Johnbob wrote:
The middle section of your blog is in the same pattern of Hebrews, which is - come out with a statement, and put an old testament scripture to further explain your point. Very good. Maybe you would have been a Bible writer if you lived back then! Reply to this
January 9, 2009 4:09 PM
Dustin wrote:
"13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account".
I didnt get much out of this scripture except for the cut and paste i did. But as for being simple. WOW... I have not been baptized yet and oh how well that definition fits me. I pray that when i am baptized that being a simple man will no longer be the way i am. I pray that i will "walk in the way of understanding". Because i am at the point that i think i am just starting to understand and feel the love that God has for us. Reply to this
January 9, 2009 4:40 PM
Sam wrote:
Welcome Mr. Hoffman. I hope your studies are going well. I hope Jesus is starting to get into your life. We all have great 'conversion stories' to share, and I'll bet your current 'conversion' is going to be one of great topic amongst your friends as well. Rik has not said much about you, so maybe we can all learn about each other on this blog over the next....well, forever... Again, welcome to the blog, and to a new life!!!! Mac (aka Sam) Reply to this
hey dad , gators national champs. every year synergy and fox 13 news do a segment on residents , this year they chose me, the theme being reuniting with family, that definitely fits , i guess ive made a good impact here, it feels good to recognized for all the hard work ive put into my recovery and change, ive been checking the blog daily, i wish i had more time to read each passage before i read the comments, then i could be educated in my responses, but i still find them inspiring. love ya,
January 9, 2009 7:44 PM
Rich wrote:
Great comments today. Mac, thanks for sharing the last above. I am so happy for you. Your faith in God and in his power is inspiring, as is the note you received from your son.
I have always been curious about the first words in Hebrews 4:4 and other passages like this. It says: "For somewhere he has spoken ..." Does the writer to Hebrews not know where this passage came from? The footnote says Gen 2:2. It seems like the writer to Hebrews would know this came from the book of Genesis. But I have seen similar statements elsewhere in the NT. Anyone know why this is said?
Another question I have about Hebrews 4:4. How does verse 12 follow from verse 11? Rest is being discussed in verse 11 and before and then it seems totally out of the blue we see verse 12-13. I know this is a key verse that we use to teach about God's word, but in the entire context, how does this verse fit? Reply to this
2nd Kings 8 was another one of the chapters which mainly concentrated on war. I won't bore you with reapeating what it says, except to say that God works in mysterious ways! How can killing be a part of God's plan? It would be like me creating a bunch of toy soldiers out of wood, each intricately made, and then causing a 'war' between two or more teams and breaking up all the work I had done. It does not seem that this would be the work of a God. Not a loving God, that is. I know, I know. I hear all of the stories of how God 'lets' man do his own will, and that those who don't follow the true God are wrong. But the wars pictured in the OT are generally not only allowed by God, but also generated by Him as he tells people through his prophets to kill others. And did not Jesus tell us to love our enemies? He didn't say KILL them! This is one aspect of God's master plan I have a lot of difficulty with, and sometimes really wonder how much of this Bible to be truly considered the Word of God.
One of God's great commandments was 'do not murder'; yet, He encourages murdering those who are against His ways. Jesus never did that. Is it possible the NT writer got it wrong when he said that God never changes? Just a thought.
Reply to this
Hebrews 4.
Confidence. (Spoken about in the last verse as we 'approach the throne')
What is confidence? Is it knowledge? Is is boldness? Is it a combination of the two? Dictionary definitions include: "faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way" and "the quality or state of being certain" and "a relation of trust or intimacy".
So, I guess, a could description of confidence is belief. Not weak belief, but FULL belief. ALMOST to the point of knowing, but not quite, if you know what I mean. For example, I KNOW I am sitting here typing, but I am CONFIDENT you will read this later. That is, I believe you will do so.
What do you have confidence in? Are you confident you are competent to do God's will? That is, do you have enough faith in yourself to trust that you will share the Word of God sometime today? Are you confident that whoever hears your words, your conversion story, your discussion of Jesus' love, that they will respond positively? Do you believe you have the right tools in your mind's arsenal to say the right things? Are you confident that the Holy Spirit will help you find those words once you start a conversation? Confidence is not necessarily knowing, but belief. So, get out there and confidently approach someone new today and talk about Jesus. You might just be surprised how competent you really are.
Reply to this
Confidence - this was also a theme in Hebrews 3 (sorry for no comment yesterday) - in v. 6, it said "And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast." (other versions such as the NKJV translate 'courage' to be 'confidence'). And in v. 14 - "We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." (other versions translate this 'confidence' to be 'boldness').
And finally, chapter 4 says "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
In general, I don't think I have confidence in myself - too many mistakes/failures for that. When I pray, I don't tend to think of 'confidence' though this says I need to. That is encouraging because it basically says that I can be assured that God cares, wants to listen, knows what I am going through, wants to help, want to have a real relationship with me. That should help us pray and approach his throne at any time, even when --- no ESPECIALLY when we are struggling.
Our confidence is in Jesus - not our jobs, our hair (I won't name any names), our physique (no names again), etc. I think this economy has exposed hearts and though it is scary for me to say (because of impending layoffs soon), it is a good thing. In America, we KNOW that with a little effort, we will have housing, food, clothing, and most of us have a lot more (cars, boats, houses, etc.)--- I have blogged about this before). Losing some of this reminds me that life is short, that my confidence can't come from anything in this world. It is a good reminder and very humbling for me (and for America).
Reply to this
My head is pounding this morning, please pray for it to go away.
the word therefore, whenever I see it I try to go back a little way and see what the therefore is refering to. therefore I can get the whole picture. this morning I see H4 started with therefore and when I went back to H3 and read the last paragraph. here is what I see. Moses's people were told they would not enter His rest because of there unbelief. we still have an open door to his rest and need to take full advantage of it. we should not doubt and have any unbelief. we need to be certain of what we hope for and sure of what we do not see. Mac spoke on confidence which translates to belief. this chapter starts and ends with the same message. where is your confidence? where is your belief? is it in yourself? your possessions? or is it in God the author and perfecter of our faith?
Reply to this
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." This is the 3rd time this phrase from the Old Testament is mentioned in the last 2 chapters, so it is an important point to discuss. This is in reference to Moses and the Israelites being led out as we recently read.
Since the book of Hebrews is written to Jews, who believe that their salvation is dependent on being part of the chosen race, this is stating that --- it doesn't matter that you are part of the Moses crowd (earlier it states that Jesus was greater than Moses), it only matters about your heart and whether you are hearing God. (how's that for a run-on sentence...) i.e., don't put confidence in that we are church of Christ...
It then goes to the scripture we used so often in the Word study - "The word of God is living and active" ---- I haven't even thought about the context of this scripture in so long. Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. I am sure you guys have many other takes on this.
Reply to this
For some reason I felt compelled to look up simple, in the noun form, and here is what I have:
Simple: (noun)
an ignorant, foolish, or gullible person.
The word simple is used 21 times in the Bible, 11 of them are nouns, all but one (Ps 119:130) in Proverbs.
(1) The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: (4) for giving prudence to the simple,
To think you can remain simple minded and not dig into Gods word and you will be o.k. is foolish (another good word to reference as a noun).
Put simple ways behind you.
"How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?" Prov 1:22.
ask God for wisdom and insight.
"You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding"
Prov 8:5
the way we once were was simple and unproductive. follow in Jesus footsteps.
"Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding."
Prov 9:6
Psalms 119:
129 Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
131 I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.
Do we all long for Gods wisdom? or do we continue to choose to remain simple?
I do not know why I chose to do this, this morning, I suppose the Holy Spirit lead me to do it. I hope it helps someone.
Reply to this
Simply, yes.
Reply to this
The middle section of your blog is in the same pattern of Hebrews, which is - come out with a statement, and put an old testament scripture to further explain your point. Very good. Maybe you would have been a Bible writer if you lived back then!
Reply to this
"13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account".
I didnt get much out of this scripture except for the cut and paste i did.
But as for being simple. WOW... I have not been baptized yet and oh how well that definition fits me. I pray that when i am baptized that being a simple man will no longer be the way i am. I pray that i will "walk in the way of understanding". Because i am at the point that i think i am just starting to understand and feel the love that God has for us.
Reply to this
Welcome Mr. Hoffman. I hope your studies are going well. I hope Jesus is starting to get into your life. We all have great 'conversion stories' to share, and I'll bet your current 'conversion' is going to be one of great topic amongst your friends as well.
Rik has not said much about you, so maybe we can all learn about each other on this blog over the next....well, forever...
Again, welcome to the blog, and to a new life!!!! Mac (aka Sam)
Reply to this
Got this from my son, Dan, today:
hey dad , gators national champs. every year synergy and fox 13 news do a segment on residents , this year they chose me, the theme being reuniting with family, that definitely fits , i guess ive made a good impact here, it feels good to recognized for all the hard work ive put into my recovery and change, ive been checking the blog daily, i wish i had more time to read each passage before i read the comments, then i could be educated in my responses, but i still find them inspiring. love ya,
That's my boy!!!
Reply to this
Great comments today. Mac, thanks for sharing the last above. I am so happy for you. Your faith in God and in his power is inspiring, as is the note you received from your son.
I have always been curious about the first words in Hebrews 4:4 and other passages like this. It says: "For somewhere he has spoken ..." Does the writer to Hebrews not know where this passage came from? The footnote says Gen 2:2. It seems like the writer to Hebrews would know this came from the book of Genesis. But I have seen similar statements elsewhere in the NT. Anyone know why this is said?
Another question I have about Hebrews 4:4. How does verse 12 follow from verse 11? Rest is being discussed in verse 11 and before and then it seems totally out of the blue we see verse 12-13. I know this is a key verse that we use to teach about God's word, but in the entire context, how does this verse fit?
Reply to this