Tag Archives: scripture

What to do with scripture, January 28, 2019

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Still looking at the common lectionary for the year. We are in the third week after the Epiphany. The scripture this week comes from Nehemiah, one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. Nehemiah provides us a great portrait in leadership. But in today’s passages, we find Ezra, the priest highlighted. He stands before the assembled crowd and reads from the scrolls containing the books written by Moses centuries ago. He reads those laws the people had forgotten that got them into this dilemma in the first place.

Three things I want you to notice today about the scene the writer of Nehemiah describes as the day unfolds. No doubt there were lots of things he could have told about on that momentous day when the scrolls were found and the nation had the opportunity to hear once again the words penned by the hand of their great patriarch, Moses.

First, I want you to notice the reverence of the assembled crowd for the scrolls. Ezra opened the scrolls and the people stood. We’ve lost a lot of that reverence today. So may view scripture as fantasy. Something that could never happen. Something that parents tell their kids to keep them happy. They want to tell them stories about something that will scare them just enough to keep them straight. But all this God stuff? All these ancient stories about Jonah and David and Noah? How can anyone be so gullible as to believe any of that stuff? It’s all superstitious lies, right?

But these people understood the gravity of unbelief. They lived through it. These were the people who came back to Jerusalem and saw the tremendous devastation of their capital, the jewel of Judah. They understood it was their disobedience of the very commands Ezra held in his hands that caused their exile and the ruin it had taken them so long to rebuild and still as they looked around there was so much yet to do to begin to bring the city back to its former glory.

So when Ezra stood and opened the scrolls, everyone stood out of respect for the scriptures, God’s words given to Moses. We don’t think about that much anymore. They didn’t have scripture in their homes other than what they memorized. So they were eager to hear it. We have dozens of Bibles in our homes and seldom brush the dust off the cover to glance inside to see what the creator of all things has to say to us. So the first thing we see in these verse in chapter 8 is the need to both have and show respect for the scriptures, the words God handed down to us through the inspiration of his prophets.

Second, all the people worshiped and bowed with their heads to the ground. I’m not sure God cares too much about your posture when you worship him. We can worship with our face to the ground or our faces lifted up toward heaven. We can stand. We can sit. We can walk around our neighborhood or drive to work worshiping him. We can worship while we drive to work or worship as we lay in bed about to sleep. We can worship anywhere and any time. I don’t think God cares that we have our face to the ground as long as we truly worship him and not just play along with those around us pretending we know the true God by going through the motions.

We need to stop and lift our spirits toward heaven until his spirit touches ours. Will it be euphoric? Sometimes, but often not. Will it give us enlightenment? Sometimes, but often not. Will it prepare us for the day ahead? With that question, I can answer yes. Even though the events that come in the next hours seem more than you can bear, when we take the day to God, he lifts the burden. He swaps yokes and carries the heavier load. He helps us focus the day on him instead of us. He does help us through those tough days. So, yes, he does prepare us for the day ahead. We just need to worship him because he is worthy of our worship.

Finally, note there was interpretation of the scriptures. The scriptures were written in Hebrew. This assembled group of worshipers didn’t know Hebrew. They lived in exile the last 70 years, growing up in other countries, learning the language of their conquerers. To understand the word of God, they needed someone to explain the meaning of what they heard.

The same is true for us today. Although we have access to translations from the Hebrew text so we can read the words, we sometimes have a hard time understanding what we read. The reasons are many. Sometimes the translations are difficult because there are many words that can be used or we have no words in our language to express the word being translated. A clear example is the translation of the word love. The Greeks used four different words to express our one word. Another study in 2010 shows that the Eskimo tribes may have from 180 to 300 different words for snow, a necessity to describe the various bitter weather conditions in the northern most climates of the world. But how would we translate all those words except as just snow?

The other problem we have is the authors wrote to people living in their culture and in their time. Certainly many of the things God inspired them to write apply equally to us today, otherwise the canon would not survive over these thousands of years. But the language, the phrases, the culture is not of our time and place. To understand fully the words of scripture, it is good to have someone explain the setting, the culture, the nuances of the times to help interpret its meaning. For instance, how much richer is the knowledge of Jesus’ unknown time of return if you understand the culture of when and how marriages took place in his culture. A man and woman became engaged early in life, perhaps he as in his twenties, she as young as twelve. The man would then be charged with building a place for them to begin their own family. Often the dwelling was an addition to the patriachical property. A new room or two along with an expanded garden or stable. Another workbench on which to increase the family trade. The young man betrothed to his bride prepared all the things necessary to start a new life with his young bride and showed his father he could care for her in his own dwelling. When it reached a point in the construction the father was satisfied the man could care for his family on his own, he told his son to retrieve his bride. That day was the wedding day. No one but the father knew what the conditions were. No one but the father decided the right time. No one but the father knew when the time would come. The father saw the son was ready and made the decision the wedding would happen and happen now. Understanding the culture of the day, Jesus’ statements that may seem a little odd to us at first reading were perfectly understandable to those who heard him.

We can learn a lot from the behavior of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem. We should remember the image Nehemiah gives of that momentous event. We need to apply the lessons to our lives as we think about what God has done for us in restoring our brokenness. What did they do? They respected and honored the scripture and its reading. They worshiped together. And they ensured there were those among them who could interpret what was heard so they understood what they were hearing. We should do the same. Respect, worship, study and understand. When we do those things, God will honor and bless us in extraordinary ways. He gives a guarantee on his work.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The voice of the Lord, January 14, 2019

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Today I want to continue to use the common lectionary to focus our attention on God’s word. One of the passages in this week’s scripture lessons comes from Psalms 29 in which the psalmist speaks of the voice of God. In those few verses, he describes God’s voice in some unique ways. He says it thunders over the waters, is powerful, and full of majesty. God’s voice breaks cedars and flashes forth flames of fire. His voice shakes the wilderness and causes oaks to whirl, stripping forests bare. And in his temple all say, “Glory!”

The Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai described God’s voice as the sound of fire and thunder. But Elijah heard God’s voice as a quiet whisper on the mountain. Samuel was awakened by God’s voice and thought it was his mentor, Eli, calling from another area of the tabernacle. Some at Jesus’ baptism heard a voice bellowing, “This is my son.” Others thought they heard thunder.

Whatever God’s voice might sound like, though, people have heard him. He speaks. He is alive. He was there before the world began because he spoke it into existence. He is alive now as many attest to his spirit active in molding lives and working toward the finality of his purposes for mankind and his creation. And he will be alive eternally. God is. Period. And his voice commands.

I like to read the creation story and think what it must have been like for the nothingness to first hear God speak. What would those words be like that could bring light into being and separate land and sea? What sounds would emanate from God that would change the chaos of a meaningless void into an ordered universe we cannot begin to explore or even begin to imagine its secrets as we peer into the depths of space.

Every once in a while stop and look up at the sky on a clear night just to reflect on the awesome power of a God who could speak that pantheon of planets and stars and galaxies into existence. For millennia, we were convinced the earth was the center of the universe. Our sun bent to our needs and traversed our sky. It moved, not us. Of course, the flat earth movement tries to tell us the same thing, but…

Galileo proved the flat earth theory wrong centuries ago and the Hubble telescope has shown us more than 32 billion galaxies spread across an expanding universe filled with stars and planets and moons and comets and all sorts of celestial bodies that are just mind boggling. And to think, God spoke and it came into being. His voice is all it took to change nothing into something. We sometimes think we are creative and can make stuff. And in truth, God did give us a creative capacity since we are created in his image. But there is one huge difference in our creativity and his. He didn’t have any raw materials. He created his own. That, we cannot do. We have learned the magic formula E=mc², but that only converts material to energy and maybe someday energy to material. But it still starts with something. Something God created. God started with nothing.

So God’s voice, his powerful, majestic voice put into place all of the created universe. We are but an insignificant speck in the vastness of that universe. I read a few weeks ago that Voyager 2, one of long range space probes launched in 1977 made it into interstellar space, the area outside the magnetic shield of our sun. Voyager 1, also launched in 1977 passed through the heliosphere into interplanetary space in 2012. Traveling at nearly 35,000 miles per hour, it took these two probes 35 and 41 years, respectively, to reach beyond the influence of our sun’s protective gravity. That’s the size of our relatively small solar system in our medium sized galaxy. One of 32 billion galaxies that we know of in our universe.

We cannot begin to grasp the vastness of what God created when he spoke the stars into existence. How can we begin to understand the power and majesty of his voice? How can we not be in awe of his creative sovereignty? He is God and we are not. Just looking at the sky and recognizing his handiwork shows us who he is and should cause us to bow in adoration.

But too often, we look at the sky and listen to those who would try to explain away God with science. Don’t get me wrong. I like science. I was a chemistry major and biology minor. I’ve taught undergraduates biology. I love learning about new discoveries in the scientific world. I enjoy studying the solutions to problems that have plagued mankind for generations. I like science. But there is a limit to what science can teach and what they can wish away.

With all the knowledge and all the theory about creation and the beginnings of our universe and life on this planet, there is still one question science cannot answer without acknowledging God. Where did the raw material for the universe originate? God’s word gives the answer. God spoke and created the raw material out of nothing. Until science accepts that one premise, the rest cannot be explained. It’s like gravity. Until gravity is accepted as truth, the rest of the properties of physics cannot be explained. There are some facts that just are. We accept them. We believe them to be true even though there is no proof except circular arguments for them.

So what does the voice of God sound like today? I don’t know exactly. I can give you some personal thoughts from my own experiences when I think heard God’s voice. One was when I finally settled what I know was his call for me to preach. It was a late Sunday night in August while we were living in Marietta, GA. Carole and I had always been active in church, helping wherever we could. Part of the choir. Teaching classes. Helping in outreach activities. Just ‘doing’ as James tells us. But I had this nagging feeling that God wanted me to preach. I didn’t particularly want to because I’m a preacher’s kid. I thought I knew what it meant to pastor a church because I’d lived through that as part of the family for many years. My Army career was going well. I was working for the Army Surgeon General and could pick up the phone and call him if I had any trouble with the project I was on. He knew me on a first name basis other than “Lieutenant”, my real first name.

But I couldn’t get away from that feeling. Then came that Sunday night. The impression that came to me, and that was the voice. No words. No booming thunder. No angel on one shoulder and devil on the other competing with each other. Just this overwhelming impression that I could either obey the command God gave me to preach his word or I could go to hell. Obedience or disobedience. That was the choice I had to make that night. And I knew this was my last chance to make that choice. Could God forgive me if I had chosen not to pursue ministry? Yes. Would I have asked for forgiveness later? I don’t know. I don’t know what path I would have taken, but I know it would not have been the right path and life would have been very different and not as rewarding as it has been. So that first monumental moment for me was just that overwhelming knowledge that I had to make a choice.

A couple of years later, I struggled with the question of whether to stay in the Army or leave and accept the pastorate of a church in Georgia. The denominational leadership in the area offered me a church. Others recommended I stay in the Army until retirement so I didn’t have to worry about what costs as I grew older. Pastors just don’t make much for the most part. Few have great retirement plans. Many live in parsonages most of their career and so when they retire they have no nest egg to buy a home and lenders won’t lend a 70 year old with no income the money to buy a home. So there was wisdom in some of their argument. I was torn in my decision.

God’s voice came in the form of a friend. After much prayer, I had to visit a colleague as part of my Army duties. We were talking about recruiting some particular health professionals to fill some vacancies in a couple of our Army hospitals. Out of the blue, almost mid-sentence, he said, “Isn’t it great to be in the Army, move all over the world at government expense, and be able to minister to different congregations?” That was my answer. I was to stay in the Army. To this day, he didn’t remember saying those words. He didn’t remember the conversation. In fact, he didn’t even remember me coming that day because it was a surprise visit. I wasn’t on his appointment schedule. That day, God’s voice sounded an awful lot like my Christian friend’s.

Sometimes God’s voice looks, rather than sounds, like a scripture verse that just sticks in my head and I can’t get away from it. Sometimes God’s voice sounds like a friend. Sometimes God’s voice sounds like mine after I’ve studied and planned and done everything I can to decipher his will in a decision I need to make. Sometimes God’s voice sounds like my wife’s godly counsel. Sometimes God’s voice sounds like my pastor when he steps on my toes in a sermon. Sometimes God’s voice comes as a dream that solves a problem I haven’t been able to solve.

What does God’s voice sound like? I’m not sure we can pinpoint a sound. I am convinced, however, that God still speaks. His spirit is alive and resident in those who believe. His spirit touches our spirit and we can know his will. But the way we know it comes from also immersing ourselves in the words he inspired in his prophets centuries ago. God has not changed. Governments change. Economies change. Cultures change. But God does not change. He set everything in motion and called it good. Because he declared his creative acts good, he doesn’t need to change them. Nor does he need to change because he is the measuring stick against which all things are measured as good or bad.

So when we immerse ourselves in his word, when we follow his teachings, when we allow his spirit in us to direct our path and fill us with his goodness, we can know if we are pleasing him and making the right decisions. Sometimes he needs to hit us over the head to help us make that decision. It took me 10 years of questioning and debating and running away to finally get back to the truth that God desired me to preach. I could only answer yes if I was to please him.

Sometimes he needs to put boulders and mountains in our way to keep us from making the wrong choice. And sometimes we still push those boulders aside and pull out sticks of dynamite to blow away the mountains. He tries to keep us from destroying ourselves, but we just won’t listen and we pay the consequences. All those boulders fall back in place, sometimes on top of us.

But sometimes we face situations and God just lets us use that squiggly, gelatin like mass of neurons that make up our brain to make decisions. You see, I don’t think God cares if I eat yellow cake or chocolate cake. But I do think he cares if I steal one or the other. I don’t think he cares if I like my coffee black or with cream and sugar. But I do think he cares if I a race to Starbucks becomes more important than a race to my devotions.

God speaks. We just need to be ready to listen to his voice. Keep your ears open today. You just never know what he might say.

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Have you ever been to a diamond mine? (John 5:41-47), February 2, 2017

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
When you find a diamond in the field, it’s not such a thing of beauty. So why does everyone want diamonds in the first place?
Scripture
1. John 5:41-47
2. This kind of glory does not come from mortal men. And I see that you do not possess the love of God. I have pursued you, coming here in My Father’s name, and you have turned Me away. If someone else were to approach you with a different set of credentials, you would welcome him. That’s why it is hard to see how true faith is even possible for you: you are consumed by the approval of other men, longing to look good in their eyes; and yet you disregard the approval of the one true God. Don’t worry that I might bring you up on charges before My Father. Moses is your accuser even though you’ve put your hope in him because if you believed what Moses had to say, then you would believe in Me because he wrote about Me. But if you ignore Moses and the deeper meaning of his writings, then how will you ever believe what I have to say?
Devotional
1. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a diamond mine or any place where you can find raw gems in the ground, but it is a fascinating experience. The first time you go there, you might expect to see something very different that what you will really see
  1. Expect to see shiny, glimmering, jewels
  2. Really find lots of dirt and a few rare off colored dull pieces of something
  3. Might think it is broken, discarded glass
2. Jeweler sees something different
  1. Sees potential after polishing and cutting
  2. Studies the stone for hours before first cut is made
  3. Angles facets just right to capture light throughout the stone and cause it to reflect within itself adding brilliance to the stone
  4. Dull misshapen piece of rock becomes a flawless, priceless jewel after much study, careful work, long hours
3. Same way with scripture
  1. Might just see a bunch of rules and laws from Moses and the prophets
  2. Dos and don’ts we must keep
  3. Study, careful work, long hours brings out the beauty and richness of God’s word
  4. Helps us capture the inner beauty of what He wants us to know about Him
4. Aim to please men and we’re left with just lumps of dirt, aim to please God but put no effort in it and we have those dull bits of colored rock, give our all to Him and work tirelessly to please Him and we find diamonds in life each day
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Know your scriptures (Luke 4:12) September 21, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 111-113

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 4:12
Jesus: Yes, but the Hebrew Scriptures also say, “You will not presume on God; you will not test the Lord, the one True God.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Don’t you love it when someone argues scripture with you? I know I do. Yeah, right! But scripture says, this is okay. But scripture says I shouldn’t do that. But scripture says… And that’s exactly what Satan did to Jesus that day in the wildernes.

Hey, Jesus. You’re the Son of God. Scripture says, angels will watch after you so that you can jump off of this temple and they won’t let you get hurt. Give it a try and see if it works. Let’s see if you really are who you think you are. Maybe you’re just dreaming and your mom was just feeding you a line all these years to cover up that pregnancy story. Go ahead and jump. You’ll be okay. Angels will catch you.

And Jesus knows they would have. He knows His true Father. He’s talked to Him every day for years. He’s learned His words. He heard the story of His birth and saw the fulfillment of those obscure Messianic scriptures in His life from the time He was just a youngster. He knew who He was and also knew the path He would take to the cross at the bequest of His Father. He also knew Satan’s words were true that angels would come to His rescue and would not let Him be harmed before it was time for His execution.

There was a problem with Satan’s request, though. Satan wanted Jesus to violate a more important aspect of God’s word – obedience to His will. Jesus knew what would Him feel good for the moment. He knew would might fuel His human ego, but He also knew what would give His heavenly Father the most glory and that is what He wanted most. He wanted to satisfy His Father’s will more than His own. And that’s the point.

A verse or two taken out of the context of the whole Bible can let you do just about anything you want to do. There is justification in God’s word for all kinds of things. There are stories of violence, murder, vengeance, sex, adultery, theft, embezzlement. Pick a vice or crime or just about any sin you want to commit and it has been done and is recorded in God’s word. Just pick a few of the verses around that sin and you can figure out how to justify whatever you want to do. But that’s not God’s will.

So what is God’s will? What does the Book really tell us? It’s the story of God’s plan for our redemption. It’s His will that everyone would come to Him for the forgiveness of sin and follow His commands. It’s His will that all would recognize that He is the one and only true God and would worship Him as such. It’s His will that we would love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbors and we love ourselves. That’s the message of the Bible.

It’s pretty simple. Sometimes not so easy to do, but pretty simple to remember. Just love. That’s it. Jesus showed us how. He didn’t let Satan distract Him from that simple mission or the simple message His Father gave Him to deliver to the rest of the world. Satan tried his best, but it didn’t work. Why? Because Jesus understood the message of the Book. He wasn’t about to let Satan use one little piece of it to persuade Him to do something that contradicted the message of the whole Book.

That’s where we get messed up today. Someone shows us something in scripture that tickles our ears and shows us where we can get what we want, but it doesn’t fit with the rest of God’s word. The problem is we don’t read it enough to understand the whole message. We let those little snippets that we like overpower our emotions and our will and forget we are supposed to be doing God’s will.

So how do you figure out what the Bible is about so you don’t end up falling for one of Satan’s tricks? First, you need to give your whole self to God. Let Him be Lord of everything in your life. Let Him take control of all of it. Family, job, money, everything. Then, read His instruction book. He tells us how we are to live. We just don’t like what we read and don’t do what it says most of the time. Or we just don’t read it and don’t know what it says and go about our merry way.

Jesus knew scripture. His example shows us that if we expect to stand up to the schemes Satan will use against us in this world, we should know them, too. No matter what your age, there is no better time than today to start seriously reading and studying His word. You never know when you might need just the passage you read this morning.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Just as it is written (Mark 9:12-13) August 11, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 16

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 9:12-13
Jesus: To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Peter, James, and John get to see first hand the glory of Jesus as He talks with Moses and Elijah on the mountain top one day. He is clothed in garments brighter than the sun. The three of them are not just bathed in light, but radiate light so bright that the men cannot look at them. These three, the inner circle of Jesus’ closest disciples witness the most amazing sight they have ever seen. They have no doubts at this point that Jesus is the incarnate God. He came from heaven to rescue His people from the oppression and burden the guilt of sin lays upon each of us.

They fall on their face as the three figure in front of them converse. They don’t know what the three talk about in the short distance beyond them. They speak quietly among themselves and the disciples are so overwhelmed with the spectacle in front of them that the words would not register with them even if they could hear. These three just remain awed by the presence and power of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.

After a few minutes, the light fades, Moses and Elijah are gone. Jesus stands alone and returns to His three friends. They rise and Peter offers the suggestion to build three tabernacles in honor of the three figures they just witnessed on the mountain top. Jesus refuses. Then the questions about the days leading up to the final judgment. Isn’t Elijah supposed to usher in the Messiah?

And Jesus answers their question implying John the Baptist served as Elijah, the prophet in the wilderness proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. The one heralding the good news that the Anointed One had come to redeem His people from the evil of this world. Peter, James, and John, the three closest friends of Jesus would become the pillars of the early church. Because of what Jesus shared with them in these intimate moments, they would never falter from the faith. These moments would cement their knowledge that Jesus was God incarnate.

But in this exchange, Jesus mentions one more thing at the end that many forget when they look at Jesus’ life and the way His lives of those around Him turned and twisted during His time on earth. “Just as it is written about him.” In those few words we can be assured that Jesus is who He said He is. Many around the world today will tell you that Jesus was a good man, a prophet, a wise teacher, but God? No. They just can’t believe it.

But look at these few words and then think about the probability that Jesus could fulfill all the prophecies about Him if He were not the Messiah. Some might say, “Well, He just studied the scriptures and followed along to make sure He did what the prophecies said.” But that doesn’t quite work, does it? How would He influence His virgin birth? Don’t think that’s possible. How would He influence Joseph and Mary leaving Bethlehem and escaping Herod’s murder of all the infants as a child less than two years old? Don’t think that hold much merit either, but there’s prophecy about it. How could Jesus make His parents live in Bethlehem, then Egypt, then resettle in Nazareth so all the prophecies could be fulfilled about Him before He was a teenager? Not possible unless He really is the Messiah.

Then look past His childhood. He did all the things the Old Testament said He would do. He taught, He prophesied, He healed, He became the sacrificial lamb for us. He did everything scripture talked about. So maybe His everyday actions as an adult could be a checklist of things He needed to do as Messiah. Maybe if we really stretched we could come up with a checklist and say someone could figure out how to create that itinerary.

But if He could make the checklist from the scriptures, how could He get the scribes and Pharisees and chief priests and Romans to play along? After all, they didn’t want anyone to recognize Him as the Messiah. They were doing their best to discredit Him, right? So why would they fulfill scripture by hanging Him on the tree, crucifying Him? Why would the Romans cast lots for His garments? They didn’t know they were fulfilling centuries old prophecy and certainly wouldn’t have if they knew. Why would they not break His legs as was their custom when they wanted to make sure they were speeding up the execution process? It would have taken little more effort or time snap Jesus’ shins than to thrust a spear into His side. So why fulfill prophecy if Jesus were not the Messiah? The Romans didn’t know any better. The Pharisees and chief priests would certainly have stopped it if they remembered.

What’s the probability that anyone could fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled? Peter Stone and Robert Newman wrote a book several years ago entitled Science Speaks that determined the probability of the fulfillment of just eight of those prophecies – 1 in a quadrillion. That’s one with seventeen zero’s behind it. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. So just based on statistical analysis alone, I’d say odds are pretty good Jesus is the Messiah. Just as it is written. What do you think?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

You can’t get enough of God’s word (Matthew 4:10) January 4, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Genesis 4-7

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 4:10
Jesus: Get away from Me, Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow Scripture, which tells us to “worship the Eternal One, your God, and serve only Him.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I believe Jesus faced his temptation in the wilderness as fully man. Yes, He was God, but I think while He lived alongside us, He showed us how to live in our humanness. So He set aside much of the power of His diety when He faced the problems we face from day-to-day. I think His emotions, His desires, His temptations were just as powerful as ours because He was fully human. His advantage with respect to temptation compared to the rest of us lies in the fact that He was not born of Adam’s seed. Born to a virgin mother, Jesus suffered and endured everything we do as humans.

That’s why Jesus’ words during this forty days of temptation are so important to us. This final barrage Satan throws at Jesus and His response give us a final victory cry that causes Satan to flee in defeat. These words from the mouth of our Savior gives us a powerful lesson in how to stand against the temptations that come our way. They are simple words, but if we will listen well, we, too, can stand in victory against the tempter.

Did you get it? Jesus said, “Get away from Me Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow the Scripture…” The point of this particular temptation focused on worship, but note that every temptation Satan threw in Jesus’ path, He answered with Scripture. Now, Jesus tires of Satan’s games and first tells him to go away, then tells him why. “I will follow the Scriptures,” Jesus tells him.

Those are important lessons for us as we begin this new year. If we could just remember those two lessons as temptations come, we would stay so far ahead in life, we would be awed by our spiritual progress. Let’s look at the first retort Jesus gives. How many times do we continue to dabble at the edges of wrong-doing before we seek escape? How often do we just get in Satan’s face and just tell him to go away when he comes with his cheap imitations of joy and pleasure?

If you’re like me, I have to admit I try to stand up to his temptations more often than I just tell him to go away. I think I can make it on my own strength and forget I have this all-powerful God that will push away the tempter when I call on his name. Or at least he will show me the exit signs so I can run away. Our problem is we fail to stop and call on him. Satan can’t stand up to Jesus and will leave or we will get the extra strength we need to get our legs in motion and get out of there.

God let’s us face those temptations, but He never abandons us to face them alone. The test comes when we decide what path we take. Will we yield to the temptation and sin or will we lean on God and live the more abundant life He wants us to enjoy. The secret to success over temptation comes in leaning on God. Using Scripture as Jesus did to rebuff him. Deciding every day as the day begins that you will answer every temptation the way Daniel did. He resolved not to defile himself with the kings food before the menu came. That’s how we should face the day. Resolve not to sin before the temptation comes, whatever temptation it might be. Say no to Satan before he shows up, then when he puts something in front of you, the answer has already been given. “No!” You don’t have to think about it. You’ve already answered Satan. Now that you’ve answered, lean on God to help you escape or drive Satan away.

The second important lesson from Jesus’ words, He said, “I will follow the Scriptures…” How many times do we get side-tracked with our denominational traditions or blinded by the “progressive” movements around us? We get hung up on something someone picks out of a single verse or two, take it out of context, and build a religion on it. Remember that God’s word doesn’t contradict itself. The concepts and precepts and principles of God are congruent. So when you take a verse or two out of context to prove a point, you may be doing just what Satan tried to with Jesus.

How do you overcome such twisting and turning of the Scriptures by the false prophets that spread so many lies and build so many religions of convenience? Know the Scriptures. Read them. Make them a part of you. Be like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 and search the Scriptures to see if what teachers and preachers say is true. Don’t even trust me. Look it up. Make sure what I and others say is consistent with God’s word. Look it up for two reasons. First, you’ll know if you are hearing the truth. Second, it gets you into God’s word one more time. You really can’t get enough of His word! Just remember to follow it when you read it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Let God’s word keep you safe (Matthew 4:7) January 3, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Romans 1-2

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 4:7
Jesus: That is not the only thing Scripture says. It also says, “Do not put the Eternal One, your God, to the test.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Isn’t that just like the Devil to twist scripture to lure us aware from God? It has been said you can use the Bible to prove anything you want to prove. It even says in Psalms 53:1, “there is no God.” Of course those words are taken completely out of context and if you read the whole verse it says, “The foolish are convinced deep down that there is no God. There souls are polluted, and they commit gross injustice. Not one of them does good.”

There’s just a little bit of difference in what the foolish and arrogant might want to tell us and what God’s word really tells us. So, how do we escape the rhetoric and know what God really wants to tell us? How do we face the temptations that the Devil puts in our path when he uses things that sound so convincing and even uses scripture against us like he did with Jesus? After all, Jesus was and is God. How are we supposed to stand up against the Devil’s schemes when those times come?

The answers lay in doing exactly what Jesus did. Jesus knew the counterfeit message Satan tried to pawn off as truth because He knew the scriptures. He didn’t just sit in a pew at the synagogue every once in a while to appease His mother. He didn’t just attend church to feel good or let his neighbors know he was religious. Remember, He told the Pharisees they were religious but they wouldn’t make it to heaven unless they changed.

No, Jesus learned His Father’s words and wants us to do the same. We must spend time, reading and studying God’s word if we are to really know His word. Then we can know when the words we hear from those who would want to deceive us with parts of God’s word are the false prophets the early church leaders warned us against. We will know when someone is trying to tempt us to stray from the straight and narrow path God’s word gives us in this “progressive” world we live in by trying to use part of his word against us.

It’s like the way people quote Jeremiah 29:11. Yes, it says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Eternal, “plans for peace, not evil, to give you a future and hope—never forget that.” But many forget that the verse is in the middle of a letter written to the Jews exiled in Babylon. Jeremiah tells them in the letter, get use to Babylon. Plant gardens, start businesses, build houses, let your kids get married and enjoy your grandkids.

The rest of the letter tells the Jews that think God will rescue them from their exile that He won’t. Get used to their new country. Yes, God knows the plans He has for those Jews in exile, but their return to their homeland won’t come for another 70 years, just like He told them through the prophets. The exiles will have peace, but not in their land, in Babylon. The have a future and hope, but the next three generations will learn a new language, grow up in foreign country, integrate into the culture of the captors.

Then, and only then, will a small number of the Israelite return to their homeland to rebuild the destroyed temple and begin to rebuild their country. But not until 1948, when the United Nations gives them back their land after World War II will they govern themselves again as an independent sovereign nation. Jeremiah 29:11 is a great verse, I like it, but remember it’s context.

Satan tried to use some great verses with Jesus. He liked them growing up. He understood them when He disappeared in the crowds that tried to seize Him and throw Him over cliffs or wanted to stone Him because of the words He spoke or plotted to kill Him before the time His Father set for His sacrifice. Jesus understood the words Satan tried to use to tempt Him. But He was not about to let Satan use them inappropriately to lure Him away from the mission His Father had given Him.

Satan will try to lure us away from our mission, too. He will do whatever he can to get your mind away from the task God gives you to do. He will try to make you think God is not real. Remember Psalms 53? He will twist and turn God’s word and make his lies sound real, and the only way you will know the difference is to stay firmly connected to God.

Can I challenge you this year to not just skim through the Bible this year, but to really pick it up and make it a major part of your life? Can I challenge you to let passages sink into your heart until they become part of you? Don’t let your favorite verses be the only thing on which you meditate this year, but like Jesus, make God’s word a steady diet until you it devours you. Until it becomes a part of you. Until it transforms your mind.

Do what Jesus did when He faced temptation. Let God’s word keep you safe.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

A joke or a discipline? (Matthew 4:4) January 2, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Matthew 1-2

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 4:4
Jesus (quoting Deuteronomy): It is written, “Man does not live by bread alone. Rather, he lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Eternal One.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

No doubt you’ve heard someone use the first of those words as part of a joke at some time or other. “Man does not live by bread alone. He needs some peanut butter or ice cream or pie or fill in the blank to go along with it.” When words become familiar it’s easy to use them the way we want to make them mean whatever we want. But what purpose did Matthew have in recording these words of Jesus?

First, we need to remember that Jesus is both fully God and fully Man. Do I understand how? Absolutely not! But I believe completely Jesus is one with the Father and Spirit, yet He became flesh, completely Man, one of us for a period of time to become the perfect sacrifice for our sins. If you’ve read my bio, you know I’ve been a minister a long time, so it’s easy for me to believe Jesus is God. But I think those of us who know He is God, part of the triune Godhead, sometimes forget the human side of Jesus.

These words remind us of His humanness. Jesus felt the hunger of His forty-day fast. Some would like to think because He was God He could breeze through those forty days without a problem and just go about His business. I don’t think that is true. I think Jesus went through the same process of discipling Himself in the habits of the Jewish faith as all of the Father’s faithful followers. I believe in Jesus’ humanness, He memorized scripture and sometimes struggled with learning the long Hebrew passages, especially the genealogies in Chronicles.

I think Jesus fasted often as the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish leaders recommended as a spiritual discipline, but the physical hardship in doing so still causes real physical and mental pain. Jesus endured it as a spiritual discipline. He knew fasting and spiritual discipline comes from taking charge of His humanness and mastering it. He refused to submit to those pangs of hunger in a way that disobeyed those scriptures He memorized as a child. He knew who He was because He saw in those same scriptures the prophecies fulfilled in His life and the stories His mother told Him about the angel that announced His birth. The shepherds who visited His feeding trough crib. The wise men who brought Him gifts. The rush to Egypt and the lack of children His age across the region.

All those memories Mary pondered in her heart, she shared with her son, Jesus as He grew. He too, pondered them. But He also matched them with the scriptures He learned and disciplined His body to obey God, His Father’s commands. Jesus set aside the throne of heaven to live alongside us. I wish sometimes we could read and learn from His early habits and disciplines. I think from these few words, though, we can capture two habits that were very important to Him.

Jesus made fasting a habit. This forty day fast was not His first fast. He was familiar with the practice and fasted often as a spiritual discipline to ready Himself for the mission His heavenly Father had for His human side. He used those times of fasting to become master of His body, not the other way around. Jesus understood pain and suffering. He knew sleepless nights and hunger. He knew poverty and hard work to just get by in the eyes of the world. Jesus mastered His humanness just like He asks us to do. He did it the same way we can, through practiced disciplines…every day.

Second, Jesus absorbed the scriptures. He knew them. He memorized them. He knew what the Father meant by each word, each sentence, each paragraph and section because He studied them. Jesus made the scriptures a significant part of His life so that when the temptations of life came and His humanness wanted to take an easy way out, He could lean on those scriptures to help Him through the temptations without falling to them. He asks us to do the same.

We can use those few words to start of quick joke, or we can use them like Jesus did. Are you disciplined enough to let the scriptures keep you safe from the snares Satan sets in front of you? Remember the second half of Jesus’ answer to the Devil are so much more important the first. Don’t forget to use them. “Rather, he lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Eternal One.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.