Living Drop-Outs

Monday, August 2, 2010: Mark 7:20 – 23 (NKJV)

And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

Background: Jesus Christ spoke a parable about eating ‘unclean’ things, concluding that it is not what goes in that defiles a man.

Where do pride and foolishness emerge? Pride and foolish behaviors emerge from the heart of man. This leads to a crybaby attitude in Church members.

Tuesday, August 2, 2010: 1 John 2:15 – 16 (NKJV)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

If we are not to love the world, lest we fall into the trap of pride, what should we do? We should see the world with the perspective of the Father’s love.

Wednesday, August 2, 2010: James 4:15 – 16 (NKJV)

Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

What type of boasting and pride is this? This refers to boasting about tomorrow and what you will do with the attitude that nothing will stop you.

Thursday, August 2, 2010: Romans 1:30 – 32 (NKJV)

backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Background: these verses speak about those who have rejected God.

What extent do these people go to? They encourage others who reject God to practice similar evil.

Friday, August 2, 2010: 2 Timothy 3:1 – 5 (NKJV)

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

What has a form of godliness but denies its power? Such are ‘good’ neighbors, living seemingly normal lives, till you get to know the real person behind the façade.

Stretch out the fabric of Space and Time

I am 12 miles north of the White house. All power was out through 7 pm Tuesday: sorry for the delay.

Monday, July 26, 2010: Isaiah 42:5-7

Thus says God the Lord,

Who created the heavens and stretched them out,

Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,

Who gives breath to the people on it,

And spirit to those who walk on it:

“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,

And will hold Your hand;

I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,

As a light to the Gentiles,

To open blind eyes,

To bring out prisoners from the prison,

Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

What words are used for God’s creation of heaven and earth? Stretched and spread, respectively.

What are the prison house’s characteristics? Darkness of the spiritual kind; inaction is implied in sitting.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010: Isaiah 61:1-2a

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord

What are the prison’s characteristics in this passage? Being bound as opposed to setting at liberty.

Is the passage prophetic? Yes, it was used by Jesus Christ who added that it was fulfilled by Him.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010: Isaiah 47:10

“For you have trusted in your wickedness;

You have said, ‘No one sees me’;

Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you;

And you have said in your heart,

‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

What is at the heart of those who are in spiritual prison, bound and blind? The sense of I only know what is going on in me.

Thursday, July 29, 2010: Isaiah 48:12b-13a

I am He, I am the First,

I am also the Last.

Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,

And My right hand has stretched out the heavens

What words are used here for God’s creation of heaven and earth? Stretched and spread, respectively.

What are the prison house’s characteristics? Darkness of the spiritual kind; inaction is implied in sitting.

Friday, July 30, 2010: Isaiah 34:4

All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,

And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll

What words are used for God’s destruction of the stars of heaven and heaven itself? Dissolved and rolled up, respectively.

What occurs after this? There is no ‘after this’: eternity is independent of time or space!

Grudge Match

Monday July 19, 2010: James 4:1–3 (NKJV)

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Background: The root Greek word translated as fight or quarrel is ‘match’!

What irony creates fights or quarrels? Fights or quarrels start with a desire for personal pleasure.

Tuesday July 20, 2010: Titus 3:9 (NKJV)

But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.

Why are we admonished to avoid arguing (about law)? There’s no conclusion, profit or use. Both sides end up saying, “I’m right, you’re wrong!”

Wednesday July 21, 2010: Titus 3:10 –Titus 3:11 (NKJV)

Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

What does ‘divisive’ mean? The Greek root word is ‘heretic’, a person who creates division. A divisive person gets others to choose sides. “Whose side are you on: mine or his?”

Thursday July 22, 2010: 2 Timothy 2:23 (NKJV)

But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

Why avoid foolish and ignorant disputes when our input is wise and erudite? Joining a dispute is like pouring lighter fluid on an ember: it ignites that which was just smoldering. Extinguish the cinder.

Friday July 23, 2010: 2 Timothy 2:24–26 (NKJV)

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

So you say you serve the Lord! How strong are the words ‘must not’ that precede quarrel? In Greek, they begin the sentence. They are literally translated ‘It is a necessity that the servant of the Lord not quarrel’. Where do you stand on this? Do you get into many ‘grudge matches’?

Thought

Sorry about the delay: my vacation was wonderful!

Monday July 12, 2010: Luke 9:46–48 (New King James Version)

Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.”
Is this passage speaking about the way of salvation? The least shall be great. The Preexistent One would die. Christ spoke about what He was going to do in obedience to the Father. Simply receiving this is salvation.

Tuesday July 13, 2010: Mark 14:72 (NKJV)

A second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And when he thought about it, he wept.
Why did Peter weep? Peter’s thoughts went back to Jesus Christ’s prophecy of Peter’s future denials. Peter reasoned that if Christ could foretell what a fowl would do after Peter’s renunciations, he realized Christ’s love for him in spite of his perfidity: he wept. (Arguable)

Wednesday July 14, 2010: Acts 8:20–22 (NKJV)

But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.
What was the gift of God? The Holy Spirit and His gifts to men; no price can be put on this gift. It is priceless, yet free.

Thursday July 15, 2010: 1 Corinthians 13:9–11 (NKJV)

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Do we still keep childish thoughts like ‘I can understand all things in the strength of my own reasoning? We all do to some extent or another. The Bible shows us that His thoughts are infinitely above ours.

Friday July 16, 2010: 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 (NKJV)

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ
What weapons do we use in the warfare on our mind? God supplies our minds with the right weapons as we read His word. They are sufficient to bring down arguments that seem stronger than reason.

Prodigal, Dissipation and Salvation

Monday, July 5, 2010: 1 Peter 4:3–4 (New King James Version)

For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

Why would your former friends speak evil of you? They do because you’re not like them anymore, and it bothers them.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010: Ephesians 5:18–21 (NKJV)

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Why is drunkenness associated with dissipation? Drink dulls the prick of conscience and sense. The opposite is true enjoyment, thankfulness and submission.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010: Titus 1:5–6 (NKJV)

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

What is the implication of children who are non-dissipative? These children have seen and have voluntarily copied what their parents said and did.

Thursday, July 8, 2010: Luke 15:11–13 (NKJV)

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

In the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son, what does prodigal mean? Prodigal is a synonym of dissipation in an adverbial form.

Friday, July 9, 2010: Luke 15:28, 31–32 (NKJV)

“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Why is ‘death’ linked to the prodigal and ‘found’ to the returning son? Biblically, death is separation from God; found is the antonym of dissipation or prodigal (which is ‘without saving’ in Greek). Its antonym is salvation or being revived.

Promise

Monday, June 28, 2010: Romans 4:3–4 (New King James Version)

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

How was Abraham, a sinner, made perfectly right before God? He believed God’s word. This faith cleared his slate of sin.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010: Romans 4:13–14 (NKJV)

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect

If heritage in Abraham is not by keeping the law, what is his inheritance? His true inheritance is the result of faith in God’s word: getting your slate cleaned of sin by faith in God’s promise.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010: Romans 4:16 (NKJV)

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

The promise was made to Abraham’s descendants. Who are Abraham’s descendants? By law they are Israel, by promise, they are all those who believe in God’s word.

Thursday, July 1, 2010: Romans 4:19–22 (NKJV)

And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Having lived to be 100 years, what did Abraham still believe? Abraham still believed God’s promise of giving him an heir in whom the whole world would be blest.

Friday, July 2, 2010: Romans 4:23–25 (NKJV)

Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

What is the ‘clean slate’ promise? God raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, who took the punishment for our sins. All those who believe in Him have a clean slate.

Love's Sums and Differences

Monday, June 21, 2010: 1 Corinthians 13:1

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

Background: Paul the Apostle writes to the Corinthian Church, in which many jostled for position and recognition, about a more excellent way: love.

If I speak in ‘tongues,’ human or heavenly, without love, what is my speech like? Imagine a cartoon in which every time a puppets mouth opens, a cymbal clangs!

Repeat this over and over again. This is the effect without love.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010: 1 Corinthians 13:2

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Wisdom + mountain-moving faith + prophesy – love = __? Zero.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010: 1 Corinthians 13:3

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Heavenly profit: Donate all to feed the hungry + martyrdom – love = __? Zero.

Thursday, June 24, 2010: 1 Corinthians 13:8

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

Future grades: Prophecy = F, tongues = F, knowledge = F; love = __? A!

Friday, June 25, 2010: 1 Corinthians 13:9–10

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

Human knowledge = 1/ 1,000,000; human prophecy = 1/1,000,000: What happens at the end of human history? All things human = 0.