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| Absolutely Useless |
Time with Jesus - 10 May 2013
Hi all,
What is meant by saying that the
Bible is the Word of God? At one time I was firmly of the opinion that He had
written it Himself. In the literal sense that couldn't be true. God does not do
that sort of thing. Instead He prompts men and women to express what He desires
stated, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter expressed it beautifully: 20
The main thing to keep in mind here is that no
prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. 21 And why? Because it's not something concocted in the
human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy
Spirit prompted men and women to speak God's Word.
2 Peter 1:20-21 MSG
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| A Hearing and Writing Prophet! |
Bear in mind that when
Peter refers to “prophecy” he was referring to all the Old Testament
Scriptures. He was not referring to a Prophet standing up and speaking. This
may be true in some instances. However, when the Jewish people spoke of
“prophecy” they were referring to the Old Testament. He couldn't be referring
to the New Testament. Some of it was still being written as he wrote his
epistle.
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| She says "Let Him Kiss me with the Kisses of His Mouth" Song of Solomon 1:2 |
The problem for me was that I
was under the mistaken impression, if it was in the Bible, it was God’s
opinion. That’s when I got bogged down in Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes.
Leviticus also bothered me. It was too full of what I saw as “old wives tales”!
Look at the test for marital unfaithfulness in Numbers 5. That really is a
problem.
Of course the David and
Bathsheba incident takes a bit of understanding. I've heard people say, “God
approved of David’s unfaithfulness and permitted the incident. See! There it is
in the Bible!” Another questionable incident is when Ezra ordered the men to
divorce their foreign wives. (See Ezra 9)
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| 700ives and 300 concubines |
That’s when I began to realise,
that included in God’s Book, are things of which He approves and things of
which he disapproves. They are written, because God wants His people to see the
Biblical characters as they were. He doesn’t dress them up and make them look
innocent. He tells it as it really was.
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| Brain Surgeon |
Will God reveal everything about
me and you? I think so. You cannot be pardoned unless you've been found guilty!
Furthermore, by forgiving me and pardoning me, it will reveal more of His
glory!
47 "I tell you, her sins—and
they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown Me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love." Luke 7:47 NLT The Lord has forgiven me for much! If He
chooses to expose it all to the world, that’s fine by me. How about you?
Shalom,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Matt
10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Friday, 10 May 2013
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Matt
10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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ABSOLUTELY
POINTLESS?
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During my first few months of being a Christian I
had a number of questions. What had I let myself into? How do I know that
it’s true? How can I be sure of Jesus Christ and His salvation?
My biggest problem was that every time I had a
question; someone would open the Bible and read. It was rather frustrating. I
felt like interrupting and saying, “So what?” To me they were reading words from
an old book that had little relevance for an eighteen year old male.
It took me about six months to find out that the
Bible was God’s Word. But that didn’t provide the complete answer. I quickly
found the Bible contained God’s Word. But which were written by men and which
by Him?
It took me about a year to realise that It was all
God’s Word. Then I started struggling with some of the things in His Word.
Why were they there? What purpose were they there for? In particular, what
about Ecclesiastes (Ecc) and Song of Solomon (SoS)? Ecc sounded like the
moans and groans of an old and disappointed man. As for SoS, I thought it a
bit too “racey” to be there anyway. How does a young man deal with such questions?
I assumed that these books were included for reasons that would be apparent
as I grew in my walk with God.
As a complication, back in those days, many
Christians were into what I termed, “Shotgun Theology” Texts would be
referred to that didn’t seem consistent with the overall content. For example
Paul wrote, 13 I can do all things
through Christ which strengthens me. Philippians
4:13 KJV
Then a rather crazy thought occurred to me. I can’t
fall pregnant. Men can’t do that. So here was something that didn’t apply.
Then I found out that nothing can change the past. Also, I’m not a brain
surgeon. I can’t do brain surgery tomorrow! So what was this passage all
about? So I read the entire passage and found that Paul was talking about
financial matters. Suddenly the verse made sense.
These thoughts took me back to SoS. By then I’d
grown a bit and found that it was a delightful love story about a man and a
woman. An allegory on the relationship between Jesus and His Bride. I hadn’t
realised that the Lord can love me physically and passionately.
Then I looked again at Ecc; I was bit older and
started to see the tragedy of an old man, who had been sufficiently wealthy
to have been able to afford whatever he wanted. He tried them all. Sex, Power
and Wisdom. None of them brought contentment. Solomon was the wealthiest King
who had ever lived. He tried to find satisfaction in life, in the pursuit of
women. 3 He had 700 wives who were
princesses and 300 wives who were concubines.1 Kings 11:3 GW As
far as wisdom is concerned: 29 God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding,
and knowledge as vast as the sands of the
seashore.1 Kings 4:29 NLT King Solomon
concludes Ecc with the following: 13 That's
the whole story. Here now is my final
conclusion: Fear God and obey His commands,
for this is everyone's duty. Ecclesiastes
12:13 NLT Now I’m convinced that God’s Word is the inerrant truth.
Read and understand. You will never go wrong!
Jim &
Phyllida
Strickland
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1 The words
of the spokesman, the son of David and the king in Jerusalem. 2 "Absolutely
pointless!" says the spokesman. "Absolutely
pointless! Everything is pointless."
Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 GW
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Absolutely pointless; It isn’t worth a
dime!
It isn’t going anywhere; and all of
space and time,
Are nothing but a journey from the
cradle to the grave.
It makes so little difference if you
spend, or if you save.
Life is filled with nothing. We may
live eighty years.
They’re over in an instant and filled with
grief and tears.
No sooner have we started than we are
dead and gone,
And wonder if there’s purpose for us
to carry on?
This is the normal attitude of those
outside of Christ.
For them life is a lottery, that’s far
too highly priced.
They’re never going to win it and even
if they did,
They’d squander it, or waste it and
rapidly get rid,
Of every cent of winnings until they’d
lost the lot;
And brood about what might have been
if only they had not!
But those who’ve come to Jesus and
made Him Lord of all,
Find things not so pointless and life can
be a ball.
They’ll still have lots of trouble,
for they are not exempt,
To that which Satan’s demons would
bring to them; to tempt
And push them into foolishness and
knock them off their feet.
But if they stick with Jesus, then
Satan will be beat.
We have to change our attitude and
also, redefine,
The way we look at money in the light
of Christ Divine.
We have to see we’re citizens of
heaven, not the earth.
We have to know the glory of the
Christian’s second birth.
The city we are living in, while we
are still down here,
Will ultimately crumble and then will
disappear.
Our city is not permanent. We look for
one to come.
The lovely New Jerusalem, without a
single slum!
To be with Him Who’s changeless and be
conformed to Him;
To see Creation deathless; not subject
to the whim,
Of some religious monster who hates
what God has made.
To live in an environment where no one
is afraid.
Free from interference by the devil
and his crew.
To worship
God forever with everything made new;
To join the living creatures and sing
“Holy is the Lord”
To be alive in Jesus and never once
feel bored.
It never will be pointless to give the
Master praise;
For He gives inspiration, in so many
different ways.
Jim Strickland
Written 10th May 2012
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9 You have been angry with us all of our days. We groan as we come to the end of our lives. 10 We live to be about 70.
Or we may live to be 80, if we stay healthy. But all that time is filled with
trouble and sorrow. The years quickly pass, and we are gone.
Psalms 90:9-10 NIrV
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19 If only for this life
we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all others.
1 Corinthians 15:19 TNIV
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14 We don't have a
permanent city here on earth, but we are looking for the city that we will
have in the future.
Hebrews 13:14 GW
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6 "I am the LORD, and
I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already
destroyed.
Malachi 3:6 NLT
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20 But our citizenship is
in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,21 who will transform our
lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even
to subject all things to himself.
Philippians 3:20-21 ESV
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20 For the creation was
subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one
who subjected it, in hope
Romans 8:20 TNIV
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8 Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 GW
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8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and
were covered with eyes, inside and out. Without stopping day or night they
were singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming." 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor,
and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, to the one who lives forever
and ever, 10 the
24 leaders bow in front of the one who sits on the throne and worship the one
who lives forever and ever. They place their crowns in front of the throne and
say, 11 "Our Lord and God, you deserve to receive
glory, honour, and power because you created everything. Everything came into
existence and was created because of your will."
Revelation 4:8-11 GW
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