Down at the public pool

Yesterday was a really busy day, which threw me off of my schedule.  Fortunately, today I was able to get back on to things - but it is late as I type this entry in.

The Gospel According to John - Chapter 5

1. What was the physical condition of the man whom Jesus met at the pool?
2. What was the warning that Jesus gave to the man when he saw him later?
3. What were the two reasons given (according to this chapter) for Jesus being persecuted / harrassed by the Jews?
4. According to the passage, how can one be sure that they have eternal life?
5. Jesus did not accept what from men?
6. Who was the accuser of the Jews, according to Jesus?
7. Did Jesus suggest that there would be a resurrection of the dead?

I hope you are still trying to be diligent in reading daily, or at least as much as possible and working towards daily reading.

Food and Water

I hope that all of  you are persisting in your pursuit of the knowledge of our Lord and Savior by reading each day.  I know it is not easy, but it is just a matter of putting the highest priority on this time.

The Gospel According To John - Chapter 4

1. Who was it that was baptizing the disciples of Jesus?
2. What  type of woman did Jesus encounter?
3. What did Jesus offer to the woman?
4. What kind of food did Jesus have to eat?
5. Did Jesus ever claim to be the Messiah?
6. Many of the townspeople believed because of what?
7. What was the second miracle that Jesus performed?

 Keep up the efforts to read.  It will build into your life the habit that we previously discussed - training yourself to be godly (I Timothy 4:7).

Nick and John B.

I hope that your journey through the Gospel According to John is going well so far.  Below are the questions that I think may assist you in your continued study.

The Gospel According To John - Chapter 3

1. When the chapter opens, who is Jesus talking with and what is the man's position / occupation?
2. When was this man having this conversation with Jesus?
3. Why does man love darkness, according to this passage?
4. The man is confused about a comment Jesus makes regarding doing something "a second time" - according to the man.  What is the comment Jesus makes, and what does it mean?
5. What concern did John's disciples have about Jesus?
6. When is a man condemned before God, and based upon what criterion?
7. How can a man experience God's wrath?

Temples and wine

I have decided to begin using this blog again, partly to help those who are trying to follow along with me and the Joe Ruth bible study group as we begin building the habit of daily scripture reading. The other reason is because this media is so much easier to use than emails every day. Our reading for today would be  

The Gospel According to John - Chapter 2 

Some questions to help you get a clear picture and stimulate your thinking:

1. What type of event was Jesus at when he ended up performing a miracle? 
2. According to this passage, who "asked" him to perform this miracle? 
3. According to this passage, what number is this miracle? 
4. What exactly was the miracle that Jesus performed? 
5. In this passage, what did Jesus do that would begin his record of stirring up trouble in opposition to the religious leaders? 
6. Approximately at what time of the year did this event occur? 
7. The passage states that many people believed in his name. Why did he not begin to build up support for "his cause"? 

Comments are welcomed!

God is good!

Yesterday evening I had to take my father to the ER.

For some of my readers, this would seem to be a shock; however, my father always seems to have one health problem or another. So for me this is not a big surprise; on the other hand, the outcome was surprising.

Typically, for as long as I can remember, my father would end up having to spend days or even weeks in the hospital to deal with some ailment. Last night was different.

Before taking him, we prayed that God would give us success in our mission and that he would guide the doctor to know what needed to be done. God answers prayers. We were in the ER a total of just under one hour! He saw the doctor and the doctor knew exactly what the problem was, diagnosed it and wrote a prescription to cover both the symptoms and the underlying cause. Then he even modified an earlier prescription so that Dad could get the generic of a heart med!

We thanked God for his answers to our prayers, and He blessed our mission even further; we pulled out and right nearby was an all-night pharmacy which was able to fill our prescriptions quickly.

Let me assure all of my readers - the hospital was not the key element in the success and expediency of our mission; it was God.

May all His people praise Him for His wonderful acts!

Consequences of Sin

From Ezekiel 4 - 6

1. It appears that God asked Ezekiel to essentially starve himself in front of the Israelites and use (at first anyways) human excrement to heat his food. That is gross and disgusting! However, it was meant to be a warning to the Israelites about what was going to happen. It must have been tough to carry out too, especially laying on one's side for so many days.

2. Consequences of Sin - God definitely was not happy with the Israelites, to curse them to the point that they would be so famished and ravaged that they would be willing to eat their children to keep from dying of hunger. This is horrifying!

3. I do not believe that God would not condemn the nation of Israel to destruction so complete if there were still righteous people living among them - at least, according to how I read this in light of the conversation that Abraham had with the Lord in Genesis regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. Still, I wonder - if there had been a group of people who had set God before them and had not wavered, would God have spared that group from destruction? How would that work? God lets the invaders treat them well? Or God does not let their area be overrun due to certain circumstances? Or perhaps the survivors are those who had trusted God completely.

Marriage Issues Again!

From II Chronicles 17 - 19:

1. Jehoshaphat was a wise leader (at least in the beginning), as he sent out teachers to further instruct the Israelite people in the way they should walk before the Lord. This is important, because just expunging the evil within the country was not enough (by destroying the idols - Asa did this). We have to do the same things in our lives. Not only should we rid our lives of evil habits and sinful behaviors, but additionally, we need to educate and train ourselves to do what is good and righteous. Otherwise we fall right back to doing the evil after a short period of time.

2. Marriage Issues Again! - The story of how Jehoshaphat affiliated himself with Ahab is interesting. First, I think that Jehoshaphat should have not allied himself with such an evil man. Second, I can see the reason that he allied himself with this evil king was due to his marriage relationship. He should not have allied himself through this marriage. God was merciful and did not allow Jehoshaphat to be killed in the battle with the Arameans, even though Jehoshaphat should not have been there at that time.

Finish strong!

From II Chronicles 13 - 16:

1. It is interesting to see how God helped Judah gain the victory over Israel in the battle mentioned in II Chronicles 13. Abijah trusted God and pointed out the error of the way that Israel had taken. He did not ignore the Israelites, but put God first. Even though Jeroboam used the time to set up a superior battle position, he still lost because of a lack of God's help. It illustrates that sometimes, when we are too busy worrying and planning to trust in God and call upon God to help, we still can lose the battle. Alternatively, if we just trust God and do what we can but always put Him first in what we are doing, he will provide us the victory.

2. Abijah, although he was more honorable than Jeroboam, still committed a sin similar to David and Solomon by taking on so many wives - exactly what the Lord told the Israelites not to let their kings do.

3. It is recorded here in II Chronicles 13 that God struck down Jeroboam. It is so sad to see that Jeroboam had the chance to pick up where David / Solomon left off, but instead had to build golden calves. He should have done what was pleasing to God.

4. Finish strong! - Asa started out right by destroying the idols that were leading people away from worshiping the one and only true God. Then, when he went into battle against the Cushites, he also did the right thing by calling upon the Lord at the start and seeking God's help. That is why he was successful in his conquest / campaign against them. Additionally, it also records that at another point he deposed his grandmother as queen mother because of an idol she had erected. However, he did not finish strong because he did not continue to call upon the Lord, instead relying on his own strength. Such a pity!

Did God do this?

From II Chronicles 10 - 12:

1. I wonder why Jeroboam fled while Solomon was alive, but was not afraid to come back during at the beginning of the reign of his son? I mean, when Solomon took the reign from David, David instructed him about certain individuals that were a threat to the kingdom - see I Kings 2:5-10 for a reference. As a result of this, these enemies of the kingdom were put to death when Solomon took over the reign. One would think that Solomon would do likewise and instruct his son about his enemies (these are recorded in I Kings 11:14-40). I am guessing that Solomon had begun to lose the wisdom that God blessed him with. This began when he began following after the gods of his wives. God gives talents and blessings, but many forget that He can take them away just as easily as He gives them (Job 1:20b - "...The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away...") Otherwise one would think that Solomon would instruct his children about who his enemies were (and thus, enemies of the government). Then, when Jeroboam came back, he would have been walking right back to his demise.

2. We can see from Rehoboam and the way in which he chooses to respond that he is following the evil desires of his youth when he decides to follow the ill advice given by his young friends. Psalms 94:3-4 says this: "How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked be jubilant? They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting." Rehoboam was doing exactly this when he responded to the Israelites, being arrogant and boasting instead of being compassionate. (Psalms 112:4 emphasizes the importance of compassion and how God blesses those who are compassionate.)
Notice that both of the verses that I cited about the situation were found in Psalms. These were (likely) writings from David, or at least were likely available by the time of Rehoboam. Too bad that he did not read them.

3. Did God do this? - In II Chronicles 11:4, God tells the kingdom of Judah (as it would become after this split) not to go to war with what would become the kingdom of Israel. He says it is His doing (the split). Perhaps the appropriate way to phrase this would be that He allowed it because of Solomon's sins (and Rehoboam's subsequent arrogance / boasts). It is important to understand that all good things come from God. This was not a good thing for the Israelite nation, but it was as a result of sin, so God allowed it. This is similar to some of the bad things that have happened recently to the US. The planes that ran into the World Trade Centers were allowed to do this because the US (as a nation) has continued to walk apart from God (and continues to get further away).

4. In II Chronicles 12:13 it records that Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. If you refer back to item #2 you will see that Rehoboam acted immaturely and rashly. It is interesting to see how he acted so immaturely at the age of 41. I have always maintained that age is not always the best indicator of maturity, but rather the degree to which one follows God's word is more of an indicator. This is why I Timothy 4:12 instructs Timothy not to worry about his age, but rather to be an example for others to follow.

No Dewey Decimal System

From II Chronicles 7 - 9:

1. Can you imagine making a prayer and then seeing fire come down from heaven and consume the offering that you were making? Wow!!!! I think I would be talking about that for years and years in my testimony!

2. God promised to bless David's descendants. However, what God promised to Solomon (by speaking to him - another thing I would be talking about for years in my testimony) had definite conditions. He had to continue to follow God and not worship idols. God already knew what would happen, because I am sure that by this point Solomon had already begun taking too many wives.

3. I think II Chronicles 8:11 pretty much tells where the problem was going to be, as he built a separate place for his wife from Egypt, in spite of the fact that he had admitted by doing this that she would not be pleasing to God.

4. No Dewey Decimal System - It says that all the things Solomon did were recorded in the records of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and the visions of Iddo the seer. I wonder what happened to all these records. Did the royal librarian not do their job and keep these accounts safe? Or was it because they did not yet have the Dewey Decimal system?

5. I also wonder why it lists Iddo the seer's account regarding Jeroboam as having information about Solomon.

Indiana Jones Notes

From II Chronicles 4 - 6:

1. II Chronicles 3:18 says that there was quite a large number of bronze items made - to the point that the weight of the items could not be determined. I read recently that a group of archeologists found a place in Israel that was originally a place where there was a large amount of metal processing (perhaps it was bronze - I can't recall) and they directly attributed it to Solomon's time based upon some form of dating / aging.

2. It is interesting that it mentions bringing the Ark of the Lord's Covenant from Zion to Jerusalem. I wonder if that meant from a particular place in Jerusalem (like the forbidden city in China - bringing something into Beijing to there), or if there was some other meaning.

3. It again mentions that the Ark and Tent of Meeting were brought up - not sure from where. Another idea is that (since Jerusalem is on a hill, as I understand it) the Tent of Meeting / Ark were down below - maybe at the base of the hill or something along those lines.

4. It says that the amount of animals sacrificed could not even be counted. Now that is amazing! I wish everyone were as excited about serving God and giving to Him as they were at this time.

5. Indiana Jones Notes - At this point there was only the two tablets contained in the Ark. This might be valuable information if you are Indiana Jones - as you will be able to identify the real Ark vs. a fake.

6. The prayer recorded that Solomon made to God is really awesome. He mentions that only God can see the heart. This goes hand in hand with I Samuel 16:7.

7. It is interesting that Solomon even intercedes on the behalf of foreigners - that they also have the privilege of praying there to God and having their prayers be heard.

Meet Bob, my fireplace! And here is Charlene, our sofa!

From II Chronicles 1 - 3:

1. God was pleased that Solomon was interested in doing a good job with the task he had been given by God - that of being king. It is important that we try to do our best at the tasks that God gives us too, whether they include raising children, being a missionary or minister or working in a workplace somewhere. We should seek to do it with all of our heart, as unto the Lord - so that He will be pleased and His name will be glorified. It was because of this attitude that God blessed Solomon greatly with many other things.

2.Solomon does a great job of being a good witness early on - even the king of Tyre praises God for the fact that Solomon is a wise king. That should be the purpose of us doing a good job - not for our own praise, but rather so that God will be praised.

3. Being an alien in Israel meant hard work. However, I am wondering about this, because later we will see that the people of Israel complained to his son Rehoboam about all the work they had to do for Solomon. I am certain that the number of people listed is aliens, because God would have punished Solomon if he had counted the fighting men that David wanted to count (also the number is too small), but I am wondering what the rest of the Israelite people had to do in this effort (other than supervising).

4. I wonder what is significant about the gold of Parvaim. Is it more pure, of a better quality, or just harder to obtain? Could one tell from inspection that the gold was of this type?

5. Meet Bob, my fireplace! And here is Charlene, our sofa! - I also wonder why the pillars were named. Just suppose that we went around naming architectural features of our houses. What a different world it would be.

A Note and three chapters

I again want to thank my faithful readers for reading more faithfully than I have been writing. I apologize. We will see how long I can sustain the effort to blog this time. God bless.

From I Chronicles 27 - 29:

1. In Chronicles 27:23 it says that David did not take the number of men below the age of 20. That is an interesting fact.

2.I had no idea that David had an uncle named Jonathan who was a man of insight.

3. I also never realized that David had a great hand in the original design of the Temple, though he did not actually build it himself.

God promised to exalt Heman

From I Chronicles 24 - 26:

1. We are reminded in the start of Chapter 24 about Nadab and Abihu again. Refer to Leviticus 10 for the details on how they died if you do not recall. When they died God also instructed the priests serving before the Tabernacle that they were not to drink any wine or other fermented drink whenever they went to the house of meeting or they would die. He used them as an example to all the Israelites. God wants perfect holiness, as God is perfectly holy.

2. God promised to exalt Heman - And I always thought that meant that Heman would be really strong and powerful, but in reality it meant he had 14 sons and three daughters.

3. Each family had their own responsibilities. Some were prophets, while others were musicians, while others had to offer sacrifices at the temple, some had to tend the gates, and some even were assigned to care for the treasuries (similar to a modern-day banker, I guess). We are truly blessed in this country nowadays, as we can choose any profession that we so desire, independent of what our parents did. Back in the time that this was written, you were assigned a profession and you and your entire family then was responsible for that during one's entire life. No one asked if you wanted to do it.

Something that costs nothing

From I Chronicles 21 - 23:

1. It is interesting that King David spoke to the Lord and God answered him with fire from heaven on the altar that David had built. This is very similar to what happened much later to Elijah when he had the showdown with the prophets of Baal. It must have been awesome to behold.

2. Something that costs nothing - I like how David would not take a freebie from Araunah when getting the threshing floor that he was using. Instead, in spite of Araunah's urging to the contrary, he paid a great amount of gold for it. David did not want to offer to God something that cost him nothing.

3. Apparently, according to this passage, David pleaded with God and asked God not to harm the people because, as he stated, "I am the one who has sinned, not the people". Yet God had exacted his justice on the people. I wonder why.

4. Although Job is in many places described as very violent, etc. - in this passage in Chapter 21 he is a voice of reason from God. He does not agree with numbering the fighting men and tells David. He also does not fully carry out David's command by not counting the Benjaminites and Levites.

5. David really helped Solomon greatly in getting everything prepared for the building of the temple of God.

Just and Right

From I Chronicles 18 - 20:

1. Just and Right - I like how it tells that David "reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people". I wish we could get a President who would do this. "Just" and "right" have left our culture due to special interest groups and lobbyists. I don't care which side of the fence you are on, that is a REAL issue that we face today.
Declining morality within the masses of this country, however, is a direct reflection upon the church's failure to effectively set a good example and actively seek to spread the gospel locally.

2. Hanun reminds me of Rehoboam - a grandson of David - who would become king in the future. He listened to the wisdom of his nobles but did not try to think about it for himself. Both Rehoboam and Hanun were big losers because they miscalculated how their actions would change the outcome. And both of them learned the hard way at a very early point in their careers.

3. It is neat to see how in many battles that were fought, there was someone who was instrumental in the victory. In I Chronicles 20 it talks about different battles with the Philistines and how someone each time stood up to a tough adversary and was successful. It shows that we just need to trust God, not fear and be willing to stand up in the face of death and danger.

What about you, God?

From I Chronicles 15 - 17:

1. It is obvious from reading I Chronicles 15 that David learned his lesson after the incident with Uzzah. We always need to go back to the bible, God's word, and prayer when something happens we don't understand.

2. It is unfortunate that Michal was more concerned with appearances than heart matters. David was sincere, while Michal was keyed into appearances.

3. David was also generous and caring. He offered food to all the people after the blessing - something he did not have to do.

4. What about you, God? - Even though God had blessed him tremendously and given him victory on all sides, as well as tremendous success, yet he still was more concerned about the things of God. I hope that I can have this same attitude for all of my life also. God needs to be first in my life, and deserves to be. Anything and everything I have is because of His blessing. Nothing I have is because of anything that I have done. What is even better is that when God promises to bless David even further, he says, "Who am I that you should consider me?" David was a wonderful role model.

Too many wives?

From I Chronicles 12 - 14:

1. It is amazing that even among those who were from the same tribe as Saul defected to David and even became some of his most staunch supporters, becoming listed among the thirty (thirty of his most valiant men). It shows that David was more honorable than Saul, as even people from Saul's own tribe would "betray" him.

2. The way that David began to bring the ark to Jerusalem is depicted as being near the start of his reign. When Uzzah was killed by God for touching the ark, I bet it made David very concerned. God made David look bad in front of everyone. However, God is not concerned with a man's image - rather, he is concerned with his own holiness. God had commanded that the ark be carried by the Levites, not pulled on a cart drawn by oxen. Since His will was not followed, it is no surprise that bad things happened. Fortunately, after this incident blew over, David came to his senses and went ahead and brought the ark into Jerusalem.

3. It is neat to see that God blesses those who respect Him and serve Him. We see that while the ark was with Obed-Edom the Gittite, God blessed his house. This is in direct contrast to the Philistines, who served other gods and yet had the ark with them. Though they were both from other nations - if I am not mistaken, Gittites were not Israelites - God only blesses those who worship and honor Him.

4. Too many wives? - It could be argued that David did something improper in I Chronicles 14:3 when it talks about him taking more wives. The Lord had commanded the Israelites not to take many wives - specifically the kings - see Deuteronomy 17:16-17. Although David's wives did not lead him to serve other gods, his son Solomon emulated him and ended up taking many wives. In the end, Solomon's wives led him astray.

5. Fear is a powerful weapon. The bible tells us in the end of I Chronicles 14 that the Lord made all the nations fear David. Fear will cause people to do things that are not always rational.

Did not hold fast

From I Chronicles 9 - 11:

1. This passage begins by giving us some insight into who is writing this book and when it is being written. It states that the people of Judah (someone among them must be writing this) had been taken captive to Babylon. So it is being written some time after that fact occurred.

2. I wonder why the author of Chronicles decided to start with the fall of Saul. I suppose it would illustrate how David became king and talk all about his reign - as he was arguably the greatest king that Israel ever had (to this point, anyways).

3. Did not hold fast - The end of Chapter 10 says clearly that Saul died because he was unfaithful to God. He did not remain true in his faith. However, I would point out that originally God chose him - so at one point he was doing what was pleasing to God.

4. It is really interesting to read about the mighty men that served David and helped to protect him / fight wars for Israel. Some of these guys did some amazing things.

Nothing bad will ever happen to me

I hope that all of my loyal readers have not given up on me. I had been quite busy this week and did not get many chances to post. I apologize. We will see how the coming week goes.

From I Chronicles 4 - 8:

1. Nothing bad will ever happen to me - I have not read the books about this particular passage, but I notice that I Chronicles 4:9-10 is what has been termed "The Prayer of Jabez". Whole books have been written regarding these two verses. Although I cannot speak to the content within the books, I want to point out some facts as recorded in this passage to my loyal readers.
First, Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. The passage does not tell us why, but it does tell us that he was more honorable.
Second, Jabez cried out to God for blessings. I think that there is not a person on earth who believes in God that does not do this. Everyone wants to be blessed. And anyone who truly believes in God prays to God asking for protection, blessing, etc.
Third, God granted his request. This is actually the key point. God is sovereign and all-knowing. In God's mercy and grace, he chose at that time to bless Jabez. However, consider the thoughts listed below.
A. As I mentioned, all believers cry to God for blessing. However, though it is not wrong to ask for God's blessing, many people are wrong in doing so because they are ONLY interested in God's blessing. They do not want to serve God, follow God, obey God, or be a living sacrifice for God.
B. I am relatively certain that Paul, Peter, John, James, Thomas, etc. asked for God's blessing too. Each one was tortured for their faith, and except for John, all died at the hands of evil men. (Actually, this is the greatest blessing if you read the beatitudes.)
C. Job was blessed by God, but at a certain time in his life, God removed all these so-called "blessings" to grow his faith and test him.
D. Lazarus in the story Jesus told was greatly blessed by God because he died and went to Abraham's side. However, in his life he "received bad things".
Our problem is that we misunderstand what it means to be blessed. Perhaps the beatitudes should be included in the Prayer of Jabez book. To be truly blessed does not always mean having plenty and living a life of luxury. The bible records this about the rich man who went to hell : There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. So think about what you mean when you ask for God's blessing. If you lose your job or you find yourself being persecuted because of your prayers, it is then that you should be praising God.
(I do not mean to infer that having wealth / comfort is wrong. However, one should refer to I Timothy 6:6-9,17-19, as well as James 1, paying special attention to verses 9-10.
The greatest blessing one can have is to be welcomed into heaven, to spend all eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ , while worshiping God the Father.

2. It is interesting to note that although Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob, he was not given the rights accompanying this position because he had slept with one of his father's wives. Instead, this position was given to Joseph's sons.

3. It is really cool to see how the Reubenites and Gadites were successful in battle because they cried out to the Lord. It says that many of their enemies were slain because "the battle was God's". Cool! That is how God responds to those who call upon him out of a pure heart!

4. I Chronicles 7:24 records that Sheerah, the daughter of either Ephriam or Beriah built Lower and Upper Beth Horon, as well as Uzzen Sheerah. Wow, the first female construction manager / general contractor! Additionally, we see shortly before this a mention of Zelophehad. His daughters were the ones who went before Joshua to successfully requested ownership of the land that was allotted their family, since their father had no sons.