The Gospel

Verse: 

"Now I would remind you, brothers, or the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you as of the first importance what I aslo received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep."

I Corinthians 15:1-6

Thoughts: 

It has been a couple of days since I have gotten back into the Word and even today it wasn't in the manner I have done over the past week.  Where I had intended to jump in everyday, I have realized that sometimes things come up that will knock me off of schedule.  The four day gap was a little much though.  I could feel myself start to develop excuses in my mind as to why missing one more day wouldn't be that bad.  It was a dangerous spiral I almost fell into as I believe this journaling and being in the Word at the start of the day has made my past week better.

This morning, I didn't focus on just read chapters out of the Bible as I had started.  Rather, I read a chapter out of one of my Christian living books.  I have to teach a lesson on the gospel on Thursday and so I wanted to review the chapter this morning to give me a chance to start developing an idea for the lesson.  Essentially, the gospel is the historical fact and significance of 1) the death of Jesus on the cross, 2) his burial, 3) his resurrection, and 4) his appearance to many.  It is not the emotional reaction or the epiphany we feel about hearing and believing this.  That is our testimony and the trap we fall into.  We seem to often explain this experience to people without actually explaining what it is that Christ did for us and the significance behind it.

I'm excited about the lesson as it will be a lot of apologetic material, which I enjoy.  Although we know those 4 elements are what consist of the gospel, that actual arguments as to how they were valid and accurate are also important as you try to witness to skeptics and unbelievers.  I'm excited to get started on it.  Time to bust out my old copy of The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.

Resurrection of the Dry Bones

Verse: 

"And said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."  Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD."

Ezekiel 37:3-6

Thoughts: 

Today, I moved on to Ezekiel 37.  Over the past couple of days, I've come across versus and stories in Ezekiel that could translate into practical application for life.  Ezekiel 37 was a little harder in that regard.  The chapter deals with a prophecy in the valley of the dry bones and then the prophecy of God reconnecting Judah and Israel and the people of Israel returning to their homeland and abolishing the practice of overt idolatry.  Consequently, they did return to Israel and never again built the altars to other gods...even when Rome occupied them and pressed for it.

The most interesting piece to me in this chapter though was the Valley of the Dry Bones.  I remember in the New Testament, Jesus was questioned by some of the Sadducees about resurrection.  They did not believe in resurrection, so Jesus used a discussion God was having with Moses to demonstrate that resurrection actually does / will occur (Mark 12:26-27).  The Sadducees also only believed in and studied the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible), so Jesus had to organize his argument / defense around those.  This stands out to me because Ezekiel 37 gives a clear example of God's ability to raise the dead; however, Jesus couldn't use this example in the Sadducees situation.

Ezekiel 37 can be read as an illustration describing the recreation of Israel.  In its greater context of where it is found in Ezekiel, Israel has been punished along with the neighboring nations and now God has begun talking about a future date when he will recollect them and rebuild Israel.  Therefore, it is logical to make the connection that the "dry bones" is the current death of Israel as a nation and the "raising of the body and breath of life" is God returning Israel to its former glory.  

However, taken in a literal sense, the passage also clearly shows God's ability to raise the dead.  More so, again in the literal sense, God specifically says "And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people (v. 13).  A prior passage also describes that act saying, "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army" (v. 10).  If you read this and take it in its literal sense, this seems to possibly foreshadow Revelation 20:4-5 where the dead are resurrected and rule with Christ.

So is resurrection possible?  Absolutely...Christ proved that.  However, finding some of these passages throughout the Old Testament just help reassure the supreme control God has over the universe and how constant of a stalwart he is.

Old Testament Appearance of the Holy Spirit

Verse: 

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

Ezekiel 36:26-27

Thoughts: 

So I finally think I'm getting into the flow of keeping a journal of thoughts.  I'm glad I decided just to work through the Bible slowly rather than complete a workbook or something like that.  I feel that my thoughts on verses are more God inspired in this format than having a workbook just tell me what the answers are.  Awkwardly enough, when I was straight reading through the Bible months / years ago, Ezekiel is where I got bogged down at and quit.  Picking it back up here, I am finding all kinds of insights.  There is a huge difference in just reading the Bible as fast as you can (basically trying to check that box off of the "to-do to make God happy list) and meditating through each verse...studying each verse...deriving meaning from each verse.  It is refreshing and exhilarating at the same time.

So today, I hit Ezekiel 36.  I was intrigued glancing over it because the text seemed to switch from passing judgment on nations surrounding Israel to focusing its attention on Israel itself.  The section headers "The Lord's Concern for His Holy Name" and "I Will Put My Spirit Within You" seemed exciting compared to the previous "Prophecy Against [insert various nations here]" and "Lament Against [insert various nations here]".  And low and behold, I was not disappointing. 

Ezekiel 36 shows some important philosophical characteristics about God.  One is that being Holy, one of the key motivations of God is that he wants to protect his holy name.  He makes a point of telling Israel that he will hold true to his word and covenant, even though Israel royally screwed up.  Additionally, it shows that it doesn't matter how much Israel cries or begs for deliverance, God will act to preserve and vindicate his name.  No action Israel could do would determine whether or not God would eventually bring his people home.  He was going to bring them home one way or the other to vindicate his name (v. 23).

From there, God ups the ante on his promise in order to show his holiness.  Not only will he bring his people home, but he will impart his Spirit on them to clean them of their iniquities and literally change their hearts.  He will make it where they want to obey his rules.  Now this sounds like something Jesus or Paul or Peter would tell us, but it is plain as day coming from God himself in the Old Testament (v. 24-27).  This just reemphasizes to me the validity of Jesus.  It is another example of him coming to "fulfill the law" rather than "abolish it".  

Two other things that stood out to me doctrine wise (as opposed to literary).  One again deals with the elect vs. free will debate (see my previous post for more info on that).  Verses 22-32 seem to lean towards the idea of an elect again.  Throughout it, God says that he will change you and clean you and make you want to obey.  It doesn't mention anything about "ask me and then I will do this for you."  The text just says that he will do this to maintain his holiness.  It sounds more and more to me like God molds your heart to prepare you for salvation...not so much you have to make the decision to change your heart.  I don't like the idea of not having free will, but the text seems to push it that way.  I take solace in verse 32 though where it says the ways and reasoning of Gods actions confound me.  My ways are not his ways and he is holier than I, so who am I to argue if he wants to use elect instead of free will.

The other piece of doctrine I always wondered about was why some denominations sprinkle for baptisms and other ceremonies rather than dunk.  The New Testament seems filled with examples of submersion, so where did sprinkling come in?  I think at least part of the example is in Ezekiel 36:25 where God says "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you."  I'm still of the dunking variety, but I can see where some denominations would use sprinkling after a verse like that.

How to Shepherd God's People

Verse: 

"You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.  The weak you have not strengthened, the sick  you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them."

Ezekiel 34:3-4

Thoughts: 

Today, I have continued my look at Ezekiel.  However, where I started by not really knowing what to do and just jumping into the text, I have now started looking forward to continuing through Ezekiel and just seeing what God shows me. Yesterday's reading of Ezekiel 33 just brought me to that sense of awe when God revealed His word and that has continued today with chapter 34.  Hopefully this will continue as I'm excited to see what he shows me.

Ezekiel 34 seemed to be an alliteration that could go many different ways.  It seems to have a lot of foreshadowing of Christ where the shepherds at the time were not keeping the flocks (Israel) as they should.  Consequently, God will dispose of them and take control of the shepherding duties himself.  

You can also read into it a more modern (post-messianic) spin where it can serve as a warning to us Christians who are not going out and performing our duties among God's flock.  Once Christ blessed us with his blood, we can either horde that blessing to ourselves and do nothing with it or we can go and share it with others.  Ezekiel 34 clearly shows that God would prefer that we help others (see v. 4).  

The last thing I saw which stirred my curiosity was verses 11-16.  I am not 100% sure where I stand on the topic of elect vs non-elect and predestination vs. free-will.  These verses would seem to lean more towards the argument that an elect and non-elect exist...a.k.a. God is the primary determinant in who will be saved - not the individual person.  For example, verse 15-16 says "I [God] myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.  I will feed them in justice."  In these verses, it clearly seems to say that God himself will seek the lost and bring them back into the fold.  This would seem to me to suggest that he chooses those who are to be saved.  I'm still not sure where I stand on it, but I'll chalk this verse up to one for the elect / non-elect argument.

For practical notes, the one last piece I pulled out of chapter 34 are verses 3-4 which I quoted at the top of this post.  Those two verse seem like a good set of instructions as to what we are supposed to do as Christians as we interact with others.  I will have to study the New Testament some more, but I'm pretty sure the actions described up there will be similar to those Jesus and his disciples spoke of when interacting with people.

Our Christian Role: Living vs. Doing

Verse: 

"If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.  But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul."

Ezekiel 33:8-9

Thoughts: 

More and more as I slow down to take in the Word of God rather than just trying to finish the Word, messages and reaffirmations continue to jump out.  It is truly amazing.  As with the other chapters of Ezekiel I mentioned as I started journaling, I pretty sure I've read chapter 33 fairly recently, but is never came alive to me like it did this morning.  

I read through both chapters 32 and 33 this morning.  Where chapter 32 didn't speak much to me, chapter 33 was spewing with important points that Jesus and his disciples would later build upon in the New Testament.  I was able to take things out of almost every verse in the chapter.

Verses 5-9 emphasize the important differentiate of hearing the Word and living - believing - the Word.  It is not an intellectual pursuit to know what God wants us to do, but rather it is the act of internalizing that knowledge and living it out that matters.  I know I am supposed to "love my neighbor", but do I actually do it? 

Additionally, and more direct to my heart, is the emphasis these verse place on those who have been selected to spread Christ's message to the world.  All Christians are supposed to spread the word of God as commanded in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).  We are now the watchmen that Ezekiel 33 refers to.  If we do not speak to people about turning from their wicked ways, regardless of how it may make them or us feel, we are culpable for their sins.  It also emphasizes that it is not up to us to force them to obey God, but it is up to us to inform them of God.

I would have been happy (although also frightened) of just learning these edicts, but chapter 33 just kept flowing.  Verses 13-16 made two incredibly important points.  First, the grace of God and justification through Christ is NOT a get out of jail free card.  "Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die." (v. 13)  On the flip side, no matter what a person has done or how badly he has sinned, God will forgive him if he repents and makes retribution (a sign of true repentance).  "None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him.  He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live." (v. 16)

Now, the argument that always comes up with this is "what about a serial killer or someone like Adolph Hitler?  Surely God will punish them."  However, the verses state that if they TRULY repented, they would be forgiven.  How can that be just...how can God allow that?  He states in verse 17, "Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not just,' when it is their own way that is not just."  It is not our place to judge (a little judge ye not, lest ye be judged) because God's justice is much holier than our corrupted view of justice and vengeance.

The last piece that I gleamed out of the end of Ezekiel 33 was that we always fall into our old traps and ways.  Thousands of years ago, the Israelites justified their actions and skewed God's words to do what they want (v. 23-24) just like we still do today.  Additionally, they would "listen" to the prophets and "hear" the will of God, but then wouldn't do anything with it.  They wouldn't live it out, just like we still don't today (v. 31-32).

I have been in the trap of learning what God wants on an intellectual level...the pursuit of knowledge.  Over the past few months, I've built the will of God in my head, but not in my heart.  The couple of feet from the head to the heart is indeed one of the longest stretches of space in the world.  If we don't want to end up facing the judgment of the ancient Israelites, we need to start living the Word of God, not just knowing it.

Judgement of the Proud, Pt. 2

Verse: 

"I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of God.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations.  He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves.  I have cast it out.  Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it out."

Ezekiel 31:9-12

Thoughts: 

Day 2 of my prayer time and journaling is wrapping up.  I'm finding that it is harder to decide what I want to do than I thought it would be.  As I mentioned yesterday, the answer to a spiritual "funk" is prayer and getting into the Word, but the actual actions of how to do this can be harder to accomplish than one would think.  Contemplating it for a moment though, is this because I'm more interested in "setting up a strategy" to accomplish this rather than let God lead me?  Am I taking it in my hands on how to best approach God rather than letting the relationship develop naturally?

With that thought in my mind, I just jumped into Word again.  I just picked up where I left off yesterday in Ezekiel.  This is the portion of Ezekiel where there are a lot of judgments and lamentations still being thrown around on nations around Israel.  I can remember that I've read these before and by reading I mean blitzing through them as fast as I could.  After all, they all basically say the same thing and I don't really know where any of these places are or what they did to Israel to make God mad, right?  I'm sure there was some fighting and idol worshiping, but that's about where my guesses stop.

However, slowing down, I came across the passage in Ezekiel 31 talking comparing Pharaoh and Egypt to a mighty cedar of Lebanon.  I've seen this passage used in a book to compare Jesus' parable of a mustard seed growing into a mighty tree, but I don't see that as being accurate.  What jumped out to me was again a comparison of pride and the dangerous of letting it swell up inside of you.

Ezekiel 28 pointed out how a prideful heart can lead to you comparing yourself with God.  You essentially turn yourself into a God.  In the alliteration of the cedar tree in Ezekiel 31, we find that allowing others to heap praise on you produces this inflated sense of pride.  After all, all of the trees in Eden (which we assume was the most beautiful place on Earth) envied the cedar of Lebanon.  This is why Jesus would later mention that the humble are to be blessed.

Now all in all, this kind of runs in common sense to most of us.  No one likes a boastful, prideful person (although in our current political climate, they sure do seem to "respect" one).  We almost always prefer a humble individual because they work better with people (although it is often seen as a sign of weakness).  It is exciting and reassuring to see the same themes carried through seemingly random passages of the Old Testament too.  It shows more and more that God is steady and consistent throughout the ages.

I haven't found anything earth shattering that I didn't "know" already, but on Day 2, I'm at least finding that I'm getting excited about being back in the Word.

Prayer:

Prayer:

Judgement on the Proud

Verse: 

"Because your heart is proud, and you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,' yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god - therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor."

Ezekiel 28:2, 7

Thoughts: 

Over the past couple of weeks - probably months - I have been in a valley when it comes to my sanctification path and my relationship with the Lord.  I hold to the view point of sanctification being a lifelong process much like the stock market - you'll have peaks and valleys, but over time it trends up.  So upon recognizing I'm in one of those valleys, I'm trying some things to help jar me out of it.  The primary action I need to take is to start dedicating more time to my relationship with God.  Where your time is placed will reflect where your heart is and over the last several months my time has been spent on material things that will bring me pleasure and alas, they eventually let me down. 

My wants and desires have been more than those of God while in this valley.  That has to switch and I know it.  The question is how to do that.  The two simple answers are through prayer and meditating on God's Word, but simply praying and reading as a way to tell God to get me out of this funk didn't seem right.  My heart was not in it.  I wanted to go deeper and make sure I fully dedicated myself to the relationship.  I didn't want to just bring God flowers and apologize...I wanted to show him how much I truly want this relationship to thrive.

Therefore, I have done / am trying three things to start.  I have 

1. Taken my idols off of their towers and dedicated a specific time where I will spend it with God.  I will put my time on what is important.  
2. During that time, I will pray fervently.  I have search the Internet on how to create and use a prayer journal for more directed prayer and am going to see how that works.  I'm also going to study the art of prayer more intently to see how to improve in that area and of course ask for God's guidance in it (thank you War Room)
3. Lastly, in the remaining time I have with God after talking with him in prayer, I'm going to go into his Word.  I haven't decided if I'm going to use a workbook or just jump straight into the Bible.  One of my idols was reading and the intellectual pursuit that came with it, so I'm leaning towards just jumping into the Word for now and letting God speak to me.

On this first day, I picked up reading where I left off a LONG time ago in Ezekiel.  I read Chapters 25-28.  I didn't know what I was looking for and was going to let God speak and lo and behold, he had me stumble across Ezekiel 28.  Normally, when I get into the judgments and the laments in this area, I try to blitz read because they don't interest me.  However, this time I slowed down and took my time.  I came across the pride issues mentioned in there and realized that was what I too was facing.  It is almost as if God said, "this is what happens to the prideful, so turn away from it."

Will I be able to turn away from pride overnight?  No.  It is a root sin and it will be a lifelong struggle.  However, it is reassuring to see it in the Word again as it will help me to pray over it throughout the day and try to keep it in check.  I will fail at times, but God's grace will prevail for me.

Day 1 has lifted my spirits.  I hope to see progress throughout this journey, although I know it will be long and hard.  I'm not sure if I've hit the bottom of the valley yet, but I can tell the slope is tapering off, so I know it must be close.  I look forward to climbing the other side.

Prayer:

Prayer: