Joshua 21-22, Mark 4-6

It’s can be odd sometimes what speaks to you when you read the Bible. What speaks to me or stops me in my tracks is probably very different from everybody else some of the time. What stopped me in my tracks momentarily today was Mark 4:28 (“For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”) Why did this stop me? It was actually the word corn. And the reason the word corn threw me for a loop was like most people (I assume), corn refers to the big yellow grain that grows on ears. But after watch a show on the History channel about corn, I know what we call corn now came from Mexico and was strictly an American crop until the Americas were colonized. But I didn’t know the origins of the word corn until this morning. Corn refers to any grain but more specifically to wheat. What we call corn today is actually maize and when the Europeans settlers came to the Americas, they called it “Indian corn” and at some point in history, it was shorten to just corn. Sometimes I can be too smart for my own good, the devil can try and use my knowledge against me. But as I read that verse and why it stop me only for a second was that I asked myself “What does it matter if ‘corn’ couldn’t have existed in Israel in the time of Jesus?” I knew it probably referred to some other grain and it might be nice to know what but when all is said and done, how does it affect my faith and what God is telling me. It doesn’t affect my faith, it doesn’t change what God is trying to tell me. It helps to understand why there are multiple translations of the Bible and why the King James Version isn’t right for everybody. It is why I might not write everyday because what spoke to me might be a stumbling block for somebody else. In the end, I do believe that the Bible is God’s Perfect Word preserved for us. The King James Version is what speaks to me the strongest so that version is what I read.

May you all have a blessed and wonderful day in Christ.

Fasting

What spoke to me today was the exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees (and the disciples of John) as to why they fast but the disciples of Jesus do not fast (which is also told in Matthew 9:14-15 and Luke 5:33-35).

Mark 2:18And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? 19And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

On this passage of scripture, we are fasting continuously for Jesus is not physically here with us to answer our questions. Fasting is only mentioned a couple other times in the Gospels (Matthew 4:2, 6:16-18, 15:32, 17:21, Mark 8:3, 9:29, Luke 2:37, 18:12). Matthew 4:2 is Jesus fasting for 40 days and 40 nights before being tempted by the devil. Matthew 15:32 and Mark 8:3 are about Jesus feeding the multitudes of followers before sending them away. Luke 18:12 is from Jesus’ parable about the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican and more specifically from the pharisee’s prayer. But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does not say “if you fast….” but “When you fast…”

Matthew 6:16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Paul only mentions fasting twice. 1st in 1st Corinthians 7:5 (“5Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.”) and again in 2nd Corinthians 6:5 (“3Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”). Jesus assumes we will fast. Paul assumes will we fast. We are not given instructions on how we should fast, how often or how long. Fasting is a lost discipline for most churches and people. Most churches don’t talk about fasting, don’t discuss it and don’t practice it. But fasting is an extremely beneficial discipline. We live in a world that despises fasting. Fasting is self-discipline, it is imposing self-control in your life. The more self-control we have, the easier it is for us to follow God’s will for our lives because we are no longer letting the world control us. Fasting can give us strength to do what is right. But just abstaining from food isn’t enough, we have to have prayer in there, we have to have God’s word involved. We need to be listening to Him so we are doing what He wants us to be doing.

But I do want to throw this in, remember you limitations when it comes to fasting. Set a time limit for your fasts and stick with that limit. And if you feel yourself focusing more on the fast and find it difficult praying, it might be good to break the fast and meditate and pray about what you just experience.

Have a wonderful and blessed day with the Lord.

Taking Up One's Cross

Something that’s been on my mind for a couple days, read the first verse Wednesday and the second verse today is how Jesus well before his crucifixion tells His disciples and us that we need to carry our crosses if we are to be His disciples. Most of these verses are followed by Jesus saying that those that will save their lives will lose it but those that are willing to lose their lives will save it. In doing some research, one of the sites I visited said that at the time Jesus said that it was common for people to crucified because of their religion but if we believe the Bible, Pilot’s hesitation to crucify Jesus is evidence contrary to that. That people were not crucified because of their religion. I believe that Jesus knew what was coming, knew that He would sacrifice His Life on the cross for us. We see that in John 2:19b “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” In John 15:13-14 Jesus tells us “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Many people believe that taking up our crosses means bearing burdens and suffering hardships and while that is a part of what might be required of us, I don’t believe it is the entire meaning. I believe that taking up our cross is a representation that we put Christ ahead of ourselves. That we are willing to do what He asks of us no questions asked.

Have a wonderful and blessed day in Christ.

Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Brian's Brilliant Blurb for May 13th, 2010 (Joshua 7-8, Matthew 11-13)

I think what spoke to me most of all today was the story of Joshua and Achan in Joshua 7 and how it ties into much of what Jesus teaches. I think of Matthew 5:29-30 and Jesus telling us that if some part of us offends us (or causes us to stumble) that we need to cut it off. Achan by taking an accused thing became something that offended the children of Israel and God and therefore had to be cut off. I know this story takes that to an extreme but it is amazing how when we can be reading different parts of the Bible and what we read in one part relates directly to what we are reading in another part. And it does relate to something else I read today in Matthew, chapter 12, verses 36-37, where Jesus says: “36But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Achan committed his trespass when he thought nobody was looking and we may do things that are an abomination to the Lord when we think nobody is looking. We might say things around certain friends that we would not say openly. And we show our true selves when we are comfortable, when we are relaxed. Too many people when they go to church, they hide their true selves and when we are doing that, we are holding something close to our hearts that we should be. If a TV show is causing offense in our lives, we need to stop watching it. Ditto for music or websites or whatever is causing the offense. I love how Decatur Baptist does the Super Bowl. I am glad we don’t show the commercials even though sometimes they might be better then the game. Most of the commercials would offend or could cause somebody to stumble in their walk with the Lord. So better not to show them and give everybody a safe place to watch the game.

May you all have a blessed day in Christ.

Brian Brilliant Blurbs for May 12th, 2010 (Joshua 5-6, Matthew 8-10)

What really spoke to me this morning was another verse that I was sure of what it meant. In Matthew 10, Jesus is preparing to send His disciples out giving them “power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” But what got me thinking was as Jesus was speaking to them, instructing them, his said in verse 16:

Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

What does it mean to be wise as serpents? The serpent is a creature that we usually associate with the enemy. God cursed the serpent in Genesis and now Jesus is telling his disciples (and us) to be as wise as serpents? There are many kinds of wisdom, some are earthly and some are spiritual and after doing some research on this, I believe that Jesus is telling us to be wary of the dangers that the enemy will place in our way. Being prudent and when we sense danger, avoiding it and escaping from it. Verse 23, Jesus tells us “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another” Snakes are pros at avoiding danger and escaping from it. That is their primary defense, they can feel us and other creature around them through our footsteps and they know (for the most part) to avoid dangers that are too big for them to take on. We need to be wise on what dangers the enemy will set before us and which of those are too big for us to take on. And every one of us have different dangers that we are more susceptible to than others and each one of us have dangers that we can safely navigate. But there is also the 2nd part to that where we need to be harmless as doves. When navigating these danger zones, we need to be careful that what we do, what we say, won’t hurt others and cause them to go astray.

May you all have a blessed and wonderful day in Christ.

Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.
27:12 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.

12:18 There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.
15:2 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
16:23 The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.

James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Brian's Brilliant Blurbs for May 11th (Joshua 3-4, Matthew 5-7)

This morning I read the Sermon on the Mount and was felt compelled to do some research on the Beatitudes. It ended up with God revealing some amazing things to me about how things change. Specifically I ended up looking at Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek: for the shall inherit the earth.” I had associated the word meek with the modern negative definition of the word. The definition of meek according to the Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary is:

1. Enduring injury with patience and without resentment: MILD
2. Deficient in spirit and courage: SUBMISSIVE
3. Not violent or strong: MODERATE

I saw meek as a combination of the 2nd and 3rd definitions or more specifically: as being weak. Being followers of Christ, the 1st should fit us all. Not being violent, that too. But being deficient in spirit, in courage, not being strong? But I then went to the 1812 definition and before I show it to you, It pointed me to two other verses in the Bible where meek is used to describe someone.

Numbers 12:3 Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

I don’t know who would call Moses or Jesus as being deficient in spirit or in courage or for that matter as not being strong. Now the 1812 Webster’s definition is:

1. Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given to forbearance under injuries.
2. Appropriately humble, in an evangelical sense; submissive to the divine will; not proud, self-sufficient or refractory; not peevish and apt to complain of divine dispensations.

The 1812 definition gives a completely different meaning to the word mild and much more appropriate to these verses. But if you go just a little bit further, you find that the word meek in the Bible is translated from the Greek word “praos” which means “becoming tamed, as a wild animal is tamed” suggesting “a capacity for going against all natural resentfulness and passion and anger.” This suggests that the meek have an inner strength to resist our worldly responses and reactions. And this goes with much of what Jesus is teaching us in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. That we need to be able to turn the other cheek. That we need to love our enemies. These things need strength and the meek do have that strength. The world wants us to think being meek is a weakness but it is a strength.

Have a blessed and wonderful day.

Brian's Brilliant Blurbs (back on the air) May 7th 2010 (Deuteronomy 33-34, John 16-17)

It’s been a while since I last wrote. Got stuck in a rut reading just the old testament and wasn’t getting much out of my daily Bible reading. I have made a correction and I am continuing to read in the old testament but I am also reading in the new testament. I believe that the new testament is what God wants us to know most of all. Our covenant with God was sealed with the Blood of the Christ.

Couple things spoke to me today. The first thing I am writing about is actually the last one to speak to me and that is John 16:1-3. What it spoke to me about is a hard thing to do in my opinion. What it spoke to me about was not taking offense when others wrong us in what they think is doing God’s service. It is easy to take offense when we are wrong or when somebody we know is wronged. It’s what the world wants us to do, it’s what the world would do but the world hates us. When we gave our lives over to Christ we are no longer of the world (John 17:14) just as Christ is not of the world. Christ’s commandment to us was that we love one another as he loved/loves us. I know Christ told us in Luke 6:31 that we as we would have others do unto us, we should do to them. It’s not love one another as you want to be loved. Christ knows our love box might be broken through something in our past. He wants us to follow His example and love like HE loves. He doesn’t want us to hate those that would do us harm but we are to be an example and love those that would hurt us or even kill us and that by our example we might lead them to Christ.

^{John 13:34}A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

^{John 15:12}This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

^{Luke 6:31}And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise

John 16:23a is interesting, basically Jesus telling His disciples and us that we will see him again one day and in that day, we won’t question Him because we will be rejoicing in joy. Other part that spoke to me was John 17. Reading Jesus praying to The Father is always a awesome and humbling read to know what Jesus asked for in His final hours on this world. I think what stood out to me most of in this read through was verse 20 where he not only prayed for the disciples that were following Him at the time but for all of us that would come after His leaving this world and that we would be as one as Christ and The Father are one.

May you all have a blessed day in Christ.