What's He Talkin' About

So often, especially with newer Christians, we try to read the whole Bible - cover to cover. Yet when we get to certain areas we end up feeling either stumped, or confused. Ever since I was shown this amazing aspect of Scripture I have always wanted to share the knowledge with as many people as I could.



Whenever I used to read the prophets I would read it to try to find messages for today. Lo' and behold I'd get stumped and confused. The great Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the like would be speaking about places and times that seemed irrelevant to me and my time. If that was the case how in the world do these prophecy pro's make the connections, what am I missing?



The first thing I was missing was the reality that the Prophet books should not be read alone. They ought to be accompanied by other Bible books, or at least a good understanding of them at the forefront of the mind.



You see, If I want to apply any Scripture to today I must understand what it was saying then. So just what was Jeremiah (our case study for the day) saying?



To find out what he was saying we must first figure out to whom was he speaking.



Jeremiah 1:1-3, "The words of Jermiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It also came in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month."



Now I know what your thinking (I think), what does that have to do with it; or... okay seriously this is gonna be too much already. I promise it's not as painful as you might think.



Notice that the who is the nation of Judah, city of Jerusalem, and most specifically the last three kings who ruled up until the point of Jerusalem's capture.



So why is that important? By knowing the who we can then learn the why!



This is where I might lose you, but I hope that you have enough interest in watching some basic mysteries of God unfold.



We'll find out the why by asking first where; where can we get to know these kings and what kind of rule they carried?



1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles tell the tales, and for the most part the same tales, but since they are written by 2 seperate authors one may go into better detail than the other. For the sake of simplicity I will point you towards the accounts made in 2 Kings.



For each of these kings' lives you will focus mainly on 2 Kings 22 - 25, alotting roughly 1 1/2 chapters to each king. However for the sake of your time here on this blog, I will summarize each account for you and leave it up to you to proof read and read the details for yourself.



2 Kings 22-23: Josiah did right in the sight of the LORD.

2 Kings 23-24: Jehoiakim, in the LORD's eyes was double-minded.

2 Kings 24-25: Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the LORD and sealed Jerusalem and Judah's fall.

Keep your eys out for the next posting as it will be full of amazingness.

God Has Always Been a Bit of an Evangelist

"Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God" (Dt. 31:12).

This is definitely not the first verse where God wants the sojourner around to witness His heart. There are a number of occasions just within Deuteronomy that speak of blessing the sojourner, including the sojourner in festivals among other good things. If I may, I'd like to suggest that the sojourner is among the first of many to come evangelists. Why? By the very definition of a sojourner - that's why.

Sojourner (intransitive verb): to live somewhere temporarily, as on a visit; stay for a while. (noun) a brief or temporary stay; visit.

I think you get the jyst of it. The sojourner(s) would then arrive amongst the Israelite who is then worshipping his God - Yahweh - and in turn impressed and impacted and then upon their return to home or even as they continue on the travelling they may be doing tell other about the God of the Israelites who sent forth manna and quail from the skies, who through the obedience of Moses allowed water to flow from a rock (the first time), and who commanded the Red Sea to part in two until all the people crossed over on dry land.

Thus the sojourner is amongst the first of many evangelists.

You Choose

There are Two paths we can go in this world. One of those paths is the path of life, the other is that of death. Ultimately the choice is yours as to which one to take, as unneccessary as it may seem to be that one could actually 'ponder' on which path to take, the choice really is not that easy.

The first path I want to present to you is made up of amazing sites, sounds, and wonders. As you travel on this path you will find the following: Money, Power, Respect, Companions, Parties, Fame, Pleasure, and lots of Sex.

The second path I wish to present to you is similarily made up of amazing sites, sounds and wonders, however the details of this path can tend to differ at some points; Financial stability, Meekness, Humility, The Possibility of One Companion, If Things Work Out - One Sexual Partner (Spouse), Providing Service to Other People at Times Free of Charge, and Shear Joy.

Whether consciously or not, the vast majority will choose the first option. It has been the human drive to be independant and self-made since the very onset of Eve and Adam's first sin. "Did God really say..." is usually the first of many lie-based questions we get presented with. Far too often our reply to such a question is "I can handle it...", or "I've always done it this way so...", yet in reality our search for independance often leads us to a place where in one form or another we must accept help from another individual lest the matter at hand is forever rendered incomplete.

So if we as human beings can at times accept the help, the guidance, the direction, and even the moral compass of another frail, interdependant human being then why would we not choose to accept the guidance, help, direction, and moral fibres that the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob offers us through His Word - the Bible. The reason: we often like the benefits of option 1. Its too bad that option 1 leads to death and then to everlasting suffering. Who would of thought: sow power - reap destruction; sow righteousness - reap eternal reward.