Hebrews

Hebrews: All About Faith - From Ray Steadman<-(click here for entire Bible summary)

Hebrews is one of the three New Testament commentaries on a single Old Testament verse:
"the just shall live by his faith" {Hab 2:4b KJV}
This verse struck a fire in the heart of Martin Luther, and opened the eyes of Augustine.

People are always saying to me, “If I only had enough faith, I could do so and so, and such and such,” as though faith were a commodity soldby the pound; as though all you have to do is buy another pound of faith and add it to the store you have now, and you could do great things for God.

It is not quantity that is important in faith; it is quality; it is what your faith is fastened to. What is the object of your faith?

Throughout this letter, Christ is compared with the basic thing that men trust in days of peril and trial. And every one of them is found insufficient – except him!

"whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his." {Heb 4:10 RSV}
That is, if you stop depending upon yourself and your self-effort, you have learned to enter into rest, because you start depending upon another – God’s work in you. That is the lost secret of humanity. That is the secret that Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden, and which Jesus Christ came to restore to us. When we learn to operate on that, we learn to be perfectly peaceful, calm, undisturbed by circumstances, trusting, powerful, effective, accomplishing things for Christ’s sake. And that is rest.

If you trust too long in the untrue, the unreal, the phony, there will come a day of desperation, when you will look for the true, and you will not be able to find it.

All the Law does is demand; it never enables; but Jesus comes in and demands and enables.

God has provided for us at infinite cost a way of being righteous before him, strengthened within, kept strong and pure in the midst of all the adverse circumstances around us, and we set it aside and say, “No thank you, Lord, I’ll make it on my own.” Could anything be more insulting to God? And so he warns us not to presume on God’s grace.

Well, that eliminates buildings, and works, and there are no challengers left. So, in the last section of the letter, he comes to the means of obtaining all that God has, which is faith.

And as you read through that wonderful chapter of the heroes of faith, you find that faith anticipates the future, acts in the present, evaluates the past, dares to move out, and persists to the end – that is what faith is.

First, we are made strong by “looking unto Jesus” {Heb 12:2 KJV}; ... You can look at all these other men of faith – Abraham, David, Moses, Barak, Samson, and a whole host of others – Martin Luther, John Wesley, D. L. Moody – and all they will do is inspire you, but they cannot enable you. ...

we are exhorted to look away from these others unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of faith, who will make us strong in the time of weakness.

Second, our faith is increased by living constantly in trouble – the disciplines of life. God puts us into problems, because that gives us the opportunity to exercise faith. If you did not have any problems, how could you exercise faith? If you did not have any difficulties how could you ever learn to depend? That is why you can count on trouble. That is encouraging isn’t it? You can count on it!

And, finally, we exercise faith – we learn faith by encouraging one another in view of the resources God has given us.

The kingdom of God, the rule of God in our hearts; the right of Jesus Christ to be Lord within us can never be shaken. And that is what is being tested today so that all phoniness is being exposed.

"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." {Heb
13:20-21 RSV}

2 Kings

2 Kings (letter 12, Larry Crabb's 66 Love Letters)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Russian novelist, historian, and short story writer) said the line between good and evil does not run between us and them; it runs through each one of us.

Don’t make it your main goal to change bad times to good (though of course we may pray that things will improve) but seek to know God better and to represent Him well in all circumstances, no matter how we feel.

Even in the church we talk more about wounds and the promise of therapy.

1 Kings

1 Kings (letter 11, Larry Crabb's 66 Love Letters)

We are cautioned to not allow our desire for effectiveness to be greater than our desire to be holy.
If you challenge merely effective leaders by the standards of holiness, you won't be well received.
Value spiritual formation above successful management; it might get you killed.

1 Kings - David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)

Key thought: The decline of Israel during and after the days of Solomon warns us of the dangers of complacency, but also teaches us to practice the boldness of Elijah.

Key Verse: "Keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn." 1st Kings 2:3

Key Action: We must be as cautious in times of prosperity as in times of peril, lest we relax our guard as Solomon did and allow our spiritual passion to grow lukewarm.

Contentment

Passage I Read Today as a result of sharing time with a younger couple who are learning to struggle well, primarily with difficult health issues:
Philippians 4:11‭-‬12 NIV:
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Her initial thought:
If we are Christian, we can expect to automatically be and do as Paul did in the New Testament.

After struggling from some time with life’s circumstances, she came to realize:
Contentment is a learned  process.

My thought:
I have not yet learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, it's a journey; Lord help me.

2 Samuel

2 Samuel - David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)

Key thought: We must follow God's guidance rather than our own passions, at every step.

Key Verse: "You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. Now therefore, let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever." 2 Samuel 7:28-29

Key Action: Acknowledge God's kingship in every area of life.

1 Samuel

1 Samuel (Larry Crabb’s 9th Love Letter)

We hope God would tell us how we can move through whatever messes show up in our lives in ways that lead us to better times so that we can see the sunrise.

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy; also, only tears from the heart release laughter from the belly.

When things go wrong in our lives, we’re more apt to think what will work to make things better rather than what is holy in this situation that will please the Lord.

It takes a long time to understand that God is not here for us, but we are here for Him; it takes even longer to enjoy that arrangement.

Leaders have a tendency to value efficiency and effectiveness over love and humility as they build their churches.

We will understand the central message of this letter when we understand the tragedy of asking for a king other than God.

1 Samuel: ?? - From Ray Steadman<-(click here for entire Bible summary)

1 Samuel - David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)

Key thought: The stories of Samuel, Saul, and David remind us that popularity and image will fade away; but those after God's own heart will leave a legacy of leadership.

Key Verse: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." 1 Samuel 15:22

Key Action: Don't judge by first impressions, for God doesn't look at people as we do; we look at the external appearance, but God looks at the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7).

Ruth

Ruth - David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)

Key thought: In Boaz, God provided Ruth a kinsman-redeemer who exchanged her bitterness for blessing and foreshadowed the redemptive work of the coming Kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus Christ.


Key Verse: "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God." Ruth 1:6


Key Action: Trust in the God who redeems the hardships of our past, blesses us now, and provides for our future.

Ruth: The Romance of Redemption - From Ray Steadman<-(click here for entire Bible summary)

As Ruth did with Boaz, if we would begin to walk out upon this mighty transforming truth that God has given us here in the book of Ruth – that we are now married to him who is risen from the dead, married to the man of strength and of wealth, who has given to us all that he is and all that he has – we would see the incredible folly of our gleaning for insignificant scraps. If we saw what we were doing by that, our lives would be transformed.

Ruth (Larry Crabb's 8th love letter)

No matter what happens in your life, I can reach into your heart with the power values. “But You do that slowly, right? I mean really slowly, after long seasons of trouble that make it.

Consider Ruth . She faced overwhelming disadvantages. Poverty. Racism. (Israel hated Moab. Ruth was a Moabitess.) No job prospects. Widowed. But she valued relationships over advantages.

Finally Boaz , the star of the story, is a picture of God's Son.

No matter how dark the world around you, no matter how difficult the world inside you, God's plan overcomes all obstacles to holiness.

I worry more about things going bad than about me going bad. Personal holiness really isn’t at the top of my priority list. I wish it were. Or maybe I don’t.