One Year Bible - September 25

ISAIAH 45:11 - 48:11                                                                                                        
"LOOK AT ME AND BE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH:" (45:22) (V.19-20) all are without excuse; guilty. (V. 21-22) God's provision. (V.23) man's corruption. (24-25) Freely God gives. Look at God, not the law.

"EVEN WHEN YOUR HAIR TURNS GREY": All substitutes and counterfeits for God will fail us.  Any "god" that needs my help or that cannot rescue me, is not a "god".  Counterfeits are demeaning and condescend to man.  God put it all on the line: He prophesied our deliverance, named the Deliverer and even how it would be done.  "My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." (Isa 46:10-11) Our God will never fail us, even into our old age.

JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD-SPIRIT: Babylon represents the world-spirit, and is ruled by "the god of this world".   It is arrogant, mercenary, covetous, rebellious, self-serving, selfish, etc. etc. etc.   Here we find they practice magic, another substitute for the real thing.  They think they control their magic, but they know they can't control the Holy Spirit, Who is real power.   God's plan is to destroy their systems, destroy their leaders, and make slaves of the inhabitants.  Where are God's chosen ones?  V.10 says they are "in the furnace of affliction," being refined (purged, cleansed, perfected - Prov 17:3**).  This is proof that trouble is not a sign of falling away.   Affliction does not change the fact that God CHOSE us. The "furnace" (arena of trouble) softens us, reveals pockets of resistance, gives us opportunity to change, motivates us to cling closer to God.

RESPONSE:   We reject the world's methods, the world's answers to boredom and restlessness.  We reject their standards, their judgments, their means of fulfillment.  We refuse to be "politically correct", because it's just another fancy name for "tolerance" - which is a form of hatred.  WE DON'T FIT IN.  God wants to glorify Himself IN US - and in order to do that, He has to orchestrate our "furnace" to remove the dross (the chaff, the "affections & lusts of the flesh").  Sometimes it is easy - God says "no", and we say "okay".  Most of the time, it's more trouble than that because I don't always get it.  If we always try to avoid trouble, we don't change.

EPHESIANS 4:1-16                                                                                                       
PRACTICALITIES OF WALKING IT OUT:  How should we behave when we are "filled with all the fulness of the Godhead" and have wonders "far above all we could ask or think"?   Power exposure to God's will and God's wealth should produce fruit in our CHARACTER.   First of all, this should produce absolute humility and teachableness (soft-heartedness to the Holy Spirit).   This means we will be submissive under trials and tests.  It means we won't insist on our own way or defend ourselves against God or against one another.   And we are "called" to "forbear" one another when they are being tested too, diligently protecting "the bond of peace".   We are seen from the heavenlies and from the earth as one organism with one Head, Jesus.   The outward expression of "worthiness" is UNITY with other believers. The basis of this Unity is the Unity of the Godhead.  This flows out to the Body and is based on six absolutes: "one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father."   This unity is practical, tangible and functional. The heavens are occupied by "one new man".

ACHIEVING ONENESS WITH DIVERSITY:  The Body of Christ is a FACT, not just an illustration.  To operate as individuals with no relationship to the Body grieves and restrains the Holy Spirit, yet V.7 says that "to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned according to the measure of the gift of Christ.."  This implies diversity of graces, and differences of "how much".   THE "GRACE GIFTS" are listed in Romans 12:6-8.  The "GIFTS" listed here are people-presents given to the Body to help us grow up and come into unity.

PEOPLE-PRESENTS:  These are OFFICES in the Church. They are the ELDERS, those who give themselves to the Word and to prayer.  This is how "elders" are recognized: they have the attributes of these "fathering" offices.  They facilitate and are responsible for maturing the saints.  This includes correction, "laying on of hands", etc.   Vs. 17-19 describes people who reject this "ministry" in their lives, and end up being spiritual orphans (no "fathers of the faith").

RESPONSE:  When it says Jesus descended "into the lower parts of the earth" - it also refers to the dark places of my soul.   When the Bible says that He fills all things (v.10) it even refers to all the dark places.  There is NOTHING outside His first-hand knowledge.

PSALM 68:19-35                                                                                                                   
The Ways of God are the ways of victory.    We are His heirs, and His victory is ours.  This passage is quoted in Ephesians 4, in evidence of Jesus' victorious arrival in heaven, bringing the captives (of "Abraham's bosom") with him, and providing for His physical "absence" on earth with "GIFTS" ("fathers of the faith" - elders in the Church).  He did this that He might set up the Church in a rebellious world.   Then He daily "loads us with benefits" and from Him comes the "deliverance from death" (v.20).

THE VICTORY PARADE:  This is the parade BEFORE the battle - the Ark of His Presence went first.  Then the singers, the band, then the women.  The congregation came after that, led by "little Benjamin" (King Saul's descendants).

OUR GOD REIGNS: The nations that "delight in war" will be scattered!  Those who persist in their rebellion and hatred to God will be ruined.  To Him belong all the "kingdoms of the earth". Whatever was done for us, was done by God and because of God.  God reigns from eternity; He is no invention of man. His habitation is "holy places".   There is nothing more "terrible" to sinners than God's holiness!!!

PROVERBS 24:3-4                                                                                                         
"Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding" are all likened to what goes into a house. Wisdom, the ability to live successfully, builds or is the superstructure of the house.  It all depends on wisdom.   Without wisdom, the house won't exist.  Understanding, insight on how to function, is a practical word.   It nails the house down so it can't be shifted.  Knowledge, refers to knowing the realities of Life.   This knowledge of Truth is what adds value to our lives.  The more knowledge you have, the broader your life is (more valuables). 

RESPONSE: There are lots of people who don't live according to REALITY. The beginning of real knowledge is the fear of God - start with the fact that everything we do has consequences and we are responsible for those, too.   When we walk in UNreality, (NOT according to the Word of God), we are disoriented to the way things really are.  Keep that in mind today.