John 15:9-11

Love God above anyone or any thing and love others as much as yourself. Seems simple enough right? Why is it so hard to carry out His commands living in the USA. Sad to know that greed and power stop most of us from walking the walk and not just talking the talk. Christ within us is our only hope of giving God the glory He deserves.

The simplicity of the Gospel saves lives. The doctrines of men…not so much!

The love of God the Father for God the Son is the measure of the love of the Son for believers. In the measure that we believe in Him and in His power for good is the measure we can receive from the very hand of God.

John 15:9-11

⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

²⁰ For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 

John 5:20

²⁶ And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” 

John 17:26

²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 

John 16:24

Malachi 1:11

God wants the whole of us… not our leftovers.  

God wants every part of us, mind, body and spirit, not just the parts that we allow the world to see. He wants us to give Him the inner man who realizes he is deeply in need of a Savior. Our adoration, our worship, our prayers, are our offering to the Almighty God. Our testimony of faith honors the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

This final book of the Old Testament is about the error of forgetting the love of God. When people forget God’s love, it affects their attitudes, home, and worship. With God’s love and loyalty in doubt, sacred commitments no longer remain sacred. God sent Malachi to rouse the people from their spiritual stupor and to exhort them to return to the living God. But the Book of Malachi reveals a people who question the reality of their sin and the faithfulness of God, a people hardened through and through.

God would one day receive praise from all the nations. Even the despised Gentiles would offer praise, while God’s own people were profaning His holy name.

Malachi 1:11

¹¹ For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down,

My name shall be great among the Gentiles;

In every place incense shall be offered to My name,

And a pure offering;

For My name shall be great among the nations,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

¹⁹ So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. 

Isaiah 59:19

³ The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. 

Isaiah 60:3

¹⁸ “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. 

Isaiah 66:18

¹ Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! ² For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! 

Psalm 117:1–2

Acts 20:34-35

We are our brothers keeper. The stronger must take care of the weaker no where does Scripture give us permission to do otherwise. If we profess with out mouths to be Christians and to live in a Christian nation then we should be prepared to take care of others and treat them as we wish to be treated. God loves all His children and that encompasses the world…not just where we reside. 

We are to use the talents that God provided us for our benefit and for the benefit of those who find themselves unable to support themselves with theirs.

Acts 20:34-35

³⁴ Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. ³⁵ I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

⁹ For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. 

1 Thessalonians 2:9

⁹ And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. 

2 Corinthians 11:9

²⁸ Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 

Ephesians 4:28

Isaiah 53:4-6

The Savior Jesus came to suffer and die for the sins of others.

We consider Jesus deserted and forsaken by the Father  at the end of His life…but nothing is farther from the truth. He had the final say in laying down His life for us or leaving us deserted and forsaken. He chose life, eternal, and  abundant, for you and for me. He willingly laid down His righteous life in place of our sin infested one. By His sheer strength as a man He did the will of His Father. By His power as God He was raised up conquering death and sins stranglehold on His creation.

Peace sums up the Servant’s ministry of reconciliation, justification, adoption, and glorification.

Isaiah 53:4-6

⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

¹⁷ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.” 

Matthew 8:17

²⁸ so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. 

Hebrews 9:28

²⁴ who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 

1 Peter 2:24

²⁵ who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. 

Romans 4:25

⁴ and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 

1 Corinthians 15:4

Jeremiah

Jeremiah fulfilled his ministry of proclaiming God’s judgment against the people of Judah for their idolatry, their unfaithfulness to the covenant, and their obstinate disobedience of His will. Long acknowledged as one of the great prophets of the Old Testament, Jeremiah serves to this day as an example of someone who remained faithful to the word of God despite countless hardships.

Jeremiah chose to go to Mizpah to serve under Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, staying with his people not far from his hometown and the property he had purchased while in the court of the prison. Mizpah was about eight miles north of Jerusalem.

Ebed-Melech, who had carefully rescued Jeremiah from the muddy cistern in the prison court, was promised safety and deliverance by the Lord because of his assistance to Jeremiah and because he had put his trust in God.

A remnant of God’s people, the men, women, and children and the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, was left. Dwelling here would require being under the rule of the Chaldeans and subject to the king of Babylon. Even in those circumstances they flourished and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance. The fruit of the Spirit is matured in adverse conditions. God will place us where we need to be. All of this hardship came about because they chose to sin and not obey God. But in the worst of situations God can and does protect those who place their trust in Him alone. The Jews who had escaped the Babylonian onslaught into neighboring states returned home and began working the fields, vineyards, and orchards.

Jeremiah 39:15-18

¹⁵ Meanwhile the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you in that day,” says the Lord, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’ ”

Jeremiah 40:1-4

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon.

² And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him: “The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place. ³ Now the Lord has brought it, and has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the Lord, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. ⁴ And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”

Jeremiah 40:9-12

⁹ And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” ¹¹ Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ¹² then all the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance.

¹² And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. 

Daniel 9:12

⁶ Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? “So they returned and said: ‘Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ” 

Zechariah 1:6

¹¹ But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ” 

Jeremiah 27:11

⁴⁰ And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him. 

Psalm 37:40

⁸ For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. 

Jeremiah 17:8

Luke 11:42-44

Greed, the love of money, power and control, disgust God. 

Remember the widow with the two mites….she gave out of her need and not her excess. God requires the whole of our being, not just the left over parts. He honors our private conversations with Him over long speeches in the company of many. Our lives should reflect our love for Him and our care for those that society has forgotten. 

We are His representatives so we should be about our Father’s business.

Some Pharisees took the strictest interpretation and counted almost anything, including spices. However, they neglected two basic things that the prophets also had warned about: love and justice. The Pharisees, the paragons of purity, were in fact the height of uncleanness.

Luke 11:42-44

⁴² “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 

⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 

⁴⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 

Matthew 23:23

⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? 

Micah 6:8

⁶ They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 

Matthew 23:6

³⁸ Then He said to them in His teaching,  “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, 

Mark 12:38

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 

Matthew 23:27

John 8:28-32

When we lift up the Son of man in love we will draw others to Him and the mercy He gives. How God longs to gather His children to Himself. Jesus was crucified because of God’s loving desire to set man free. in His death He broke down the veil that separated us from the Trinity allowing us to cry out “Abba”. 

Christ within is the hope of glory.

When we abide in the Word made flesh we become His hands and feet to do good and become His ambassadors to show others His grace and truth. 

One who abides in the Word of God knows the truth. Abide means to remain, to continue. A believer who continues to obey the Word is a disciple, a learner. We are set free from the bondage of sin. Obedience to the Lord means fellowship with Him, protection from sin, and experiencing His love.

then shall ye know that I am [he];

the Son of God, and true Messiah, as the centurion, and those that were with him, did, when they observed the earthquake; and the things that were done at his death; and after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the pouring forth of his Spirit, many of the Jews had not only a notional, but a true and spiritual knowledge of Jesus, as the Messiah; and upon the destruction of their temple, city, and nation, and their disappointment by false Christs, they doubtless many of them must, and did know, that the true Messiah was come, and that Jesus of Nazareth was he. John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

John 8:28-32

²⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. ²⁹ And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” ³⁰ As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

³¹ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. ³² And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 

John 3:14

³² And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 

John 12:32

⁴ and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. 

Romans 1:4

¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 

John 14:10

²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 

John 14:23

¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

John 1:17

²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 

James 1:25

Luke 4:25-27

In the measure that you believe in God, is the measure that you can receive from God.

Faith alone pleases the Father that those who believe in His only begotten Son would be given life…eternal and true. If we have faith the size of a mustard seed, one of the smallest of the seeds, we could move mountains in His name. 

It isn’t our being pious that saves us it is in believing in HIS righteousness.

pious |ˈpīəs|

adjective

devoutly religious.

righteousness |ˈrīCHəsnəs|

noun

the quality of being morally right or justifiable

Christ came to earth to save us from our unbelief and failing faithfulness.

This was evidently a miraculous interference, as no rain fell for three years and six months, even in the rainy seasons. There were two of these in Judea, called the first and the latter rains; the first fell in October, the latter in April: the first prepared the ground for the seed, the latter ripened the harvest. As both these rains were withheld, consequently there was a great famine throughout all the land.

Jesus speaks of a period of widespread unfaithfulness to God. During this period, judgment came on the nation in the form of famine. The only people to receive healing were Gentiles.

Luke 4:25-27

²⁵ But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; ²⁶ but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 

1 Kings 17:9

¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 

James 5:17

Ezekiel 18:30-32

As long as you have breath there is hope.

His mercy awaits those who call on in Him in repentance with a contrite heart. God wants no one to perish…no not one. Everyone is judged equitably and individually. God never enjoys condemning a person, but is just and righteous in dispensing His judgments.

Ezekiel 18:30-32

³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. ³¹ Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 

Isaiah 55:7

²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 

Ephesians 4:23

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 

2 Peter 3:9

⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 

Revelation 2:5

1 Samuel 30:21025

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE - 1621

By 1621, Plymouth’s settlers were sick of the share-and-share-alike policy their English backers had adopted. Many colonists wanted to parcel the common land into private chunks. Deacon Robert Cushman warned them strongly against this kind of talk, which he said was selfish.

God shows no partiality, He does not esteem the strong over the weak, or the weak over the strong. He values the dignity of all His children. This is a valuable lesson in todays culture. God supplies the talent and the increase, not man, and it is meant to share.

These men insisted that the spoil captured from the Amalekites should not be divided with the men who stayed at the Brook Besor with the supplies. David pointed out that the booty captured from the Amalekites was actually a gift from God, who had given them the victory.

David’s band of warriors were one, although they had different strengths and abilities. They would share equally in the fruits of victory.

1 Samuel 30:21-25

²¹ Now David came to the two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near the people, he greeted them. ²² Then all the wicked and worthless men of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every man’s wife and children, that they may lead them away and depart.”

²³ But David said, “My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us. ²⁴ For who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.” ²⁵ So it was, from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

⁸ and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.” 

Joshua 22:8

Luke 7:40-43

Help me Father to treat others the way that You have treated me! 

His love for mankind cradles the world. Without His love we would cease to exist.

What does the Lord require of us?

We have to be fair

We have to forgive easily

and always humbly remember how much we have been forgiven of.

Micah 6:8 

Jesus’ reply indicates that He knew the reputation of the woman, but was more interested in what the woman could become through the grace of God. Jesus’ point is that the amount of love showered on the Savior will be in direct proportion with one’s sense of the gravity of the sins that the Savior has forgiven. The woman knew she had been forgiven much, and as a result she would love much.

Luke 7:40-43

⁴⁰ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

⁴¹ “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

²⁸ “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 

Matthew 18:28