Ezekiel 22:29-31

If we call on GOD to bless our nation…we must adhere to His ways not mans. JESUS elevated the marginal of society and He expects the same from us. To do otherwise will bring nothing but violence and chaos. 

We will learn..the hard way of the world or the way of God. We Need to choose wisely.

As go the leaders so go the followers. The people of the land were average citizens or commoners.The NKJ Bible.

Ezekiel’s statement about the word of God coming to him marks off three separate discourses devoted to indicting Jerusalem and the inhabitants of Judah for their corruption. The prophet’s responsibilities included raising the people’s awareness of God’s perspective on their conduct. Even common people are guilty of injustice and violating the principles of the covenant. Faithlife Bible.

Ezekiel 22:29–31 (NKJV)

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. ³⁰ So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. ³¹ Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

Isaiah 1:25 (NKJV)

²⁵ I will turn My hand against you,

And thoroughly purge away your dross,

And take away all your alloy.

Jeremiah 6:28 (NKJV)

²⁸ They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers.

They are bronze and iron,

They are all corrupters;

Acts 14:4-6

Any power not of God corrupts, without Him, total power corrupts totally. 

Beware of the leaven of the rulers it can permeate society and cause deep wounds hurting the very people it was created to support. We need to be as wise as serpents but as gentle as doves. True worshipers worship Yahweh in Spirit and in truth. Jesus alone is the truth of God revealed to mankind.

Judge wisely.

Acts 14:4–6 (NKJV)

⁴ But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles. ⁵ And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, ⁶ they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.

Luke 12:51 (NKJV)

⁵¹ Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.

Acts 23:3-5

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to remain silent! Respect is earned, there is no doubt, but if Paul says not to speak evil of a ruler it is godly advice. 

I can think of exceptions…Hitler, Isis, Syria, Russia, even our US and the civil war. but is Paul referring to the worlds’ leaders? Or is he only referencing the Church and its leaders? There is so much going on in the world today that to remain silent can mean certain death to a large group of people…Gods’ creations each and every one of them. 

I think we need to judge actions by their Christian values. We are not of this world but we have proclaimed our love for Christ who came to this earth out of His agape love for us…we are bound by this to love God above all and others as much as ourselves.

God requires us to be just, forgiving and humble. Micah 8:6 Not only to those in our country but in all countries until He comes again.

It is possible Paul had never seen Ananias and was not aware he was the high priest. It is also possible that Paul was speaking sarcastically: He did not recognize Ananias because Ananias was not acting the way the high priest was supposed to act. Faithlife Bible.

 Whitewash is a thin paint used to make something dirty look clean. Ananias deserved this rebuke. The fact that Ananias had someone else “do his dirty work” did not absolve him from the ordering of the act. NKJ Bible.

Acts 23:3–5 (NKJV)

³ Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”

⁴ And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”

⁵ Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”

Exodus 22:28 (NKJV)

²⁸ “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

Nahum 2:8-10

It is a frightening thing to be on the wrong side of God. He controls everything…every.little.thing. Money can become an idol and give a false sense of security in our lives personally and as a nation. 

Nothing good comes from taking advantage of others to line our own pockets.

The Babylonian Chronicles—which are tablets that record the history of Babylon—state that the amount of treasure in Nineveh was “a quantity beyond counting.” The Assyrians had collected a massive amount of wealth from looting cities like Susa, Babylon, Damascus, Samaria, Memphis, and Thebes.

Nahum’s object was to inspire his countrymen, the Jews, with the assurance that, however alarming their position might seem, exposed to the attacks of the mighty Assyrian, who had already carried away the ten tribes, yet that not only should the Assyrian (Sennacherib) fail in his attack on Jerusalem, but Nineveh, his own capital, be taken and his empire overthrown; and this, not by an arbitrary exercise of Jehovah’s power, but for the iniquities of the city and its people.  Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Assyria had despoiled many nations, including Samaria and the cities of Israel. There seemed to be no end to the loot that could be found within its walls. Nonetheless, even Nineveh was exhausted of its treasures. At long last, it was empty.

The city will be empty of people just like a reservoir that has been drained. No one heeds the call to halt the retreat. Faithlife Bible.

The nation that had made so much of taking captives would be made a captive by others. NKJ Bible.

Nahum 2:8–10 (NKJV)

⁸ Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water,

Now they flee away.

“Halt! Halt!” they cry;

But no one turns back.

⁹ Take spoil of silver!

Take spoil of gold!

There is no end of treasure,

Or wealth of every desirable prize.

¹⁰ She is empty, desolate, and waste!

The heart melts, and the knees shake;

Much pain is in every side,

And all their faces are drained of color.

Ezekiel 7:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ ‘They will throw their silver into the streets,

And their gold will be like refuse;

Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them

In the day of the wrath of the Lord;

They will not satisfy their souls,

Nor fill their stomachs,

Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.

Zephaniah 1:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold

Shall be able to deliver them

In the day of the Lord’s wrath;

But the whole land shall be devoured

By the fire of His jealousy,

For He will make speedy riddance

Of all those who dwell in the land.

Succession and peace

Succession to a throne is wrought with conflict. Stability is compromised and the people become anxious. A smooth transition seems impossible where there are differing points of view. Pray for the peace of those in charge, believers or unbelievers, for in their peace we find ours. we need to be as wise as a serpent but as gentle as a dove…in truth and love.

Only in Christ can we have spiritual peace no matter what life brings!

2 John 3 (NKJV)

³ Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

1 Kings 12:20 (NKJV)

²⁰ Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

2 Kings 15:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, came to Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him; and he reigned in his place.

The most prevalent nuance to the concept of peace in the New Testament is the messianic peace accomplished by Christ and experienced by the Church. In the Old Testament, the concept of messianic peace referred to both the absence of hostilities and a reconciled relationship with God and others in the context of the new creation. This messianic peace comes to fruition in the New Testament in Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection (Constantineanu, Social Significance, 76–77).

Paul teaches that if an unbelieving spouse desires a divorce from a believer, the believing spouse is not bound to chase after the unbeliever, because “God has called you in peace” (1 Cor 7:15). This suggests that God has called believers to live toward unbelievers without conflict and strife (compare Rom 12:18). The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Acts 21:23-25

Jewish Christian believers, according to Paul, are to keep the traditions given to them by the Father. Gentile believers on the other hand are exempted from the myriad of laws that govern Gods’ chosen people. Paul lived according to Jewish customs. He was sent to the Gentile Christians because it was to small a thing to have Jesus die for only the Jews. 

God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for all of mankind.

To whom much is given…much is expected.

The Christian leaders were not asking Gentiles to live like Jews; neither did they want to compel Jews to live like Gentiles. The spiritual unity of the body of believers is realized in its diversity, not in its conformity. From our diverse backgrounds and cultures we honor the same Lord. NKJ Bible.

A Nazirite vow was connected with becoming pure or holy before Yahweh for a set period of time. James may be suggesting that Paul join in the Nazirite vow himself—which he may have already voluntarily done at one point—or that Paul undergo a different kind of purification rite. By doing this, Paul will show that he is still sensitive to Jewish culture, which James believes will overturn their fellow Jews’ concerns about Paul. This action demonstrates that Paul is not encouraging Jews to abandon their traditions, cultural identity, or religious identity. Faithlife Bible.

Paul paid the expenses of the four men who had taken a vow, because the men were impoverished by the famine in Judea and did not have enough money to complete their vow by offering a sacrifice in the temple. But there might have been another reason as well. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that when Herod Agrippa I began his reign over Judea in a.d. 41, he paid for a considerable number of Nazirite vows to show his respect for the Mosaic Law. For the sake of showing his Jewish brethren that he had not forsaken the laws of Moses, Paul did what they asked. Reputation was an issue for the apostle, as it is for all believers. NKJ Bible.

Acts 21:23–25 (NKJV)

²³ Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. ²⁴ Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. ²⁵ But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

Mark 3:20-21

We are expected to value and take care of others, especially our family. 

There can be opposition and misunderstanding among those closest to us but if we continue doing good and not give up… we will be a light to this world. Jesus did not leave us orphans and with the guidance of our teacher, the Holy Spirit, the victory is already ours.

Precept upon precept we are transformed into His image…if the world did not understand Jesus the chances are there will be those who do not understand us.

Jesus’ family might have wanted to preserve their reputation. The political ramifications of Jesus’ actions and teaching also could have caused His family to attempt to restrain Him, for fear of reprisal from Roman authorities or local Jewish leaders. Alternatively, they might have not have believed that Jesus was the Messiah and so attempted to silence Him to avoid being ostracized from the religious system (believing that it, too, would reject Him). Since Jesus has been at the center of a crowd almost continuously since His first teaching in Capernaum, it is unclear why His family reacts now. Faithlife.

Opposition to Jesus came not only from His enemies. Jesus’ own people, no doubt close friends and perhaps even relatives, heard of His teaching and assumed that He was out of His mind.

Mark mentions Jesus’ four brothers by name as well as His sisters. One brother, James, did not trust Christ prior to His crucifixion, but seems to have come to faith after Jesus’ resurrection. He later became the leader of the church in Jerusalem and wrote the Epistle of James. Judas later authored the Book of Jude (Jude 1). NKJ

Mark 3:20–21 (NKJV)

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹ But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

Mark 6:3 (NKJV)

³ Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.

Hosea 14:1.2.3.

Call on God and you will be saved! 

Any parent knows there are times that you are very unhappy with your children and the decisions they have made. You can be very upset…BUT… they will always be your child and you will always love them with an unconditional love. The FATHER planted that agape love in you because that is His love for His children. 

Thank you God that you made a way where there was none with your gift of  salvation.What we could never earn You gave freely to those who would repent and choose to accept it. I love you!!! 

Hosea concludes with a call for Israel to repent and a promise of Yahweh’s forgiveness and future restoration. Faithlife Study Bible.

The final section of Hosea’s prophecy begins with a call to repentance that includes a model prayer. The people of Israel were to pray for God’s gracious forgiveness and renew their allegiance to Him by renouncing foreign alliances, their own military strength, and artificial gods. NKJ Study Bible.

Hosea 14:1–3 (NKJV)

14 O Israel, return to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;

² Take words with you,

And return to the Lord.

Say to Him,

“Take away all iniquity;

Receive us graciously,

For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.

³ Assyria shall not save us,

We will not ride on horses,

Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’

For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

Psalm 51:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

Luke 12:1

I am a hypocrite as are most of us. 

We preach love and grace and live in anger and frustration. We fight against our culture to have faith in an era of total unbelief. The only solution is JESUS and Him crucified. He has won the battle we just need to trust that the good thing He started in us He will bring to maturity. 

Gods’ love conquers all!

Leaven serves as an apt metaphor to describe the widespread effects of the Pharisees’ hypocritical teachings and actions. Faithlife Study Bible.

Leaven here represents the presence of corruption.

The corruption in view here is hypocrisy. Practicing hypocrisy is senseless because eventually all deeds—both good and evil—will be exposed. NKJ Study Bible.

hypocrisy |həˈpäkrəsē|

noun (plural hypocrisies)

the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

Luke 12:1 (NKJV)

12 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Matthew 10:28–30 (NKJV)

²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Faith

Our faith should shine so brightly that all people, believers and non-believers in JESUS CHRIST are drawn to Him. We show our faith by the works that we do…good or bad. We are His Body, His hands and His feet, to go out and show others His great love for His creation and the way to their salvation in that love.

The mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds planted by farmers in Galillee. It grows into a 10’ high shrub. This is faith. God will take the smallest amount of faith and allow it to permeate our entire life for His good and the good of His Church.

In the Old Testament, a tree large enough to support nesting birds was considered prosperous and healthy. The kingdom, though having only a small number of people at the beginning of the age, will ultimately be large and prosperous.

Cares, riches, and pleasures of life are three great obstacles to spiritual fruitfulness. The concerns of life can squelch spiritual growth. The NKJ Study Bible.

Matthew 13:31–32 (NKJV)

³¹ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, ³² which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Mark 4:26–29 (NKJV)

²⁶ And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷ and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸ For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Luke 8:11–15 (NKJV)

¹¹ “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³ But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. ¹⁴ Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵ But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Matthew 25:41-46

We are our neighbors keeper!

Matthew 25:41–46 (NKJV)

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Romans 2:7 (NKJV)

⁷ eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

Job 22:7 (NKJV)

⁷ You have not given the weary water to drink,

And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

John 14:1-4

The loss of my only son 13 years later is still a raw wound covered only by the blood of  JESUS. I would never have gotten through his passing if I did not have the peace of knowing that to be absent from this world is to be present in GODS’. To know that HE gave the life of his only begotten SON to die in my place is a gift i could never deserve and could never repay. it is only in His mercy and grace that we have hope.

We live because He died.

Jesus is referring to the heavenly abode, where God the Father sits enthroned. Jesus had already declared God’s symbolic earthly dwelling, the temple, to be insignificant in comparison to God’s work through His new temple, Jesus. This and Jesus’ condemnation of the conduct of the earthly keepers of His “Father’s house” establish Jesus as a better, heavenly alternative. Faithlife Study Bible.

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus is the way to the Father. He is also the truth and the life. As truth, He is the revelation of God. As life, He is the communication of God to us. The NKJ Study Bible.

John 14:1–4 (NKJV)

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Matthew 25:34 (NKJV)

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Isaiah 63:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ Look down from heaven,

And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious.

Where are Your zeal and Your strength,

The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me?

Are they restrained?

Abide in Me...

Without Christ…we can do nothing!

The fruit of the Holy Spirit only matures and ripens with Christ within. It is for our use and for the good of His Body, the Church. What is the greatest of the gifts? Love.

People cannot access God without Him, and consequently they cannot bear fruit. All life-giving things require access to the source of life, Jesus. The dead branches are people who are useless to God’s work—people like Judas, who chose to reject Jesus when faced with the truth. 

Jesus wants the opposite of destruction for His disciples: He wants them to make God’s greatness known. The way His disciples prove to be His is by loving others as He loved them and by believing and proclaiming God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection.The Spirit will be their guide in this process. Faithlife Study Bible.

For the branch to produce more fruit, it must abide, which means to dwell, to stay, to settle in, to sink deeper. The way to abide in Christ is to obey. The believer who lovingly obeys the Word of God produces much fruit. Apart from Christ, a believer cannot accomplish anything of permanent spiritual value. The NKJ Study Bible

John 15:4–10 (NKJV)

⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

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.

Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Galatians 5:22 (NKJV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,