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www.pursuingthetruth.org
(Educate to Liberate!)
February 2005
Happy New Year, everyone! I pray that all is well with you and that your walk with God is getting more and more intimate.
What’s New
We have received our 501 (c)(3) status from the IRS! Praise God! All donations to Pursuing the Truth Ministries are tax deductible. We are really excited about that.
Radio time in the Philadelphia, PA area. We are on prime time every Sunday morning from 11:30 to 12:00 am on WNJC 1360 am in the Philadelphia, PA area. Remember that we are still on in the Virginia on WMRV 94.5 FM in the Lynchburg area on Sunday evenings from 7:30 - 8:00.
Prayer Requests
Blessing Come Too!
It is easy to focus on all of the pain that happens to us during our lives. Why is pain so memorable? In any case we should remember that good times when they come. Life isn't all bad. We should learn to enjoy the good moments and how to endure the bad moments.
I'd like to discuss briefly the blessing of God from a different perspective. Read the following scriptures.
- Deuteronomy 28:1-14
- Romans 8:28
- Ecclesiastes 2:24; 3:13
- Psalm 1:1-3; 37:4
First we should realize that God wants to bless us. As a matter of fact, the blessings of God are already available to us. We just don't access these blessings because we are either too busy doing something else or we are too busy trying to get blessed. Consider Deuteronomy 28:1-14. The people were blessed when they obeyed God.
This brings us to our first point about blessings. The blessings from God comes as a result of obedience. Now let me show you a new twist in looking at this concept. Consider Romans 8:28 and how we normally interpret it. Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to God's purpose. We are used to interpreting this verse in relation to problems and pain. However, we should realize that God is always working out his purposes on the earth in good times and bad times (from our perspective). God working all things out for good doesn't apply to problems only. Instead, it applies to all of human history and all situations.
It's true that bad things will happen during the course of life. However, it's also true that good things will happen during the course of life relatively speaking. We should therefore learn to enjoy the moments of life that are indeed enjoyable. We should learn to cherish the good times when they do come. Ecclesiastes tell us that we should enjoy the fruits of our labor. You work hard each day and you should reap some reward for your efforts. Life isn't all about struggles though there are some who struggle much. We should enjoy the blessings that God gives us.
Blessings come for a couple of reasons (not that these are definitive or anything like that). Blessings come as a result of God's grace or God's purpose through obedience. Sometimes we obtain things that we don't deserve or worked for. Sometimes we seem to get gifts from nowhere, i.e., from God. These are blessings from God's grace. We also receive blessings through obedience. Consider Psalm 1:1-3. The person is blessed because they walk in the counsel of God (not according to the counsel of the ungodly) and so forth. This person is blessed because he or she meditates on the word of God. This person strives to live consistent with God's way and consequently is blessed. Deuteronomy shows the same thing. The people would be blessed because they did what God said.
The problem is that we take these to mean following the rules. It's not about following the rules. It's about following God and doing what He requires of you. We are blessed because we live according to God's way not because we followed the rules so to speak. For example, if we would treat our bodies in accordance with God's way then we wouldn't be so sick. If we would eat right and get sufficient exercise then we wouldn't have so many diseases. Doctors are finding that the Bile was right all along. So if we would eat healthily in accordance with God's instruction (not that we should eat the exact same things as the Bible people) then we would be healthier. Instead we refuse and eat how we want to eat and now we suffer the consequences.
So it is important to live according to God's way. If we would live consistent with God's way then we would be blessed. Actually the blessing is already there. It is up to us to get with God and abandon our own ways. Another example is how people raise their children. Many use the concept of timeouts instead of spankings (beatings), which the Bible instructs. Many appease their children instead of training them. Now look at our children. Many are undisciplined and uncontrollable. We are blessed, even from the fruit of the womb, if we do what God says.
The bottom line is that if we do what God says then we are blessed. We are not blessed merely because we follow the rules. We are blessed because of our relationship with God and his ways. So be blessed--be with God.
Do You Care
The Bible teaches us to love God with all that is in us and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). The Bible promotes a way of love. Do you love? Do wish harm on someone as a passive mode of retaliation. Do you pray or hope that someone would come to ruin because of an offense against you? Do you secretly hold animosity in your heart towards someone else. Well love isn't like that (Read 1 Corinthians 13).
Ask God for it!
What do you want and why do you want it? First of all identify the things that you want. Do you want a new car, more education, to start a business, to be a good husband or wife, to get a new house, or to find a spouse? Well ask God for it. Remember your purpose and strive for it. Remember to walk according to God's ways and you will have the desires of your heart. The desires of the heart are more important than mere desires. The desires of the heart are those things that you strive for. These are the important things to you and what drives you lifestyle in a sense.
The Bible gives us many clues for asking for things.
- Ask according to God's will (1 John 5:14-15)
- Abide in Jesus and his words abide in you (John 15:7)
- Trust in the Lord and acknowledge him in all of your ways (Proverbs 3:4-5)
Notice that it is important to be with God so to speak. We shouldn't expect God to give us something just because we ask for it and have done nothing in relation to God's will or purpose. So first examine your life and how it relates to God's way and then ask away. He hears you when you pray within his will.
Bible Study
- What is a Pharisee and what were their beliefs?
A Pharisee was a religious/political group in Palestine during New Testament times. There is no record of the origin of the party, but there is reference to them in the writings of Josephus referencing a time of about 140 BC. They were very influential. The name Pharisee means "separated ones." They were a very legalistic order. - What is a Scribe and what did the do?
The scribes were interpreters and instructors of the law. They also were writers of various events and copiers of the law. - What is a Sadducee and what did they believe? How did they differ from the Scribes and Pharisees?
Sadducees were a rich and priestly family party. They were in charge of the Temple and its services. There origin is not known though they claimed to be descendants of Zadok, high priest in the time of Solomon. They opposed the Pharisees. They sought to conserve the beliefs and practices of the past and therefore opposed the oral law (mishna). The believed that only the first five books of the Hebrew Bible was authoritative. They did not believe in life after death or any reward or punishment beyond in the afterlife. They denied the existence of angels and demons and did not believe that God was concerned with what people did.
- What is “The Tradition of the Elders”
The tradition of the elders were teachings that were passed down orally. They come from the interpretation of the law by the Scribes and accepted by the Pharisees. These were a set of extra-biblical law that only existed in oral form and only since the time of the Babylonian captivity.
- What is the Mishna?
The Mishna is a series of interpretations on the meaning of the law in written form. It was basically a commentary of the Old Testament law. This commentary or interpretations were first handed down in oral form and was believed to have been given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai in addition to the written Ten Commandments. Sometimes the term, “the law” actually referred to this oral tradition.
The Mishna contained the following divisions - Agricultural laws
- Laws dealing with feasts, fast days, and the Sabbath
- Laws dealing with marriage and family
- Laws dealing with rituals and activities of the priesthood
- Ritual purification laws
- What is the Talmud?
This was a combination of the Mishna and the Gemara. It literally means, “To study, to learn.”
The Mishna formed the basis of the Gemara and the Talmud.
- What does the word envy mean?
- What does the word jealous mean?
- Explain how God is a jealous God.
- Describe "good"
Do you have a question. Feel free to send your questions to question@pursuingthetruth.org.
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