Thursday, June 30, 2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Wed. 6-30-2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Thurs. 6-30-2011
Today’s Daily Bible Study:  


Two Year Bible Reading Plan:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/two_year 
Original text, ad free, of each daily study is provided via e-mail with a paid subscription:


Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:15 –  What descriptions fit the unbeliever  

Prior studies of the past week:
Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:14 – Who is the recipient of the best of everything  
Tuesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:13 –  Is there anything beyond this life that we should consider   
Monday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 1:20 –  What is the price for disobedience  
Sunday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:6 –  What is typical of flawed thinking  
Saturday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:5 –  Describe the delusional thinking process 
Friday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:12 –  What should be your first priority in life  

Daily Bible Study E-Books
(For your e-book reader or computer)
Revelation  /  Psalms
$1.99
Barnes and Noble E-Book Store Link


Important links:
Main Daily Bible Study web site:  http://www.DailyBibleStudy.Org  
Daily Bible Study News on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/jneelyranch 
How to prepare for your daily study:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/how-to-prepare.html
Unsubscribe:  (applies only to mailing list recipients)  %unsubscribe%

Revelation 22:15

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 22:15

15 For [de] without [exo] are dogs, [kuon] and [kai] sorcerers, [pharmakos] and [kai] whoremongers, [pornos] and [kai] murderers, [phoneus] and [kai] idolaters, [eidololatres] and [kai] whosoever [pas] loveth [phileo] and [kai] maketh [poieo] a lie. [pseudos] KJV-Interlinear

15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. NASB

In the previous verse, those who have believed in Christ, the washed, are the only ones who are allowed into heaven. They have eternal life through their faith in Christ, and that eternal life gains them access to the eternal city, the New Jerusalem, which we have just finished studying.

In the Old Testament, life was divided up into two basic categories. There was the clean, the acceptable, the kosher, the real thing, and then there was the unacceptable, the objectionable, the abomination, and the unclean.

The clean or good things stood as teaching symbols of that which God accepts. The unclean or bad things stood as symbols teaching the things which God does not accept. All of these are from real world applications, parables if you will, which are intended to teach principles of the spiritual life.

Now we have one more contrast, and it is between those who are allowed into the city, verses those who are kept outside of the city.

The city is heaven, outside of the city is the Lake of Fire. And no, this is merely an illustration. When you get to heaven, you will not look out of your window and see the Lake of Fire. Heaven is the new universe. A universe is a very big place. Just look up into the night sky sometime. The Lake of Fire, is separate and apart from heaven. The Lake of Fire is unseen and from our perspective, will be a forgotten place.

Again, in the Old Testament, the garbage and trash and even the dead, were thrown, or buried, or burned outside of the city. They were not included inside the city.

And so the concept is extended here, distinguishing between those who have put on washed clothing, and those who have not. Your washed clothing is the act of your faith in Jesus Christ. Those who refuse to wash, which means simply to refuse to believe in Christ, those then are the unbelievers of human history.

The dogs, the sorcerers, the immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, the liars, are all terms here, which refer to unbelievers in history. People who prefer to pursue a pattern of life apart from faith in Christ.

Everyone who has ever been born alive has committed sins at some point in their life. Some sins are looked upon as being worse than others. Murder for example is viewed as being worse than telling a little white lie.

But we all know that all of the sins of the human race were judged at the Cross. Jesus Christ went to the Cross and paid the price for sin, which was death. And therefore, sin is no longer an issue in the human life.

However, forgiveness was not concluded at the Cross. There is a very big difference between the judgment of sin and the forgiveness of sin. Thus enter the requirement of faith in Christ, which gains forgiveness for the believer at the moment of salvation, and then after salvation, confession is the function of forgiveness during the believer's life. We studied that is great detail in 1, 2, and 3 John.

Unbelievers never believe in Christ, and thus are never forgiven. Unbelievers have only their good deeds to stand on, that which is recorded in the Book of Works. The works of the unbeliever do not match nor exceed the work of Christ, and therefore they are forever condemned to the Lake of Fire. They are unable to pay the high price for entry into heaven, based on their own effort.

Back in ancient times, dogs were undomesticated and despised scavengers that milled about garbage dumps and such. They were viewed as disgusting animals.

Sorcerers are those who love and pursue the occult, including various narcotics, the philosophies and things of life, which are false.

The immoral person, or whoremonger, is one who rejects the moral standards of a normal society. This includes homosexuals, or more commonly known as male prostitution, of whom this is a specific reference, and is a general category of those who destroy society through their attempt at bringing degenerate and unacceptable practices into the norm of society.

The murderers are those who take, through violence, permanently from others, including life itself.

Idolaters are simply those who worship or believe, or pursue, any category of false belief in life.

Liars, is a reference to anyone who rejects the truth. If truth is not in your life, then your life in its entirety, is a lie.

Where is the wisdom of the unbeliever? All one has to do in order to get into heaven, is to think or believe six simple words, 'Father I believe in Jesus Christ.' How much effort does that take? Probably a second or two just to ponder the thought. Moreover, given that the average lifespan is nearing eighty years of age, then out of those eighty years, which is a whole lot of seconds, then just a couple of seconds out of ones life, is not too much to ask.

Lets see, 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day. That adds up to 86,400 seconds in just one day. Then there are 365 days in one year, so that adds up to 31,536,000 seconds in one year. And in eighty years there are 20 leap years, so we have to add an extra day for every four years, or twenty extra days for an average lifespan. Hummm! Need the calculator for this one. Ok, I come up with 2,524,608,000 seconds (that is 2.5 billion seconds) in the average life of eighty years.

If you calculate a different number don't bother writing me, the exactness of this number is not important. Asking only two seconds out of ones life is not unreasonable. Everyone can certainly afford the time to believe in Christ.

Likewise, I'll add one more thought to this. If you spend a couple of minutes each evening reading your Bible, or Bible study, then is that too much to ask of you?

Most people want things from God, but in a 24 hour day, or in a 1,440 minute day, is a couple of minutes, even five or ten minutes, too much to ask for ones Bible study?

If you are not willing to give God a few minutes in your day, then why should you expect anything from God? Just thought I would place that thought in your little head.

So, the unbelievers refusal to believe in Christ gains them a first class ticket to the Lake of Fire and eternal horror, pain and suffering. Is that smart?

God calls them dogs, homosexuals, the waste of society. What do we do with waste? We throw it out with the garbage.

Faith in Christ gains you a magnificent mansion in heaven. Unbelief in Christ sends you to the garbage dump.

Who in their right mind would want to live in a garbage dump, when a mansion of gold is offered to them for the price of a mere thought?

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options
Unsubscribe:
(applies only to mailing list recipients)
%unsubscribe%

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Wed. 6-29-2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Wed. 6-29-2011
Today’s Daily Bible Study:  


Two Year Bible Reading Plan:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/two_year 
Original text, ad free, of each daily study is provided via e-mail with a paid subscription:


Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:14 – Who is the recipient of the best of everything  

Prior studies of the past week:
Tuesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:13 –  Is there anything beyond this life that we should consider  
Monday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 1:20 –  What is the price for disobedience  
Sunday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:6 –  What is typical of flawed thinking  
Saturday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:5 –  Describe the delusional thinking process 
Friday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:12 –  What should be your first priority in life  
Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:11 –  What part do you play in your future

Daily Bible Study E-Books
(For your e-book reader or computer)
Revelation  /  Psalms
$1.99
Barnes and Noble E-Book Store Link


Important links:
Main Daily Bible Study web site:  http://www.DailyBibleStudy.Org  
Daily Bible Study News on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/jneelyranch 
How to prepare for your daily study:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/how-to-prepare.html
Unsubscribe:  (applies only to mailing list recipients)  %unsubscribe%

Revelation 22:14

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 22:14

14 Blessed [makarios] are they that do [poieo] his [autos] commandments, [entole] that [hina] they [autos] may have [esomai] right [exousia] to [epi] the tree [xulon] of life, [zoe] and [kai] may enter [eiserchomai] in through the gates [pulon] into [eis] the city. [polis] KJV-Interlinear

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. NASB

The word 'blessed' means holy, to be honored as holy, to endow with something special, to be held in veneration or admiration, to bring happiness, pleasure, contentment, fulfillment, purpose.

Blessing is something that only God can bestow. No one can bless anyone, because quite simply none of us have the power, or authority, or the wherewithal to give such an honor.

To be blessed is to be holy. Holiness is the result when you combine righteousness with justice.

Righteousness is the state of sinless perfection. Justice is the cleansing required in order to rid oneself of the filth and dirt of this life. Therefore, a good washing is in order when a person finds themselves in a state of filth. That state of filth occurred when we were born into this world. Spiritual filth, that is.  And confession is the symbolic act of washing in the spiritual sense.

By one man, Adam, all have sinned. Sin is passed down to each one of us by means of our parents. And more specifically the sin nature is passed down by the father, and not the mother. Jesus was born of Mary, not Joseph. Jesus was born without a sin nature, just as Adam was created without a sin nature.

But we, who are but mere mortals, were born into this world with sin natures. Those sin natures become apparent at a very early age, and we are stuck with them all of our natural lives while in this world.

When we believe in Christ, then the work of Christ provides a basis for Gods applying the washing powers of the Cross, in our lives.

There is only one way to be cleansed spiritually, and that is by means of faith in Christ. Your cleansing occurs immediately when you initially believe in Christ. In so doing, you put on clean robes. Clothes of the soul, which are acceptable to God. No one can go before the Father unless they have first been cleaned up.

Likewise in your life, when you commit a sin, after you have been saved, then confession is the required washing, which places you back in a state of cleanliness, or in a state of fellowship. Again, God will not deal with you unless you are clean. Salvation cleans you up initially, confession is the repeated action of washing which keeps you clean and allows you to function within your spiritual life.

Our verse here is referring to the act of salvation, the act of believing in Christ. That is the all important washing that is required in order to get you into the new universe and into the new city of Jerusalem. Into heaven in other words.

The tree of life is eternal life. Only believers receive this all important life. Unbelievers have forever life, but they will live their forever life in the Lake of Fire, and not with God.

6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. NASB

18 'Come now, and let us reason together,' Says the LORD, 'Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. NASB

5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, NASB

Only believers in Christ will enter into the new kingdom of God.  Only believers in Christ will possess eternal life.  Only believers in Christ will receive blessing of a permanent nature.

Everyone is a recipient of common grace, the air that we breathe, the life that we are born in to, the opportunity we all have to believe in Christ, the laws of establishment that preserve humanity and perpetuate our existence in this world, and so forth.

But only believers in Christ receive the blessings of salvation and after, and only mature believers receive the blessings of greater grace which exceed the imagination and more.

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options
Unsubscribe:
(applies only to mailing list recipients)
%unsubscribe%

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Tues. 6-28-2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Tues. 6-28-2011
Today’s Daily Bible Study:  


Two Year Bible Reading Plan:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/two_year 
Original text, ad free, of each daily study is provided via e-mail with a paid subscription:


Tuesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:13 –  Is there anything beyond this life that we should consider  

Prior studies of the past week:
Monday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 1:20 –  What is the price for disobedience  
Sunday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:6 –  What is typical of flawed thinking  
Saturday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:5 –  Describe the delusional thinking process 
Friday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:12 –  What should be your first priority in life  
Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:11 –  What part do you play in your future
Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:10 – What is the implication of words not being sealed up  

Daily Bible Study E-Books
(For your e-book reader or computer)
Revelation  /  Psalms
$1.99
Barnes and Noble E-Book Store Link


Important links:
Main Daily Bible Study web site:  http://www.DailyBibleStudy.Org  
Daily Bible Study News on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/jneelyranch 
How to prepare for your daily study:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/how-to-prepare.html
Unsubscribe:  (applies only to mailing list recipients)  %unsubscribe%

Revelation 22:13

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Revelation 22:13

13 I [ego] am [eimi] Alpha [a] and [kai] Omega, [omega] the beginning [arche] and [kai] the end, [telos] the first [protos] and [kai] the last. [eschatos] KJV-Interlinear

13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." NASB

Three sets of descriptions illustrate the eternal nature of Jesus Christ. Alpha and omega, from a beginning to a conclusion. Beginning and end, from an origin source to a goal. First and last, from the best or grandest to the ultimate.

This is the description of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has always existed. There will never be a time when He will not exist. Jesus Christ was never born, never created, never formed in anyway. He is God, the Almighty, the 'I Am' or the eternal resource. He is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, the Messiah, the savior.

These descriptions express Christ's infinity, His eternity, His boundless life transcending all limitations. This describes the completeness, the timelessness, and the sovereign authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ as God was not created, not born, not a mere prophet, not some misguided teacher, not a mere wise man, not a martyr.  He is God almighty, infinite and eternal.  There never was a time when He did not exist.  There will never be a time when he will not exist.

The entire Bible has but one subject. That subject is Jesus Christ. The Bible begins with the grace of God in His creation, and ends with the grace of Christ, in His completion of a new creation into eternity.

There is only one deity. These three titles can only apply to deity. They apply to Christ and therefore He is God. Christ is not a mere prophet, not a mere teacher, not a sincere martyr.

When Adam fell, a savior was promised. Over four-thousand years passed before Jesus was born as a man, into this world. He fulfilled many hundreds of prophecies in His birth, and yet the educated men of His day, knowing those prophecies, did not bother to travel the five short miles to Bethlehem from Jerusalem, to see the Messiah.

Nearly two-thousand years have passed yet again, and many disregard the promises of His return, even though nearly everyone knows of His reputation.  You can travel the world throughout history and you will not find a single individual whose name is more known than Jesus Christ.

Christ promises a phenomenal life in exchange for only your attention to His advice. And even then, most folks will ignore the opportunity of their lifetime, focusing instead on what they either have or want right now from this earthly life.

None of us had any say in the start of our life, nor even the circumstances that we would be born into. Our parents started the biological portion. Christ started the human life portion.

None of us have any say in the state of our life. We cannot will ourselves a longer life, nor make ourselves younger. Christ again, has the last word in that matter. He is the sovereign of this universe, and over this universe, His word is final. The bragging rhetoric of terrorists, celebrities, politicians and people in general will vanish into nonexistence.

Your beginning and your end are not in your hands. They are in Gods hands.

God has a plan for your life. Those who pursue their spiritual life will function within that plan of Gods. Those who ignore or half-heartedly pursue their spiritual life, will find themselves on the 'filler' side of history. Being historical, filler brings no glory.

A smart person will recognize the one who has the real controls over life, and will huddle up within His bubble of influence. A fool will turn his back on the one and only power of life, and pursue a fictitious alternative.

Throughout all of our individual lives, there is vast evidence of something far greater than we see and hear and experience in this world.  Sure we all have varying degrees of suffering and burdens placed on us, and we can look around and see vast amounts of seemingly prosperous wickedness, but remember one important principle.

This world is a mere shadow of reality.  What the wicked possess or do amounts to nothing more than a shadow.

Our real future and possessions exist in heaven, and there the realities of what is real, will infinitely exceed all of the worlds shadows combined.  Don’t join the wicked, but let the wicked have their small slice of the pie now. 

Join the spiritually mature for far greater things await us in heaven.

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options
Unsubscribe:
(applies only to mailing list recipients)
%unsubscribe%

Monday, June 27, 2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Mon. 6-27-2011

Daily Bible Study Links – Mon. 6-27-2011
Today’s Daily Bible Study:  


Two Year Bible Reading Plan:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/two_year 
Original text, ad free, of each daily study is provided via e-mail with a paid subscription:


Monday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 1:20 –  What is the price for disobedience  

Prior studies of the past week:
Sunday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:6 –  What is typical of flawed thinking  
Saturday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 10:5 –  Describe the delusional thinking process 
Friday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:12 –  What should be your first priority in life  
Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:11 –  What part do you play in your future
Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:10 – What is the implication of words not being sealed up  
Tuesday – Daily Bible Study – Revelation 22:9 –  What is common among all of creation  

Daily Bible Study E-Books
(For your e-book reader or computer)
Revelation  /  Psalms
$1.99
Barnes and Noble E-Book Store Link


Important links:
Main Daily Bible Study web site:  http://www.DailyBibleStudy.Org  
Daily Bible Study News on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/jneelyranch 
How to prepare for your daily study:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/how-to-prepare.html
Unsubscribe:  (applies only to mailing list recipients)  %unsubscribe%

Isaiah 1:20

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Isaiah 1:20

20 But if ye refuse [ma'en] and rebel, [marah] ye shall be devoured ['akal] with the sword: [chereb] for the mouth [peh] of the LORD [Yahovah] hath spoken [dabar] it. KJV-Interlinear

20 "But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. NASB

The other side of the coin from the previous verse, is disobedience.

You can obey truth, or you can disobey truth.

If you are obedient to Gods Word, then blessing follows you in this life to some extent, and especially in the next life for certain.

The only problem that people generally have, is in understanding exactly what obedience means.  Too many folks do not pursue a daily study of the scriptures, and consequently they lack an understanding of obedience (they make up their own rules), and therefore they fall into disobedience.

If you have been following the Psalm studies, then you know that this choice is not haphazard, but intentional.  People choose their course in life.  People know what is expected but they choose otherwise.

And the result of disobedience?  Destruction!

To refuse means an active choice or decision to disobey.  Rebellion, means an entrenched attitude and dedication to a cause.  In this case, their cause is disobedience.

Devoured with the sword, is a phrase that certainly means violence of some sort, whether by war or criminal activity.  But it also means to be burned up, to be consumed, to experience loss in great proportions, and sword also means the act of a judicial process.

In other words, the disobedient are guilty, and therefore sentenced and punished for their disobedience.

For unbelievers the ultimate punishment is the Lake of Fire.  For believers who are disobedient, the penalty is discipline in this life and loss of blessing, as well as loss of reward in eternity.

For everyone living in this world, there is always the punishment that simply comes with life in this devils world.  That punishment or suffering in this world, can be in varying sorts, from discipline, to instruction.  Sometimes suffering is for blessing, but that depends on your spiritual status as to whether it is for blessing or for discipline.

Therefore, simply put, obedience means compliance with Gods mandates. 

The first mandate is obvious – faith in Christ.  For salvation one has to believe in Christ otherwise there is no salvation, and no believer status.  Unbelievers have only one issue in their life and that is to believe in Christ.  Their life, as it were, does not begin until they believe.  An unbeliever has no real life as their destiny is the Lake of Fire, and that is not a desirable life.

Second, once saved, then the issue for believers is twofold. 

First they can have a functional spiritual life or they can not.  That is a daily choice to either confess ones sins or ignore that process.  When Christ went to the Cross, He paid the price for all sin.  He did not obtain forgiveness.  Those are two very different concepts.  Forgiveness is obtained initially through faith in Christ at the moment of ones salvation, and after that, when a person sins, through confession to God the Father.

When we are saved we do not become perfect, we are still flawed human beings.  We sin and therefore God demand us to recognize our flaws, and be responsible to accept responsibility and accountability for our sins.  When we sin we step out of line and that means either discipline if we dawdle or forgiveness if we confess.

This process helps us to keep God and His plan and His word on our minds, and also contributes to our wanting to learn and grow.  If your mind is not on God, then you will drift away and into more and bigger trouble for yourself.

When you confess you are said to be in fellowship and living within the spiritual sphere.  This is not a thing you can feel or detect or otherwise sense within yourself.  The spiritual life is a supernatural life and not of the physical world.  Confession is the alertness required of you, watching yourself and your spiritual status, as a soldier stands on guard watching from his lookout position.

When you sin and do not confess, then you are out of fellowship, having fallen asleep at your post, and therefore living in the carnal sphere.  Your spiritual life does not function when you are out of fellowship.

So, faith initially gets you into Gods plan.  Confession gets you into the presence of God in a spiritual sense, and keeps you in His presence in a functional sense.

After that compliance, then you are required to learn and grow up in your spiritual life, and that requires a daily study of the Word of God.  This is your training and preparation now, for both this life and eternity.

Those are the three basics of the spiritual life.  Salvation occurs only once when you first believe in Christ.  Confession and study require numerous and daily decisions to comply with Gods expectations of you.  To remain a baby is not acceptable, you must grow up and mature, and that requires daily decisions and self discipline on your part.

Spiritual growth brings greater understanding and wisdom, as well as discipline and responsibility into your life, and that results in blessings beyond anything you can imagine.

God has a specific plan for each individual.  Each person must live their own life in order to experience what God has designed specifically for them.  In so doing, you write your own story, your own song that defines and describes you.  Your blessing and life is totally courtesy of the grace of God.

To ignore all of this, means an active choice on your part to be arrogant, indifferent, apathetic, or defiant toward God and truth.  That comes with a price, a very big price.  Your loss is totally your fault.

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options
Unsubscribe
(applies only to mailing list recipients)
%unsubscribe%