Friday, August 31, 2012

Ephesians 5:10


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Ephesians 5:10

10 Proving [dokimazo] what [tis] is [esti] acceptable [euarestos] unto the Lord. [kurios] KJV-Interlinear

10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  NASB

Prove, ‘dokimazo,’ means to test, examine, discern, verify.  And this is accomplished by an objective approach to the spiritual life, not from an emotional approach, not from accepted norms of society, not from popular beliefs, not from sincerity, not from good intentions, not from convenience, not from invented rules, not from compromise.

Proving is the legitimate application of Gods word to your life, while pursuing Gods defined methods and mechanisms for functioning in the spiritual life.

And as we have already studied in these past few verses, that proof comes from your fellowship status, from your daily study, all while under the control of, and functioning within, your spiritual life, not from your carnal life.

And here is where ninety-nine percent of Christianity fails.

People typically treat the Bible as a take it or leave it, pick and choose, do as you please, make up your own rules, sort of guide to life.  And it is not.

And so responsibilities are snubbed, obligations established by God are ignored, and life is pursued in a manner that is convenient to ones chosen life style, or in a manner that is more pleasing to how one looks in public.

  

Typically the establishment rules are ignored, when people disregard Gods mandates.  They ignore their assigned role in life and try to be something that God did not make them, and the clash of values, the clash of personalities, the clash of ‘me first’ attitudes, the clash of ‘my way’ all get jumbled up in ones life and that makes for trouble. 

And that trouble becomes the source of complaint against God, when things do not go well.

God has laid out the correct process for the functional and successful spiritual life, but unfortunately most do not learn it, are not interested in it, and do not get it.  They remain infants in Christ, never growing up, only wallowing in the language and rhetoric of phrases of salvation concepts, never advancing to the more substantive doctrines, wherein lies the greatest of the blessings of the spiritual life.

People only want to act the part, and not comply with Gods rules.  Acting or pretending is so much easier.

  

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options

Daily Bible Study Links – Fri. 8-31-2012


Daily Bible Study Links – Fri. 8-31-2012
Today’s Daily Bible Study:  


Today’s Study

Friday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:10 – Why does ninety-nine percent of Christianity remain in infancy

Christian Fundamentals Online Book Series

Prior studies of the past week and month:


Daily Bible Study E-Books
(For your e-book reader or computer)

Parables of Christ

Revelation  /  Psalms / 1 Timothy / 1 Peter
Isaiah / Jude



  


Important links:
Main Daily Bible Study web site:  http://www.DailyBibleStudy.Org  
Daily Bible Study Library:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/library.html

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
Two Year Bible Reading Plan:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/two_year 

Blog and Feed Subscription Links:  http://www.neelyranch.com/contactus.html

Daily Bible Study is written by John Neely:  http://www.NeelyRanch.Com

Study rotation of the last seven days:
Sunday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 18:45  –  What do most people not learn
Monday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 6:13  – To what extent will the pressure against Gods chosen be taken
Tuesday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 7:1  – Does someone or something control history 
Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:8   –  What is dark, what is light, why should you care
Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:9  –  What is the source of good fruit
Friday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:7 – Why do most people make up their own spiritual rules and ignore Gods rules
Saturday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 18:44  –  What is the reward of phony accolades toward God

  


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Ephesians 5:9


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Ephesians 5:9

9 (For [gar] the fruit [karpos] of the Spirit [pneuma] is in [en] all [pas] goodness [agathosune] and [kai] righteousness [dikaiosune] and [kai] truth; [aletheia]) KJV-Interlinear

9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),  NASB

Light is the subject, and fruit its production.

Fruit is the result of a productive plant.  A productive plant is valuable.  An unproductive plant is worthless.

The result of light, which we studied yesterday, is production.  But not just any production, and certainly not the productin from the energy of ones self, but the production of the Spirit.

There are two spirits in view here.  First there is the Holy Spirit, who is God, and who promotes and maintains the spiritual life.  And then there is the human spirit, which we receive at the point of salvation, and through which our spiritual life functions. The word, ‘pneuma,’ refers to the inhale and exhale function of breathing and thus the repetitive and ongoing process of living and learning the spiritual life.

When you confess your sins, God places you into fellowship.  When in fellowship God the Holy Spirit controls your life and makes your spiritual life function properly.  When out of fellowship, that mechanism does not function and you are doing nothing more than imitating the unbeliever in their pattern of life.

Also, when in fellowship, all doctrine funnels through your human spirit, and then into the soul. Your human spirit combined with the Holy Spirit, act as a filter, making truth real and sifting out the false information that you are exposed to in life.

And so as you learn and grow, you begin to function in your spiritual life and that leads to your production.

  

First we have good, ‘agathosune,’ which is the disposition that leads to good works, virtue, beneficence or generosity.  This is the state or pattern or attitude and not the actual deed or effort.

Then there is righteousness, ‘dikaiosune,’ which is rectitude or morality, integrity, perfection or the state of it, and this is the order as opposed to disorder, justice or fairness as opposed to unfairness, rendering all that is due to God to God, and none to man.

And then there is truth, ‘aletheia,’ which is correctly rendered truth, excluding all that is false, all that is deceitful, all that would lead one astray and away from truth.

Therefore first we have light, which is from the source of God, which we receive through the source of the gospel and doctrine, which are made discernible through a functional Holy Spirit and filtered through the human spirit into our soul, thus resulting in good, or better stated the pattern of a mental attitude of good.

This is the attitude that seeks to learn, seeks to be responsible, seeks to comply with Gods mandates, because we understand that it is this pursuit, that will lead us to a phenomenal life forever and ever.

All these are connected in righteousness (Gods perfection through faith in salvation, and fellowship in confession) and truth which is doctrine, the learning of which is required in order to function properly in your spiritual life.

  

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options

Daily Bible Study Links – Thurs. 8-30-2012


Daily Bible Study Links – Thurs. 8-30-2012
Today’s Daily Bible Study:  


Today’s Study

Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:9  –  What is the source of good fruit

Christian Fundamentals Online Book Series

Prior studies of the past week and month:


Daily Bible Study E-Books
(For your e-book reader or computer)

Parables of Christ

Revelation  /  Psalms / 1 Timothy / 1 Peter
Isaiah / Jude



  


Important links:
Main Daily Bible Study web site:  http://www.DailyBibleStudy.Org  
Daily Bible Study Library:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/library.html

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
Two Year Bible Reading Plan:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/two_year 

Blog and Feed Subscription Links:  http://www.neelyranch.com/contactus.html

Daily Bible Study is written by John Neely:  http://www.NeelyRanch.Com

Study rotation of the last seven days:
Sunday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 18:45  –  What do most people not learn
Monday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 6:13  – To what extent will the pressure against Gods chosen be taken
Tuesday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 7:1  – Does someone or something control history 
Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:8   –  What is dark, what is light, why should you care
Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:6  –  Who is the most to blame for your problems
Friday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:7 – Why do most people make up their own spiritual rules and ignore Gods rules
Saturday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 18:44  –  What is the reward of phony accolades toward God

  


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Ephesians 5:8


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Ephesians 5:8

8 For [gar] ye were [en] sometimes [pote] darkness, [skotos] but [de] now [nun] are ye light [phos] in [en] the Lord: [kurios] walk [peripateo] as [hos] children [teknon] of light: [phos] KJV-Interlinear

8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light  NASB

Darkness is associated with nothingness, evil, sin, human opinion, delusional thinking, confusion, chaos, invented beliefs, and such, all of which are related in arrogance and the lack or rejection of truth.

Light, on the other hand, is associated with truth, divine good, reality, accurate facts, orientation to life and God and self and others, correct thinking, clarity of thought.

God is light, the source of light, and perpetuation of light and all of the Biblical concepts associated with light.

Rejection of God, indifference toward God, defiance toward God, is darkness, delusional thinking, corruption and so forth.

This verse does not say that you were in darkness.  It does not say that you were associated with darkness.

This verse says that you were, darkness. That means that you were once the actual substance, the actual content, the actual essence of darkness.  In other words, you were nothing, had nothing, and could look forward to nothing.

The only way to get out of being darkness, you have to receive some light.  And the only source of light is God.

That acquisition of light initially comes to you through faith in Christ, which brings you out of the darkness that you were, and into the light, which you become.

However, as a believer, you still have the challenge in your life of maintaining that light.  That is the maintenance of your spiritual life.

And in order to keep the light shining, you have to feed it power, which is Bible doctrine.  No power, no light.  When the batteries run out, then the light stops shining.

  

But unlike unbelievers, your salvation is always there, so your darkness is different than that of the unbeliever.

Whereas the unbeliever is darkness, the believer that does not function in their spiritual life, imitates the darkness of the unbeliever.  While not actually being darkness, the negative believer imitates or acts just like darkness.

That simply means that you gain nothing in your spiritual life.  You amount to nothing in your spiritual life.  And so you are nothing in your spiritual life.

Better to be something, than nothing. 

Better to receive an inheritance, than to have the promise of an inheritance and get nothing. 

Better to live and possess the life intended, than to see it and turn away from it. There are more advantages in the possession and use of a phenomenal gift, than in rejecting a highly valued gift.

When you had nothing, and then entered into a life that has everything, which would be the wiser, to return to the nothing, or to pursue the advantages of the everything?

Darkness comes with no responsibilities, no obligations, no benefits.  Light comes with responsibilities and obligations, and phenomenal benefits. 

Which is the more valuable and worthy of pursuit?

  

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options

Daily Bible Study Links – Wed. 8-29-2012


Daily Bible Study Links – Wed. 8-29-2012
Today’s Daily Bible Study:  


Today’s Study

Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:8   –  What is dark, what is light, why should you care

Christian Fundamentals Online Book Series

Prior studies of the past week and month:


Daily Bible Study E-Books
(For your e-book reader or computer)

Parables of Christ

Revelation  /  Psalms / 1 Timothy / 1 Peter
Isaiah / Jude



  


Important links:
Main Daily Bible Study web site:  http://www.DailyBibleStudy.Org  
Daily Bible Study Library:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/library.html

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
Two Year Bible Reading Plan:  http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/two_year 

Blog and Feed Subscription Links:  http://www.neelyranch.com/contactus.html

Daily Bible Study is written by John Neely:  http://www.NeelyRanch.Com

Study rotation of the last seven days:
Sunday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 18:45  –  What do most people not learn
Monday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 6:13  – To what extent will the pressure against Gods chosen be taken
Tuesday – Daily Bible Study – Isaiah 7:1  – Does someone or something control history  
Wednesday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:5   –  Most folks do not see the value of their spiritual life and will lose huge blessings as a result, why is that
Thursday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:6  –  Who is the most to blame for your problems
Friday – Daily Bible Study – Ephesians 5:7 – Why do most people make up their own spiritual rules and ignore Gods rules
Saturday – Daily Bible Study – Psalm 18:44  –  What is the reward of phony accolades toward God

  


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Isaiah 7:1


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Isaiah 7:1

1 And it came to pass in the days [yowm] of Ahaz ['Achaz] the son [ben] of Jotham, [Yowtham] the son [ben] of Uzziah, [`Uzziyah] king [melek] of Judah, [Yahuwdah] that Rezin [Ratsiyn] the king [melek] of Syria, ['Aram] and Pekah [Peqach] the son [ben] of Remaliah, [Ramalyahuw] king [melek] of Israel, [Yisra'el] went up [`alah] toward Jerusalem [Yaruwshalaim] to war [milchamah] against it, but could [yakol] not prevail [lacham] against it.  KJV-Interlinear

 Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it.  NASB

Chapter seven begins with the mention of Ahaz as king of Judah, and his war with Rezin and Pekah.

In 2 Chron. 28, this same war is mentioned, but there we are told that prior to Rezin and Pekah, Ahaz had lost two wars with the Syrians, and once by the northern nation of Israel.  That means that Ahaz was in a deep crisis when Isaiah came to see him.

The period covered here was approximately in the 730’s B.C.

Rezin was the king of Damascus.  Pekah, was the king of the northern nation of Israel.  And Ahaz was the king of the southern nation of Judah. These events occurred late in the reign of Ahaz.

Rezin and Pekah sought an alliance to hold off the advances of Assyria, and wanted to replace Ahaz with someone more likeable and friendly to their alliance.

  

But while Rezin and Pekah may have had their agenda, the agenda of evil was to get rid of the House of David and replace it with another family.  This was nothing less than an attack on the dynasty and line of Christ, and we know that all attempts against Christ come solely from Satan.  Satan is the general architect of history in so far as his attempt to derail Gods plan.  Satan of course fails.

Ahaz had been sending gifts and accolades to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, in defiance of the alliance that Rezin and Pekah were trying to form.  They descended on Jerusalem, and with Isaiah’s intervention, were held off. 

Then they heard news of the advance of Assyria and withdrew from Jerusalem.  They were later to be defeated and thus the end came to their kingdoms. Much of this is detailed in 2 Kg. 15.  Damascus fell first followed by the assassination of Pekah leaving most of the northern kingdom of Israel under Assyrian control.  Massive deportations followed.

Isaiah will advise neutrality in the matter of Assyria and Syria and Israel, but Ahaz will ignore that advice.

  

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options