Wednesday 030525
Don’t let me or my writings influence or scare you in any way, instead, allow me to be used as a vessel to open the Word, just a little bit, and hopefully, together we are going to read and study the Word, and let God teach us what He wants us to hear.
So, as we work through our study, we MUST remember the two ground rules:
1st we’re only going to read and follow the words that we can find in the Holy Bible that are meant for us today.
2nd we’re only going to take away from this study, what we put into it. We need to open our Bible and read it every day. We need to teach ourselves what is the truth and arm ourselves against all the lies that we are confronted with every day.
Here are the verses we will be using in tonight’s study:
Matthew 15:24; Acts 9:15, 22:1-10, 26:1-20.
Some of the verses are going to be seen in several different versions of the Bible.
So, let’s begin …
There are those today that will only read from a Red-Letter Bible, because it shows the exact words that came from Jesus’ mouth in RED. Yet, these individuals aren’t even reading and comprehending the words that have been written or what they are reading.
Matthew 15:24
‘…He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel…’ NIV (New International Version) (Not all NIV versions are Red-Letter and not all Red-Letter versions are NIV)
‘…Jesus replied to his disciples, God has sent me to help only the people of Israel. They are like sheep that have lost their way…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
‘…But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel…’ KJV (King James Version)
Most individuals are only seeing words, they’re not ‘thinking’ what the words are saying to them.
Why is it that when Paul tells us that Jesus appointed him as the apostle for the Gentiles, there are those that do not listen to his words?
Is it because the words are from Paul?
Why is it then, when Luke writes in Acts, that Paul is the chosen apostle by Jesus for the Gentiles, there are some that choose not to listen then too?
Acts 9:15
‘…But the Lord said to Ananias, Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel…’ NIV (New International Version)
‘…But the Lord said to Ananias, Go now to Saul! I have chosen him to work for me. He will go to those who are not Jews and to their rulers. He will tell them about me. He will also tell the people of Israel about me…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
‘…But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel…’ KJV (King James Version)
Why is this ONE verse not believed?
Read Acts 22
vs1 ‘…Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense…’
vs2 ‘…When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said…’
vs3 ‘…I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today…’
vs4 ‘…I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison…’
vs5 ‘…as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished…’
vs6 ‘…About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me…’
vs7 ‘…I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me…’
vs8 ‘…Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting, he replied…’
vs9 ‘…My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me…’
vs10 ‘…What shall I do, Lord? I asked. Get up, the Lord said, and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do…’ NIV (New International Version)
vs1 ‘…Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you…’
vs2 ‘…And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith…’
vs3 ‘…I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day…’
vs4 ‘…And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women…’
vs5 ‘…As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished…’
vs6 ‘…And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me…’
vs7 ‘…And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me…’
vs8 ‘…And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest…’
vs9 ‘…And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me…’
vs10 ‘…And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do…’ KJV (King James Version)
Why are these 10 verses not believed?
Acts 26
vs1 ‘…Then Agrippa said to Paul, You have permission to speak for yourself. So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense…’
vs2 ‘…King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews…’
vs3 ‘…and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently…’
vs4 ‘…The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem…’
vs5 ‘…They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee…’
vs6 ‘…And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today…’
vs7 ‘…This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me…’
vs8 ‘…Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead…’
vs9 ‘…I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth…’
vs10 ‘…And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them…’
vs11 ‘…Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities…’
vs12 ‘…On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests…’
vs13 ‘…About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions…’
vs14 ‘…We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads…’
vs15 ‘…Then I asked, Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied…’
vs16 ‘…Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me…’
vs17 ‘…I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them…’
vs18 ‘…to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me…’
vs19 ‘…So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven…’
vs20 ‘…First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds…’ NIV (New International Version)
Why are these twenty verses not believed?
In just what book of the Bible are people reading that is telling them that they can ‘PICK and CHOOSE’ which parts of the Bible they want to believe and follow?
Where are these people reading that some of the books in the Bible are TRUE and other ones are LIES?
I have to be honest here, by us not believing and following what has been written the Holy Bible, we are being no different than those Israelites at Kadesh Barnea, when their UNBELIEF didn’t allow them to enter into the promised land.
They spent the end of their lives wandering in the dessert that God had prepared for them until their generation was dead and gone.
Just one of the many other examples of UNBELIEF was with Jonah and how he didn’t want to believe in what God was telling him and he fled and ended up in a fish’s belly for three days and nights. As soon as he made landfall, he went directly to where God had originally told him to go, and he did exactly what God had told him to do.
The Bible is full of stories of mankind’s UNBELIEF in God. Maybe it is time, that we, us in the 21st century, start to BELIEVE and listen to what He has been trying to tell us instead of us just following what we want to believe in instead …
… what do you think?
Jesus, I pray that those ears and eyes, either listening or seeing this message today would be opened to the very fullest and allow Your love to come inside their lives and comfort them. Teach us Jesus. Protect us. We love You. Amen
InHIM. ><)))o>