4/11/12

Humm, what do I want for my birthday????


Birthdays are a special time for remembering! Both on your part and those who care about you.  Its funny how we look at them; first, how far we have grown.  Does the phrase "almost thirteen" or "became an adult" come to mind.  Later, other phrases like "over thirty", "over fourty" indicate other hurtles.  Very much later, people begin referring to us as "over the hill" or "Septaginarian".  I like to think of birthdays as an accomplishment, because I have lived a lot longer than I ever thought I would.  No matter how you look at it, birthdays are usually a fun time; with presents, good food and celebrations.  But not always...

WEB: Matthew Chapter 14

[1] At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus, [2] and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him.” [3] For Herod had laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. [4] For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” [5] When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. [6] But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod. [7] Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask. [8] She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.”

[9] The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given, [10] and he sent and beheaded John in the prison. [11] His head was brought on a platter, and given to the young lady: and she brought it to her mother. [12] His disciples came, and took the body, and buried it; and they went and told Jesus. [13] Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.

John the Baptist was a marvelous character.  He reminds me of Elijah, but without the fire-bending.  But, he made enemies and Herod had him executed.  Why?  Because of lust and because of hatred for the exposition of sin!!!  It obviously hurt Jesus because he had to be alone afterward.  Personally, I would have rather had the birthday cookies in the picture, but there is no accounting for some peoples' taste.  So, think long and hard about what you want for your next birthday.  My birthday is in May and I already have a list, but I assure you, that revenge is not on it!!!!!

Apr. 11 Numbers 13, 14


Apr. 11
Numbers 13, 14

Num 13:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Num 13:2 "Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them."
Num 13:3 Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of Yahweh: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.
Num 13:4 These were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
Num 13:5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
Num 13:6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
Num 13:7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
Num 13:8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.
Num 13:9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
Num 13:10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
Num 13:11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
Num 13:12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
Num 13:13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
Num 13:14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
Num 13:15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
Num 13:16 These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
Num 13:17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country:
Num 13:18 and see the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
Num 13:19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
Num 13:20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.
Num 13:21 So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.
Num 13:22 They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
Num 13:23 They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
Num 13:24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.
Num 13:25 They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.
Num 13:26 They went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Num 13:27 They told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is its fruit.
Num 13:28 However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Num 13:29 Amalek dwells in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.
Num 13:30 Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
Num 13:31 But the men who went up with him said, We aren't able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
Num 13:32 They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.
Num 13:33 There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Num 14:1 All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
Num 14:2 All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this wilderness!
Num 14:3 Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: wouldn't it be better for us to return into Egypt?
Num 14:4 They said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Num 14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
Num 14:6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes:
Num 14:7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.
Num 14:8 If Yahweh delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
Num 14:9 Only don't rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us: don't fear them.
Num 14:10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. The glory of Yahweh appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
Num 14:11 Yahweh said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
Num 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.
Num 14:13 Moses said to Yahweh, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them;
Num 14:14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are in the midst of this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
Num 14:15 Now if you shall kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
Num 14:16 Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
Num 14:17 Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,
Num 14:18 Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.
Num 14:19 Pardon, Please, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
Num 14:20 Yahweh said, I have pardoned according to your word:
Num 14:21 but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh;
Num 14:22 because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
Num 14:23 surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it:
Num 14:24 but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed shall possess it.
Num 14:25 Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn, and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.
Num 14:26 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
Num 14:27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
Num 14:28 Tell them, As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:
Num 14:29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,
Num 14:30 surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Num 14:31 But your little ones, that you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
Num 14:32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
Num 14:33 Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness.
Num 14:34 After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.
Num 14:35 I, Yahweh, have spoken, surely this will I do to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
Num 14:36 The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,
Num 14:37 even those men who did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh.
Num 14:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
Num 14:39 Moses told these words to all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
Num 14:40 They rose up early in the morning, and got them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised: for we have sinned.
Num 14:41 Moses said, Why now do you disobey the commandment of Yahweh, seeing it shall not prosper?
Num 14:42 Don't go up, for Yahweh isn't among you; that you not be struck down before your enemies.
Num 14:43 For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you shall fall by the sword: because you are turned back from following Yahweh, therefore Yahweh will not be with you.
Num 14:44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and Moses, didn't depart out of the camp.
Num 14:45 Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.

"THE BOOK OF DANIEL" Chapter Six by Mark Copeland

"THE BOOK OF DANIEL"

                             Chapter Six

Daniel's character, conviction and courage are seen once more in this
well known account of "Daniel in the lion's den".  Despite his age
(nearing ninety), Daniel serves his king with an excellent spirit and his
God with unwavering faith.  A plot by enemies is set to destroy him (1-9)
and he is cast into a den of lions (10-17).  God sends an angel to
deliver him (18-23), prompting King Darius of the Medes to praise the
living God of Daniel (24-28).

POINTS TO PONDER

   *  The excellent character and faith of Daniel, the man of God

   *  Daniel as a role model for young and old, statesmen and
      administrators

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1) What are the main points of this chapter?
   - The trap against Daniel is set - Dan 6:1-9
   - The trap against Daniel is sprung - Dan 6:10-17
   - The trap against Daniel is spoiled - Dan 6:18-23
   - King Darius honors the God of Daniel - Dan 6:24-28

2) What position did King Darius give Daniel in his kingdom?  What was
   the king planning to do with Daniel?  Why? (1-3)
   - One of three governors over the kingdom
   - Set him over the whole realm
   - Because of his excellent spirit

3) Why did Daniel's enemies have difficulty finding any charge against
   him?  What trap was set against Daniel? (4-9)
   - Because he was faithful, without any error or fault found in him
   - To get Darius to make a decree that no one could petition a god or
     man for 30 days

4) What did Daniel do when he learned the decree had been signed? (10)
   - He went to his room and prayed toward Jerusalem as he had done since
     early days

5) What was the king forced to do when he heard of Daniel's prayers? 
   Was the king pleased? (11-17)
   - Cast Daniel into a den of lions; no, the king tried to save Daniel
     but he could not

6) How was Daniel protected from the lions? (21-23)
   - God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths

7) What did the king do to Daniel's enemies?  What did the king do
   next? (24-28)
   - Cast those who accused Daniel into the lions' den, along with their
     families
   - Made a decree that all should fear the God of Daniel, for He is the
     living God