11/12/12

The test....


I like this little test.  The answer is right in front of you and all you have to do is to read it.  Based on the four names, you would think the answer would begin with an "N", but it doesn't!!!  Unlike some clever educator, God already knows who you are and everything about you.  The really good news is: If your life is where it should be, then, now matter how you are tested--you will pass!!!  

Psalm 26
 1 Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity.
I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.

  2 Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me.
Try my heart and my mind.

Still having problems with the question above?  Ask yourself-- who took a little lamb to school one day????  Are you still having problems????... ask Mary's father!!!!

Bible Reading, Nov. 12


Nov. 12
Isaiah 64-66

Isa 64:1 Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,
Isa 64:2 as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil; to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!
Isa 64:3 When you did terrible things which we didn't look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
Isa 64:4 For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.
Isa 64:5 You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways: behold, you were angry, and we sinned: in them have we been of long time; and shall we be saved?
Isa 64:6 For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isa 64:7 There is none who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hid your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.
Isa 64:8 But now, Yahweh, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.
Isa 64:9 Don't be furious, Yahweh, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg you, we are all your people.
Isa 64:10 Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isa 64:11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.
Isa 64:12 Will you refrain yourself for these things, Yahweh? will you hold your peace, and afflict us very sore?
 

Isa 65:1 "I am inquired of by those who didn't ask; I am found by those who didn't seek me: I said, See me, see me, to a nation that was not called by my name.
Isa 65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa 65:3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks;
Isa 65:4 who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isa 65:5 who say, Stand by yourself, don't come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.
Isa 65:6 "Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom,
Isa 65:7 your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together," says Yahweh, "who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom."
Isa 65:8 Thus says Yahweh, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Don't destroy it, for a blessing is in it:' so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.
Isa 65:9 I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isa 65:10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.
Isa 65:11 "But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;
Isa 65:12 I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn't delight."
Isa 65:13 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed;
Isa 65:14 behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.
Isa 65:15 You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name:
Isa 65:16 so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.
Isa 65:17 "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isa 65:18 But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Isa 65:19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.
Isa 65:20 "There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
Isa 65:21 They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Isa 65:22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isa 65:23 They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them.
Isa 65:24 It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says Yahweh.
 

Isa 66:1 Thus says Yahweh, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will you build to me? and what place shall be my rest?
Isa 66:2 For all these things has my hand made, and so all these things came to be," says Yahweh: "but to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.
Isa 66:3 He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig's blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
Isa 66:4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn't delight."
Isa 66:5 Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for my name's sake, have said, 'Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy;' but it is those who shall be disappointed.
Isa 66:6 A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Yahweh that renders recompense to his enemies.
Isa 66:7 "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she delivered a son.
Isa 66:8 Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be brought forth at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Isa 66:9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?" says Yahweh: "shall I who cause to bring forth shut the womb?" says your God.
Isa 66:10 "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;
Isa 66:11 that you may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory."
Isa 66:12 For thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you shall suck of it; you shall be borne on the side, and shall be dandled on the knees.
Isa 66:13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem."
Isa 66:14 You shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Yahweh shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.
Isa 66:15 For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16 For by fire will Yahweh execute judgment, and by his sword, on all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh shall be many.
Isa 66:17 "Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together," says Yahweh.
Isa 66:18 "For I know their works and their thoughts: the time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.
Isa 66:19 "I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
Isa 66:20 They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh.
Isa 66:21 Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites," says Yahweh.
Isa 66:22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me," says Yahweh, "so your seed and your name shall remain.
Isa 66:23 It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me," says Yahweh.
Isa 66:24 "They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind."



Nov. 12
Titus 2

Tit 2:1 But say the things which fit sound doctrine,
Tit 2:2 that older men should be temperate, sensible, sober minded, sound in faith, in love, and in patience:
Tit 2:3 and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good;
Tit 2:4 that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
Tit 2:5 to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God's word may not be blasphemed.
Tit 2:6 Likewise, exhort the younger men to be sober minded;
Tit 2:7 in all things showing yourself an example of good works; in your teaching showing integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility,
Tit 2:8 and soundness of speech that can't be condemned; that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
Tit 2:9 Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting;
Tit 2:10 not stealing, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
Tit 2:12 instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;
Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
Tit 2:15 Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you.

Revelation, Chapter 8, Mark Copeland

                        "THE BOOK OF REVELATION"

                             Chapter Eight

OBJECTIVES IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER

1) To review the opening of the seventh seal, the angel with the golden
   censer, and the sounding of the first four trumpets

2) To offer an explanation concerning the significance of these visions

SUMMARY

Following the "interlude" of the previous chapter, in which reassuring
and comforting scenes concerning the saints were seen, the seventh seal
is now opened.  For about a half hour, there is silence in heaven (1).

In contrast to all that happened before, the silence must have been
striking!  Possibly it signifies the awe in heaven for what has already
been revealed, or for what is about to be revealed.  When God acts,
those on earth should be in awe (cf. Hab 2:20; Zeph 1:7; Zech 2:13);
should we not expect a similar reaction from His creatures in heaven?

Seven angels are then seen standing before God to whom were given seven
trumpets.  Before they sound the trumpets, another angel with a golden
censer comes and stands before the altar.  To this angel was given much
incense to offer along with the prayers of the saints upon the golden
altar before the throne.  The smoke of the incense and the prayers of 
the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand.  Then the angel 
took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to
the earth.  Noises, thunderings, lightnings and an earthquake followed,
and the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to sound (2-6).

This scene appears to suggest that the sounding of the seven trumpets
and the things to follow is God's response to the prayers of the
saints.  It is reminiscent of what Jesus taught in His parable of the
persistent widow:  "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out
day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?" (Lk 18:7).

As the first four angels sound their trumpets in turn, the environment
in particular is impacted:

   The first trumpet - Hail and fire, mingled with blood, are thrown
   to earth; a third of the trees and all the green grass were burned
   up (7).

   The second trumpet - Something like a great burning mountain is
   thrown into the sea, turning a third of it into blood; a third of
   the sea creatures died, and a third of the ships were destroyed
   (8-9).

   The third trumpet - A great burning star named Wormwood falls on a
   third of the rivers and springs of water; a third of the waters
   became wormwood (a bitter wood) and many men died from the bitter
   water (10-11).

   The fourth trumpet - A third of the sun, moon, and stars are struck,
   so that a third of them were darkened; thus a third of the day and
   night did not shine (12).

The first four trumpets may signify natural calamities that God would
use in His judgment against those who oppressed His people.  That only
a third is affected, along with the symbolism of the trumpets, suggests
that the purpose of these judgments would be to warn people, giving
them time to repent before God's full wrath is poured out (cf. the
"bowls of wrath", 16:1-21).

Before the final three trumpets sound, an angel (some manuscripts
suggest an eagle) flies through the midst of heaven with loud voice
proclaiming a three-fold woe on the inhabitants of the earth (13).
While the first four trumpets appear bad enough, the worst is yet to
come!

OUTLINE

I. THE SEVENTH SEAL - SILENCE IN HEAVEN (1)

   A. THE LAMB OPENS THE SEVEN SEAL (1a)

   B. SILENCE IN HEAVEN FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR (1b)

II. PREPARATION FOR THE SOUNDING OF THE SEVEN TRUMPETS (2-6)

   A. SEVEN ANGELS PREPARED (2)
      1. Seven angels who stand before God
      2. To them were given seven trumpets

   B. THE ANGEL WITH THE GOLDEN CENSER (3-6)
      1. Came and stood before the altar
      2. Was given much incense to offer...
         a. With the prayers of all the saints
         b. Upon the golden altar before the throne
      3. The smoke of the incense and the prayers of the saints...
         a. Ascended before God
         b. From the angel's hand
      4. The angel took the censer...
         a. Filled it with fire from the altar
         b. Threw it to the earth
         -- Accompanied by noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an 
            earthquake
      5. The seven angels with the seven trumpets then prepared 
         themselves to sound

III. THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS (7-12)

   A. THE FIRST TRUMPET:  VEGETATION STRUCK (7)
      1. Hail and fire, mingled with blood, thrown to the earth
      2. A third of the trees burned up, and all green grass burned up

   B. THE SECOND TRUMPET:  SEAS STRUCK (8-9)
      1. Something like a great burning mountain thrown into the sea
      2. A third of the sea became blood; a third of the creatures in
         the sea died; a third of the ships destroyed

   C. THE THIRD TRUMPET:  RIVERS AND SPRINGS STRUCK (10-11)
      1. A great burning star fell on a third of the rivers and springs
         of water
      2. Named Wormwood, a third of the waters became wormwood; many
         men died from the bitter water
   
   D. THE FOURTH TRUMPET:  HEAVENS STRUCK (12)
      1. A third of the sun, moon, and stars struck
      2. A third of them were darkened, so that third of the day and
         night did not shine

IV. THREE-FOLD WOE ANNOUNCED (13)

   A. AN ANGEL (EAGLE?) FLYING THROUGH HEAVEN (13a)

   B. PRONOUNCING A THREE-FOLD WOE (13b)
      1. "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth"
      2. "Because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three
         angels who are about to sound!"

REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE CHAPTER

1) What are the main points of this chapter?
   - The seventh seal - silence in heaven (1)
   - Preparation for the sounding of the seven trumpets (2-6)
   - The first four trumpets (7-12)
   - Three-fold woe announced (13)

2) What happened when the Lamb opened the seventh seal? (1)
   - There was silence in heaven for about half an hour

3) What did John see next? (2)
   - Seven angels standing before God, to whom were given seven
     trumpets

4) What did another angel do? What was given him? Why? (3-4)
   - Come stand before the altar with a golden censer
   - Much incense
   - To offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden
     altar before the throne

5) What did the angel then do with the censer?  What then happened?
   (5-6)
   - Filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth
   - There were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake
   - The seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to sound

6) Describe what happened when the first angel sounded (7)
   - Hail and fire, mingled with blood, were thrown to the earth
   - A third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass

7) Describe what happened when the second angel sounded (8-9)
   - Something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea
   - A third of the sea became blood, a third of the sea creatures 
     died, and a third of the ships were destroyed

8) Describe what happened when the third angel sounded (10-11)
   - A great burning star (named Wormwood) fell from heaven on a third
     of the rivers and springs of water
   - A third of the waters became wormwood, many men died from the 
     bitter water

9) Describe what happened when the fourth angel sounded (12)
   - A third of the sun, moon, and stars were struck
   - A third of them were darkened, and a third of the day and night
     did not shine

10) What did John next see and hear? (13)
   - An angel (eagle?) flying through the midst of heaven
   - Pronouncing a three-fold woe upon the inhabitants of the earth
     because of the three remaining trumpets about to sound