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Art Event This Weekend – Highway 80 South
Art Hop – visit the studios of our nationally and internationally
acclaimed artists – Oct 12 and 13, 2013 – 10:00-5:30. Maps and additional information at OOAK Gallery in Micaville – along NC
State Scenic Highway - the Mt. Celo Church route. (Photo below was taken on October 3, 2013 –
Mt. Mitchell State Park – just off of 80 S: http://www.romanticasheville.com/fall_2013_photos.htm
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My Lessons and Applications from Today’s Readings
(Ellipses are mine
and are used for contemplation.)
The Doomed Mission /
No Balm in Gilead – Jeremiah 7 and 8 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) God
continues to send His prophets to warn the idolatrous, evil Chosen People who
continue in a pattern of wickedness. He
tells Jeremiah his doomed mission, “Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house…proclaim
this word...say, ‘Hear…the word of the Lord GOD…all you of Judah’…Look…at My
house in Shiloh…how I destroyed it for the same wickedness…and I will destroy
this house and cast you out of My sight as I did your brethren, the whole
posterity of Ephraim.” The sins: You steal, murder, commit adultery, swear
falsely, oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, shed innocent
blood, walk after other gods to your hurt, hold fast to deceit, refuse to
return to Me, have abominations in My house, caused your sons and daughters to
pass through the fire, everyone is given to covetousness, everyone deals
falsely. ‘Has this house, which is
called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold I, even I, have
seen it,’ says the LORD. The cure: “Listen
to Me…hear Me…look what I did to Israel…obey Me…amend your ways thoroughly,
turn away from all these sins.” The result of the prophet’s mission: Generations have acted in this wicked pattern
of evil, but God still warns His people, urging them to return to Him. But…He knows their hearts and tells Jeremiah,
"Therefore, you shall speak all
these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will
not answer you.” God’s coming judgment: “This
is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive
instruction. Truth has perished and has
been cut off from their mouth…the LORD has forsaken and rejected the generation
of His wrath…for…Judah has done evil in My sight. Jeremiah, “the weeping prophet” is utterly
distraught over Judah’s defiance of God.
“The harvest is past; the
summer is ended; and we are not saved!...For the hurt of the daughter
of my people, I am hurt. I am
mourning. Astonishment has taken hold
of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is
there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of
the daughter of my people?”
Principle:
Disobedience and wickedness will be judged in the wrath of God, though He may
wait and send His Word over and over should any repent and return. There is no hope without “the Balm of Gilead, the Great Physician”
– foreshadowing the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The Hope for Us All /
The Mission Fulfilled – Psalm 118:1-4 (Facts:
What It Says – Summarized) “Oh,
give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever. Let
Israel now say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’ Let the house of Aaron now say, ‘His
mercy endures forever.’ Let those who
fear the LORD now say, “His mercy endures forever.”’ Principle: God, in His mercy, continues His covenant
with Abraham. A remnant has been saved
from the judgment of wrath against the Chosen Nation and People, and now…from
every tongue, tribe and nation (Dan. 3:4, 5:19, Rev. 7:9)…those who fear the
LORD…have been brought into the kingdom through the sacrificial blood of Jesus
Christ.
Complete in Him –
Colossians 2- (Facts: What It Says –
Summarized) Paul’s “great
conflict” for those in the
church at Colossee and in Laodicea, and…for those…who have not seen his face in
the flesh, to know that he is present with them in the spirit… “that…their hearts may be encouraged…being
knit together in love…attaining to all the riches of the full assurance of
understanding…to the knowledge of the mystery of God – both of the Father and
of Christ…in whom…are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. As you have received Christ Jesus…also
walk in His ways…rooted…and built up…in
Him…and established…in the faith…as you have been taught…abounding in
it…with thanksgiving. Beware…lest anyone cheat
you…through philosophy…and empty words…according to the tradition of
men…according to the basic principles of the world…and not according to
Christ…Therefore, if you died with
Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the
world…do you subject yourselves to regulations – do not touch…do not taste…do
not handle…according to the doctrines of men?
These things indeed have…an appearance of wisdom…in self-imposed
religion…false humility…and neglect of the body…but are of no value against the
indulgence of the flesh.” Our Blessings in
Christ: “FOR…in Him…dwells all the fullness…of the
Godhead bodily; and you are complete
in Him…who is the Head of all
principality and power. In Him…you were
circumcised without hands…by…putting off…the body of the sins of the flesh…buried
with Him in baptism…also raised with Him…through faith…in the working
of God…who raised Him from the dead. He
has made us alive together with Him…having
forgiven you all trespasses…having wiped out…the handwriting of requirements
that was against us…and taken it away…and nailed it to the cross….having
disarmed…principalities and powers…He made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them in it.” Principle: We are complete in Christ and are to walk in
His ways - in His power, in His Word, in His work, in His wisdom and knowledge
and are not to subject ourselves to any earthly bondage – including
self-imposed religion, doctrines of men, or false humility.
My Lessons and
Applications: What do we do with
prophesy from God? Will we be as the
Chosen Nation and People of Israel and Judah?
Will our pattern of life be one of continued rebellion and wickedness
against God? Will we, of the church age,
suffer the same fate? We have the
prophesy of the Revelation, of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, of our great
mission until then. (Matt. 28:16-20) Are
we fulfilling that? Am I
personally? Am I living a self-imposed,
superficial, professed-only “religiosity” in false humility rather than a true,
tested and possessed faith in Jesus Christ and a commensurate obedient walk
with Him in the power of the Holy Spirit?
Does my life reflect Christ to the world and glorify God?
As you received Christ Jesus the
Lord…Colossians 2:6
Faith is simply the acceptance of a gift…without doing or
giving anything, freely partake of the grace of God. By nature God’s saints are neither flowing
wells nor streams, but are cisterns into which the “living water” (John 4:10)
flows; we are empty vessels into which God pours His salvation. Yet, receiving also means “to take hold of” or
to “gain possession of.” When I receive Jesus, He becomes my Savior – so much “that neither death nor life…will be able to
separate” (Rom. 8:38-39) Him from me.
All that is what it means to receive Christ – to take Him as God’s free
gift, to realize He is in my heart, and to appropriate Him as my own.
Charles Spurgeon, Morning
and Evening
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