May 06, 2020 Psalms 66

THE B-I-B-L-E  

I like to learn about the writers because they are telling us about a  experience or interaction with God. Others may speak on behalf of God. Writers such as Moses had a direct relationship with God and he tells the people, thus says the Lord. Thus far all the writers have agreement. They are stable. They share common themes about God. As you read the Psalms David describes God in various ways on the other hand Luke provides us details of the deeds, words, and actions of Jesus Christ. 

 A Life Time Bible Student

Christian Values VS Social Order

I know what happens when you become a bible lover. I might be wrong, but I call it the three stages of the bible lover. For example most people who become Christians naturally become bible lovers. I like to think of it as having three stages. Stage one (the bible learner) reads the bible and finds joy unspeakable. We develop zeal and passion especially when one learns that Jesus himself did not agree with strict hurtful religious orders. Then there is a inner peace as we realize the negative things we have experience have purpose for growth. Then the bible begins to make sense as we make sense of the chaos in the world. The second stage is what I call the religiously crazy stage because at one point or another we will take the bible and judge those close to us. Instead of being helpful most of us get tricked by the enemy into hurting others. The last stage is the place were we give grace to others and we learn that we are the people Jesus is talking too. We employ mercy and compassion. In this stage one learns that we cannot live any better than our connection to God and it is God who draws a man's or woman's heart. I believe God is about lifting up those who are cast down. Helping the poor. Mending the broken hearted. We also discover we live in a world with man made social structures. It dates back a long time ago, before TV,  and radio people used writing as entertainment as well as a way to spread news. The writers back then depicted the times and in those times the social structure was some are on top; and others are on the bottom just like today. But it is not so with God and the bible consistently shows God cast down the high mountains when he speaks truth. The rich and the poor are the same.  I want to be bold and confess that no man or woman has to teach another person the bible. But a real bible lover, loves putting the pieces to the puzzle together not so much telling someone else what to believe. I love to post the scriptures more than I enjoy writing what I think just because this is a bible study for reading  the b-i-b-l-e. 

Psalms 66 

To the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm.

MAKE A joyful noise unto God, all the earth;

Sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious!

Say to God, How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves to You [with feigned and reluctant obedience].

All the earth shall bow down to You and sing [praises] to You; they shall praise Your name in song. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Come and see the works of God; see how [to save His people He smites their foes; He is] terrible in His doings toward the children of men.

He turned the sea into dry land, they crossed through the river on foot; there did we rejoice in Him.

He rules by His might forever, His eyes observe and keep watch over the nations; let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Bless our God, O peoples, give Him grateful thanks and make the voice of His praise be heard,

Who put and kept us among the living, and has not allowed our feet to slip.

For You, O God, have proved us; You have tried us as silver is tried, refined, and purified.

You brought us into the net (the prison fortress, the dungeon); You laid a heavy burden upon our loins.

You caused men to ride over our heads [when we were prostrate]; we went through fire and through water, but You brought us out into a broad, moist place [to abundance and refreshment and the open air].

 I will come into Your house with burnt offerings [of entire consecration]; I will pay You my vows,

Which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in distress.

I will offer to You burnt offerings of fat lambs, with rams consumed in sweet-smelling smoke; I will offer bullocks and he-goats. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

16 Come and hear, all you who reverently and worship-fully fear God, and I will declare what He has done for me!

I cried aloud to Him; He was extolled and high praise was under my tongue.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me; 

But certainly God has heard me; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God, Who has not rejected my prayer nor removed His mercy and loving-kindness from being [as it always is] with me.

Works Cited

The  Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

Luke 12
Jesus Walks With The Disciples

Someone from the crowd said to Him, Master, order my brother to divide the inheritance and share it with me.

But He told him, Man, who has appointed Me a judge or umpire and divider over you?

And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man's life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs.

Then He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully. And he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest.

And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain or produce and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, [enough] for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily. But God said to him, You fool! This very night they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be? 

So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his relation] to God [this is how he fares]. And [Jesus] said to His disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious and troubled [with cares] about your life, as to what you will [have to] eat; or about your body, as to what you will [have to] wear. For life is more than food, and the body [more] than clothes.

Observe and consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn; and [yet] God feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the birds! And which of you by being overly anxious and troubled with cares can add a cubit to his stature or a moment [unit] of time to his age [the length of his life]?

If then you are not able to do such a little thing as that, why are you anxious and troubled with cares about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither [wearily] toil nor spin nor weave;yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory (his splendor and magnificence) was not arrayed like one of these. 

 But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you [people] of little faith?

And you, do not seek [by meditating and reasoning to inquire into] what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious (troubled) mind [unsettled, excited, worried, and in suspense];

For all the pagan world is [greedily] seeking these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

Only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also. Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom! Sell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Keep your loins girded and your lamps burning, And be like men who are waiting for their master to return home from the marriage feast, so that when he returns from the wedding and comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately. Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants whom the master finds awake and alert and watching when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them recline at table and will come and serve them!

(The Lord likes to serve; how awesome is that!)

If he comes in the second watch (before midnight) or the third watch (after midnight), and finds them so, blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants! But of this be assured: if the householder had known at what time the burglar was coming, he would have been awake and alert and watching and would not have permitted his house to be dug through and broken into.

You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour and a moment when you do not anticipate it. Peter said, Lord, are You telling this parable for us, or for all alike? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful steward, the wise man whom his master will set over those in his household service to supply them their allowance of food at the appointed time?

Blessed (happy and to be envied) is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will set him in charge over all his possessions. But if that servant says in his heart, My master is late in coming, and begins to strike the menservants and the maids and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he does not know, and will punish him and cut him off and assign his lot with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act as he would wish him to act shall be beaten with many [lashes].

But he who did not know and did things worthy of a beating shall be beaten with few [lashes]. For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required; and of him to whom men entrust much, they will require and demand all the more. I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and how greatly and sorely I am urged on (impelled, constrained) until it is accomplished!

Do you suppose that I have come to give peace upon earth? No, I say to you, but rather division;For from now on in one house there will be five divided [among themselves], three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 

He also said to the crowds of people, When you see a cloud rising in the west, at once you say, It is going to rain! And so it does.

And when [you see that] a south wind is blowing, you say, There will be severe heat! And it occurs.You play actors (hypocrites)! You know how [intelligently] to discern and interpret and prove the looks of the earth and sky; but how is it that you do not know how to discern and interpret and apply the proof to this present time?

And why do you not judge what is just and personally decide what is right?

Then as you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make a diligent effort to settle and be quit (free) of him, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last [fraction of a] cent.

 The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition