READING THE PROPHETS

TO BUILD A BODY OF GRACE

(We) are no longer foreigners and aliens,

but fellow citizens with God's people

and members of God's household,

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.

Ephesians 2.19-20

After His resurrection, Jesus told the disciples--and Luke saved it for us--

"Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me

in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."

Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

Luke 24.44.45

About three-fourths of our Bible is included in what Jesus and Paul tell us is important to our understanding of the Grace, Glory, Goodness, and Greatness of God. The Old Testament is essential to the foundation of our faith and the will and way of God, His purpose, plan, and pleasure. (Ephesians 1. 3-14)

It is no wonder that Jesus still says, "O, ye of little faith!"

To help, I offer you two ideas for reading the prophets:

First, read the short prophets.

The prophets "think differently" than we do. Start with the short ones. Some are very readable and get you acquainted and oriented to their messages and style. Malachi is a good place to start--at the end.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, is only four short chapters that cover areas we can easily understand.

Micah is seven chapters. The topics are clear and very pointed. Some of the places may be unfamiliar, but they are just neigboring states and capital cities. Look at your end of Bible maps if you are curious--this always helps you visualize the message a little better.

Haggai is very short--two chapters and describes how to get into trouble, the consequences thereof, and then tells of God's willingness to bail us out and rebuild us. It (along with Micah's longer statement) is an excellent summary of the basic message of the prophets.

Amos is eight chapters, easily read and understandable. Like Haggai and Micah, it gives us the pattern of prophetic messages in bitesized portions.

The rest of the "minor"--shorter--prophets are specialized and more diffecult to follow. Read the recommended ones several times. You will definitely profit fr0m these prophets! If you don't believe me, believe Jesus, Paul, and the Holy Spirit. Read them. They are essential to the command "Go...and teach them to obey all that I have commanded you." Jesus taught the disciples from the Old Testament, which is "able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3.15-17.

Peter says, "the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched diligently,... and it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven." 1 Peter 1.10-12

The Old Testament is emphatically important to and for us!

The Old Testament, including the prophets--maybe especially the prophets--are a must for us, if we are to understand the ways of God in order to live and speak effectively into our culture in this 21st century of 2010 and beyond. The prophets forecast and contrast the consequences and results of obedience or the lack thereof not just for individuals, but for nations, including ours. The prophets answer our incessant questions of "Why?!"

The prophets amplify, detail, and explain the simple, succinct statement of Psalm 1.6:

"For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous;

but the way of the wicked will perish."

The second idea I offer you to help your beginning to understand the basic messages of the prophets is this brief list of their maian themes:

1. Abandonment of God, Scripture, righteousness, and holiness has dire consequences. Don't go there!

2. Sin, trouble, destruction, and moral breakdown in personal lives is detailed in perfectly clear understanding, reading like the daily news this morning, any morning.

3. These conditions are the results of abuse of power, greed, and oppression of the people by their leaders.

4. The daily sufferings are followed by famines, plagues, economic, judicial, religious, and military breakdowns, invasion and subjection to foreign enemies and cultures.

It takes no imaginaiton whatsoever to see, understand, and respond to these messages. Just remember--they are essential to understanding, believing, trusting, and obeying Jesus as our Lord in this generation of our nation.

When you are ready to tackle the big three (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), start with Isaiah, which will be easy by this time. Add Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other short writers as you wish.

The prophets are not to be exclusive and take the place of the rest of the Old Testament, and they are not to be preferred to the New Testament. But--they all matter--greatly!

Greatly. Greatly. GREATLY. !!!

SOUNDS AND SIGNS OF CHRISTMAS!!!

ECHOS FROM THE PAST

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It us He who made us, and we are His;

we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

and His courts with praise;

give thanks to Him and praise His Name.

For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations.

From 3000 years ago comes the sounds and sights of Christmas--from Psalm 100.

Here are wonderful realities of the Messiah and Christ of Heaven, God Himself come to earth with love, joy, and peace to be our Savior and Lord through all generations, including us. Here. Now. Forever.

God! God! God IS!

God Made Us.

We are His. His people. Now. And forever and ever.

Sheep of His Pasture.

He has come to us.

We can come to Him.

Daily. Morning. Noon. Night.

Any time. Any where. Any way.

God is the cause of Joy.

He is the cause of Good.

He is eternally Loving.

He is faithfully so to all generations.

To our generation.

To us.

To me.

To you.

HOW CHANGE TAKES PLACE

WHEN JESUS SPEAKS

Now you are clean through the
Word which I have spoken to you.

John 15.3

Jesus spoke to His disciples daily for 3 1/2 years.

His last night, He said, "Now you are clean...."

They had listened to, learned from, and lived for Him during this time.

Now they were dramatically different men and women.

The difference came from the power of Jesus--Who He was, what He did, and what He said.

The Holy Spirit makes that exact same difference in our lives as we listen to and learn from the Holy Spirit in order to live for the Lord Jesus day by day.

We have the words of Jesus, the words of the Father, and the words of the Holy Spirit.

We have the Holy Spirit within us to be with us to speak to us, just as Jesus was with those disciples.

Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will obey what I command, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever--the Spirit of Truth."

We become like Jesus as we listen to, learn from, live by the words of the Holy Spirit day by day.

We need only read the words the Father, Son, and Spirit have spoken for us and the Holy Spirit will empower us to see what they are saying and doing. As we see Who God is and What God does, we will become like Him.

To begin with, read daily the last words of Jesus and His prayer for us in John 14-17. Read them over and over until you have heard, seen, understood, believed, trusted, and obeyed what the Holy Spirit says and shows you about the Son for the glory of the Father.

Read Jesus' words prayerfully and thoughtfully--"meditate" on them--and you will become like the disciples who first heard them from the lips of Jesus, like a Vine with much fruit and like a Tree for the splendor of the glory of God--Psalm 1.1-3; Isaiah 61.3; John 15.5.

TRUE OR FALSE

STOP LYING!

Put off falsehood and speak truthfully...

we are all members of one body.

Ephesians 4.25

If I lie to you, I am lying to myself. If I lie to you, I lie about myself. If I lie to you and to myself, I am lying to God, too.

If I lie, I am not being truthful to you; I am not being truthful about myself; I am not being truthful in the presence of God.

Because we are "members of one body," whatever we do effects each other.

When we lie, deceive, mislead, manipulate, withhold or hide all or part of information, avoid topics and issues, we cut ourselves off from one another. We create and engage in suspicious, doubtful, apprehensive, anxious--even malicious--imaginations and fears regarding one another.

When we are not honest and truthful with one another and God, we will try to live independently of one another and God in the areas we are hiding and lying about.

To whatever degree we are not completely honest, there is a secret area of our heart and life that is reserved and restricted from others and from God. These areas are always cancerous, eating away at our integrity and credibility. Others will always sense that something "is not quite right," and that we are not being fully honest about something. God will seem distant and threatening to us. We will feel alone and lonely, rejected, misunderstood, cheated, and mistreated.

When we lie to one another, we dig our own grave, create our own misery. destroy our own lives and happiness.

The results of lying are deadly.