Archive for March, 2015

Election to Serve – Delicately (Strength in Weakness)

Thursday, March 26th, 2015

In the Bible texts on open service to the LORD, we see that; a goodly number of the readings in the Bible seem to highlight the place of the male. Fortunately, that is not the totality of the revelation about service for the LORD. Sprinkled throughout the Bible, there are records of significant contributions of the women of God. As you review those contributions, I ask you to notice this: the women were not intimidated by their relative weakness, as it was set beside the power of the men. Actually, for the man of their pairing; the woman was a welcome complement in the assigned mission, as being an asset from the LORD. This is an important dynamic, to this day.

To gain insight into the complementary nature of the two levels of power, let us begin with the power of the men of the Bible. In this way, we will be able to identify the matching power that is of the woman, as consisting of the remainder of the requirement for congregational service for the LORD. The power of the men of the Bible is generally indicated by this requirement that the LORD placed on Israel.

And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

(Numbers 1:1-3)

The men of the Bible are the warriors. Please, do not limit this to person-to-person conflict. The men of the Bible were also the warriors as against principles and practices. An example of that is seen in the architecting of the priesthood.

 

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– Explore Election to Serve – Delicately: Part Five –

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Collateral Damage and the Heart of God (Philosophical Collateral)

Monday, March 16th, 2015

There are other kinds of joint ventures that we need to explore. These kinds of joint ventures involve the philosophical sharing of directions in life. The people of Israel were brought into this type of joint venture by a lifestyle modification known as, captivity. During this time, they were able to share their philosophical (theological) principles with other nations. Also, the people of Israel were able to share in the philosophical principles and practices of those other nations.

A significant part of the sharing of philosophical collateral is this: to show that, the way of the LORD can withstand any interaction that tries to disrupt it. Before we dive into that study, consider this event that boldly highlights the resilience of the way of the LORD.

And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD.And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god. They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath.

And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.

(1 Samuel 5:1-8) 

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Philosophical Collateral: From the Outside

Scripture gives us a clear view of certain ones of Israel’s joint ventures; though, not of all of them. We have searched among those clear views, to find one that is heavily mental. At this time, the one that we want to explore is one in which the influences came from outside of Israel. The venture that we will review occurred during the time of Daniel’s spanned ministration for Israel, as done before several of the kings of the other nations. This span of time is in the Old Testament period of Israel’s captivity. We will begin here.

 

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– Explore Collateral Damage and the Heart of God: Part Twenty-five –

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kingdom of man (Aesthetics – Extended)

Thursday, March 5th, 2015

When we started to appreciate of the beauty of the LORD, as in a communal fashion; then, we were ready for a durable example. That point occurred during the time of Noah . . .

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

(Genesis 6:1-2)

In that day, physicality was gaining too much of an upper hand in man’s judgment of the weighting to give to aesthetics. So, the LORD moved us backward; to a place of very limited distractions. That was the point of an Adam-like environment. In fact, if not for the offense of Cain toward Abel, the environments would have been identical. In both of them, mankind started a world on the strength of three sons and one set of parents. Actually, it was identical as in a spiritual, world-shaping sense. It was identical in that; Abel, too, contributed to the shaping of Adam’s world, thusly . . .

 

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– Explore kingdom of man: Part Eight –

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