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dfroza · 4 years

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A point of change.

(of metamorphosis)

is what baptism points to. rebirth. renewing the heart & mind.

this is the True message of grace that is being offered to us by our Creator, and we see its genesis in Today’s reading from chapter 3 in the ancient book of Luke that points to the True illumination of the Son:

A powerful message from God came to John, Zechariah’s son, when he was living out in the lonely wilderness. This prophetic commission came to John during the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, son of Caesar. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea at that time. Antipas, son of Herod, was governor over Galilee, Herod’s brother Philip was over the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was over Abilene. This happened during the days of two high priests, Annas and Caiaphas.

John went preaching and baptizing throughout the Jordan Valley. He persuaded people to turn away from their sins and turn to God for the freedom of forgiveness.

This was to fulfill what was written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:

“Listen! You will hear a thunderous voice in the lonely wilderness telling you to wake up and get your heart ready for the coming of the Lord Jehovah. Every twisted thing in your lives must be made straight. Every dark way must be brought to the light. Wrongs righted. Injustices removed. Every heart of pride will be humbled low before him. Every deception will be exposed and replaced by the truth so that everyone everywhere will be ready to see the Life of God!”

John kept preaching to the many crowds who came out to be baptized, “You are nothing but the offspring of poisonous snakes, full of deception! Have you been warned to repent before the coming wrath of God? Then turn away from your sins, turn to God, and prove it by a changed life. Don’t think for a moment that it’s enough to simply be the favored descendants of Abraham. That’s not enough to save you. I’m telling you, God could make more sons of Abraham out of stones if he chose to!

“Even now God’s axe of judgment is poised to chop down your barren tree right down to its roots! And every tree that does not produce good fruit will be leveled and thrown into the fire.”

The crowd kept asking him, “What then are we supposed to do?”

John told them, “Give food to the hungry, clothe the poor, and bless the needy.”

Even the despised tax collectors came to John to be baptized, and they asked him, “What are we to do to prove our hearts have changed?”

“Be honest,” he replied. “Don’t demand more taxes than what you are required to collect.”

“And us?” asked some soldiers. “What about us?”

John answered them, “Be content with what you earn. Never extort money or terrify others by threats of violence or be guilty of accusing the innocent.”

During those days, everyone was gripped with messianic expectations, believing the Messiah could come at any moment, and many began to wonder if John might be the Christ.

But John made it clear by telling them, “There is one coming who is mightier than I. He is supreme. In fact, I’m not worthy of even being his slave. I can only baptize you in this river, but he will baptize you into the Spirit of holiness and into his raging fire. He has in his hands a winnowing fork to clean up his threshing floor! He will separate the wheat from the chaff. The wheat he will gather into his barn, but he will burn the chaff in a fire that no one can ever put out!”

John used many similar warnings as he preached the good news and prepared the people. He even publicly rebuked Antipas, son of Herod, the governor of Galilee, for the many wicked things he had done. He fearlessly reprimanded him for seducing and marrying his sister-in-law, Herodias.

Adding to his many other sins, Herod had John seized and locked up in prison.

One day Jesus came to be baptized along with all the others. As he was consumed with the spirit of prayer, the heavenly realm ripped open above him and the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the visible, tangible form of a dove and landed on him. Then God’s audible voice was heard, saying, “My Son, you are my beloved one. Through you I am fulfilled.”

[The Ancestry of Jesus Christ]

Jesus, assumed to be Joseph’s son, was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. Here are the names of Mary’s ancestors, from her father traced all the way back to Adam:

Eli, Matthat, Levi, Melki, Jannai, Joseph, Mattathias, Amos, Nahum, Esli, Naggai, Maath, Mattathias, Semein, Josech, Joda, Joanan, Rhesa, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel, Neri, Melchi, Addi, Cosam, Elmadam, Er, Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat, Levi, Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Jonam, Eliakim, Melea, Menna, Mattatha, Nathan, David, Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahshon, Amminadab, Admin, Arni, Hezron, Perez, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah, Nahor, Serug, Reu, Peleg, Eber, Shelah, Kenan, Arphaxad, Shem, Noah, Lamech, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Mahalaleel, Cainan, Enos, Seth, and Adam, who was created by God.

The Book of Luke, Chapter 3 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the closing chapter in the book of Deuteronomy:

Moses climbed up from the plains of Moab to the top of Mount Nebo, to the peak at Mount Pisgah on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho. The Eternal showed him the whole land that would be Israel’s territory: Gilead as far as Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all of Judah’s territory to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the southern desert, and the basin in the valley of Jericho, the “city of palms,” as far as Zoar.

Eternal One (to Moses): This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I told them, “I’ll give it to your descendants.” I’ve let you see it, even though you won’t be going into it.

So Moses, the Eternal’s servant, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Eternal had said. He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eyesight hadn’t failed and his strength hadn’t diminished. The children of Israel stayed in the plains of Moab and mourned for Moses for 30 days, until the grieving period was over.

Now Joshua (Nun’s son) was filled with a spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on this successor. The children of Israel obeyed Joshua, and they did what the Eternal had commanded Moses. Since then there’s never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The Eternal knew him face-to-face! No one has ever done anything like the amazing things the Eternal sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to demonstrate His reality and power to Pharaoh and his servants and his whole country. And no one has shown such great power or done such terrifying things as everyone in Israel saw Moses do.

The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 34 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Saturday, August 1 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s message by the ICR

August 1, 2020

Those Whom God Calls Fools

“Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?” (Deuteronomy 32:6)

This rebuke was by Moses as he warned the people of God just before their entrance into the Promised Land. It contains the first use of the Hebrew nabal (translated “fool” or “foolish”) in the Bible. Here it is applied to God’s chosen people after they had been redeemed out of Egyptian slavery by God. This implies that the most foolish of all people are those who have known about God and His great salvation and yet have turned away from His Word.

Paul writes in similar scathing terms of those who had known of God’s great deliverance of their fathers from the evil world before the Flood and yet then abandoned Him for idolatry. “When they knew God,...their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22).

David used the same word about those who decide they can explain things without God, just as many intellectuals in modern America do. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.…Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God” (Psalm 53:1, 4).

Even prophets and preachers can become fools if they follow their own wisdom instead of God’s Word. “Thus saith the Lord GOD; woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” (Ezekiel 13:3).

Jesus rebuked even those He dearly loved because they were surprised and discouraged when He was crucified. “O fools,” He said, because they had been “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25). God help us to maintain believing hearts, not foolish hearts, as we serve Him! HMM

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