#chain saw man chapter 128 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dfroza · 4 years

Text

have you ever been falsely accused of wrongdoing?

many people have, just as Paul had been accused of things as documented nearly 2,000 years ago. although at a time before this he was guilty of doing the same until he had a significant change of heart & mind.

in Today’s reading from the book of Acts Paul states his defense against the charges he was being held by:

[Acts 22]

Paul: Brothers and fathers, please let me defend myself against these charges.

When they heard him speaking Aramaic, a hush came over the crowd.

Paul: I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia. I was raised here in Jerusalem and was tutored in the great school of Gamaliel. My education trained me in the strict interpretation of the law of our ancestors, and I grew zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I encountered a movement known as the Way, and I considered it a threat to our religion, so I persecuted it violently. I put both men and women in chains, had them imprisoned, and would have killed them—as the high priest and the entire council of elders will tell you. I received documentation from them to go to Damascus and work with the brothers there to arrest followers of the Way and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains so they could be properly punished. I was on my way to Damascus. It was about noon. Suddenly a powerful light shone around me, and I fell to the ground. A voice spoke: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” I answered, “Who are You, Lord?” The voice replied, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, the One you persecute.”

My companions saw the light, but they didn’t hear the voice. I asked, “What do You want me to do, Lord?” The Lord replied, “Get up and go to Damascus; you will be given your instructions there.” Since the intense light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus. I was visited there by a devout man named Ananias, a law-keeping Jew who was well spoken of by all the Jews living in Damascus. He said, “Brother Saul, regain your sight!” I could immediately see again, beginning with Ananias standing before me. Then he said, “You have been chosen by the God of our ancestors to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice of God. You will tell the story of what you have seen and heard to the whole world. So now, don’t delay. Get up, be ceremonially cleansed through baptism, and have your sins washed away, as you call on His name in prayer.”

I returned to Jerusalem, and I was praying here in the temple one day. I slipped into a trance and had a vision in which Jesus said to me, “Hurry! Get out of Jerusalem fast! The people here will not receive your testimony about Me.” I replied, “But Lord, they all know that I went from synagogue to synagogue imprisoning and beating everyone who believed in You. They know what I was like and how I stood in approval of the execution of Stephen, Your witness, when he was stoned. I even held the coats of those who actually stoned him.” Jesus replied, “Go, for I am going to send you to distant lands to teach the outsiders.”

They were listening quietly up until he mentioned the outsiders.

Crowd (shouting): Away with him! Such a man can’t be allowed to remain here. Kill him! He must die!

Chaos broke out again. People were shouting, slamming their coats down on the ground, and throwing fistfuls of dust up in the air. The commandant ordered the soldiers to bring Paul to the barracks and flog him until he confessed to whatever he had done to stir up this outrage.

Back at the barracks, as they tied him up with leather thongs, Paul spoke to a nearby officer.

Paul: Is this legal—for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?

The officer went and spoke to the commandant.

Officer: What can you do about this? Did you know this fellow is a Roman citizen?

Commandant (rushing to Paul’s side): What’s this? Are you really a Roman citizen?

Paul: Yes.

Commandant: I paid a small fortune for my citizenship.

Paul: I was born a citizen.

Hearing this, those who were about to start the flogging pulled back, and the commandant was concerned because he had arrested and bound a citizen without cause. He still needed to conduct an investigation to uncover the Jews’ accusations against Paul. So the next day, he removed the ties on Paul and called a meeting with the chief priests and council of elders. He brought Paul in and had him stand before the group.

The Book of Acts, Chapter 22 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is 1st Samuel 15 that documents another act of war against enemies of Israel as well as the point of rejection of Saul as king:

Samuel (to Saul): Because the Eternal One sent me to anoint you as ruler over His people Israel, listen to what the Eternal One, the Commander of heavenly armies, has to say: “I will punish Amalek because they waylaid Israel in her path out of Egypt. I want you to go down against Amalek and destroy them, everything they have. Do not allow anything to survive; destroy them all—man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

So Saul gathered his forces, and at Telaim he counted them: 200,000 foot soldiers with 10,000 men from Judah. He approached the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley there. From there he sent a message to the Kenite people.

Message from Saul: Get out! Be gone! You showed kindness to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt. Get away from among the Amalekites, or I will be forced to destroy you with them.

So the Kenites left their homes among the Amalekites. Then Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. He cut down the entire population with the sword, as God had told him to do, except he captured King Agag of the Amalekites and kept him alive. Saul and the army spared Agag, and they saved the best of the livestock: the sheep, the oxen, the lambs, and the best of all the stock. They kept what was valuable instead of destroying it, and they only destroyed those things they considered worthless.

Then Samuel heard the voice of the Eternal.

Eternal One: I regret that I made Saul king over Israel because he has turned away from Me and from executing My commands.

Samuel was distressed when he heard this, and he cried out to the Eternal One all night long.

Then he rose early in the morning to go and find Saul, only to hear that Saul had gone on to Carmel, where he had erected a monument to himself, and returned to Gilgal. At last Samuel caught up with Saul. When Saul saw him, he greeted him as if nothing was wrong.

Saul (to Samuel): May you be blessed by the Eternal One. I have carried out His commands.

Samuel: Then why do I hear the sounds of sheep and cattle?

Saul: They brought the best of the Amalekites’ sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Eternal One your God. But we destroyed all the rest as we were told.

Samuel: That’s enough. Stop talking, and let me tell you what the Eternal told me last night.

Saul: Go ahead, I’m listening.

Samuel: Don’t you remember when you didn’t amount to much in your own sight, but you were made the leader of the tribes of Israel? Wasn’t it the Eternal One who anointed you king over them? The Eternal One sent you on a mission, commanding you, “Go and destroy the Amalekites, who are sinners. Fight them until they are completely destroyed.”

Why didn’t you obey the voice of the Eternal One? Why did you grab the spoils of battle, doing what the Eternal considers evil?

Saul (defending himself): I did what the Eternal One instructed. As He commanded, I went on the mission and decimated all the Amalekites, and I have brought back Agag, their king. It was the people who took the sheep and cattle from the spoil that would have been devoted to destruction and brought them back to sacrifice to the Eternal One, your True God, in Gilgal.

Samuel: Does the Eternal One delight in sacrifices and burnt offerings

as much as in perfect obedience to His voice?

Be certain of this: that obedience is better than sacrifice;

to heed His voice is better than offering the fat of rams.

Rebellion is as much a sin as fortune-telling,

and willfulness is as wicked as worshiping strange gods.

Because you have rejected His commands,

He has rejected you as king.

Saul: I have sinned. I disobeyed the voice of the Eternal One and your instructions because I was afraid of the people. I listened to their counsel instead of yours. So now, please pardon my sin, and return with me so that I can worship the Eternal.

Samuel: I will not return with you. Because you have rejected the voice of the Eternal One, He has rejected your claims to rule Israel. He is through with you.

As Samuel turned to go, Saul knelt to the ground, caught the prophet’s robe, and held on so tight that it tore.

Samuel: Today the Eternal One has torn the kingdom of Israel from you to give to your neighbor, who is a better man than you. The One who is the Glory of Israel will not recant or change His mind, for He is not like some mortal being who changes his mind.

Saul: I have sinned. But please, do me this honor in front of the elders of Israel and all the people. Come back with me so that I may worship the Eternal One, your True God.

So Samuel returned with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Eternal One. Samuel then completed what Saul had begun.

Samuel: Bring me Agag, king of the Amalekites.

Agag was led to him, being cautiously optimistic that the worst was surely past.

Samuel: Just as your sword has taken children from women, so will this sword make your mother a childless woman.

So Samuel chopped Agag into pieces before the Eternal One at Gilgal. Then Samuel went back to Ramah, and Saul returned to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

Samuel never saw Saul again until the day he died. The prophet grieved over the hapless king. And the Eternal grieved, too, regretting that He had ever anointed Saul king over Israel.

The Book of 1st Samuel, Chapter 15 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Sunday, October 4 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research:

October 4, 2020

The Bible Stands!

“Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” (Psalm 119:160)

Very few books survive very long. Only a few survive past the first printing, and science books especially get out of date in just a few years.

But one book is eternal! The Bible stands! Even its most ancient chapters are still accurate and up to date. Furthermore, despite all the vicious attacks of both ancient pagans and modern humanists, it will continue to endure. Jesus said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). Even after everything else dies and all the bombastic tirades of skeptics and secularists are long forgotten, the Word endures. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Note the oft-repeated testimony to this same effect in Psalm 119. In addition to the comprehensive promise of today’s text, this great “psalm of the word” also contains these affirmations: “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven....Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart....The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting:...Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever” (Psalm 119:89, 111, 144, 152). Founded forever, inherited forever, settled forever, lasting forever! God is eternal, and His Word was true from the beginning.

People may, in these last days, arrogantly think they can “take away from the words of the book of this prophecy” (Revelation 22:19), but such presumption will only “take away [their] part out of the book of life,” and the Bible will still stand. “The word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25). HMM

0 notes

macheung · 7 years

Text

Prophetic Rewind Part 2 (Answers)

RECAP & PREPARING FOR CGDaily Reading for Week

Isaiah 39-41, Psalm 118

Isaiah 42-44, Psalm 119:1-32

Isaiah 45-48, Psalm 119:33-64

Isaiah 49-51, Psalm 119:65-96

Isaiah 52-54, Psalm 119:97-128

Isaiah 55-57, Psalm 119:129-152

Isaiah 58-60, Psalm 119:153-176

Resources for Week

Read Scripture Video: Isaiah 40-66 and The Gospel of the Kingdom (theme video)

Read: Isaiah 6 & 30

FOCUS OF TIME TOGETHER

To examine the second part of the book of Isaiah and to spend time training ourselves as a community to think and reflect corporately rather than individualistically.

GROUND RULE / GOAL / VALUE FOR THE WEEK

Goal: Practice being present. During your time together, fight to stay mentally and emotionally present to each other, to God, and to your own mind and heart. Resist all distractions such as phones, thinking about things you need to do later, etc. Be wholly present.

CONNECTION AND UNITY EXERCISE (MUTUAL INVITATION)

Take a minute, be silent and notice how you are actually feeling. Share with the group how you are feeling and what you are bringing in the room.

OPENING PRAYER

Have one person read the prayer in Isaiah 63:7-64:12 aloud as a prayer.

INTRO TO DISCUSSION

Read Scripture Video: Isaiah 40-66

Last week, we studied the first part of Isaiah. We looked at the overlap with 2 Kings and how the prophet Isaiah lived before the exile of Judah and spent his life warning the people to recognize their sin and repent, or else even Jerusalem would fall. As we know, the people for the most part refused to listen. Now, beginning in Isaiah 40, the text is looking at Israel and its history from a totally different vantage point.

The exile has already occurred — Jerusalem and its temple have been destroyed and most of the Israelites are living in captivity in Babylon. Whereas Isaiah 1-39 was indeed a rewind back to a few generations before the exile, these later chapters actually come from further along in the story. They’re speaking and reflecting from within the suffering and despair of the exile and looking forward toward what will happen next. Again, Psalm 79 captures the despairing mood of this moment:

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, Of scorn and derision to those around us. How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? (Psalm 79:1-6)

Earlier in the story, while exile was looming, the prophets warned of future judgment and destruction; now that the punishment has befallen them, they mostly speak of a future hope. Rather than berating the people to change their ways, God and the prophets now comfort the remaining remnant of Israel, responding to those questions with great, great news. Isaiah 57:17-19 is an example.

“I was enraged by their sinful greed; I punished them, and hid my face in anger, Yet they kept on in their willful ways. I have seen their wars, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, Creating praise on their lips. Peace, peace, to those far and near,” Says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”

What we see in the second part of Isaiah is the arrival of the great news of God’s gracious faithfulness toward His servants. He is on His way to set them free and will restore them, remain “married” to them, and bless them forever. This good news, or gospel, is what they’ve been hoping and praying for as we read the prayer in chapter 63 and 64 — for God to come down, judge the violent nations oppressing them, forgive their sins, and deliver them from captivity into freedom once again. When we pick up in the post-exile historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we’ll see how this is exactly what happened. But in these profound chapters, we also see that the pain of exile was intended to teach and transform Israel so that the remnant who would return and rebuild the nation would be strengthened and purified as silver refined by fire. Exile wasn’t just punishment, but also intentional chastisement, meant not to bring Israel’s story to a halt but to propel it forward into new territory. Isaiah is proclaiming that God is planning to usher in a very new season in the life of His people, but that it all depends on allowing the exile to change their hearts and minds.

LARGE GROUP DISCUSSION

Questions for Interacting with Scripture:

These questions are to help us slow down to taste and notice Scripture, savor its richness, and meditate on its complexity of meaning.

As you read Isaiah this week, what parts left you confused and what did you find really profound, beautiful, or worth meditating upon?

From what I scanned, there seems to be a mixture of hope and despair. Ultimately there seems to be a theme of salvation through God alone.

Questions for Listening to Scripture:

Read Scripture Video: The Gospel of the Kingdom

These questions are to help us be affected by Scripture in the way it was intended to affect us.

Read Isaiah 40:1-10 (A promise of glorious hope breaks upon the people of God) , 52:1-12 (God calls his royal people into a new era of blessing for themselves and the whole world) , and 60:1-5 (Future Glory). If you picture an Israelite watchman sitting upon the ruined walls of Jerusalem scanning the horizon for any sign of news or hope, what do you imagine he/she would have been hoping to see or hear? Or imagine you’re a Jewish slave in chains in Babylon — what would have been the best news imaginable?

Read Luke 4:14-20. In what way did Jesus believe He was personally bringing about this same kind of much hoped-for good news?

Questions for Interacting with Scripture, part 2:

These questions are to help us slow down to taste and notice Scripture, savor its richness, and meditate on its complexity of meaning.

Much of Isaiah speaks about the nature of being the “servant of the Lord,” typically referring to Israel’s identity and vocation, as well as a “suffering servant.” Consider Israel’s calling to help God redeem the broken world through living as a holy priesthood and leading the nations to God. How do you think the experience of suffering in exile helped shape this understanding of a suffering servant (Isaiah 52-53)?

I think that this is an illustration that “when you’re weak, you’re strong 2 Cor 12:10. It’s only until you’re broken does it produce character, Romans 5”

How do you think Jesus’ understanding of Israel’s identity and His own unique vocation as the true Israel and Israel’s true king was shaped by these texts in Isaiah?

? I’m not sure

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

Note: You will return to the large group after 15 minutes in order to share what you thought of in the small group discussion.

Questions for Practicing Community:

These questions are to help us reflect thoughtfully on our felt experience together in light of our shared ground rules, goals and values.

We modern Westerners tend to think about life and interpret the Scriptures through an incredibly individualistic lens. However, as we’ve pointed out, most of the Old Testament’s focus on sin and guilt and subsequent forgiveness is primarily at the corporate level (nation, people group, society) rather than private, individual level. Isaiah explained that God punished Israel with exile for her collective sin of idol worship, child sacrifice, violence, oppression, and covenant unfaithfulness. The whole nation suffered even though it’s very likely that not every single person was idolatrous, violent, and unjust. In other words, God cares not just about individual piety but also and perhaps even more about large-scale systems and societies that we are a part of and accountable for. Ancient Jews, including the prophets, saw themselves as inseparably connected to and accountable for the actions of their nation. Isaiah gasped, for example, when he saw the Lord, saying “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).

Can you think of a time you have experienced feeling the corporate weight of the sin committed by a community you were a part of even though you personally didn’t commit the sin?

An ancient Israelite like Isaiah felt a kind of guilt on behalf of his sinful community and expected the entire nation, himself included, to suffer the consequences unless the nation as a whole repented. Have you ever felt like you’ve suffered the consequences of your community’s sin? How did this make you feel?

Now focus specifically on your community group. Are there any sins or shortcomings that the community group as a whole could identify with and become accountable for, even if not every member is personally guilty of such things? If you can’t think of anything concrete worth addressing, reflect for a few minutes on Jesus’ example and teachings of what it means to truly be God’s servant community. How could your group together recognize corporate room for improvement and strive together toward being a more Christlike community?

CLOSING

Gather once again in one large group and have one representative from each small group share what you came up with. Be gentle and gracious but forthright and direct. After every small group has shared, close in a form of the unity prayer, allowing time for people to offer short prayers of confession or repentance on behalf of the group. Even if the shortcomings acknowledged do not feel like your own individually, seek to own your connection to the group and pray in love as an inseparable part of the community.

0 notes

cccto-semi-pro · 7 years

Text

Prophetic Rewind Part 2

RECAP & PREPARING FOR CGDaily Reading for Week

Isaiah 39-41, Psalm 118

Isaiah 42-44, Psalm 119:1-32

Isaiah 45-48, Psalm 119:33-64

Isaiah 49-51, Psalm 119:65-96

Isaiah 52-54, Psalm 119:97-128

Isaiah 55-57, Psalm 119:129-152

Isaiah 58-60, Psalm 119:153-176

Resources for Week

Read Scripture Video: Isaiah 40-66 and The Gospel of the Kingdom (theme video)

Read: Isaiah 6 & 30

FOCUS OF TIME TOGETHER

To examine the second part of the book of Isaiah and to spend time training ourselves as a community to think and reflect corporately rather than individualistically.

GROUND RULE / GOAL / VALUE FOR THE WEEK

CONNECTION AND UNITY EXERCISE (MUTUAL INVITATION)

Take a minute, be silent and notice how you are actually feeling. Share with the group how you are feeling and what you are bringing in the room.

OPENING PRAYER

Have one person read the prayer in Isaiah 63:7-64:12 aloud as a prayer.

INTRO TO DISCUSSION

Read Scripture Video: Isaiah 40-66

LARGE GROUP DISCUSSION

Questions for Interacting with Scripture:

These questions are to help us slow down to taste and notice Scripture, savor its richness, and meditate on its complexity of meaning.

As you read Isaiah this week, what parts left you confused and what did you find really profound, beautiful, or worth meditating upon?

Questions for Listening to Scripture:

Read Scripture Video: The Gospel of the Kingdom

These questions are to help us be affected by Scripture in the way it was intended to affect us.

Read Isaiah 40:1-10, 52:1-12, and 60:1-5. If you picture an Israelite watchman sitting upon the ruined walls of Jerusalem scanning the horizon for any sign of news or hope, what do you imagine he/she would have been hoping to see or hear? Or imagine you’re a Jewish slave in chains in Babylon — what would have been the best news imaginable?

Read Luke 4:14-20. In what way did Jesus believe He was personally bringing about this same kind of much hoped-for good news?

Questions for Interacting with Scripture, part 2:

These questions are to help us slow down to taste and notice Scripture, savor its richness, and meditate on its complexity of meaning.

How do you think Jesus’ understanding of Israel’s identity and His own unique vocation as the true Israel and Israel’s true king was shaped by these texts in Isaiah?

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

Note: You will return to the large group after 15 minutes in order to share what you thought of in the small group discussion.

Questions for Practicing Community:

These questions are to help us reflect thoughtfully on our felt experience together in light of our shared ground rules, goals and values.

Can you think of a time you have experienced feeling the corporate weight of the sin committed by a community you were a part of even though you personally didn’t commit the sin?

CLOSING

#YOBL Readscripture

0 notes