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Archive for June, 2010

Serendipity is defined as an “accidental discovery of something pleasant, valuable, or useful.” Serendipity is an unexpected gift you stumbled upon when you really were going for something else. This is a story of my serendipity.

In August of 2009 I started a daily work I call “Project 1189.” I called it Project 1189 because there are 1189 chapters in the Bible and we were going to read a chapter a day. The project consists of a daily email with a great Bible verse, a great quote, and a cute saying for the day. I had done something like this before but this time I added to this task a daily reading of a Bible chapter. I decided to outline the chapter and add a very few “side notes” of my own commentary.

I do not know when, but somewhere along the journey the daily reading and writing turned from a task to a joy. At sometime in the past I had taught every chapter I have read so far, but this writing is different. I do it for the joy of reading and studying the Bible. I do it because I am learning more about the story of God.

I recommend it to all of you. First it will be a chore, but at some point it will turn into joy. Soon you will look forward to tomorrow’s reading.

Lonnie Davis

www.project1189.com

 

 

 

Perhaps the most romantic verse in the Bible is found in Genesis the story of Jacob and Rachel. Jacob left home and traveled nearly 500 miles to find the right girl to marry. When he found her, her father required him to work seven years as a laborer for a dowry before he could marry her. Jacob’s attitude about the seven years (which because of her father deception turned into 14 years) is seen in Genesis 29:20.

“Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.”

Reading this verse touches nearly every woman. They might say, “I want to be loved like that.” The great romance of this story does not end with this verse. After decades together, Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin. (Gen 35). The loss devastated Jacob, but with twelve sons, life must go.

Nearly 40 years later, Jacob also died. As he lay on his death bed his son Joseph came to visit him one last time. What would this great old patriarch talk about as his life was ebbing away? Would he tell stories of Isaac? Would he tell of his conflict with Esau? Would he ramble about how hard life is? No!

He spoke to Joseph about the love of his life, Rachel and told of her burial. He loved her when he met her. He loved her when he worked for her. He loved her when he died. That is a great love story. That is real romance.

Have you ever read such a tale of love? Oh yes I have. Here it is:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

Before you were ever born, God loved you so much that He let His Son die for you. That is the greatest love story ever. I want to be loved like that!

 

You go to school for the opportunity of a great life. You set the alarm and go to work so that you might have a chance at a great life. To help you build the great life, here are four rules for a great life. Ignore them and you will never find the great life.

1. You have to have someone to love.

When God created the world, after each act He said, “It is good.” The first thing he ever said was not good was, “it is not good for man to be alone.” When He said this there was only Adam. Adam needed Eve and in time the two of them needed their children and their friends. They all needed God. We were not made to be alone. We all need someone to love and need someone to love us.

2. You have to have something to do.

Work was not the curse for man’s disobedience. Before Adam sinned he was working. He tended the Garden of Eden and did the work of naming all the animals. We were made to do work. Find your work and you will find one step toward a great life.

3. You have to have something to believe in.

James says a man who does not know what he believes is “doubled minded” and then adds, “A double-minded man, unstable in all he does. (James 1:8). It ought to be obvious that an unstable person, one who does not know what to believe cannot be happy and successful.

4. You have to have something to look forward to.

I once heard someone say, “I’m shopping on the internet so I will have something to look forward to.” Even if you are waiting for an order you are looking forward to something, but there are bigger things to dream about and anticipate. Is it a vacation, a new job, or even a dinner out? To find joy one has to look forward to something. The ultimate thing to look forward to is heaven and our eternity with God. Jesus said, ^“In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” That is something worth looking forward to. That is something that will bring you joy!

 

 

 

The Ten Commandments – The Decalogue (Ten Words)

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The Text – Exodus 20:1-19

¹ And God spoke all these words: ² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ³ “You shall have no other gods before me. ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments. ⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. ⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. ¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹³ “You shall not murder. ¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery. ¹⁵ “You shall not steal. ¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. ¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” ¹⁸ When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

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The Ten Commandments

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¹ And God spoke all these words:

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Who I am

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

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1. No Other Gods

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

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2. No Idols

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

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3. Do Not Misuse My Name

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

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4. Keep the Sabbath Day

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

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5. Honor Your Father and Mother

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

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6. Do Not Murder

¹³ “You shall not murder.

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7. Do Not Commit Adultery

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

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8. Do Not Steal

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

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9. Do Not Lie

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

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10. Do Not Covet

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

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The Response of the People

¹⁸ When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

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The Progressive Nature of the 10 Commandments

Relationship with God             Relationship with People

Honor Your Father and Mother

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A study of the text.

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First He identifies Himself

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Exodus 20:1-2
¹ And God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

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The First Command – No Other Gods

Exodus 20:3
“You shall have no other gods before me.”

• Why this first?
  

1. Egypt was a polytheistic culture and they grew all they had known was Egypt.
2. There are some things we should not share.

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• The people’s request of Aaron
  

Exodus 32:1-8
¹ When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”

⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. ⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ⁸ They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

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• Notice “No other God’s before me.

Is it okay if we have other God’s as long as we put him first?

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“Before me” sometimes has a spatial meaning.

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• God proclaims that there is only ONE God
  

Isaiah 45:21

²¹ Declare what is to be, present it– let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.

1 Corinthians 8:4

We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.

• If they are not really God, then what is the danger?
  

• How well did this command work?
  

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• 40-years later the people were still wrestling with “other gods.”
  

Joshua 24:14-15

¹⁴ “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

• Hundreds of years later, the wise man struggled with this first command.
  

1 Kings 11:5

⁵ He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.

1 Kings 11:9-11

⁹ The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.

• It was a progressive fall:
  

1. The building of the palace.
   
2. His mighty horses
   Deuteronomy 17:16
   ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”
   
3. Multiple wives
   Deuteronomy 17:17
   ¹⁷ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

   1 Kings 11:1-3
   ¹ King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter–Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
   
   

• Closing
  

1. No Other Gods

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

I know they have a good heart, but I think it is misguided. I’m talking about all those plans and people who urge you to read the Bible through in one year. I love the intention. They want people to get into the Word, but reading the Word and getting into the Word is not the same thing.

Every day I read a chapter, outline the chapter, and then write “Brief Notes” on that chapter. I know that is more than some folks are up to right now. Some might be better off if they read the chapter, then mediated on the chapter and picked out a couple of guiding thoughts to remember. Whatever you choose to do with the Word, you should do more than just read the Bible through in one year. The thought of one year is an artificial time. Read the Bible every day. Reflect on the Word every day. Make the Word a part of your life every day.

If you do that, I don’t care whether you read the Bible through in 1 year or 3 years. By the way, if you read just a chapter a day you will read the Bible through in 3.25 years (or 1189 days).