Monday, July 27, 2009

can you hear me now?? sadly, no...

Believers find that they are irresistably attracted to the Word; it is a bottomless well or the endless expanse of the heavens. It is deep, it is without horizon. We saturate our minds and hearts with it.

Ephesians 5
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
20 giving thanks always in all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3
16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

As we do this we create more and more distance between our world view and the way we think and that of unbelievers.

2 Corinthians 4
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 whose mind the god of this age [Satan] has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
5a For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,...

And yet we, as Paul, yearn to speak to them about the things of God and of salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear Paul's broken heart...

Romans 9
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites,...

How is he received by Athens?

Acts 17
16 Now while Paul waited...at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.
17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue...and the marketplace daily...
18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?"...
19 And they took him...to the Aeropagus saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?"
20 For you are bring strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.
21 For the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but to either tell or to hear some new thing.

So Paul did just that on Mars Hill in Athens. (Acts 17:22-30)

What was their response?

Acts 17:32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter." [But they never did]
33 So Paul departed from among them.

Proverbs 23:7a For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Jesus' thoughts on what is in a man's heart: Matthew 15:17-20 and Mark 7:18-23.

And finally, what should be in the hearts of believers?

Philippians 4:
8 And finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy ~~ meditate on these things.

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