As it was in the days...

Luke 17:26-30

26 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

And likewise, we today eat, drink, marry, buy, sell, plant, build...so it will it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

2 Peter 3:10-13

10 But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise; and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Psalm 10:12-18

Psalm 10

12 Arise, O LORD!
O God, lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the humble.
{Isaiah 66:2b
2b "But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of
spirit, and who trembles at My Word."}

13 Why do the wicked renounce God?
He has said in his heart,
"You [God] will not require an account."
{Psalm 2:1-2
1 Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take council together
Against the LORD and against His
Anointed, saying,
"Let us tear their (the LORD and His anointed) fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!"}

14 But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
{James 1:27
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God
and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their
distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.}

15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find none.
{Psalm 11:4-6
4 The LORD is in His holy temple;
the LORD's throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked,
And the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked he will rain snares;
Fire and brimstone and burning wind
Will be the portion of their cup.}

16 The LORD is king forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
{Isaiah 2:12
12 For the LORD of Hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and lofty
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be abased.}

17 LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
{Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit (i.e. humble, those with humility),
for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.}

18 To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may oppress no more.
{Isaiah 1:17
17 Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Reprove the ruthless,
Defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.}

Psalm 10:1-11

A Psalm of confidence in God's triumph over evil.

1 Why do you stand afar off, O LORD?
Why do You hide in times of trouble?
{Have we as Christians not asked that over and over the last several decades, as we have seen both the church and our country "going down the tubes"?}

2 The wicked in his pride, persecutes the poor;
{We see that daily.}
Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
{I pray for their salvation first and being "caught in the plots which they have devised" second. Bernie Madoff is a good example of being caught in his own greedy plot.}

3 For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire;
He blesses the greedy and renouces the LORD.
{ Renouncing the LORD is the current national pastime.}

4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
God is in none of his thoughts.
{"The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1}

5 His [the wicked] ways are always propering;
{At least for the time being.}
Your [God's] judgments are far above, out of his [the wicked's] sight;
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
{He certainly does!}

6 He [the wicked] has said in his heart, "I shall not be moved;
I shall never be in adversity."
{Talk about delusional!}

7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression;
Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.
{All we ever hear today is filthy language, cheating and trying to get ahead of the other guy.}

8 He [the wicked] sits in the lurking places in the villages;
In the secret places he murders the innocent;
{Abortion.}
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
{TV/Internet scams of all kinds.}

9 He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
{New senator in the old lion's seat, PTL.}
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
{Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac.)

10 So he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his strength.
{"Bailouts" that make matters worse.}


11 He [the wicked] has said in his heart,
"God has forgotten;
He hides His face;
He will never see."
{Na na na na na na...}

Next ~~ Psalm 10:12-18

We live in uncertain times...

That was a comment I heard from a radio commenter this morning. As believers we know that we always live in uncertain times...

But even from the world's point of view, we should see that we always live in uncertain times...

1760s-1770s ~ the American Revolution
1790s ~ the French Revolution
1800-1815 ~ Napoleonic era
1820s & 1830s ~ restlessness in Europe following the French Revolution
1848 ~ Europe convulsed with revolution
1860 ~ American Civil War
1870s ~ Louis Napoleon's delusions of grandeur ~ Franco-Prussian war ~ Bismarck & the unification of Germany
1880s-1910s ~ Tensions between Germany - France - Austro-Hungary - England
1914 ~ World War One
1920s ~ illusion of less uncertain times...
1930s ~ worldwide economic collapse
1940s ~ World War Two - Korean War
1950s ~ illusion of less uncertain times...
1960s ~ assasination of JFK - "revolutions" on the campuses - Viet Nam
1970s ~ stagflation
1980s ~ continued economic angst - Reagan - Berlin Wall comes down
1990s ~ glastnost - internet - dot com - illusion of less uncertain times...
2000s~ 9/11 & its fallout - almost worldwide economic collapse - likely to happen yet...

What was/is happening in Asia, South America, Africa & the rest of the world...

We always live in uncertain times...we live in a fallen world.

That will change~ Psalm 2

are you washed

in the blood? Written by Elisha Albright Hoffman.

spiritual riches

Job 28

12 But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding"

13 Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.

14 The deep says, 'It is not in me';
And the sea says, 'It is not with me'.

15 It cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.

16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.

17 Neither gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.

18 No mention shall be made of coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above rubies.

19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20 From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the air.

22 Destruction and Death say,
'We have heard a report about it with our ears'.

23 God understands its [wisdom's] way,
And He knows its place.

24 For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heavens,

25 To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.

26 When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,

27 Then He saw widom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.

28 And to man He said,

'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding'.

words of encouragement from Paul 4

I separated out each verse, in order to allow for a savoring contemplation of the incredible, "unbelievable" truths articulated in each of them. It is just breathtaking...

Romans 8

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written:

“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

not on the same wave length

More on conversations from Scripture ~~

Romans 8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

It is no wonder we can't 'hear' each other, is it?

future punishment; indictment

Romans 1
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image of corruptible man -- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

2009 is the year of Charles Darwin. Since his On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, men have been suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness. Evolution is not proven fact, it is theory. It is not even scientific, as it is not possible to reproduce it in the laboratory, as scientific hypotheses are supposed to be. For a wonderful dose of Truth, meet Jobe Martin.

...changed the glory of the incorruptible God into...
here and here.

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.

I can hear you ~~ you can't hear me

As believers, we are in a distinctly unique relationship with the world. We are able to understand the 'world's chatter', due to the fact that we were once in and of the world, but the world is totally unable to comprehend our 'language'. (1 Corinthians 2:14) The world communicates with worldly, 'under the sun' ideas ~ a language we once spoke exclusively. But now we 'have the mind of Christ' (1 Corinthians 2:16) through the indwelling Holy Spirit and the Word of God which He wrote as He moved men to write our 'treasure' (2 Peter 1:16-21) ~ the Word of God.

John 17
14 I have given them your Word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them by the Truth. Your Word is Truth.
18 As You sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

conversation and friends

"Any conversation, to be 'real', has to have the basis of faith in Jesus Christ." Have you ever noticed that when you see an old friend after a long time, who is a true believer, you can pick up the conversation with him/her as if you had just seen each other the day before. The same is true when you first meet a true believer, you can talk for hours. However, conversations with unbelievers are often hard to sustain for more than a short time!

Exodus 33
11 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

2 Chronicles 20
7 Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?

John 15
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.

2 Corinthians 6
15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever?

who is wise and who is foolish??

The Biblical worldview can be contrasted with the secular postmodern worldview.

1 Corinthians 1
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

points of view

Christians are in a constant antithetical Biblical worldview which clashes on every point with the worldly view of non-believers.

1 John 2
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father in not in him. 16 For all that is in the world ~ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life ~ is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.