Marching Forth!

In our Friday night Bible study at Calvary Chapel Sydney, we discussed how Satan is well-versed in the Scripture.  After Jesus defused a temptation from the devil by quoting the word of God, Satan employed a verse from the Psalms to encourage Jesus to do his will rather than the Father's will.  The devil used a tactic people can use as well, to hijack passages from the Bible they do not believe or accept as true to condemn, guilt or manipulate other people.  Though Satan knew the words of Scripture it is evident he did not understand it, for had he considered the full passage he wrenched out of context he would have been confronted with his own ruin. Matthew 4:5-6 tells us, " Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,  6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your ...

As Christians read the Bible with a hungry, willing heart, the Holy Spirit opens our understanding to notice deeper connections we did not see on the surface.  Sometimes people assume "deeper" revelations of God are new, things previously unheard or unknown, when they are primarily actually affirmations of the truth God has already revealed.  God is exceedingly generous with His wisdom and has made it available and understandable to those who lack it.  In the book of Proverbs Wisdom is personified of standing in the street and calling out to anyone who will listen, and God continues to speak in this manner today through the Scriptures. While going through an inductive Bible study lesson, I was reminded of a wonderful connection of two passages that are not often placed together in Sunday School:  Jesus feeding the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish and His interaction with the two disciples in Emmaus.  In the first instance Jesus showed compassion for...

In the biblical record of king David's last words, he said in  2 Samuel 23:3-5 :  " The God of Israel said, t he Rock of Israel spoke to me: 'He who rules over men must be just,  r uling in the fear of God.  4 And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a  morning without clouds,  l ike the tender grass springing out of the earth,  b y clear shining after rain.'  5 "Although my house is not so with God, y et He has made with me an everlasting covenant,  o rdered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire;  w ill He not make it increase ?"  David considered the calling of God to rule justly in the fear of the LORD.  As the sun rises and scatters darkness with light,  Proverbs 20:8 illustrates the impact of a righteous king:  " A king who sits on the throne of judgment s catters all evil with his eyes ." David freely acknowledged he and his house had not...

On the subject of opening the door to Jesus who knocks, there is an insightful interaction in the Song of Solomon .  At one time the Shulamite was deeply smitten by the affection and love of her spouse, but when he came knocking at the door it was evident her feelings toward him had cooled.  He lovingly called out to her as he knocked, his hair wet by dew, yet she was reluctant to climb out of bed to let him in. In response to her husband standing at the door, Song of Songs 5:3 shows the Shulamite's made herself of focus and attention:  " I have taken off my robe; h ow can I put it on again? I have washed my feet;  h ow can I defile them ?"  Her husband knocked at an inconvenient and unexpected time since she had already climbed into bed.  Getting up meant unwanted labour of dressing and likely needing to wash her feet again after walking on the ground.  She did not spare a thought of how cold and wet her spouse was as she considered whether to ris...

Years ago I tore my ACL and was on crutches for awhile during the rehabilitation process.  While I would have preferred not to have needed crutches to walk around, they helped me move more easily in the early days of recovery.  Right after surgery the medical team wanted me up and bending my leg, embracing the pain to be back on my feet and working towards full health.  My physical therapist gave me exercises to strengthen my body, and the plan was to rely on the crutches less and less.  After a couple of weeks, the crutches were stored in the garage where they have remained unused to this day--and hopefully will not be needed again. The subject of crutches came up for me while studying this week.  After gathering the prophets of Baal and the people of Israel together to Mt. Carmel, the prophet of God Elijah addressed everyone in  1 Kings 18:21 :  " And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LO...

After Joab and David's men routed Absalom and his army, the biblical narrative shares an insightful interaction between the general and Ahimaaz.   2 Samuel 18:19-21 reads, " Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Let me run now and take the news to the king, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies."  20  And Joab said to him, "You shall not take the news this day, for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news, because the king's son is dead."  21  Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran ."  Ahimaaz was keen to run to the king with news, but Joab sent a Cushite (a man of Ethiopia) who was an eyewitness of the events of the day.  The Cushite was obviously a trustworthy man and well-spoken, for Joab did not put words in his mouth or coach him at all. Ahimaaz, however, would not be deterred.   2 Samuel 18:22-23 says, " And A...

During my time working as a union mechanical insulator, our industry expanded to include firestopping.  This had nothing to do with fighting fires but was intended to contain fires and prevent them from spreading--especially in commercial buildings.  Wherever ducts, pipes and electrical conduit penetrate concrete floors and walls, fire and toxic fumes could potentially spread and endanger the lives of people trying to evacuate.  Most applications required packing the penetration with rock wool and then adding a layer of firestop caulking that, when heated, would expand and fill the gap left by melted pipes or wiring.  Stopping the spread of fire allows more time for people to escape and for firefighters to extinguish the blaze. While not everyone is trained to install firestopping, it is everyone's calling as children of God to be one who takes action to ensure the fires caused by lies, boasting or gossip stop with us.  As fire is contained by a fire-rated corri...