Starting this new year with a slightly different format. Please like and subscribe and give me your feedback. Thank you.
THE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The Beginning of Knowledge
This is a tremendous opportunity to begin this year deeply indwelled with the wisdom of our Father in heaven. Take a minute each morning to ask God to reveal and enlighten you with His wisdom. Only by His wisdom can you fully comprehend and understand the instructions He gives you.
Proverbs 1:2-3 (KJV), “2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity.”
THE most important bit of His wisdom to understand is ‘the fear of the Lord’.
Psalm 111:10 (KJV), “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth forever.”
Proverbs 1:7 (KJV), “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 9:10 (KJV), “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
Proverbs 14:27 (KJV), “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”
Proverbs 15:33 (KJV), “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”
Fear of the Lord can be defined as “the continual awareness that our loving heavenly Father is watching and evaluating everything we think, say, and do”.
Psalm 139:2 (KJV), “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.”
Jeremiah 12:3 (KJV), “But thou, O Lord, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.”
Matthew 12:36 (KJV), “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”
1 Peter 4
Jesus set a perfect example for us for what it means to ‘suffer in the flesh’. It is very difficult to resist the temptations of the world, let alone resisting the wisdom the world tries to pound into us every moment of every day.
1 Peter 4:1-2 (KJV), “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”
1 Peter 4:12-13 (KJV), “12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
Peter is spot on telling us how we ALL get sucked in to the world. Amazing how this fits into our lives today.
1 Peter 4:3 (KJV), “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.”
When we fully commit our lives to the Lord, we immediately see how the condemnation of the world is driven against us.
1 Peter 4:4-5 (KJV), “4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: 5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”
1 Peter 4:14 (KJV), “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.”
We are judging not by condemnation but by right or wrong
1 Peter 4:6 (KJV), “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
In this verse, the word ‘judged’, in the root Hebrew and presented here, means [1] to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong.
We are to live each day as if Jesus is coming back in the next second. Let us love each other as Christ loves the church. Heartfelt love conquers the sin nature brought into us at birth.
1 Peter 4:8 (KJV), “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”
Hebrews 6
The Peril of Not Progressing
God does desire for all of us to come to Him for eternal salvation but it does not stop there. God desires all of us to move on from a baby, desiring only milk, and search for the ‘bread of life’. He wants to fully partake in learning as much as possible of our God and in whatever it takes to continue growing in Him.
Hebrews 6:1-3 (KJV), “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit.”
How do we interpret the following verses from Hebrews if we believe in once saved always saved?
Hebrews 6:4-6 (KJV), “4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”
These great things are spoken here of those who may fall away; yet it is not here said of them that they were truly converted, or that they were justified; there is more in true saving grace than in all that is here said of apostates.
We will look at each one.
- Impossible
With out any doubt, the word used, ‘impossible’, literally means, impossible. Just to ensure we know that the original Greek meaning is the same as we know it to be.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (102) –2. impossible
2. Enlightened
The writer to the Hebrews speaks of people with impressive spiritual experiences. The big debate is whether this is the experience of salvation or the experience of something short of salvation.
3. Tasted the heavenly gift
Here we observe a taste but not a full meal.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (1089) – 2. to taste, i. e. perceive the flavor of, partake of, enjoy; to feel, make trial of, experience.
4. Partakers of the Holy Spirit
The individual or individuals took part in the sharing of the Holy Spirit. This in no means to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
5. Tasted the good word of God
Interesting here is that the root Greek word for tasted is to taste, eat.
Strong’s Concordance (1089) – geuomai: to taste, eat.
But to see how it is used in context, we look to the Thayer’s Greek lexicon.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (1089) – 2. to taste, i. e. perceive the flavor of, partake of, enjoy; to feel, make trial of, experience.
6. The powers of the age of come
This refers to Tasted the good word of God along with have tasted The powers of the age of come.
Very few instances can be given of those who have gone so far and fallen away, and yet ever have been brought to true repentance, such a repentance as is indeed a renovation of the soul. Could this be a sin against the Holy Spirit?
Matthew 12:31 (KJV), “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”
Just saying the sinner’s prayer, as mentioned earlier, is not a ticket to salvation. True salvation will put in us a desire to grow and continue to grow in God.
Hebrews 6:11-12 (KJV), “11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: 12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
We know by faith that all scripture is inspired by God, God breathed, so that all scripture is true and incapable of being incorrect.
Hebrews 6:18 (KJV), “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”
Jeremiah 10
Jeremiah confirms our Creator
Jeremiah 10:12-13 (KJV), “12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. 13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.”
The walk we take without God will lead us to total destruction
Jeremiah 10:23 (KJV), “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV), “5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Proverbs 1 Read (also see THE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY)
Ezekiel 9
God places a mark on the justified
Ezekiel 9:4 (KJV), “And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.”
Revelation 7:2-3 (KJV), “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”
Revelation 9:4 (KJV), “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”
Revelation 14:1 (KJV), “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”
God’s punishment on those who took part in the abominations
Ezekiel 9:5-6 (KJV), “5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.”
[1] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (2919)
Grow in the Word of the Lord 