Sunday, July 14, 2013

Encourage One Another

I'm involved in a ladies study group - we're currently studying Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  One of the exhortations was to encourage one another.  The verse I had in mind is in Colossians; however,I misquoted it, stating encourage when in fact it should be admonishing.

Col_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 hearts to the Lord.

When I did the search for 'hymns' it brought up both the Ephesians and the Colossians verses, which I find interesting as the admonition :-D is to speak to myself, singing and making melody in my heart.  So let's tear this apart shall we?

Eph_5:19  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

With the Strong's numbers:

Eph 5:19  Speaking G2980 to yourselves G1438 in psalms G5568 and G2532 hymns G5215 and G2532 spiritual G4152 songs, G5603 singing G103 and G2532 making melody G5567 in G1722 your G5216 heart G2588 to the G3588 Lord; G2962

Including Zodhiates mood, tense, voice notations (note: I cannot replicate the exact Greek words with the accent marks):

speaking - G2980 (pap - present, active, participle 58, see 1, 57) - A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, that is, utter words: - preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter.
  • 58 - The present Participle expresses continuous or repeated action.  Since in Greek the time of the action represented by participles is relative to the main verb, the present participle is used to signify action that is contemporaneous with the leading verb, whether that action occurs in the past, present or future.
    • 1 - The Active Voice represents the action as being accomplished by the subject of the verb: arti ginosko ek merous, tote de epignosomai, kathos kai epegnosthen, "now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Cor 13:12). In Greek it is to be distinguished from the Middle Voice (50) and Passive Voice (60). See also 95.
    • 57 - The participle is a verbal adjective. As such, the participle may function as a verb, noun or adjective in the sentence.  It has a wide range of possible meanings, some of which can only be inferred from the context: ho agathopion ek tou theou estin, "He that doeth good is of God." (3 John 1:11)
So this answers what, who is doing it?

yourselves - G1438 (rxpro - reflexive pronoun 91, see 72) - (Including all the other cases); from a reflexive pronoun otherwise obsolete and the genitive (dative or accusative) of G846; him (her, it, them, also [in conjunction with the personal pronoun of the other persons] my, thy, our, your) -self (-selves), etc.:
  • 91 - The Reflexive Pronoun (rxpro) is used when the action indicated by the verb reflects back upon the subject.  Thus the subject of the verb and the pronoun refer to the same person or thing: kai emphaniso auto emauton, "and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). See also 72.
    • 72 - The Pronoun is used in place of a noun. In Greek, there are eight categories of pronouns: The Demonstrative Pronoun (32), the Emphatic Personal Pronoun (34), the Indefinite Pronoun (48), the Interrogative Pronoun (49), the Personal Pronoun (73), the Possessive Pronoun (76), the Reciprocal Pronoun (90), the Reflexive Pronoun (91), and the Relative Pronoun (92).
Me, myself and I...I am commanded to speak to myself in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  But wait, that's not all, its not just speaking, there's more.

singing - G103 (pap - see above) - A primary verb; to sing.

Well that 'seems' pretty straightforward.  Sing.  Which means I need to have them 'stored' up - which I don't, sadly.  I can't sing a complete psalm, hymn or spiritual song...well maybe a children's song.  What am I meditating upon?  *sigh*

making melody - G5567 (pap - see above) - Probably strengthened from ψάω psaō (to rub or touch the surface; compare G5597); to twitch or twang, that is, to play on a stringed instrument (celebrate the divine worship with music and accompanying odes).

Now I'm in some serious deficiency - I don't play an instrument!  Hmmm...do the vocal chords count? But wait, WHERE is this being done?

...in your heart...

in - G1722 (pre - preposition 78) - A primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), that is, a relation of rest (intermediate between G1519 and G1537); “in”, at, (up-) on, by, etc.: 

This is EN, not EK or EIS motion in or out, or out and in - EN standing (if you will) in one place.  Not moving forward, backward.  Still. Which reminds me...our memory music this month is the hymn:  Be Still My Soul.  Heh, in an attempt to memorize I made a wave file, both of my saying the words and attempting to sing, neither of which I'll burden the reader by posting...some things are meant to be kept private and/or shared only among close friends.  :-D

heart - G2588 - Prolonged from a primary κάρ kar (Latin cor, “heart”); the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle.

Lord - G2962 - From κῦρος kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, that is, (as noun) controller; by implication Mr. (as a respectful title): - God, Lord, master, Sir.

That is quite an exhortation...and to understand the verse fully (context is K-I-N-G) read the verses before and after...because before verse 19, at the end of 18, it tells us to be filled with the Spirit.

On that note, I'm going to wrap this up and cover the Colossians' verse in another post.  Continued...here.

Three Things Pastors Should Say...

...to their congregations.  I found this on Blogging Theologically (definitely need to bookmark that site!)

3 things pastors should say to their congregations

Aaron Armstrong —  June 21, 2013 — 3 Comments
pastor
Every so often a blogger puts together a list of things they wish a pastor would tell his congregation. And while the lists sometimes have some valid points, they more often than not wind up come across as saying, “I wish my pastor was less knowledgeable and confident in what he says.” Which, while I’m sure it sounds nice, really isn’t all that helpful, unless you’re looking for your pastor to validate an unhelpful lifestyle of being tossed about upon the waves of doctrine.
Nevertheless, there are some things I do believe congregations need to hear from their pastors more often than perhaps they do:

1. “Because I love you, I’m going to tell you the truth.”

We sometimes bristle at statements that don’t make us feel good, and so we assume that our pastors are unloving when they say something we don’t like. Yet, this attitude more often than not finds its root in our sin, not our pastors’ failure to be sensitive.
Pastors should never be afraid to express the truth of Scripture and we in the congregation need to be reminded that it’s because our pastors DO care that they tell us the truth—even if it’s something they know we’re going to reject due to our inability to hear it.

2. “Make sure I’m not wrong.”

This might be the second most important thing a pastor can say to his congregation. It takes true humility to say to your hearers, “Don’t take my word for it. Check what I say against the Scriptures. If what I’m saying doesn’t line up, don’t believe me.” Good pastors want their congregations to be like the Berean Jews of Thessalonica who examined the Scriptures daily to see if what the Apostle Paul taught was true (Acts 17:16).
This is something our pastors do exceptionally well. They work diligently to correctly interpret and apply the text they’re preaching, but they don’t assume they’re beyond making a mistake.

3. “This is the gospel…”

I love it when our pastors just have a gospel explosion in the middle of a sermon—especially when it’s completely unplanned! No Christian can ever hear the gospel too often. None of us move beyond it or out from under it. The gospel is the source of our hope and what we celebrate each Sunday when we gather together.
The gospel has the power to bring death to life, to soften the hardest heart and the “fragrance of life” to those who are being saved (2 Cor. 2:16). If there’s one thing a pastor should never leave out of his message on a Sunday or out of his counselling appointments, it’s the gospel. If it’s truly of first importance, the gospel must be clearly shared.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Days 189-194 ~ 2010

Originally posted in a forum in 2010 - this post may contain links which are no longer valid, if you find a non-working link, please let me know and I will attempt to find a replacement or make a correction as necessary.

Days 189-194

Israel - Idols Destroyed - 2 Chronicles 31:1 (what is an idol? Do we have any in our lives?)

Hoshea taken Prisoner - 2 Kings 17:3-4

Message of Hosea - Israel's punishment - Hosea 7:1-16; 8:1-14; 9:1-17; 10:1-15; 11:1-12; 12:1-14; 13:1-8

Israel restored - Hosea 13:9-16; 14:1-9

Samaria besieged for 3 years - 2 Kings 17:5; 2 Kings 18:9

Samaria falls to Assyria - 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:10-11

Sargon II replaces Shalmaneser V who died in battle for Assyria

Reason for Israel's downfall - 2 Kings 17:7-23; 2 Kings 18:12; Psalm 80 (they followed NOT the ways of the Lord, but looked at the other nations and mimicked them - how much different from the world does the Bride look?)

Judah - Idols Destroyed - 2 Kings 18:4

Hezekiah's further religious reforms - 2 Chronicles 31:2-21 (would that the Bride of Christ would cleanse herself from her idolatrous infatuation with the world and trying to mimic and 'white-wash' practices, beliefs and behaviors.)

Coming captivities foretold - Micah 3:1-12

Kingdom becomes tributary to Assyria - 724 B.C. or 723 B.C.

FROM THE FALL OF ISRAEL TO THE FALL OF JUDAH - 721-586 B.C.

Under Hezekiah, Judah regained her independence (32 years) - 721-689 B.C.

Assyria invaded parts of Judah, took certain Philistine cities and defeated the Egyptians - 721-713 B.C.

Hezekiah's reign continues - death of Ahaz - reigns alone - 2 Kings 16:19-20; 2 Chronicles 28:26-27

Prophecy about surrounding areas - Isaiah 21:1-17

Judgment upon the Philistines (destroyed 713 B.C.) - Isaiah 14:28-32

Judgment upon Moab (destroyed 711 B.C.) - Isaiah 15:1-9; 16:1-14

Hezekiah's prosperity - defies Assyria - smote Philistines - 2 Kings 18:7-8

Smite Amalekites - 1 Chronicles 4:39-43

Prophecies against nations - judgments against Assyria announced to Egypt and Ethiopia - Isaiah 18:1-7; 19:1-25; 20:1-6; 23:1-18

Judgment against Assyria - Isaiah 10:5-19

Remnant of Jews to be saved - Isaiah 10:20-34

David's kingdom will be set up - Isaiah 11:1-16; 12:1-6

Judgment upon Babylon - Isaiah 13:1-16

Israel's kingdom set up - Isaiah 14:1