Randy Green's Blog, page 346

Faded Genes – Part 2

NEWS FLASH!!!Matthew: Volume 7of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoesis now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because i...

Faded Genes – Part 1

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!Romans: Volume 9of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoesis now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, bec...

Kettle & the Pot – Part 3

NEWS FLASH!!!Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoesis now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your...

Kettle & the Pot – Part 2

NEWS FLASH!!!Matthew: Volume 7of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoesis now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured you...

Kettle & the Pot – Part 1

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!Romans: Volume 9of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoesis now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devour...

Of Nerds & Squints & Other Assorted Characters

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

What do CSIs and Squints have to do with Deuteronomy 21? Hmm… That’s a toughie. If you want to know the answer, purchase your copy of Deuteronomy: Book III, Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. It’s very interesting.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: Bible, Church Age, Deuteronomy, east bank, End Times Jesus, Israel, Moses, Mount Sinai, Promised Land, Prophecy, Revelation, Scripture, Sinai Peninsula, the Law, the Lord, Torah, Yahweh

Mannequins in Style – Part 2

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak [Matthew 26:41].

Yesterday we were presented with two different scenarios. Your actions were the same in each case, but the police response was quite different in each case. How do we explain this?

Weigh your actions in each case. They were the same, were they not? So why a different response by the police in each case? Answer: because the responses were to two different scenarios, obviously. A different scenario will evoke a different response.

We can describe the different scenarios as different contexts, dear friends. This illustrates the necessity to put things in context, when it comes to interpreting them. If we weigh the facts as if they occurred in a vacuum or consider them in the wrong context, the result will be fallacy rather than truth.

Consider the Bible verse we quoted today. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before Judas brought the Jewish soldiers to arrest Him and have Him crucified by the Romans. He took His three closest disciples with Him and told them to pray. He wanted them to prepare themselves for His impending arrest, trial, and crucifixion.

That is the context for understanding His words. Jesus told His disciples to pray. He added that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. May I point out to you that the spirit is not willing and the flesh is very strong? I just contradicted Jesus’ words, and that’s not a good thing to do!

If I put my words into the context of Gethsemane, then I spoke falsely. If I put my words into the context of the old man, the old sinner who lives inside each one of us, then I spoke Gospel truth. In the old man the spirit is not willing to do righteousness, and the flesh is indeed powerful in its wickedness.

In the new man, the born again person, the spirit is absolutely willing; but the flesh is weak and succumbs at the thought of conducting spiritual warfare. The disciples were products of Jesus’ righteousness. Their spirits were willing, but they were so tired that the flesh gave in to weakness. Ergo, they slept instead of praying.

Let this be a lesson to us about putting things in context. It is the only way we can arrive at the correct conclusion. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: context, mannequins, Matthew 26, prayer, spiritual warfare

Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak – Part 2

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

He (i.e., Elisha) left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he (i.e., Elijah) said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” [1 Kings 19:20]

Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” [Luke 9:61-62]

Yesterday we watched Elijah extend the call of the Lord to Elisha to be His prophet. Elisha accepted with relish. Then he went home and announced to the family that he would no longer live with them and be a farmer. To act out this truth—as the prophets were wont to do—he slaughtered his pair of oxen, cooked them over a fire which burned on the wood of his plow, then fed the family (and Elijah) a hearty meal before departing. This made Elisha the Lord’s witness to his family.

It was quite otherwise with the man who volunteered to follow Jesus. On his own unsolicited initiative, he claimed he wanted to be Jesus’ disciple and serve Him. But then he added a condition to keeping his word to the Lord. First he wanted to return home and tell his family good-bye.

Do you see the difference? This man wasn’t Elisha. He had ties to the world from which he wasn’t prepared to make a clean break. He should have kept his mouth shut and fulfilled his commitments at home. When he was truly ready to leave the world and its lifestyle, then he could request of Jesus permission to be His disciple.

Jesus wasn’t much impressed with this man. Ostensibly the man wanted the glory of “following Jesus”. He wanted the praise of other men for his selfless sacrifice. He wanted to appear holy, you see, but he didn’t really want to be holy. That would entail giving up his own dreams and plans, and laying down his life as a whole burnt offering in service to His Lord.

This is heavy stuff, my dear friends. Let’s hie off to the prayer closet a while and visit with Jesus now. Let Him reveal the truth of our hearts to us. Do we really want to walk with Jesus as His disciples? Are we prepared to leave all the things of the world which we cherish so dearly, in order to be His willing bond slaves? That is heavy…not some quixotic promise to be uttered by our lips.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1 Kings 19, discipleship, Elijah, Elisha, Luke9, witness

Keep Your Eye on the Ball – Part 2

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again [1 Kings 18:37].

Old King Ahab, a wuss who hid behind Jezebel’s skirt, added Baal worship to the sins of Jeroboam, prompting the Lord to dispatch His miracle-working prophets to take on the prophets of Baal and Asherah. That’s where we left off yesterday. Sounds like a suitable place to continue today.

So the Lord afflicted Israel with a 3½ year drought to get the Israelites’ attention. At the conclusion He had Elijah challenge all 450 prophets of Baal and all 400 prophets of Asherah to a duel. This made the odds 850 to 1, fine odds indeed. But not to worry because Elijah was on the Lord’s side, and He’s omnipotent.

The 850 yokels, er, I mean prophets spent all morning dancing a jig and chanting their drivel to Baal, calling upon him to send fire from heaven and burn up their sacrifice to him. Not surprisingly nothing ever came of it. Elijah had a splendid time poking fun of them in the process.

Then Elijah set up an altar of seven stones, dug a big ditch around it, saturated his offering with water until the ditch overflowed, and proceeded to pray to the Lord to send fire from heaven and burn up the drenched sacrifice he was presenting to the Lord. Straightway fire came down from heaven and devoured not only the animal, but also the water and the stones!

Here’s the point, dear people. We cited a portion of Elijah’s prayer at the start of this study. He called on the Lord to perform a mighty miracle, and the Lord did. What we want to center our attention on is the stated reason why Elijah wanted the Lord to perform this miracle. The reason was this:

…that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.

The purpose of miracles is not to impress us and keep us coming back for more. Nor is it to tickle our fancy and leave us feeling happy. And it is certainly not to draw attention to the miracle worker. The purpose is to point people to the one true God, that they may turn from their sins and give their hearts to Him.

In today’s religious climate there are churches and denominations which emphasize miracles as a necessary part of the Church. The more time people spend around suchlike folks, the more they ogle the supposed miracles and the self-styled miracle workers. The attention does not go to the Lord Jesus but to man.

Let’s wise up and be mature men and women of God. Let’s seek the God of miracles, not the miracles of God. Give us the Person of Jesus Christ and it suffices. He is the Bread of Life, our all in all.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1 Kings 18, Ahab, Baal, Elijah, fire from heaven, Jezebel, miracles

Keep Your Eye on the Ball – Part 1

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again [1 Kings 18:37].

From the time my kids were born until they finished high school, I explained to them the importance of choosing our friends wisely. Since what we eat is what we are, so too who we hang with is who we are…or who we become. If we make friends with folks who have their head on straight and are succeeding in life, then we’ll likely keep our head on straight and be successful too.

Old King Cole, er, I mean old King Ahab of northern Israel needed to learn that lesson. Alas, but he didn’t, and the result was that all the Israelites paid the price right along with him. Let me tell you some of the story behind this.

When King Solomon died, the Lord gave ten tribes (i.e., the northern half of the Promised Land) to Jeroboam ben Nebat. The southern half of the Promised Land remained under David’s kingly progeny. The Davidic throne ruled the south (aka Judah), while Jeroboam ruled the north (aka Israel). The worship of the Lord was at the temple in Jerusalem, where the Davidic kings ruled.

For centuries until northern Israel went into exile in Assyria, the sins of Jeroboam plagued Israel. His primary sin was that he established two golden calves to serve as Israel’s gods, placing one in the north and the other in the south near Judah. Jeroboam didn’t want his subjects going to Jerusalem to worship, you see. He established idolatry pure and simple, and there is no surer way to get on the Lord’s bad side than to  be an idolater.

What Jeroboam did is known in Scripture as the sin of Jeroboam. But that isn’t what our story is about, dear friends. Alas, but old King Ahab wasn’t content to worship Jeroboam’s golden calves. He went off to Phoenicia and married that no account Jezebel, princess of the Phoenician king. In Phoenicia they just loved to worship Baal, and Jezebel brought Baal worship with her to Israel.

This left Israel with two major false religions, and the Lord was none too thrilled by it all. This ushered in the second period of miracles in the Old Testament. Baal worship in Israel led to the Lord’s miracle-working prophets coming to town. The main two were Elijah and Elisha.

Oh, no. We’re out of time again. It’s time to pull into the rest area, savor some delectable spiritual cuisine, and spend some time in wholesome conversation with the Lord. We’ll continue the journey to Mount Carmel tomorrow. See you then.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1 Kings 18, Ahab, Baal, Elijah, fire from heaven, Jezebel, miracles