Category: Bible

May 19: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Luke 16. Jesus told the parable of the unjust steward to show it is not enough to follow the practices of the land, one must be above reproach in spiritual things, even if you are following the Law and the Prophets to the letter you will fail. He ended with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

1 Kings 12 tells of the revolt against Rehoboam and Jeroboam’s Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan. They were put up so Rehoboam didn’t have to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice.

1 Kings 13. From Judah came a Man of God with a message. It did not go over well, so through lies and intrigues the Man of God was killed by a lion. One quote from this chapter: “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.” Large portions of the Old Testament describes how not to worship, let this be a warning for us.

1 Timothy 6:1-10, honor masters, error and greed, the Good Confession, Instructions to the Rich, the Love of Money is the Root of all evil.

1 Timothy 6:1-10, honor masters, error and greed, the Good Confession, Instructions to the Rich, the Love of Money is the Root of all evil.

May 18: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Luke 15 is deceptively simple. Just three parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and finally the lost son, the most famous story of redemption of them all. 

In 1 Kings 10 the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon and praised him “The half had not been told”; of Solomon’s great wisdom and wealth, that is.

1 Kings 11. Solomon’s heart turned from the LORD, ( blame the foreign women and their idolatry). It records Solomon’s adversaries, Jeroboam’s rebellion, and Solomon’s death.

May 17: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

In Luke 14, , again on the Sabbath, at a Pharisee’s house no less, Jesus healed a man with dropsy. Noticing how the people competed for the best places Jesus spoke of the lowly place to be sought rather than the place of honor, and as an object lesson he gave us the parable of the Great Supper and the cost of following Christ. Finally Jesus mentioned the value of good salt and the worthlessness of salt that lost its savor.

1 Kings 8. It was celebration time when the Ark was brought into the Temple, Solomon gave a great speech and a prayer of dedication. Then he blessed the Assembly and dedicated the Temple with lots of sacrifices and it finished with a fourteen day feast.

1 Kings 9 tells of God’s second appearance to Solomon, this time with a promise and a warning. Solomon and Hiram exchanged gifts and the chapter lists more of Solomon’s achievements.

Thought of the day. Rejuvenate your wineskins!

This passage in the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 5, is one that puzzled me for a long time: (Jesus speaking)

First, let ‘s dispense with the King James’ translation, the original Greek mentions wineskins, not bottles.

Wine is made from grapes, and the sugar content of grapes is about 16%. The wine making process is to convert the sugar into ethanol via fermentation, and grapes come replenished with their own yeast, so the fermentation starts whether you like it or not. If you leave the grapes out in the air they will ferment and the ethanol will oxidize into vinegar, so they must ferment in a vessel that locks out oxygen. The fermentation has two phases, the first phase is fairly fast, a little more than 10 days, where the sugar converts to ethanol. This process releases CO2; nearly half of the weight of the sugar goes up in the air in the form of CO2, the rest is ethanol. No wineskin can handle that, so fermentation was usually done in a clay vessel with a lid on to prevent air to enter. At the end of 10 to 15 days they had “new wine”.

Bur the fermentation was not over, the aging process began, and that lasted from a few weeks to a few months. During that time there is a slow release of CO2, but the vessel had to be air tight so no oxygen would spoil the wine and turn it into vinegar.

This is where new wineskins come in, they can handle this process by being ever so slightly permeable, if they are made from young goatskin, properly prepared.

Old wineskins on the other hand are hardened and can even be brittle, like an old leather glove that has been lost in the snow for the winter, and when it is found in the spring, it is ruined.

Jesus did not teach wine-making when he used that parable, in the parable the wine is the Holy Spirit and we are the wineskins.

Many people, me and my wife included have been praying for a great new, worldwide revival, and following that, a great worldwide awakening. Revivals usually start small and local, but with great intensity. The intensity will be greatest among young people, and they will celebrate with a new song in their heart. They are the new wineskins, they will be filled with new wine, and their new music will be less refined, raw and unpolished, or so it will seem to us old wineskins. We better prepare for the outpouring of the Holy spirit in our old wineskins by rejuvenate them with the oil of joy to make us ready to receive the old wine, aged to perfection with the full bouquet, like when Jesus turned water into wine. Then we who have been saved for many years can join with the young and appreciate each other, we appreciate their youthful enthusiasm and music, and they will appreciate the good wine that comes from lifelong experience.

There is a great passage in Isaiah 25, a song of praise coming right after the dreadful chapter 24. It speaks of aged wine being the finest of wines.

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Revelation 7:17: For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

Yes, there will be a great worldwide revival, and an even greater awakening.

May 16: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Luke 13. Jesus kept telling the religious Jews “Unless you repent you all perish.” The fig tree is a symbol of Israel, and until then God has been patient with the barren Fig Tree. Moving on, like Jesus so often did, a woman was healed on a Sabbath, which made the ruler of the Synagogue angry. Jesus took issue with that, asking why can you save animals on Sabbath but not people? He then told the parable of faith like the Mustard Seed, the Leaven and the narrow Gate and explained why not all will enter. Finally, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem.

1 Kings 6 retells in great detail how Solomon had the Temple built.

And the retelling continues in 1 Kings 7, how Solomon had his palace and the other buildings built. He hired Hiram the Craftsman, and he completed the bronze pillars for the Temple, the Sea and the Oxen, The Carts and the Lavers and had all the temple furnishings made.

Philippians 2:12-29, shining as stars, Timothy and Epaphroditus.

Philippians 2:12-29, shining as stars, Timothy and Epaphroditus.

This emphasizes who was, is, and will be performing the salvation, as was written in Philippians 1:5-6 “ For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day (past) until now (present); 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it (future) until the day of Jesus Christ:”.