That Thy Lips May Keep Knowledge

That Thy Lips May Keep Knowledge

“My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.”(Proverbs 5:1-2 KJV)

Are we paying attention to the wisdom of our elders? Our parents, grandparents and older people in general have more life experiences than we do, at least in many ways. While age and experience by themselves do not impart wisdom to the spiritually ignorant, they are crucial in the growth of wisdom in the one who is a student of God’s word. Those who have been faithful, growing Christians for many years likely have developed a great understanding of God and His will simply because they have lived it! Pay attention to their wisdom. Seek their advice and heed it! Solomon’s son Rehoboam failed to do this in his life after he became king. He was imprudent in ignoring the sagacious advice of his father’s ministers, following instead, the foolish advice given by his youthful friends and peers. Read 1 Kings 12:1-15

Read also: 1 Timothy 5:1-2; Philippians 3:17

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The Life of Jesus in Six Short Phrases

The Life of Jesus in Six Short Phrases

The Bible is characterized by the summation of eternal, great truths in short paragraphs. We make the mistake of reading these verses without giving thought to the astounding truths found in them. One of these passages is the summation of the life of Jesus in six short phrases and written by Paul to Timothy (1 Tim. 3:16).

The passage begins with these words, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness…” The evidence is such that to honest observers it is beyond doubt. It then continues with these words about Jesus, “God was…”

“Manifested in the flesh…” Jesus was there in the beginning (John 1:1) and deity emptied Himself and was made into a mortal man. He was Immanuel and dwelt among us and was a visible manifestation of the glory of God (Phil. 2:6-8; Matt. 1:23; John 1:14).

“Justified in the Spirit…” Not justified as we are for He had no sin. He was justified, vindicated by the Holy Spirit who raised Him from the dead (Rom. 8:11). He claimed to be the Son of God, and they called Him, “Beelzebub.” The Holy Spirit vindicated Him by empowering the Son of God to cast out demonic spirits. His words on that day were, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28). Every miracle He performed vindicated His claim of being the Son of God.

“Seen by angels…” While this may have reference to the angels who from heaven desired to understand what the prophets foretold about His coming (1 Pet. 1:12), it more likely refers to the emphasis found in the New Testament. The word angels simply means messengers and is also applied to men (Matt. 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:24; James 2:25). The New Testament places great emphasis on those apostles and early Christians who saw the resurrected Lord and told others about it (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:8; 2:32; etc.).

“Preached among the Gentiles…” The mystery of God centers around the inclusion of the Gentiles (Eph. 3:6), and His messengers carried the gospel to every creature on earth (Col. 1:23).

“Believed on in the world…” The message was not only preached, it was believed—not by just a few in a limited isolated places. The New Testament world saw His believers.

“Received up in glory…” The life of Jesus does not end at Golgotha’s cross. He was raised, and the witnesses saw Him ascend into glory. The message of Pentecost and throughout the world to every creature was God raised Him from the dead to reign (Acts 2:32-33) until the last enemy is destroyed.

Take time to think about His life in these six “words.”

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How Little the Apostles Knew

How Little the Apostles Knew

To read the account of the life of Jesus is to see how often He was either frustrated or amazed at the apostles’ lack of understanding about what He was saying. He was with them almost daily for over three years, but their words even at the ascension show just how little they had comprehended.

Those apostles struggled to understand even the simple truths He taught. Think of how easily you grasp the parable of the sower. Yet after Jesus told the story of the man who sowed seeds on four kinds of soil, the disciples privately came to Him and asked for help in understanding it. Jesus’ response was, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mark 4:13).

After Jesus had fed the 5,000 and the 4,000, the disciples had forgotten to take bread with them as they were crossing the sea of Galilee. When Jesus gave a stern warning to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, they misunderstood, thinking His words were about the fact they had brought only one loaf with them. Jesus said, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear” (Mark 8:14-18). Think of how readily we understand His words about the leaven of the Pharisees. Note amazement as He rebuked them. They did not understand the simple things He said.

They did not understand the most fundamental truths of why Jesus came. When He foretold His betrayal, death and resurrection on the third day, “They did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him” (Mark 9:31). On another occasion when He taught this simple truth, Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. Jesus turned and rebuked him saying, “Get behind Me Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Mark 8:32-33).  It is remarkable to think they did not comprehend the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

They did not understand the nature of the kingdom. He spoke of the bread and the fruit of the vine in the kingdom, but they failed to see its nature. Just minutes before He ascended into heaven they still thought the coming kingdom had to do with the reestablishment of the Jewish earthly kingdom (Acts 1:6-8).

Jesus selected the twelve, spent years with them and they still did not see why He came and the work He was doing. Now think about what you understand compared to them. They grasped so little of the heart of the gospel, but they were used by Him to change the world. They knew so little but took what they knew to the lost. We know so much more, what are we doing with what we know?

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David Teach Me How to Pray

David Teach Me How to Pray

As one reads the book of Psalms, he easily discovers that in this book are scores of prayers of David. There is so much to be learned about praying from this godly man. In reality we have far more of the prayers of David than we do of the prayers of Jesus. Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed all night. Jesus prayed so differently that when His disciples heard Him praying they said to Him, “Lord, teach us how to pray, as John also taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). His response was to give them the “Lord’s Prayer,” which begins, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (Luke 11:2).

Because David was a man after God’s own heart, we can learn so much from looking at the prayers found in the psalms. If we can learn to use the words of this godly man in our prayers, we can rest assured that God will hear us when we pray.

Psalm 143 illustrates this concept so clearly. David opens his heart before us and we can immediately identify the situations in David’s life with those which happen in ours. It is at times like this, we can learn from David about how we should never waver in petitioning our Father.

The Setting for Psalm 143

The beginning of this psalm identifies this particular psalm as being one David wrote. Read the psalm to see that there was that enemy of David who had created grave problems. David said the enemy has persecuted his soul, crushed his life to the ground, created a world of darkness around him (v. 3). His soul was overwhelmed.  The man after God’s own heart was conscious of his sins, but prayed to God on the basis of “Your faithfulness…and Your righteousness.”

Keep On Asking

Jesus taught us to keep asking, seeking and knocking on the doors of heaven, and in the last half of this psalm that is what David did. “I spread out my hand to you…answer me speedily, O Lord…cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning for in You I do trust…I lift up my soul to You…Deliver me, O Lord from my enemies; in You I take shelter. Teach me to do Your will for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Revive me, O Lord, for Your name’s sake. For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.”

God never tires of us asking Him and acknowledging our dependency on Him. Jesus prayed the exact same prayer three times in one hour when in Gethsemane. When trials overwhelm you and it appears the enemy is winning, remember this psalm. This not a prayer indicating David’s doubt of God’s nature. It is his soul repeatedly crying out to God again and again. As trials come, read this psalm and keep on praying!

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Zechariah: Fountain of Sin Opened

Zechariah: Fountain of Sin Opened

After being in Babylon for seventy years, the Jews had returned to rebuild Jerusalem and restore the worship of God in the new temple they had built. Jehovah sent His final three Old Testament prophets to finish delivering that covenant, and then for the next 400+ years He was silent. The last three books of the Old Testament are filled with great truths.zechariah prophet

Zechariah, the longest of these books, ends with many references to the coming of Jesus. He speaks of Gethsemane and that night when evil men would strike the Shepherd and the sheep, the apostles, would be scattered. “Awake, O sword against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My companion, says the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zech. 13:7; Mark 14:27).

He speaks of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Spirit. “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced” (Zech. 12:10). They pierced our Savior’s hands, feet and side, but the coming of the Spirit caused their cries of “Crucify Him, crucify Him” to be turned to tears of mourning on Pentecost. Their cries became petitions reflecting their grief at what they had done. They cried out, “Men and brethren what shall we do” (Acts 2:37)?

Some remarkable truths are revealed in chapter thirteen. “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (v. 1). They killed His Son, and His response was to open a fountain of blood to wash their sins away! Our God is One who longs for all men to come to repentance.

Look at the next verse.  “It shall be in that day, says the Lord of hosts…that I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.” In one brief sentence God shows that demon possession would come to an end when He opened the fountain for sin. There is no need for exorcists in our day because demon possession came to an end.

God was about to end the Old Testament prophets. When Malachi wrote his book, God would become silent and there would no longer be prophets. When the fountain opened for sin, New Testament prophets would come again, but there would be an end to these prophets. When they had finished their work, God would again become silent. “I will cause the prophets to depart from the land.”  The opening of the fountain brought new prophets, but the end of their work was foretold. The faith has now been revealed once and for all (Jude 3). When God had given all that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3), He stopped sending prophets. We have all the truth in the book they left for us.

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