CHIEF SINNER

Today’s Reading: 1 Timothy 1-2

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

The Odeon (Bouleuterion) in Ephesus. This building has the shape of a small theatre. It had a double function in use. First, it was used as a Bouleuterion for the meetings of the Boulea or Senate. The second fuction was the Odeum – a concert hall for performances. It was constructed in the 2nd century A.D by the order of Publius Vedius Antonius and his wife Flavia Paiana, two wealthy citizens in Ephesus. Paul assigned Timothy to remain and minister in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3-4).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 1:15

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

The first and second letters to Timothy and Titus are the last letters Paul wrote. He was in the dungeon now, not the rented house where he served time earlier under house arrest. No doubt he expected his execution any day. These are the only letters addressed specifically to individuals. History proves that all human development for good or evil can be traced to the decisions of one person.

Our key verse is the most concise statement of the mission of Jesus on earth! Yes, He did come to earth to teach and to set the highest moral example as to how we should live our lives, but first and foremost His number one reason for becoming human was to save sinners! Until we trust Jesus for our salvation, we can’t even begin to follow in His steps. If Jesus had only come to show us how to live, we would have been frustrated and doomed, wallowing in our own constant failure! In spite of Paul’s great success as the Apostle to the Gentiles, and having won many to Christ, he never lost sight of his desperate need for the Saviour.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

O Holy God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I confess with Paul that I am the chiefest of sinners, and that You, Lord Jesus, came into the world to save me and all sinners who will believe on and in You (not just about You). As Paul wrote, Lord God, “For this reason I obtained mercy…” (1:16a). “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honour and glory forever and ever! Amen!!!” (1:17).

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I can’t let this reading go by without reference to Paul’s words concerning women in ministry. I’ve mentioned before about Mrs. Willows from Winnipeg, whose ministry had a profound impact on my life. She was a powerful preacher/teacher. In the light of this fact, how do I understand Paul writing that women are “to be in silence” (2:12)? The golden rule of Bible interpretation is “Let the Bible interpret the Bible.” Because of Paul’s experience in Corinth with the husband and wife team of Priscilla and Aquilla, both of whom were teachers of God’s Word, we must draw the conclusion that Paul was dealing through Timothy with a circumstance culturally specific to Ephesus. In the worship of Diana, in her great temple in Ephesus, the leadership was provided by women priestesses. Also, there is the Orthodox Jewish approach to women in the Temple and in the synagogues that we should consider. In traditional Judaism women were forbidden from public ministry. Timothy had to balance these factors. Therefore, I conclude that these were not instructions for the whole Church, but specifically for the one person to whom Paul was writing, Timothy, and just for this specific congregation. In Acts 21:8-9 we find the four daughters of Philip were prophetesses.

Yours for ministry, public and private, by all God’s children,

David

Another view of the Odeon described in the photo above.

One of the main roads of ancient Ephesus that is just in front of the Odeon.

CELEBRATION

Today’s Reading: Job 41-42

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Pictured above is a homestead in Haran which is now in modern day Turkey. After the Lord called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, he settled in Haran for many years (Genesis 11:31; Acts 7:2-4).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Job 42:10

And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

“Behemoth” and “Leviathan” are the names of two roller coaster rides at Canada’s Wonderland just north of Toronto. These creatures have captured the imagination of people everywhere. At the Chinatown parades, an awesome creature that seems to resemble Leviathan snakes its way through the streets. Stories of fire-breathing dragons abound in almost every culture. It does appear that God wants to get people’s attention! His approach worked well for Job and his friends. In sincere humility, Job confessed, “I have uttered what I did not understand” (42:3b). Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar humbled themselves and submitted to God’s instructions for Job to pray for them.

Surprise! Job, who was now about 60 years old, was doubly blessed by God! As we are faithful to God, we can expect that the Lord will bless our “latter days” also. Job’s prayer for his friends was probably a daily discipline in Job’s life. We can learn much from these readings, which conclude today. Tomorrow we move back to the New Testament and Paul’s first letter to the young man, Timothy.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I pray with all my heart that I will continue learning the lessons Job and his friends learned about You. I sincerely want to hear You well and see You clearly with eyes of understanding. Grant me, I ask You, the discipline and concern necessary to pray fervently and consistently for all who come before me. I pray in the Name of Jesus, the One who went away by Himself every morning to pray, Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

According to the last words of the book of Job, there was a great family party. I find it a great joy to celebrate! From time to time I need to relax, break the routine, and simply enjoy life, family and friends. I confess that most of the time I’m too serious, and through the years I’ve learned to celebrate more. I was thinking of Job’s party described in the last seven verses of the book. He must have enjoyed the festivities immensely! My eldest son, our blog photographer, is the father of Elizabeth, wife of David Lee, who gave our family one of the greatest parties when his Toronto Argonauts football team at the time won the Grey Cup (2012). One of my great-grandsons, James Stowell, who was featured yesterday with his dinosaur cap, put on David’s Grey Cup ring (photo below).

Yours in celebration of God speaking through His Word and by His Spirit!

David

GOD’S QUESTIONS?

Today’s Reading: Job 40

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

It was in this area of the Jordan River that Jesus was baptized. Looking from the Jordanian side, you can see the Greek Orthodox Church in the distance. Five kilometres beyond the church is Jericho. Today’s reading says of the Behemoth creature, “The Jordan gushes into his mouth” (Job 40:23b). This may have been a description 0f a brontosaurus dinosaur who, so it is estimated, could grow to a weight of 30 tons.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Job 40:7-8

Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

Some day at the final judgement, God will ask the questions. Until then, we humans have lots of questions for God. This one is often one of those… “If God is good and all powerful, why does He let people die in war, famine, and disease?” Our answer is found in the key verse. People try to justify themselves or our fellow humans by making God out to be the culprit. Take the current events in Syria and iraq for example. In order to make the killing stop, God would have to violate His own moral standards and rob Isis leaders of their free will. They pray unwittingly to Satan, and the result is that they become destroyers like Satan. Free choices, the very qualities that make us human, are ours to make, and thus we suffer the consequences. The 20th century saw the greatest number of people in human history murdered. Perhaps 10 million perished as a result of what was called National Socialism in Europe (Hitler), and as many as 100 million in Russia, the Ukraine, China, Cambodia and other countries through Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others (Communism). The undergirding belief common to them was that lower forms of life should be wiped off the earth so that more highly evolved people could thrive in a socialist paradise.

Dress the holocausts up however we will, it was the belief that we will never stand before God in judgment (either He does not exist or as one of the fathers of such thinking taught, “God is dead”), along with the belief in “the survival of the fittest,” which was the genesis of such tremendous evil! People who claim to believe that they are answerable to the great Creator of the Universe could not commit such atrocities without trembling in fear.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I pray that increasingly I will fear You in great awe and respect, so that I’ll live my life honouring You, Your creation, and all the people on earth. Because You, Lord Jesus, took judgment for evil upon Yourself as You suffered on the Cross, I am justified in Your sight, O Holy God. Thank You for changing everything, Lord Jesus! In Your Name, Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

As a boy I was intrigued by dinosaur skeletons which we would visit in Canada’s national museum in Ottawa. When I made it clear that I believed God created these amazing creatures, I was ridiculed by my teacher. I felt like saying, “Pick on someone your own size,” but I did not believe I could defend my position at the time. I would have loved to have shown my science teacher our Crossroads Creation Series, which aired on television across the Soviet Union about 28 years ago. The set of 13 shows fell into the hands of the head of the Russian Academy of Science, and he in turn gave them to the head of Radio and Television Moscow. I received a fax asking me for permission to air them across all 15 republics. I faxed back to the effect that I could’nt believe that the USSR, the centre for the promotion of world atheism, would do such a thing. I asked for an affidavit and a formal contract before I would believe them and agree to their request. Within a week they complied and carried our series in prime time for 13 weeks from January through the end of March,1989. They were released as the first Christian-produced telecasts ever carried on USSR television. Forgive me if I’m repeating myself, but my mind is still boggled at the magnitude of this development. This resulted in my invitation to preach the very first ever conference of church leaders from all 15 Soviet republics in Moscow. A mobile TV production truck, which Crossroads donated to a newly created Russian ministry, covered the conference, but that is another story far too long for this blog (I think I covered it in my latest book THIS FAR BY FAITH).

Yours for the greater glory of our great Creator God!

David

P.S. The descriptions of unusual creatures in today’s and tomorrow’s readings cannot be anything other than Dinosaurs. Today’s sounds like a brontosaurus (the Behemoth, Job 40:15-24). Dinosaurs are so exciting to children that my great-grandson, James Stowell, wore a dinosaur hat. I find it difficult to resist sharing such pictures with you. Here it is…

Apatosaurus, also known as the Brontosaurus, possibly fits the unusual description of the Behemoth in today’s reading.