YOU NEVER CAN TELL

Posted on by BETH

You Never Can Tell

You never can tell when you send a word
Like an arrow shot from a bow
By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,
Just where it may chance to go.

It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend,
Tipped with its poison or balm,
To a stranger’s heart in life’s great mart
It may carry its pain or its calm.

You never can tell when you do an act
Just what the result will be,
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
Though the harvest you may not see.

Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
In God’s productive soil;
You may not know, but the tree shall grow
With shelter for those who toil.

You never can tell what your thoughts will do
In bringing you hate or love,
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
Are swifter than a carrier dove.

They follow the law of the universe –
Each thing must create its kind.
And they speed o’er the tract to bring you back
Whatever went out from your mind.

–Gospel Digest, February, 1960

A Plea for Our Boys

Posted on by BETH

Drink deeply and consider the precious ones given us by God. We are responsible!

kejob's avatarfor the invisible

A Plea for Our Boys

Amaris is taking World History this year, and showed me a quote in her history book which I kept thinking about as I was studying mercy for the previous post. Seneca was a Roman soldier, but even he was appalled at the depths his country had sunk to – to be entertained by killing.

“I chanced to stop in a midday show [of gladiators], expecting fun, wit, and some relaxation, when men’s eyes take respite from the slaughter of their fellow men. It was just the reverse. The preceding combats were merciful by comparison; now all the trifling is put aside and it is pure murder…” (Quoted in F.F. Bruce,
New Testament History, p.42) 

He goes on to describe the spectators’ enthusiasm for the sport, and demand for continuous action.

This bothered me. We attribute the fall of Rome to the immorality of their society, and point at their…

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HOW GOD DEALS WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW: Lesson 3 of 8

Posted on by BETH

ISRAEL BEGAN TO BE A NATION WHEN IT CROSSED THE RED SEA

  • They needed a law to govern the people. (What happens to a people without a law? 2 Chr. 15:3; 2:12; 1 Cor. 9:21)
  • Two weeks later ( 20:1-17), God gave them the Law (only ten of the commandments at that time) on Mt. Sinai.

THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW IS MORE THAN JUST THE 10 COMMANDMENTS.

Continue reading HOW GOD DEALS WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW: Lesson 3 of 8

HOW GOD DEALS WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS: Lesson 2 of 8

Posted on by BETH

Lesson 2

Deut. 5:1-4

  1. And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
  2. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
  3. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
  4. The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

Note particularly in verse 3 that God did not make the covenant with anyone but Israel.

Deut. 7: 12-15 says “IF ye hearken….

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

Deut. 11:22-28—IF ye shall diligently keep all these commandments….

22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

23 Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:

28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

QUESTIONS:

  1. What law were the Israelites under when they first entered Egypt (Gen. 47:11)?
  2. Which law did the twelve tribes of Israel submit to while they were in Egypt for 400 years (Gen. 47:11)?
  3. What law were the Israelites under the first day they crossed over the Red Sea?
  4. What would happen to any nation if it had no national laws?
  5. What law did God give to govern the physical nation of Israel (Deut. 5:1-3)?
  6. What did God call the law that He gave to the nation of Israel (Heb. 8:7-9)?
  7. For whom did God make the Law of Moses (Deut. 5:2)?
  8. For whom did God not make the Law of Moses (Deut. 5:3)?
  9. Did God give the Law of Moses to anyone but the physical nation of Israel (Gal. 5:1-4)?
  10. What did God promise the Israelites He would give them if they kept his covenant (Deut. 11:22-24)?
  11. Which non-Israelite prophets, who prophesied before or during the time the Jews, were not under the Law of Moses? The non-Jewish nations (Gentiles) were not under the law of Moses, but God dealt with them through prophets.  Which prophets (specific prophets) would this have included?

You might think of a timeline which would look something like this:

  • Prophets ============================================>Christ
  • Mosaic (OT) Law =====================>Christ
  • Christ ===========>Today
  1. Consider that Abraham is our example of faith. Was he under the Law of Moses?  You may have to use the timeline here.
  2. Of all the examples of faith in Heb. 11:1-40,  how many of those lived under the Law of Moses?
  3. Reading from 1 Cor. 10:1-5,  what put the Israelites “into Moses?”