#bible exposition

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Set Your Affections on Things Above

Colossians 3:1-2 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Paul’s instruction is clear. The believer must not allow the heart to be ruled by earthly desires, temporary pleasures, or worldly approval. To “set your affection on things above” means to…

Set Your Affections on Things Above

[natetheantiquarian]

Long Winded Preachers

In this episode of The Distracted Christian Podcast, Wes Scott continues the series “Strange Passages: Their Meanings and Applications” by looking at Nehemiah 8 and asking a convicting question: Why does a four-hour public reading of Scripture sound crazy to us? Through a mix of humor, personal stories, and pastoral reflection, this episode explores the post-exilic Jews’ deep hunger for God’s…

Long Winded Preachers

[n8ronymous]

The Letter to the Letter to the Ephesians

The New Testament book that is typically named, Ephesians probably wasn’t originally sent to the Ephesian church or meant for them.  Other of Paul’s letters derive their names from his intended recipients as given in his greeting. For instance, the sister letter to “Ephesians,” that we call Colossians, contains the Greek prepositional phrase, “en Kolossais,” in verse 2. Similarly, the Greek…

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The glorious restoration of God

You see, you do not see the world as God intended it or created it. You see a world that is suffering as a result of man's rebellion and sin. You do not see man as God intended him. With his physical ailments and impairments. With the deafness, blindness, handicaps. God did not intend that. And in the Kingdom Age, these things will not be. How can a God of love allow a child to be born blind? How can a God of love allow a child to be born deaf or something? Hey, wait a minute. This world is presently under Satan's control who has rebelled against God. Jesus came to redeem the world back to God and the day is coming when He is going to take His purchased possession unto Himself. And when He does, you'll see the world that God intended and it will be a world without suffering. It will be a world without pain. It will be a world without physical weaknesses, impairments of any sort. For the lame will be leaping as a deer. The blind will see. The dumb will be singing the praises unto the Lord. And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped,

“for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and there will be streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, they will not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up there upon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.” (Isaiah 35:6-9)

~ C.W. Smith

[theologyforthelayman]

Jeremiah 29 And A Message Of Hope

Jeremiah 29 And A Message Of Hope

The book of Jeremiah is a book filled with tragedy, beauty, and redemption.  Jeremiah 29 takes place after the exile of the people to Babylon.  In 597 B.C., the king Jehoiachin surrendered to the conquering Babylonian empire and the nobility were exiled to Babylon[1].  To fully understand the context of Jeremiah 29 it is helpful to look back to chapters 27 and 28.  Those chapters discuss the…

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Try as you may

Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from death; that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world, and others, with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death: but how is it in fact? [Ecc 2:16]. "How dieth the wise man? even as the fool."

All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.

~ Jonathan Edwards

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Infliction of punishment

A man who inflicts punishment will die, and the punishment will come to an end; but God will never cease to exist, and the punishment which he is capable of inflicting today he will be capable of inflicting forever and ever. To fall into his hands, therefore, "for the purpose of punishment" - which is the idea here - is fearful:

because he has all power, and can inflict just what punishment he pleases;

because he is strictly just, and will inflict the punishment which ought to be inflicted;

because he lives forever, and can carry on his purpose of punishment to eternal ages; and

because the actual inflictions of punishment which have occurred show what is to be dreaded.

 ~ Albert Barnes

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Hebrews 10:26-31 | Andrew Farley