August 20
16Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great:
He appeared in the flesh,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)
I wanted to pull some truth from our New Testament reading. While the Book of Jeremiah is continuing in the prophets narrative, I think I have mentioned the overarching theme of that book enough this month: that God was extremely tired of His chosen people not following His commands and makes good on His promise to destroy them by “the sword, famine and plague.” It’s been an interesting month to read the Book of Jeremiah with all that is going on in the world right now. It really seems like God is making good on His promises again. I mean, I’m tired of the people of this world, and I’ve only had to deal with them for forty years. I can see why God’s patience could have run out again. As Paul wrote in his letter to Timothy, “beyond all question,” the mystery of true “godliness springs” from the facts of Jesus’ arrival and life, yet the world continues to question if Jesus is who He said He is. God’s chosen people, the Jewish lineage and faith, outright deny Jesus is the Messiah. Then there’s the Islamic faith, who give Jesus more significance than the Jewish, but the world sees how easily certain factions of Islam twist their religion for pure evil. And then there’s the “Christian” nations like America, who has a growing population of those who do not believe in any God; an Evangelical base that file into their church pews every Sunday but have never read the Bible in its entirety, let alone life out a Christian lifestyle; and our culture of celebrating idols far more than living by the teachings of Jesus Christ.
So here I am again, back to what Jeremiah preaches over and over: God’s patience has run out. I guess I need to finish Jeremiah so I can focus more on the positive power of redemption, because I have been a “Debbie Downer” on here lately.
I appreciate all of you taking the time to read this, a simple man’s rambling rants. At least I have this to share below: the never ending positive messages from Pastor Steven Furtick. His message from last week is another great one to watch or listen to, and share over and over.
And even more exciting than the preaching of Pastor Furtick is that their worship team dropped another banger for worship music today. I was going to share this later in the week, but the world needs this on their playlist right now. Click the image below to hear the next great track from Elevation Worship and be ready to turn up the volume, let it get loud. (If you are reading this before 12:15 PM EST, you will have to wait for the premier of this one)
Reading plan: 1 Timothy 3:14-16
Deeper reading plan: Jeremiah 39, 40
Common Sense Reborn 