my burg

Bible reading for weekend December 17 -- 19  Dec 17 -- Zechariah 4 and John 7 Dec 18 -- Zechariah 5 and John 8 Dec 19 -- Zechariah 6 and John 9 ================ "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6)  THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS (ch 4). We are reading the visions which the prophet Zechariah received. God is giving encouragement to the post-exilic Jews to continue their work in rebuilding the temple and the nation. Many of the images in these chapters recall those symbols portrayed in Christ's Revelation to the Apostle John in the last book of the Bible. The near events of rebuilding the temple (and the purging of evil) point ahead to more distant future events. An abiding principle both in the OT and NT is that the Lord himself will do the work through his Spirit and through his anointed servants. The two servants in view here are Joshua (the high priest) and Zerubbabel (the governo...

  Bible reading for Oct 13 -- 14 Oct 13 -- Ezekiel 46 and Psalm 102 Oct 14 -- Ezekiel 47 and Psalm 103 ================   "And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes." (Ezekiel 47:9) THE PRINCE, THE PRIESTS, AND THE RIVER (ch 46-47). We are continuing to read about Ezekiel's vision of the temple, the city, the leaders, the ministers, and the geography. It is visionary language, and it is in the future from Ezekiel's perspective. There are connections here with Revelation, and also with the Mosaic laws in Leviticus. In these chapters we see that the prince is to lead worship by his example; there are instructions about gates, gifts, offerings, holy spaces, and preparation of food. There springs from the temple a remarkable, ever-expanding stream of fresh water. Also, there is to be fair di...

Bible reading for Aug 2 -- 3 Aug 2 -- Jeremiah 29 and Mark 15 Aug 3 -- Jeremiah 30-31 and Mark 16 ================    "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Jeremiah 31:33) A FUTURE AND A HOPE (ch 29). The first half of this chapter regards a letter sent from Jeremiah to exiles already in Babylon (before Jerusalem is destroyed in 586 BC). There had already been two waves of deportations -- 605 BC (Daniel leaves with that group) and 597 BC (when Ezekiel leaves). He encourages them to settle in for seventy years there in a new land. His advice is applicable for Christians today... "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare" (v 7). We are, as followers of Christ, exiles and al...

Bible reading for Dec 10.  2 Chronicles 10. "So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the LORD might fulfill his word..." (10:15)  THE BOYS IN THE HOOD did not give Rehoboam very good advice! And there you have it -- the problem with the world is that young people have stopped listening to the advice of old people and are yielding to peer influence... Oh, sorry, I got ahead of myself! This account, also recorded in 1 Kings 12, is not merely about youthful folly. It tells us that Rehoboam's foolish decision which split the nation was a "turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word." God ordains and uses the freely-made choices of people -- whether they make good decisions or bad decisions -- in order to advance his own purposes and glory, and judgment. People are still responsible for their choices. That being said, young people do need to listen to the advice of older, wiser me...

"We obsess about the future and we get anxious, because anxiety, after all, is simply living out the future before it gets here. We must renounce our sinful desire to know the future and to be in control. We are not gods. We walk by faith, not by sight. We risk because God does not risk. We walk into the future in God-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is known to God. And that’s all we need to know. Worry about the future is not simply a characteristic, it is the sin of unbelief, an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God." ~ Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something , (Chicago: Moody, 2009) p. 48.  Quoted in  Burning Hearts: Preaching to the Affections by Josh Moody, Robin Weekes.