O. Addison Gethers e-mail address [email protected] [email protected]
twitter URL http//:twitter.com/OAddisonGethers Messenger contact window live/msn messenger: [email protected] aim: durangoadd64 skype: cowboys62 yahoo messenger: OADDISONGETHERS rs ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donnie Parrett" <[email protected]> To: "Donnie Parrett" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:13 PM Subject: Daily Bible Reading For Friday November 13 > Day 324 > > Romans 10 > Israel Reduced to Religion > 1-3Believe me, friends, all I want for Israel is what's best for Israel: > salvation, nothing less. I > want it with all my heart and pray to God for it all the time. I readily > admit that the Jews are > impressively energetic regarding God-but they are doing everything exactly > backward. They don't seem > to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation > is God's business, and a > most flourishing business it is. Right across the street they set up their > own salvation shops and > noisily hawk their wares. After all these years of refusing to really deal > with God on his terms, > insisting instead on making their own deals, they have nothing to show for > it. > 4-10The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the > Messiah, who then puts > everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone > who insists on using the > law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy-every > detail of life regulated by > fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a > different story- no precarious > climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell > to rescue the Messiah. So > what exactly was Moses saying? > > The word that saves is right here, > as near as the tongue in your mouth, > as close as the heart in your chest. > It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things > right for us. This is the core > of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God-"Jesus is my > Master"-embracing, body and soul, God's > work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. > You're not "doing" > anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. > That's salvation. With > your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say > it, right out loud: "God has > set everything right between him and me!" > > 11-13Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this-heart and > soul-will ever regret it." > It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may > be: the same God for all of > us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for > help. "Everyone who calls, > 'Help, God!' gets help." > > 14-17But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And > how can they know who to > trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can > they hear if nobody tells > them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do > it? That's why Scripture > exclaims, > > A sight to take your breath away! > Grand processions of people > telling all the good things of God! > But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah > asked what we all ask at > one time or another: "Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and > believing a word of it?" The > point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word > is preached, there's > nothing to listen to. > > 18-21But haven't there been plenty of opportunities for Israel to listen > and understand what's > going on? Plenty, I'd say. > > Preachers' voices have gone 'round the world, > Their message to earth's seven seas. > So the big question is, Why didn't Israel understand that she had no > corner on this message? Moses > had it right when he predicted, > > When you see God reach out to those > you consider your inferiors-outsiders!- > you'll become insanely jealous. > When you see God reach out to people > you think are religiously stupid, > you'll throw temper tantrums. > Isaiah dared to speak out these words of God: > People found and welcomed me > who never so much as looked for me. > And I found and welcomed people > who had never even asked about me. > Then he capped it with a damning indictment: > Day after day after day, > I beckoned Israel with open arms, > And got nothing for my trouble > but cold shoulders and icy stares. > > Romans 11 > The Loyal Minority > 1-2Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he'll have > nothing more to do with > them? Hardly. Remember that I, the one writing these things, am an > Israelite, a descendant of > Abraham out of the tribe of Benjamin. You can't get much more Semitic than > that! So we're not > talking about repudiation. God has been too long involved with Israel, has > too much invested, to > simply wash his hands of them. > 2-6Do you remember that time Elijah was agonizing over this same Israel > and cried out in prayer? > > God, they murdered your prophets, > They trashed your altars; > I'm the only one left and now they're after me! > And do you remember God's answer? > I still have seven thousand who haven't quit, > Seven thousand who are loyal to the finish. > > It's the same today. There's a fiercely loyal minority still-not many, > perhaps, but probably more > than you think. They're holding on, not because of what they think they're > going to get out of it, > but because they're convinced of God's grace and purpose in choosing them. > If they were only > thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long > ago. > > 7-10And then what happened? Well, when Israel tried to be right with God > on her own, pursuing her > own self-interest, she didn't succeed. The chosen ones of God were those > who let God pursue his > interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy. The > "self-interest Israel" > became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this: > > Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways, > God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears, > Shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors, > and they're there to this day. > David was upset about the same thing: > I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals, > break a leg walking their self-serving ways. > I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors, > get ulcers from playing at god. > > Pruning and Grafting Branches > 11-12The next question is, "Are they down for the count? Are they out of > this for good?" And the > answer is a clear-cut No. Ironically when they walked out, they left the > door open and the outsiders > walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder > if perhaps they had walked > out on a good thing. Now, if their leaving triggered this worldwide coming > of non-Jewish outsiders > to God's kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back! What a > homecoming! > 13-15But I don't want to go on about them. It's you, the outsiders, that > I'm concerned with now. > Because my personal assignment is focused on the so-called outsiders, I > make as much of this as I > can when I'm among my Israelite kin, the so-called insiders, hoping > they'll realize what they're > missing and want to get in on what God is doing. If their falling out > initiated this worldwide > coming together, their recovery is going to set off something even better: > mass homecoming! If the > first thing the Jews did, even though it was wrong for them, turned out > for your good, just think > what's going to happen when they get it right! > > 16-18Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, > God-tended root. If the primary > root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit. Some of the > tree's branches were > pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you > are now fed by that rich and > holy root gives you no cause to crow over the pruned branches. Remember, > you aren't feeding the > root; the root is feeding you. > > 19-20It's certainly possible to say, "Other branches were pruned so that I > could be grafted in!" > Well and good. But they were pruned because they were deadwood, no longer > connected by belief and > commitment to the root. The only reason you're on the tree is because your > graft "took" when you > believed, and because you're connected to that belief-nurturing root. So > don't get cocky and strut > your branch. Be humbly mindful of the root that keeps you lithe and green. > > 21-22If God didn't think twice about taking pruning shears to the natural > branches, why would he > hesitate over you? He wouldn't give it a second thought. Make sure you > stay alert to these qualities > of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in > God-ruthless with the deadwood, > gentle with the grafted shoot. But don't presume on this gentleness. The > moment you become deadwood, > you're out of there. > > 23-24And don't get to feeling superior to those pruned branches down on > the ground. If they don't > persist in remaining deadwood, they could very well get grafted back in. > God can do that. He can > perform miracle grafts. Why, if he could graft you-branches cut from a > tree out in the wild-into an > orchard tree, he certainly isn't going to have any trouble grafting > branches back into the tree they > grew from in the first place. Just be glad you're in the tree, and hope > for the best for the others. > > A Complete Israel > 25-29I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. > This is complicated. It > would be easy to misinterpret what's going on and arrogantly assume that > you're royalty and they're > just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that's not it at all. This > hardness on the part of > insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to > all the outsiders so that > we end up with a full house. Before it's all over, there will be a > complete Israel. As it is > written, > > A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion; > he'll clean house in Jacob. > And this is my commitment to my people: > removal of their sins. > From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the > Message, it looks like the Jews > are God's enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God's > overall purpose, they > remain God's oldest friends. God's gifts and God's call are under full > warranty-never canceled, > never rescinded. > 30-32There was a time not so long ago when you were on the outs with God. > But then the Jews slammed > the door on him and things opened up for you. Now they are on the outs. > But with the door held wide > open for you, they have a way back in. In one way or another, God makes > sure that we all experience > what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and > welcome us back in. > > 33-36Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity > of God, this deep, deep > wisdom? It's way over our heads. We'll never figure it out. > > Is there anyone around who can explain God? > Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? > Anyone who has done him such a huge favor > that God has to ask his advice? > > Everything comes from him; > Everything happens through him; > Everything ends up in him. > Always glory! Always praise! > Yes. Yes. Yes. > > Romans 12 > Place Your Life Before God > 1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, > ordinary life-your > sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it > before God as an offering. > Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. > Don't become so well-adjusted > to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix > your attention on God. > You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants > from you, and quickly respond > to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its > level of immaturity, God > brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. > 3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, > and especially as I have > responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you > does, in pure grace, it's > important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing > this goodness to God. No, > God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is > by what God is and by > what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. > > 4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part > gets its meaning from the > body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is > Christ's body of chosen > people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. > But as a chopped-off finger > or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find > ourselves fashioned into all > these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's > body, let's just go ahead and > be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing > ourselves with each other, or > trying to be something we aren't. > > 6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, > just help, don't take over; > if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be > careful that you don't > get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to > give aid to people in > distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with > the disadvantaged, don't let > yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on > your face. > > 9-10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life > from evil; hold on for > dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing > second fiddle. > > 11-13Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants > of the Master, cheerfully > expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy > Christians; be inventive in > hospitality. > > 14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your > happy friends when they're > happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be > stuck-up. Make friends > with nobodies; don't be the great somebody. > > 17-19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, > get along with > everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll > do the judging," says God. > "I'll take care of it." > > 20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that > person lunch, or if he's > thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. > Don't let evil get the > best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. > > > > > > > > ~~~~~ > Please join us on Skype Monday thru Friday at 8:00 EST for our Morning > Skype Prayer Time. > Also, follow my tweets on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/Donnie1261 > > > Contact Me At: > Donnie Parrett > 1956 Asa Flat Road > Annville, Kentucky 40402 > Home Phone: 606-364-3321 > Church Phone: 606-364-PRAY > Skype Name: Donnie1261 > Email: [email protected] > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dbilg?hl=.
