Thursday, June 15, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Here's a great note from Brigette Severance:

 

Good morning!  I have an update on Angie, my co-worker with the brain tumor.  She had an MRI and a CAT scan done last week that revealed no sign of the tumor!!  She still has to finish out her radiation treatments, but the news is wonderful!!  Thank you for all your prayers on her behalf!!

 

Brigitte    

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 14:13, Barclay 128-129

 

-- this is a short section today, and Barclay doesn't really connect it with the section that had gone before, about the doom awaiting those who "sell out" to the beast by taking his mark and worshiping him.  The end of that section talks about those who are steadfast in their committment to the Lord, and who are loyal.  This section talks about those who die in the Lord, and their reward.

 

-- I think that those sections are connected, because of my expectation that, during the time of the beast, those who refuse to take his mark and worship him will die or be killed.  That's always been my expectation of that time is going to be about.  So, I think reassuring those who are facing that prospect is part of what John is intending to do here.

 

-- I think that the other thing to remember/takeaway from this section is that this is another example of God reassuring us that our faithfulness will be rewarded.  But I think that the thing that we need to remember is that all of these reassurances of God's reward for faithfulness are necessary because God realizes that being faithful and loyal to him is difficult, if not downright fatal in certain circumstances.

 

-- one thing noted in the scripture today is the thought that those who die in the Lord "from now on" will be blessed.  I'm not sure why those words were added to that verse.  I guess it also depends on your point of view of the timeline -- where does this vision of John fit into the overall timeline of Revelation and of world history.  If the beast was Rome, then "from now on" started thousands of years ago.  If the beast isn't Rome, from now on hasn't started yet.  That said, if it hasn't happened yet, this doesn't mean those who have been faithful won't receive a blessing -- I think of this passage as just a note that those who die in the midst of all this exceptional percecution will have a special blessing.    

 

 

Today's Scripture 

 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Romans 8:38

 

Today's prayer requests:     Saundra Aaron

Valerie's brother's mother-in-law continues to go through treatment for cancer.  Need to remember her and her family in her struggles    

Today's class member prayer: 

Andrew Peebles    

 

Jay 

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Good Morning   

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 14:9-12 , Barclay 126-128 

--  this is, as Barclay notes, the fierest warning in all of Revelation.  The bottom line -- take the mark of the beast and worship the beast, and your penalty will be the undiluted wrath of God, including torture forever in fire and brimstone in the presence of  the angels and Christ.

-- obviously, this is one of the reasons why everyone wants to know who the beast is, so that they don't inadvertantly take his mark. It is why it is a big deal to some people, because to make a mistake would be catastrophic. My sense is that no one will take the mark of the beast by accident -- you'll know what you are doing, and my sense from some of the other reading in Revelation is that people will do it to survive, to get along, or to get ahead.

-- this is where Barclay's approach to the beast creates more problems for my understanding -- if the beast is the Roman Empire, then the times of the mark of the Beast have come and gone.  In this section, he gives all the reasons why John would provide such a stern warning against the beast, since the Church was in its infancy during this time, and losing followers would have meant the total loss of the Church.  This explanation that Barclay has still has problems for me.  In addition to not really buying into his idea of the timing of the beast, I think his explanation drops out God completely.  I get the sense from his commentary is that John made the penalty for following the beast really harsh because John could see that the church was in danger at this time in its history.  I'd like to think that God made the penalty harsh because worshipping the beast and taking its mark is the most active and specific repudiation of God and Christ, and that the penalty for worshipping the beast would be harsh whether he was in John's time or our time.

 Today's Scripture   

 

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

Ephesians 5:8-10

 

Today's prayer requests:     Saundra Aaron

Valerie's brother's mother-in-law continues to go through treatment for cancer.  Need to remember her and her family in her struggles    

Today's class member prayer: 

Susanne Russell   

 

Jay 

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Good Morning   

 

In case anyone had not heard the details, here's a quick note from Christie:

 

Hey Jay,

Just a quick note to let you know that we had a baby Friday at 12:39 p.m. She weighed 7lbs 8.5 oz and was 20 inches long. Everybody is doing fine. See you in a couple of weeks.

Christie 

Don't forget that this coming Sunday is Father's Day.

Today's Reading:    Revelation 14:8, Barclay 125-126

-- quick note today about the second of the three angels.

-- in this commentary, Barclay continues with his approach that many of these references are to Rome, and there are some compelling reasons to believe that approach is correct.

-- there are many today who believe that the Babylon reference is actually referring to the U.S., that our culture and its effect on the entire world is the corrupting wine that John refers to.  It is American culture that religious fundamentalist in other countries -- and in our own -- want to war against as a corrupting influence on their culture.  And it the nature of things that America is not known as much for Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, but for Madonna, Brad, Stallone, etc.   In this interpretation, this passage of Revelation is referring to the downfall of America.

-- even if that is not correct, there is something to be learned from the thought that we MIGHT be the Babylon that is corrupting the world with our culture.  As much as we can, if we can correct and clean up what is commonplace in our culture -- the celebrations of sex, violence, greed, self -- one day it might be harder for people to see the parallels between our America and John's Babylon.

 Today's Scripture   

 

Keep alert; stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.

 

1 Corinthians 16 13-14

 

Today's prayer requests:    Just fyi, not many prayer requests in the que right now, which is a good thing in general, but we need to keep our eyes and hearts open to see who we need to remember.

 

One group of people to remember are the employees at Regions and AmSouth banks -- those two banks are going to merge, and there is alot -- alot -- of concern and uncertainity about jobs and layoffs among employees at both banks.  Need to remember them during this next six month period as all of that is sorted out.   

       

Today's class member prayer: 

Nicole McKinney  

 

Jay 

Monday, June 12, 2006

Good Morning   

 

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 14:6-7, Barclay 123-125

 

-- Today's reading is about the first angel in John's vision of three angels.

 

-- Again, this is one of those sections/verses in Revelation that one tends to completely gloss over in your casual reading of the book.

 

-- This angel flies through heaven, bringing the everlasting gospel to everyone in earth, and announcing that the hour of judgement is at hand.

 

-- Barclay has an interesting point, and one that we tend to forget.  He mentions that this angel is immediately followed by two more angels, both of which proclaim judgement and doom.  The point that Barclay makes is one that we forget, that there is a cost to rejecting the gospel, to rejecting God's overtures to us and calls for repentance and belief.  People tend to push that off somewhat, and think that there is always time to heed God's call, but at some point, either in our individual lives or in the life of man on earth, there will be no more time.

 

Today's Scripture   

 

God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in uapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.  To him be honor and might forever, Amen.

 

1 Timothy 6:15-16 

 

Today's prayer requests:   Our troops in Iraq.

Need to continue to remember our troops in Iraq -- that story sometimes falls off of our radar, but there are still a lot of our troops over there in danger.       

Today's class member prayer: 

Matt Rocksvold 

 

Jay