The builder and the built (us).

Hello again!

Here is what God gave me today, in his word: 

For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses–as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)    

(Hebrews 3:3-4) 

 

Whoa, what was that, that just went out the window? Answer: Evolution.

People have been believing the lie, or, that is, the theory, of evolution for years, even though the inventor of the theory, Charles Darwin, in the end, accepted that evolution was false! The bible continually points the God being the creator of all things, just look at the verse!

It’s amazing how people are able to have some much faith really, I mean, I really am impressed with evolutions faith, just think about it, having no purpose to life, being empty and void (why do people turn to drugs and other things) and think of beliving  that the world, just happened, and that there wasn’t a creator to all the billions of creatures, that point to a creator, I wish I could have that sort of faith, but, instead, I really don’t have that much faith, compared to the evolutionist, that is, I believe God created the world, and that all the billions of creatures saying God created the world. It’s that simple. The theory of evolution, which can not be proven, and whose founder turned back on it, or Jesus, who historically died, nearly everything in the bible can be historically proven, I don’t see much of a debate.

Daily prayer section: Dear heavenly father, thank you for showing us, in your word, what is true, and what is false, thank you that you show yourself to me everywhere ever day, thank you for sending your son to die for me, so that I would be able to see all the amazing and wonderful things you have created, thank you that you set me free of my sin, and that you are always near me, in Jesus name, amen.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

We’re brothers :)

Hello again!

I think Hebrews is my new favorite book of the bible, and this is why:

 

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

(Heb 2:14-18)

All in four verses, we see: Jesus and us are ‘brothers’ in every sense of the word, the gospel, the Devil defeated, Jesus helping us with temptation because he was tempted first, and, if you think about it, Jesus’ amazing love for us!  

 Five big things in four small verses, God is great (and that’s putting it mildly). We were subject to life long slavery with no hope, what was the answer to that problem? Jesus! The Devil was seemed ‘supreme’ and us so helpless, answer? Jesus! We were without hope or love, answer? Jesus!

Jesus, is, always, the, answer!!! No matter what things were going through big or small, God is always bigger.

The passage is just so ‘rich’ and my mind is just so ‘small’, I can’t fully grasp of Jesus, it’s impossible to fit that much knowledge into anyone’s puny little mind (puny, when you compare it to all of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit). God is so big, that we can come to him with ANY problem or situation we have, and ask him to forgive and forget, or to help us with what ever problem we have, God is the ULTIMATE accountability partner, he’s always right next to you. And, it makes sense, after all, since Jesus died on the cross and rose again, and he become my Lord, We’re brothers :). 

Daily prayer section: thank you so much, Jesus, for your amazing, extraordinary love! Thank you that you were willing to humble yourself down to becoming human, and dieing for me! Thank you for being strong when I am weak, thank you for always correcting me when I do wrong, thank you for always being near to me, and helping me when I’m about to fall, thank you for rebuking the Devil, and defeating him! Thank you for showing yourself mighty to the end, and that the end, isn’t the end for Christians! Thank you, so much, for… Everything! In Jesus name I pray, amen.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

The gospel, no more, no less.

Hello again!

If you don’t see the gospel in this verse, I’ll stop blogging: 

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

(Heb 2:9)

How much clearly do you want it? “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus” Jesus made himself lower than the angels, for us (for a little while)! He was willing to leave the comfort and luxuries of heaven, for us!!!

“with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” By the grace of God, I like that, “by the grace of God I’m alive today, by the grace of God I’m not dead because of sin, halilullah! It’s the only word I can think to describe it, Jesus, by the grace of God, became lower than the angels, and tasted death, so we won’t have to!!!

Daily prayer section: Dear heavenly father, thank you so much that, by your wonderful, merciful grace, you sent Jesus, your one and only son to die for me! Thank you Lord, that, it’s by your grace I’m still alive! Thank you so much for loving someone as awful and sinful as I! Thank so you so much, in Jesus name, amen.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

How we can do what the bible tells us.

Hello again!

I’ve decided to switch from ASV to ESV, it’s just easier for me to understand, but aside from that, here is what God gave me today in his word:

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,Well, first and probably most obvious, I think this passage is telling us to not only listen to what we hear, but to obey it. I can just about promise you, that 90%+ of Christians, may hear something, but not, in fact, do it. You may go so far as to say you will do it, but end up not, because your busy with something, it’s always important to not only talk the talk, but to walk the walk. But, how can we do that? ” how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard” I think that sums it up pretty well. If Jesus almighty was able to die for you aren’t you able to make up a little time, just to do what you said you would? Or to obey and do what you read today? It really isn’t all that hard, at least, in comparison of what Jesus did for you! He died on the cross, even though, at any time, he could have called ten legions of angels to help him. That, is the love of Jesus Christ, that he should lay down his life, for you, and me.

(Heb 2:1-3)

Daily prayer section: Dear heavenly father, thank you for all the many, many blessings you have given me, thank you that because of Jesus dieing on the cross for me, and rising again, I am now able, not only to say this very prayer to you! But to obey what you tell me to do in your word, thank you that now, through your might power I am able to overcome the devil and his schemes, in Jesus name, I pray, amen.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Hebrews

Hello again!

I decided that, instead of continuing on in the old testament, that is was time to move on to the new testament. I have also decided, during the “Hebrews study”  I’m going to add a ‘daily prayer time’ It’s located at the bottom of the post.

1 God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, 2 hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; 3 who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Heb 1:1-3 (ASV)

I find verse 2 the most interesting in this passage: 2 hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds;  “whom he appointed heir of all things” all things would include people, people would include, you, and me. How could God just appoint something like that to someone? Two reasons, first, he created the whole world. That’s probably the most obvious one, the second is that Jesus was able to claim us and become heir of us all because he died on the cross! He had to be perfect to claim us from sin, and to show us his amazing grace!

That’s also how Jesus can be God’s ‘effulgence’  by the way, if you were wondering, ‘effulgence’, means “the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light” I’d say that describes the “son” extremely well. What could be more bright and pure than the sun (son)?

when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; after being glorified Jesus sat down on the right hand of God the father, can you guess where we sit? On the right of hand of Jesus!

Daily prayer section: Dear heavenly father, thank you for sending your holy son to die on the cross, for us, thank you for glorifying you son on the cross, and making restitution for all of our sins, thank you that now, you are our master, and we are your servants, I pray that you would help us to become more like you, and to grow to become better soldiers for you. In Jesus name, I pray, amen.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

How to weary the flesh, and the words of Jesus, and the (impossible) duty of man.

Hello again!

Here is what God gave me today in his word:

11 The words of the wise are as goads; and as nails well fastened are the words of the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. 12 And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Eccl 12:11-12 (ASV)

Now, with verse 12, however much I would love to say this means, we shouldn’t have to study school etc, it doesn’t mean that, instead,the way I see it, it means we should truly indulge ourselves in the word of God! Do you want to know one way to weary your flesh of attacking you? Read the word of God! The bible! That’s the way I would interpret that part of that verse.

 with verse 11, also at the last part: the words of the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. It confused me for a while, at first I thought it ment something like: we should only have one pastor in a church, and the “great assemblies” should create the sermon which the pastor would preach, which, of course, makes absolutely no sense at all. Then, after talking it over with my twin sisters, we came up with what I think God, and Solomon, intended it for, which is this; the masters of the assemblies, are all the pastors of all the congregations, the shepherd, is Jesus, who is “giving” the pastors the words they should say.

But, I think to get the main point of the passage, we have to look a little farther, into verses 13 and 14:

13 This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Eccl 12:13-14 (ASV)

Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the duty of man. Ouch! Who can do that? It’s impossible! Impossible to fear God with the fear and reverence that he requires, impossible obey his commandments, impossible to complete our duty to God! That is, without Jesus. Nothing is ever impossible for Jesus, why do you think he died on that cross for you?! To complete your duty for you!

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Good to the bad and bad to the good

Hello again!

actually, yesterday I was reading in my bible, looking for a verse to pray, and I found it:

“24 Whoever says to the guilty, ” you are innocent” – Peoples will curse him and nations denounce him.25  But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come upon them.”

Prov 24:24-25

actually, the verse I found specifically was verse 24, I sort of… Added 25 on today, but there were 3 things, I first thought of when I saw this verse:

“How on earth did I miss this when I first went through proverbs?!”

“I need to post this to my blog!”

“I need to pray this!”

And, as you can clearly see, I am posting it, and I did pray it in church, during our prayer time before the service.

Isn’t it amazing? Or a better question, isn’t he amazing? Jesus was cursed and denounced for us! He took on our guilt and declared us innocent! Now we can go free! It may at times look like the wicked are winning (because, to the world, they are) but in the end “they will blow away like chaff”.

Have you ever wondered why it seems all the unbelievers always seem to have money, power, position? This is why! Even though, they probably won’t call you “guilty” to your face, or even use those words, but you can tell they think of you as a “goodie-tooshoes” and a “more holier than thou” kind of person, they think you are trying to be better than everyone else, and, sometimes they try to prove to you that you are not better than them. In other words, they declare you guilty.

Also, one of the reasons that sometimes believers don’t have the latter mentioned, money, power, and  position, we do, we have spiritual treasures, more power than Mr. Obama, and a position sitting on the right hand of Jesus! That’s all I could ever want. Another reason, is because sometimes God wishes to test us, he will send trails at us, and tests to see how we’ll do.

So, this is what God gave me, yesterday. (The only reason I didn’t actually post this yesterday, it because I, in fact, forgot about it).

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Use your days wisely, while you still have them.

Hello again!

Today God has given me another look into his word:

7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. 8 Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Eccl 11:7-10 (ASV)

In verse 9 it says ” Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.” That’s rather a sobering thought, wouldn’t you agree? Another words “Sure, be sinful, just be willing to reap the consequences for it”.

In verse 8 it says “Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.” The actual dictionaries description of vanity is “The quality of being valueless or futile. Synonyms: emptiness” The days when you were still in darkness, they were all “empty”… Without Jesus you are totally and completely “empty” without any real hope. You try to fill that “emptiness” but only gain guilt and more condemnation, that’s why we all need Jesus!

In verse 10 it says ” Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.” If we replace “vanity” with “empty” it reads  “Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are empty.” That reads an entirely new thing, the dawn of life, empty, youth with out Jesus, empty, all is “empty” with out Jesus! The only way to obey the bible and cast of vanity and sorrow and evil, is to trust fully in Jesus!

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland