Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Navigating Humility - 03/12/2023

 Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 03/12/2023

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Navigating Humility Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 

Navigating Humility

         “God resists the proud,

           But gives grace to the humble”  Js. 4:6

 Recalling our study from two weeks ago, “You’re Not God” there are two ways that we as believers can sometimes dabble in playing God:

         1) Trying to “make something happen” in our own strength.

         2) Receiving worship.

Both of these conditions launched Satan into a prideful state of rebellion.

Making something happen in our own strength or intellect.

         Read Js. 4:13-17

         Often times we find ourselves approaching life “on instruments”, so to speak. We go through our daily affairs with hardly a consideration as to what God would have us to do or to say. It’s not reasonable to defer to God for every blink and breath, but we should have an over arching mindfulness that indeed, He orchestrates every one.

         Weightier decisions certainly deserve a deeper degree of consultation.

         At times we are tempted to speed up God’s promises and/or force His hand toward a desired outcome.

         Abraham is an excellent example of the first

         Judas was an excellent example of the second.

In both cases the aim was to alter God’s sovereign plan by helping,  and nudging. Our free will may yet lead us into paths that are contrary to God’s perfect plan. We sometimes call this the difference between God’s prefect will and His permissible will.

Satan is always trying to draw us into his own failures.

Read Lk. 4:1-13  Christ Temptation

         The second temptations of Christ in the wilderness identifies Satan’s desire to receive worship. Jesus subdues him with the sword of the Spirit; The Word of God!

We continually feel the same tug on our soul to receive worship. Our parents often nurture it from birth by giving us praise.

Consider Mt. 6:1-8

         Paul says, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each on a measure of faith.” Rom.12:3

And more forceful: “For who makes you differ from another? And what do yo have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” I Co. 4:7

         The ugly deception is that we may even be inclined to do Godly and noble things with pride and selfish ambition.

         Paul said that some, “preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains.” Ph. 1:16

As we engage in this end times spiritual warfare, we must be willing and swift to take that path of humility!

We must:

         “pray without ceasing” I Th. 5:7

        ** In tongues more than ever before, I Cor. 14:18 **(see M.T.'s comment below)

         “Confess your sins to each other”  Js.5:16

         Ask God to reveal them, “Search me, O God, and know my                       heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is            any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”

                  Ps. 139:23,24

         “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own            understanding.” Pr. 3:5

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”                                                                                   Js. 4:10

 **While I have spoken in tongues, and prayed in tongues in the past I have discontinued tongues as a practice and I would advise extreme caution in pursuing tongues as a gift or prayer practice, as counterfeit tongue gifts have been used by the enemy to cause damage and divisiveness in the body of Christ.  Discern the spirits. Study the word of God and consider all points of view on this topic as there have been both positive and negative testimonies regarding the gift of tongues.  I share the following links in which a blogger David Carter, a humble Sunday School Teacher,  summarizes Billy Graham's balanced stance on tongues , from Graham's book The Holy Spirit,  which neither condemned nor promoted tongues as a spiritual gift and that made the assertion that "Neither the Holy Spirit nor any of His gifts were given to divide believers.".   ((https://stjohnstudies.com/2019/01/23/the-divisive-nature-of-speaking-in-tongues/ and (https://stjohnstudies.com/2019/01/27/the-last-words-on-speaking-in-tongues/ )  -   M.T. Clark**

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Prayer & The Lord's Prayer - 03/05/2023

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 03/05/2023

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Prayer & The Lord's Prayer Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 

Prayer

 

“Can two walk together unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3

Prayer is a conversation with God. Conversation is the vehicle by which we come to know someone, including God.

Let’s look at the “model” prayer, in Mat. 6:9-13, and then branch off from there. Prayer was not intended to be a wrote activity..

 

9. “In this manner, therefore, pray:

         Our Father in heaven,

         Hallowed be Your name.”

Immediately we engage two subjects from last weeks study; sonship, and God’s sovereignty.

We discussed, last week, that being children of God is not a foreign concept, even to first cen. Jews, but we added that our sonship is by adoption, and the vehicle for that adoption is the new birth.

Jn. 3:3 and I Pet. 1:22,23

Last week we also considered God’s sovereignty. Rev. 19:16, “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” God is sovereign because He is holy, and in Rev. 4:8, “The four living creatures...do not rest day or night, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty…”

10. “Your kingdom come

        Your will be done

        On earth as it is in heaven.”

This is a tough one. In brief I would call this an alignment with God’s will, and His kingdom dynamics in the hear and now. Jesus said, twice in Mat’s gospel, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mt. 4:17 and 10:7

11. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Mt. 6:25, “Is not life more than food…”

God is obviously involved and engaged in our physical needs.

Mt. 6:32,33, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

But also, Jesus invites us to feast upon Himself. Jn. 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in My shall never thirst.”

12. “And forgive us our debts,

        As we forgive our debtors.”

Forgiveness is a paramount aspect of God’s character. As we are called and drawn to be more like Christ, forgiveness will flow readily from us. And yet forgiveness is a complicated subject, because where there is no repentance, how can forgiveness be manifest?

13a. “And do not lead us into temptation.”

Js. 1:13,14, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away be his own desires and enticed.”

13b. “But deliver us from the evil one.”

I Th. 3:5 “For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know you faith, least by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.”

We still lie under the sway of the enemy, but we are given an instruction: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Js. 4:7

13c. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

A proclamation referring back to vrs. 10

This is a beautiful pattern for prayer, but if prayer were as easy as five of these and three “Hail Mary’s” and you’re done, then where would the intimacy be???

As our relationship with God flourishes, and grows in maturity and intimacy, so does our prayer life!!!

A powerful dynamic, in prayer, is to pray God’s word back to Him. This is not so much to remind feeble old Grandpa what He said, but that we would know His promises and come into alignment with them.

In this practice lies the power of proclamation as a weapon in prayer; extending our faith, and calling “those things which do not exist as though they did” Rom. 4:17

 

These are the privileges of sonship that we looked at last week:

authority, access, intimacy, and inheritance.

In this regard, Paul compels us to “pray without ceasing” I Th. 5:17

A constant dialogue with “Our Father who art in heaven” is available to us because He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Heb. 13:5 (Deut. 31:6)

This constant prayer, however, does not constitute an excuse not to steal away for special, solitary time with Him, Mt. 6:6; or for corporate prayer with other believers, Mt. 18:19

The power of agreement was manifest in the upper room (Acts. 2) when the hundred and twenty found themselves, “in one accord”.

Finally, prayer doesn’t represent a method of twisting God’s arm or informing Him what’s going on, or even listening for instruction, but the most intimate place of prayer is simply enjoying His presence.

“In Your presence is fullness of joy;

  At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Ps. 16:11

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

 

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - You're Not God - 02/26/2023

 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 02/26/2023

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: You're Not God Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 

You’re Not God

 

“I said, You are gods,

And all of you are children of the Most High

But you shall die like men,

And fall like one of the princes”      Ps. 82:6

 

Sounds like a contradiction, “You’re not God”, “You are gods”.

“Son of God” was not an unfamiliar term to the Jew of Jesus time.

Ex. 4:22, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn”’

When Jesus invokes the Psalm, in Jn. 10:32, He is making a general claim to sonship which the Jews would have been familiar with.

Indeed, we can claim sonship by adoption: Rm. 8:15, Gal. 4:5, Eph. 1:5.

With this new birth into the family of God comes certain privileges, including authority, access, intimate fellowship, and equality among siblings.

This is very different from the notion that you are God.

Isa. 37:16 says, “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone…”

 

The spirit to the age is consumed with the idea that we are God. This is, in part, a take away from Eastern religion which professes that we are all Gods in the making. This polytheistic view speaks of a pantheon of Gods, birth into deity after physical death. 

 

The deeper malady folds back to the heart of Lucifer, who sought to be like God in the highest sense by receiving worship, Is. 14:13, and who manifest his grand design in the garden, Gen. 3:5

In the fall we received knowledge, and we have been trafficking in knowledge ever since; trying to figure things out on our own, without deferring to God, the Creator of all that is seen and unseen.  The exaltation of science is an expression of this.

 

Dr. Robert Malone, in an interview on Redeemer Broadcasting’s “A Plane Answer” spoke of ideas being perpetuated by the World Economic Forum, such as, “God can be replaced”, and “man should be in charge of his own destiny”. There is even a term for this; homodeis.

 

All historic evidence confirms that, man in charge of his own destiny, only brings chaos and destruction. This is the very object of Satan’s aim, to vex and destroy the object of God’s greatest affection.

The resurrection thwarts that plan both in typology and actuality.

 

As believers we shouldn’t be shocked that the world is slipping into Satanism, occultism, idolatry, and the worship of anything and everything that liberates from any accountability to a sovereign God.

 

At the same time we ourselves must not get caught up in the notion that we are God. Though we have been given access, and authority, God is still sovereign. The humbling response to our most enthusiastic and noble prayers may still be “no” or “wait”. And any time we try to “make something happen” in our own effort, we dabble in playing God.

 

God is sovereign. We live under a tension between His sovereignty and our free will.

 

He must increase and we must decrease.

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Bound by Freedom - 02/05/2023

 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 02/05/2023

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Bound By Freedom Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 

Bound by Freedom

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

                                                                                          Jn. 8:32

In essence, freedom is a fallacy. We are not free, nor can we be, but we may chose to whom or what we may be tethered.

Rom. 6:16, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

Jack Hayford puts it this way, “A person is a servant or a slave of that to which he gives obedience or that which he recognizes as his master.”                                                                 Kingdom Living pg. 51

Fortunately there are only two choices, and the appropriate choice is obvious!!!

We might be compelled to ask the question, “What is freedom?” then since I have called it out as a fictitious notion.

Some might say that it’s the ability to do whatever you want whenever you want. That’s not freedom, it’s anarchy. Imagine living in a world where this was true.

How about the right to choose? Is that freedom? This is a big question in our culture. I would suggest that this is, in fact a bondage and not a freedom. In his book, A Free People’s Suicide, Os Guinness says, “The greatest enemy of freedom is freedom.”

Jack Hayford goes on to say, “We honor it, we celebrate it, we demand it, we pray for it. It is an overwhelming desire deep within us all...But in the fare reaches of our history, we lost it.”

How do we get it back???

In our opening verse we see that “the truth will make you free.” In this context, truth is not a negotiable concept, but a Person. Later in this exchange Jesus will say, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Jn. 8:36

Freedom is a gift, like salvation it is a free gift; “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. Eph. 2:8,9

The point of entry is narrow; “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which to life, and there are few who find it.” Mt. 7:14, but once through it breaks open to a field of freedom.

Our freedom is in Christ and conformity to the purpose for which we were created; “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever” Westminster Confession.

If we live contrary to our purpose, that’s not freedom, but bondage. We were once in bondage to sin, which brings forth death, but Christ has made us free. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” Gal. 3:13

We are His, we belong to Him; I Cor. 7:23 “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

The price of our redemption was, “the precious blood of Christ”

I Pet. 1:19, and we are humbled by this.

Hayford, “Sin is no longer the master by default, but our right to choose remains intact. We have a continual choice...to yeild ourselves to sin or to God.”  Paul says, “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord...present yourselves to God as being alive form the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Rm. 6:11,13

How do we do this??? 

We are not alone! Jn 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.”

Jn. 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

We can approach the throne boldly, as son’s; Heb. 4:16

In this place of freedom, where we are free to walk out our purpose, as Christ our Elder brother did perfectly, we have access to God’s promises because we are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. Rm 8:17

True freedom is conformity to your purpose and design, not release from it. Release represents separation back into bondage.

Hayford concludes, “Christ’s program of deliverance breaks bondage to both our flesh (selfish desires and self-will) and the Devil’s mastery. However, we may still suffer from the effects of Satan’s strongholds in our lives now. Their torment can seem alive and well, but they are only ghosts of yesterday. They are empowered only when we choose to listen to their lies.

The lies of the past can keep us in deceptive bondage; a bondage that requires our assent to be empowered”

Agree with your past, or agree with what God says?

Easy choice. Much at stake.

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Doin' Business with God - 01/22/2023

 Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 01/22/2023

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Doin' Business with God Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 

Doin’ Business With God

 

       “Search me, O God, and know my heart;

       Try me, and know my anxieties;

       And see if there is any wicked way in me,

       And lead me in the way everlasting.”         Ps. 139:23,24

 

Eventually each one of us will have to do business with our God. The most dangerous thing you can do is to take your faith seriously.

 

Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his life father       and mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  Lk 14:26

 

These are fighting words. A war within rages between the new creation man, and the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Our worst enemy is casual, melancholy, sentimental, Christianity. Jesus says He will, “vomit you out of My mouth.”

Believe it or not, God is serious about this stuff.

 

What is it that we speculate Jesus meant when He said things like, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” Mt. 12:36

                                             or

“Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Lk. 9:23

 

God is determined, through sanctification, to change us into the image of His Son. Rom. 8:29, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”

                                             and

II Cor. 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

So, how does He do this?

 

         When a metallurgist, when purifying gold, will turn up the          heat in order to bring the dross to the top of the liquid gold.    He scoops it off, and when he can see his own reflection in   the pot, he knows that the gold is pure.

 

                           How can we miss the metaphor?

“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” Deu. 4:24

I Pet. 1:7 says, “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Does God turn up the heat? That’s hardly a fair or worthy question.

But in Lk. 22:31, Jesus said to Peter, “Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." Satan turns up the heat in order to break us, but the next vrs. reveals the Lord’s heart toward us, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.”

 

“take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ” II Co. 10:5

Before it becomes a word.

For, “The tongue has the power of life and death” Prov. 18:21

Balak said, “Must I not take heed to speak what the LORD has put in my mouth?” Num. 23:12

That was the Spirit of Christ in him, who would say more perfectly later, “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” Jn. 12:49

 

         When trials come to the believer, waves of conviction should likewise accompany it. It’s time to do business with God. We should be willing and anxious to purge out the leaven, even the subtle sins, as Peter says, “laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and evil speaking.” I Pe.2:1. It’s time to take inventory. Not that God would instantaneously remove the trial but that He would give us grace to endure it. He said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” II Cor. 12:9

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - It's a Tree of Life! - 12/18/2022

 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 12/18/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: It's a Tree of Life! Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 

It’s a Tree of Life!

 

         “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

           and he who wins souls is wise”    Prov. 11:30

 

For those of you who have already nailed your pagan, Druid evergreen tree to the living room floor, rest easy; were going to temper that notion today.

 

Trees have an important role in God’s economy. By Gen. 2 we encounter the “tree of life” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”.

 

Though the birth narrative doesn’t involve a tree directly, we are pretty certain that Jesus was laid in a wooden manger, and that Joseph was a carpenter; not incidental details.

 

The trade of carpenter, in Jesus time was a somewhat different designation than we are accustom to today. He certainly didn’t have one of those cool, Dewalt impact drivers like the one I hope to get.

The word in Greek; “tekton” means a craftsman in wood. This could include, instruments for agriculture such as a yoke, or handles for sickles and hoes, plows, but also some wooden furniture, doors and wooden roofs. One source, citing an ancient papyri indicating that a carpenter could earn 50 denari a month, which was as much as a mason and twice as much as a shepherd, or water carrier.

 

Articles made of wood require the death of a tree.

 

In Rev. 7:2,3, an angel, “cried with a loud voice to the four angels to       whom it was granted to have the earth and the sea, saying,’Do not    harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the       servants of our God on their foreheads.”

Prov. 3:18, “She (wisdom) is a tree of life to those who take hold of her.”

Prov. 15:4, “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life”

Prov. 13:12, “But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.”

         As a woodworker myself I have often thought, I take trees and refashion them into something useful for man. God takes us and refashions us into someone glorifying to Himself. In both cases, the refashioning requires a death.

 

Britannica: “The modern Christmas tree originated in western Germany. The main prop in a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a ‘paradise tree,’ a fir tree hung with apples, that represented the Garden of Eden.” ..the Christmas tree was popularized in the mid-19th cen. by German-born Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria.

 

Hosea 14 speaks of “Israel Restored at Last”

         1. “O Israel, return to the LORD your God.

             For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

         4. I will heal their backsliding

             I will Love them freely

             My anger has turned away from him.

         8. Ephraim shall say

             ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’

             I have heard and observed him.

             I am like a green cypress tree;

             Your fruit is found in Me.”

 

In vrs. 8 God Himself promises to be an evergreen place of shelter for Ephraim. “Your fruit is found in Me.” is a promise to us as well.

 

Before, Israel made idols of wood (Is. 44:13-17) and Ps. 115:4-8

 

Please don’t worship your Christmas tree, or any of the trappings of the season. Worship Christ alone, as the “wise men” did; “For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” Mt. 2:2

 

He was laid in a wooden manger, destine to face a more notorious piece of wood, the cross, in order to rescue us from the bondage of sin and death. He was sent on a rescue mission!

 

Rev. 22:2, “in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

 

(https://www.britannica.com/plant/Christmas-tree)  

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship