Colossians 3:15

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Phillipians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It’s hard to be critical and thankful at the same time, it’s hard to have peace when we are worried, and it’s hard to be focused on both at once. I think we have a method of how to apply Colossians 3:15 contained within Phillipians 4:6-7, for when we start focusing on prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we stop focusing on our anxiety, and as the focus changes peace follows along, as we form a habit and heart of prayer and thanksgiving the peace of God will begin to rule our hearts.

Application-I will memorize Phillipians 4:6-7 and work towards a habit and heart of prayer and thanksgiving.

Colossians 3:14

Colossians 3:14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Above what things? Above putting on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, above bearing with one another and forgiving one another, above all of these put on love. You can do all these things, you can prophecy or give all your goods to feed the poor, give your body to burned, but without love everything all of these are pointless, without love even the best of things are nothing. Obviously these other things are still needed, but they are to come as an outpouring of love.  1^st Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love covers a multitude of sins.”  Love is the bond of perfection, I believe that when we do everything with agape love that there is nothing that points more clearly and persuasively to our God, the author of agape.

Application-I will pray each day that God gives me the ability to love those he puts in my path with agape love.

Colossians 3:13

Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Bearing with one another, does this mean we should take responsibility for other people’s loads and cover for them, or maybe that we should take up the cause and avenge one another?  Galatians 6:1 says- Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing he deceives himself… Here we have the key word but, which cues is into the answer to our question. It continues on in verse 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not another. For each one shall bear his own load. We are called to restore our brother, we are not called to create dependency on ourselves by shouldering someone else’s responsibility or by avenging someone, but rather to help lead them to a dependency only on Jesus Christ.   What about avenging? Romans 12:19 says- Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written “vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Now let’s continue on to the second half of the verse. How often do we think we have the right not to forgive someone, that we deserve our complaint or anger or fill in the blank against them? Christ died for us while we were still sinners, He took every one of our sins upon himself, forgiving us of all our sins, that is insane, that is unimaginable, and yet that is what he has done for us. He also calls us to forgive those who sin against us as he has forgiven us. To think that someone else has wronged us more than we have sinned against our Savior is arrogant, prideful and wrong. We have true freedom in Christ and to imprison ourselves by not giving up our so called right to not forgive is simply foolish. I personally have had to be forgiven of many many things, and I have also had to forgive others of many things, so I know from experience that it is not easy to forgive, but thank God that we are not called to a Christian life of ease but to one that will point others to the perfect God that we serve.

Application-Christ forgave me of everything and I have no reason other than pride to not forgive those who sin against me, so I will make a point to be a man who forgives. I will bear with my brothers as I have opportunity, helping to show them that vengeance is the Lords and that their goal shouldn’t be to demand their rights, but instead to forgive just as Christ forgave them.

Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, that sounds exciting. But the power isn’t for us to use for our own ends, it’s not for us to use it to do whatever we want to do with it. The power that we receive from the Holy Spirit is for us to use as we witness to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Peter confirmed this when after healing a lame man at the temple astounded everybody, now if Peter was using this power for popularity or anything else it would’ve been readily apparent, but here’s what he said. Acts 3:12b “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? And then he goes on to tell them about Jesus and their need for him. The power of the Holy Spirit is never meant to be used to glorify oneself, but to point others towards God.

Application-As I continue to pray for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit I will remember that the power is not meant for my own good or purposes but for the glory of God.

Acts 1:7

Acts 1:7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

As we read this verse we are reminded that trusting God’s timing is something that we can do willing or unwillingly, either way that we go about it God still controls the timing and it is not for us to know his times or his seasons. We are also reminded that God has the ultimate authority, one that does not depend on the whims of anybody, not even Jesus’s 12 disciples. As I mentioned in the beginning, we can either trust in God’s timing or worry and fret over it, either way He will still be in control, so here we have a passage that talks about what we should do instead of fretting or worrying.

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ Or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For 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. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Application-I will memorize Matthew 6:25-34, so that I can better remember the right way to trust God.

Acts 1:6

Acts 1:6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Oftentimes when somebody is giving us instructions we are quick to think, if I’m supposed to do this it must mean this, we want to know everything all at once. Likewise, here the disciples as soon as they are told to wait for the Holy Spirit to come, they assume that Jesus telling them to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit must have something to do with the restoring of the kingdom to Israel. This restoration of the kingdom was a part of many of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, and because Jesus was the Messiah, they assumed that the restoration should take place while he was on the earth, or at least as soon as he sent the Holy Spirit. They wanted to figure out what was going to was going to happen when the Spirit came, and they were quick to ask for an incentive on waiting, and most of the time so am I.

Application-I will continue to work on trusting God with my circumstances, knowing that he has a plan for me that I can only follow step by step, trusting that he has something good in store for me even when some of the details of his plan are painful.

Acts 1:5

Acts 1:5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 

Why didn’t this baptism of the Holy Spirit come immediately, were there any requirements for this baptism to happen?   

  John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

 

  It would appear from these verses in John that some prerequisites were that they were to be thirsty for the Spirit, in yesterday’s IBS we saw that they were to obey Jesus commandments, they were to wait in Jerusalem, and Jesus had to first be glorified.

Application-I will pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, waiting on God’s timing for it to happen.

Acts 1:4

Acts 1:4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

John 14:15-16 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever

John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

I’m not quite sure how to interpret Acts 1:4, because I’ve never done any previous studies about the Holy Spirit. However, these verses in John seem to infer that having the Spirit Manifest himself has something to do with loving Jesus by keeping his commandments. In this verse the disciples are keeping Jesus commandment of waiting for the Promise of the Father (the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) by staying in Jerusalem.

Application-I will pay close attention to each IBS today to see if I can gain a better understanding of this verse.

Waiting is the spin that all of the interns have taken on this verse. Following God’s commandments is more of the direction that Pastor G took. Both seem to be appropriate directions to take.

Proverbs 31:7

Proverbs 31:7 Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

To those who are perishing, to those who are bitter of heart, let them drink to forget their poverty and misery. Is this the man God calls me to be? I don’t think so, as the son of a king I feel that God is calling me to act like the leader and the prince that he has called me to be, and not to act like I’m perishing, bitter, impoverished or full of misery.

Application-I will place an emphasis on learning how to become a Godly servant leader, and work towards actually doing the things that I learn. 

Proverbs 31:6

Proverbs 31:6 Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart.

What’s the point of giving wine to the perishing and those who are bitter of heart? Didn’t the verses right before this warn us that wine could easily lead to perverting justice? I think that it means to give wine to those who have no other hope, to those who need the pain numbed, not so much condoning it as stating that if anybody should be given wine to that these are the ones that would need it the most.

Application-As Pastor G said yesterday, I will strive for the law in my own life and strive for grace and mercy for others. 

Proverbs 31:5

Proverbs 31:5 lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.

God places a lot of emphasis on not forgetting his law, in fact all of Psalms chapter 119 the longest chapter in the bible is devoted to remembering the law, and there are many other places that God commands us to meditate on his word, his laws, his precepts, (Joshua 1:7,1:8, Psalms 1:2 etc…) Deuteronomy 17:18-19 Talking about the requirements for kings says “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes… Now what does God have to say about perverting justice? Deuteronomy 27:19 ‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. For the king to forget the law and pervert the justice of the afflicted, a curse would be brought down on him, this would be more than just a trivial matter before God, and this is why it is not for kings to drink at all.

Application-1^st Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Though it is lawful for me to drink wine, as a man who seeks to be a leader I will abstain from drinking, not with a condemning spirit but because it’s not for leaders to drink wine.

Proverbs 31:4

Proverbs 31:4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink;

This verse doesn’t say that drinking wine is a sin, but it does caution that drinking wine is not for kings or princes. There are many places in the bible that warn people to take caution when dealing with wine and many types of people that God sets apart that are not to be given to wine such as the nazirites (Numbers 6:3), the priests (Leviticus 10:9), kings (Proverbs 31:4).

Also there are several places that give warnings about the effects of wine and strong drinks and the danger of becoming addicted to it, such as, Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker and strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. Or Proverbs 23:29-35. Anything an excess can become a sin, but the drunkenness wine so easily brings is more destructive both to oneself and those around than many other excesses.

Application-I will never drink wine to get drunk and will continue to seriously evaluate whether drinking a little when a guest is appropriate for me, also I won’t drink if it stumbles those around me.

1st Corinthians 13:7

1^st Corinthians 13:7 (Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love puts up with all things, love believes the best, with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow, love has an attitude of confidently looking forward to what is good and beneficial, love perseveres. As I look at this list of the Greek meaning behind these words I have to say I still have a long way to go before I truly love like this. As most of you know, my fiancée and I recently broke up and I wanted to put all the blame on her and her parents as to why the relationship wouldn’t have worked, but, as time has passed and I’ve had time to evaluate things I’ve been realizing my love many times didn’t match up to the list Paul gives us here. God is helping me grow, it’s a long painful and necessary process. I trusted myself more than I trusted God or anyone else, but thank God that he’s merciful and didn’t treat me like I deserve and that God works all things to the good of those who love him.

Application-I commit my heart to God’s hands trusting him that he has the right girl for me somewhere, and in the meantime I will work towards becoming the right man for whoever she may be. (Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1st Corinthians 13:6

1^st Corinthians 13:6 (love) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

We may look at this and say; of course I don’t rejoice in wickedness, I hate sin. But, do we really? It’s easy not to rejoice when someone sins against you, it’s not so easy when the thought pops into your head that says I’m going to repay them for what they just did. It’s not so easy when nobody will probably ever know what you just did. It’s easy to rejoice in the truth when it’s convenient, but what about when the truth could hurt you? This list wasn’t written to help the Corinthian church know what true love looks like because it was really easy for them to love because life was all peaches and cream, flowers and butterflies. It was meant to convict to show them that even if they used their spiritual gifts and did great things for God but didn’t have this love that the gifts and great things were meaningless.

Application- As I seek to love others I will memorize this section of scripture so I can judge myself by it. I will continue to learn to discipline myself to pray, read my bible and study God’s word every day. I will work on learning how to do each of these better, not for the sake of becoming legalistic but for the sake of growing a more intimate relationship with my Lord and Savior.

1st Corinthians 13:5

1^st Corinthians 13:5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

The list continues…God does not behave rudely, does not seek (plot or plan) his own, is not provoked, God thinks no evil. Agape is God’s perfect unconditional love that is given though no one deserves it, it is also a love that he calls us to have as well, but one that can’t be had apart from a right relationship with him. You can’t develop this kind of love without God; you can work at it and do some of it sometimes, but the only way to truly become the type of person who loves others this way is to build an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Like any other relationship it will take work to build and maintain an intimate relationship, but as Christians this is the very thing we are called to do, John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. How can we keep his commands unless we know what they are, and how can we know what they are unless we continue in prayer and reading and studying of his word the Bible? However this is not a list for us to aspire to by our own strength; if I were it would give us great potential to become legalistic and prideful, which is not the goal. This passage is meant to convict us to love, like a plumbline, it’s not a command but an ideal.

Application-I will continue to learn to discipline myself to pray, read my bible and study God’s word every day. I will work on learning how to do each of these better, not for the sake of becoming legalistic but for the sake growing a more intimate relationship with my Lord and Savior.

1st Corinthians 13:4

1^st Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

Love is a word we often take for granted something we say many times almost without thinking about what we’re saying. Here in this chapter we have a list of what real love looks like, the Greek word for this type of love is called agape which means unconditional love. It’s not that hard to love when the other person is treating you fairly and nicely or they go out of their way to do something nice for you… But this list starts off with love suffers long, you usually don’t suffer to much when someone is being nice to you, which implies that the list is more than just a love for your friends, but a love for your enemies as well. Love is kind, it does not parade itself, and is not puffed up, what kind of love would do that, only Christ’s love could do that, and as followers of him this is the kind of love that all Christians must strive for, even to the point where they love their enemies this way as well (Matthew 5:43-48).

Application-As I seek to love others I will make a mental habit of judging how loving I am by using the love gauge that we are given in this verse and in the following. I will memorize this section of scripture so I can judge myself by it.