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Showing posts from March, 2011

Obadiah: When Your Brother is Under Discipline

God at times disciplines and punishes his own people. Israel was severely punished in the time of Obadiah. The story teaches us what God expects of us when we see our brothers under discipline by God.  Edom took advantage of Israel's downfall when enemies were attacking her, as God had permitted it to be so. God's design was three-fold: to discipline Israel, to watch how Edom would react, and to see how Israel's enemies would carry out the sentence. Edom screwed up. Instead of helping their brother Israelites, they "were like one of" the enemies. Here are 10 ways how Edom failed the test [verses 10-14]: The Edomites were violent towards Israel. They stood aloof while Israel was being slaughtered by the enemy. They looked down on their brothers when they were being punished. They rejoiced at Judah's downfall.  They boasted while their brothers suffered humiliation. They charged through the gates of their brothers. They looked down on them whi

Obadiah: Will I Not Destroy The Wise?

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In the day of pride birthed by successes, the proud tend to enjoy the support of the mighty. The mighty accept the proud into their alliances, and when you're accorded that privilege and recognition, it adds more to your success, and more to your pride.  But such alliances of the proud serve only to initialize your downfall, warns Obadia the prophet of God, because alliances like that eat your spiritual life to the bone like gangrene--without you detecting it. The whole thing is a curse from God.  Thus, Church alliances never end up with the one glorious church of Jesus Christ. They have been around for years, decades, perhaps centuries, but they never rallied churches to fall in behind the banner of the King of kings and Lord of lords as the completely one church of Jesus as he prayed in John 17.  No Flesh Shall Glory 4-Cassette Teaching Tape Album Teaching on the Danger of Pride and the Blessing of Humility (ALB134) Alliances eventually only end up with the p

Obadia: Pride Deadens Discernment

Ransacked! If you have been successful (more so materially), you gain friends. People befriend you. You become Mr or Ms Popular. And the tickling accolades that overfeed the ego deaden your senses. Pride deadens discernment. Moreover, it weakens God's flesh on you. Success that breeds a spirit of pride is like a magnet that attracts betrayal. People befriend you for ulterior motives. It's dog-eat-dog out there, people using each other for mundane glory. You give them your hand and they gobble up your arm. The worse part is that, you'd never suspect it. Pride has this curse. Because of her success, Edom was able to form alliances with other nations. Acceptance into alliances, even today, can make you wallow in pride, because only the successful are recognized and permitted entry into them. While she was rich the alliance was secure. While she was able to offer things and grant demands to her allies, the going was great. Later, however, her "friends"

Obadiah: From Up There, I'll Bring You Down

Edom was "up there." Success is God's will. There was nothing wrong with Edomites living on high mountain tops, secure in their rock cleft dwellings. In fact, Esau (from whom Edom was derived) had the first-born blessing. He was a son of Isaac, who was a son of Abraham. He was lined up for blessings until he despised his position and sold it to Jacob. From "up there" God brought him down. He lost his first born rights to Jacob. Often, success can make us despise our position in God. Being a successful hunter and getting Isaac's favor, he thought he was so secure. What harm would losing your first-born rights do if you're already dad's favorite? And Jacob? He's nothing but a house cook, a mama's boy, a home boy. He'd never amount to anything. When you despise your inheritance in favor of success, you also begin to despise your brother. A lot of believers can sacrifice God in favor of mundane favors. Do they succeed? Oh yes, more tha

Obadiah: Who Can Bring Me Down?

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Perfection Comes from Failures Edom was enjoying the height of pride, until one day he mused: "Who has the power to bring me down to the ground?" Success has the tendency to deceive. It's better to face failures upon failures if it makes you meek and wise. Perfection comes from failures. As you fail and learn you become perfect in Christ. Perfection is not how the world views it, as Edom had once viewed it. Perfection is not an achievement (you can never make it happen); it's an endowment of grace that ever-increases in glory. That's genuine perfection.  Remember, grace is NEVER a license to excuse sin--or even a vehicle to sin less. Grace is power to kick out sin and wickedness from our lives daily [Titus 2.11-12]. The wicked uses grace for a license to sin [Jude verse 4]. Success can easily blur our eyes and make us short-sighted about our life walk. We see only the success at hand, not the subtle attacks of the enemy in the vainglory of succ

Having God's Favor: An Outline

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Image from  groningen.nieuws.nl. I thought of posting here a bible study outline I did for a friend. It's about having God's favor: Verse : Esther 2.12-17 Title : "Getting the King's Favor" Passage : [12] Before a girl's turn came to go into King Xerxes' chamber, she should have completed 12 months of rigid beauty treatments required of women--6 months for oil of myrrh treatment, and 6 months of perfumes and cosmetics. [13] And then she went to the king in this way: she would be given a free choice on whatever she wished to take with her from the Harem to the king's palace (to attract the king with). [14] Come evening, she would enter the king's bedroom, and in the morning be sent to a place in the Harem under the care of Shaashgas, the eunuch in charge of the concubines. She was not allowed to see the king again unless he wished for her and called her by name.  [15] When it was Esther'