Scripture for Monday, July 24 (7/24)

The scripture for today, July 24 (7/24), is Matthew 7:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-COVER-KINDLE“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

The problem we have with putting into practice the Words of God is that we sometimes read blindly. We don’t see the significance of something. We may read it over and over for years and never see its significance.

Take, for example, the story of Jesus’ birth. We sometimes see pictures of baby Jesus in a stable with the shepherds and three wise men all gathered around him. But Matthew 2:11 says by the time the wise men arrived, Jesus and his parents were living in a house. Further, the Bible does not say how many wise men there were; it just says they gave three kinds of gifts ~ gold, incense and myrrh.

How about 1st Timothy 3:2?  “Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.” This word “overseer” is sometimes translated bishop, sometimes elder, and sometimes pastor. It’s all the same office. We might think at first glance that we believe all this. But do we glaze over the fact that he must have a wife? Hmmm….

Here’s another one. At funerals, we often quote Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” But for the Christian, there are no shadows in the valley of death. Jesus was born “to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:79).

Oh, so many things we over look ~ meaningful things. Let us continue to study God’s Word daily with our mind and heart open to new things we never realized before.  Let us build the house of our faith “on the rock.”

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#Bethlehem, #Shepherds, #WiseMen, #elder, #bishop, #pastor, #ShadowOfDeath, #scripture, #Bible, #faith, #knowledge, #understanding

Scripture for Friday, January 6 (1/6)

The scripture for today, January 6, is Titus 1:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“An elder mu00-cover-kindle-medium-newst be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless ~ not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, nor pursuing dishonest gain.”

This is quite interesting. God does not leave us to guess what the qualifications of a church leader are. We don’t have to have conferences or synods to decide on qualifications for this office because God has already given them.

Something surprising here is that the word elder is used interchangeably with the word overseer (sometimes also translated bishop). The word elder comes from the Greek word presbyter. The word overseer/bishop is from the Greek word episcopos. Elder and overseer and bishop all are the same in this passage referring to the same office!

Here’s something else interesting about the elder/overseer/bishop: The word pastor comes from the Greek word for shepherd. In Acts 20:17, Paul sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus to talk to them. When they arrived, he said, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds [pastors] of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.”

Do you see the overlapping of the same office being called by different names? It’s kind of like father and papa being the same.

Titus 1:6f uses elder and overseer for the same office. Overseer is the same in Greek as bishop. Acts 20:17 uses elder, overseer, shepherd (pastor) for the same office.

In our daily life, we have different words meaning the same person; such as father, parent, head of the house, dad, breadwinner, papa ~ all names for the same position in the family.

So, too, for the family of God ~ the church ~ all these words overlap as names for the same office! And the qualifications for this office are found in our scripture for today, Titus 1:6f. Indeed, how interesting!

#Elder, #Bishop, #Overseer, #Pastor, #Office, #ChurchLeader, #Shepherd

The scripture for today, January 6, is Titus 1:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE“An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless ~ not overbearing, not quick tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, nor pursuing dishonest gain.”

This is quite interesting. God does not leave us to guess what the qualifications of a church leader are. We don’t have to have conferences or synods to decide on qualifications for this office, because God has already given them.

Something surprising here is that the word elder is used interchangeably with the word overseer (sometimes also translated bishop). The word elder comes from the Greek word presbyter. The word overseer/bishop is from the Greek word episcopos. Elder and overseer and bishop all are the same in this passage referring to the same office!

Here’s something else interesting about the elder/overseer/bishop: The word pastor comes from the Greek word for shepherd. In Acts 20:17, Paul sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus to talk to them. When they arrived, he said, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds [pastors] of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.”

Do you see the overlapping of the same office being called by different names? It’s kind of like father and papa being the same.

Titus 1:6f uses elder and overseer for the same office. Overseer is the same in Greek as bishop.
Acts 20:17 uses elder, overseer, shepherd (pastor) for the same office.

In our daily life we have different words meaning the same person; such as, father, parent, head of the house, dad, bread winner, papa ~ all names for the same position in the family.

So, too, for the family of God ~ the church ~ all words overlap as names for the same office! And the qualifications for this office are found in our scripture for today, Titus 1:6f. Indeed, how interesting!