Merry Christmas - Happy New Year

From The Leadership team for the Men's Wednesday Morning Bible Study, we want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!! and a Happy New Year!!


We will not meet the next two weeks 12/28/11 and 1/4/12, but we will resume back on January the 11th. 


See you then.

Romans - Chapter 11 (part 2)

ROMANS CHAPTER 11:25-36

All Israel Will Be Saved

 ²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way^[e] all Israel will be saved.

1.      A "Mystery" in the New Testament sense is not something that cannot be understood, but is some plan or purpose of God that has been known to Him from the beginning, but which He has withheld from the knowledge of men until the time came for Him to reveal it.

The Mystery of "Israel's Blindness." This is not so much spiritual blindness as Judicial blindness caused by their rejection of Christ. This blindness is national and not individual, for we must not forget that the bulk of believers in the Apostles' day were Jews, and quite a few Jews have embraced Christianity since. The revelation of this Mystery to Paul was to account for what otherwise would remain a Mystery, the survival of the Jewish people as a race while scattered among the nations.

2.   “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” – God knows the exact # of Gentiles that are called, the ticker is clicking, there is some person, perhaps wandering around right now, known by God since the beginning of time and when he or she gives their heart to Christ as Savior; Bam! Christ will come! – Maybe it’s just 1 more? Today guys, maybe you will run up against that person! Are you the one holding us all up?! In Christ’s name witness to somebody today!

3.       “come in” – Where?  God is setting a table for a great feast.  He’s calling all of us to the Wedding Banquet.                                                                                                                                             Matthew 22:1-14  The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

 ¹ Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.    ⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’     ⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

   ⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.    ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

   ¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

4.    “all Israel will be saved” – this is talking about the remnant, not ALL Israelites.  They still will have to believe.

5.    As it is written:

 “The deliverer will come from Zion;
   he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is^[f] my covenant with them
   when I take away their sins.”^[g]                                                                                                                  

Isaiah 27:9  ⁹ By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles^[a] or incense altars will be left standing.                                                                                                                               Isaiah 59:20 ²⁰ “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD.                                                                                                                                                                     Jeremiah 31:33,34  ³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  ³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

 ²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Deuteronomy 7:8  ⁸ But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

 ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now^[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Romans 3:9  No One Is Righteous   ⁹ What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

Doxology  (dok-sol’-o-ji (doxologia, "a praising," "giving glory"): A hymn or liturgical formula expressive of praise to God, as the Gloria in Excelsis (an expansion of Lu 2:14), sometimes called the Greater Doxology, and the Gloria Patri ("Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end, Amen") also known as the Lesser Doxology.)                      

A PRAYER OF PRAISE.  PURE PRAISE! NO ARGUMENT

 ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and^[i] knowledge of God!
   How unsearchable his judgments,
   and his paths beyond tracing out!

Psalms 92:5  ⁵ How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!

³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?     Many times I think I know & run out ahead or take a side route only to find I’ve been a fool and to be corrected.
Or who has been his counselor?”^[j]   Again, on occasion, I’ve had some ideas….. HE doesn’t listen

Jesus never asked for advice from the disciples.

Psalms 92:5  ⁵ How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!

Isaiah 40:13, 14  ¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit^[a] of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor?  ¹⁴ Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?                                                                                 Job 36:22  ²² “God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?

³⁵ “Who has ever given to God,
   that God should repay them?”^[k]                                                                                                                           Job 41:11  ¹¹ Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.   What have you ever given to God that He never first gave you?

³⁶ For from him and through him and for him are all things.
   To him be the glory forever! Amen.

1Corinthians 8:6  ⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.  Colossians 1:16  ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

From Him we come, through Him we live and grow and learn and to Him we are made, destined to return to Him, to account for our lives.

Or in another’s words:

In the final analysis, all of us are absolutely dependent on God.  He is the source of all things, including ourselves.  He is the power that sustains and rules the world that we live in.  And God works out all things to bring glory to himself.  The all-powerfull God deserves our praise.

TABLE TALK

1.      Do you spend time daily thanking God He chose you?  How?

2.      Can you help save a life today?  Will you?

Romans - Chapter 11 (part 1)

Romans 11:1-24

DECEMBER 7, 2011

ROMANS 10:19-21
 ¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
   “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
   I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”^[a]
 20 And Isaiah boldly says,
   “I was found by those who did not seek me;
   I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”^[b]
 21 But concerning Israel he says,
   “All day long I have held out my hands
   to a disobedient and obstinate people.”^[c]

CHAPTER 11  The Remnant of Israel 

 ¹ I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”^[a]?

 ⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^[b]

11:3 1 Kings 19:10-14  - ¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
 ¹¹ The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
   Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
   Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
 ¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

⁵ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

ROMANS 9:27 -  ²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.

⁶ And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 4:4 -  ⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.

 ⁷ What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, (GOD’S PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR SIN)

ROMANS 9:31 - ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.                                                                                                                                                               

ROMANS 9:18 -  ¹⁸ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

⁸ as it is written:

   “God gave them a spirit of stupor,
   eyes that could not see
   and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”^[c]

DEUTORONOMY 29:4 -  ⁴ But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.                                                                                                                                                                   

ISAIAH 29:10 -  ¹⁰ The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).

 ⁹ And David says:

   “May their table become a snare and a trap,
   a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
   and their backs be bent forever.”^[d]

11:10  Psalm 69:22,23 

Ingrafted Branches

 ¹¹ Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

ACTS 13:46 -   ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.  

¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

 ¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

ACTS 9:15 -   ¹⁵ But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.

¹⁵ For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

LUKE 15:24, 32 -  ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.  ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” 

¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

 ¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

JEREMIAH 11:16 - ¹⁶ The LORD called you a thriving olive tree
   with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
   he will set it on fire,
   and its branches will be broken.                                                                                                                                            EPHESIANS 2:11-13 -  ¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

1 CORINTHIANS 10:12 -  ¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

 ²² Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:2 -  ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (OBEDIENCE)                                                                                                               HEBREWS 3:6 -  ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.                                                                                                                     JOHN 15:2  -  ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.

 ²³ And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

2 CORINTHIANS 3:16 -  ¹⁶ But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

WE ARE A NEW CREATION (BUT) GRAFTED ONTO THE TREE OF LIFE WITH ROOTS OF ISREAL

TABLE TALK

1.      HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SO FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT THAT YOUR TESTAMONY, YOUR WITNESS WAS SO INVITING IT MADE OTHERS ENVIOUS OF WHAT YOU HAVE?

2.      DO YOU EVER CATCH YOURSELF FEELING PROUD OF YOUR DECISION TO COME TO THE LORD?

3.       OK, SO WHAT DO YOU NEED PRAYER FOR?  SPEND TIME PRAYING FOR EACH OTHER: NOW