A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 NIV

A Christian’s goal should be to create the Kingdom of God here on earth, as it is in Heaven. Not only, to get to Heaven.

September 2022, Prophesies by Julie Green. Click the date following: 9/1/22 9/2/22 9/3/22 9/5/22 9/7/22 9/8/22 9/9/22 9/15/22 August 2022 Post July 2022 Posts

To finish the Bible in one year, Read Isaiah 46-47 and Galatians 3.

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Reflection for Today.

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Isaiah 46

Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
    their idols are on beasts and cattle;
these things you carry are loaded
    as burdens on weary animals.
² They stoop; they bow down together;
    they cannot save the burden
    but themselves go into captivity.

³ Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
    all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from your birth,
    carried from the womb;
⁴ even to your old age I am he;
    even when you turn gray I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
    I will carry and will save.

⁵ To whom will you liken me and make me equal
    and compare me, as though we were alike?
⁶ Those who lavish gold from the purse
    and weigh out silver in the scales—
they hire a goldsmith, who makes it into a god;
    then they fall down and worship!
⁷ They lift it to their shoulders; they carry it;
    they set it in its place, and it stands there;
    it cannot move from its place.
If one cries out to it, it does not answer
    or save anyone from trouble.

⁸ Remember this and consider;^[a]
    recall it to mind, you transgressors;
⁹     remember the former things of old,
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is no one like me,
¹⁰ declaring the outcome from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, “My purpose shall stand,
    and I will fulfill my intention,”
¹¹ calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man for my purpose from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
    I have planned, and I will do it.

¹² Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
    you who are far from deliverance:
¹³ I bring near my deliverance; it is not far off,
    and my salvation will not tarry;
I will put salvation in Zion,
    for Israel my glory.

Isaiah 47

The Humiliation of Babylon

47 Come down and sit in the dust,
    virgin daughter Babylon!
Sit on the ground without a throne,
    daughter Chaldea!
For you shall no more be called
    tender and delicate.
² Take the millstones and grind meal;
    remove your veil;
strip off your robe; uncover your legs;
    pass through the rivers.
³ Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
    and your shame shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
    and I will spare no one.^[a]
4 Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
    is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵ Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    daughter Chaldea!
For you shall no more be called
    the mistress of kingdoms.
⁶ I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
    you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke
    exceedingly heavy.
⁷ You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”
    so that you did not lay these things to heart
    or remember their end.

⁸ Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
    who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
    “I am, and there is no one besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow
    or know the loss of children”—
⁹ both these things shall come upon you
    in a moment, in one day:
the loss of children and widowhood
    shall come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
    and the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰ You felt secure in your wickedness;
    you said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge
    led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
    “I am, and there is no one besides me.”
¹¹ But evil shall come upon you,
    which you cannot charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
    which you will not be able to ward off,
and ruin shall come on you suddenly,
    of which you know nothing.

¹² Stand fast in your enchantments
    and your many sorceries,
    with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
    perhaps you may inspire terror.
¹³ You are wearied with your many consultations;
    let those who study^[b] the heavens
stand up and save you,
    those who gaze at the stars
and at each new moon predict
    what^[c] shall befall you.

¹⁴ See, they are like stubble;
    the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
    from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
    no fire to sit before!
¹⁵ Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
    who have trafficked with you from your youth;
they all wander about in their own paths;
    there is no one to save you.

Galatians 3

Law or Faith

3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! ² The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? ⁴ Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. ⁵ Well then, does God^[a] supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?

⁶ Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” ⁷ so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. ⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would reckon as righteous the gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the gentiles shall be blessed in you.” ⁹ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” ¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is reckoned as righteous before God by the law, for “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”^{[b] 12} But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law^[c] will live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— ¹⁴ in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Promise to Abraham

¹⁵ Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will^[d] has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. ¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;^[e] it does not say, “And to offsprings,”^[f] as of many, but it says, “And to your offspring,”^[g] that is, to one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷ My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise, but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

The Purpose of the Law

¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring^[h] would come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ordained through angels by a mediator. ²⁰ Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.

²¹ Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. ²² But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through the faith of Jesus Christ^[i] might be given to those who believe.

²³ Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. ²⁴ Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous^[j] by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. ²⁷ As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,^[k] heirs according to the promise.

The complete Book of Isaiah

The complete book of Galatians

Sermon on the Book of Isaiah

Sermons on today’s verses by various teachers

Catholic Daily Readings

Gospel, Luke 16:19-31

¹⁹ ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day.

²⁰ And at his gate there used to lie a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores,

²¹ who longed to fill himself with what fell from the rich man’s table. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

²² Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into Abraham’s embrace. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³ ‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his embrace.

²⁴ So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.”

²⁵ Abraham said, “My son, remember that during your life you had your fill of good things, just as Lazarus his fill of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony.

²⁶ But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to prevent those who want to cross from our side to yours or from your side to ours.”

²⁷ ‘So he said, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house,

²⁸ since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.”

²⁹ Abraham said, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them.”

³⁰ The rich man replied, “Ah no, father Abraham, but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.”

³¹ Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”

Reading 2, First Timothy 6:11-16

¹¹ But, as someone dedicated to God, avoid all that. You must aim to be upright and religious, filled with faith and love, perseverance and gentleness.

¹² Fight the good fight of faith and win the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made your noble profession of faith before many witnesses.

¹³ Now, before God, the source of all life, and before Jesus Christ, who witnessed to his noble profession of faith before Pontius Pilate, I charge you

¹⁴ to do all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵ who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,

¹⁶ who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no human being has seen or is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen.

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Dr. Myles Munroe

I am including a video by Dr. Myles Munroe, I’ve listened to him back in the nineties, and rediscovered him recently. Now his perspective seems to be a good way to also look at scripture. In Pursuit of Purpose – Book Highlights