August 29, 2024
“1 Corinthians 3:11 New King James Version (NKJV)
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 3:11 in all English translations” (BibleGateway.com)
“1 Corinthians 11:23-25 New King James Version (NKJV)
Institution of the Lord’s Supper
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, [a]“Take, eat; this is My body which is [b]broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Footnotes:
- 1 Corinthians 11:24 NU omits Take, eat
- 1 Corinthians 11:24 NU omits broken
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” (BibleGateway.com)
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:”
“Romans 10:17 New King James Version (NKJV)
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Romans 10:17 in all English translations” (BibleGateway.com)
Good morning beloved; who have been saved by grace (GOD’S gift to the world—His only begotten Son-YESHUA CHRIST JESUS) through faith (in the precious Blood, death, burial, and resurrection [on the third day, according to Scripture] of our Messiah-YESHUA CHRIST JESUS-by His Holy Spirit; for the forgiveness of our sin of self-righteousness.) Amen.
Continued from the August 28, 2024 letter;
“Genesis 14:18-20 New King James Version (NKJV)
Abram and Melchizedek
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him [a]a tithe of all.
Footnotes:
- Genesis 14:20 one-tenth
New King James Version (NKJV)” (BibleGateway.com)
“Hebrews 11:32
New King James Version
32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
Hebrews 11:32 in all English translations
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” (BibleGateway.com)
“2 Samuel 24
New King James Version
David’s Census of Israel and Judah
24 Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, [a]number Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.”
3 And Joab said to the king, “Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?” 4 Nevertheless the king’s word [b]prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.
5 And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon; 7 and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
The Judgment on David’s Sin
10 And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
11 Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall seven[c] years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
14 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
15 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. 16 And when the [d]angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of [e]Araunah the Jebusite.
17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
The Altar on the Threshing Floor
18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.”
And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.”
24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 24:1 take a census of
- 2 Samuel 24:4 overruled
- 2 Samuel 24:13 So with MT, Syr., Tg., Vg.; LXX three (cf. 1 Chr. 21:12)
- 2 Samuel 24:16 Or Angel
- 2 Samuel 24:16 Ornan, 1 Chr. 21:15
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” (BibleGateway.com)
“24:1 | The text here says the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them, while the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:1 says “Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David.” God never does evil or tempts people to do evil (James 1:13-15), but He does use evil agents to accomplish His purposes. In this case, He allowed Satan to incite David to take the census.’
’24:1-3 | This is not the first time the people of Israel were numbered: Moses did so twice at God’s command in Numbers 1 and 26. But after the people were settled in the Promised Land, we never read again of God requiring a census of Israel.’
’24:3, 4 | Even such a man as Joab could see the error in David’s plan and warned him not to go through with it. In the parallel account in 1 Chronicles, Joab refused to number Levi and Benjamin because “the king’s word was abominable to Joab” (1 Chron. 21:6). Every time David stepped out of line, an advisor warned him, as they did every time he ignored the good counsel of others. Leaders must never elevate themselves to the point where they fail to listen to the advice of other people and to be accountable.’
’24:13-15 | Famine, sword, and plague often appear as a trio (Jer. 14:12; 18:21; Ezek. 5:17). These three tragedies would kill a similar number of people, but plague would kill them faster than famine or war. God gave David a choice so he would see how serious his sin was and so that he had only himself to blame when the punishment became unbearable.’
’24:13 | The punishment had to be public because the sin was public. This is the only place in the Bible where God gives anyone a choice regarding his or her punishment.’
’24:15 | The penalty for David’s pride was to have his kingdom reduced by 70,000 people. Because David was the leader of the people, the people of Israel had to bear the consequences of his sin, although it is significant that the chapter begins with a reference to God’s anger against Israel in general (24:1).’
’24:16, 25 | When God relented, He showed that He does divinely respond to human action: He averted the plague as a result of David’s plea for Israel. This is not to say that God changed His mind or did not plan ahead of time when the plague would end, but it does say that God’s character is to be responsive to His people.’
’24:17 | David offered to bear the punishment for his own sin, just as his descendant the Messiah would one day do. His willingness to bear this punishment reveals how much David cared for his people. In the beginning, the people are portrayed foremost as his subjects, among whom were valiant men who could serve in his army (24:8, 9). Yet when the people began to suffer for his sin, David tenderly refers to them as his sheep (24:17). This shepherd-like concern reflects the character of his descendant and the ultimate heir to his throne, Jesus Christ (John 10:11-15).’
’24:18-25 | God redeemed David’s sin by commissioning him to buy the site where the temple would one day be built (1 Chron. 22:1). David had sinned and many people died as a result of his sin, but God turned the situation into a new beginning—the place where His presence would dwell with His people.” (THE JEREMIAH STUDY BIBLE—DR. DAVID JEREMIAH—NEW KING JAMES STUDY BIBLE—WORTHY)
‘. . . “Numbers 1:26-31
New King James Version
26 From the children of Judah, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 27 those who were numbered of the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
28 From the children of Issachar, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 29 those who were numbered of the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30 From the children of Zebulun, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 31 those who were numbered of the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” (BibleGateway.com)
Let him who has an ear, hear what the Holy Spirit says to His church. Amen.
“Adversity is the test of faith; prosperity is the test of integrity.”
(THE JEREMIAH STUDY BIBLE—DR. DAVID JEREMIAH—NEW KING JAMES STUDY BIBLE—WORTHY)
Have a blessed Thursday beloved of YESHUA CHRIST JESUS. Amen.
With much precious love, grace, and mercy, from our heavenly Abba-Father-GOD, our Savior and LORD-YESHUA CHRIST JESUS, and our Holy Spirit, to Israel and to you and I; Sincerely: Mr. and Mrs. Timothy M. and Linda Shephard. Amen.