Sep 30, 2016
2CHRONICLES 26-27:
King
Joash didn’t end so well, did he?! He killed Jehoiadah’s son
Zechariah. When Jesus mentioned killing prophets A through Z, that
Zechariah was the Z that he mentioned by name. Time and time again
Judah’s kings needed to learn not to be proud, and that certainly
happened to Joash’s son Amaziah, who was assassinated like his
father.
ECCLESIASTES 3:
Chapter 2 ended with a significant conclusion
or two:
24
The best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have
earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from
God.
25 How else could
you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all?
26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and
happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work,
earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who
please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the
wind.
MATTHEW 17:
Yesterday we heard the words that remind me of
Jim Elliot’s words, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to
gain that which he cannot lose.”
Translation
notes:
16:27 NLT For [I,]
the Son of Man will come with [my//his] angels in the glory of
[my//his] Father and will judge all people according to their
deeds.//GNT For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his
Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according
to his deeds.]
28 I assure you that there are some here who will not die until
they have seen [me, the victorious Son of Man, coming to rule as
king.//the Son of Man come as King.]”
19 Then [we disciples//the disciples] came to
Jesus in private and asked him, “Why couldn't we drive the demon
out?”
20 “It was because
[you don’t believe fully in me//you do not have enough faith],”
answered Jesus. “I assure you that if [your belief in me was no
bigger than//you have faith as big as] a mustard seed, you
[could//can] say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’ and it
[would//will] go. You could do anything!”
22 When [we//the disciples] all came together
in Galilee, Jesus said to [us//them], “[I,] The Son of Man[,
am//is] about to be handed over to those
23 who will kill [me//him]; but three days
later [I//he] will be raised to life.” [Hearing that, we//The
disciples] became very sad.
24
When Jesus and [we] his disciples came to Capernaum, the collectors
of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your teacher pay
the Temple tax?”
25
[NLT “Yes, he does,” Peter
replied. Then he went into the house. But before he had a chance to
speak, Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax
their own people or the people they have conquered? ”
//GNT “Of course,” Peter
answered.
When Peter went
into the house, Jesus spoke up first, “Simon, what is your opinion?
Who pays duties or taxes to the kings of this world? The citizens
of the country or the foreigners?”]
26 [NLT “They tax the people they have conquered,”
Peter replied. “Well, then,” Jesus said, “the citizens are
free!//GNT“The foreigners,”
answered Peter.
“Well,
then,” replied Jesus, “that means that the citizens don't have to
pay.]