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Why “Fear and Trembling”?
Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:12b-13) I never understood these verses, never liked these verses, and ignored these verses. So of course God told me to teach them at my Bible study! Having been forced to study them, I figured it out and feel much better now. ;> At first glance these statements seem contradictory! In v. 12, “work out your salvation” sure sounds like it’s up to us. Even worse, we’re supposed to do it with fear and trembling! Yet in v. 13,…
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Wise Men and Shepherds
Luke 2:8-20 Some of Israel’s great heroes were shepherds — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. And God is called the Good Shepherd throughout the Bible. When the family were the shepherds – the father or sons – then it was fine. They were the sheeps’ owners and could be trusted to watch out for them. But hired shepherds had a much worse reputation for running away, stealing sheep, and being generally bad news. Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher of Alexandria (25 BC – 45 AD), wrote about looking after sheep and goats, “Such pursuits are held mean and inglorious.” Whatever these particular shepherds did, they were with the sheep that…
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The Things of the World
“Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful in my ministry. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:9-13) Look at the contrast here. Demas is in love with the present world and so he has left the ministry. However, in the next breath Paul requests physical possessions —…