THE APPLE TEMPERMENT

THE APPLE TEMPERMENT

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Proverbs [GW] 3:3-7 Do not let mercy and truth leave you. Fasten them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and much success in the sight of God and humanity. Trust the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths smooth. Do not consider yourself wise. Fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

Romans 12:1-2 Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God's compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you. Don't become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants-what is good, pleasing, and perfect.

2Timothy 2:15-16 Do your best to present yourself to God as a tried-and-true worker who isn't ashamed to teach the word of truth correctly. Avoid pointless discussions. People who pay attention to these pointless discussions will become more ungodly,

James 4:6b-8 Scripture says, "God opposes arrogant people, but he is kind to humble people." So place yourselves under God's authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters.

1Peter 5:6-10 Be humbled by God's power so that when the right time comes he will honor you. Turn all your anxiety over to God because he cares for you. Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour. Be firm in the faith and resist him, knowing that other believers throughout the world are going through the same kind of suffering. God, who shows you his kindness and who has called you through Christ Jesus to his eternal glory, will restore you, strengthen you, make you strong, and support you as you suffer for a little while.

  In 20 years as a volunteer with Good News Jail & Prison Ministry and 53+ years teaching in the outside world I’ve frequently highlighted 2Timothy 2:15-16: The importance of personal study and ponderance of God’s Word.

  To emphasize Scriptural paucity I often asked “What was the forbidden fruit in Genesis chapters 2 & 3?” . . . giving the Bible location in the hope that the unknowledgeable students would look the fact up. Though some do so, commonly they do not. Some answer correctly, but too often the response from inmate or outmate unknowledgeable or those claiming Bible knowledge was apple.

  Claiming trust, reliance upon, the Word living and written for life knowledge and wisdom requires actual personal 2Timothy 2:15 study and Romans 12:2 thought unto appropriate reverence of God and one another. God’s Word is essential to knowing His will that is “good, pleasing, and perfect”.

  Otherwise we don’t simple misidentify the fruit of first bite, we walk proudly by our own familial thought, incur God’s resistance, and stumble along vulnerable to the devourer.

  From Adam Clarke’s COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE he outlines Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart - This is a most important precept:

1.    God is the Fountain of all good.

2.    He has made his intelligent creatures dependent upon himself.

3.    He requires them to be conscious of that dependence.

4.    He has promised to communicate what they need.

5.    He commands them to believe his promise, and look for its fulfillment.

6.    And to do this without doubt, fear, or distrust; “with their whole heart.”

Lean not unto thine own understanding - אל תשען  al tishshaen, do not prop thyself. It is on God, not on thyself, that thou art commanded to depend. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.

  Apple anyone?!

EBB4