Cross Reference: Understanding the Bible - Part 3 - Pastor Raymond Woodward

we are in a series called cross-reference and tonight is part three this is a series it's very practical um just to help us understand uh god's word in a better way so we want to help you understand the plan of scripture the plot of the bible because when you understand that in your reading you can better understand god's purpose for your life as you study god's word uh we're finishing up the old testament tonight and then uh the next time uh we're together we're gonna be uh studying the new testament and so we're part way through there's a quote i read years ago when i was a teenager and i in fact it's written in the bible that i had through my teenage years and here's what it says the new the new testament the new is in the old contained the old is in the new explained the new is in the old concealed the old is in the new revealed the new is in the old portrayed the old the old testament is in the new displayed so there's great value in understanding the bible once you see it kind of unfold in the plan of scripture you can see what we've chosen to call cross references because god's word is written with the end in mind from the very beginning and the cross is the center of it all so we've been following a little plan we've been going through the sections of of the bible we've been going through law and land reign rebuild and tonight we're going to continue on uh when we talked about the books of the law that's the first five books of the old testament genesis to deuteronomy and they're often referred to as the books of moses because tradition says he wrote them we call them the pentateuch meaning five books but the jews call them the torah the law because the law of god the commandments of god in those five books are the most important feature and and they point ahead and they give us so many shadows and pictures and one of the most beautiful that's given in those five books of course is the tabernacle and in addition to all of that they're filled with familiar stories that you know and love and tell your kids and your grandkids it's a foundational part of the word of god and then after we get through that section next we move into the promised land the land that god promised to the jews and this is just a three-book section joshua through ruth but it's it's kind of sad and kind of triumphant at the same time joshua leads the people in and he takes the land and they divide up the land and so now israel that's been landless for half a millennia 500 years now they have territory of their own they've got a land but no sooner do they get in there then they start worshiping pagan gods of people around them and in the book of judges we see a a scary rapid decline joshua's generation knew the lord the elders that outlived joshua they told all joshua's stories but they didn't have the experience for themselves and a second generation usually raises third generation kids spiritually speaking and so there arose another generation that not only did they not know the lord but they didn't even remember what he had done for israel and they served other gods it's very sad but in the middle of the the the period of the judges in fact the book of judges and the book of ruth were originally one book and in the middle of that period the last verse of the book of judges says in that time everyone did there was no king in israel everyone did that which was right in their own eyes kind of sounds like today but in the middle of a generation like that god raised up a young woman a pagan woman from moab she's a moabite but ruth ends up in israel following her mother-in-law naomi and in the middle of an era like that god raises up that young lady and she gets married to an important and wealthy israelite named boaz and they have children and grandchildren and on down it goes and that lady gets to become the great grandmother of king david that's amazing that should never have happened but it happened in the middle of a period where everything's going haywire but do you know god can raise up people that know god and people that are anointed and people that are moral and righteous and godly no matter what's going on in the world and so ruth not only got to become king david's great-grandmother she got to be in the lineage of the lord jesus christ it's an amazing story and then after that we talked about reign this is the period where the kingdom of israel comes to being and and they begin these books uh which go from first samuel through second chronicles six books they begin with the prophet samuel and they cover a united kingdom one nation under saul first of all and then under david they each reign for 40 years and then solomon he reigns for 40 years but the kingdom divides at the end of solomon's reign and we go into something that the scholars call the divided kingdom of israel there's ten tribes in the north north and they're called israel and their capitalist samaria and there's two tribes in the south they're called the kingdom of judah and their capital is in jerusalem and they are back and forth at war it's civil war it's horrible it's a divided kingdom and these books end with both nations in captivity because of sin the northern kingdom falls first because they didn't even have one good king over all those years the southern kingdom hangs on a little while because they're pulled both ways a good king will change everything tear down the pagan altars and restore worship of the one true god but then he'll die or he'll be overtaken or conquered and then another bad king will arise and it all starts all over again but the southern kingdom because they had a few good kings a few good leaders they survive longer but eventually the northern kingdom goes into captivity to the assyrian empire the southern kingdom goes into captivity to the babylonian empire and and that's basically first and second samuel and first and second kings and the first and second chronicles kind of repeats a lot of the information but with a focus on the kingdom of judah so that's kind of where we where we've been kind of hanging our hat for the last few lessons the bible is not arranged chronologically the bible is arranged in groups of books with similar content so tonight we're going to talk about the books of poetry and prophecy and i show you this chart not to scare you like is there a test i show you this chart to show you that all those little names um they're interspersed the prophets prophesied at different times in different places to different people but you can see this the yellow line is the kingdom of uh israel the northern kingdom and they go into a syrian captivity far earlier than the green line the kingdom of judah simply because there were good kings and it's it's all very historical so it can be a little challenging to read through but there are some wonderful inspirational stories and lessons to learn in there finally at the end of the old testament we enter a phase called rebuild everyone say rebuild so after the captivities they're allowed to come back these three books ezra through esther they belong at the end of the old testament chronologically but they're not put there they come right at the end of second chronicles because all those historical books are put together so sometimes you're reading the bible and you turn one page and it's like you skipped a thousand years and you think of what in the world and that's what happens because the bible groups uh books of similar type together but this actually happens at the end of the old testament and in these books the jews are finally allowed to return to jerusalem after their 70-year captivity in babylon and the babylonian empire has now fallen to medo-persia and and cyrus a ruler he allows them to go back and rebuild the temple and ezra and nehemiah nehemiah has a book and in here and ezra and nehemiah encourage them to first rebuild the temple and then rebuild the city walls and then even in that time it's sort of like the story of ruth even in that time which is so up and down and in and out and it's so tumultuous and and so terrible in so many ways and the people are suffering so greatly god reaches in when a wicked man named haman wants to wipe out the jews and he almost would have succeeded except god reached down and called a young lady named esther she ends up uh being the queen of the persian empire and she overturns that plot and so that's kind of where the old testament ends chronologically and tonight we move on and the books we'll talk about tonight they are interspersed all through here the books of poetry and the books of prophecy uh they happen all the way through the historical books that we've talked about but again they're grouped together all the poetical books are grouped together there's five of them and uh and then there's uh 17 uh prophetic books and somebody just had a little heart fluctuation but it's really not going to be that long it's okay everyone say poetry this is a beautiful section of the bible the 17 books we've just talked about are historical the law and and and the land and then you you move into that time of of the historical books they are concerned with the nation of israel what's beautiful about the poetical books and why these are some of the most loved books in the entire bible are because these are not concerned with the land or the nation so much as they're concerned with the heart of the individual the first 17 books that we talked about they have to do with the hebrew race but these books have to do with the human heart you start reading them and they're immediately accessible to you some of the most powerful writing in the bible now they're not the only poetry in the old testament there's songs and other books the prophet isaiah has a song and his book that's very beautiful and so so these aren't the only but this is the longest and most important collection of poetic writing in the scripture it's absolutely beautiful and these books portray the many experiences that god's people have in this life so they're of great spiritual value the book of job is actually the oldest book in the bible it's older than genesis it was written sometime between genesis 11 and 12 along in there about the time abraham was leaving ur of the chaldees to go follow god job lived so his book is actually the oldest book in the bible and it was written way back in the time of the patriarchs the psalms they were collected primarily during david's reign and then the remaining three books they were written during solomon's reign during three distinct periods now i love this years ago we did a little series here at the church if you're as old as i am you might remember this it was called life grid and i like to imagine these five books as a grid i like charts you can tell with proverbs and job teaching us about our external circumstances everyone say circumstances so proverbs and job they teach us about our circumstances because life can be good or bad how many have lived long enough to know that at certain times life's good and other times it's bad yeah and and we don't like to say bad but really it is if we're honest and then ecclesiastes and song of solomon they teach us about our internal emotions because your heart as you're going through life can either be empty or it can be full and then the psalms teach us of course about our relationship with god through worship and prayer because brothers and sisters prayer and worship will sustain you no matter what your heart feels like and no ma no matter what circumstances you're facing prayer and worship will sustain you so i want to plunk these books on a chart as we uh proceed through so let's talk about proverbs the book of proverbs contains the most important wise sayings that king solomon wrote or collected from other cultures the subject of proverbs is wisdom if you want to be smart read proverbs and follow it it's neatly arranged in 31 chapters which gives you a chapter a day even for the longest months of the year but see proverbs teaches us that wisdom is not a matter of the mind or intellect it's a matter of the heart real wisdom at its most basic level is simply obedience to god bottom line if you obey god you're wise if you don't you're not wise no matter how many degrees follow your name and proverbs is an is an amazing little book it's all these nuggets of wisdom but it also introduces us to an amazing cast of characters this isn't an exhaustive list but this is a few proverbs introduces us to the simple person everyone say simple a simple person has no life experience so they make needless mistakes because they just don't know yet all of your teenagers automatically simple all of your children automatically simple and probably half the adults that you know automatically simple in fact in any area of life where you lack experience you can be really smart in one area you ever met one of these people they are really smart on computers for example but they have no sense you ever met one don't point but so so there are areas where you can be simple even if you're smart in other places and a simple person the problem with being simple a simple person isn't it's not an insult it's just a fact they lack experience and a simple person the problem with being simple is by the time you figure out that you're simple you won't be simple anymore but you will have made some terrible mistakes and so the best thing to do if you're if you lack experience is hook yourself to a wise person uh hook yourself to the word of god and that will help you and another person we meet in proverbs is the fool now a fool is simply a person who has a carnal perspective on life and because they have a carnal perspective they dabble in the things of the world and and they don't foresee the long-term consequences of their sin and the bible calls them a fool it's it's it's very plain and very blunt and then another person we meet in proverbs is the scorner the scorner has a critical attitude they oppose godliness they oppose submission to the word of god they're just critical uh a scorner and they try to control people through criticism and uh it's just it's not nice and then we meet this person in in proverbs we meet the sluggard i love that word the sluggard i'll just say it because it's fun say sluggard if you need a new word to call somebody that's a good bible word they just have a lazy lifestyle they won't be consistently committed to anything not their job not their relationship with god not their friends they're a sluggard they're lazy they expect everybody else to bail them out all the time and then finally refreshingly and this isn't everybody but this is a little bit of the cast of characters in proverbs we meet the wise person and a wise person has an eternal perspective they put god's kingdom first and the whole book of proverbs exists to ask get us to ask a question is my action is my decision is my direction wise because usually human beings when we make choices we run our decisions and our options through a different filter and this filter can lead you into trouble we usually ask is it right or wrong and if the word of god says thou shalt not we say oh that's wrong but you know there's a lot of things that the bible gives us suggestions and hints and directions and it doesn't come right out and say thou shalt not so the question is see the problem is human beings have this unerring capability to talk themselves into something and say well there's nothing against it in the bible and pastor didn't technically preach against it so i should be able to do it see you're playing the right or wrong game don't ask is it right or wrong ask this if i do this if i decide this if i take this direction honestly where will i be where will my family be five years from now will we be closer to god or will we be just more distant from god see you're not asking is it technically right or technically wrong you're asking is it wise that's why the book of proverbs is in the bible and here's what proverbs says the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom that's just the starting point and the knowledge of the holy is understanding now before we leave proverbs you probably know a person who did what was wise according to the bible they lived for god all of their life and they still had problems anybody know anybody like that they they tried they did everything they kept the commandments but they still had problems and and here's another question have you ever known somebody that just flaunted god's word and and they disobeyed and ignored god's commandments and yet they prospered anybody ever know anybody like that you're scared to ask it have you ever here's a better question have you ever known somebody who raised their family to know god but today tonight their kids are backsliders so so i thought proverbs was trying to help us set direction what about verses like this train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it what about that i know people whose kids departed from it there's a fundamental principle that you need to understand if you're going to get the most out of proverbs see solomon he he didn't write this book the way every other book in the bible is written he collected proverbs some of them come from israel many of them came from other nations they're just wise sayings and i like to say it this way when you read the book of proverbs proverbs are probabilities not promises proverbs are probabilities if you save your money you're going to be provided for in your old age that's a probability but i know people that save their money and then a tragedy happen and they're not supported in their old age the proverb says you know if you're a fool and you spend all your money you you won't have anything and then came a long serve sorry couldn't resist i've waited to say that for 16 months solomon collected these wise things from everywhere else so so proverbs is is uniquely positioned in the bible it gives us human wisdom probabilities this is probably the way your life will turn out if you do what is right but proverbs is designed to show us that human wisdom can sometimes fall short that's why we need to point our lives toward god not just toward wise handling of our finances or our life or whatever and that's why the bible includes another book the book of job you see proverbs tells us that good things usually happen when we do what is wise everyone say life is good so life is good in proverbs but the book of job tells us that bad things sometimes happen to people even when we do what is wise everyone say life is bad so job's in the bible for that reason it is the oldest book in the bible and it's about the oldest problem of humanity the problem of suffering the bible tells us job was perfect and upright and he shunned evil and he had integrity so there was no reason at all for god to allow him to go through all the problems he did and i'm not going to take time but in one day job's life literally fell apart he lost his kids he lost his his animals he lost everything that was financial blessing to him it was awful in one day now here's the key to the book of job the oldest book in your bible job knew what had happened to him but he didn't have any idea why it had happened to him but because we read with hindsight we are allowed in the beginning of the book of job to visit the throne room of heaven and hear god and satan discuss the man job he doesn't know what's happened but we do we know who has caused all the devastation it's the devil but job didn't have the benefit of that knowledge his friends and his wife blamed job for every problem he was facing and they doubted his integrity and his precious little wife even said why don't you just curse god and die and i can collect the insurance money many people say that the theme of job is the question why do righteous people suffer well if that's the question behind the book of job then it's a lousy book because it never answers that question really why do godly people suffer this book actually answers a different question here's the question how do godly people go through suffering what job couldn't see but we know because we're reading the book later is that his problems were because of a conversation between god and the devil you know what was happening in heaven the devil had come to appear before god he was allowed to and and god allowed him to talk about job do you know why the devil wanted to hurt job so much is because god in heaven was bragging on job that's one of my servants they have integrity they serve me they worship me they love me and the devil basically said to god you're no better than the mafia you bless job and so he gives you worship you're just like the mafia you know you you collect bribes and god said to the devil it was god's fault that job was in this problem because god said okay devil you can take his family you can take his kids you can make his wife turn against him you can take his animals and you can take his houses they can collapse in an earthquake you can take it all the only thing you can't to you can even take his health the only thing you can't take is his life and god said to the devil in heaven at the beginning of the book of job but i know job and if you take everything from him but his life with whatever he's got left in his life he's still going to worship me i think there's some people very much like job in this auditorium tonight there are people that have gone through pain people that have gone through suffering people that have gone through sickness and loss and heartache people that have gone through funerals and hospital stays and all kinds of stuff but here's what i know god brags on some of his people in 2021 and says you can take everything you want devil but when you get done doing your worst they're still gonna lift up whatever they got left and they are going to worship me see job's trials were actually battles in the heavenlies he just couldn't see it and the devil got so mad he accused god he said you've put a hedge around job that i can't get through and that's true because the only time the devil can ever touch your life is when god almighty gives him permission and you can be assured that if god gave the devil permission to mess with you then god is playing chess he's already got seven moves figured out in front of the devil and when you get through whatever the devil's put on you god is going to have a higher purpose and you are going to be okay and god's going to turn your uh your trial into a blessing that's what i know the devil got so mad he said you put a hedge around them tear the heads down god said okay and the devil he gloated he he was so glad to be able to tear that hedge down off go the lands and off go the houses and off go the animals and the livestock and and then the kids are killed all ten of them it's just awful and the devil gloats because he's just torn down the hedge that god built around job and then the devil stands back in horror because once he get done tearing down god's hedge he figured it out finally that job had built a hedge around his little old self that was inside the hedge that god had built around him and here's job's hedge in one verse though he slay me yet will i trust in him i will maintain mine own ways before me i don't care what life throws at me i don't care what the devil does to me i am going to maintain my way before god and if god allows me to die i'm going to praise him with my last breath on the way out of here don't think that just because job said that that it was easy job had some dark days and nights he said this behold i go forward god's not there i go backward i can't perceive him i can't feel anything on the left hand i know he's working but i can't behold him and he seems to be hiding himself on my right hand and i can't see him here's what he said this is the hedge that job built but god knows the way that i take and when he has tried me i shall come forth as gold here's what job said this is the end of the book of job i can't tell you why i am still suffering and i can't tell you when i'm going to stop suffering but i can do one thing i can show you how i'm coming out of this whenever i get out of it and however god delivers me when i come out on that day watch me devil i'm not coming out bitter or backslidden i'm coming out of this like gold i don't care what life throws at me sometimes life is bad but i'm coming forth as gold you see proverbs tells us this good things usually happen when we do what is wise life's good but the book of job is in your bible to tell you that even if you do everything right and everything perfectly everything wise sometimes bad things happen but the word of god would suggest to you do what is wise regardless serve god regardless oh my goodness boy we could camp out there a while but let's move on or we'll be here till midnight ecclesiastes was written by king solomon he was the third king of israel the builder of the temple the most magnificent building in the ancient world the wisest and richest man who ever lived and people came from everywhere to ask solomon questions and see his kingdom solomon writes this little book near the end of his life after he's used his wisdom and his wealth to explore life fully and experiment with everything not all of it good by the way he he's married hundreds of of women princesses and concubines and oh my goodness he's got over a thousand mother-in-laws and and jet lag remember that before kova jet lag i got jet lag i can say anything i want i'll blame jet lag i love teaching bible study um solomon he's tried everything he's gone everywhere he's done everything and not all of it very good all to find out what is the purpose of life and here's his conclusion when he looks at life vanity of vanities saith the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity now that that word he uses that 38 times vanity and it means emptiness or futility something that vanishes quickly and it leaves nothing behind so what he's saying this is the conclusion of solomon on life the wisest and wealthiest man who ever lived said this life's empty so if you're under 50 don't start reading this book and not finish it because if you quit in the middle we'll find you on the bridge trying to jump off get all the way to the end if you're going to start finish because it seems so depressing but even in this book that seems so negative and so depressing and solomon's old and and and he's he's had a lot of hard knocks in his life even though he had so many privileges and perks but there's a secret even in this negative sounding book of ecclesiastes and it's found in a little phrase under the sun s-u-n that's used 29 times solomon says if this is all there is to life paying bills and working and then somebody else comes and takes everything you had and they sell it or they enjoy it and they didn't work for it if this is all there is to life then life is empty but there is more to life than this because there is something beyond the sun it's not just all this existence under the sun he says this i returned and i saw under the sun see that's the phrase he likes down here on this planet the race is not to the swift the battles not to the strong bread doesn't always go to the wise riches don't always go to men of understanding favor doesn't always go to men of skill in other words you can do everything so good and it doesn't work time and chance happeneth to them all and what solomon is saying to us is that the most frustrating thing about human life on earth is that it is so random you never know when you're going to get the text message that wrecks your weak or the phone call that devastates your life it's so random and we are left feeling empty but it's the very futility of life it's the tragedies and trials that afflict human beings that finally if we're wise force us to look beyond the sun if you only live for things under the sun you'll never be able to fathom what god is doing in your life life just goes around and around and around and it leaves your heart empty but if you will put god first then you begin to see where your little story fits into god's big story beyond the sun god is accomplishing his purpose and it doesn't matter how you feel right now if you're a child of god you are in god's plan you are in god's will and you just need to keep trusting him ecclesiastes says this i know solomon says whatever god does it shall be forever nothing can be added to it nothing could be taken away from it and god does what he does that men should fear before him so there's a message even in this negative sounding uh little book of ecclesiastes now we already did a whole series on this i'll motor through this but i i can't not mention it everyone say song of solomon oh my goodness i love that series amazing song of solomon is is regarded as one of the most difficult books in the bible you remember this it looked like it might not even be included in the canon of scripture at one point because it refers to intimate relationship between husband and wife but the deeper meaning of this little book of course it's an allegory it's a beautiful portrait of the relationship between god and man and it jumps all over the place you remember this back and forth between speakers and scenes and it moves back and forth through time and it includes dream sequences that kind of throw you off and it circles back on itself but the basics are this the king solomon the owner of the whole country he owned a vineyard up north of jerusalem about 50 miles away and in that vineyard among all the peasants among all the poppers among all the laborers was a little peasant girl that's nameless she's just called the shulamite and her family treats her harshly and we called her cinderella in our little solomon series it's amazing and she was treated so harshly and her life was so hard and she developed this terrible sense of inferiority because who could ever love a little popper peasant girl like her but one day solomon disguised as a shepherd comes to his vineyard she doesn't know he's the king but he falls in love with her and here's what he says about her thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee that's how jesus looks at his church we're covered by his blood in covenant with his name we're filled with his spirit we love him we worship him when jesus looks at you he doesn't see you like your critics see you he doesn't see you like your enemies see you when he looks at you he says you're all fair my love there's no spot in thee and and so solomon promises her i'm coming back to get you we're going to be married and she still thinks she's marrying a shepherd and and most of the book is just her longing for him it's it's amazing i'm sure it was very similar for beverly this week while i was away she was pining and longing and looking up at the sky waiting for the plane to come and i'm sure the only thing that's changed in her life she's jet lag the only thing that's changed in her life is is is she still has to work in the vineyard she's still abused and mistreated she's still a popper and a peasant her garments are still tattered and her face and hands are still grimy and grubby and she's a mess the only thing that's changed is now she has a promise her beloved is coming back to marry her and he's going to take her away from all this she doesn't even have any idea he's the king she just thinks he's a shepherd and she she longs for him all through that book thou that dwellest in the gardens the companions they hearken to your voice cause me to hear your voice i fell in love with that little verse when we were going through song of solomon other people hear your voice jesus cause me to hear your voice cause me to hear your voice and the day finally came you know all this we we whole series my goodness you could teach this the day finally came when her beloved returned as promised but when she looked in his face he didn't show up as a shepherd he showed up as the king of the whole country who owns everything he was this is so important so beautiful he was the king who became a pauper so that a pauper could become his queen and the whole story of song of solomon points us to this my beloved spake and said unto me rise up my love my fair one and come away. not much has changed in your life since you became a christian and started following jesus you still go to work you still got people that don't like you give you grief you still got problems and some of you got sickness you're dealing with or family tensions you're dealing with not much has changed in your life except you're holding on to a promise and someday this one that is despised and rejected by the world they just think he's a humble shepherd they just think he's a baby that was born in a manger but someday he's coming back and when he does you're going to look in his face and realize he's the king of kings and lord of lords and he owns everything he created the universe and oh my see in ecclesiastes the heart is empty because of the futility of life but in song of solomon the heart is full because we have a promise that we're holding on to life under the sun isn't the end because the son s-o-n is coming back to receive his people unto himself amazing so the books of poetry you can see it there on the screen they form four quadrants and if you live long enough you will visit each one of those four quadrants sometimes your heart will be full and life will be good sometimes your heart will be empty and life will be bad there's every combination there but it's possible to maintain an equilibrium spiritually because the book of psalms is in the middle of it all it contains every kind of circumstance we face it contains every kind of emotion we feel but psalms helps us to pray and worship through everything life throws at us because the collection of of chapters and psalms is so long psalms is organized into five large books but it contains many smaller collections the psalms of ascent psalm 120 through 134 they sang those when they walked made the procession up to the temple the hillel psalms they sang that at passover psalm 111 through 118. so there's all these little collections of psalms in that book but at the heart of every chapter brothers and sisters is praise and prayer and worship sometimes david is mad he actually prays god break out their teeth i've never prayed that i've prayed worse but i've never prayed that regardless of your current emotional state regardless of your current circumstance you can find yourself in the psalms because it's poetry and because it's inspired by god this book has an exceptional ability to help meet the deepest needs of the human heart it contains prayers that you can just take them and pray them you can act like you wrote it literally it's it's amazing like this one create in me a clean heart oh god and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and god i'm falling apart but uphold me with thy free spirit you can take that verbatim and pray it yes you can and it'll bless your life see psalms can function as a handbook for prayer and praise and worship just take a psalm and read it aloud slowly while you focus your attention on god and i promise you that will help your prayer life immensely in our always on 24 7 culture it's absolutely necessary to disconnect from media and noise and demands and busyness once in a while if we want to connect with god and psalms can help us do exactly that you know this we did a series you know this you could teach this the word psalm 119. this is my favorite verse in psalm 119 and there are so many to choose from but this is my favorite and i pray it often order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me oh my goodness it's been thousands of times probably i've said that to jesus we have long talks and rental cars and oh it's just amazing i don't know how many times i prayed that god order my steps in your word and so psalms is in your bible to teach you to pray listen pray the scriptures you say i don't know how to pray pray the scriptures i get bored when i pray i i can't focus when i pray pray the scriptures you don't have to pray the whole 150 chapters pick one pick six verses pick 10 verses pick one verse and pray the scriptures i consider the book of psalms like booster cables for your prayer life if you can't pray if you're distracted and unfocused when you pray read a psalm slowly and aloud and say those words to god this is one if you've never done this this is one to to start your day with give ear to my words oh lord consider my meditation hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my god for unto thee will i pray this is the important part my voice shalt thou hear in the morning o lord in the morning will i direct my prayer unto thee and will look up in the hebrew the words my prayer aren't in that last line it just says in the morning lord i will direct in other words god i'm going to pray before my day begins so you can send me where you want to send me and order my steps the way you want to order them and direct my decisions the way you want to do it it's it's beautiful oh my goodness uh we need to shift gears for the last little section we're not going to be too long but but would you just lift up your hands and and just pray for a second because the holy ghost is visiting bible study tonight for two reasons one is the holy ghost is in you and you brought him in with you but the other reason is where two or three are gathered together in my name jesus said i will be there in the midst of them and he is here tonight and and the whole reason for this series is to help us grapple with the word of god because the word of god can bless your life like nothing else you've ever experienced and right in the middle of the word of god is 150 chapters of prayer they cover every kind of feeling and every kind of circumstance they cover every kind of thing you'll face in life and you can find yourself in the psalms and pray your way through what life is thrown at you oh my goodness give the lord praise in this room my goodness and at the end of the old testament now the books of poetry they're interspersed between david and solomon and job way back in the early part of the old testament and the books of prophecy are the same they're interspersed all through the old testament the word prophet occurs more than 660 times in the bible two-thirds of those references are in the old testament so the old testament is filled with prophecy called by god and anointed by his spirit the prophets spoke god's word to people who had in one way or another distanced themselves from god and there were many prophets scattered across the pages of israel's history enoch moses deborah halda samuel nathan elijah elisha many others lots of prophets prophets arose when priests failed to teach god's law to the people prophets arose when kings and judges failed to govern the kingdom or the country according to god's principles prophets arose when god's people stubbornly persisted in worshipping other gods and living the lewd lifestyles of their pagan neighbors the prophets were often the last voice calling people back to god the prophets didn't earn a living from their calling they had other jobs jeremiah and ezekiel were priests moses and amos were shepherds deborah was a judge holder was a teacher so so prophets had other jobs they didn't make money doing this the records of the early prophets are woven into the history of israel in the historical books you read about the prophet nathan that talked to david the prophet samuel that anointed david so their stories are woven through the historical books but once the kingdom divided it just is done differently in the word of god for reasons that only god would know their words began to be written down separately in separate books during the time of the divided kingdom and so these 17 prophetic books they are collected at the end of the old testament and they're comprised of of five major prophets really four because jeremiah also wrote lamentations so five major prophetic books and and and then 12 minor prophets and they're called minor because of the length of their book not because they're unimportant all these are the later prophets all these are the literary prophets because they wrote down uh what they said so this chart very quickly there they are in chronological order according to your bible these are the prophets that prophesied to the southern kingdom of judah these are the ones that prophesied to the northern kingdom of israel and over here are prophets that prophesied to other nations and so that's the the 17 prophetic books all collected at the end of the old testament kind of here's how it went almost immediately after the nation divided in the days of solomon's son rehoboam the 10 northern tribes of israel plunged into idol worship first it was elijah and elisha the last of the early prophets that challenged these idolatrous people to worship god alone but years later god raised up amos and hosea and they continued to be god's mouthpiece even while the kingdom of israel in the north was sliding into apostasy you notice that they only have two prophets because their kings were so wicked god lost patience with them and finally he allowed the northern kingdom to be overthrown by assyria in 722 bc and they destroyed its cities and they took its people captive as israel the northern kingdom was nearing its destruction the smaller kingdom of judah in the south it was flip-flopping between the worship of jehovah and the worship of pagan gods good kings tried to pull them back but then a bad king would come to power and they'd reverse all those efforts and joel and isaiah and micah they spoke for god to the people of judah during those years before the northern kingdom fell so they're watching this this slow motion train wreck in the northern kingdom and they're begging the people please turn back to god or that's going to happen to us and then after the northern kingdom fell zephaniah and habakkuk and jeremiah they all pleaded with the people please turn back to god before it's too late because now it's our turn we've had too many wicked kings and the balance has tipped and we're going to face judgment like the northern kingdom did please turn back before it's too late and then all of a sudden it was too late babylon attacked the nation three separate waves of invasion beginning in 605 bc they took their young men captive and then finally after a two-year siege the city of jerusalem fell and their beloved temple was destroyed and almost all of the people were carried away as captives in 586 bc even then in the darkest days of the nation god was not without a voice because although the prophets warned of judgment they also spoke of restoration you read the prophetic books and you think god is mad at his whole creation but then you flip a chapter and all of a sudden he's promising i will give back to you what the locust has eaten and it's it's amazing on the day jerusalem was destroyed the prophet jeremiah was there and on that day he wrote the book that we know as lamentations and somehow that he was called the weeping prophet his whole life was sad he begged people to turn back to god and they ignored him and mistreated him but on the darkest day of his life and on the darkest day of israel's history while their beloved temple is being destroyed and it's in flames he wrote the book of lamentations weeping over jerusalem but he somehow in the center of that little book managed to catch the single ray of sunlight that penetrated the dark clouds of doom and here's what he said on the worst day of his life it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed oh god could wipe us all out but it's of his mercies that we're not consumed because his compassions fail not guess what his mercy his compassion they are new every morning and he looks up while the temple's in flames and the city's being destroyed and the people are screaming and they're being carried away captive and he says to god great is thy faithfulness i hate what's going on today but here's what i know god you're faithful on this the worst day of my life and you'll be faithful tomorrow on the next day of my life no it didn't matter what happened god was not without a voice because among those young men who had been taken captive to babylon there were a couple of people ezekiel he labored among the jewish captives and prophesied to them and then there was daniel who ended up in the royal court and was used to interpret dreams and to give god's word to the rulers of babylon himself he wasn't the only one with a ministry to pagan nations god also used obadiah to prophesy to edom and he used jonah and nahum to prophesy to nineveh daniel's ministry even spanned the entire 70-year babylonian exile daniel ministered from the moment that jerusalem fell and he was taken captive to the decree of cyrus the persian to say you can go back home daniel's ministry covered that entire 70 years and then as the people returned and they began to rebuild the walls of jerusalem and eventually the temple once again god was not without a voice the prophets were there to serve as the voice of god haggai and zachariah they challenged them during this time and then at the very end of the old testament when the people were backsliding once again malachi was the last person the last prophet to speak for the lord and these are the last two verses in his prophecy and in the old testament behold i will send you elijah the prophet before the great coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord he's talking about john the baptist and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest i come and smite the earth with a curse it's going to be certain disaster except there's going to be a man arise in the spirit and the anointing of the prophet elijah and it's going to be in do you remember king herod thought john the baptist was elijah brought back from the grave john the baptist his ministry was so much like elijah so after the old testament is done and it's a total disaster god still had a voice and god still had a plan the prophetic books cover a period of about 400 years and then god went silent for 400 years leading up to the new testament the old testament could have ended so very differently if only the people had listened to the voice of god's prophets and that hasn't changed very much today now many people think the role of a prophet is to foretell to speak something about the future but most of the time brothers and sisters the role of a prophet is not to foretell the future it's to forth tell to speak a word from god to people right now revelation 19 10 says the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy aren't you grateful that anointed men and women stand in this pulpit and we're in meetings with them we've had some people come by here and just launch a prophetic word over this congregation like a guided missile i believe in that stuff i thank god for that stuff the spirit of jesus is the spirit of prophecy in fact you remember when jesus occur appeared to those two disciples on the road uh back to their home in emmaus he said to them these are the words which i spake to you while i was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of moses and in the prophets and in the psalms concerning me what are you saying jesus i'm saying the whole old testament points to me if you're paying attention then open he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures and that's what we've been trying to do in this little series when you're reading the prophetic books it really helps to know the background let me help you with this because this is a a big section of scripture in the old testament and it's hard to slog through when you're reading the prophetic books if i can give you one suggestion it really helps to know the background if you want it all to make sense here's the background ask yourself these questions what nation is this prophet speaking to is it the northern kingdom of israel is it the southern kingdom of judah is it some other nation is he prophesying before or during or after the captivity that that affects what he says is the nation being governed at this time by a good or a bad ruler what is this prophet's usual occupation is he a shepherd because that affects how he talks and and what circumstances have unfolded in his life or in the life of the nation you say wow that's complicated no that information is easily obtainable in any bible dictionary or any bible commentary or on the internet you can use it for more than spying on your friends on facebook you can use the internet for amazing purposes well that really went off like a bomb didn't it what do they call that trolling isn't it anyway just go online google will help you study the bible search for this book of book of isaiah book of jeremiah you can find amazing things and doing just a little bit of homework before you delve into that book even if it's in your daily bible reading read a couple of paragraphs online about what's going on in that book and it will help increase your understanding now i've said all that i'm almost done when we read the bible we're not looking for a historical lecture or all of that what we're looking for is a word from the lord so whether you're reading law or land or reign or rebuild or poetry or prophecy be on the lookout for god to speak to you even through prophecies that were uttered centuries ago and remember that sometimes prophecies have more than one fulfillment there are things written in the word of god that were written to israel but paul gave us permission in first corinthians 10 and 11 to say all these things were written that happened to them are written for our example so sometimes there's a prophecy that was to ancient israel but you can claim that for you you have permission in the word of god uh when we were in bible school up close here tonight i got uh two more quick verses but when we were in bible school if you'd have been in bible school with me you might have seen this isn't that a complicated looking monster that chart is called the mountain peaks of prophecy and and it's actually an amazing thought because if you stand way over here where that prophet is prophets looked through history they looked through time they looked into the future and they saw many things the prophets they saw jesus birth they saw calvary they saw pentecost they saw the antichrist they saw the second coming they saw the millennial age they saw many things but the prophets see they couldn't see this valley right here they thought it was all going to happen at the messiah's first appearing none of the prophets had any understanding that there would be 2 000 years between his first appearing and his second appearing that's why israel was expecting a conqueror that was going to overthrow the romans and lead him to victory and establish his eternal kingdom they were expecting that it is first appearing because the prophets they didn't see that valley in the middle they they saw many things but none of the old testament prophets this chart we studied that that's even more complex but there's your prophets and and the lines going this way are the things that they saw but again there's a bubble in the middle they didn't understand that there would be 2 000 years between the first coming of the messiah and the second coming and that's why in the prophets they just go from one thing to the other and and you've got understanding that that even the old testament prophets didn't have isaiah said about the messiah that the messiah will proclaim the acceptable year of the lord comma and the day of vengeance of our god and jesus actually stood up in a synagogue and read that prophecy in luke chapter 4. but see 2 000 years hangs on that comma right there on that second line the first time he came it was the acceptable year of the lord he brought us salvation but the next time he comes it's going to be the day of vengeance of our god and so when jesus stood up in the synagogue 2000 years ago and read that prophecy he stopped at the comma and sat down because that was what he was here to do to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord but he's coming again and when he comes again he's going to set every wrong right he's going to banish the devil once and for all and he's going to parade his bride through the halls and the streets of heaven in front of all the holy angels because jesus is in love with you his church last scripture and i'm done thank you for your patience tonight with this long lesson so how should we live knowing that that we're in that 2000 year period between the first coming of the lord and the second coming of the lord how should we live knowing what even the old testament prophets didn't know here's how we should live titus paul wrote it to this young man for the grace of god titus the grace of god that bringeth salvation hath appeared everyone say past tense god's grace appeared when he came the first time it appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world everyone say present tense so because he came the first time and established this kingdom and you have the honor and the privilege of being in this kingdom you should be living soberly and and righteously and godly in this present world but this isn't the end looking for the second appearing looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god and our savior jesus christ don't you feel smart don't you feel important you know something that even all those old testament prophets they didn't see you understand that jesus came the first time to establish his kingdom and give you salvation you understand that you live for him today because you're part of his kingdom but we also understand that he's coming again and when he comes back that's going to be the greatest day of your life you may have had some wonderful experiences here on earth i promise you they all pale they are a paltry image of that day when you're taking one step down some main street in fredericton and the next step you're in the air and the next step after that you're on streets of gold it's amazing and we're going to meet all the saints that have gone on before that's what the prophets point us toward oh my i'm done lift up your hands in the sanctuary lift up your voice in the sanctuary and bless the name of the lord because it's jesus who gave us all of this it's his word it's his kingdom it's his salvation it's his church he is the one that receives all the praise and all the honor and all the glory forever and forever and forever and forever oh my goodness would you stand to your feet i'm finished we're going to head out shortly but just lift up your hands and your voice into the atmosphere fill this room with praise to god fill this room with thanks to god fill this room with prayer to god the bible is given to you so you can have a relationship with the god who created you and the god who is coming back for you it's a blessing to understand the word of god oh thank you jesus oh thank you jesus oh thank you jesus oh thank you jesus oh thank you jesus lord jesus i love you i'm so grateful for this holy book that i get to teach and preach from and i'm so grateful for your church your plan your people your body your bride i'm so grateful jesus you've called us and you've given us a hope that this world can't destroy even on the worst days of our lives and i thank you for that hope i thank you for that hope jesus help us to understand your word we want to understand it jesus god put a fire in some of these precious people to pray through the scripture to pray the psalms to pray those words and and to let you move in their hearts and lives lord god we give you all the praise and all the thanks and all the glory and what a privilege it is to be in your house tonight we worship you jesus we worship you jesus we worship you jesus

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 3,245

Rating: 4.9148936 out of 5

Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, sermon, preach, preaching, bible, study, teaching, bible study, cross, reference, cross reference, understanding, the, cross reference understanding the bible

Id: oilsJgcXNrw

Length: 66min 21sec (3981 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 28 2021