By His grace, what the radical life of Christ should look in an American context!

is curious as to how often we miss the message because we reject the appearance of the messenger? Mat 3:4 @WeeManWest

Matthew 3:4 In our age of the well-dressed, high-profile, nice-looking messenger I can’t help but wonder how do we respond when God’s messenger to us stinks, hasn’t shaved in ages, is wearing cheap and nasty clothes, and probably looks like he/she is starving?

Acts 3:6 We have made caring for the poor and sick as though it is a payment we make rather than an act we perform. We give our money to our government, churches and charities and we neglect actually going ourselves and ministering to those who need our ministry. We create the disconnect. We allow the dependence to be about money rather than about the Person, Jesus Christ.

Acts 3:23 Peter again points to the fact that the age of Israel and the Law were coming to an abrupt ending. Within 40 years these words of Peter would be very true. The Roman armies would sack and burn Jerusalem slaying most of the population. I believe that every “people” is judged by God for their response to Christ as the Psalmist wrote, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth….Kis the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.” Psalm 2:10-12

Psalm 5:9-12 We are a pack of liars and flatterers. We bear our guilt. Our only hope is in taking refuge in the abundance of God’s steadfast love (Psalm 5:7) in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 6:5 In case you were wondering…yes, we are still the same way. Only God’s grace makes any of us different.

Genesis 6:9 & Genesis 6:22 Noah is a picture to us of Jesus Christ, who in the midst of a corrupted human race was righteous before God and was blameless and walked with God and did all that God commanded Him. Such cannot be said for any of the rest of us. We are pictured in the ones who have filled the earth with violence and corruption, whose thoughts and motives are continually evil before God. This chapter gives us a true glimpse at the holiness of God in comparison to the corruption of His creation. Even the angels are impure before God.

Genesis 7:3-4 I believe that there is a connection between the 7 couples of birds of the air and the fact that this judgment is coming from the air, the abode of the birds. Just throwing out the possibility.

Genesis 7:17 One day, as God closed the door of the ark, so also will He close the door to heaven. We do not know what day such will be. However, we should live in light of the knowledge that one day, God will bring all things to an end. When the Lord shuts, no man can open what He has shut.

Genesis 8:1 Here for a second time already in Scripture we see the picture of the wind blowing over the earth to recede the waters. We have the wind of the Holy Spirit in Genesis 1:2 and now we have the wind again. The wind often accompanies the work of the Holy Spirit on this earth.

Genesis 8:8-12 Raven and dove, raven doesn’t return but the dove does. 7 days later the dove returns with the olive branch. 7 days later the dover remains. Maybe this pictures the ages of God’s movement. In the beginning, the age from Creation to the Flood both Satan and the Holy Spirit worked in the earth. Satan found a place in the earth and corrupted all flesh and remained in the earth, the Spirit returned (the ark). Seven days (an age) later the dove is sent back out and returns with an olive branch which is a picture of the remnant of Israel…however, Satan still held much sway over the inhabitants of the earth in that age, from the Flood to Christ’s advent. Seven days (an age) later the dove is sent back out and remains in the earth. This may picture the current gospel era in which the gospel is to go to the nations and fill the earth. Just throwing out some thoughts, not saying definitively that such is what this text teaches. Just more a rumination drawn from the picture.