in the NASB, there are only 353........ hmmmm.......
THANKSGIVING & PEACE for those who receive it.... (have you received it?)
Luke 1:76-79 [Zecharias's Prophecy]
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;
77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,
78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
THANKSGIVING AND PEACE THAT WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD!!!
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
(Question: Are *you* each certain that you are a child of God - today? For those of us who are certain: Do we know all we should know about being peacemakers? How can we be peacemakers if we are not walking in peace ourselves? Where does peace begin in our lives? How do we grow in peace? How does that relate to the command to 'be filled with the Spirit' - Ephesians 5:18?)
THANKSGIVING & PEACE BEGIN WHEN WE RECEIVE HIS HEALING POWER: healing in regards to our past, our sin, and our struggles in our own personal lives (e.g. - if nothing else, all believers need to give thanksgiving for being given spiritual life after bringing spiritual death upon ourselves...)
THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD
(QUESTION: What can we learn about walking in peace in regard to the various afflictions we face, or have faced, in regards to our own health or the health of those we love - or even strangers? You know: What about that question: 'what kind of a God is He anyway'? Where does simple faith fit in here? What of the simple command to 'go in peace'? What about any guilt re: any illness any of us might face in light of the traditional thoughts of Jesus'/Job's day about illness, and/or in light of self-inflicted illness/injury? Should the woman proceed with a focus on how she became ill? Why or why not? How or how not? Should the woman proceed in frustration for the delay in her healing? How do the lessons about 'going in peace' in this story compare with the lessons we can learn from the story of the man who was born blind (John 9)? Also, see Romans 8:28...)
25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse— 27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His [i]cloak. 28 For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” 29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” 31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her,“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
THANKSGIVING & peace IN ACTION;
peace about our need to keep growing today......
(NOTE: Consider this passage in II Peter 1:2-8 as an example of how Paul himself obeyed the command found in Hebrews 10:24 "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,"
(QUESTION: What do we learn about thanksgiving, praise, grace, and peace..., and what fruit should be produced throughout our response?) II Peter 1:2-8 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence,knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(QUESTION: How does thanksgiving and peace fit together in these two verses?)
Luke 2:14 And on earth peace ***among*** men with whom He is pleased. (NAS)
Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
(QUESTION: Does the following instruction relate only to that point in time, or to today?)
Matthew 10:13 If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.
THANKSGIVING IN CONFLICT: and......peace with each other
(NOTE: when the church tries to fulfill the 'team discipleship' aspects of Hebrews 10:24 (see above), conflict can arise even more readily...... Why? (or why not?)...... How does that fit in with Titus 2:3-5? "3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may [b]encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, beingsubject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored." ?If anyone around us is struggling more than we are in any given area, are they 'older' or 'younger' than we are *in that area*? How does this next passage fit in with that?)
Mark 9:42-50 42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,44 [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, 46 [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell,48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
THANKSGIVING & PEACE throughout days of persevering - when facing uncertainties of life here on earth.....
II Peter 2:10-14 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and [b]its works will be [c]burned up.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. -- 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore,beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
AND AGAIN:
THANKSGIVING AND PEACE THAT WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD!!!
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
(Question: Are *you* each certain that you are a child of God - today? For those of us who are certain: Do we know all we should know about being peacemakers? How can we be peacemakers if we are not walking in peace ourselves? Where does peace begin in our lives? How do we grow in peace? How does that relate to the command to 'be filled with the Spirit' - Ephesians 5:18?)
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