The Seven Streams Method

Exodus 15-18 We are in the World Stream trudging through the desert with the Israelites. We are using The Living Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis.com | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord God of Heaven, you rescue in the mightiest of ways. Each salvation you grant is a rescue. The drama of this rescue is marvelous. May we too remain enamored with your power to save and let that spur us [also] to not be a complainer. Let us keep our eye and mind on your wonderful deeds and provision for us.  Amen. 15 - the song had to be overwhelming.  2Million singing immediately after being saved in the most fantastic way imaginable was over the top.  We've seen a congregation burst into cheering after a baptism or salvation announcement or a miraculous breakthrough. But here is 2Million singing, exultant after 600,000 soldiers in pursuit are stopped right behind them. God is marvelous indeed. The next three days was spent walking in the wilderness and water was not to be found. It's easy to ridicule them as forgetful whiners, but take it easy on'em. A few hours without water in the wilderness will make one frantic. A full day or two will make one delirious. There is a nation of them and it's been three days now! The water is bitter and God needed them to drink it for there was a remedial element in the water that God needed them to ingest to heal the intestinal problem that over 80% of all Egyptiank residences had. If they were not in a panic of thirst they would have not drunk it at all.  This set of incidences had them follow through with "taking their medicine". 16 - The journey is in full and the Red Sea behind them is well out of sight. The manna begins and everyone has all that they need and the supply is going to last for 40 years. No one starved in the desert - not one. The food they had was good, nutritious, and sweet to eat. The Lord used this food issue to keep the Sabbath matter before them. On the sixth day each week, God sent double supply so they would not be sent out to gather on the seventh. They were to keep and remember the Sabbath. Those who hoarded, thinking God might stop feeding them, had rot and odor in their places. They wanted more food; meat, so God sent quail.  He sent quail here and again about a year later.  We'll read that in the coming chapter later in Exodus.  God did not send manna on the seventh day. The people finally caught on to this pattern. 17 - The two great events of this chapter are water coming from the rock and the initial battle against Amalek.  The water situation is not a perplexing matter to the locals even today. The porous rocks of this area become infused with water during the infrequent flashfloods. Shepherds then tap on rocks and are able to determine whether there is water inside it. Moses had done this during his shepherding years here [Exodus 2]. It must have been simpler for Moses to do this for bleating sheep than for quizzical and cantankerous people. The army of Amalek shows up and this calls the nation of Israel to battle. The progress toward victory happens when Moses held up his staff and Aaron and Hur supported him.  And the opposite happened when Moses did not uphold his staff. This is symbolic for us today that we need to be upholding our leaders in His Kingdom that God has brought forth. Prayer and support is needed in this area. Complaining is not! 18 - It was a rich and warm reunion when Moses met up with Jethro his father-in-law. They brought his wife and two sons to him as well. Word of the Exodus and the miracles in Egypt had reached Jethro (as it did everyone else for hundreds of miles).  Soon Jethro noticed Moses expending entires days - day after day - settling disputes like a judge before the people. Moses felt it was his duty to do so. Jethro knew better and could see that it was taking Moses to exhaustion. Jethro advised him to set up a delegation of assistants to handle these judgments and disputes. This spread the work to thousands of others who were honest, willing and able.  This landmark chapter has affected the discipline of administration and management the world over.

Romans 10-12 We are in the Church Stream today reading with the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams

Lord, the issue today is salvation. We are grateful that you are mighty to save. Amen.

10 - Paul is continuing on the same thread of salvation and his longing for the Jews to understand the greater picture; that the salvation they have been hoping and "working" for for 1400 years and more is now here ... and they are fighting it tooth and nail!  The middle of chapter 10 spells it out. We believe in our heart, and confess with our mouth and therein salvation is granted. This is what Abraham did and was counted righteous for. And Abraham (whom they revere) was "saved" 600 years before the Law was given to follow. This is proof positive that salvation comes by faith.  It's strange, but this is all so obvious to the "old guard" within Judaism that it is staring them in the face - thus they can't see it.  Paul's quoting of Isaiah, and Moses, and David in Psalms, and the Prophet Joel is proof positive that what was going on now is what God has been planning for salvation to become and that be accessible to all nations. --> and It's happening now - but the old school Jewish leadership is disturbed by it and vehemently against it.

11 -  Despite the Jews' open rejection of the salvation that is now found in Jesus, God still loves his Chosen Ones. Granted, the Jewish rejection of Jesus was not universal. The original believers and converts were mostly Jews. The growing young church was majority Jewish is culture and its overtone.  It was the Jewish leadership that had rancor for the Christians, and their proselytes turned agitators were the ones who brought the most harassment to the burgeoning Church. But in this chapter [11], Paul talks of salvation for all the Jews.  The interplay of the Jewish and Gentile relationship has a tone of sibling rivalry as Paul describes it. The symbolism and illustrations of yeast and bread and the affect each has upon the other and the tree metaphor of the trunk and the branch gives such clarity to what Paul is so impassioned about. He REALLY wants these spiritual concepts to be understood. Paul closes by exclaiming the wonders of God's processes by working out our salvation in a myriad of ways. It's a marvelous and endless topic, isn't it? 12 - This is a banner chapter about our life that is dedicated to God and transformed for living unto God and honoring Him with our service. This life is filled with grace and gifts and productive activity that blesses, spreads cheer, and love, and hope, and serves others so to spread that love.  The finale~ is exhortation that is vital for dealing with tension, deviance and deviant people. It is a paragraph that is unique to Christianity.  Interesting that the pagans and the other religions of the world refer to Christians as "the nice ones", the "happy ones", the "ones who share".  My husband and I have been in over 70 countries and we've seen this first hand.  It is a marvel how Christians are everywhere and spreading Good News, even to those who currently despise Jesus and His followers.  And it is this ministry in the Holy Spirit that is resulting in millions of new Christians coming into the Kingdom of God each week! The week walked us through much Preparation for Big Changes ~Moses relayed the plans for Passover, for leaving Egypt so to institute a new faith and how it would be lived. ~David is now king - this is a big change: he "farewells" Saul/Jonathan, though he is in Hebron, he names Jerusalem the new capitol and national worship will be instituted there. Worship will be done according to what David says - vibrant and energetic. ~In Psalms DAvid prays for deliverance [35] and then revels in his relationship with God. What better way to prepare for deliverance than to pray for deliverance? ~Isaiah is basically telling us to prepare for a whole new world and Jeremiah is told to prepare to follow the Call of God. ~in Hosea, we all wish he had something more pleasant to say but he, because of Israel's behavior, he is saying, "you better prepare yourselves to be destroyed - the way you are carrying on..." ~Mark teaches, "here comes Jesus, prepare yourselves to be blessed." ~Paul in Romans 10-12 is saying, "prepare to be saved. Jews first then Gentiles.  Wait, no Gentiles are more readily receiving him, so Gentiles more for now, then Jews will follow in because of envy.  Oh well, all of you are going to be saved!"

Mark 5:1-6:44 We are in the Christ Stream learning more about Jesus' earthly ministry as we read from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Jesus, you expel what is wicked, you raise up deceased children, you feed hungry, YOU are everything that is needed. Thank you for being everything that we need too. And help us to share the great news about you.  Amen. My Heavens! There's so much to learn from Jesus - so many ways to be like Jesus - so many reasons to do like Jesus.

5 - The reading today begins with the most eerie and grotesque of settings. This is demon possession at its worst that can be witnessed in the Bible.  The ultimate point is to demonstrate for us that Christ in us enables even us to remedy these horrid problems. Jesus does this openly because he wants us to exercise this gift globally. He cleanses this man of countless demons and does so in front of the disciples. THIS is teaching, and Jesus does so perfectly.  His style is very straightforward, remedial (it seeks a solution, not a fancy show), and transformational.  The man was a wild-wolf and worse. And when Jesus is finished the man is following Jesus, grateful to him, and he is an evangelist.  What a marvel.

Jesus next does a double deed of healing a 12-year old girl and a woman who was ill with internal bleeding for 12 years. Mathew, Mark and Luke all tell the sequencing of this story identically. He's called to heal the young girl, he is intercepted by the older girl (heals her), then he proceeds to go and heal/raise up the young girl to life again. The most endearing thing that anyone can give as a gift and a blessing is to give a family their young child back. The deepest pain a heart can pilgrimage through is the death of their child. How do YOU think this family felt about Jesus come sunset on this day - the day that they got their daughter back.  The whole world would feel exactly the same way about Jesus provided they could just meet Him. 6 - His visit to Nazareth had several reasons.  The Bible records him passing through here about a year prior. One thing that can be noted is that prophets do not exactly receive a hero's welcome in their hometowns.  (Shepherding types do, but not prophetic types). If they people do this to Jesus, they'll do this to anyone. Do not be surprised. A prophet is supposed to have an itinerant/mobile life anyway.  Also the protracted list of Jesus' family of origin is listed. It's an intriguing thought that Jesus was the eldest son of a family of at least nine.  He had five brothers, at least two sisters, more likely about four sisters. Some branches of Christendom like to tell themselves that Mary was the "Virgin Mary" forever.  That Song/Solomon 4:12 is about Mary - a "fountain sealed". Well, read Mark 6:3 and realize that Joseph and Mary parented a fruitful family. ~When he sent out the 12 disciples, he told them to go empty-handed basically. With no back-up (meaning no backpack too!) this would make them determined to connect with people. The gospel requires connection or it is not spread. ~John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin and Herod had him killed.  Herod set it up so that it looked like he was trapped and needed to kill John do that he could continue feigning that he was a man of is word. Yea right. Herod worked it like a politician. How does this sit with Jesus? Now we do not find Jesus suspending his ministry and starting a "prophets' rights" coalition. No. Nothing distracts Him from His ministry. But notice how Jesus later treats Herod one or two dozen months later in Jerusalem: Luke 23:9.  Jesus won't say a word to him. Yer'pretty bad off when God won't even talk to you! ~The reading ends today with a display of Jesus' mastery over the matter of food; specifically the quantity of food. Jesus effortless feeds 5,000 men.  There were wives. There were children. He probably fed 25,000 total that day. Only the men are numbered in the process because a ready count of able-bodied men was always noted for these are biblical times and an enemy could arrive at any time and a census of the men needed to be known. The others were significant too but that is just the reality of the day: number the men.

Hosea 6-7 We are sailing through choppy water in the Exile Stream. We are using the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Dear Lord God: we live in times like this.  We ask for your wisdom as our culture is going headlong into wrong doing and ignoring you.  We want to hear from you Lord so we may understand the times, understand your mind and respond accordingly.  Amen.

The opening of this passage has a hint of Christ in there that certainly people perceived a variety of ways since it was spoken 700+ plus years before Christ arrived.  Hosea does give a pleading invitation to the people of Israel. I guess it warrants a comment at this point: it must be making Hosea crazy somewhere along the line to be among these people; so wretched, and yet God is so patient in waiting - giving chances for them to return to Him and they simply keep "daring God" if we can use the phrase.  It's as if they were as twisted as possible....like the rascal kid in school that is practically begging to be punished.  Israel has willfully lost her mind and soul at this point in her history. Yes, they were bringing their sacrifices to the Lord, but plenty of the earnings were via prostitution! Disgusting scenario. Gilead and Shechem are mentioned by name.  These two cities made Las Vegas look tame and proper by comparison.

7 - Israel is embroiled in wrong doing and is guilty and dark as ever.  Adultery is as normal as a trip to the market. The "oven" motif is interesting. It is a mis-managed oven - that is for certain.  Four of Israel's kings are assassinated after very short reigns.  Life is that cheap in Israel because love is that cheap and God a thing to mock for these people. Interesting illustration of a half baked cake.  One translation articulates Israel to be a pancake that is raw goo on one side and burnt on the other; something that no one will eat/want/enjoy anymore.  The gray hair comment is meaning that Israel is getting old and time is running out.  They are a senseless nation, due for a whipping and correction, they are runaways headed for ruin, they talk senselessly and murder awaits them.  It's not a pretty sight! This is Israel in the 700's B.C.   Hosea is talking to them, encouraging them, warning them and they are ebullient in their zany sinning.

Isaiah 65-Jeremiah We are bridging between two books in the Prophetic Stream today as we read from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams

God, we pray that all of us would realize the gravity and seriousness of our callings the way Isaiah and Jeremiah did. There are nations yet to bring into Your Light - and you will use us to do that as we are willing and available.  Amen

Isaiah is offering parts of the vision of the new heavens and the new earth.  It is the answer to prayer for a longing earth and the people who have been hoping for God's Kingdom to come in full. Trademarks of this time are that new nations are "taken aboard", a new name is given to all, the atmosphere of God reigns, there is a new heaven and earth...because what has been hoped for has arrived at our current presence.  What was always thought of to be "up there" is now among us; that is a new heaven and earth. <----the fascinating concept could be discussed for 1,000 years! and it probably will still be a fascinating discussion 1,000 from now. The evil is separated and gone. Peter speaks of this in 2 Pt. 3:10ff, John speaks of this in its final state in Rev. 21-22.  Revelation especially expands on Isaiah's vision described.  Other aspects is that people will be living the length of years similar to lifespans before Noah's flood.

Isa. 65:20 asserts that those who die under 100 years of age will be accursed souls who died in their youth. Apparently a time is coming when we will be seeing Methuselah-types again.  Won't this be a wonder?  Plenty and prosperity and peace will be common. Tension and frustration will be unheard of. 66 - Isaiah talks clearly about those who are received of the Lord and those who are rejected.  There have been people who have lived by the rules of their own choosing and obeying which rules of God that suited them [vv. 3-4]. Obeying what we want to obey when we want to obey it - is not obeying. This great book of Isaiah then ends with comforting words akin to tender motherhood for his beloved followers and terrible reckoning for the disobedient.  There are several of Jesus' quotes that come from this portion of Isaiah.  And this ends the words of one of the greatest writers of all time.  For his powerful and poignant contribution to Israel's prophecy, Isaiah was executed by the diabolical king Manasseh; son of the righteous king Hezekiah.  Hebrews 11:37 talks of Isaiah's execution wherein he joined the other saints in glory. Jer. 1 - Jeremiah had the dismal task of warning Jerusalem of being over run by Babylon.  He is called to ministry and he is called to a ministry in a time when people don't want to hear it.  He ministered in Jerusalem during its final decades before Babylon stormed in  ... and there is no record of even one convert to encourage his work. Truth is he could have volunteered to go to Nineveh or Babylon and be among an elite writing team for a literary revival was in progress. But he followed his difficult call from God and he stuck to his post and henceforth his writing is still touching hearts nearly 2700 years later. This instead of having his work be celebrated, his life lived in luxury, only to have his writing become filler for an archaeological dig along with his own bones.   He was reluctant to accept his calling from God. He was about 20 years of age when his calling came. He was intimidated and felt he was too young to affect anything. But he was to tell them that an army was coming - they were as motivated and angry as a boiling pot ready to pour over the land. His calling is rich with imagery, ominous in its pulsing immensity and encouraging in that God would be present and walk him through his assignment step by step and word by word. Jeremiah is in for an intense "rest of his life"!

Psalm 34-37 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading the writing of King David. We are reading from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Thank you God for being our ever present help in times of trouble, our God in every circumstance, our God who there to comfort every pain and receive every praise.  Amen

David had just come through another vortex.  He's been on the run from Saul.  He seeks "refuge" among the Philistines - whatever that could end up meaning!  He pretended to be a nutcase so to project to the Philistine king that he was not a threat. He absolutely could NOT let the King of Gath know that he was perhaps the most brilliant battle tactician on earth at that time. But it is vital to understand David's mentality so to ingest this Psalm for all it's worth. David had no place to go to find safety.  God is training him that the only 'safe' place is with HIM; his God in heaven. One literal translation calls God "The LORD of heaven's armies" and it is a literal translation! David would, in time, be leading a vast army and God wanted David to be ingrained with a deep and unshakable trust in God. He couldn't have him get complacent due to so many battle victories that were coming for him. He couldn't have David become spiritually complacent once his power became among the greatest in history, or once wealth and status had accumulated.  These years were necessary for David to walk through. They were his own pilgrimage; it had to happen. The backdrop of Psalm 34 was I Samuel 21:10-15.  David survived this spooky incident and then wrote Ps. 34.

35 - whereas David is rejoicing again about surviving in Ps.34, he is venting [his prayer] in Ps.35.  He just needs to pause and muse about all the people who were coming after him.  I guess he never calculated that dropping Goliath would fester such jealousy in so many.  Yet David's exasperation with those who hate him is not without the positive interruptions of vv. 9 and 18; "my soul will rejoice in the Lord. [and] I will give give thanks in the congregation." 36 and 37 Find us in the middle of David's 72 Psalms. They remind and urge us to TRUST in GOD.  People are wicked. God is merciful. Uh, ya, trusting in God is what we need to be doing and this trusting in God is our only hope of having an anchored soul. The contrast of the hearts of men all around us and the heart of God above is more stark than night and day. It is the most contrasting comparison that can be made under heaven.  So gaze upon God, praise Him and live in Him and the wickedness of others will become incidental.   37 feels like a continuation of the same Psalm/verse/song.  It has become one of the most endearing Psalms in the Bible. It is interesting that th Psalms are truly worth posting in places where we see them often; desk top, coffee station, on dashboard, etc. so that we see them, read them and dwell on these Psalms - especially 37.

II Samuel 1-5 We are in the Nation Stream. David is now official king of Israel as we read through the International Standard Version today. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord, these changes we see today were steps in the right direction. Yes, things were turbulent and messy but growth is rarely clean and neat and your hand was upon David in spite of all the intrigue and surprises that were not always pleasant. May our faith be equally as unshakable as we find David's to be - even when our days are stormy.  Amen The Book of II Samuel IS the reign of David

Saul is gone and what's worse for David is that his dear friend Jonathan is dead.  The opening of II Sam. is grief for David.  Yes, Saul spent much of his years on the throne trying to kill David. But David had a character rooted in his walk with God and Israel was God's land and Saul was Israel's King and David respected authority.  So he had respect for Saul - odd as it may seem. David's reaction to someone who had 'finished off' Saul is another testament to the depth of honor that David had for the Lord's anointed. It is in order to mention that II Sam. 1-6 and I Chron. 11-16 is a different perspective on the same time- period. The two portions are worth reading concurrently so to get the full picture.

He was now king of Israel, but needed to grieve a bit. His "farewell song" is a treasure. 2 - David was rightful king now but some of Saul's men just couldn't accept the transfer of power though the time had come and there was no other way to perceive this development. The battles and skirmishes are gruesome and unnecessary but Saul's "groupies" who couldn't see the bigger picture nor the changing times were ebullient and there were needless deaths because of it. It never is wise to be committed to a dead cause. Nevertheless those loyal to Saul had installed Saul's son; Ish-Bosheth as king over Israel.  The move was illicit but so it goes. He was there as "king" for two years while David was the rightful king installed at Hebron.  He was there for 7+1/2 years These years before he was moved up to Jerusalem there was warring between Saul's followers and David's.  During these years David had children with six different wives. That was one way to pass the time...  Though David's movement was growing and strengthening, Saul's was becoming weaker. 3 - Abner changes to become one of David's followers and supporters.  If he hadn't been so intense and spiteful prior to doing this, perhaps there would have been more credibility to his move toward David. But since he joined with David before convincing everyone of David's men, Abner was murdered. The intrigue and entanglement seemed to mark these years between the death of Saul and David being fully enthroned in Jerusalem. 4 - In another incident, there were two ruffians that went to the house of Saul's son Ish-bosheth and killed him and brought I-B's head to David thinking it would please David. David's reaction was opposite and David had these two men killed. These were wild times in Hebron! 5 - Finally all the tribes gathered at Hebron and David is anointed King.  He moves on Jerusalem even though the Jebusites living there vowed David would not come in. But David being valiant, he and his soldiers prevailed and Jerusalem became "the City of David".  King Hyram of Tyre soon heard of David's triumph in Jerusalem and sent gifts.  The Philistines too heard of David's ascension as King and they marched out twice to end this movement. David was victorious and decisively so. It's still "The City of David" almost 3030 years later!  

Exodus 12-14 We covering the 10th plague today in the World Stream. We are reading from the International Standard Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Holy Holy holy, Lord God Almighty - we just want to sing to you as you have done the mightiest of mighty deeds on behalf of your children. Thank you God for standing in defense of us too. Teach us to trust in you who fights for us. Take us to your place of rest.   Amen.

The tenth plague was coming and it required preparation for the Israelites.  Egypt would not recover from this plague.  It would break the Pharaoh and he would want Israel gone. They didn't know if 10 plagues was the end of it, or if more and more were coming - so they would finally resolve to have Moses go and take his people with him.  The firstborn from every Egyptian home were to die the night of Passover. The details are explained and the Israelis follow them "to a T". Compliance is deathly important here. Sacrificing a perfect lamb, putting blood over the doorposts and lintel of each home, the unleavened bread... this is all intriguing symbolism of a Savior who would be coming some 14 centuries later!

The LORD went through Egypt at midnight, struck all firstborn dead - including animals and the grief was unbearable. It had been roughly a year from the first plague of blood to this final one.  The Israelis were ordered, by a grieving and horrified Pharaoh, to go and do their worship as they please. The "parting gifts" sent them away with immense wealth.  It got the 'nation of Israel' off to a good financial start to say the least.  They left and the Exodus had begun. The Passover had been eternally instituted for the Jews, Egyptian slavery years were behind them. 430 years had passed since their arrival.  70 went down there and now millions were leaving! What a sight. The greatest event of the ancient world was in process. 13 - The Passover was then established for all time. The consecrating of the first born was ordered (a little easier to be on God's side and not have the death of the firstborn, isn't it?) The dedication of the firstborn would never change for them. The Festival of Unleavened Bread is established. All these matters are so they would REMEMBER what God has done.  We take communion as often as we do today, why? So we wouldremember Jesus' body given for us...the sacrificial Lamb. The march out of Egypt had begun and God guided them precisely where they needed to go. Joseph's bones were brought along with them as Joseph ordered in Genesis 50:25 "400 years" prior. 14 - God gave Moses some epochal advice that explains Moses calm and direct leadership during this hurricane-level-5-historical event. Pharaoh changes his tune again and the whole army launches to go after the Israelis and retrieve them. As they draw close, the fear in the hearts of the newly freed slaves is beyond frightening.  Moses' word at this juncture is the best of the best. "The Lord will fight for you while you keep still."  The cloud and the fire commence and would be their guides for 40 years.  The fire-defense of the Israeli's that God puts forth is awesome as He parts the waters of the Red Sea.  The Israelis pass through the Sea, the Egyptians drown. The Exodus is complete and a nation is bewildered and filled with tremendous respect for Moses and a holy fear of the LORD. Well, that's something y'don't see every day.

Romans 7-9 We are in the Church Stream today reading from the Good News Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 7 - Why is there The Law? Whether nonChristian religions want to admit it or not, something is wrong.  It is not a perfect world and there is especially something wrong with us. The deficit created between what we are are and what we ought to be is not caused by diet, lack of inner essence-ness, poor wifi with our mobile device. And more/enough money isn't going to take our sin away. The world descended into sin since Genesis 3 occurred and a Savior is needed. We violated God's Law and only a solution from God will remedy the matter. Without Law humanity remains oblivious that a Savior is needed and that there is a vast gap between where we are spiritually and where we ought to be.   God doesn't want our reaction to a Savior to be, "Savior? I don't need a Savior. That merely proves human oblivion.  We are helpless to save ourselves and God's Law proves this to us.

Paul uses an illustration of marriage for us to help start the realization process. The fact of Law and what it reveals about us proves that we as humans come up short regardless. Our nature is divided. What we know, what we wish we did, and what we do, fails to line up again and again. We embody the conflict. We live the conflict. The conflict lives in us. Except for Jesus, and haleluia, we have Jesus...provided we let Jesus have us. 8 - In Jesus, we have Life abundant, full and free, in the Holy Spirit. Condemnation is overwith.  This Holy Spirit lives in us.  The Holy Spirit enables us to do and be and become all that God designed us for in this life. Our obligation now is not to an exhausting Law but to the Holy Spirit - to remain in Him and yielded to Him; to be listening to His promptings and not selfishness anymore. And Jesus, through the Holy Spirit in us, allows this to happen in us. What we truly crave in our soul is for Christ to reign in our lives and all that is explained in this chapter allows this to happen. The suffering that creation is under is universal suffering, but this hope in Christ carries us through to attach to the ultimate freedom that is coming. The Spirit is praying for us. We need never be in dismay or defeated for God can be trusted.  We have Christ. We will always have Christ. Christ Himself will not allow something to come between us. We are never separated from Him. Romans 8 is magnificent and has given comfort to Believers in the most bleak of settings for 19+ centuries. 9 - Paul, not one to duck from issues, brings up the pain he has over the fact that many of the Jewish people, for whom the promises of God were first granted, are not in the Covenant - and it is their rejecting God [not the vice versa] that is the problem. God did not reject the Jews so to discard them. God used the occasion of their smugness to Him and the New Covenant in Christ's blood to open the invitation to the nations of the whole world. This all hinges on God's mercy and grace. Remember that every false religion errs in the realm of grace. They mess it up. They do not understand it. This chapter is an exposition of another factor of God's grace. He has opened the Kingdom of Himself to more people who do not deserve it.  He is just good.  That is the issue here.  It was foretold that the Kingdom of heaven and access to it would be opened to all people's and not just "a door held open" for one race of people for all time.

The motif that came forward day after day this week was, "God is Sovereign. Will we accept this and trust Him?"

Pharaoh's heart was hard as stone in the first 5 plagues.  God made sure Pharaoh remained so plagues 6ff. - so that all 10 plagues could be executed to testify to the world for all time.  God's sovereignty is the only explanation for this.   David is going through a cauldron of events and stresses that could have shook His faith and had him question his destiny. He knew God enough to trust Him through it all.  Psalms this week was an alpine journey through frantic cries, through turbulence, thanksgiving, trust, and forgiveness. Trust in His Sovereignty is what sustains David - AGAIN. Isaiah prophesies of astounding things that are going to happen in Israel in the future. It is talk like this that will sustain Israel as they are going to walk through some painful things brought on by their rebellion. Understanding sovereignty is what helps us rise to see the big picture.  We see sovereignty in Hosea's words, "I will abandon my people until they have suffered enough for their sins, and come looking for me ..." God isn't mean. He is sovereign and only He knows what is going to work.  We see God's sovereignty in Jesus showing Lordship over the Sabbath, and demons, and illness and nature.  Paul describes a part of God's sovereignty in His opening Himself to the world and the world to Him when, by default, Israel (especially leadership) rejects God.  This is enough different ways God has shown His graciousness and sovereignty for us to realize that His sovereignty will prove true in our lives as well.  For nothing can separate us from the love of God. Amen.

Mark 2:23-4:41 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the Good News Translation this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis.com | #7Streams Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord Jesus, you are Lord over the Sabbath, over nature, over diseases and Lord over the Law.  May you be The Lord in our lives too.  Amen.

The Sabbath Laws were so detailed and extreme that they were stifling for people. The trend went to these ends after the Babylon Captivity.  The leadership in Israel had been so wretched from ca. 920 - 722 A.D. that they figured that swinging to the other extreme of feigned obedience would be proper.  On the Sabbath no one could walk more than a few minutes. Food had to be prepared the day before and eaten cold. Even today there are some of this same brand of faith who will not flush their toilets on the Sabbath because pushing the handle down that painful one inch constitutes work (this is true!). Yes, Jesus used the occasion to highlight the sillyness of manmade rules.  He was also addressing the leaderships penchant for majoring on the minor and minoring on the major.  And for what it's worth, it was Jesus' teaching and His life lessons about the Sabbath that put the Sanhedrin, Pharisees and Scribes over the edge and their reaction steeled their resolve to eventually crucify him.

3 - Imagine these jokers being so cold that a man getting his hand healed [on THEIR wrong day!] angers them. What a sorry bunch.  He is healing and cleansing people of evil spirits and a stampede to Galilee had erupted from even neighboring lands. It be difficult to film such a scene for it requires tens of thousands of people to film it accurately so we've not really seen this scene duplicated for what it really was.  The crowds could have easily exceeded 100,000.  The biggest of sporting or music events worldwide rarely reach this size. Jesus is creating a rage of this size in a country outpost!  He tells the demons that he is expelling to keep quiet for he was trying to delay the people rising up to make him King/Messiah of Israel.  He was able to delay it until Palm Sunday a couple years later. Next Jesus is calling the 12 Disciples. This is also in Mt. 10:2ff, Lk 6:12ff, and Acts 1:13. The order of these vary per list but it's the same men - that's a discussion for another day. Jesus is being accused of having an evil spirit by the teachers of the Law. They were angry that there was so much attention shifting away from them and going to Jesus. It was jeopardizing their income. Jesus warned that calling his work to be of the Devil was a dangerous deed that would not be forgiven. We need to hear this today. Too much of this happens now anytime someone has a ministry style that seems "out there" to us. I've heard people call a minister a demon or some such label. Take it easy, that puts US in dangerous territory. We don't know and need to watch our words here. Jesus responding that whoever obeys him is His family; his mother and brothers. Some branches of Christendom bristle at Jesus saying this for Jesus' mother is so revered in some churches. But Jesus said what He said.  We need to make sure WE are in Jesus family through obeying Him and leave complex theologizing alone. 4 - The Parable of he Sower is a clear memo to us.  We are to be fruitful soil. We are not to be paper thin characters, or distracted by thorny concerns, or lacking substance like rocky soil. We are called to be rich in Him - like nutrients; growing and helping others grow. And we are to be productive. We are to draw others to God like a lamp in the dark. Too many hide their faith. Today people all over the world are being told to put their Crosses away. NEVER. Broadcast the Faith in Our Jesus that saves. Our faith is a growing enterprise. It engulfs more of humanity than any creed or business or movement ever has. It was small once - 12 guys; rather ruffian in nature, and billions have joined since. We can learn from the mustard seed, can we not?  We've been living it for near 2000 years.  And one last lesson about nature - when he orders a storm to be calmed: He has control over nature.