The Seven Streams Method

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Ezekiel 24-26 We are in the Prophetic Stream reading from the Common English Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate #GivingTuesday - November 28, 2017

Lord God, we join you and bless your children.  In worship, we indeed are glad to be counted among your children.  I pray we are productive and faithful to what you have called us to be and to do.  Amen.

The Prophetic stream today has us at the end of the prophecy assuring that Jerusalem will fall [to the Babylonians] because of her sinfulness.  And it includes the start of Ezekiel's first chapters that assures the surrounding nations, that have been in contention with Judah, that they are going to fall too [so take pause before any of you celebrate the coming Hebrew tragedy]. The theme of those particular chapters continues through chapter 32, so we will be reading these in the Prophetic Stream during the next two weeks as well.

24 - Jerusalem is like a worthless pot that is filled with all the fixings of a fine stew.  However that pot [Jerusalem] is corroded and so dirty that it pollutes the stew and alas the fire gets so hot that the metal pot glows red and melts. Consequently none get fed as all might have hoped to be. God's anger will not be quenched until Jerusalem is emptied of all its rebellious residents.  The remainder of the chapter, v. 15-27 is mysterious, yet knowing the timeline does help understanding.  Within a day of this scripture, Ezekiel's wife died. He is forbidden to mourn.  Remember, Ezekiel is already a captive in Babylon along with many other Judeans. That same day, the Babylonians broke into Jerusalem commencing their siege and slaughter.  However, back where Ezekiel is, no one knows Jerusalem has been overrun. They do know that Ezekiel is a widower and is in solitude... what's going on? What else is wrong? And Ezekiel was silent for three years - the length of time it took for news of Jerusalem's overthrow to reach them.   The Jerusalem they knew, they would never see again.  Oh the grief!  Due to this timing, Ezekiel took the attack of Jerusalem very personally.  In more ways than one, "the jewel" was gone. 25 - As Judah would go down and Jerusalem would fall into enemy hands, her neighbors rejoiced like cackling hyenas.  Irritating, yes, God was not pleased with their reaction either.  But Philistia was overrun this same year that Jerusalem fell; 586 B.C.  And did Ammon, Moab, or Edom have a hunch if they might be next?  You can discuss that over the coming holidays if the topic gets to that level.  'Fact is Babylon regrouped and in 582 B.C. they leveled all three; Ammon, Moab and Edom.  Do you remember Jeremiah 27 saying the same thing was going to happen just like it did?  We read that on June 21; four and a half months ago.  Jeremiah was in Judah these same years while his friend Ezekiel was hundreds of miles away in the Babylonian "outback". 26 - Next, Ezekiel has three visions against Tyre; the coastal city that was 12 miles north of where the Israel-Lebanon border is today.  Ezekiel's vision happened the same year that Jerusalem fell. Tyre was a geological phenomenon. It's port was a hub that had tremendous wealth and power. The financial tentacles of Tyre stretched across the Mediterranean Sea, along No. Africa, through Gibraltar, down the west coast of Africa, and clear up to what became Britain. It had shined in the Mediterranean sunsets for 600 years.  But Ezekiel prophesied that Tyre was to be attacked, stripped, and made desolate - never to rise again.  Within a year Tyre heard and saw the Babylonian army appear on the horizon! Tyre was under siege from 585 to 572 B.C.  For 13 years Babylonians encamped around and choked off Tyre until they were subdued and conquered.  A gorgeous city was turned to rubble and disappeared from the scene.  And as Ezekiel said, they never rose again. The Persians followed the Babylonians. The Greeks followed them, each smacking Tyre back to the ground.  Ezekiel even provided the 585 B.C. funeral dirge for Tyre. Today, Tyre (where it once was) is a bare rock where fisherman stretch out their nets to repair and dry them.  This is exactly what Ezekiel said in Ez. 26:4.  All this happened because the people of Tyre delighted in the calamity that befell Jerusalem.  God said it would be like this for those who cursed Abraham's people (Genesis 12:3).  Let's continue to take this 4,000 year old statement seriously, even today.

Download 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis "Lord, You call us to be productive industrious people.  And you grant wisdom to those who ask.  We've asked before and we ask again now because we need your wisdom.  Thank you Lord.  Amen." 9 - We are invited to come and gain wisdom. The invitation is open. The learning is delightful. Invest your efforts in helping the wise grow; none else.  Wisdom's benefits are lifelong, while prostitutes and theft will kill you. 10 -  [ch's 10-24 are Solomon's Bk. 2 of Proverbs]  The contrasts are many: Be a good child / be wise / righteous / diligent / teachable / make plans / be honest / speak thoughtfully/ be gracious & loving / be blessed / rich / anchored / hopeful / helpful.            On the other hand, do not be a rebel / a fool / wicked / lazy / reckless / blindly self-sufficient / tolerant of sin / do not speak curses nor be quarrelsome.  Yap yap yap all the time and you'll be poor, flighty, fearful, selfish, shunned and alone. 11 - Honesty is of God and establishes us. Dishonesty will destroy the cheater.  Righteousness is endless, riches are temporal.  Be a builder not a destroyer.  Godly citizens = a prosperous city / wickedness = decay & demise.  Don't quarrel or gossip -- be honorable and kind.  Cruelty/riches via evilness/stubbornness/and death all go together.  Love people more than riches.  Discretion will keep you beautiful.  You will find what you are looking for in life: whether good OR evil - and we all will be rewarded accordingly 12 - Love learning, correction, goodness, godliness. The worth of a good wife is immeasurable [and v.v.]  The godly man v.s. the wicked man --> the contrasts are many and eternal.  Good men and hard work and teamwork and honesty and listening are linked - as are waste and crookery, arrogance and jealousy, lies and trouble.  Don't be a fool --> [fingers in your ears, endless tantrums, demanding respect, lying, putting others down, loving deceit and evil, looking for trouble].  Keep promises, work, lead, get advice, encourage, and be diligent.  

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II Chronicles 10-16 We are in the Nation Stream reading from The Living Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Heavenly Father, we see the biblical truths shining forth today. Following you leads to wellness, strength, establishment, and blessing. Turning from you takes lives into decimation and loss.  May we learn from this and follow you regardless of anything that tries to distract us.  We are yours. Lord God.  Amen.

Solomon is gone. The zenith of Jerusalem's wealth and power was a bygone era.  The glory of it all was stunning. Solomon had entranced the world as God had blessed him with a level of achievement no human had known to date.  But as time and tide waits for no man, Solomon's time was up after 40 years of leadership and his successor was not nearly as competent.  His son was raised by a brilliant man, yes, but not a godly man.  Whereas Solomon had been raised by a godly man.  Let the implications of that simmer in your mind.  Note that whereas the Book of I & II Kings gives a parallel account of this era, II Chronicles 10-36 (following Solomon's death at the end of II Chr. 9) tells of only the kings of Judah.  So keep in mind as you study Bible in this life, I Kings and II Chronicles both begin with Solomon

10 - Solomon's son Rehoboam (among numerous sons!) succeeded him as king in Jerusalem. Meanwhile Jeroboam, an Ephraimite [who was a manager of the labor force and the taxes coming from Ephraim for Solomon] came back from exile and lead a rebellion against the system that taxed the whole country at a stifling level.  Jeroboam's concerns were legitimate actually.  The problem was that in the process of deciding what the tax rates should be from that point onward, the young men were involved and they had no intention of being conciliatory.  They promised to raise taxes to a level that would choke them to death and they better get used to it!  Forgive me for being so relevant to current events, folks.  But tensions throughout history have usually been about taxation and it's level proceeding way past responsible/sensible and becoming theft and the financing of immoral leaders who are anything but forthright.  Rehoboam was moronic in his rejecting the advice of the older men and going with the "sophomores" in his midst; his peers mind you. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite, not Jewish so that gives you some insight as to where he might get his foolishness. Not to overlook his father having a child with an Ammonite, but heyyy!  Rehoboam proved to be a master of mismanagement and the 10 tribes of the north broke away. When the first Ambassador was sent north from Jerusalem, he was murdered.  The people were angry up north and they were not to be consoled. 11 - Rehoboam assembled an army to march north and subdue them; forcing them to come back.  However the Lord intervened immediately and told Rehoboam to go home.  Rehoboam spent the next years fortifying the southern cities of Judah. Meanwhile Jeroboam up north fired all the Levitical priests and they retreated to Jerusalem and Judea. Jeroboam needed to ensure the kingdom split and he effectively used bad religion to do so. Rehoboam failed to learn from his father's excess and he too took in 78 women as wives and concubines.  He placed his sons around Judah to serve as guards for him and made sure they all had many wives too [thanks dad!].  As I mentioned before, in a manner of speaking, Rehoboam wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Nevertheless, he was in charge, and he had more ambition than sense or insight. 12 - Rehoboam followed the Lord somewhat until he became powerful and wealthy enough to think he was self-sufficient.  He veered off into sin, led the people to Judah to do the same, and before long the Egyptian army was knocking at the door - with a battering ram!    And Solomon thought [40+ years ago] that there would be eternal peace with Egypt since his first wife was Egyptian...(peace through illicit sex never did work).  This Egyptian invasion by Shishak is verified by archaeological remains that string from Megiddo to the Negev and can still be viewed today.  Shishak bragged of this conquest on a wall carving that is in Karnak, Egypt.  This is the same city where Moses and Pharaoh had their year long showdown and the 10 plagues centered out of some 500 years prior.  It must have been especially gratifying for Shishak to do this - after hauling all the Temple treasures from Jerusalem back to Egypt. It was all so terribly unfortunate!  Ignoring God leads to such loss time and time again.  Rehoboam did humble himself again and the losses were not total for Shishak didn't decimate Judah and parts of the north like he could have.  If you are curious for more of Rehoboam, the collateral tale is told in I Kings 12-14. 13 - Abijah became king and he was wicked like his father Rehoboam.  Abijah's wickedness is more stated in the I Kings 15 story of him.  His battle with Jeroboam was successful in regaining some cities from the north. Abijah did know idolatry when he saw it and his confronting Jeroboam was a right move. The victory is attributed to his calling on God.  For that we must credit Abijah for doing something right.  Did the numbers in this battle hit you? Israel/the 10 Northern tribes, lost 500,000 elite fighters that DAY.  Good grief the USA lost 58,000 in Vietnam over 16 years.  the USA lost 400,000 in WWII across dozens of countries and numerous oceans over four years. This small country of Israel lost 500,000 in one battle in one area in one day!  One might think that Jeroboam [the northern king] would pause to ponder whether his paganism was working or not. or whether his tax revolt could perhaps be renegotiated...or not.  But Jeroboam was an angry dullard and he was struck that day in such a way that he never recovered.  It wasn't long before the Lord finished him off with a severity that took him to his grave. 14 - Asa was next king of Judah reigning from 911-870 B.C.; 41 years.   He was righteous and his heart was good and devoted to God.  He removed the idols and all the pagan relics along with.  He built walls and fortified the cities of the southern kingdom.  The Judea and Benjamite army totaled 580,000 men who were led by godly leaders.  They were so sound in their principles, led of God, purified of idolatry that when a million man army arrives from Ethiopia to take them down, quick work is made of them and not one survives! Not one.  The Bible says the Lord did this.  The plunder and spoils of war that went home to Jerusalem were quite something as they returned from this battle. 15 - Returning from war, they are met by a prophet who speaks a powerful word over Asa and the southern kingdom --> "commit to God!"  It's a Word that they end up needing more than one might think (this shows in ch . 16). They assert this call to reform all the more and finish removing any vestige of ungodliness they could find.  The altar is repaired the rest of the way, a huge offering is given as the whole southern kingdom pledges to follow God and declares that anyone who deviates will be killed.  New 'recruits' from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeons' territory were present as they wanted to be on the Lords' side of things.  There was a renewed covenant and joy in the land resulting from this commitment to follow God completely by everyone.  Asa even had his own mother removed from prominence since she had retained her commitment to pagan idolatry.   The guy's playing "hardball", eh?  Y'gotta love it when a man is committed to God and won't flinch for absolutely anyone. 16 - Then the north rattles the saber, goading Asa and Judah to war.  Asa errs permanently right here in that he consults Syria to aid him in stopping Israel from fighting him in Judah.  What was Asa's lapse in judgment all about? He had defeated them before and disposed of 500K top soldiers. He had defeated a hardened million man army from Ethiopia and LIbya and seemed to escape without a scratch.  !?He needs help from Syria now?!   What is he thinking? Is he NOT thinking? and why is he not thinking?  Verse 9 is a world of wisdom that is still speaking 29 centuries later., btw.  Check that verse again!!  After this prophetic exhortation in his 39th year as king, Asa went dark the last two years of his life and reign.  He didn't go to the Lord anymore.  Disease struck him and still he wouldn't pray.  Can we say, "all's not well that ends bad!"?

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Numbers 31-33 We are in the World Stream reading from The Living Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Dear God is Heaven:  We thank you that you have a plan for us. A plan to establish and prosper us (go forward and grow us), and to take us to where we have rest in you.  Thank you Lord Jesus.  Amen. There is precious little time left before the Israelites need to pack up and cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.  Let's see what occupies some of their final days before going to where God has always wanted them to be. 31 - Moses has a major assignment, along with delivering the Book of Deuteronomy before he dies.  This assignment is to obliterate the Midianites.  He instructs the Israelites in the battle plan and off they go.  This was a mop-up plan God had since the Midianites were the ones who led tens of thousands of Israelites astray into idolatry and fornication wherein 24,000 Israelites died [Numbers 25 - though the mess begins in Nu. 22] . So in this stage of the game, 12K Israelite soldiers attack Midian and decimate every last soldier - - without losing one Israeli soldier.  The Lord then exhorts them to finish the job and rid the Midianite women who were the actual beings who lured the Israelite men into fornication.  So the grown women and the all remaining males are executed in addition to eliminate future uprisings or opportunity to sin with the Midian "street-walkers". The young virgin women are allowed to live for they would tend to not grow up and lead battalions against Israel if you know what I mean.  Plus they can be trained to be efficient house helpers and gardeners. The rigors of dividing up the loot from all of Midian wealth and animals and young survivors was a mammoth ordeal.  You wouldn't suspect any of the Israelis were particularly bothered by the sizable 'pay day' each of them experienced. 32 - The Tribes of Reuben and Gad present their desire to settle east of the Jordan for the land there was excellent for raising sheep. After Moses cross examined them for any intentions to avoid the conquest process of crossing the Jordan, he allowed them to set up their world east of the Jordan.  Manasseh became part of the "east of the Jordan" bunch as well.  It was a practical matter more than anything. The land had been occupied by pagan people who were newly removed by the Israeli army and someone needed to occupy it lest it become wild jungle and a lair for beasts.  So this seemed to work out that Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh live there 33 - The journeys of the Exodus and the forty years prior are listed.  It's like reading over the Lewis/Clark journals at the end of their trek that Thomas Jefferson sent them on.  Look back over the itinerary of any nomad or traveler or explorer at the end of 40 years' of trekking and it's an impressive list.  Here is the list of all the places the Israelites had covered [on foot!] since leaving Egypt.  It's a dizzying rendition.  My husband finished college there winter 1985 and he has been to many of the cities the Bible tells about between Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Sinai wiiderness, and 400 miles up the Nile to Karnak in Egypt.  Map out the places if you would like to do that. It's a journey that would leave any of us wide-eyed.  And remember that 95% of this wandering was not the original intention. God had a rest /a place / a home for them.  But they didn't and wouldn't.  God wanted them to drive out all the pagan tribes once they entered Canaan. so they could have wondrous rest and security.  But they didn't, then they wouldn't.  Turns out in time that they couldn't.  The issue lingers to this day. God has a place and a rest for us, His people.  Let's allow Him to take us there..

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Hebrews 6-9 We are in the Church Stream reading from the International Standard Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Thank you Lord for saving our souls, for making us righteous in your Covenant written and sealed in your blood. This is our rich salvation.  Amen. This is more notes on theology and issues that pertain especially to the Hebrews.  They pertain to us as well for we are Judeo-Christians. Those who follow Christ Jesus must remain mindful of the fact that He was a Jew. Did you ever realize that? Jesus was not a Christian.  We are. We are to be learning what the Hebrews are to be learning.  "So as for you Hebrews"  ... the book continues. 6 - The immaturity was an issue that needed to be addressed.  Have you heard of people who live like the Devil all week, confess on Friday or sober up very late Saturday, get to church shabby and blurry-eyed but indeed go [out of guilt] yet consider it enough to clear them for another week of raucous mindless living?  I've actually heard a church goer excuse some ungodly tendencies, "hey, relax, we went to church last weekend. We'll go next weekend. The in-between is our time. We won't go to hell for anything. We were baptized years ago. We'll be all right."  This see-saw/yo-yo faith is not excusable. We are to grow in Christ, not vascilate in and out of Christ.  Those who are endlessly jumping in the mud so to shower off so to jump in the mud, then shower off only to jump in mud infinite amounts of times all-the-while saying they are "busy for the Lord" are fooling themselves and themselves only.  Repentance is so that we can turn our back on sin permanently, not so that we can feel fine about continually going back to sin.  There are many facets of this concept and the unpardonable sin, sins that are mortal and lead to death, sins that are lesser or more.  The arguments will never be finalized.  It's better to just hear the words of the apostle here in Hebrews, resolve to grow in our faith and service v.s. argue about how ungodly we can be and still be saved   Those arguments are fruitless. Abandon them and grow with Jesus. 7 - The biblical character Melchizedek receives the best explanation in Hebrews.  The Hebrew revered Moses, David, Elijah. Abraham got special honors from the Hebrews and since Abraham paid reverent homage to Melchizedek then this mysterious figure from 2,000 B.C. gets a 'hat-tip" as well.  The writer of Hebrews lays it out plainly that Jesus is the high priest we are to honor now.  Yes, remember and honor all these biblical characters, especially Abraham and Melchizedek. But using them to rationalize that "we're covered" and subsequently shun Jesus is not reading this right.  It's easy to guffaw what's in front of you and say things were better way back when or way over someplace else. .Remember John/Baptist telling the illicit leaders visiting from Jerusalem, "don't say 'we have Abraham as our father' (and think they can ignore the matters at hand and the fact that the grid for salvation was about to change). That was from Matt. 3:10 and Luk 3:9.  The same ethic is being explained here.  Jesus is the great high priest now.  Crooning about the good old boys and/or the good old days is hapless.  Jesus is the King of Righteousness and the matter is settled. We pray because of Him, by way of Him, and to Him now.  Some posit that Melchizedek, the mysterious and glorious priest, was Shem, Noah's middle son, the father of the Semitic peoples, who really was still alive in Abraham's time.  And some records maintain that he was the oldest man on earth at the time.   Study that further if you wish but like The Book of Hebrews and Jesus so effectively remind us, don't let older topics cloud your mind to what matters most now 8 - The New Covenant was given by Christ and in His blood and it is better; it is superior to the old covenant given through Moses.  It had to start this way and be exercised as it was but it needed to be perfected by Christ Jesus.  Therefore Christ's ministry is superior.  The old covenant was not enough to cleanse permanently.  There's an old story about a Catholic boy and a Jewish boy walking home from school and each was explaining their faith to the other.  The Jewish boy was in awe after the Catholic boy finished his part.  The Jewish boy exclaimed, "you just confess your sin and that's it!? And your guilt just goes away? Why is it so easy?  We have guilt in our faith too, but it never goes away!"  The message of Jesus is that He is our permanent priest now - Great and high and powerful and perfect and permanent in His office wherein He serves on our behalf.  Christ too now is better for covering us for glory's sake.  We see the word "better" 11 times in Hebrews - in the translation we used this week.  That also applies to this New Covenant in Christ.  It is better.  It is superior. 9 - Many of the changes from old to new are told in this chapter.  The Tabernacle and the animal sacrifices served an era and a purpose, but they never permanently saved and solved like Christ does now.  The blood of the lamb was the symbol of forgiveness.  Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice through His blood. And His sacrifice was once and for all and for all time. There are so many parallels and comparisons and the issue is that we see that Christ is better and only HE is sufficient now.  Here it is told why the new covenant was needed and put in place.  Read it again or play it again if you need to hear it again.  This is very vital. Notice that the new covenant morphs into the New Testament. Our word, "new testament" comes from right here in Hebrews 9.  A last will and testament goes into effect after a person has died. Christ's death (resurrection) put the new covenant into effect as a testament; a testament that speaks to us still.  A will and testament also transfers valuables to another person or persons.  The New Testament in Christ transfers righteousness to us. It also transfers membership to a city of gold that is being prepared for us...it transfers the citizenship of that city to us also.  The blood of goats and bulls cannot do this.  The blood of Christ received by us in faith accomplishes all of this. The Thread Through the Streams Bring what you have to God. Bring your offerings, your errors, your questions, your earnings, your life. Bring it all to God. -In Numbers 28-30 the offerings were brought to God - every season, festival, holiday, month, week, day - and it was a joyful regimen -II Chr.5ff. The Ark is brought to God in the Temple and praises erupt. Solomon brings his prayers to God before the people and God displays His wonders in awesome fashion.  [no magic - simply coming before the Lord!] - Prov.5-8, in an antithetical manner, reminds people to not bring personal needs to a prostitute. And since we need to be learning as a people, be learning from the Lord, from godly parents. Come to God with personal                       needs, financial needs (v.s. joining with hucksters,liars,hookers)  You will go somewhere with these needs so in an illustrative sense, Proverbs is telling us to go to God with all this. -Ezekiel 16-17 had some painful themes this week. He tells of how God has come to them like a bridegroom. In a sense, but Israel runs away, God asks "why will you go anywhere with anyone but you won't come to me?"                        And because you do not "bring yourselves to me, you will be plucked up and hauled away like what happens when an eagle snatches up a rodent. -Zephaniah 1 is scathing, but the passage ends this week [Zeph.2:3] with a tender urging that the people humble themselves, seek righteousness - and come to God. -In John 3 Nicodemus brings his questions to God Himself. Yes, he is coming to Jesus at night, but his questions drove him to do so even though it  jeopardized his standing with the leaders.                        I.e. come to God however you can, whichever way, and whenever you can.  Do what you must, but come to Him tonight - today. Come to Him like Nicodemus did; now. -Hebrews 6ff. urges to get off the metronome of "sin, confess, sin, confess" and come to God; grow in God. And as for the old way of coming to God, sacrifices and offerings (to Melchizedek), honoring Abraham, yeah yeah...                        COME TO JESUS!  That's how we come to God from here on.  The shady Samaritan woman found God and turned evangelist after talking it through with Jesus. Amazing week of stories, wasn't it?!

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John 3-4 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the International Standard Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Dear Jesus, we pause and remember and rejoice with you over the historical reminders today that you are the Savior.  Amen. Those who smuggle Bibles into the Communist and Islamic world get caught up in the  most eerie and exciting situations you will ever hear of.  It's been said that when the security passageways get really tense, they just take in New Testaments since they are smaller.  When things are much more threatening, they will pare down and smuggle in copies of the Book of John only. When things are life-and- death-level dangerous, all is cast aside and they just bring in John 3 ...!  They are printed on single sheets the size of a 3x5 card. These are given to Pastors and new believers. Is it not true that eternal life and death hang on the matter of us understanding John 3? 3 - Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, comes to Jesus at night to get clarity on some spiritual matters while remaining incognito. He needed to keep his intentions hidden from his peers. Nicodemus gets an earful and the interaction ends up being the most famous discussion of all time!  Billions of lives have been changed by this conversation that has been printed and retold, enacted and films and viewed more than any scene in history. Rebirth, salvation, the infilling Holy Spirit - it's all here. And Jesus continues to press the matter in a subtle way when he tells Nicodemus about light and dark and the hearts of men who had gone wrong long ago. The hint here is that some day soon Nicodemus is going to have to come into the light with his personal beliefs and also come out into the open with his testimony.  God is not a secret to be kept. What did this one conversation do to Nicodemus? Well after Jesus had died it was Nicodemus who joined in the process of preparing Jesus for burial and then placing him in the tomb.  Just one conversation, folks, just one conversation with Jesus, just MEET him and you will follow Him to the end.  We meet with people who are disgruntled, given up on church, left the Light, are gone bad and dark and are dabbling in cultic activity now and are even quite pompous about it all.  They retort to our questions about their spiritual state and defend themselves saying, "they tried church..."  Yes, perhaps, but they didn't meet Jesus. They heard about Him, they were lied to about Him by people who do not follow Him wholeheartedly, but they haven't met Jesus personally like Nicodemus did.  It's important that we meet Jesus personally, deeply, undistracted, and with complete transparency.  Meeting Him changes everything forever. The dervish about John the Baptist continues. There were so many people going to him in Jericho and other places to hear his powerful preaching and be baptized that the leaders in Jerusalem were going out too. The distinction is that they were just upset that people weren't in Temple paying their due$ so they wanted to go scrutinize John v.s. be blessed by God and his ministering through John.  John/Baptist does a marvelous job of preparing the way for Jesus and then getting out of the way (for Jesus' sake).  John's ending is painful and unfortunate but Jesus said his place in heaven is most prominent.  If we'd like a prominent place in heaven, John has shown us what to do. 4 - This famous meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well is the same well that Jacob used 1800 years prior. It can still be visited today. And you will be invited to drink of it too!  Last chapter Jesus explained the Holy Spirit and Light and new birth, here He explains Living Water and the fact that HE IS Living Water.  Water is the most economical way to transport anything.  Interesting that transporting anything is called 'shipping' -even on land. In our bodies all nutrients are carried to all cells via water.  Most of the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean.  I.e. water=life, dry=death.  How important is water? there were situations when the wagon trains going west would run out of water. In one instance someone offered his canteen. He demanded $100.- for each eight ounces of water (that was four months wages per cup!). The thirsty pioneers resented the bill but they paid it - and lived.  Jesus is who keeps us from dying ... in case anyone missed that part.  The setting here is keen in that Jesus oversteps three taboos to prove a vital point: conversing with a woman / meeting one-on-one with a Samaritan / engaging a prostitute in public.  Remember the Catholic priest who dubbed, that this woman was no stranger to sin - she was no stranger to anyone! And there is Jesus demonstrating that issues need to be put aside and this woman needs to be saved along with the rest of the town.  Jesus "reads her mail to her" and she is astounded.  Did you catch the fact that the cowering sinful woman of the town became the evangelist of the town? It's an amazing transformation.  So many had followed her into darkness. Now virtually the whole town followed her testimony and found the Light of the World (He says that in ch. 8) She too was like John/Baptist who told of the Way and then got out of the way [v.42 is a good indication]. Jesus' salient encounters continue as He traverses the entire cultural terrain in these two chapters:  Nicodemus is a high end Jewish leader / a Samaritan hooker is the bottom of the barrel, a government official (who answers to Rome) is a power broker; not someone to be trifle with!  [The memo is that Jesus is for everyone!!]  The official comes to Jesus and repeatedly asks Him to come heal his son.  Top dogs for Rome do not beg at the knee of a Jewish man. Never.  This situation tells us how desperate this official was, how much he loved his son, and that he has complete confidence in Jesus power to heal. You don't stoop culturally like this unless you want something really bad and have unflinching belief that your requesting requesting requesting is going to avail the results of healing. He would get his son back if he persisted.  He knew Jesus wouldn't say, "uh, healing the 'mayor's family' is above my pay grade, pal."  He knew that coming to Jesus would take him, his life, and his family where they needed to be. The lessons we learn from Jesus' interactions today are lessons we need, the world needs to hear for they are truths that none of us ever outgrow.  Halelujah!

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Zephaniah 1:1-2:3 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the International Standard Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord, you are never done calling us back to you.  Your love is relentless and greater than we can understand.  Thank you for your love.  Amen.

Zephaniah was a great mover/shaker in the reformation we read of in II Chron. 34.  People in the western hemisphere more readily call such developments a revival. But Zephaniah was a contemporary of Josiah's reforms. The succession was King Hezekiah (good king), his son Manasseh (wretched king), his grandson Josiah (a good king).  Josiah did great things for God's Name and glory.  It helped slow the tide of the inevitable from Manasseh's 55 years of horrible lust for blood and demonic activity ...activity that he executed WITHIN the city of Jerusalem.  So, at any rate, Josiah is turning things aright again, and Zephaniah is right there with him.  We notice that "The Day of The Lord" is mentioned 10 times in today's reading.  And Zephaniah isn't done using the phrase.  It's sort of a phrase related to ... well, how many of you, when you were being a bit of a rascal, your mother grew exasperated finally to assure you there was trouble at sundown. The phrase she would say was, "wait until your father gets home!"  That was a misbehaving child's version of "The Day of the Lord."  When Zephaniah uses it here however, it had national insinuation, and a historical proportion to it. This "Day of the Lord" changed everything.  It wasn't just a momentary 'heat on the seat' to curb and correct behavior.

1 - Zephaniah is verbally letting loose on Judah.  His parallel work with King Josiah was notable.  Josiah was among the best of kings to serve in the southern kingdom.  He was 15th of the 19 rulers to serve between the northern kingdom splitting off and the Babylonian/Chaldeans swooping in to crush the city of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah [the rest of the way] along with it.  [btw, of the 19, 11 were bad and 8 were on the good side of things.]  As Zephaniah is writing to the southern kingdom, he and Josiah are in a sense slowing the desperate leaking, so to speak, of a ship that was badly battered by the prior kings; Manasseh & Amon.  They do their best to recover what remains of godliness in the land, but the inevitable is on its way.  The initial invasion of Babylon, the second strike, and the final blow of 586 B.C. -all this- would happen within 20 years.  The terror of Babylonian soldiers pounding through with one plan: [level all of it!] was a picture that haunted the known world at the time. Some in Jerusalem thought they would be spared for they were "the chosen".  Well that is as silly as an only child thinking he is going to get the whole inheritance, all to himself, for he's THE ONE. So in his thinking he's free to be a hellion.  Well there have been plenty of arrogant children who think they can act up all they want for they are irreversibly special.  'Not the case kiddos! The Day of the Lord was coming for Judah. He would sweep the place clean. None would be unaffected. No one could buy their way out. The religious, the merchants, laborers, the wealthy - they all "have it coming". God wanted Baal out!  And since most embraced Baal, they would be carried out with the rest of the pagan trash!  It wasn't going to be a pretty sight.  The mood of gloom despair and agony, deep dark depression and excessive misery (remember Hee-Haw? in the 1970s) was not a country song back when.  This however was a real nightmare. It was set to happen, it was irreversible, since virtually all of Judah was irreversibly committed to sinning.  Remember they had just spent most of two whole generations sacrificing young infants (Hebrew babies!) to the satanic god Molech. 2:1-3 -  And yet they are urged to humble themselves and pray.  Who knows, maybe God would be kind enough to selectively spare them when the enemy army rushes in. For God can do anything with a humble heart.

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7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

"Lord Jesus, no matter how bad things get, you still have plans.  You have good plans for us. So we want to cooperate with your plans.  Thank you for calling us to yourself.  We are yours.  Amen." Just a little review: remember Ezekiel is in Babylon and whereas Daniel is in the palace having his influence there, Ezekiel is in the countryside and prophesying about Jerusalem and the destruction that is looming because they have wholly given themselves over to behavior that is reprehensible; downright demonic.  Ezekiel spends the first 24 chapters in this theme. We are in 16 and 17 this week so we're just over 2/3's through the diatribe against Jerusalem and their rebellion.

16 - Ezekiel is giving Israel (Jerusalem/Judah) a scolding for their absolutely inexcusable behavior.  God has cared for them since their conception, given them the best of protection, provision, adornment and love.  They are like a wife now succumbed to unfaithfulness. Not just the unfaithfulness of a wandering heart that strayed by default... Jerusalem was aggressively unruly, sinful. They had a practical glee about their dark fetishes that had completely overtaken them culturally.  The God of Abraham was desperately grieved and the Hebrews in Jerusalem were way worse than smug about it.  God had cared for them from the start and cared for them tenderly.  Come Ezekiel's day they were reknown for their whoring behavior.  The "bride" had fallen so far! They prostituted themselves to any customers; any and all who would pass by. The idolatry was endless, the dark and sickening practices wereworse than the people of foreign nations that God had told them not to act like, associate with, not resemble in any way. They were now having an ungodliness contest with themselves since they had long outdone their pagan neighbors. They were a sick people who needed a serious "country whoopin' "  And they were about to get it!  The Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Philistines were all in the shadow of Israel and yet Israel was darker than all of them.  Weird development if there ever was one. God was on the verge of taking the severest of measures to get them to cease the prostitution.  It's unreal what they had reduced Jerusalem to being - a pit of darkness. They may as well have been borne to pagans. Sodom would have blushed at the behavior of those living in Jerusalem.  God's punishment was imminent, and the purpose of the punishment was to chasten Jerusalem so that God could dwell with them again, bring them back and bless them again.  God's love was never to fail.  It hadn't in the past and it wouldn't now.  Amazing, amazing love!

17 - This riddle is about what is going to happen to the Hebrews in Judea.  The king of Babylon is represented by the first eagle.  The "top shoot" of the cedar plucked and transplanted is The Judean King Jehoiachin taken to Babylon to flourish.  That happened six years prior to this prophecy.  The one who is playing both sides and caught between was Zedekiah, the last king of Jerusalem who suffered his horrid fate.  Egypt is the symbolic second eagle mentioned.  Zedekiah would be punished for his double-mindedness - make that triple mindedness.  actually he was quite worse.  He dealt with Babylonians, schemed in secret with Egyptians, feigned to worship God, was a king that allowed the worst of bad behavior to go unchecked in his city of Jerusalem.  He was essentially worthless to all because he was "committed" to anything/everyone.  That's a sure way to end up in great trouble.  Ezekiel spoke of Zedekiah's coming fate earlier in Ez.12:10-16.  He's kind of like the religiously confused that go to seven different kinds of "churches", joins a mosque to learn non-tolerance, attends Buddhist meditation classes, gets mentored by a witch, visits India so he can practice some Hinduism [just trying to cover all bases here for a god in his mind (who doesn't exist!)].  I.e. Jerusalem was an utter mess. Storm clouds of war were gathering. Zedekiah would be hauled off as prophesied in a mere five years and Jerusalem would be unrecognizable from the siege.         And as the chapter ends, here is God planning to take a twig from this same tree and transplant it so that it grows tall and prominent and bears fruit as promised to the royal line of David.  This fulfillment would come in a child ... born in the city of David ....

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Proverbs 5-8 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the International Standard Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Dear God: make us wise according to your word. Give us wisdom and hearts that do not stray. May our lives be a testament to right living as you teach us to live.  Amen. 5 - Solomon knew the world of women. And it's intriguing that God has us to be taught on this topic by a man who had 300 wives at his disposal and 700 concubines trolling through his world.  So in this scripture today we can basically receive a wise word from a man who knows too much.  He was an expert in right and wrong in this area so we better ingest what he has to say. Come the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is virtually depressed by doing anything outside of what God allows and he is wishing that all he had was one wife -for therein is joy. We can assess Solomon's theology of love and prayer in four words: One God - one love. Duplicity in either area makes the human heart/mind crazy.  Being loyal to one God and being loyal to one other soul in a hetero-sexual setting for life ('need to include 'hetero' these days) is the only way to keep life rich and wonderful for it aids us on the right path.  Those who commit for life build a beautiful life. We love the sign at the gateway of an enchanting estate we saw somewhere that reads, "all because two people fell in love!"  On the other end of the wisdom scale we could also put a shameful sign, "all because they refused to love-and-stay with the wife of their youth." We know of too many people who have found themselves on the earthen scrap heap of rack-n-ruin from a life of switching lovers seasonally until there was nothing left but aimless dismay.  A failed love-life and a failed life feel exactly the same way. 6 - Things to avoid like a hornets' nest: shady business deals and the people involved in them, lazy living, edgy dealings and duplicitous wicked schemes, arrogance, lies and trouble-making, shunning parents' advice (therefore follow your parents' advice), running with whores/all loose women and thereby getting entangled with other men who are enraged with you... all these things Solomon urges us to stay away from. 7 - Listen to your father's advice! If your earthly father is not a man of the truth and light in God, still listen to your heavenly father. He knows what a wrong woman can do to your soul. Solomon tells a protracted tale about a man led astray by a trolling woman who looks for new victims to take into her sexual den. In this setting, as in so many other, one's father is a guide who is living decades on down the same road you are on now.  My husband and I are in our middle years and we see people in their teens and 20's approaching-or-at this fork in the road. [How shall I manage my love life?] Taking the wrong path here is a road to decades of darkness and a high likelihood of never coming back to the land of the living. The wisest man who ever lived bellowed "DON'T GO THERE". Your God and your parents say the same thing. 8 - Solomon has gone into detail how a sinister woman will drag you to your death, and how your father will instruct you against being ensnared in such a mess. Here he is urging you to follow on the wondrous life-giving path of wisdom. Solomon employs the pronoun, 'She' will guide you to life.  [Wisdom is a feminine noun in the ancient language.]  So whereas your father knows and understands wisdom, perhaps we could articulate that your mother IS wisdom.  It isn't that black and white of an issue in Hebrew but for the sake of literature it may help with our understanding to ingest the wisdom Solomon is trying to impart to us. I may be overstating this to say that the Bible isn't saying that fathers [males only] know all and females lead us down the road to outer darkness. The gender issue point blank cannot be equated here.  Just as is asserted today that men are the problem in society and women are the answer. That is equally not true. But as Solomon gives us a menagerie of good insight here, he continues that wisdom is accessible to all who call for her to come strengthen/guide us through manifold dilemmas. Wisdom gives discretion. It teaches the hatred of evil. It anchors leaders to govern properly. The wisdom attribute of God responds to those who beckon for her and they receive something greater than riches by asking for wisdom and seeking it. God gives us such wisdom because He uses wisdom as He did when He created everything; in wisdom.    So watch for wisdom, listen for it, look for it. We either operate in wisdom or we die early in an untimely and unfortunate manner.

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II Chronicles 5:2-9:31 We are in the Nation Stream reading from the International Standard Version. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord Jesus, great things happen when we simply commit to worship wholeheartedly.  I pray our worship is as vibrant and magnificent as what we read of these days at the Temple. Amen. This Temple phase of Israel's history probably sounds familiar, and it does because we were reading this in I Kings 4-10.  It truly was a time and place with activity that was something to behold. Some may read of this magnificent development and wish things could have stayed this way but ours is to remember that we are being taken to another King (already reigning) and to another world, and into another worship service that we are to be preparing for.  This is the matter that God is planning for for us still. 5:2ff - When a home is newly constructed and the noisy building part is done and the crew starts putting items in the house while "dad and mom" are inside directing, it is an exciting time. A new home and a new setting is the stuff of dreams and future plans.  The Temple has reached this point in our reading today.  The Temple construction is done. Remember it was done in silence! The process of many years has been completed and items are being moved into place.  The Ark of The Covenant is put in the Holy of Holies - the X Commandments are the sole item inside the Ark.  Moses carried these two tablets 4-5 centuries prior, and here they are finally in the Temple on the Mount of Moriah where Abraham was preparing to sacrifice Isaac 1,000 years before. The significance of this Temple dedication cannot be overstated. The 120 trumpeters, the music and praises and loud singing was marvelous. And the Presence of the Lord, in a cloud, filled the Temple.  My oh my!  Revival is in full swing. 6 - Solomon prays in three phases here: to God, then turning to pray before the people, then praying to dedicate the Temple.  King Solomon has his critics throughout history but we must hand it to him that he is totally immersed in his assignment to do glorious things for God and to do all in a great way.  900 years later the eldest Herod is nicknamed "The Great". Herod amassed a mere fraction of what Solomon accomplished. And here are Solomon's prayers.  The prayers here and in ch. seven are the gems that Believers harken to today when they wish to bring about revival in the Holy Spirit. Solomon's vast literative experience comes out in these prayers. He has done gloriously and yet speaks humbly.  His candor is refreshing in his speaking about what to do when sin happens, when defeats occur, when the weather fails, when there is famine or pestilence because of the sins of the people.  They are to return to God.  Solomon's words, "...God, please let your eyes be open and you ears be attentive to the prayers that are uttered in this place..." This and the final verses of this chapter [40-42] are certainly highlight prayers in the history of pastoring. 7 - And God responds to the prayer of dedication and all the preparation that has taken place when he sends fire down and lights the sacrifices Himself. The glory of the Lord filled the Temple. The whole nation looking on fell on their faces in worship. How many pastors in the world wish that something like this, something that is not on the bulletin, would happen in their worship services?! The dedication was followed by offerings to God --> 122,000 animals. Solomon does things in a big way for sure! Though the Bible doesn't list this, the sacrifices required a drain/trough so that the blood didn't flood the place shin-deep in red. This trench leading to the edge of the Temple area was unearthed by archaeologists in the latter 20th century and can be seen by visitors to Jerusalem today.  This drainage had to be built. The blood flowing from this sacrifice altar, just this week, was more than 6 swimming pools filled with blood. They didn't want the Temple area to appear occultic so this trench let the blood flow away and down into the valleys immediately outside the walled city of Jerusalem.  The festival and sacrifices and worship went on for seven days and then Solomon dismissed people to go back to their homes.  They were a contented nation.  Again God appears to Solomon in the night and asserts to him that He/God means serious business with what Solomon prayed about repentance and restoration for His nation. When they come to him and confess and humble themselves and turn from wickedness, He Will Heal their land.  Do you think this is needed today? Still? Even 29-30 centuries after God and Solomon had this conversation? 8 - More of Solomon's construction projects are listed in chapter eight.  Solomon built and/or rebuilt towns that had been acquired. He built new structures and forts and outposts in all directions. Solomon's day saw the greatest expansion of the borders of Israel ever.  There was also a massive labor force of neighboring countrymen and foreign nationals that did much of what we call "the heavy lifting".  His palace is completed, the Levites had commenced upon their duties of the daily sacrifices.  Solomon also visited the far south; the gulf of Eilat.  It had become an important shipping location. There is a new luxury hotel today in this area that is called, you guessed it: The King Solomon.  The full name is the Israel Hotel (Isrotel) King Solomon.  His name echoes still.  See what happens when one asks God for wisdom.  Are you asking God for wisdom? We sure are - Lord, please grant us wisdom. 9 -  As for how Solomon was leading the "worldwide WOW" factor in his day, we have the story of The Queen of Sheba coming to visit Solomon.  She had traveled 1,400 miles on the back of a beast. And it wasn't a greyhound with a restroom behind the ninth row.  To give you some clearer proximity visuals: 1400 miles is the distance from Atlanta, GA to Phoenix, AZ / New York City to Houston, TX or Bismarck, ND / San Francisco to Lincoln, NE (the far side of Lincoln).  And Sheba is not traveling this distance where there are hourly stops with restrooms and beverages and sleeping quarters.  This is a world leader who has heard and must go see for herself regardless of inconveniences.  She was in awe at Solomon's world being twice as magnificent as she thought. Solomon's wealth and structures and servants and staff and soldiers and animals and wisdom and intelligence... it truly was overwhelming.  She left a gift of 9,000 lbs of gold and spices and gems; an epic gift.  Her testimony - [vv. 5-8] - was taken back to Africa and no doubt had an effect. The story began to spread of what "God was doing on the earth". And if you wanted to know more, go to Israel and see Jerusalem!  Solomon's wealth only grew for the rest of his life. 27 more tons of gold arrived annually in gifts to Solomon. More horses and animals, spices and ivory, precious metals . . . all these were from world leaders and travelers who sought audience with Solomon so to learn what God had merely told him.  Solomon was among the most impressive characters ever.  Who, indeed, has outdone him? In time Solomon went the way of all flesh and died after reigning 40 years.  But we are still learning from him. To walk closer with God we must be reading Solomon's writings in Proverbs and David's writings in Psalms.  Solomon is still with us.