The Seven Streams Method

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Galatians 1:1-4:7 We are in the Church Stream and reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Thank you Lord for settling issues and removing the haze of what it means to walk in your will and plan. You want us to know you straight out and clearly. Discipleship is not meant to be a confusing puzzle. Thank you for what we learn as you simply tell us.  Amen."

1 - Paul opens with his trademark glorious, triumphant, and encouraging greeting that had to warm hearts wherever this is read.  And Paul quickly jumps in on the matter that is bedraggling the region of these churches that he had mentored and planted on his first missionary journey.  Judaizers were traveling and teaching that circumcision and adherence to Moses' Law was required to be truly saved.  And numerous gullible young believers were submitting themselves to this procedure.  In other words, people were being earnestly taught that they needed to find Christ via Judaism - not through God's grace in Jesus.  Jesus was fine to Judaizers, yes, but the Old Law was still required to be followed. Paul offers a polemic that smacks that idea back into 1300 B.C.!  Some may have thought, well well well Paul. Who do you think you are to go around- ... Paul cuts to the quick and goes right into the legitimacy and credibility of his calling.  It's a true rendition of his vocation and record and how he got to where he is.  Paul was on a unique track - you couldn't fake his resume~ if y'tried.  Point being made, Paul is for real and what he is bringing forth in this letter has proven to be Scripture that is God- breathed loaded with timeless advice.  Paul was mentored by Christ Jesus Himself, so he is not sharing advice from an advisor who heard from a ... no.  He got this straight from Jesus.

2 - Paul talks of his 2nd visit to Jerusalem where he shamelessly, yet discreetly, met with and explained the new covenant to men of prominence and how circumcision was not required anymore.  Paul is preaching a bold topic in a hot spot that could get him in some serious trouble but Paul must do what he must.  He talked further of sternly confronting Peter for waffling on the topic and allowing himself to be intimidated and to actually pull away from Gentile believers when Judaizers showed up to threaten and press the issue of circumcision.  His explanation of justification by faith and not works is a pivotal point here for understanding the gospel. 3 - Paul shares his exasperation with the Galatians who were allowing themselves to cower and revert to religion rooted in tasks and duty and rituals that had never saved anyone - only prepared them [in a peculiar way] to be saved once Christ rose and Pentecost arrived. Abraham is the figure that Paul hearkens back to here.  Abraham was a giant to Jewish Believers and to people of faith in general.  The issue Paul brings up is a zinger: "Abraham was declared righteous because he believed God."  That is the end of the matter.  Abraham was dubbed righteous by God and he is labeled so ~->roughly 600 years before Moses arrives and writes the Law.  Come on Galatians, you are not seeing the giant truth right in front of you. Will you plug your ears AND insist that you cannot hear? Come back to the faith you were taught and know to be true.  The Law of Moses was added to deal with transgressions, but that is only a "solution" for a time period. Christ is the Promise (the seed as Paul explains it) that will bring salvation. We are then heirs of salvation. Heirs need not earn this relationship. It IS before we are mindful of it. We need merely to adhere to God's plan and embrace His Son. 4 - His explanation of what a son is and what a son owns and what a son comes to realize and be, is putting the concept into terms that all the world can understand. We know what children mean and the destiny that they are enveloped in provided they keep in the fatherly relationship as God planned it.  Paul hopes that this illustration will teach them how God is at heart for His own. The thread that reoccurred this week is: "the right way is simple."  People can complicate matters and do so for no good reason. Following God is simpler than we often make it to be. -In Leviticus the cleansing of a leper is simply spelled out. This was a problem that bedeviled the known world. So God just told them what to do about it. -In II Kings, it was an era; a generation that needed to listen to Elisha. No mystery here. Just call Elisha over. He had God upon Him and in Him and there was not a problem let unsolved by Elisha. -Moses in Psalms brings a combination of things that get us and keep us on the right path in God's World: assess your life and get wisdom, praise Him, trust Him, worship Him. That's not too hard, is it? -In Jeremiah restoration is promised in the future but for this era, they needed to allow themselves to be subjected to Babylonian invasion and exile. Not easy, but it's better than being butchered. - Amos shows that they simply needed to plead with God for pardon . . . [they wouldn't however] -Luke makes it pretty clear that getting to Jesus remedied anything. Get Him to come to you or go to Him.  Do what you must.  Interesting that it is nearly identical to how Elisha is presented in II Kings. -Paul is rather spirited in insisting that this gospel is as simple as it was for Abraham.  Just believe and follow.  Don't complicate it.  Let all the laws go, bro.  :-)

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Luke 7:1-8:15 We in the Christ Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord Jesus, your marvels are altogether marvelous.  Keep us on track with you and in line with what you are about every day.  Amen. Luke 7 - This is about a centurion who had control over 100 Roman soldiers.  He had ultimate power; even to execute on a whim. And as any one knows, when your helper is down/ill/gone things get complicated and laborious and very inefficient very quickly.  This centurion presently has such a problem and somehow he knows Who to call upon.  This is testament to how the news of Jesus is spreading and that hunting him down is NOT a waste of time; never is it a fruitless pursuit to seek out Jesus.  His respect for Jesus is revealed in how he requests that Jesus simply 'say the word'. The man knows about authority for certain. Jesus' exclamation is noteworthy.  He is saying, "hey family (of Jews in the Jewish nation)! The outsiders that you despise have me pegged. They know what I am about. Pay attention. They're catching this faster than many of you are." And this healing takes us straight into Jesus' performing a resurrection. This woman is of Nain is at her end. Her husband is gone. Her only son is now gone. The funeral is complete despair that sweeps the town, drawing a huge crowd.  Jesus stops the procession, brings him back from the dead. Note the wording - that Jesus gave him back to his mother.  Death took him --> Jesus gave him back. The news of this spread like feathers in a hurricane.  Jesus' resurrections, of which three are recorded, truly sent undeniable shockwaves through the countryside. The incident wherein John the Baptist is confirming that Jesus is HIM and here and the Savior is a scenario that had to happen.  Jesus proceeds to prove His Messianic power through healing and it suffices for John's followers.  He then exhorts the crowd of which many of whom had sought out John the Baptist.  Some skeptics who had been tracking John duplicitously were simply jealous of the tremendous crowds that were listening to him in Jordan/Jericho area v.s. being in Temple in Jerusalem.  And now some those same skeptics were following Jesus around - but not wholeheartedly. And Jesus gives them 'the business' . Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus for dinner and a sinful woman came to be with Jesus.  She was penitent and broken and could not do enough to show her devotion to the Son of God. And just so everyone knows, this was not Mary Magdalene, nor Mary from Bethany (Lazarus' sister), nor was it the woman who anointed Jesus' feet right before the crucifixion; in John 12.  Jesus is so completely tender with her and receptive as he was with those who made mistakes.  He uses the moment to teach about forgiveness, gratitude, and Jesus' personal power to forgive.  What an amazing conclusion to this meal and to this day. 8 - the women listed here who assisted in the ministry is helpful insight into Jesus' day to day.  Even prominent women knew to get involved. Can anyone think of anything better to do than to be about the business of assisting in the work of Jesus!?  Just one assessment I wish to make as we closed the reading today - BE good soil. This is more than a story about a parable of a sower.  When Jesus invests in you and plants His seed in you, make it grown, pay attention, be fruitful, multiply it, tend to it, and watch God simply invest/plant more in you.  God is looking for faithful people to use to make the matters of the Kingdom grow and grow.  Don't be thorny, careless, paper-thin and worthless.  Make good of what God has given.  Again, be good soil.  

Amos 6-7 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord, let us be sober and vigilant for righteousness and warn others to walk in righteousness also.  Amen.

6 - The people are living like the finest, enjoying the finest of the fine: food; marvelous food, banquets while ivory lined their palaces, and they are listening to stringed music and sipping wine and they couldn't care less than they do about what is right or the spiritual health of their debauched nation. These people of the northern kingdom are similar to the super rich in first class that rode the Titanic Feb. 1912 on its maiden voyage to a freezing grave - oblivious of the pure nightmare that was closer than they wanted to realize.  The bones of Samarians would become the sight and the landscape. Palaces were about to be smashed. They had poisoned everything that God had done good with them starting from centuries ago and soon they would be heaved onto the scrap-heap of history. It is going to be awful.

7 - Yet Amos still cared.  The Lord was sending locusts to strip Israel - but Amos interceded for the Israelites and God relented keeping the locusts off their crops.  The same happened with a judgment by fire when Amos prayed and God did not.  Then a plumb line is used to measure Israel ... for destruction. God will not show mercy or be pleaded with anymore.  Israel has pushed and pushed back and "banged on the NO ENTRANCE door" long enough. Israel is going to be dealt with by the sword of Assyria. Amos is basically scolded by the king of the north to take his disconcerting words of prophecy elsewhere.  For that Amaziah is going to see his family ravaged...then they will be gone.  It's a sad avenue that sin takes a nation down isn't it?  

Jeremiah 33-35 We are in the Prophetic Stream using the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord we heard your astonishing prophecy to restore and return gloriously with your people one day - for Jerusalem to be inhabited by a blessed and chosen people.  We believe that for us still today - that we are destined for the New Jerusalem.  Amen.

33 - Here we are into the second half of Jeremiah and it is good to remember that Judah was a tribe and a nation that enveloped Jerusalem.  There was right about 400 years between David ruling there and Babylon breaking in to burn the city flat and haul Judah away in exile.  There were 20 kings in that 400 year period and most were bad men.  So how can there be a line of David that rules forever? how can there be any good news at all when the leaders were derelict most of the time?  Still Jeremiah declares that God intends to heal and restore Judah...and Israel to the glory God intended. God will bring wealth and peace and abundance to them.  'Hard to see that indeed with enemies at the gate, and it's hard to believe that when the city's destined to be laid to waste and consequently desolate for several decades.  Nevertheless, life SHALL return to Judah.  It has been prophesied.            And it is stated for reiteration that there is a leader from the line of David who will come; He is the Righteous Branch.  He will be bring justice and it will affect the whole earth.  He is 28 generations following David as his 26th (generation) grandson.  The family line is listed and counted in Matthew 1 if you care to brush up on this.

34 - The prophecy here against Zedekiah is unfortunate.  He was told that Babylonians were a force too powerful to resist so just submit to exile and go without fight or flight.  He was also told to declare the slaves set free here before the siege upon Jerusalem actually happens.  The slaves' owners did this ... and then took them all back in disobedience to scripture and the current prophecy.  This was wrong and Zedekiah was passive about it offering no rebuke to those who owned servants.  Zedekiah later disobeyed the Lord when Jerusalem was being sacked.  He was a poor diplomat, poor king, poor leader, and poor servant of the Lord.  He paid for it severely (his imminent capture is one of the worst vignettes~ in the Bible, btw.) 35 - Jeremiah points out and employs the Recabite people in a live illustration put forth before the Judeans.  The Recabites were people who had committed to live in tents v.s. dwellings and to not do the normal things of engaging in agriculture, growing vineyards, making and drinking wine.  They were still committed to refraining from alcohol as their ancestors had decreed.  Their resolve is revered as spiritual obedience.  This contrasted against the contemporary Judeans make for a teaching moment that had serious teeth to it.  The Recabites had their commitments and honored God this way.  Whereas virtually all the Judeans were base and committed only to their impulse to live sinfully.

Psalm 90-95 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading some of the psalms of Moses. We are using the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord Jesus, increase our faith and let us triumph in you.  Thank you God.  Amen. Psalm 90 - is likely one of the first Psalms ever written since it was written by Moses who was 400 years prior to David. There are numerous Rabbis that attribute Psalms 91-100 to Moses as well.  90 is about our eternal God and his attributes, His being the source behind all that is created. Moses is also musing that our lives are short and laborious so we best take stock of our lives and weigh them against the passage of time; "teach us Lord to number our days..." is a rather famous biblical verse we are wise to employ in our planning. Moses wisely asks that our temporary lives be assessed against our Eternal God so that our lives tally to amass some significance.  We are not wise to launch out on our own. 91 - The best thing to say about Psalm 91 is "read it again."  It has been the comfort to billions of believers, missionaries in peril, the lost and abandoned, the pilgrim going through the valley of the shadow of death.  Better than commenting on it a length, we'll just repeat the first sentence: read Psalm 91 one again.  It is the sterling Psalm of Trust in God. 92 - This is a wonderful Psalm reminding us to sing and worship and be thankful to God, to make music unto God.  Those who worship Him will join Him eternally.  And, on the converse, the opposite is also true.  There is no end to the manifold blessings of making sure our lives are attached, secured and rooted in righteousness attributed to the Lord of Heaven. 93 & 94 are both about the majesty of God.  The Lord He reigns. Nothing can drown Him out. He is greater and mightier, for His words are true and holy.   Yes, there is wickedness among men for their deeds and lives are wicked. This is who they are in their stupidness.  But they will all pass in a flash like a morning mist.  The righteous can rely on the Lord to be their refuge, strength and stronghold.  The wicked need not be feared or regarded for they will be destroyed. 95 - This is ecstatic in its reminding and urging us to Praise our God.  To sing and rejoice and kneel before Him in worship.  The earth is great and He is our God and we are His children resting in His Hand.  There is warning to not rebel or be faithless like those in the wilderness who were turned away from the Promised Land.  Let's remain faithful to our God.

II Kings 1-5 We are in the Nation stream today reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Wow, Heavenly Father.  It is never a dull day walking with you. Let us be inspired by your mighty deeds and the mighty men who faithfully walked with you.  Amen.

1 - Ahab (Jezebel's 'sellout' husband) has recently died and Ahaziah his son began his two-year reign.  He was a dark soul like his father Ahab.  Incidentally, Moab rebelled against Israel soon into Ahaziah's reign. He took a fall in his palace and in his distress, he called upon Baal; God of Ekron to learn if he would recover or not.  Elijah was irate that Ahaziah called upon Baal - god of Ekron - to tell of his fortune. So Elijah pays him a visit, gives the dirty lowdown, that for his going to Baal for answers, Ahaziah was going to die; he would never leave his bed, and Elijah leaves. The king and messengers send for Elijah to bring him back and straighten him out or to renegotiate a different prophecy - who knows but that the plan to fetch Elijah and remind him how to treat a king is not terribly smart.  So a captain with 50 men are burned up by fire from heaven at Elijah's command. They send another captain with his 50 and it happens again!  A third group of identical size approaches Elijah but with a different attitude. So Elijah complies after prompting by an angel prods him to do so. Elijah goes to King Ahaziah [again] and declares what he said prior. Everyone knew not to provoke Elijah, wouldn't you say so?! So Ahaziah dies. The word here is that Baal was wrong. Elijah spent much of his years denouncing Baal - and those who followed Baal looking to him for life and answers. This was wrong, for Baal was a false idol that merely served to distract people from the God of Abraham. Ahaziah is gone and Jehoram assumes the throne since Ahaziah had no son.

2 - This is the chapter of Elijah's finale~ and departure   Take special note of this man's life for he is among the most salient men in the Bible and in all history.  Among all the characteristics of Elijah, his enduring deed was to mentor Elisha. Elisha asks one thing from him before he departs and that is that Elisha receive a double portion of the Spirit of God to be upon his life. The requirement is that Elisha see, actually SEE Elijah going up to heaven hosted by angels, and horses and chariots as he departs earth. This means that Elisha was not take his eyes off of him.  Keep that in mind regarding a mentor in this life - don't take your eyes off him. And this goes for the Holy Spirit that mentors us in our lives. Don't take "your eyes" off of Him. We must look to the Spirit of Christ to guide us and we will receive that guidance.  Elijah's departure is a show they would never forget. The spirit then rested upon Elisha. His authority and anointing is verified immediately when he directs fifty men. He heals a water well, and curses a group of smart alecks who ridicule him - they are attacked by bears immediately.  This is another prophet that y'don't want to take lightly, argue with, cross-buck him, or go against him in any way. He speaks for God so when Elisha is speaking, God is talking to you --> listen up. 3 - this is a tangled chapter with much intrigue and puzzlement and no shortage of gore.  It is an interlude in Elisha's ministry wherein he is simply consulted about battle.  The entire chapter does serve to illustrate for us the tumult that Elisha is serving amid. Jehoram; king of Israel implores Jehoshaphat; king of Judah / and the king of Edom to all combine and fight Moab. As they march the seven days to Moab there isn't water so a panic arises. [Jehoram proves to be a trifle manic in all this, btw.] Thus, Elisha is called upon. He advises, water comes, the advancing Moabites think it's a 'valley of blood' and they interpret that Israel/Judah/ Edom have all turned on each other for a slaughter. So Moab charges -and gets surprised! While being overwhelmed in battle, they retreat and go head on against Edom. Nothing works in Moab's favor and so in a grossly sadistic and ghoulish move he burns and sacrifices his own son and hangs him from the wall. This scene caused the battle to wane and Israel to retreat and not try to tax Moab anymore. They realized that the King of Moab was willing to kill anyone/anything.  It's fiendish, yes, and yet Moab's sacrifice worked.  Our apologies for talking this through. We'll stop with this right here. If you are curious to read of a collateral report, do a search on "The Moabite Stone" that King Mesha of Moab made to commemorate this whole very strange battle. The Moabite Stone was discovered by archaeologists in the 1860's A.D.  You can look it up from there is you are so compelled. 4 - Elisha performs a miracle to save a widow and her family. The pots were filled with oil as oil multiplied without stopping while Elisha continued pouring.  If they had fetched more pots, those would have been filled too! The oil stopped flowing when the empty-pots-to-fill stopped coming. There's a faith message in this that I hope is being heard. Then the Shunnamite woman had a son as Elisha had prophesied.  Note this was afterthey had provided quarters for Elisha to rest in.  Later Elisha raises him from the dead - This is one of theseven resurrections in the Bible - how many?!  Elisha continues headlong in a flurry of miracles that we will keep reading about next week. Next there is accidentally poison in their meal that Elisha makes edible. Then loaves and grain grows while being served - enough to feed everyone... 5 - Naaman, the valiant soldier and captain of Aram's army is healed of leprosy. The Israelite girl that was captured and served Naaman's wife is the one who 'opened this door' for the miracle to take place. Naaman and his family and others want this healing so badly, they carry 750 lbs. of silver and 150 lbs. of gold as a gift for Elisha to prompt him to action.  This healing becomes a stunning testimony that even Jesus spoke of 800 years later.  Notice how many times Naaman is told to dip in the Jordan.  Remember the Holy Spirit is alllways eager and ready and wanting to alight upon an obedient soul.  But looking this over, did the Holy Spirit need money to heal Naaman? Did Elisha? God heals for His glory and His testimony and for His name to go forth.  Catch the double-edged warning about using blessing for greed. Elisha's servant, Gehazi hopes to pocket some cash from the miracle ... and it costs him his health.  John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Churches asserted that a person with the gift of healing is never to charge money for administering the Holy Spirit and healing people. A word to the wise should be sufficient here.  Bless people with God - don't bill them while saying "it's for God."

Leviticus 14-16 We are in the World Stream reading from the New American Standard Bible. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord, we see what it is you want in us. You want us clean, cleansed, holy, mindful of these things and you want us saved. It is good to know that we matter to you so much.  Thank you Lord.  Amen"

14 - This is the next installment of the two chapters [13,14] on skin diseases: dealing with infections of the skin, cleansing them, stopping infection as best as possible, and stopping the spread of infection. This meant dealing with and eradicating mildew, and keeping leprosy contained. It is interesting the way the priest is integrally involved in people's cleanliness.  It's very different from what we hear today when a rebellious person declares, "it's my life, I'll do what I want. My life isn't anyone else's business..."  Oh? We are each other's business. We are God's people. Our houses are God's houses. They are not to be dens of diseases. Our lives do have import. We do affect each other.  When we will not clean ourselves, it affects other people. Infections and disease spreads through reckless living, dirty living, careless habits, etc. In the pagan world there are such horrible diseases that are rampant. And on the convers, these diseases are virtually nonexistent where there is Judeo-Christian culture and people have Leviticus and the dermatology field that has sprung from this book.

15 -  The issue of discharges were to be dealt with very specifically.  The delineation between male and female is described and the solution for cleansing is prescribed. Again, the priests involvement is clearly laid out. And this too is the Lord's business.  Anyone who has sired, borne, and raised children knows that the cleansing of our young is vital to their health and survival. Neglect here will cascade into ailing health,a putrid environment, a decayed culture, and premature death. The fluids of semen among men and blood among women from menstruation were dire matters to deal with as God instructed them to. Life itself resided in and was transferred by way of these fluids and God is the God of life. Life needed to be handled precisely and fervently for they were to be a culture of life.  It became a curse in Hebrew culture to have either of these fluids fall to the ground... it symbolized life returning to dust as God told Adam he would after he had sinned. 16 - This explains the annual Day of Atonement.  It is the most grave matter in all Judaism.  It stood for forgiveness and the delivering from sin. Take special note that Aaron; Moses' brother was given a grave warning of where to go, where to enter, where not to go and to execute a miscue in this would result in his death!  All of this was life and death. It is a foreshadowing of Judgment Day so "get it right gentlemen, you are the leaders in charge within this culture. It will eventually end up affecting he whole world." This cultural modus operandi for receiving forgiveness so to remain or return into God's Presence was a matter that would end up reverberating to the whole world for these people were to become a testimony to the whole world.  Sin needed to be called what it was and it needed to be expunged.  The goat was a symbol of the one who carried the sin away and continued away with this sin.  It was not to come back. Sin needed to be removed from each person, each family, each community, and each tribe.  This is mentioned ca. 900 years later in Zechariah ch. 3... in the removing of iniquity from the land.  In terms of the priest, he needed to be clean himself, and then adorned in the proper attire.  You knew that phrase, "cleanliness is next to godliness" came from somewhere, didn't you?  Well here it is!  We are to come into God's presence best we can and appropriately covered.  This is serious in the utmost sense.  And the result is here in Lv. 16: "...you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord."  That is a wonder and a marvel.  This forgiveness and cleansing is the heart of the matter.  If this doesn't happen, nothing else matters. And all this is in complete contrast to the whole world's dealing with sin: that being --when you sin and feel guilty because of the sin --> repeat it until it doesn't feel sinful anymore. This didn't make sin go away, it just completely immersed a soul into sin so much so that it inoculated him to the fact that this behavior was sending him careening down the road to perdition, banishment, and outer darkness.

II Corinthians 9-13 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 9 - This is the continuation of the 2-chapter "giving passage" that starts in 8 - that we read last week.  It is the origin of why Christians throughout the world are noted as "the giving people" /or/ "the nice people" It's a banner passage instructing us to give cheerfully, generously, to not be surprised when blessing matches the proportion of our giving.  Paul's teaching is truly a headwater passage that created and thereby changed the nature of charity ever since he wrote this book.

10 - Paul's authority is what is presented here.  There had been some rabble/trouble-makers that were spreading around contrary opinions and insisting that Paul should not be listened to.  Gee, have you ever heard of someone doing this in a church, eh?  We sure have.  Anyway, Paul, undeterred, proceeds right along with the impetus of who the enemy is. [The Enemy is not the people around us.] It's a well timed bit of advice to remind us what is to be focused upon.  Note: -Paul uses his authority to build people up. -Those who are denouncing Paul's authority are using their self-appointed platform to cause dissension. This is self-evident proof of who should be listened to and who should be ignored. Paul's reminder of what priorities are and what is worth boasting about is "cut to the heart" stuff that is very relevant today. 11 - Paul takes a moment to deal with, explain, and expose the false prophets who are discrediting Paul no matter what he does. Whether Paul refuses an offering or Paul takes up an offering - they accuse him either way. Take a hint, when one cannot be pleased with whatever happens [e.g. Paul's critics], they are likely not a person to be listening to nor modeling life after and certainly not trying to learn anything from.  Their phoniness gives them away as Satan uses lies nearly 100% of the time.  Paul's trials are his testimony that authenticates His calling and Apostleship. No one would press on like He did with minimal pay unless they are doing it for God and according to God's calling. There is no other motivation, humanly speaking, to proceed if God Himself were not behind Paul's life guiding and directing him. 12 - When Paul talks about being caught up into the third heaven wherein he saw/heard things that were astonishing beyond description, the best argument for this experience is that it happened when he was unconscious after being pelted with stones in Ephesus and left for dead.  As people are likely to boast about when something marvelous happens to them, or after some great achievement, Paul on the other hand, boasts about his weakness - for it is through this that the Holy Spirit is allowed to shine through him v.s. having to compete with an illustrious personality.  This ends up being a greater testimony to "God at work" and therefore his life is something more so that is to be modeled.  And his pain [that does not go away, even through prayer] further asserts that Paul's life is powered by Christ Jesus Himself ... not his personal storehouse of sterling virtue rooted in him having a golden personality (rumor has it Paul was NOT a "looker" to behold either).  Paul is powered by Jesus and Jesus only. 13 - Paul gives some final advice prior to his plans for stopping in Corinth a third time.  He urges them to seek power in walking in Christ, to examine their heart and ways, do right and seek truth.  He ends with a lovely list that can best be summed up as a reminder to "act like Christians!"  His love for the Corinthians does come out quite clearly. The motif that surfaced in the reading this week, I am sure there are more but what we saw was, "do EXACTLY what God asks for".  When God has exact instructions, best not 'get creative' or careless ... Nadab and Abihu got punished by God that may seem extreme when they were burned to death by fire from God. No, they got careless with precise instructions. We don't do cabinet work with a hatchet, we don't clean our teeth with street sweepers, we don't help people up who have stumbled using a backhoe. Be precise. We demand precision of others. All the more-so with God. - Ahab was told to kill Ben-Hadad  but he called him over and started talking commerce and deals and trade for after the war was over. And in the next chapter; I Ki. 21 he sits back passively while his pagan wife, Jezebel, schemes to murder an innocent man. He's wrong against his own conscience and he's wrong with direct orders. So a prophet tells of his imminent death and Ahab dies from an arrow. -Ps. 86:11 nails the matter: "Teach me your ways Lord, so that I may live according to your truth. Grant me purity of heart so that I may honor you."  That's clear enough, yes? -Jeremiah is told to purchase land in a region that will very soon become a warzone. That is bad advice according to most every human scale of judgment. But God said to and Jeremiah did and it was a testimony to God bringing the people back as soon as all is ready for the return (after the 70 years of captivity) -In Amos the Lord said to the family of Israel, "come back to me and live".  If God says this it's obvious that he wants us to live. He has exact instructions and yet that does not make God an exacting ogre. He simply wants us to live. This should encourage us. -When Jesus told Simon/Peter to go out to where it's deeper and let down nets again, that is persistent instructions to give a weary experienced fisherman who's caught nothing after long night shift.  Imagine if Peter snapped back at Jesus and said, "no buddy, 'been fishing all night. We'll try later ([whoever you are!]...remember, Peter had scarcely met Jesus!)"  Peter would have missed his calling and it would have changed history -not for the better.. -After a protracted monologue to the Corinthians, wherein Paul breaks down how to deal with false prophets -and there are many facets to this advice-, he tells the Corinthians in II Cor. 13:5, "examine yourselves..."Paul wanted THEM to have genuine faith.  They were an impressionable people and the false prophets had affected some of them. After all this, it would be a nightmare to have them be guilty of straying -even out of sincerity.  It would have been wrong all the same. This would require they be honestly looking into their own hearts.  It's advice that never it outdated.

Luke 5-6 We are in the Christ Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Jesus, thank you for teaching us.  Our adherence to what you told us will be what our lives hinge upon. Give us your strength to do in your Name what is otherwise impossible to do on our own.  Amen This is the first calling of the Disciples.  Mark has this incident in chapter one. Luke, as we have discussed earlier, begins by including much of Jesus' background, credentials, infancy, so it is not until ch.5 that the first "Calling" shows up in Luke. A couple subtleties that are worth noting in the story: nothing happens for Peter until he obeys Jesus and gets into deeper water as instructed.  ['want something to happen with you in the Spirit for Jesus' sake? -get in deeper with Him.] The catch was so great, they couldn't haul it all in/nets tore. They hadn't committed to Jesus...yet. Note that in the post resurrection parallel scene - the nets didn't tear! John 21:6-11.  And notice that Peter/James/John - future GIANTS in Christendom, followed Jesus immediately. When Jesus calls, do not dawdle     !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus then encounters a severely leprous man who worshiped Jesus and pleaded and asked according to if Jesus was willing.  It's a rather touching attitude this man has. When Jesus healed him and told him to keep quiet about this, he was merely trying to slow the tidal wave of the crowd morphing into a bandwagon to make Jesus the Messiah King - [as they were shouting for on Palm Sunday. a couple years later] Jesus healing the paralytic that the four friends brought on a stretcher is a very pivotal miracle in terms of chronology, importance, and theological revelation.  All through history, theologians have a perception of forgiveness and how/who/why it happens to whom. This is an earthquake of a revelation that forgiveness is granted by way of Jesus. period. To any who were skeptical he verified and qualified his claim by declaring and healing the paralysis. The room was packed, the testimony echoed through the countryside - eventually across the world. Healing AND salvation (a unified blessing) is granted from the same source. The remainder of Scripture must be seen in the shadow of this knowledge that Jesus is the final authority on such heavenly blessings! Note that when Jesus called Matthew he is calling an employee of Rome out of his occupation. Matthew is Jewish, yes, but this makes a statement that could be discussed on end for quite some time.! As for the question of fasting - let's just say this: cut the piety, when Jesus is here it's party time, yeahhhh 6 - Jesus asserts that HE was the Lord of the Sabbath.  That grated upon the Pharisees because they had a misappropriated fetish acting hyper-"obedient" in regards to the Sabbath. The Sabbath laws that had been created by the Sanhedrin/Scribes/Pharisees to give a false show of piety were worse than ridiculous. They were acting like God was some ogre about the Sabbath and that wasn't true. So Jesus waltzes into their world, verifies His divinity and then starts seeming to be sac-religious about the man made parts that were added to the law....and this caused quite a stir. He was upsetting their applecart and doing it deliberately.  Then He heals a man's hand [on the Sabbath] while making a teaching session out of it. He was cutting the core of the matter about their phoney Sabbath laws and they were livid. Then the 12 are named in a list. And Luke tells of Jesus healing a multitude as power went out from Jesus. Luke very purposefully mentions Jesus' power. And it's also vital to note that the Disciples are watching this up close; Jesus powerfully healing a very large number of people. Next we come to Jesus giving what became the most famous sermon of all time. Matthew gives the fuller version in 5,6,7. Luke here has it in a portion of 6.  The Beatitudes, the Golden Rule, rewards in heaven, a great reckoning is to be had that will have the poor be rich, the hungry satisfied, the sorrowful rejoicing ( and a great vice versa!)  Luke has this "great flipping" as a motif in his gospel.  He is intent to prove that things in heaven are different than here on earth. Loving enemies is historical. No one talked like this before. Not being judgmental - He wanted Believers to be accepting, nurturing, loving encouraging souls not critics of everything.  Jesus also wanted people to be pure in heart and productive, and to build their lives upon Him and what He taught.  Not bad advice is it?!

Amos 5 We are in the Exile Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

God, we don't even know how to pray for these people. Teach us how to pray for those who are lost.  Amen.

Amos is sad at heart, pleading for Israel to come back to God. The nation is about to fall and it will be a horrid invasion - from which they would not come back.  The 10 tribes that were hauled away - there is no historical record of them returning.  They assimilated, blended in, vanished as a people. The fall of Israel was so close, it had to hurt to feel tension as someone who knew what was coming.  The numbers that Amos shared about those who do NOT return from battle should have gotten their attention. God is using a juxtaposed illustration to urge them to return to him now, and thereby not see battle.  They didn't hear...because they wouldn't listen.

Then 17 verses is dedicated to listing the problems of their paganism: They were trashing poor people, ridiculing righteous people, worshiping stars (astrology not astronomy).  They had told themselves that Baal brings the wind and rain - [NO, God does this, people!]  The Israelites, despised honesty, they hated truth, they oppress and gouge people into destitution through strangling taxes and pricing.  Bribery was a rampant problem.  God insisted that all this be remedied and remedied now.  God gave a route of repentance and escape - though He knew they wouldn't.  So they best ready themselves to weep in anguish as the land is about to be crushed. Some n'ere-do-wells in the northern kingdom were pontificating, "well, maybe the Lorrrrrd will help us avoid any imminent trouble...?..."  DUH! after spending 200 years ordering Him to scoot on out? REALLY? There is terror coming and it will be everywhere you turn.  God was beyond nauseated by their religious platitudes, the double living, the hypocrisy, AND the Satanism (may as well call it what is was!)... God basically bellowed, "show me justice and righteousness - spare me your duplicitous garbage!" The god mentioned as "Sakkuth" is the familiar "Molech" from the Greek.  This is the god they did infant sacrifice to. He was a bloodied and awful god adopted in from the Phoenicians.  "Kaiwan" is the god that is referred to in the Greek versions of the Bible as "Rephan" - also mentioned in Acts 7:42-43.  Thus the reference to worshiping God who made the constellations and such in Amos 5:7 instead of the stars themselves. So into exile they will go. Would they turn from this disastrous path? Could they? Hmmm, Wasn't it Carly Simon who sang, "it's too late baby, now it's too late."  I want to say "God help them" but they don't want God's help; not God's way. anyway ...