The Seven Streams Method

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Leviticus 6:8-9:24 We are in The World Stream reading from the New King James Version this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis God Your will is for us to truly see and know you and walk with you and experience your glory and love.  Help us to this place, Lord God.  Amen  6 - the rules for the garments and the eternal fire are part of God's thinking that kept a rich sense of significance in this particular ritual within Judaism. The changing of the outfit and keeping a particular outfit for this phase, another for another phase was meaningful. We have certain outfits for certain tasks - do we not? An outfit for yardwork, a different one for cooking in, a different one for painting in, for church, for hiking, for formal dining. You don't wear a tuxedo to a baseball game, You don't go to church in swimwear. I wouldn't eat at a restaurant where the entire staff wore painter's overalls and everyone working there smelled like oil-based-primer. You wouldn't either. Outfits need to be right and all of us feel this way.  Now what if God guffawed this matter and just smirked at us while bellowing, "outfits? for church? for worship? for Temple? awww, who cares? wear whatever! I guess...?!" We wouldn't take God seriously if he was as sloppy about this as a dopey clown. And the fire was always lit because God was "always in" The Grain and the Sin Offering were initially laid forth in chapter 2 and 4 respectively. God has us learning things incrementally and over time because hardly anyone hears an elaborate task once and then retains is responsively for life. These were what people produced and having portions of the produce set aside for God kept people's minds on God and what the requirements were for being in fellowship with him. 7 - Notice that this Trespass Offering is most holy to the Lord. And it was required that the fat was required to be burned upon the fire. Fat makes for some rather volatile fuel for the fire that burned with extra heat and crackle. It can be almost as flammable as kerosene or diesel fuel. In fact there is research in process that could in time have certain cars burning fat as their fuel. We can be sure that these Trespass Offerings had everyone's attention!    The Peace Offering was for a thanksgiving offering or voluntary. The rules varied. The issue of timing and consumption on 1st/2nd/3rd day was very strict. God did not want people neglecting these matters, getting an attitude of nonchalance, and also these meats sitting around for days get flies, then maggots and must not be eaten.  The blood and fat were not to be ingested. It was not healthy. Fat is used and overused by people who eat too much and/or eat too much of the wrong things. And for blood - it was red and red gets people's attention. [God used the blood of His Son to get our attention!] And judging by he fact that ingesting blood by eating it cooked or drinking it 'raw' is a ritual that most all Satanic cults engage in, God wants all of us to have absolutely nothing to do with any of this or even anything that even remotely resembles this. The Bible states in Lev. 17:11 that "the life is in the blood". God gives us life and our blood carries this life. Red is an arresting color - it's all very intriguing. And yet we are to look to God for our answers in life and let Him save us His way. Trying to save ourselves our way leads to wrong thinking and we go amiss quickly. Drinking blood is cultic and wrong and God said it and that settles it for us.  The portion offered for the priest; Aaron and sons (and their families) was for them to live on. They were about God's business all day, each day and this is how they subsisted. 8 - Everything that was instituted for the sacrifices was executed here.  We read through all these steps and procedures and here they are commenced upon.  The dressing up of the sons of Aaron and Aaron himself for worship had to be rather impressive. These were the garments that were explained in Exodus 28.  The gems and colors and layers and the beauty of it was something we do not see these days.  The 12 stones representing the 12 tribes and other vestments attached with gold chains testified to the significance of all this.  Think of being there for worship, the red sprinkled down the altar, fat on the fire crackling without exploding, the heat and the phases of it all.  It's a stark contrast to so many who attend church but are not "all there" mentally or spiritually because of distraction from anything: hand-held devices or fatigue from being up too late the night before or boredom because church is slumped too far from the biblical model of what church is to be.  No one was asleep at these gatherings. Not when they are so significant and there is smoke and fire and the like .At any rate, the steps that were laid out by Moses were all gone through here on this day - in Lev. 8 9 - The ministry began before the people.  The rituals sounded very similar as they were laid out in prior chapters and executed as such.  Yet this time the people were witnessing it.  Moses asserted, "This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, and the Lord will appear to you."  So all the offerings were given and made before the Lord.  The people were then blessed by Moses and Aaron. And then it happened - The Lord appeared gloriously, and fire came out as God did this to burn up the offering and the fat.  What a sight!!  The people shouted and fell on their faces in worship.  Think of this - if there was something God asked of you to do and stipulated that once this was done, He would then visibly appear to you in an impressive manner that had you wither to the floor overwhelmed and unable to stand you were so moved by the hand of God.  Would you do this or just shrug and keep checking you 'in-box" or browsing the web?            God help us see what He is showing us.

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II Corinthians 1-4 We are starting a new book in the Church Stream. The Apostle Paul is addressing the church of Corinth in a 2nd letter. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Jesus we thank you for the gift you give us that fills our lives with joy and purpose and gracious mercy that saves us. Amen. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth a second time. This time he is addressing the believers in the Achaia region also. In Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church he was instructing a splintered body of believers. They were disorderly.  Unsanctification/sexual matters/immorality and ebullience were problems, They were even suing eachother, and their competitions regarding the Communion were silly; just wrong (?who brought the most elaborate food to the event?! -yeesh). Simply put, they were a bustling church but they were divided and had not been loving.  Many were duplicitous as there was debate and tension over how to conduct their lives in a city where paganism had been the rule for centuries. Titus had caught up with Paul during his third missionary journey. The purpose was to relay that Paul's 'year-and-a-half' in Corinth had done much good. There was however a faction in Corinth (imagine that!) that was raising the question whether Paul was authentically one of the Apostles of Christ. The latter was a slickly calculated attempt to discredit Paul since he had spoken to issues 'spot on' in his first letter.  The naysayers knew there were things that needed to be remedied and they preferred to deride Paul v.s. grow in their faith. For them it was more natural to act like hucksters, change the subject - turning the focus to Paul being an illicit source of leadership. So Paul goes right at this topic in his second letter.  He had founded the church in Corinth and he knew what he was doing since he was getting direction from the Holy Spirit. 1 - Paul's greeting is rich and warm as he had met with Titus after escaping a brush with death in Ephesus. And despite notable unsavory matters in Corinth, they were a loyal group who in many ways wanted to know Jesus better. Paul is realizing more-so all the time, the suffering that accompanies mission work and Christian service. He is relieved to meet up with Titus but there had been anxiety involved from his hearing of situations in Corinth. All in all, the time with Titus was of a comfort that strengthened Paul.  He needed to remind the Corinthians that he was delayed because of hardship along the way, not because he was fickle. Paul is not like that. 2 - the chapter opens with talk of discipline. The scalliwag who had a "relationship" with his stepmom [he was exhorted in I Cor. 5] was a painful mess that called for discipline.  Apparently that discipline had been administered come the time Paul is writing II Cor. so Paul is sounding conciliatory by now. It had been a painful pilgrimage, but prayerfully it is dealt with and over by now.  Paul had been so embroiled, hoping this matter would get settled that he had scuttled right past an evangelistic opportunity in Troas to tend to the trouble.  Be that as it may, Paul experienced triumph in Christ and the Providence that walking with Christ had brought him everywhere Paul traversed. Yes, some men violently rejected Paul's message but that came with the territory and Paul was content regardless. 3 - the opening issue here is most likely Paul refuting the n'ere-do-wells traveling from Jerusalem that trolled the Empire and insisted that the new Christians adhere to the Law of Moses namely to circumcision [along with the rest of the Law!]. And as they traveled they always touted their reference letters from the Sanhedrin who sent them along with their resumes hoping that would enhance reverence for them as they traveled ... to cause trouble for Paul! Paul smacks 'em pretty soundly here. These Judaizers were proud of their resumes, while Paul was gratified by the Church he planted; the Corinthians themselves who were testament to his anointing by God Himself.  The Law of Moses was the last word on righteousness in the former era but Jesus is the one we are to look to now. He is the Light. Only Jesus can bring us into the Presence of God. Following the Law only has one ... following a set of laws that do not save. 4 - Paul's calling and mission in entirely consuming joyful assignment. Persecutions at any and/or all levels are not going to intimidate or sway him in the least. The joy of following God is that great for him. Paul noted that there were souls who were blinded to God's Love - that's the only explanation for people rejecting God. Paul's analogy of clay pots has become a timeless illustration.  Valuable documents were preserved in clay pots. These pots weren't necessarily much to look at but the value of the contents altered history. With the Spirit of Christ living in us; as "jars of clay", we then become lives that transport, transmit and divulge value that translates into eternal wonder and also blesses the clay pot in a glorious way.  The joy of the whole process blossoms into a beauty that overtakes everything as we follow Paul's instruction and immerse ourselves in Jesus' grace. The theme that reoccurred each day this week surfaced to be "what are we going to do with the sin?" In Leviticus 1-6, most of the offerings brought to God were for sin; accidental or deliberate, simply bring it to God and therein it is redemptive.  In I Kings 11-14 the matter came home for Solomon. He had gathered foreign/pagan women like people collect anything collectible. What would Solomon do with this sin? He was king and he did it because he could and he wouldn't put this matter away. It altered and corrupted the nation forever.  Psalm 78-79 was a litany of God's faithfulness contrasted against the Israelites' sinfulness. Would God's love ever get them to turn from their shameful sin? Their sin had caused them to be routed. When will this obvious memo ever 'sink in'?  Jeremiah brought up their sin as a nation and --> they attacked Jeremiah, not the sin. They would be sent into exile for this. Also ignoring the lesson from the yoke Jeremiah put on would end up being costly. We'll read about that next week.  Amos bellowed that the whole region was living sinfully. And all were impenitent as well.  They would burn for it. John/Baptist, in Luke, was preaching powerfully against sin. People repented and were baptized. It was marvelous.  In Corinth, Paul was doing some follow up regarding a man in the church who was living in terrible sin and ... it turned out that by then the matter was rectified and propriety had been restored.  The memo this week is that sin shall be dealt with God's way or it will only continue to get worse - and more so until things are handled God's way.

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Luke 2:1-3:19 We are celebrating the birth of our Savior in the Christ Stream. Christmas in June! We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

The Savior is born today!  Thank you Lord for caring so much to send the best of heaven and the whole universe; for sending yourself, so that we may know You, follow You, and be saved.   Amen. 2 - The time had come for Mary to deliver the Savior and the political circumstances required Joseph/Mary to go to Bethlehem. Notice that they went up to Bethlehem from Nazareth in Galilee.  It was a 90-100 mile walk with a 1300 foot rise. The KJV says that Mary was "great with child"; the Greek actually words it to read "Mary had a 'mega-tummy' " - it's true folks. -The first outsiders invited to see the newborn king were shepherds. The significance of this as told by Luke is that Luke is writing this gospel with the intent of evangelizing the Greek speaking world. Greeks LOVE sheep/mutton (mutton gyros)/wool/lamb-skin-leather; this whole culture of shepherding. And God tells shepherds --> first!  And He does so by an astonishing sign in the sky -  God's angel speaking to them. Light, a message, then a choir that filled the sky, good heavens, It was overwhelming!  Another way this pierces to the heart of a Greek citizen is that they had in their legends that Alexander-the-Great was born and the arrival was announced by the greatest lightning storm that ever struck upon earth in history. So a Greek mind would read this and think, "oh my! this is even greater than when Alexander was born!"  Luke is saying to them [between the lines] that though their heritage takes them back to Alexander and Philip of Macedon, their personal king was a greater one to follow; sent from God and He outdoes Alexander.  So follow this Jesus. By doing this, Luke had the Greeks' attention from the start.  And notice that the shepherds left their flocks (it was night and this kind of thing is not done - y'don't leave your sheep at night especially). But the shepherds RAN to find Jesus. [Is this Jesus really worth abandoning everything for? Is He really more important than- everything- that- is- important? --Really?  Listen to Luke and hear the whole story. -Then Jesus is brought to the Temple for dedication and for his circumcision - only Luke, being a doctor, includes this detail.  The story of Simeon and Anna are legendary parts that further signify that this Jesus is long awaited and that He is well worth waiting for.  This even more deeply asserted into Joseph and Marys' hearts that they were entrusted with an assignment that carried the weight of the world upon them. It was a holy and wholly magnificent task they had to parent Jesus.  Mary took all this to heart, and it never left her. The next story has us jumping 12 years ahead to when Jesus was in the Temple as a child and He is astonishing the Teachers and leaders and the doctors of the Law.  Now never forget that Luke is telling this story to Greeks and Greek was the language of the Empire - the way English is the language of the commercial world today. Greeks muse about Socrates born 470 B.C. in Athens /& Plato /& Aristotle and they wistfully discuss their books and ideas as they had for several hundred years. These were fascinating men with brilliant minds meandering about the Acropolis offering wisdom and leadership as to how to manage an Empire along with all the matters and thinking entailed therein. Well, Luke is saying, "you guys admire this?!?! Well here's a youngster who is more enamoring and He is wowing the greatest minds for thousands of miles ... and He does so at 12 years old !!"  Give it 18 years and see if He isn't the most fascinating speaker/miracle worker / healer / leader EVERRRRRRR. 3 - jumps up 18 years and John the Baptist begins preaching in the Jordan area just north of the Dead Sea and near Jericho.  His preaching is so powerful and so poignant that people were coming from far away to hear him and to be baptized for forgiveness of sins.  The rebuke John launched into wasn't a wild mood swing where he suddenly went ugly on everyone. He noticed that the duplicitous leaders were starting to show up.  They were there because they were upset that people were not in their normal worship services and they were thinking, "where is everyone? why are offerings down?" And this bothered them. Well rumor had spread and soon the countryside and everyone knew what was going on and where everyone was. The people had come to hear John and get right with God. But, the leaders had come to "straighten things out" and to deal with this loudmouth John/Baptist if they needed to.  That's where the surprising "brood of snakes" comment factors in. John/Baptist tells of what God requires: be honest, share, stop manipulating and threatening and stealing, be content, clean up your act, etc. [Luke hits on this theme of financial honesty, fairness, and caring throughout his book.]  John/Bpt is preparing them to meet Jesus so that Jesus would imminently arrive to a mood of "WOW, He's Here!" v.s. "hey, who are you?" ; an atmosphere of oblivious.  It worked.

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Amos 1-2 We are in the Exile Stream starting the book of Amos. Yes, he's famous! We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord of Heaven: It is numbing to see how bad and profane and sinful and willful people can be. May we be agents who operate against such darkness and call sinners to you.  Amen.

Amos' prophecy is right around 750 B.C.  Isaiah is beginning his writings right on the heels of Amos. Amos was young as Jonah was in his twilight years - Amos could well have heard first hand of Jonah's revival in Nineveh that shook the known world.   Amos was among the earlier of the 17 OT prophets. He was a contemporary of Elisha, but young to have met Elijah.  Hosea was younger than Amos and would have continued upon Amos' departure.  Micah was also younger than Amos and would have some right after (as with Isaiah).

For some historical perspective, the very first stones are being laid in a new area that would be called "Rome" following Romulus' celebration of their first military victory. [ There is about 30 years until the Northern Kingdom of Israel would be terrorized and cleaned OUT by Assyria, ] The Ionian Greeks founded the city of Naples on the Gulf of Naples about as Amos starts writing. Uzziah was king in Judah and Jeroboam II was king of Israel. For what it's worth, II Chronicles 26 is a contemporary chapter with Amos. It is of the years when King Uzziah was 'going askew". Amos 1 - 2: The word commences two years before "the BIG earthquake". It was terribly traumatizing for all in the land as it was talked about still, 200 years later, by the Prophet Zechariah as he compared the Amos 1:1 earthquake to the earth's final judgment which became mentioned by John in Revelation 16:18. Amos is reading 'the dirty lowdown' about and to the whole region: Syria, Gaza, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel.  Amos uses the same literative tactic employed in Proverbs 30: "there are three things, actually four..."   This adds intrigue as Amos drops the gavel on the rabble-rousing attitude of the leaders and people in the whole region east of the Mediterranean Sea that scholars call "The Levant" [luh-VAUNT] Damascus in Syria will be burned and busted, Gaza of the Philistines will be burned, devoured, cut off and killed.  Tyre will be burned flat as will Edom with her cities, along with the Ammonites as the Ammonite King and princes get exiled. Fire will consume Moab as God sees to it that the entire Royal family dies. Judah and Israel are none the less guilty.  They were given a covenant before God. They knew better and disobeyed with robust disgust!  So guess what... you guessed right --> Judah will be burned to the ground (much later than Israel, however) The judgment against Israel in much more "at hand" so it is detailed and stinging. Israel is oppressing its own people, prostitution is rampant, along with drunkenness, the Prophets are shunned.  Israel is slapping God in the face and doubly-arrogant about it.  So God is on the verge of crushing them. It will be a bludgeoning like they've never known - and they will not recover from it.

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Jeremiah 25-27 We are in the Prophetic Stream and Jeremiah delivers more of God's judgments. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord Jesus, help us and teach us to be people who are steadfast.  Amen.

25 - The year of this chapter being written is 604 B.C. It was 7 years until the first captives would be taken from Judah to Babylon.  Jeremiah gets a revelation that the captivity; it's duration would be 70 years. And of course this is going to happen because the people have refused to listen to the prophets God has sent to them - all of them.  The "time is up". The party is over and God is going to turn Judah into a wasteland. He is actually calling down Babylon to do the dirty work.  And of course, when Babylon is finished with this task, Babylon itself will be overtaken. So they aren't going to be getting any medals from God for their work once they have flattened Judah.

Then the chapter goes into a "while we're at it..." tone.  God is putting many nations on trial.  Egypt, Ammonites, the Medes, etc. and more.  The massacre for pagan living and behavior is going to be vast.  This is going to be 'good news' for no one.  The dead bodies will be so numerous that they will be basically reduced to the category of fertilizer. 26 -is written for the purpose of reminding us, as we read, about how much danger Jeremiah was in.  He is ordered to go straight into the Temple courtyard and preach a hot streak of rebuke against the priests of the Temple who were altogether derelict in their duty.  Jeremiah was told vehemently to his face that he was going to die for talking the way he was talking - rather preaching the way he was preaching.  He is rushed by the mob, arrested, and a spirited trial ensues. Jeremiah is surprisingly let go. The final comments of that trial are impressive. The similar incident surrounding another prophet named Uriah (not Bathshebah's husband, btw) ended quite differently.  He preached in Jerusalem, was threatened, then fled to Egypt.  He was retrieved, brought back to Jerusalem and killed for his preaching.  Again, the Bible lets us know this part of the story just to remind us the price that could have been exacted upon Jeremiah.  It reminds us of Hebrews 11: "...they faced death all day long..." 27 - It is the final decade before Babylon is going to storm in and decimate anyone who fights back against them. And Jeremiah is told to put on a yoke, like what a beast of burden wears to pull a plow, and walk around Jerusalem telling them that this yoke is what is going to happen to all of you.  You will be put in a yoke by Babylon.  Do not fight this - or you will be killed in any number of ways. Even the King Zedekiah is urged to do this so that he may live.   Meanwhile the false prophets are crooning about how good times are coming, so don't listen to Jeremiah's blah blah blah, the stolen articles will be returned shortly, so, be well and be happy for things are fine.  Of course they are lying like dogs on rugs and Jeremiah calls them on it. !!!!!!--> Oh my the events that were coming.  We'll tell you next week about how this issue of Jeremiah wearing a yoke around town ends up.  You can read ahead if you wish.  In this case reading ahead isn't cheating - it's encouraged  :-)

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Psalm 78-79 We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Heavenly Father, you are true. We are called to be grateful for your endless goodness, for your mercy that is new every morning, for your faithfulness that is GREAT.  Amen. 78 - Is a wondrous review of God's marvelous works.  His dealings with Israel have been so completely magnificent - and their behavior in response has been so delinquent or derelict or ... there are too many adjectives for Israel's behavior that was displayed instead of gratitude and worship.  This Psalm is a description about God - it is a description about us. God ordered that the children are to be taught so that they can teach their children, ad infinitum. Ephraim turning their back is the metaphor equivalent of Israel departing from the Covenant - despite knowing better. God guided them through the Exodus, he gave water and shelter and clouds, plus protection and fire - but they 'pressed in for the sin' which they preferred. They were provided for for 40 years, not one of them starved - and yet no food was good enough for them.  The complaining chorus was a song that never ended.  They remembered God their Redeemer. They knew He was merciful, but they in turn lied to God, they lied in worship, their lives became lies.  The rebellion in the desert was astonishing to God and to us today as we read it 3400 years later.  They acted like they forgot about being preserved through the plagues: from the blood, through the locusts, and boils and bugs, and during the passover of death (for the Egyptians it was death because they were NOT passed-over!). Further, God cleared the way for them into Canaan, and yet they rebelled and did not keep the Covenant.  He punished them more severely than He ever intended to from the start when He called them His own and to be His own. Then the punishment ceased. God chose David to lead them and as a shepherd of God's people.  As we read the Psalms today, we experience that David is still shepherding His people 79 - Troubled times have befallen Israel.  The land has been invaded, people killed, in the frackus there isn't even time for proper burials and what's worse, wild birds are plucking at the dead Israelites.  It is a horrid scene and it is vast.  The royal city has been destroyed, the domain of the Lord is getting desecrated by enemies that are beyond cruel.  The people of Israel are above and beyond all they are asking God for forgiveness and for Him to act quickly.  They want God to strike back fast on these enemy nations. All the shedding of their own blood is too much to bear. The reproach of the nations was like anyone walking into a disaster that any of us may be suffering through and foreigners/visitors stoop in a demeaning tone to ask, "what on earth happened to you; you pathetic heap of garbage?!"  Not too encouraging to say the least!  The Israelites want retribution and restoration.  They have been personally attacked and they want God to take it personal too!

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I Kings 11-14 We are in the Nation Stream and turn the corner in Solomon's Reign. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord we want to heed your warnings, hear your prophetic words and not suffer the losses that we see the disobedient and profane people suffering as they turn away from Truth.  Thank you for sending us the Truth; in Jesus.  Amen.

11 - Solomon was told by a dear older woman he knew of; King Lemuel's mother actually, in Proverbs 31:2-3.  He was pleaded with to not waste his life on women (the gender isn't the problem - the plurality is!).  He was told that they ruin kings.  But Solomon however felt that he was different, [as most people do] that sin wouldn't hook him in.  Well it did. Remember him marrying the daughter of Pharaoh right out of the gate?  He did that so there would be peace with Egypt.  Solomon loved his Lord at the start, and God honored his love for Him.  But the "sex-for-politics-for-sex-for power-and-pleasure pact" that Solomon had made as a deal (with himself I guess) let him astray and he fell away from the faith of his fathers. One wrong wife wasn't enough.  He needed hundreds of false women.  It is like one's physical hunger trying to find satisfaction from a deep-fried/sugar-filled donut.  How many of them do you need to eat on an empty stomach in order to feel satisfied? It's not going to happen.  Solomon's women was the disastrous shame of Solomon's rule. His pagan love life took him and the country with it on a downward spiral of no return.  He invited pagan religions in to keep his women happy. From this the God of Abraham was offended and a spirit of unrest seeped into the country.  Before Solomon died, enemies were growing restless within the land and it was a preview of the tension that would cause 10 of the 12 tribes to splinter off to the north. Was Solomon's love life just his private business and he could be sinful if he so chose to? No. It became everyone's business as all of these things always do. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam took the throne.  Solomon's rule lasted from I Kings 1-11 / the parallel story, though distinctively written, is also told in II Chronicles 1-9

12 - Rehoboam, Solomon's son, was to be the next king.  Jeroboam resented Solomon and therefore Rehoboam and took up the grievances of a people who were over taxed during Solomon's rule. Jeroboam pleaded that taxes be lowered, Rehoboam did not listen and the rebellion was on.  Sounds like 1776 doesn't it? Jeroboam rallied for the north against Judah and strengthened the north against the south by actually paganizing the northern 10 tribes and making two golden calves to distract them away from the God of Abraham, Jerusalem, the Temple, and all that. Jeroboam set up the false gods of golden calves (just like Exodus 32!).  One calf was in Bethel in the south while the other was up north in Dan. The country was 'covered' in terms of false religion.  As we are reading in the prophets, this stunt started Israel on a fast road to being decimated.  200 years later, they were. 13 - is a zany tale of lies and false religion and paganism and getting mauled by a lion in a strangest of tales, and prophecy ignored and suffering because of it and demanding that godly people act immediately to remedy the wrong that bad religion had brought on.  It is the personal vision of the northern kingdom's first king and how a dark decision ends up rippling for centuries.  Jeroboam cheapened the faith and adulterated it. He ignored Ahijah who told him that there was a right way to represent the people to God, but he ignored Ahijah.  Jeroboam was angry at Solomon - who was gone now.  He was angry at Solomon's son; Rehoboam. Perhaps his anger was valid, but his "remedy" for the anger at the leaders in the south was not gone about properly.  Here's a truth in life: the right thing must be done the right way. There are many who attempt the right thing but go about it the wrong way. Some seek God's Will but don't pursue His Will His Way...they want to find God their own way (many of these types end up "playing God" before they are done!).  Many of us have seen this. There is a line between these two methods.  As for the wrong way - there never is a right way to do the wrong thing. Jeroboam may have commenced and wanted to do God's Will but He wouldn't do it God's Way.  It was not long after that that Jeroboam was shunning all good prophetic words and advice and was doing everything just plain, flat out WRONG,  And He wanted it this way and remained deliberate in this to his end. 14 -  God gets to Jeroboam through his son's illness. Jeroboam is desperate for solutions and who does he go to but Ahijah-the-prophet  ... who's advice he won't follow (in case anyone forgot). So, as Jeroboams' vapid character dictates, he sends his wife to Ahijah and she gets an earful of a horrid prophecy and it is accurate.  Meanwhile Jeroboam is up north feverishly fanning the flames of his "fornication-for-faith" cult that he had instituted to make sure no one ventured to Jerusalem and found the real God.  His wife comes home, his son dies on the spot.  And this was only the beginning of the doom that would be lowering upon Jeroboam.  The last of the ch. 14, we flip back south to Judah where  Rehoboam is king in Jerusalem. He is 41 at the start of his rule. He rules until he is 58. Jeroboam up north had a special relationship with Egypt based in a mutual disgust for Jerusalem/Solomon/Rehoboam. But what gave way for Egypt's invasion and ransacking of the Temple in Jerusalem was the exodus of God's blessing since Rehoboam allowed his pagan Ammonite mother to have a say in the religion of the south as Asherah shrines sprang up across the country.  Asherah was a sex-cult in the region that God had obviously forbidden his people to take part in.  This disobedience left them open to attack as Shishak of Egypt invaded and plundered the Temple. Shishak stole the gold from the Temple.  How much of the dozens of tons of gold that had been brought there and stored and decorated the Temple with is hard to say but it is such a shame.  God seems to be saying, "you act like pagans, then your wealth is going to go back to the pagans!"  The first of this gold was taken out of Egypt in the Exodus; Exo. 12:35-36.  Well it was being returned today. Yeesh.  Rehoboam made new articles of bronze as if it was supposed to make things all better now.  Do you think anyone noticed the missing gold?????

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Leviticus 1:1-6:7 We are in the World Stream today starting the book of Leviticus. We are reading from The Message this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Streams | Donate

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord your concern for us, for every phase, for every step, every friendship, every meal - your concern for us is comprehensive and forgive us for failing to understand the depth of your love. Bring us closer to your heart; the consuming fire that refines us.  Amen. As we have started Leviticus today, be encouraged as our aim is for us to better and more deeply understand God's care for us.  The overarching ethic in Leviticus is that a holy God wants us to be with Him and to become like Him so there can be purer fellowship - like with Adam in the Garden/Eden. God's holiness is wholly pure. God's character is not mixed with evil. The yin and the yang we find in Asian folklore does not exist with God. He does not have an evil side. Granted He has control over evil - yet it does not control Him - and God will eventually eradicate and punish all evil permanently. But God being holy, He loves us, and wants us to be like Him so to better be with Him. A great theme in Leviticus is that there is to be no mixing. We are like this. We demand that our loved ones not be mixed up with unsavory characters, We demand fidelity from our betrothed. We demand that there be no dirt on the strawberries on our dessert pie. We demand pure, clean washed lettuce for our salads. We insist the sand in our children's sandbox be clean - without compost or cat litter.  AND we do not sand mixed in our salad - not one grain! Are we not like God in this regard? We demand pure milk in the bottle for our babies - a little bit of dishwater mixed in is NOT okay.  We demand pure gasoline for our car - we want it free of water or gunk. We demand pure water to make our coffee with - or do you mind a few drops of chlorine just to kill the moss that might be left from a mug you drink from that hasn't been washed in 5 months.  Nonsense. We want purity We know what purity is and we insist we be served pure purity.  The weirdity about human character is that after demanding trueness of all those around us for ourselves - humans then want to mix things up for themselves.  Many think it's good to be bad so we can have a good time. eh?  We trust that this trek through Leviticus reveals the excitement of purity. Sim;ply decide now to not be bored. Yes, sometimes it may read like a maid's checklist cleaning a hotel room. Well imagine going to a hotel room and mold is here and there and smelly washcloths were turning colors in the corner from three guests ago, and the sheets were sticky and many various matters were untended to. To this, the maid responds, "oh, I don't follow the checklist for cleaning. That's too confining. It's boring. I'd rather follow my whimsical feelings as I go through rooms. It's bad to leave a room good." [HUH!?] Is that fine with you? No.  Leviticus is teaching the rigors of clean living.  That is not boring. Seeing it as what it is: That God's depth of care for us is refreshing.  There are five offerings in this reading today.  The Burnt Offering, Grain Offering, Fellowship Offering, Sin Offering, Guilt Offering. They are found accordingly in the five chapters we read today and in the start of the sixth.  The Burnt Offering was to be completely consumed on the fire. The best was to be brought to God. It was for worship signifying commitment and surrender to God, for unintentional sin. There was more mention of this in Lev. 6 and 8 and 16.  We are to bring our best and first to God today and offering it totally to Him, are we not? The Grain Offering was grain or flour or olive oil, bread - what was grown; hence the income or increase from each one. This was to be brought to God also as a voluntary act of worship.  It created the occasion for Israel to pause and recognize that God in His goodness provides and we are therefore to respond with our devotion to Him.  Let's worship God and remember the bounty He gives - not worship the bounty, then hoard it and then forget God. Otherwise we become greedy people who get all we can / can all we get / and then sit on the can.  By then anyone who threatens to take anything from us or any one of our cans gets a violent reaction from us.          Grain Offerings (from our bounty) keep us remembering, gracious, godly people. The Fellowship Offering involved us bringing an animal without defect to be shared plus a variety of breads.  This was a voluntary act within the worship and service of our lives.  It contributed to the communal meal. This was to be eaten together. It kept God in the center of the fellowship. These feasts were joyous events and God and happy devoted hearts surrounded the table. Contrast this to the food orgies and saturnalia feasts gone amok in the Greek and Roman world that would follow a few centuries later.  The filth and vomit and trash-ruined rooms and wasted food was disgusting at these pagan gatherings. We either keep God in our fellowship or our fellowship goes bad. The Sin Offering (dealt with in 4:1-5:13) was required to give for specific sin - be it unintentional. There must be confession, forgiveness and cleansing that must occur.  Sins were being dealt with in a whole new way now.  No blaming, fighting, getting ugly, or the world's way --> repeat the sin until it doesn't feel like sin anymore - who cares who gets hurt?. No,... sin was dealt with before God, wrongs made right and it was to end there. The size of the offering reflected the status of the person religiously or economically. The Guilt Offering was for sin that required restitution.  There was to be a Ram sacrificed. This was mandatory for atoning the unintentional sin. There must be cleansing from defilement plus a 20% fine added on to aright the guilt. Does all this seem tedious and laborious? It's simpler than Law School. Getting right with God make things automatically go right with others.  Surprise! You're going to love this book this year.

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I Corinthians 15-16 We are in the Church Stream finishing the book of I Corinthians today. We are using the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

15 - The theme, in case anyone missed it, is: THE RESURRECTION.  Christ Jesus raised from the dead and we who are His and with Him shall raise from the dead too.  Paul belabors that Jesus rose, appeared to hundreds, plus the 12, and more times to the chosen ones in Jesus' inner circle. I mean really folks (reading between the lines) do you think all these people were hallucinating in unison? 'can't happen!  Jesus ROSE from the dead.  Believe it for real / forever. Paul explains the order of the Resurrection, the logic of it and the importance of it. Instead of reciting, or rather repeating again what Paul said, it's important to realize what he was encountering as he was traveling through Greece, and Asia Minor:   - - - Paul would periodically have a person in the congregation interject while he/Paul was teaching and preaching.  They would blurt out, "yeah, but He died. They killed Him. Was He a crook? and He let them kill him?...was this because He felt guilty?" The pattern of this century was that when a self proclaimed Messiah came on the scene, He either took over and then He would reign, or he was killed. and between 50 BC and 50 AD scores of "Messiahs" came forth and they were all executed along with their followers. Jesus appeared to be one of them.  The shame associated with following a false Messiah often never left someone who was duped by their false messiah. Jesus' and the events of his last week looked too similar to the false messiahs and so some were puzzled as to how seriously to take Jesus Christ of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, to a virgin, ad infinitum. So Paul takes this entire ch. 15 to explain to full orb' of the Resurrection of Jesus; it's veracity and the comprehensive logic behind it.  We remember Paul asserting that he was not ashamed of the gospel in Rom. 1:16.  Well he wasn't - and he wanted all others to feel the same way. -The description and Paul making a clear distinction between our bodies here and our bodies in the Resurrection is poignant and necessary. REmember that Corinth is in Greece. The Greeks were obsessed with strength, and bodies, and training and health - the muscle statues all over the empire attest to this.  And along with this, the Greek/Roman perplexity of aging was a mental embarrassment or conundrum of the heart to most all the pagan world.  Why did it have to be that we aged, and weakened and died and were then just ... gone?  The Gospel solved this situation!!. And how quickly will this change be to our new bodies? as fast as one can bat their eye. 16 - The collection of names and concepts listed here is a description of Paul's warm heart for those he is discipling as well as those he is talking about.  He is gathering an offering for Jerusalem Believers.  The instruction and tips that he gives of how to treat each person is wonderful.  He says to thank such and such, honor so and so, care for so and so.  His word for how to treat Timothy was because Timothy was a great teacher yet was insecure regarding his family; a Greek parent and a Jewish parent and Timothy was getting "looked at sideways" in some places and Paul wanted that to stop.  The particulars are a little bit amusing/ /perhaps entertaining in that they give personal insight to the settings and persons back then.  Many of us know what it's like to leave a note for a baby sitter. It says things like, "be sure and make certain that Joey drinks all his milk.  Remember that Jill is afraid of heights so when you do the walk, take the lower path.  Timmy prefers to be read to first thing in the morning as well as at bedtime so be sure to do this. He will miss it if you forget.  Etc.  Paul  just outright cares about all these people and ... He gets it from Jesus.  We should too.

We have seen all this week that "completion invites visitation"

The Tabernacle was finished at the end of Exodus and God showed up gloriously and the whole nation was is awe - in a way that stuck with them permanently When the Temple is completed in I Kings, the ark is brought in and there is a regal ceremony, prayer and dedication and sacrifices and God appeared to Solomon!! oh my word! In the Psalms this week, especially 76 and 77, we see a completion of a mind going full circle from complaining to enjoying the triumph of God as God's victories and great deeds are recalled. Gratitude brings on the visitation for that is the main thing God wants in our heart. Jeremiah tells of a punishment that is going to be walked through, Jerusalem will fall a remnant will be preserved, just complete the Babylon time and in Jer. 23, he tells us that the Savior will visit... Joel 3 tells that the nations will be judged. Once this is completed there will be a visitation [on the Day of the Lord ] that will be blessings that flow like streams down mountsides and it will be more than just sweet water Luke1 tells of the completion of all the years and preparation coming up to the arrival of the greatest visitation of all time.  It will happen in Luke 2 but by the end of Luke 1 all items and preparation have been completed after 4,000 years since exiting Eden. Angels are visiting - more than once and once all this is completed, the Main Visitation of all time happens [next week!] I Cor. 15 explains the completion of the explanation of the Gospel.  Christ Arose, haleluia.  Paul wanted them to understand this.  And he wanted to visit them again soon.

Luke 1 We are in the Christ Stream today starting the book of Luke the physician and historian. We are reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Thank you Lord for preparing the way for the Savior.  Thank you for preparing a Savior for us. Thank you for preparing us to be saved. Your ways are perfect.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Amen. Luke 1 - Luke's opener tells of his motivation for writing Luke.  [He later wrote Acts.] Luke is a paragon historian that ranks with the best the world has ever seen.  He researched Jesus and got straight stories from those who were there.  Whereas John says in places, "I saw this....I witnessed this..." we do not see this wording in Luke.  There is no record that Luke ever met our Savior.  My husband, who has three degrees in Bible says he has encountered some n'ere-do-wells who falsely comfort themselves saying,"I only want to read about Jesus; the eyewitness accounts of those who were there."  Thus they won't read the Old Testament/Psalms/Prophets. And they won't even read Paul's letters.  Well, friends. Moses, Joshua, Paul met with God/The 'yet-to-be-named' Jesus personally (Paul met Him on the road to Damascus), whereas Luke never met Jesus ---> it isn't recorded anywhere in literature.  Pardon the side note here. One other reminder: Matthew wrote his account to Jews in Israel - the first copy was in Aramaic. Mark wrote to Jews who were throughout the world -the original was in Hebrew. John wrote to The World (for God so loved the...what did he so love?...The World.)  And Luke wrote to the Greeks; including the Romans in the Greek world who spoke Greek -and therefore it was written in Greek.  Luke was a doctor. So we find him noticeable mentioning Jesus' body; His hands, His mouth where the other gospels don't. Luke also talks of the power involved in Jesus' ministry. The power of the spirit, the power of God, the "power that was present for Him to heal." The Greeks were very impressed with the concept of power, so Luke presents it clearly.  Though we are spending the next 16 weeks in Luke, perhaps that is enough introductory notes - - - -The chapter today is the preparation for the arrival of the Savior that happens in ch. 2. Much goes into the drama of John the Baptist arrival and his family.  Father Zechariah/mother Elizabeth were righteous souls who had no child. It's a very interesting biblical motif that the birth of several vital characters occurs via a barren woman. This is seen in Genesis with the Patriarchs' wives;. [An amazing ethical theme in action, btw.], Samuel's mother Hannah also walks out the same story.  Here an angel visits and announces about John the Baptist in a powerful monologue. Zechariah questions the angel and is therefore struck mute during the pregnancy. God isn't being mean here - He doesn't appreciate being doubted while making such an historical announcement.  All the same, Elizabeth then becomes pregnant and it is such a blessing for this godly household. Six months later Thee Angel Gabriel [!!] visits Mary, a virgin teen girl, who is chosen to deliver the Savior. It too is overwhelming. Mary's question of "how will this be" gets a blessed response. She was just confirming because she'd never been with a man, wasn't with a man, wasn't engaged and, uh, how, uh...???"  It's a valid question that warranted a clear answer. Whereas Zechariah's question revealed that he was having trouble even believing the angel - and there was punishment for unbelief.  Please make special note of Lu. 1:37; "For nothing is impossible with God."  Make a poster (or 10) of this verse and put them around your house.  Much of our faith pivots on whether we believe this verse or not! Mary then goes to Elizabeth and here they are, two mothers pregnant: one with the Savior and the other with the one who will announce the Savior - the joy and faith displayed is marvelous. Mary's song of worship is what has been labeled "The Magnificat" by ancient Believers. She is truly blessed for being chosen to deliver the Savior.  And this isn't some "way out there" assignment given to Mary.  We are called to deliver the Savior too. And there is eternal blessing for us who fulfill this assignment with reverence, obedience, resolve, and faithful focus; just like Mary. Shortly following, John [the Baptist] is born and named, and the countryside was talking -  especially after Zechariah resumed talking!  They all sensed God was up to something.  Zechariah then sings and prophesies and worships thankfully.  Over the next 30 years John would grow; strong in spirit and remain in the desert until his call to preach commenced.  Does anyone wonder what is coming next? It couldn't be more exciting.