It is the spirit that quickeneth.

HE first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.--That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.--Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.--Reckon ye . . . yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

JOHN 6. 63. 1 Co. 15. 45.--John 3. 6.--Tit. 3. 5. Ro. 8. 9-11. Ga. 2. 20.--Ro. 6. 11.

neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know thesethings, happy are ye if ye do them.The servant is not greater than his lord;

HERE was . . . a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.--Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Jesus . . . riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

JOHN 13. 16, 17. Lu. 22. 24-27.--Mat. 20. 28. John 13. 3-5.

The LORD thy God accept thee.

HEREWITH shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.--There is none righteous, no, not one. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare . . . at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Accepted in the beloved.--Ye are complete in him.

2 SAM. 24. 23. Mic. 6. 6-8. Is. 64. 6.--Ro. 3. 10, 23-26. Ep. 1. 6.--Col. 2. 10.

fellowship of the Spirit. Consolation in Christ...comfort of love

AN that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.--My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

The Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.--The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.--Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

PHIL. 2. 1. Job 14. 1, 2.--Ps. 73. 26. John 14. 16, 26.--2 Co. 1. 3, 4. 1 Th. 4. 14, 17, 18.

I delight in the law of God after the inward man

HOW love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.--Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.--I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.--I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.--My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.--Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.

ROM. 7. 22. Ps. 119. 97.--Je. 15. 16.--Ca. 2. 3. Job 23. 12. Ps. 40. 8.--John 4. 34. Ps. 19. 8, 10.--Ja. 1. 22, 23.

Amen.

MEN: the LORD God . . . say so too.--He who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth [Heb. The Amen]; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth [The Amen].

When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.--For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness.--For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever. Amen, and Amen.

MAT. 6. 13. 1 Ki. 1. 36.--Is. 65. 16. He. 6. 13, 16-18. Re. 3. 14.--2 Co. 1. 20. Ps. 72. 18, 19.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

THE LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

The LORD is...great in power.--If God be for us, who can be against us?--Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us.--My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.--Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.--Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.

MAT. 6. 13. Ps. 93. 1, 2. Na. 1. 3.--Ro. 8. 31.--Da. 3. 17.--John 10. 29.--1 John 4. 4. Ps. 115. 1.--1 Ch. 29. 11, 13, 14.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

HE that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.--Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, . . . even as the garden of the LORD. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; but the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.--The Lord delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.--Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

MAT. 6. 13. Pr. 28. 26. Ja. 1. 13, 14.--2 Co. 6. 17. Ge. 13. 10, 11, 13.--2 Pe. 2. 7, 9.--Ro. 14. 4.

Psalm 106:19-23 idolatry in the life

Psalm 106:19-23
19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten image. 20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. 21 They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; 22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea. 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

The children of Israel did horrible in the sight of the Lord.
They made a calf and worshipped it. It changed their glory, not His. Interesting!
They forgat God, God as their saviour. God Who did great things for them, bringing them out of bondage in Egypt, Ham and by the Red Sea.

God did not compromise either His holiness nor His justice...He declared He would destroy them.
But Moses.

O how we need an intercessor! for our NT idolatries which Paul said was the generic vice, covetousness.

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5)

what is covetousness?

• an envious eagerness to possess something

• avarice: extreme greed for material wealth

• avarice: reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins)

We who live in a capatilist society see every day the avarice and greed for more. The recent economic collapse on Wall Street and around the Euro markets is indicative of the same. But even those who lived in communist countries were and are subject to covetousness.

How do we contradict covetousness/idolatry that both Israel was then and the disobedient are today?

The answer is also found in Colossians 3, and a long answer will ensue over several days of this devotional blog.

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (Colossians 3:8)

This verse, in its context of the entire chapter, is telling us to put off and later to put on certain behaviors and attitudes.

anger: an attitude and a behavior; a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance/offense
wrath: attitude, belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong (personified as one of the deadly sins)
malice: a grudge, attitude; feeling a need to see others suffer
blasphemy: a behavior

• blasphemous language (expressing disrespect for God or for something sacred)

• profanation: blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character; "desecration of the Holy Sabbath"

filthy communication: behavior, specifically coming from one's mouth

• disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter; "as filthy as a pigsty"; "a foul pond"; "a nasty pigsty of a room"

• dirty: vile; despicable; "a dirty (or lousy) trick"; "a filthy traitor"

• cruddy: characterized by obscenity; "had a filthy mouth"; "foul language"; "smutty jokes"

we contradict the effects of idolatry by recognizing Christ is all and in all [v. 11].
idolatry is making what I want more important than what God wants...it is selfishness and self-importance. whether material things or stubborn desire to have it my way

those who have this greedy desire to possess things violate the loving, sharing self-sacrificing way of the Spirit, displaying attitudes that help them achieve their covetous ends by any aggressive means.

Look to Christ and put off ways of the old, covetous, idolatrous man.