SELAH = PAUSE AND THINK ABOUT THAT
Sharing God’s truth is the greatest thing we can do. While we can review a whole list of things which man refers to as wisdom (which one dictionary translates as good sense, accumulated learning, opinion widely held, ancient teachings or sayings) I think it would be wiser to go to giver of all life (true source of wisdom) to hear what he has to say. God says,
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 1 Corinthians 1:19-21, 2:5-7 God says, “He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30
It is important to understand that Paul was a man ordained by God to preach the gospel. Even before his ordination (being called by God) He had been highly trained under Gamaliel as he himself states, “I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.”
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Wikipedia
Gamaliel the Elder
(English pronunciation: /gə’meɪljəl/),[1] or Rabban Gamaliel I (רבן גמליאל הזקן; Greek: Γαμαλιήλ ο Πρεσβύτερος), was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid 1st century CE. He was son of Simeon ben Hillel, and grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder, and died twenty years before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). He fathered a son, whom he called Simeon, after his father,[2] and a daughter, whose daughter (i.e., Gamaliel’s granddaughter) married a priest named Simon ben Nathanael.[3] The name Gamaliel is the Greek form of the Hebrew name meaning reward of God.
In the Christian tradition, Gamaliel is celebrated as a
Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law.[4]Acts of the Apostles speaks of Gamaliel as a man of great respect who spoke in favor of arrested Christian apostles [5][6] and the Jewish Law teacher of Paul the Apostle. [7[8]
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(Paul’s education would have made Harvard look like a mere kindergarten). (This is not meant to disrespect Harvard which is respected throughout the world as a highly esteemed school of education. I would however like to point out that during Harvard’s greatest height(s) she was deeply rooted in the Word of God. You see, the oldest university in America is not Harvard University but Harvard Divinity.) So if there is such a thing as being over trained then that would fit Paul perfectly. According to the world’s standards you could say that he had too much education. But with all the knowledge that he had obtained using the world’s standards Paul knew that it paled in comparison to what he had learned about Christ. As he said, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” 1 Corinthians 2:5
BEFORE HE CAME TO KNOW CHRIST PAUL WAS A VERY RELIGIOUS MAN. JUST LIKE SO MANY TODAY ARE RELIGIOUS BUT THEY ARE NOT LIVING FOR THE TRUE GOD. RELIGION IS MAN’S WAY OF COMING TO GOD BUT RELATIOSHIP IS HIS WAY OF COMING TO US. YOU SEE, YOU CAN BE RELIGIOUS ABOUT MANY THING. SOME EXAMPLES ARE, MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE TRUE GOD ( INCLUDING FOLLOWING CERTAIN RITUALS), SPORTS, EXERICES, CERTAIN TELEVISION SHOWS, AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON.
FOLLOWING IS PAUL’S EXPERIENCE OF TRYING TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT HIS CONVERSION AND THE THINGS THAT GOD HAD REVEALED TO HIM. YOU SEE, WHEN YOU GET SAVED (BORN AGAIN) YOU DEVELOP A NEW TALK, YOU GET A NEW WALK, AND PEOPLE AROUND BEGIN TO SEE YOU IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT. YOU BEGIN TO WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD. IT IS JUST AS THE SCRIPTURES SAY, “
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Just as Jesus is the, “Light of the world,” so too are we who follow him, “The light of the world.” “John 8:12, Matthew 5:14
Paul was a religious man but he was not spiritual. When Jesus came into him he was then made alive in the Spirit and God gave him spiritual eyes to both see the error of his ways and to follow the truth. Listen as he speaks to a great crowd of Jews explaining his miraculous conversion. ( NOTE: It is important for Jewish people and all to know that when you follow true Christianity one does not do away the old testament teachings. It is just as valid as the new testament. They do not contradict one another. They actually support one another. The Old Testament is type and shadow of the new testament. One example in the Old Testament God had the Jews circumcise the sons on the eighth day but what he was really after was the circumcision of the heart (People who really loved him, a relationship). That is the very reason why Jesus came to give his life on the Cross for all sinners (To reconcile us back to God). Another example in the Old Testament is when once a year the high priest would make a sin offering for the people of Israel by offering a lamb. God knew that this would not be enough to make things right (people continued to live in sin- lives contrary to God) so he had already planned before the foundations of the world that he would send His Son (Jesus, the lamb of God) to deal with the sin issue (which separates people from God).
The Scriptures show Jesus as “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8 When Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice on the Cross there was no more need for animal sacrifices. Isn’t interesting that although many can’t see it they stopped sacrificing animals. It is also interesting that although many don’t see it Jesus’ entrance into the world changed the very calendar on which the world’s reference of time is based. One more example is when the Jews fled through the desert God established a method of healing.
UNDER THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT- PAUL SPEAKS:
“I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
” ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. ” ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him. “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” Numbers 21:8-9
When this pole was lifted up whosoever looked upon the serpent were healed. In this same way Jesus was lifted up upon a Cross so that whosoever looks to him can be saved, delivered, and healed. THE WAY TO EVERLASTING LIFE: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
The LORD Speaks
THIS IS DURING THE TIME OF JOB’S TRIAL. PLEASE TO BOOK OF JOB IN THE BIBLE TO LEARN MORE OF THIS POWERFUL STORY.
Then the LORD answered Jobout of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counselwith words without knowledge?Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.”Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?Tell me, if you understand.Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstonewhile the morning starssang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?”Have you ever given orders to the morning, w or shown the dawn its place,that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?Tell me, if you know all this.”What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?Can you take them to their places? Do you know the pathsto their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born!You have lived so many years! “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?Whatis the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it,to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?Does the rain have a father?Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavenswhen the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen? “Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellationsin their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the Laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth? “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? Who endowed the heart with wisdomor gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?”Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food? Job 38
“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit-just as it has taught you, remain in him.” 1 John 2:27
I love you, we love you, Jesus loves you, and God has awesome plans for you!
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