Old Testament Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3:1 – 10 ( KJV)
Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Pro 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Pro 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Pro 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
New Testament Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:6 – 11 (KJV)
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
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Transforming Power Statements:
1) Because of the reality that the fallen human condition of built in, deep-seated, iniquity that plagues every single one born into the flesh through the bloodstream of Adam, (our father according to the flesh) it is completely necessary for each of us to acknowledge the impact of this fallen condition personally so that we learn never to trust in our own achievement, but only in the Mercy of God, Who has not only given us His Son for our total forgiveness, but also His Spirit to dwell within us to continue the work of chastising us unto real personal holiness.
2) When we acknowledge our fallen condition of dwelling in a state of inbuilt imperfection, saved only by God’s mercy and grace, (so that He alone gets the glory) then we are able to apply His Law to our lives which shall produce the actual righteousness that God desires and then we shall have true inner peace.
3) Both writers, (Solomon and the writer to the Hebrews) teach us that it is great that God has adopted all who believe in Him to be His children and therefore, He also chastens us to produce in us the “Peaceable fruit of righteousness” through teaching us how to apply the outworking of His Word to every point of our lives and it is all through Jesus the Christ, Who is the “catalyst” through which true righteousness is developed more and more day by day as we walk with Him by FAITH!