Women of
Courage- Mary Magdalene Feb. 21
Bible
Connections
Luke
11:24-26
24 “When the unclean spirit
has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and
finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and
put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings
seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And
the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
WE are imperfect and need something far
better than ourselves to reform, the only perfect is Jesus. We often deceive ourselves, thinking we are
better than what we really are or stronger than we are. WE need to pray to God to help us. WE fall short.
There is NO self-reform.
Self-reform is a deception.
Unless God cleans the house, we are too weak to withstand demonic
powers. They will undermine what mortals
might do, only God can truly cure.
Phil. 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my beloved, as
you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in
you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Malachi 3- For he is like a refiner’s fire
and a fuller’s soap – He will purify
#2 Isaiah 64:3-8 and Jeremiah 13:22-25
3 When you did awesome things that we did not
look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?[b]
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in[c] the hand of our iniquities.
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?[b]
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in[c] the hand of our iniquities.
8 But now,
O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
22And if you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things come upon me?’
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up
and you suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
24 I will scatter you[a] like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, declares the Lord,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.
‘Why have these things come upon me?’
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up
and you suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
24 I will scatter you[a] like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, declares the Lord,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.
Psalm 139
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
God is with us, he walks us through
darkness because it is as the light to him.
His path is sure, he holds us. We
need to trust and depend upon Him.
Jeremiah 17
9The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,[b]
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,[b]
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.
The philosophy of the world is “follow your
heart”, but that is a deception, our hearts are wicked. We all want to avoid the fact that we are
wicked, but the truth is that only God can help us and change our hearts.
Psalm 119:29 Put false ways far from me (the
course of life the mode of action)
and graciously teach me your law!
and graciously teach me your law!
WE work out our sanctification, purging our
sins and learning to depend upon the Lord.
#3 2
Peter2:9
9 then the Lord knows how
to rescue the godly from trials,[d] and to keep the unrighteous under
punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge[e] in the lust of defiling passion and despise
authority.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you
may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light
2 Cor. 4:6
6 For God, who said, “Let
light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We have been called and chosen. A holy nation, His possession, so that we
would be the proclaimers of his glory
Malachi 2: 16-18
16 Then those who feared
the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid
attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of
those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says
the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I
will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see
the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves
God and one who does not serve him.
We can sense the pride that God has in his
children- they shall be mine and they are my treasured possession.
Deut. 32: 8-9
When the Most High gave to the nations
their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders[a] of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.[b]
9 But the Lord's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders[a] of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.[b]
9 But the Lord's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
God selected a small section of the entire population to be his. It is the same today. He calls his few to follow him.
