Although this is certainly a serious warning against treating this issue carelessly, or without understanding the tremendous responsibility incurred in teaching God's Word... this verse is also a great encouragement for us all to study the Scriptures daily, to show ourselves approved unto God, be in a position to tell others the good news of the gospel of grace ~ and to be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ.

And just as love begets love, so too provoking others to good works by our own demonstration, will promote good works in them as well. Good works can only by carried out in our Christian life through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And so we promote love and good works in others, in spirit and in truth. How blessed we are if we can reflect on our own lives and identify those that by God's grace, patiently and lovingly provoked us to love and good works, by grace through faith in Christ.

When fallen man can look beyond his rebellious, prideful myopia, and recognise that by God's eternal power the worlds were made, he can start to glimpse into the very character and heart of God Who loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son to pay the enormous price for your sins and mine. And His name is Jesus.

God will certainly perfect the good work He started in each of us ~ but may we live our lives in full cooperation with Him, as we present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him... so that we achieve spiritual maturity in this life, and in the ages to come, will receive our glorified bodies and rich rewards. Hallelujah!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD: This is a remarkably fitting conclusion to this psalm and to the entire Book of Psalms. Everything that breathes should give its praise to the One who gave it breath. Every breath is the gift of God and praise is the worthy response we should make for that gift. Praise ye the Lord.

We are to be covered in His truth, covered in His righteousness, and rest in His peace and His salvation which is ours by grace alone through faith alone in His finished work alone. It is only as we dress ourselves in Christ and cover ourselves spiritually in the Lord, day by day and moment by moment, that we will we be enabled to make no provision for the evil cravings of our physical nature ~ for only as we are clothed in Christ can the power of sin and death be defeated in the life of a Christian.

The reaction of unsaved men or the carnal Christians to unjust treatment in this fallen world, is to demand immediate vindication here and now ~ but God works from an eternal perspective in the lives of His children so that when we truly entrust our lives into His hands, we know that the judge of all the earth will do right. But it will only happen at His appointed time and in His appointed way.

All who believe have the privilege of becoming part of the Bride of Christ, as members of the Church. By God's grace, Israel's rejection of their Bridegroom caused those that were outside of the commonwealth of Israel to be brought into the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd ~ Jew and Gentile alike. Praise God that we who believe are part of the Bride of Christ and Jesus is coming any day to take us to be with Himself.

The enormity of this truth staggers the finite and limited understanding of man. God in this simple verse is stating that ALL who freely choose to trust in Christ as Saviour can have an assurance that they will one day be glorified. And that will happen when we finally behold His face at the glorious resurrection: "For the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible." And after that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up into the clouds together with all the resurrected saints in this Church age, and at last "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him is He is."

Daniel's 70 'weeks' may be considered to be the backbone of prophecy by students of Biblical prophecy, but Jesus is at its center and its circumference, for He is the Alpha and Omega of prophecy, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, for ever and ever, Amen.

When Jesus is given His rightful place in our lives, we can be sure that we are in the will of God and serving His purpose in our lives. Wherever we are, whatever our role in the Body of Christ, and however vast or insignificant our ministry for our Lord may be, when Jesus is central in every area of life we are bound to say, "He must increase, but I must decrease." When we can testify to this truth we may be sure that we are in the right place and in the centre of His purpose and plan for our life.

Let us rejoice in the Lord always ~ and again I will say, LET US REJOICE ~ for He is a great and awesome God, and a great King above all gods!

May we so grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus that we die to ourselves and live for Christ. Day by day, may we be so united in spirit and truth that we are being transformed in the likeness of the Lord Jesus so that the things that we do and the words that we speak are carried out because we abide in Christ and He in us. Just as Jesus did not speak on His own initiative, but did so through the Father living within and working through Him, may we not speak in our own authority but joyfully submit to His perfect will in our lives.

The dangers of which Paul warned Timothy, are equally concerning in our time and our culture. May we take to heart this teaching on the dangers of all forms of apostasy, give heed all his instructions on godly living, look to Scripture as our plumb~line for truth, and translate it into our daily practice, for His name sake.

Let us run the race that is set before us and press on towards the goal of the upward call of God, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.