Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "double-minded". We find it in these two portions of Scripture in the New testament. 

James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. KJV

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. KJV

This is the Greek word "dipsuchos". Strong's Concordance says: two-spirited, vacillating (in opinion or purpose). Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: wavering, uncertain, doubting, divided in interest (namely between God and the world). Vine's Expository Dictionary says: means two-souled.  In keeping with the above definitions, James 1:5-8 says this:

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. KJV

From all of your experience in your career in business, I am sure that you have had to deal with double-minded people a time or two! It really can be frustrating if we allow ourselves to get too involved with people who operate this way! It is such a blessing to see the ways that you and Kristine are handling this quarantine scenario! Rather than either of you becoming double-minded, you are both single focused on giving your lovely daughters the space to BE who God made them to be, all the while having the right standard for them to aim for! I REALLY love this promise from God found in Proverbs 22:6:

Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.

You are doing a wondeful job and God is working in them all the time! Here is Hillsong with "You Are More":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "valour". It's only found in the Old Testament and we'll be looking at these verses:

Judges 6:12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. KJV

1 Kings 11:28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. KJV

These are both the Hebrew word "chayil". Strong's Concordance says: a force, whether of men, means or other resources; an army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength. Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says: strength, might, efficiency, wealth, an army, ability. The Theological Word Book of the OT adds this: able, power, valiant, virtuous, substance. Many times we equate valour with soldiers, but I believe that the Word of God is referring to so much more when it speaks of 'mighty men of valour'. I see a man of valour as being someone who is confident in who God has made him and called him to be. Someone who is calm under trying circumstances, efficient and organized with time, resources and people. Someone who values the abilities, strengths and contributions of others. Someone who is so comfortable in who they are that they can bring out the best in others. Someone that people can count on. Someone like YOU!  My prayer for you is that as you continue to grow in the Lord, HE will continue to open up doors of opportunity for YOUR valour to be evident to everyone that you deal with and all of those with whom you need to have favor! Great opportunities to show your strengths, and new ventures that will open up areas you may not have realized that you excel in! We are believing with you for a very good year! Here is Hillsong with An older song called "Stronger":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "uncivilized". It's not found in the Bible in that form, but it is the title of one of Rick Renner's "Sparkling Gems From The Greek" that I want to use to go along with a new Hillsong Young and Free song called "Best Friends". 

Uncivilized

…fierce, despisers of those that are good.… — 2 Timothy 3:3

The material I am about to present concerns a subject that I normally wouldn’t write about. However, it provides a powerful illustration of the depravity Paul prophesied would occur during the last days (see 2 Timothy 3:2,3), and I believe it serves as a wakeup call to the Church. Sometimes we need a stark reminder of the rapid degeneration of society’s moral fabric that is occurring all around us at an ever-increasing rate so we don’t grow complacent and just “go with the flow” of society’s downward moral spiral. As the Church, we have a vital role to play in these perilous times as standard bearers of truth. So bear with me as I take on that role to share some disturbing but important information, and you will understand my point.

Several years ago, the Holy Spirit strongly impressed me to speak on the subject of abortion to my Moscow congregation. I had never once spoken on this subject in all my years as a minister, yet I knew the Holy Spirit was compelling me that this was a message my congregation needed to hear. I didn’t know why the Spirit of God impressed this upon me so strongly until I began to do research about abortion in the former Soviet Union and the rest of the world. What I discovered simply stunned and shocked me.

I discovered that there have been nearly one billion abortions performed worldwide since the 1940s. At the time of this writing, it is more than the combined populations of the United States, Central America, South America, Canada, Australia, England, France, Italy, and Greece.

The greatest and most extensive killing in human history was not done by Nero, Domitian, Hitler, or Stalin — it was done by medical doctors who have murdered more than one billion babies through the act of abortion in the past 100 years. This is mass murder of the innocent, far worse than any holocaust or genocide. It is the annihilation of those who cannot scream to be heard, who cannot defend themselves, and who are thrown in the garbage can or whose body parts are “harvested” for material gain and other purposes.

When I first read these statistics, I shuddered to think of the defenseless lives that have been lost and the blood that has been spilled. But as I continued studying, I was truly amazed at the rationale of those who are pro-choice. Repeatedly they state that they want the rights of the mother to be protected — that if she doesn’t want to have a baby, it should be her “right” to end the pregnancy. I kept wondering about the “rights” of the infant. What about the infant’s right to live?

What is confusing about this logic is that in the same hospitals where abortions are performed at one end, surgeries are being performed at the other end on infants who are still in their mother’s womb. On one end of the hospital they take a life; on the other end of the hospital they save a life — both in the womb of a mother. This is completely illogical. One hundred years ago when common sense still prevailed, no one would have thought this kind of reasoning to be normal. This is a sign of the times in which we live.

As I pondered on all of this, my mind went to Second Timothy 3:3 where Paul discussed the attitudes that will be prevalent in society at the end of the age. As I thought about the brutality of taking innocent lives — and doing it in such a sophisticated way in our nice, sterilized hospitals — I thought about the next point on Paul’s list of signposts that we are in the very last of the last days. He goes on to inform us that society will be “fierce” in those days. What does the word “fierce” mean?

The word “fierce” is a strange word to describe today. This word would better be used to describe cannibals or barbarians. It is the word anemeros, derived from the word nemeros, which pictures something that is gentle, kind, or mild. But when an a is fixed to the front of the word — turning it into the word anemeros — this word changes dramatically. Rather than gentle, kind, or mild, it means savage, vicious, uncivilized, violent, ferocious, or inhumane.

When you think about the world today, much of it seems quite civilized and sophisticated until you remember the one billion babies who have been brutally ripped to pieces — savagely killed every minute of the day in beautiful, sterilized hospitals and clinics across the world. This is savagery of the worst kind; it is legalized murder on a scale so massive that no fiction writer of yesteryear could have imagined it. But this is not fiction; this is reality.

Today those who fight for the rights of unborn children are portrayed as primitive and unintelligent. This is the result of a massive public relations blitz to annihilate the opposition and reinforce the right to terminate the life of a child. Thus far, the courts have unfortunately ruled that a child’s life can be terminated. The law has no defense for the child. I say all of this because of the next point Paul listed in Second Timothy 3. He went on to speak about “despisers of those that are good.” What does this phrase mean?

The phrase in Greek is the word aphiloagathos, and it is a very strange Greek word. In its oldest and truest sense, it depicts a society where law is not primarily intended to protect the rights of good people but rather is used instead to protect and defend the rights of offenders. This word is so unusual, in fact, that it is never used anywhere else in the New Testament. Who could ever imagine a world where laws were used primarily to defend offenders and not to protect the rights of those who are good? Yet this is precisely what Paul prophesied in this verse.

This teaching doesn’t apply only to abortion; it also could be applied to a wide range of situations where criminals are so aggressively protected that they go free while the innocent suffer. According to Second Timothy 3:3, the world in the last days will be savage and inhumane, and it will be morally confused as to what is right or wrong. Can you think of ways that this has application to the world we live in today?

If you have terminated the life of an unborn child — or if you know someone who has done this — there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ. The world today has drifted far from what is right on a wide range of issues, and I did not intend to highlight this one act in order to condemn anyone. Just as there is forgiveness for every grievance against God, there is forgiveness for you or for that person you know who made such a wrong decision. If you will ask Jesus to forgive you, First John 1:9 promises that He will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

When the world is morally confused about what is right and wrong, we cannot look to society to set our moral agenda. We must look to the Bible to be our guide and let it be the standard by which we live. I exhort you today to make a renewed commitment to live your life according to the truths set forth by the Bible and to reject any piece of society’s errant moral code that is in conflict with the Word of God. When this world system is over and gone, the Bible and its truths will remain — so align yourself with the eternal and unchanging standards and principles of God!

"Society" is way different than it was when I was young, and I think even than when you were young! There are such confusing standards for right and wrong that are sometimes completely opposite of what God's Word teaches. What I like about this song is that it reflects the attitude of a younger generation of godly young people who no longer want to be dictated to by "society" but want to live for JESUS! 

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "eschew". It's only used once inthe New Testament, but the Greek word that its translated from also shows up in two more verses! The original word is found in 1 Peter 3:10-11:

10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. KJV

This is the Greek word "ekklino". Strong's Concordance says: to deviate, to shun, to decline. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: to turn oneself away. Vine's Expository Dictionary says: to turn aside, leaving the right path. Frequently used of declining or swerving from God's ways. We also find "ekklino" in Romans 3:11-12 and Romans 16:17.

Romans 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. KJV

Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. KJV

Of course we are instructed to turn away from and to shun evil. And we know that others do the same thing with God and His Word. And it makes great sense to not spend a great deal of time with those who want nothing to do with God and His Word. But I was most intrigued with 1 Peter 11 (above) where it tells us to not only turn away from evil, but to "ensue" peace! This is the Greek word "dioko", which Strong's Concordance says means to pursue and Thayer's Greek Lexicon says means: to run swiftly in order to catch, to run after, to earnestly endeavor to acquire! I have noticed that most times when the Word of God is warning us away from one thing, it is always instructing us towards the GOOD THING! I love that positive attitude and way of dealing with a situation! And that reminds me of THIS song from Hillsong Kids called "As The World Shakes":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "overmuch". It's found only once in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 2:7:

7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. KJV

This is the Greek word "perissoteros". Strong's Concordance says: more superabundant (in number, degree or character). Vine's Expository Dictionary says: the comparative degree of "perissos", which Strong's Concordance says means: in the sense of beyond, superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality); excessive.

In this situation Paul had instructed this church, in 1 Corinthians 5, in the handling of a person persisting in sin in the congregation. Apparently they had done as Paul instructed and this person had repented. Now the further instruction was to forgive and restore so that this person could move on in the Lord and not fall into depression or  or 'excessive sorrow"! Here are the Amplified Bible and The Passion Translation with this verse:

7 So [instead of further rebuke, now] you should rather turn and [graciously] forgive and comfort and encourage [him], to keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow and despair.

7 Instead of more punishment, what he needs most is your encouragement through your gracious display of forgiveness.

This is such an imporant instruction, also, for raising children! Some parents completely ignore and refuse to deal with rebellious children, which causes the bad behaviour to continue, which could cost that child much trouble and sorrow in the future. Other parents are so hard on their children that the children lose heart and hope, and give up even trying. You and Kristine have done such a tremendous job in balancing discipline over what's important and allowing your beautiful daughters to express themselves in their own unique style, knowing that they are loved and encouraged. This great foundation will carry them through into those teenage years when they will need continued encouragement to be who God has called them to be! AND there is no such thing as "overmuch" love! Here are Hillsong Kids again with their version of "Who You Say I AM":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!