This year I also signed up for Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). BSF is unique in the fact that it is offered all over the world and all the participants study the same thing! This year, we are studying the book of Isaiah. It meets on Tuesday mornings from 9 to 11 and the kids get to go to an excellent children's program. The problem (or blessing) currently is that so many people enrolled this year that they do not have enough childcare workers. This means at this time, my kids are not enrolled. They are working hard and are confident that my children will get into the program. In the meantime, I need to find childcare on Tuesday mornings or I won't be able to attend. This week my neighbor watched my kids so I could go. Not sure what I will do next week. I know that if this is where the Lord wants me right now, then this will all be worked out. If not, that is okay! Please pray on this issue with me! I went on Tuesday and again see God showing me His plan is always the right plan.
Wednesday and Thursday Reece will be attending pre-school at Normal West. She starts next week and is really excited. She also gets to be in the homecoming parade next Friday. On Wednesday nights, Reece does Awana at our church where she is a Cubbie and I get to be one of her Cubbie line leaders. It's really alot of fun to see her learn God's word! She is enjoying it so much.
When I walked into BSF on Tuesday morning, I was shocked and excited to see that 500+ women attend this! It is exciting to see that this many women are free and love to study God's word together on Tuesday mornings. It is shocking on the other hand that I have not really heard much about it or see its fruit in the lives of the women in our community. If there are that many women attending this, why don't I meet more women who talk about their love of Christ? I know I have been there...day in, day out living life without a word or action of Christ living in my life but we've got to step it up, ladies! Enter Isaiah...a man whose unwavering love for God was very obvious in his life. He was not swayed by peer pressure, politics (Kings in his day), selfishness, etc. They days of Isaiah were no different than today...in fact, there is a chilling parrellel that is seen between what went on in his day and what is going on in our day currently. Isaiah was considered a prophet. Prophets were judged by how many of their predictions/visions came true. Based on Isaiah's tract record, he scored an A. He predicted the Babylons would conquer the Meades and that happened 150 years later. He predicted there would be a King Cyrus who would allow the Jews to return and rebuild (even predicted his name) and that happened 200 years later. He predicted the 1st coming of Jesus Christ as a child, as the Messiah. There is one prediction he made that has not come true yet...that is the 2nd coming of Christ. Based on his tract record, don't you believe this will happen? Let's not die because of the lack of knowledge. The fact is, we believe what we believe because of what has been passed down to us. The book of Isaiah shows that ungodly behaviors have been continually passed down...even patterns we thought that were godly, aren't so godly...they've been passed down like gossip in a rumor mill. We think we know the truth but where are we getting our information? Are we going back to the place it all started? As you know, I've been reading a lot of books lately and felt very overwhelmed by the information I was getting. Not that these books didn't have good information because they totally did and I learned something from each of them. But if I really want to know the truth, I need to get back to the real, true book - the Bible. About a month ago I started doing "the bible in one year" program. It doesn't go in order of the bible but I can already see purpose for this. I just got out of 2 Chronicles where it talked about all the kings that lived during Isaiah's time and what was passed down through each of them...a day later I was sitting in BSF hearing about all of it through Isaiah. God's word is amazing. I don't even feel worthy enough to write about it...I not even worthy enough to be shown all the things that He has been showing me. But for some reason, He thinks I am. And he thinks you are too! Get in His word...He won't dissapoint! One last thing I just noticed in my notes from Tuesday...It is amazing what God can do through ONE person...500 would be nice but what He can do through just one of us like Isaiah is...well, all Him. The life of Isaiah is still affecting lives today...hopefully the 500 that attend BSF...hopefully you...hopefully me. All it takes is one, friends. Will you be the ONE?
A principle from I got from BSF to take with you "A consistent lifestyle combined with uncompromising obedience to God can profoundly influence a culture"
Some mind boggling parellels between Isaiah and the Bible as a whole:
- The bible has 66 books; Isaiah has 66 chapters
- The first 39 books (old testament) of the bible are full of conviction and judgement; The first 39 chapters of Isaiah contain the same
- The books 40-66 of the bible (new testament) offer a message of hope and comfort as do chapters 40-66 of Isaiah.
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