Random Collection Of Notes

(FreeImages.com/GavinMills)

As I was organizing my Bible study bag and journals, I pulled out a stack of random notes I have taken during messages — quotes I liked and thoughts God gave me during the sermons.  There are so many powerful nuggets within these notes that I decided to share them with you in this format.  Enjoy!

Jesus as Jehovah Jireh

• Gen. 22:14 — Provision of the sacrificial lamb on Mount Moriah — Similar location thousands of years later, Jesus becomes the final sacrificial “lamb” at Calvary.  (Note: Mount Moriah and Calvary are within same territory.)
• Jesus was the first/final provision — the “first fruits.”  All provision comes from and through Him.
• Note: Jehovah Jireh means “God, our Provider.”

Joseph’s Integrity

• Joseph walked in integrity, regardless of his circumstances.  Read Genesis 37-45.
• Some of us are making excuses for our poor choices because of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.   Contrast this with Joseph:
• His circumstances did not decree his character.  They revealed it.

The Bride/Church & Marriage

• Typically, the bride moves towards the groom in the marriage ceremony.  She is entering into a covenant with him.  He has invited her (why he symbolically stands at the front).  She is responding to his invitation and moves towards him.
• The marriage covenant becomes a commitment to two people to become one.  The key words here are commitment and one.  There is a critical mindset here of choosing to be committed.  There is sacrifice woven into the meaning of commitment.  To be committed means you must sacrifice something of yourself to carry out the “mission” or purposes of the thing to which you are committing.  It means that two people must intentionally choose to make decisions that are for the best of the unit and for each other — rather than just what benefits one partner.
• Oneness implies two merge into a new unit that is stronger together and operates in unity.  This unit benefits from the strengths of the two and bolsters the weaknesses of the separate individuals.

Mary, The Alabaster Bottle, and Worship

• Mary poured out her alabaster bottle at the feet of Jesus.  Another Mary pours it on His head.  One shows the recognition of His sacrifice and humanity (feet speaks of service).  The other shows recognition of His authority and “kingship” (the head is what you crown, and in Biblical times, the head of a new king was anointed with oil to recognize his new position/authority).  These Mary’s were prophetically acknowledging Jesus’ earthly sacrifice and ministry, His death to come, and His kingly authority and position.  Some of the ingredients in the Alabaster bottle were also used to embalm the body of a dead person.  The alabaster bottle was symbolically recognizing all of these important aspects of Jesus.
• Perfume comes from crushing specific herbs and oils to produce a specific fragrance.  This represents how Jesus’ “crushing” on the cross (death/sacrifice) becomes the sweetness that God smells when He smells us.  His “perfume” covers us so that God smells His Son — not our sinful nature.  We are no longer “sinners” but saints.  (In other words, in position and inheritance, we are now sons — full-heirs of the promises of God — and no longer servants to unrighteousness.)

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[a]homosexuals, nor ^[b]sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were ^[c]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

• The alabaster bottle was extremely valuable and costly.  By pouring it at the feet of Jesus, Mary was recognizing the value of Jesus to her.
• The alabaster bottle represents worship.  Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are able to pour back at His feet.  Our worship/praise is to reveal His worth to us.  Within worship and praise is this undeniable meaning of receiving and releasing.  We receive what He poured out on us, and we, in turn, pour it back on Him.

I have stacks of more notes, but here is a good start.  🙂