*DAILY DEW 26/JUNE/2023* *The Way of Cain* _Key Bible Text:_ *"Woe unto them! for they have gone in THE WAY OF CAIN, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core."* (Jude 1:11 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ Let’s revisit the story of Cain. It contains a warning – the way of Cain – but in the telling you will see that God also reveals the way of Life. Cain (Genesis 4) was the firstborn of Adam and Eve, brother – perhaps twin brother – of Abel. Cain followed in his father’s footsteps and became a farmer; Abel tended flocks. The rabbis speculate that there was tension between them for a variety of reasons. It doesn’t help that Cain’s name means “gotten” – “I’ve gotten a man” says Eve, a man who will be the serpent crusher God promised - while Abel’s name means “vanity, vain, meaningless, empty.” In Ecclesiastes, when Solomon says “all is vanity,” Abel’s name and the word for vanity are derived from that word. Because names were associated with character, many rabbis speculated that this vain and empty Abel was trying to undermine Cain and get what belonged to the first born. Think Jacob and Esau. The story picks up in Genesis when Cain offered vegetables to the Lord as his way of worshiping (Genesis 4:3) and Abel offered animals from his flock (Genesis 4:4). The Lord accepted Abel's offering, which was offered in faith (Hebrews 11:4), but He rejected Cain's offering (Genesis 4:4–5).[1] What does “offered in faith” mean? It appears to simply mean that Abel followed instructions. He believed God had the authority to determine the path of life. When God later confronts Cain, the language suggests that Cain knew what to do and just didn’t do it. He had experience knowing what it was like to have his offering accepted. Depending on the translation that you read, God tells Cain that he rejected his offering because it was not divided correctly. Assuming that food in these offerings was not wasted (the priests under Moses were fed by the food offerings), it seems Cain did not properly divided his offering for others per God’s instructions (or so the rabbis speculated). He also chose “some” of his crop rather than his choice crop (Genesis 4:3-5). _MEDITATION:_ *“Having faith is having the obedience to do what you know is right. As James 4:17 says *"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."* EDJ *#David_Guzik* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 25/JUNE/2023* *EXHORTING YOU TO CONTEND* (VIII) _Key Bible Text:_ *"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,* son of the morning! [How] you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High."* (Isa 14:12-14 (NKJV)) _Bible Insight:_ i. The warning through Jude is clear. The people of Israel started out from Egypt well enough. They had many blessings from God along the way. But they did not endure to the end, because they did not believe God’s promise of power and protection. ii. This example gives two lessons. First, it assures us that the certain men causing trouble will certainly be judged, even though they may have started out well in their walk with God. Jude says, “The certain men might have started out well. But so did the children of Israel, and God afterward destroyed those who did not believe.” Secondly, it warns us that we also must follow Jesus to the end, and never be among those who did not believe. *The final test of our Christianity is endurance. Some start the race but never finish it.* The example of the angels who sinned should never be forgotten in a hurry. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; a. The angels who did not keep their proper domain: Jude’s letter is famous for bringing up obscure or controversial points, and this is one of them. Jude speaks of the angels who sinned, who are now imprisoned and awaiting a future day of judgment. b. Angels who did not keep their proper domain: There is some measure of controversy about the identity of these particular angels. We only have two places in the Bible where it speaks of angels sinning. First, there was the original rebellion of some angels against God (Isaiah 14:12-14, Revelation 12:4). Secondly, there was the sin of the sons of God described in Genesis 6:1-2. _MEDITATION:_ *“The final test of our Christianity is endurance. Some start the race but never finish it."* *#David_Guzik* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 24/JUNE/2023* *EXHORTING YOU TO CONTEND* (VII) _Key Bible Text:_ *"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."* (Luke 10:19-20 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ b. The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt: Jude reminds us of what happened in Numbers 14. God delivered the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. They went out of Egypt and without unintended delays came to a place called Kadesh Barnea, on the threshold of the Promised Land. But at Kadesh Barnea, the people refused to trust God and go into the Promised Land of Canaan. Therefore almost none of the adult generation who left Egypt entered into the Promised Land. i. Think of what God did for the people of Israel in this situation, and then how they responded to Him. They experienced God’s miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea. They heard the very voice of God at Mount Sinai. They received His daily care and provision of manna in the wilderness. *Yet they still lapsed into unbelief, and never entered into the place of blessing and rest God had for them.* c. Afterward destroyed those who did not believe: Those who doubted and rejected God at Kadesh Barnea paid a bigger price than just not entering the Promised Land. They also received the judgment of God. Psalm 95 describes how the Lord reacted to them: For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways. So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest” (Psalm 95:10-11). _MEDITATION:_ *“The blessings we experience on the way in this life, in the course of journeying towards the eternal rest of heaven is not to be compared with actually entering that heavenly rest. May we stay believing and true to the end"* -E.D.J. *#David_Guzik* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 23/JUNE/2023* *EXHORTING YOU TO CONTEND* (VI) _Key Bible Text:_ *"Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest."* (Hebrews 3:10-11 (KJV) _Bible Insight:_ Three examples that show the certainty of God’s judgment against the certain men. 1.The example of the people of Israel. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this: Jude knew he wasn’t telling them anything new. They were already taught this example, but they needed to hear it again and to apply it to their present situation. i. Ideally, every Christian would read these allusions to the Old Testament and say, “Yes Jude, I know exactly what you are talking about.” If we don’t know what Jude wrote about, it shows we need to deepen our understanding of the Bible. ii. “As for the root facts, the fundamental doctrines, the primary truths of Scripture, we must from day to day insist upon them. We must never say of them, ‘Everybody knows them’; for, alas! everybody forgets them.” (Spurgeon) iii. “The use of God’s Word is not only to teach what we could not have otherwise known, but also to rouse us to a serious meditation of those things which we already understand, and not to suffer us to grow torpid in a cold knowledge.” (Calvin) _MEDITATION:_ *“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."* (Hebrews 3:12 (KJV)) *#David_Guzik* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 22/JUNE/2023* *EXHORTING YOU TO CONTEND* (V) _Key Bible Text:_ *"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."* (Galatians 5:13 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ Who turn the grace of our God into lewdness: These certain men had received something of the grace of God. But when they received it, they turned it into an excuse for their lewdness. The idea behind the ancient word lewdness is sin that is practiced without shame, without any sense of conscience or decency. Usually the word is used in the sense of sensual sins, such as sexual immorality. But it can also be used in the sense of brazen anti-biblical teaching, when the truth is denied and lies are taught without shame. Jude probably had both ideas in mind here, because as the rest of the letter will develop, these certain men had both moral problems and doctrinal problems. These words of Jude show that there is a danger in preaching grace. There are some who may take the truth of God’s grace and turn the grace of our God into lewdness. But this doesn’t mean there is anything wrong or dangerous about the message of God’s grace. It simply shows how corrupt the human heart is. And deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ: These certain men deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They do this by refusing to recognize who Jesus said He was, and therefore they also deny who God the Father is also. _MEDITATION:_ *“We are not told specifically how these men deny the only Lord God. It may be that they denied Him with their ungodly living or it may be that they denied Him with their heretical doctrines. Probably both were true.”* *#David_Guzik* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....