[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY AUGUST 31

Wed Aug 31 01:26:41 UTC 2022

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY AUGUST 31

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Why is there a 'D' in fridge, but not in refrigerator?

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DAILY DEVOTION

	Actions over Words

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you
say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye
give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it
profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a
man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without
thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
James 2:15-18

Following a couple seasons as a part time player, Norm Van Brocklin became
the starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams and helped the team win
the NFL title in 1952. Years later playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, he
led that team to the championship in 1960. At the end of his playing career,
he became a coach and spent the next fifteen years in that role. As a coach
he often cited something he had learned during his playing days-the danger
of the "look out" block. Van Brocklin said that was when an offensive
lineman would give a halfhearted effort and then shout a warning to the
quarterback that danger was coming.
When we do not give our full effort, problems always result. There are many
people who talk about compassion and helping others, but far fewer people
who do something about it. There are many people who talk about what the
church could accomplish with more resources, but far fewer who are active in
giving. The measure by which God holds us to account is not so much what we
say, though our words are important, but rather what we do. A person who
says all the right things but does nothing about them has a faith that is
anything but living and active. When we see needs we can meet in the lives
of others, it does not take an extended season of prayer and fasting to
decide what to do. We simply need to act.
The best way to demonstrate our faith is not with our words, but with our
actions.

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DAILY BIBLE READING

Ezekiel 4-6
New King James Version
The Siege of Jerusalem Portrayed
4 "You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and
portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 Lay siege against it, build a siege wall
against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and
place battering rams against it all around. 3 Moreover take for yourself an
iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your
face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against
it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 "Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel
upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall
bear their iniquity. 5 For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity,
according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you
shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have
completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the
iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each
year.

7 "Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem; your arm
shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. 8 And surely I will
[a]restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you
have ended the days of your siege.

9 "Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt;
put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the
number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you
shall eat it. 10 And your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty
shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it. 11 You shall also drink
water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink. 12
And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste
in their sight."

13 Then the Lord said, "So shall the children of Israel eat their defiled
bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them."

14 So I said, "Ah, Lord God! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my
youth till now; I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by
beasts, nor has abominable[b] flesh ever come into my mouth."

15 Then He said to me, "See, I am giving you cow dung instead of human
waste, and you shall prepare your bread over it."

16 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, surely I will cut off the supply of
bread in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and
shall drink water by measure and with dread, 17 that they may lack bread and
water, and be dismayed with one another, and waste away because of their
iniquity.

A Sword Against Jerusalem
5 "And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and
pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide
the hair. 2 You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city,
when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and
strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the
wind: I will draw out a sword after them. 3 You shall also take a small
number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment. 4 Then take some
of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in
the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.

5 "Thus says the Lord God: 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst
of the nations and the countries all around her. 6 She has rebelled against
My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My
statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have
refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.' 7 Therefore
thus says the Lord God: 'Because you have [c]multiplied disobedience more
than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor
kept My judgments, [d]nor even done according to the judgments of the
nations that are all around you'- 8 therefore thus says the Lord God:
'Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst
in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do among you what I have never
done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your
abominations. 10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and
sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and
all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.

11 'Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'surely, because you have
defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your
abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor
will I have any pity. 12 One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and
be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword
all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I
will draw out a sword after them.

13 'Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon
them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have
spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them. 14 Moreover I
will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around
you, in the sight of all who pass by.

15 'So [e]it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to
the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in
anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken. 16 When
I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for
destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine
upon you and cut off your supply of bread. 17 So I will send against you
famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood
shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord,
have spoken.' "

Judgment on Idolatrous Israel
6 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 "Son of man, set your face
toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, 'O
mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God
to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: "Indeed
I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your [f]high
places. 4 Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be
broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 And I will
lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will
scatter your bones all around your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the
cities shall be laid waste, and the [g]high places shall be desolate, so
that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be
broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your
works may be abolished. 7 The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall
know that I am the Lord.

8 "Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the
sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. 9
Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they
are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which
has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their
idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all
their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not
said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them."

11 'Thus says the Lord God: "Pound[h] your fists and stamp your feet, and
say, 'Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they
shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 He who is far off
shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he
who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My
fury upon them. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain
are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all
the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak,
wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols. 14 So I will stretch
out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than
the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall
know that I am the Lord.' " ' "

Footnotes
Ezekiel 4:8 Lit. put ropes on
Ezekiel 4:14 Ritually unclean flesh, Lev. 7:18
Ezekiel 5:7 Or raged
Ezekiel 5:7 So with MT, LXX, Tg., Vg.; many Heb. mss., Syr. but have done
(cf. 11:12)
Ezekiel 5:15 LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. you
Ezekiel 6:3 Places for pagan worship
Ezekiel 6:6 Places for pagan worship
Ezekiel 6:11 Lit. Strike your hands