Pastor Davo

09/02/2026

Jeremiah: Proper and Personal [part 2]

“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!” But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”

This passage contextualizes itself in the manner which we can personalize it or leave it proper, as it reads, 'Then the Lord...'

Has God equipped and sent you personally to go and speak? Only if the Lord has specifically annointed you and commissioned you.

You cannot anoint and commission yourself to go and speak...the book of Jeremiah exists because many priests and prophets were thusly self-appointed or ordained according to idolatry, not The Lord.

But, when the Lord specifically touches and commands you, then you can and MUST go and speak.

What does this mean to you? How does this differ from the way you have heard "go and speak" taught? Does Jeremiah agree hermeneutically with other passages which talk about anointing and commissioning; going and speaking?

08/30/2026

Jeremiah: Proper and Personal [intro]

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah...The word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak..."

Scripture is written in a context, and not all passages can be separated and utilized properly the way we like to quote verses and slap em on bumper stickers. So, let's wrestle with this famous fortune cookie portion and see: Does removing it from Jeremiah to apply to our own lives work?

"Before I formed you, I knew you; before you were born, I appointed you as Prophet"

Are all of us Prophets appointed to lead nations? Surely not! Are all, then, formed by God in the womb? That we cannot determine here, but if we only read Jeremiah, the implication is No...only someone appointed from before the womb for a purpose would be thusly directly formed like Adam, by the direct hands of God, this time within the womb rather than from dust. It is actually liguistically, contextually more appropriate to suggest Jeremiah was formed like Jesus, by the Spirit, than it is to suggest all people are specifically hand-crafted like Jeremiah...according to this context.

Are you willing to wrestle with and meditate on that? How does that impact your current worldview paradigm? Will you allow it to have that impact as Scripture properly should?

05/22/2026

I am studying Jerrmiah for...a while. Until the Lord says I am done. As I do, I will share here what stands out and encourages me or inspires me. Here is the first thing, which I will return to later to walk through more thoroughly:

As the thief is ashamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

05/02/2026

Taking captive every thought is exclusively taught as negative thoughts, but biblically it does not say this...it says we "demolish arguments and every presumption against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive..." Hard pause, linger and make sure you see it.

The thoughts we capture, namely every thought, are contextually defined as arguments and presumptions which war against knowing God. Secondarily, every means every single one...which means each time we think a thought, we are supposed to capture it and make it obedient, one way or another, regardless if it was a seemingly godly thought or otherwise.

What are the most powerful thoughts which wage against against the knowledge of God, according to the New Testament?--presuming you already know precisely what the Scripture says and thereby are not led of the Spirit but by your preexisting interpretation or doctrines.

Jesus said the Pharisees and the likes knew the Scripture better than anyone; Jesus was tempted by Satan quoting the Bible to Him, and Paul called holding to biblical traditions witchcraft.

So, what does this have to do with All Scripture is God-breathed and useful...?

The answer lies in meditating on the difference between Every and All...therefore, I invite you to meditate on 2 Corinthians 10 and 2 Timothy 3, reading each in their entirety first, then lay them out side by side and start to compare/contrast all that can be considered thusly...drop a comment with your findings.

05/01/2026

For years I...tongue in cheek opined...about two ideas, suggesting two books I would write; Semantics: The Most Important Argument and The Bible is Not a Fortune Cookie.

Semantics is draft finished and Fortune Cookie in its initial rough stage awaiting a proper drafting.

What never crossed my mind until this morning as I lay here meditating on the Lord is a powerful Sermon that takes the point of both and puts them together, and it's the root of that Sermon I want to remember later by sharing with you, which comes from paralleling these two passages:

We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness

03/17/2026

Jesus Fulfilled Psalm 40 [part 3]

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know. I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation; I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness from the great assembly.

David never withheld his tongue amid all his trials on the road to the kingdom. And as he preached and wrote, he often prophesied in the Psalms...many times having been overlooked by most generations. This is why this series is so important to me and why I get so excited everytime I find a new parallel/fulfillment.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they asked...On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff. But Jesus passed through the crowd and went on His way.

David foreshadowed and prophesied in word and deed that the Anointed One would risk his life to preach the Gospel and demonstrate the Kingdom...Jesus then satisfied those things and said of us, "...even greater things you shall do...preach the Gospel...and the signs shall follow." But the promise that likewise such preaching would see many driven from the congregations persists. And just as David prophesied, then Jesus fulfilled and promised unto us, look how the Psalm continues:

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; hurry, O LORD, to help me. May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated. May those who say to me, “Aha, aha!” be appalled at their own shame. May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “The LORD be magnified!”

Luke 4 is more than a random story. Every word of all 4 Gospel accounts, all that we know in writing of the life of Jesus, is recorded to fulfill many known and many yet to be unearthed prophecies throughout the Old Testament that these infallible proofs release Faith to be faithful unto us.

Do you have eyes to see?

02/25/2026

Jesus Fulfilled Psalm 40 [part 2]

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count. Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

As David declares the signs of God's good plans, I imagine he was staring into the vision of Jesus' early ministry, leading to His moment in Luke 4:

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread throughout the surrounding region. He taught in their synagogues and was glorified by everyone. Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”...He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

On the surface it is not easy to parallel these, necessarily. But Jesus proclaimed to be the fulfillment of the end of the Sacrifice, the "beginning" of Holy Spirit, of whom it is written is the Source of all signs and wonders, and that these things are manifest as we proclaim and declare them from opened ears resounding His Voice through our mouths.

Meditate on this...do you perceive the fulfillment between these passages unfolding?

02/22/2026

Jesus Fulfilled Psalm 40 [part 1]

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll: I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.

That's Psalm 40:7-9. Great, studyable Psalm of David.

But do what I did when I read this with fresh eyes while in Basic Training...remember Luke 4:16-21--

Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

This is what captured me and led me to writing this sermon series, that last part of which was what I shared in the Introduction.

What I see is that David, as he often did, writing by the Spirit, captures a vision of Jesus in the future while also praying through what he was going through at the time. In this, what we read in Luke 4 is the Gospel record of Jesus fulfilling the prophecy that Israel had been singing for a thousand years...and as many do even to this day...the people rebelled against what they recognized because it did not look like what they had decided it should.

02/20/2026

Jesus Fulfilled Psalm 40 [intro]

This will primarily focus on Luke 4 and Psalm 40 and how Luke 4, line by line, fulfills Psalm 40, line by line. The Lord revealed this to me on about my 4th week of Navy Basic Training, from which I graduated today. Sitting with my family this afternoon, I let my brother look at the notes I wrote for this series, and what leapt off the page to him is how I will open this series for your meditation:

John 21:25 "But there are also many other things Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that could be written."

Psalm 40:5 "Many are the wonders which you have done, Lord...if I were to declare and speak of them, there would be too many to count."

11/19/2025

Truth Shall Set You Free [conclusion]

John's Gospel opens with a prologue, in a literary style that is intended to facilitate the lens through which you read his narrative. In other words, John 1:1-18 is intended to prepare the reader for 1:19-20:29, and then he concludes the main narrative saying "Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." Then John 21 is the epilogue of his gospel.

What is written in 1:1-18 tells you how to interpret the story. What is written in 20:30-31 tells you why the parts of Jesus's life were shared by John...these two parts equip the believer to exegete the text properly, without imposing tradition or misunderstanding onto the text. John 1:1-18 clearly instructs the reader, "When Jesus taught us about the Word, He was telling us about Himself, drawing us away from relying on the Scriptures for eternal life and instead to rely on Him, by His Spirit, for He IS eternal life and knowing Him is our only access thereto".

That said, let's conclude this series looking at the final sermon Jesus preached in John 14-17, prior to beginning His Passion...

John 14, Jesus states, "I am the way and the Truth..." and then immediately instructs, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever--the Spirit of Truth."

Jesus is the Truth and His Spirit is the Truth.
Jesus is The Word of God and only in Him is there salvation, eternal life, and sanctification.

So, when John 17:17 happens, it happens within the context of "I am...the Truth; and I will give you the Spirit of Truth." Let's look at it is proper context, then...

17:6-8 "I have revealed your name to those You have given Me...They were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept your word...For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them." 12 "While I was with them, I protected and preserved them by Your name...so that the Scripture would be fulfilled." 17 "Sanctify them by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the Truth."

Jesus clearly delineates the Word from His words and from the Scripture in this John 17 prayer. He clearly correlates Himself with the Truth by which they are sanctified.

He is The Word and His words revealed Him that they would believe Him. These things (including the loss of Judas) were that Scripture be fulfilled. He sanctified Himself so that they may too be sanctified by Him, the Word that is the Truth.

You are not sanctified by the Bible. The Bible, by the Spirit, testifies of Jesus, by whom you are not only saved from eternal destruction but sanctified to fulfill eternal purpose; just as the Father sent Him, so He sanctifies and sends you into the world. Not to proclaim the Bible...but to proclaim Him. Not to give them Scripture...but to give them His Spirit. Only then, by His Spirit, will the Bible be of any use to them, and only by being Sanctified by Him will they be of any biblical use to the world into which they will be sent.

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