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~Daily Inspirational~

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" And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" Col 3:17.

May God grant you a beautiful day with Him as He
works and lives Hs life through you.

In His grace and love, Paristemi

THAT BLESSED HOPE

Scripture Reading: Titus 2:11-14

In his letter to the church at Colosse, the apostle Paul speaks of "the hope which is laid up for you in heaven" and "Christ in you, the hope of glory". To the world, the word 'hope' means nothing more than a dream or a desire something desirable but unreach-able or, at the least, doubtful of acquisition. And to many Christians it is a yearning only:
"I hope the Lord will save me in the end and take me to heaven."

But the member of the Church the Body of Christ who rightly divides the Word of truth, knows differently. He knows that the be-liever's hope is an accomplished possession a realization. Paul refers to the Body mem- bers as the "purchased possession" (Eph. 1:14) and a "peculiar people" (Titus 2:14), which is literally defined 'God's own possession'.

Our hope is a Person, the embodiment of flawless perfection in whom we are position-ed and with whom we are identified. In his first epistle to Timothy, Paul's salutation reads, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, WHO IS OUR HOPE". And his prayer for the saints at Ephesus was that they might fully comprehend their treasure. "...That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints..." (Ephesians 1:17, 18).

As joint-heirs with Christ we have already come into our inheritance. We need not wish or long for some remote and uncertain bequest from a fickle benefactor; "He HATH RAISED US UP TOGETHER, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). And now we live in anticipation of final fulfillment as we are "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ!"

PASTOR ROBERT HANNA

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Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will

~Daily Inspirational~

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WALKING IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD

Scripture Reading: Acts 9:31

"Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; an walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." This verse is the result of at least four things. (1) Saul (also knows as Paul) was converted by Christ Jesus. (2). Saul preached that Christ is the Son of God in the synagogues. (3). The official Jews attempted to murder Saul. (4). The true brethren sent Saul far away to Tarsus.

Increase is not always associated with rest. The churches of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria were being edified (built up) and were walk-ing in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. While the idea here is that the churches were increasing numerically, it is certainly true that wherever people fear God and have the comfort of the Holy Spirit, some kind of increase will occur. The work-manship of God cannot be hidden. If we have fear in us, as the result of God's work, it will produce something worthwhile.

What is fear? The common meaning is that of an emotion caused by knowing we are in danger. The other meaning is that fear is the emotion caused by reverence or awe for someone who has great authority. Either one may give rise to the desire for flight or fight. Either one may move us to good works.

Consider some rewards that are produced by fear. It can give us a higher conformity to God's Word. Fear can urge better use of material possessions. It can refine our influence on other people and our attempt to do good to all men. What you sow, you will reap. Let's walk in the fear of the Lord
all of our days!

JOHN MCKAY, Pastor

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" And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" Col 3:17.

May God grant you a beautiful day with Him as He
works and lives His life through you.
In His grace and love, Paristemi

LAST DAY INSTRUCTIONS

Scripture Reading: 11 Timothy 2:1-16

As members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, we are uniquely qualified and equip-ped for our responsibilities as proclaimers of the gospel of the grace of God. "(Christ) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14). But we are not left to our own devices as to how we are to perform good works. We are instructed to"speak the things which become sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1).

The Apostle Paul defines our spiritual heri-tage of separation unto service by his in-structions to Timothy. "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." To endure hardness as good sol-diers of Jesus Christ we are to follow the Apostle's instruction to "Put on the whole armour of God...Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth...And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD" (Eph. 6:11, 14, 17).

And how are we to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God? BY RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH! We are blessed with possession of the completed Word of God. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). But the proper dispensing of scriptural truths depends altogether upon strict adherence to RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.

ROBERT E. HANNA, Pastor

If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving the daily word. You can forward this one to them, and they can use the above link to subscribe.

Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Brother Love I love each message

LAST DAY INSTRUCTIONS

Scripture Reading: 11 Timothy 2:1-16

As members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, we are uniquely qualified and equip-ped for our responsibilities as proclaimers of the gospel of the grace of God. "(Christ) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14). But we are not left to our own devices as to how we are to perform good works. We are instructed to"speak the things which become sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1).

The Apostle Paul defines our spiritual heri-tage of separation unto service by his in-structions to Timothy. "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." To endure hardness as good sol-diers of Jesus Christ we are to follow the Apostle's instruction to "Put on the whole armour of God...Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth...And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD" (Eph. 6:11, 14, 17).

And how are we to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God? BY RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH! We are blessed with possession of the completed Word of God. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). But the proper dispensing of scriptural truths depends altogether upon strict adherence to RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.

ROBERT E. HANNA, Pastor

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!!!!!

~Daily Inspirational~

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THE APOSTLES GO TO COURT

Scripture Reading: Acts 4:5-22

Rightly dividing the Word of truth consists of both contrasts and similarities. Just as God never changes, so do many of the principles of the relationships between God and His own. God demands different areas and man-ners of service from different generations of believers. But one constant factor has always prevailed regarding faithful devotion and commitment on the part of the servants of God. That factor is the price of faithful-ness.

This is, to the unbeliever, totally incongruous and paradoxical. And so it might seem to the child of God---if it were not for his complete acceptance of the instructions of God's holy Word.

The apostles performed God's expressed will as received. Having done so, they stood firmly against objectors and defectors. Even when civil and/or religious leadership is the defiant force, the will of God must be upheld above any or all other authority. Standing before the Sanhedrin, Peter and John were commanded "not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus." They unhesitatingly answered, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."

God has not assigned to you and me as am-bassadors of the ministry of reconciliation the same mission as that of the apostles. But we are given this parallel declaration: "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him but also to suffer for His sake" (Philippians 1:29).

ROBERT E. HANNA, Pastor

~Daily Inspirational~

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FEAR FELL ON THEM ALL

Scripture Reading: Acts 19:17

FEAR friend or foe? Fear can prepare us for flight or fight. Fear can paralyze us. Fear can keep us from the thing that would harm us. Fear of God can deliver us from future judgment when we believe His Word.

In this passage, God is working special miracles by the hands of Paul, and diseased and demon-possessed people were delivered. Some Jews, sons of the High priest there, decided if Paul could exorcise demons, they could too! They commanded a demon in one of the possessed people to obey them by the power of "Jesus whom Paul preacheth." The evil spirit made reply by saying, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" At that point, one demon possessed man over-powered the seven Jewish preachers, and they fled for their lives, naked and wounded, minus their clothes!! This passage shows the seven Jewish sons of the High Priest being overpowered by one demon. Is this a sequel to chapter 13 where the Jew is blinded and the Gentile sees the light? In chapter 13 the Jew is blinded and in Chapter 19 he is over-powered by a demon.

Well might fear grip the whole area! This was the hand of God displaying His change in program. Fear of the unknown is perhaps the most gripping and paralyzing fear. When the demon was able to overpower the Jews, little wonder that fear was the result. Those who understood what was happening did not allow fear to paralyze them. Verses 18 to 20 show the blessed results of this incident. Many believed and the Word of God grew and multiplied. This parallels Acts 5:11 to 14.

HAROLD STEINBRON, Bible Teacher

~Daily Inspirational~

A PRAYER FOR POWER

Scripture Reading: Acts 4:23-31

As the twelve Apostles began to carry out the Great Commission given to them by Christ before His ascension, the leaders in Jerusa-lem rejected their ministry --- even having them arrested to try to stop their preaching. As we consider our text verses (Acts 4:23-31), the Twelve had just been released from being arrested and had rejoined their followers.
Together they were praying for power to speak boldly of Jesus as the Christ whom God had raised from the dead after the nation of Israel had murdered Him (Acts 2:23; 7:52). Not only did these Apostles desire boldness to speak forth the Word of Truth, but they also desired to show "signs and wonders" to this rebellious nation. The signs were a
necessary part of their ministry at that time for Israel required a sign (1 Corinthians 1:22) to prove that the one associated with the sign or wonder was God's Apostle. These Twelve wanted all Israel to know they were speaking the Truth of God and the signs would show that they were God's Apostles.

The filling with the Holy Spirit was consistent with this type of ministry, for God had prom-ised that He would carry out a NEW COVE-NANT with His chosen people (Jeremiah 31:31) after the Old Covenant had been fulfill-ed. (Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant at the Cross--Colossians 2:14--and the New Cove-nant began at the Cross---Luke 22:20). Under the New Covenant God would put His Spirit within His people and WOULD CAUSE THEM TO DO HIS WILL (Ezekiel 36:27). They need-ed this direction of the Holy Spirit for their ministry at that time.

This is NOT the ministry of the Holy Spirit today, but it was the special ministry of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and it was this special empowering ministry that caused the believers of that day to all be of one accord.

MARVIN DUNCAN, Pastor

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THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." (1 Cor 1:18)

We have often heard it said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The statement usu-ally means that our opinion of something depends on our perspective. Our text, 1 Corinthians 1:18, tells us that "the preaching of the cross" will produce two different react-ions in people. Perhaps it is best to first de-fine what is meant by the "preaching of the cross." The preaching of the cross meant telling the Biblical message that everyone is a sinner by nature and a sinner by choice; it means that man is doomed to a literal hell because the wages of sin is eternal death; it means that God's Son the Lord Jesus Christ, entered time and space and came to earth to die for our sins; it means that by placing faith and trust in Jesus Christ'swork on ourbehalf, we are forever saved from the penalty of sin and are inheritors of eternal life. The preach-ing of the cross leaves no room for religion or good works. The Biblical gospel leaves no other way to heaven. It is the only way:
Humanism, Taoism, Buddhism, Mormonism, Catholicism, or any other ism will not provide salvation. This is the preaching of the cross. What we think of this message depends on whether or not we believe it. 1 Corinthians 1:18 tells us that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. On the other hand, to those who have believed, it is the experienced power of God at work in their life. Notice that believers are already in the completed state of salvation, once for all saved. What is your opinion of the preaching of the cross for salvation? The choice is yours, and you must make it.

David Havard, Pastor

Daily Inspirational

JOY! WHAT IS IT? HOW TO HAVE JOY
by David Blair

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose" Philippians 2:1-2 .

COMPLETE JOY
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians explaining how they could make his joy com-plete. Complete joy is that which cannot be made any greater. But what really is Joy? Paul used lots of words relating to this joy. Words such as encouragement, unity, com-fort, love, fellowship, tenderness, and com-passion giving us many aspects of joy. While feelings were certainly involved, information knowledge, understanding, confidence, security are also here. But, also, I see tremen-dous suffering and struggle at work. Writing from prison, the Apostle was hardly in happy, fun, pleasant circumstances. Yet he talks about the most intense, fulfilling, complete joy possible. So, what really is this Joy? Is it something we can have too?

"I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." John 16:20-22(NIV)

STRUGGLE

Joy is learned through struggling with life's pains and troubles. It is accepting the struggles of life while allowing God to work in our hearts and minds. If we let him. God can lead us to full joy and peace. But it seems that these goals are only achieved through life's pain, suffering and struggles. The great truth leading to joy is learning that whatever struggles we are enduring it is far less than the great reward that will be achieved if we persevere. We can learn that "It's all right" regardless of the severity of the struggle.

SAFETY
To be joyful is to know that whatever the circumstances we are safe in Christ Jesus. Happiness is simply an emotional response to a pleasant situation. Joy is knowledge leading to contentment, certainty and security. The opposite of joy is fear and uncertainty. A lack of trust prohibits joy. Those who don't really trust God need to run away from troubles and struggles that are painful. Avoiding unhappiness is the religion of such people. Living through unhappiness and learning to trust God in such time leads to Joy. Paul was in prison, suffering all that involved, suffering those he cared about, yet expressing joy.

PRISONS
We make prisons for ourselves and some-times allow others to build prisons around us. We allow them to steal our joy by taking away our safety in the grace of God. They tell us that we must do this, not do that, and submit to their judgment to please God. Pleasing God is not a matter of earning the praise and acceptance of human leaders. It is learning to trust wholly in God's steadfast love and unmerited favor. How do we break out of these prison cells? We allow God to make our joy complete in the grace of Jesus Christ. Through Divine grace we can escape the prisons that are binding our minds with fear and needless burdens. By learning to trust God alone we can become content and certain in our thinking. That is joy ---which effectively breaks down the prison walls surrounding us.

TRUST
Trust is necessary for joy in a relationship. We can know joy with God when we've struggled through a problem and learned that He hasn't abandoned us. It isn't the removal of the problem that brings joy, rather, it is a steadfast connection with God through any struggle that leads to trust and confidence---faith. Joy develops in a relationship when those involved have struggled through serious problems proving their commitment to each other. There might be happiness and other good emotions in a relationship but if there isn't trust the other person will remain during the hard times, then there can be no joy in the relationship--there will be uncertainty and fear. If there is the underlying fear of separation when the problems become a struggle, joy cannot exist..

CONFIDENCE
When we learn God will never leave us or forsake us, there is no fear in our relationship with Him --only peace and joy. The same is true between people. If we can avoid building prisons of bondage around each other, if we instead submit to the Throne of Grace when trials confront us, then such relationships are joyfully based upon the security we have in God. Being confident together with each believer trusting God is what it means to make our joy complete.

Daily Inspirational

LOOK AGAIN AND THINK

"Take no thought for your life." Matt 6:25.
"Be anxious for nothing." Phil. 4:6

A warning which needs to be reiterated is that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things enter-ing in, will choke all that God puts in. We are never free from the recurring tides of this encroachment. If it does not come on the line of clothes and food, it will come on the line of money or lack of money; of friends or lack of friends, or on the line of difficult circumstances. It is only steady encroach-ment all the time, and unless we allow the Spirit of God to raise up the standard against it, these things will come in like a flood.

"Take no thought for your life.""Be careful about one thing only, " says our Lord "your relationship to Me." Common sense shouts loud and says -"That is absurd, I must con-sider how I am going to live, I must consider what I am going to eat and drink." Jesus says you must not. Beware of allowing the thought that this statement is made by One Who does not understand our particular circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things so as to make them the one concern of our life. Whenever there is competition, be sure that you put your relationship to God first.

"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." How much evil has begun to threaten you to-day? What kind of mean little imps have been looking in and saying-Now what are you go-ing to do next month-this summer? "Be anxious for nothing," Jesus says. Look again and think. Keep your mind on the "much more" of your heavenly Father.

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Daily Inspirational

FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST, AND TO DIE IS GAIN

By Dale E. Price

I eased myself down on the couch in our living room to prepare for my upcoming Sunday school class. Matt, our seven year old, curled up next to me as Joshua, our ten year old practiced at the piano. The crackling fire, the cat perched atop his climbing tree, and the dog at my feet completed the first chapter of Philippians anticipating Paul's refreshing perspective on life.

Matt became increasingly interested in my study and began to peer over my arm at the passage. I asked him to read verses twelve through eighteen. We talked about Paul's imprisonment and how God was in control of every circumstance. It was exciting to share how Paul had used the opportunity to minister to the palace guards and how his example stirred up the courage of the brethren. Josh, jealous for equal attention, migrated from the piano to the couch to be with us. I asked him to read verses nineteen through twenty-seven. We talked about Paul's perspective on life and death; his desire to be with the Lord and yet his desire to be of service to the Philippians. We saw how Paul saw death and the avenue into the presence of the Lord, a gain of incalculable value.

Little eyes were heavy now. The boys were tucked in and kissed good night after we closed our day in prayer. I returned to the living room to complete my study. My wife, weary from her heavy load as a student, had gone to bed early. Our home was comfortable, warm, and quiet on this wintry evening. As I sat down, Paul's words in verse twenty-one kept ringing in my mind. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” I meditate on the passage and evaluated my own mind and heart.

What is it for me to live? For Paul his life was inseparable from the life of Christ. His will was to do Christ's will. What Christ valued. Paul valued. The members of his body were the members of Christ's. I recalled Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians and his words that we who live should no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:15). Then my mind turned to Romans 12:1-2 and I found that because of Gods manifold grace and mercy I am to present my body, my mind, my life as a living and holy sacrifice to God. This is how I am to worship Him. I am not to be conformed to this world but I am to be transformed by the renewing of my mind in order that I might prove that perfect will of God (Rom. 12:1-2). Was I truly yielded to His will?

I prayed, “Lord, transform and renew my mind. Cause me to yield to your perfect will and to allow you to possess all that I have, all that I am.”

I now considered the second half of that twenty-first verse, Philippians chapter one, “and to die is gain.” Did I really desire heaven over this life? Did I see death as gain? I remembered a recent episode with Joshua. Josh suffers from allergy-induced asthma. As he struggled for breath late one evening, he gasped, “I wish I was dead.” I shocked and hurt. How could my son, surrounded by a loving family, experiencing a happy childhood, wish to be dead. Then I thought of what I teach week in and week out; heaven is a wonderful place; this life is full of trouble; when we are absent from this body we will be home with the Lord and be physically seated with Him in the heavenlies. My son saw death as I taught it, as the door into the presence of the living God. What I thought was his death wish was really a wish for a release from the sufferings of this life and a longing for the inexpressible joy of life eternal. I should have rejoiced at the faith of this child.

I prayed, “Lord, transform and renew my mind. Give me the faith of a child to see beyond the temporary securities of this life. Let me seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Cause me to set my mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Lord, give me your perspective on life that my hope might not rest on the things which are seen but on the things which are not seen.

The house was quiet as I moved off toward bed. I realized that Gods Spirit must continually wage war with my flesh for control of my mind. Yet my spirit was at peace as I claimed His promise that He who had begun this good work in me would perfect it until the day of Christ (Phil. 1:1

If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving the daily word. You can forward this one to them, and they can use the above link to subscribe.

Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

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Daily Inspirational

Love Never Fails, The Power Of Love
1 Corinthians 13:8

God is not afraid to love us just the way we are, with all our flaws and short-comings. He is secure in who He is. Therefore, He loves unconditionally and without regard to our failures.
He created us, not to live apart from His love but to be partakers of His holiness. However, He knows that there will be times when we look and act very unholy. Our misguided actions do not erase or stop the love of God. Sin can separate us from His blessings but there is never a time when God with-holds His love.
In loving us, God knows that we can never give back to Him what He has given to us, but He does require us to love one another with the same love that He has demon-strated toward us.
In his book Mighty is Your Hand, David Hazard paraphrases the words of Andrew Murray, "In our life with people, the one thing on which everything depends is love. The spirit of forgiveness is the spirit of love. Because God is love, He forgives. Consequently, it is only as we are dwelling in the love of God that we can forgive as God forgives.
"Our love for others is the evidence of our love for God. It is our grounds for confidence before God in prayer. It is our assurance that our prayer will be heard. (1 John 4:20)" Let the love you have for God be a symbol of love and forgive-ness to all you meet.

If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving the daily word. You can forward this one to them, and they can use the above link to subscribe.

Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

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Daily Inspirational

PRONOUNCEMENT OF PEACE

Scripture Reading 1 Thessalonians 5:21-24

The peace of God rendered as a benediction is possibly the sweetest sounds to the saints of God. To those of the Church which is His Body -- we who have been saved by grace through faith in this dispensation of the grace of God -- it is such words as penned by our own apostle that are thus cherished most. For he it is that speaks directly to us the words entrusted to him for us by the risen Christ. "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole Spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it."

Consolation to all generations and dispen-sations has been dispensed by the God of mercy and grace. His love is eternal, His just-ice unrelenting. We cannot know the mind of God but we can know the peace of God. The conditions are always made clear. If we would have His peace we must meet His terms and conditions. If we would enjoy His peace to the uttermost, the apostle exhorts us to "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil." These are conditions identified with the dispensation of grace.

Under the dispensation of law, the Lord spoke thus to Israel: "If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them..I will give peace in the land." (Lev. 26:3,6a). God dispensed His mercy and grace in other dispensations but in our dispensa-tion of grace He does so without demanding works of the law by which to prove faith. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13a).

Amen and Amen

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The Way Of The World

Ephesians 2:1-3

"Broad is the way that leadeth to destruc-tion..." we are told in Matthew 7:13. The way of the world is coursing, seething stream of fallen humanity with no direction but down. The road is unblocked, unchecked and unhin-dered by the "prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (unsaved)..." (Eph. 2:2). It is a ghastly sight!

Ruined by the fall, energized by the demo-niac influences, often unperturbed by God's voice, men rush along, mired deeper and deeper, and fettered more and more by Adam's way. By choice men toil on and on, but by nature they are "the children of wrath even as others." (vs. 3).

Job out of faith should utter: "Neither is there any daysman (umpire) betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9:6), but me and women under the sentence of death appear to be unconcerned who that might be, where He is, and how we might find Him. While the believer pleads: "More about Jesus would I know," the unbeliever relishes his ignorance (the equivalent to our English word 'agnostic').

Ere humanity slips into eternity, without Christ, men must be pointed to the Son of God. Out of obedience (Heb. 5:8) comes the Head of His new creation, while Adam slipped his off-spring into sin and death. Sheer faith (Eph. 2:8-9;Titus 3:5) can lift the toiling, belea-guered sinners out fromunder condemnation. Men may receive it now! How blessed of God to open salvation doors!

Pastor Harland Shriver

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LIFE ON THE HIGHEST PLANE
By Arvid Johanson
Part One

"I am crucified with Christ, no longer do I live."
The words written above are lifted out of Galatians 2:20 and are used to introduce a subject that is near and dear to the heart of God, namely, a holy walk by those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and born anew by the Holy Spirit. Since this is of the utmost importance to Him, it should be of the same importance to us as well.
Truly, as those who have some knowledge of the revelation of the mystery, as those who are aware of the uniqueness of this present program of grace, we certainly have a great many things to talk and sing about, and commit to the printed page. However, in all
of this it seems as though God's provision for true holiness, true spirituality, and living for God His way, has fallen by the wayside.
These days in which we live are days mark-ed by spiritual deadness and moral laxity. Perhaps it is time to review briefly some of those grand truths that God has used to produce the spiritual giants of the past. Per-haps it is time to look once again at those God-breathed truths that can conform His own to the image of His dear Son.
Beginning with Romans Chapter 6:1, we have sixty-two verses of Scripture that un-folds for us the provision of God that enables us to live as He would have us live so that we might show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. There are a number of ways that Christians attempt to live for God; however, the only way that works is God's way. Now let us begin with a definition of the Christian life. The first step toward spiritual living is identification with the death of Jesus Christ. The second step is that we are in the risen, living, and glorified Christ Who lives through us day by day. This is the Christian life as presented on the pages of the Book.
Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"
Paul begins by doing what he does so often and so well in the book of Romans. He anticipates a question that might be raised, asks the question himself, and then answers it with such force that there can be no re-buttal. Paul puts before us the central issue--sin in the life of believer. If it were not pos-sible for a believer to go on living in sin. Paul would not even raise a question such as this.
Now at the moment, we are not talking about sins, plural. We are talking about the sin nature, singular, which is the root of sins, plural. If the root, singular, is dealt with then it follows that sins, plural, are also dealt with. For all sins have their origin in this evil Adamic nature we received through inher- itance from Adam.
Paul has told us in 5:20. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." So, someone might say, "O.K.. Paul, then let us go on sinning, in order that grace may continue superabounding." Paul, what do you say?

Continued

Daily Inspirational

LIFE ON THE HIGHEST PLANE
By Arvid Johanson
Part Two

6:2 "God forbid! For how shall we who died to sin, live any longer in it?"
Paul is most emphatic in answering the question he himself has raised. "Let it never be! Away with such stupid and bone-headed thinking"! Paul is horrified at the thought that a believer who has escaped the fires of hell, continue in sin.
I feel the necessity of a question here. How many believers know that they died to sin? Do they know when they died to sin, where they died to sin, and how they died to sin? If they do know these things, it is making a difference in their lives? Fortunately for us, Paul is going to spell it all out. Here on the pages of Romans, as nowhere else in the Bible, Paul touches every base as regarding a holy life. Beginning with the fact that at a point in time every believer has died to sin.
6:3 "Or are you ignorant that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?"
When Paul raises the question "Are you ignorant?" you can mark it down--the brethren are ignorant about something. Let us see if we can determine just what it is that Paul wants these Roman believers to comprehend.
First of all, I trust that a treatise on water baptism will not be necessary, for certainly there is no possibility of water anywhere in the sixth chapter of Romans. Rather, we have in verses 3-6 a sequence of events that took place nineteen hundred years ago outside the walls of Jerusalem. These events happened to our Lord in a physical sense, and at the same time happened to every one who would ever be saved in this age of grace, in a spir-itual sense.
Do not let this terminology deceive you, for in God's sight this whole sequence was as real as if I were totally physical. Now, unless someone tries to convince me that they were water baptized outside the walls of Jerusalem ninteen-hunded years ago, we will go with the premise that it is another kind of baptism entirely.
The context here is the cross that our Lord Jesus occupied, and then unoccupied, the tomb occupied and then unoccupied. We were all involved in this whole process, we who go by the title of "Christians." There is only one way that this could happen, and this is one of the most precious truths in the New Testament. We are the Body of Christ and we have been made one with the very Son of God, joined to the living Christ for time and eternity, one in every sense of the word (1 Cor 12:12; Eph. 5:30; Heb 2:11; Rom 6:5). Since we are one with Him, His death has become ours, and His triumph over the grave has become ours, and to what end? Newness of life for us.
If we were not baptized with water, then what kind of baptism? In Romans 6:2-11, we have the word "dead" and "death" thirteen times. This certainly gives us a clue as to the kind of baptism that is before us in verse three. In a kingdom setting the Lord raises the question, "Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" The Jordan River and what took place there is past tense. His question here is in the future tense as He faces the cross. Paul in a church setting speaks of the same event--the cross-death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in add-ition, our death with Him. So then, it was at the cross where we died to sin.
Spiritual living begins at the cross of Jesus Christ where we are identified with Him and His death.
6:4 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the Glory of the Father, we too may live a new life"
We are also identified with Jesus in His burial and resurrection .
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the answer to the question of how and where we died to sin. God identifies those who believe in Jesus with His baptism at the cross, and this is where spiritual living begins.

to be continued

Daily Inspirational

LIFE ON THE HIGHEST PLANE
By Arvid Johanson
Part Three

We are in the midst of a section that sets forth the very basic principles of true holi-ness, true spirituality, and a life truly pleasing to God. If this is our goal, we must begin where God begins, and God begins at the cross upon which the Prince of Glory died on behalf of sinners. He died once, He died for all, and He will never die again, for, in His one-time death, He accomplished all that would ever be necessary.

When , 1900 years ago, our Lord died for sin in a physical sense, everyone who would be saved in this age of grace was seen as dying to sin, in a spiritual sense. In Romans 6:2, Paul says, "we died to sin." In the state-ments made thus far, we see where, when, how, and why this event became reality.

Rom 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in new-ness of life."

First of all, we focus upon the two words "with Him." This further establishes the time frame when these things took place. As we come to verse 4, death has already taken place. What follows is what one would expect to take place: burial, and then coming forth from the tomb in resurrection life. This happened to the Lord Jesus physically, and to His church, spiritually, to the end that now, some 1900 years later, children of God might "walk in newness of life."

Anyone who has attended a burial will have to agree that the occupant of the grave has been cut off from the old life. In like manner, in our burial with Christ, we can say that provision has been made to escape the bond-age of sin, to be cut off from the Adam-life, and to be enabled now to live the life He would have us live--the very life of Christ.

Death and burial having taken place, we consider the next aspect: the physical resurrection of Christ and, at the same time, the spiritual resurrection of all those who would be saved in this age of grace. The greatest demonstration of power this universe has ever witnessed took place 1900 years ago when God raised His Son from the dead. That same power was effected in us as we were raised spiritually from the dead--that power being "to us that believe" (Eph. 1:19-20)

The greatest consideration in heaven, and among His own that dwell upon the earth, is the glory of God. In the eternal purpose of God, which He purposed in Christ before the world began, everything He has ever said and everything He has ever done has been to the end of bringing present and future glory to Himself. In our present verse, "raised by the glory of the Father" indicates that the glory of God was in view as He brought His Son back to life, and, at the same time, the "church which is His body." It would appear that the crown jewel of the purpose of God centers in the one who is "the Head over the body" and those blessed ones who make up that body, that single entity called "the Christ" (1 Cor. 12:12).

Paul goes on to inform us of the blessed result that comes from laying hold of the previously set forth truth by faith: "we should walk in newness of life." The life spoken of here is not a reworked remodeled, or rehabil-itated life. Paul is speaking of something band new. Something totally unknown in times past or times future. The life here is the very resurrection life of the risen, ascended, glorified Christ, ministered to us and through us by the Holy Spirit of God day by day. As yet we have not touched every base, but we do see the purpose behind our death, burial, and resurrection together with the Lord Jesus Christ "that we should walk in newness of life."

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WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT GOD?

Scripture Reading: I Chron. 29:10-13; Rom 9:5b

What do you think about God? Is He "the man upstairs?" Is He "the good Lord?" Is He the One who is so high and so holy that no one can approach Him except through sev-eral mediators--Mary, the saints, and the priest? "Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question,'What comes into your mind when you think about God?' we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man." (A.Z. Tozer)

Who rules and regulates the affairs on this earth today--God, the Devil, or man? This also is an important question because it re-lates vitally to what we think about God. If either Satan is in control or man is in control, then it is obvious that God isn't God at all. The atheist or humanist or agnostic might admit that man as well as the laws of nature are in control. But what about those who say they are Christians? Many, many think that while God is God, and that He "sitteth in the heavens" and is basically running things, they also think that He is in a great degree, a frustrated Deity. So many are rejecting Christ today, so many heathen have never heard the Gospel, wickedness is so rampant, and the forces of Antichrist are more and more mili-tant, and the world is in such a terrible mess--how can it be that God is in complete control, and that He is working all things after the counsel of His own will? (Eph. 1:11)

What a problem this is --indeed! Yet when we peruse the blessed "Word of truth," we are given the proper perspective: we see all things through the sovereighty of "the living God," Who is "exalted as Head above all"--"God over all, blessed forever." Yes, every man has a will, and everyone is morally responsible. no man is a mere puppet. Yet god is God, and we must reverently bow with the inspired Psalmist and say, "But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (115:3).

"O God, how wonderful Thou art
Thy majesty how bright!
How beautiful Thy mercy-seat
In depths of burning light!" (Fredrick W. Faber, 1849

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The miraculous, stupendous work of God in Creation

WHO'S IN COMMAND HERE?

Scripture Reading: Rom 16:25-27; Ps 33:6-9

The story is told about General Wainwright who was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese after the famous Bataan March in the Philippines in 1942. For the remainder of the war he barely existed in a concentration camp in Manchuria. But one day an Allied airplane flew into the camp, and an American officer delivered something to the Japanese officers in charged of the camp. It was the electric news that Japan had surrendered to the Allies. This news was relayed to the suf-fering General. By and By came a Japanese prision officer to order the General to his tasks and to harass him. But the weakened but victorious man turned to his tormentor and said. "I am in command here now!"

So is God! But God never had to win the right of being "Commander-in-Chief!" He always was, He always shall be, and He always is in command. Did you note this in these two passages we suggest you read? "He commanded, and it stood fast"--the material creation. The blessed "revelation of the mystery" resulted from "the command-ment of the everlasting God." God is in command--in all things, even though to our limited and sin-stunted considerations it doesn't look like it!

This is where the subject of the Sovereignity of God comes in. What do we mean by this term, "The sovereignity of God?" We reply with Dr. A.W. Tozer in his excellent book, The Knowledge of the Holy, "God's Sovereignity is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation, and to be sovereign, God must be all-knowing, all powerful, and absolutely free." This is to further admit that God is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in heaven and earth, the "Governor among the nations" (Psa. 22:28), the "only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Tim 6:15.) He is in command!

But the question is: "Is God in command of my life?" This you must answer soberly for yourself. He may be, that is, if you're truly saved and yielded to Him up to the light He has given you in His Word. He may seem not to be if you're not save, or even if you are but out of His will. Yet He has a way to gently bring you to Himself and to bring your will into harmony with His.

Pastor Paul Hume

Daily Inspirational

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NO FADS AND FASHIONS HERE

Scripture Reading: Mal 3:6, Rom 11:29, Jas. 1:17

It's really amusing to review the changes in men's and women's apparel over the years! Remember the longer, fuller dresses which women wore just sixty years ago at the out-break of World War II? Remember the wide flowery neckties men wore in the mid-40's? Behold! How the hemline on feminine clothing has risen! How narrow men's ties became just a few years ago, and how wide they have suddenly become later! What will develop next? You never really know!

But not so with the Person of the blessed Godhead! Our Triune God is ever "young" and perfectly changeless. This is what the theologians call "the immutability of God." God is unchangeable. He is "the same, yesterday, today, and unto the ages." There-fore the Scriptures liken Him and His beloved Son unto "the Rock" (Deu 32.4, I Cor 10:4.)

He is immutable in His essence. "I am the Lord, I change not." Why? Simply because He is the only One in all the universe who can ever state, "I am that I am" (Ex 3:14). "He is altogether, uninfluenced by the flight of time. There is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity." (AW Pink)

He is immutable in His Attributes. Semper idem--always the same--is written over every attribute of our blessed God and Savior: His righteousness, holiness, His truth, His mercy, and His love. Therefore, His blessed written Word is "forever settled in heaven" (Psa 119:89) Think of that: "forever SETTLED..."!!
His purpose is immutable. "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying...as I have purpos-ed, so shall it stand...For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul it?" (Isa 14:24, 27). Praise the Lord! May we echo with Fredrick Faber:
Oh Lord! my heart is sick,
Sick of this everlasting change:
And life runs tediously quick
Through its unresting race and varied range;
Change finds no likeness to itself in Thee,
And wakes no echo in Thy mute Eternity.

Are you linked, by faith through the Holy Spirit, to this unchangeable One?

Pastor Paul Hume

Daily Inspirational

THE THRONE WHICH IS NEVER ABDICATED

Scripture Reading: Rev 4:1-11, Heb 4:16

What a glorious and great scene is this! John, by the Spirit, is caught away into "the Lordly day" (Rev 1:10) to behold events which will certainly transpire in the heavens and on the earth. This is the scene of "the Majesty on High" in Rev 4. Notice the throne and the One who sits upon it! How awful is this glorious scene! All the celestial beings who behold this sight can do no less than fall before Him on His throne and "Worship Him that liveth forever and ever."

Oh! Friend! Stop right now! Let this blessed scene flood your soul--that of the Sovereign God of the universe--our Father! Then bow low in spiritual worship!
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,
Early in the morning our song shall
rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!"
(Reginald Heber)

Here is the Throne which has never been abdicated! Earthly monarchs are sometimes deposed. Some of them reign for a score or two of years, and they must finally yield the throne to their successors. All must die sooner or later. But not the one who occu-pies "the Throne of grace!" In the Person of the Lord Jesus, in Whom all the fulness of the Godhead has been pleased to take up its permanent home (Col 1:19), our blessed God is still ordering our lives in His matchless mercy, grace, and love from that eternal throne. Furthermore, in the wider sense, He is still ordering the varied affairs of this old world--be they malignantly evil, or be they magnificently good--from that same throne! Little wonder we can sing from our hearts:

"God is still on the throne,
And He will remember His own,
Though trials may press us and
burdens distress us,
He never will leave us alone--
God is still on the throne,
He never forsaketh His own;
His promise is true,
He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne." (Mrs. F.W. Suffield)

Is HE still on the throne of YOUR heart today?

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THE MIGHTY CREATOR!!

Scripture Reading" Gen 1:1; Rev 4:11; Col 1:16-17

A small girl who lived in a remote section of the country was receiving her first Bible instruction at the hands of her elderly grand-mother, and the old lady was reading the story of the creation. After the story had been finished, the little girl seemed lost in thought. "Well, dear," said the grandmother, "what do you think of it?" "Oh, I love it. It's so exciting," exclaimed the youngster. "You never know what God is going to do next!"

How thrilling it is to know that the visible and invisible elements of this universe and world of ours is the product of the perfect and only Creator: God the Father in the Person of His Son by the agency of the Holy Spirit! How sodden and sterile is the popular so-called "scientific" hypothesis that this universe and our world is simply the product of evolving matter with energy to motivate it! Nay! It is refresing to be anchored to the "old land-marks" of the Truth and declare, "Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev 4:11) View the Sovereign Creator:

"The great God was all alone amid the awful silence of His own vast universe. But even at that time, if time it could be called, God was sovereign. He might create one world or one million worlds, and who was there to resist His will? He might call into existence a million different creatures each differing from the others, and possessing nothing in com-mon save their creaturehood, and who was there to challenge His right? If He so pleased, He might call into existence a world so immense that its dimensions were utterly beyond finite computation; and were He so disposed, He might create an organism so small that nothing but the most powerful microscope would reveal its existence to human eyes." (A.W. Pink). Are you part of His new creation?

Pastor Paul Hume

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THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE

Scripture Reading: Psa. 135:6, 147:7-18; Heb 1:1-3

A friend of the President of a large manufacturing plant was being conducted through the various departments. He was quite bewil-dered at the enormity of it all. He inquired, "Where do you get your power to operate all of this equip--ment?" The President replied, "Follow me and I will show you." After a short walk, they were both in a smaller building which hous-ed the generators which made the power possible. "Here is the se-cret of our out-put," he proudly declared.

What is the secret behind the operations of this vast universe and our little planet Earth? Is it mere "Natural laws?" Is it merely matter in motion? Is it solar energy? All of these things may be true, but they are by no means the "power" behind this universe! The Word of Truth has the an-swer! It is "the Word of His power" (Heb 1:3). What power there is, in both the Living and Spoken Word of God! We read: "For He spoke and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psa. 33:9). "That by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water" (2 Peter 3:5).

The invisible atom is held togeth-er by a mysterious "force." We know from Colossians 1:17 that this "force" is none other than our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ: "For by Him all things consist (hold together)." Someday, after the "Day of jehovah" has run its course, this earth and our stellar heavens will be "disolved." How? By His release of the atoms which compose all material things. This in turn will create a gigantic dis-solution of the present sin-cursed heavens and earth. What a day that will be! (Read 2 Peter 3:10-12 and Revelation 20:11; 21:1)

In the face of the Sovereign God Who is very much in control of this universe, shall we continue to complain about the climate, the weather today, the bugs, and other often disagreeable things? It's human to do so, but when we remember that God in Christ Jesus is behind the weather, the winds, the climate of the earth, and even the insects which pester us, we then can turn grumbling into glorying in the One who created all things for His own pleasure! Worship ye Him!

Pastor Paul Hume

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WHY DID HE DO IT?

Scripture Reading" Prov 16:4; Gen 1:1-2:7

Why is the universe made up of many galaxias along with millions of stars and several planets including the Moon? Why is there a planet--Earth-- which alone is habit-able? (See Psa 115:15-16). Why is there an atmosphere about six to seven miles deep surrounding our planet composed of 21% Oxygen, 78% Nitrogen, and 1% inert gases? Without this perfect balance in the atmo-sphere or should the slightest change take place to upset that balance, death would come swiftly to all who live on Earth. Why the faithful cycle of evaporation, clouds and finally precipitation? Why should two-thirds of the surface of this planet be covered by oceans? Why are some places vitually unihabitable and unproductive--like the Sahara Desert--which seem like a terrible waste of valuable land? Why man? Why not something better than man? We could go on and on asking "Why?"

The answer is not given by merely citing certain scientific laws. The answer is found in the Word of God which makes it clear that all things which God made and the way He has made them function are simply for His pleasure! Look again at the statements in Genesis 1 where God said "and it was good." Why was it good? Because "The Lord hath made all things for Himself." This amplified in Colossions 1:16: "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him." Thus Paul states in Romans 11:36; "For of Him and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory forever Amen." Even the wicked, says Proverbs 16:4, have been made by Him "for the day of evil." Yes even sin, wickedness and its attendant miseries, while not having been created by God Himself, neverthless, he has sovereignly purposed that it should serve His purpose to the praise of His glory! "Since God is God, who dare challenge His prerogative? To murmur against Him is rank rebellion." Worship ye Him!

Pastor Paul Hume

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THE GOD OF MIGHT AND MIRACLES

Scripture Reading: Mark 4:35-41; Psalms 147:18

We often hear John Peterson's hymn, "It took a Miracle." The words in this hymn indeed reveal the sovereighty of our God in relation to the affairs even of "Nature."
"My Father is omnipotent,
and that you can't deny;
A God of might and miracles,
'Tis written in the sky."
In Mark's inspired account of the sudden storm on the Sea of Galilee, let us examine those wonderous words of our Lord when he commanded the winds and the waves: "Peace, be still!" A more exact translation reads: "Silence! Be muzzled!" Obviously He was not merely speaking out into the air. He was commanding Satan, the one who was behind this ferocious storm. We see in Job 1:19 that even Satan can control the weather. But where was God in this storm? True, in the Person of the Lord Jesus, he was in the boat with His frightened disciples. But what about the Father? Yes, He knew well what His beloved Son was going through, but He also knew that His Son had the authroity over the winds and the waves to command them to be still. "And there was (came to be) a great calm." No wonder the disciples said one to another, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

For further investigation about His obvious control of the elements, turn to the prophecy of the book of the Revelation. Here we are given glimpses of things which definitely will take place in the heavens and on this earth during the future "Day of the Lord" (Rev 1:10). See His control of the elements, and the sun and stars in chapters 5, 8, and 16!. Is He in control today--during this Dispensation when He is "silent?" Indeed He is! No won-der the devout believer in Christ can find complete comfort in the words of Romans 8:28--even in relation to the weather and circumstances!

"Wondrous sovereign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me."

Pastor Paul Hume

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THE SOVEREIGN GOD AND HIS WORD

Scripture Reading: 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Psa 68:11

"Prove to me in one word that the Bible IS the inspired Word of God, " demanded King Fredrick of Prussia of a Christian minister one time. After a few moments of thought the answer came clear. "The Jew, Sir, the remarkable Jew is one evidence that the Bible is the inspired Word of God."

Yes! The Bible is the very Word of our sovereign God even though He chose to use some forty human authors through which to give His Word. Yet the truth still stands, "The Lord (the Master) gave the Word" (Psa. 68:11). "All scripture is given by inspiration of God"--that is, "all Scripture is God breathed." By His Spirit He brought the Word of God into being! No wonder we read in Hebrews 4:12 that it is "living and active." "His Word, said the Psalmist, ' runneth very swiftly' (Psa. 147:15). According to both Isaiah 55:11 and Mathew 4:4, it came forth from the very mouth of God! Blessed Book! It is forever "settled in heaven!"

Can men ever destroy this book? They may burn Bibles by the thousands, pass laws preventing the propagation of that Book, jail or even slay the preachers of it, yet "heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Matt 24:35). Men may cry that it is out-dated and not relevant to our times, yet it still abides and is changing the lives of millions who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! Why? Because God has sworn to stand by His Word. "I will hasten My word to perform it" (Jer 1:12)

"The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
'Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal,
And they glow with a light sublime.
The Bible stands ev'ry test we give it,
For its Author is divine;
By grace alone I expect to live it
And prove it and make it Mine."

Now we may say a hearty "Amen" to these blessed truths--and rightly should we. But the acid test is this: "Does this Book have authority over my life?" If not, then you are in rebellion against its blessed Author! I trust you are not, but if you are, remember that "rebellion is as the sin of witch-craft, and stubborness is as iniquity and idolatry!"

Pastor Paul Hume

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THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE FATHER IN SALVATION

Scripture reading: Eph. 1:3-6; Rom 8:28-30; I Pet. 1:2

When we come to the blessed theme of our personnal salvation, we observe readily that each Person in the Godhead had a distinct part therein. It has been stated in the light of Ephesians 1:3-14 that God the Father planned our salvation, God the Son purchased our salvation, and God the Holy Spirit protects our salvation. When we begin to think of the magnitude of our salvation and the wonder of it all, we feel constrained to sing with William R. Newell.
"Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan!
Oh, the grace that bro't it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!"

What was the distinct role of the Father in our salvation? He purposed to "bring many sons into glory" (Heb. 2:10). As a Father--the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ--the desire of His holy and loving heart was to fill His house-hold with "many sons" who should bear the image and likeness of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus! Thus, especially in relation to this present economy of grace, He was pleased to elect out of the name of mankind many who would become part of this great family. Thus we read of what has been aptly called "the Golden Chain of Redemption" in Rom 8:29-30. Let us stop and look at each golden link: He first purposed in His own heart; then He foreknew (knew beforehand) all who should fulfill that purpose; (His election of those who should comprise this family should fit in here) then He predestinated these elected ones--that is, He marked them out beforehand--to the position as full-grown sons (notice Eph 1:5 here); then (after they were born and prior to their salvation--experience), He called them effectually to Himself; then, by faith He justified them (that is, declared them perfectly righteous); finally He glorified them (notice how this is already certain even though none have experienced it yet!)
"Sons we are by God's election
Who on Jesus Christ believe,
By eternal destination."

Pastor Paul Hume

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SON IN SALVATION

Scripture Reading: John 17:1-3; Eph. 1:7-12

It was the distinct pleasure of the Father to plan our salvation through bringing about the "Golden Chain of Redemption" (Rom 8:28-30, Eph. 1:3-6). We say it reverently, that the Father's plan would have been power-less and ineffective had it not been for the fact that it was the role of the Son of God to purchase our salvation. Thus we read of his having been "foreordained before the foun-dation of the world" in relation to His suffer-ing and sacrificial death as "a Lamb without blemish and without spot: (I Peter 1:18-20).

The primary mission of the Lord Jesus in His first advent was redemptive and not regal. His second advent will be regal. He came as Hebrews 10:7 states, "to do thy will, O God." that will of the Father included His drinking that awful "cup" in the garden of Gethsemane (which I believe related to His being forsaken and cut off by His Father while He was to be-come the sin-bearer for all mankind); it involved His suffering and deep humiliation as a malefactor both from His arrest in the garden to His agony on that Roman cross; it involved the terrible agonies which His Holy Soul suffered while the Father was laying upon Him "the iniquity of us all;" it involved His experience of death--a thing that He, the eternal Son of God, had never, ever experi-enced; and it involved Him being buried in a borrowed tomb--the Creator and Lord of Glory dead and buried (think of it!!)

What was all of this for? To redeem us--buy us out of the slave market--from Satan's power, sin, self, this present evil age, and the power of death itself. What wealth is packed away in those blessed words, "In Whom (Christ) we have (as a present possession) redemption through His blood, the forgive-ness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7)! With Fanny Crosby we must sing anew:

"Redeemed--how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed thro' His infinite mercy,
His child, and forever, I am."

Pastor Paul Hume

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THE SOVEREIGHTY OF THE SPIRIT IN SALVATION

Scripture Reading: 2 Thes. 2:13-14; Eph. 1:13-14

It has been stated that the blessed Holy Spirit of God is "the executive member of the Godhead." This is indeed true. The Father's plan to bring "many sons into glory" must be further carried out by the Son's purchase by His own blood of those "many sons" out of the slave market of Satan and sin and death. He died, was buried, and was raised again from the dead to save all whom the Father had given to Him (John 6:37, 17:2-3). But unless the Spirit of God applies the redemptive work of Christ, then the Father's plan is again powerless!

But not so! The Holy Spirit has been sent into the world on a special mission. This mission is to glorify the Son of God in saving and sanctifying those whom the Father chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. What does this work of the Holy Spirit include? He first draws the sinner to Christ (John 6:44). This is also referred to as being the "sanctification of the Spirit" in 2 Thessalonians 2:13. By this, the Holy Spirit woos and draws and sets apart the one who is "dead in trespasses and sins" to Christ. He also convicts the sinner of "sin, righteousness, and judgment" (John 16:8-11). He pricks the conscience and brings the Word of God to bear upon it. Then He grants "the hearing of faith," (Rom 10:8, 17; Eph. 1:13). He causes the sinner to "hear with understanding" (see Matthew 13:23 on this). Never is the sinner told to work up his own faith in order to be saved. Rather, God grants every sinner "the hearing of faith"--a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9)--in order to be saved. The Holy Spirit regenerates the one who believes on Christ Jesus, that is, He imparts the Life of Christ into his spirit, and, as Romans 8:10 states, the "spirit is life on account of righteousness." Remember, "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). At the same time He baptizes the one who believes into Christ and thereby makes him a member of "the church, which is His body." He also, at that same moment, takes up His permanent dwelling in the believer and He becomes the seal of God (as well as the new nature) in the believer.

Wondrous salvation! Do you have Him in your heart today?

Pastor Paul Hume

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SALVATION AND THE HUMAN WILL

Scripture Reading: Rom 9:15-16; John 1:12-13; 3:16

Dwight Lyman Moody once said that "the whosoever wills are the elect, and whosoever won'ts are the non-elect!" This is certainly true. The human will does play an important part in personal salvation. But the problem which ultimately must be faced when one deals with the sovereignty of God must touch on this matter of what place man's will plays--if any.

Now there are two extremes to avoid. One is that since God is sovereign, and since man cannot save himself at all, then man has no part at all in salvation. That is, God will save him without any action on his part. The other extreme is that God cannot and will not save anyone unless he is willing to be saved.

In between these extremes we believe the truth lies. It is true that the sinner is "dead in trespasses and sins" therefore cannot, of himself, take one step toward God and salvation. It is also true that God has given man a will, and He respects that will. Yet due to the fact that the depravity of the human nature has also crippled the will, God must first move and work in the sinner to make him willing to be saved! This is what Christ meant when He said, "No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). This is also what is meant in John 1:12-13: "But as many as received Him (Christ), to them gave He power (authority) to become the sons of God (children of God), even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Therefore, as Romans 9:16 states, "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."

Hence, how beautiful it all works out. Of my own will, I did not want God or His salvation (Christ). But He wooed me and drew me with love and power and gave me the willingness to receive Christ into my life! Bless the Lord, O my soul!

"I've found a Friend, oh such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love,
And thus He bound me to Him." (J.G. Small)

Pastor Paul Hume

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"TIS A CHARMING SOUND"

Scripture Reading: Psa. 89:15; Acts 18:25-28

"Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound," declared the inspired Psalmist of Israel. This "joyful sound" related to the blowing of the silver trumpet for various holy day assemblies (Num 10:10). However, there is a sweet spiritual application for us here. Could not "the joyful sound" be what Phillip Doddridge and Augustus Toplady wrote of in their hymn "Grace: 'Tis a Charming Sound?"

"Grace! 'Tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to the ear;
Heav'n with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear.
'Twas grace that wrote my name
In life's eternal book;
'Twas grace that gave me to the lamb,
Who all my sorrows took."

What a gem of truth lies in Acts 18:27, often never ovserved. Stop and look at it with me: "...who, when he (that is, Apollos) was come, helped them much which had believed through grace.' "dr. Bullinger states concern-ing the little preposition "through" (dia in the Greek) that "it includes the idea of proceeding from and passing out." This would mean, then, that the grace which came out from God in Christ and had passed out to their hearing the Word of God, had caused them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we, like they, "believe through grace." Blessed grace of God!

You probably have run in to someone who confessed, "I just can't believe the Bible!" That person is partially right. Of himself, he cannot generate the right kind of faith by which alone God saves people. It is all of the grace--the unmerited favor of God. And everyone who is honest at heart CAN become a receipient of this enabling grace to 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be save, and thy house."

Pastor Paul Hume

THE FAITH THAT SAVES

Scripture Reading: Mark 11:22; Gal 2:20; Heb 12:1-2

It has been truly said that Satan has a
counterfeit for almost everything that God does (except to give Life). The Apostle Paul speaks of "another gospel" (2 Cor 11:4a; Gal 1:6-9), "another Jesus (2 Cor. 11:4b: much of Christendom today worships this "Jesus!"), "another spirit" (2 Cor 11:4c: how prevalent is this "spirit" now); "false apostles of Christ" (2 Cor 11:13: witness the Mormons and their chief apostle, Joseph Smith!), and "ministers of righteousness" (2 Cor 11:15: how many priests and ministers fall into this category today!)

Obviously, therefore, there must be a counterfeit faith. We know there are many false "faiths" today..the apostate Protestant "faith," the Roman Catholic "faith," and the Jehovah's Witnesses "faith" (and the like). Yes, many of the people involved in these false systems have "faith." I heard a liberal preacher on the radio only yesterday broad-casting from a popular church which is only four blocks from our church and exhorting his hearers that the way to keep one's life from being empty is to "have faith in God." This sounds real good. It even sounds Biblical!

Did not our Lord exhort his wondering disciples in Mark 11:22, "Have faith in God?" But a more accurate rendering of this command makes the meaning clearer: "Hold to the faith of God!" True, saving faith is not naturally generated. All of us have a "natural faith:" e.g., we believe that the cooks in the restaurant where we are eating haven't put poison in our food; we trust the car in which we ride; we believe what history tells us about our great country, and etc. But the kind of faith which our Lord speaks of is identical to that which Paul speaks of: "...justified by the faith of Christ" (Gal 2:16;"...I live by (or in) the faith of the Son of God" (Gal 2:20); "...boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him" (Eph 3:12).

We have a blessed truth in Hebrews 12:2: "Look away (from all else) unto Jesus, the Author (that is, the Originator) and Finisher (that is, the Completer) of faith." True, saving faith comes from God in Christ Jesus. This faith saves. This faith sanctifies. This faith sustains. This faith pleases God. Does this faith operate in you?

Pastor Paul Hume

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THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AND SECURITY

Scripture Reading: Psa. 37:23-28; Col. 3:1-4

Closely related to the sovereignty of God in salvation is the blessed truth of the security of the saints. This security is the postion of all who have truly been born again, for they have been given the "gift of God, which is eternal life." This life is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Since every one who has this Life is in vital spiritual union with Christ, it follows that he "shall never perish."

A lady who had been recently saved was sharing her salvation with another lady who also said she was saved. Said this other lady, "You say that you are in the hollow of His hand. But isn't it possible for you to slip through His fingers?" The newly-saved lady calmly replied, "No, for I am one of His fingers!" How true! By grace and by means of the Holy Spirit's baptizing each one of us into union with Christ, we become actual members of Christ. Thus we find the poet's words true:

"And this I shall find,
We two are so joined,
He'll not be in glory
And leave me behind."

To be sure, certain passages such as Hebrews 6:4-8 and 2 Peter 2:20-22 and some others can be 'brought forth by those who do not (or will not) understand this precious truth. Once the contextual setting of each passage is honesly studied, and the dispen-sational interpretation is honestly employed, it will be found that the true believer in Christ is indeed everlastingly secure. Such security when rightly understood leads to a godly life rather than to an antinomian "Let's sin and live as we please since we are forever saved!" attitude.

What are some of the reasons for our security in Christ? 1) We have been chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the World; 2) We are kept by the power of God: 3) We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption; 4) We are complete in Christ; 5) We are members of Christ's body; 6) We have everlasting life; and 7) We can never be separat ed from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Study Eph 1:4; I Pet 1:5; Eph 4:30; Col 2:9-10; Eph 5:30; John 3:16; and Rom 8:38-39)

Pastor Paul Hume

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THE GIFTS OF THE SOVEREIGN GOD

Scripture Reading: Eph 4:7-16: 1 Cor 12:4-11

Undoubtedly you have stopped to ask your-self. "Why is it that one person is so mechan-ically inclined and another person--even in the same family--isn't? Why can one person be so musical and able to create music while another person can't carry a tune in a bucket? Why are some naturally diligent and prosperous while others are so lazy and could care less about getting ahead in life? The only answer is that God, the giver of life and being to all men (Acts 17:29) has been pleased to thus distribute His talents in the natural realm--even though sin has ruined and perverted these natural gifts.

Likewise in the realm of those who are saved. All have the same salvation. All are indwelt equally with the same Holy Spirit. All have a new nature. All are loved by the Father. But His gifts have not been bestowed equally. These two passages ought to make this clear. Now, lest someone reasons, "I don't have any gift from God other than eternal life." Let us note what Ephesians 4:7 states: "But in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift. His favor has been bestowed upon each of us." (Williams Trans.) The grace mentioned in this verse does not refer to saving grace. Nor does it even refer to sanctifying grace. It clearly refers to serving grace! Not all the members of the body of Christ have the same office or function, but all members of Christ have a function! I do not believe there is such a thing as a true believer who does not have some spiritual gift by which he can serve the Lord! True, only a few are called to be "evangelists, and pastor-teaches," but all have been gifted to sufficiently engage in "the work of minis-tering" (Eph. 4:12, lit.)!

Has God given you a spiritual gift? Yes, in-deed He has! Do you know what it is? See also Romans 12:1-8 and 1 Peter 4:7-11 on this theme. True the sign gifts such as healings, tongues, the working of miracles, and proph-esying have passed away (1 Cor. 13:1-13). But other gifts remain, and it is your privilege and responsibility to find out what your gift is. Then ask the Lord for the grace to so use that gift that He might be glorified and believer's might be edified and sinners saved.

Pastor Paul Hume

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This is my last post of the Daily Inspirational, if you like it send e-mail to the below address and reques it.

"Grace & Peace"
Brother Love :)

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READY MY PLACE TO FILL

Scripture Reading: John 4:1-42; Acts 16:6-12

There is a hymn which we seldom sing, yet its words fit the spirit of the suggested Scriptures for our mediation today:

"Ready to suffer, grief or pain,
Ready to stand the test:
Ready to stay at home and send
Others, if He sees best.
Ready to go, ready to stay,
Ready my place to fill;
Ready for service, lowly or great,
Ready to do His will."

We observed yesterday that God the Holy Spirit under the Headship of the Lord Jesus Christ sovereignly bestows His gifts. If you have read Acts 16:6-12, you will also notice that God sovereignly assigns the place of service. It was not in the sovereign will of God for Paul and Silas to enter into Bithynia and certain parts of Asia (Minor) to preach the gospel. That was for "another man" (see Rom 15:20). But it was the will of God for them to "go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them." What a min-istry they had in that part of Greece! Later on it became the will of God (I am sure) for Paul to go to Rome by way of being a political prisoner! Some argue that Paul was out of God's will in his journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-23:30). I don't believe he was, else the words of the Lord--"Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also in Rome"--actually commend him for getting out of His will. No, Paul was in the will of God, for he had "a place to fill" in Rome!

What about you? What about me? You may not be a preacher or a missionary, but are you in God's place for you? You may be a "humble housewife," yet God has that "place" for you to represent Christ in. You may be a student at such and such a school, yet you are there not by chance but by Divine choice to represent Christ there! You may be a businessman or even an executive, yet God has you in this place so you can represent Christ there! Are you in your "place?"

Pastor Paul Hume

NOTHING BUT A NOTHING

"Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" (1 Peter 3:15).

Many sincere believers are apt to put up an insincere front in order to "protect the Gospel." so as not to "let the Lord down." But He will increase, if we but decrease. There is nothing like being nothing!

"It is true that there is the hunger to be devoted, and to be like the Lord Jesus, long before one's acts and manner corroborate the hunger, and make it a fact; but the more the hungers which grace has generated in your heart are given a place, the sooner will they become experiential facts; and the more the Lord Jesus has His throne within you, the more you will 'rejoice in Him and have no confidence in the flesh' " (Philippians 3:3).

" 'I know so little of the Lord Jesus,' one may say, and this may be true; but every grace that is in Him is in every saint, though not
developed. If I am a babe in Christ, where there is true lowliness of heart, I display God, as a babe manifesting Him; but if, as a babe, I am attempting to manifest Him as a man, there will be frustration and failure.

"My wisdom will be, not to set myself up above that which I really am. If walking in true lowliness and manifesting that measure of the Lord Jesus in which we have grown, there will be certain progress." ----W.K.

"Perhaps there is nothing so hard as not to appear anything but what you are. If you do so to your advantage, you will be some day found out, but if to your disadvantage, there is no doubt that He who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins will one day vindicate you."

"I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11).

MILES J. STANFORD

FREE BORN

If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

Faith in the facts alone gives the rest of reliance.

"Is there an accuser, a judge, or an execut-ioner, still after us? The accuser may go away rebuked by this that God has justified us; the judge may go away rebuked by this that the Lord Jesus has died--has already
suffered the judgment, and His work has been accepted to the full in heaven itself; the executioner may go away rebuked by this that all the malice of earth and hell together shall never drag us away from the firm em- brace of our God. And if there be now neither accuser to charge, nor judge to condemn, nor executioner to slay, the court is cleared!"---J.G.B.

"It is a blessed thing to be shown our enemies and told with Gideon, that Jehovah has delivered them into our hands (Joshua 8:7). Our old man has been crucified (Rom. 6:6), the world 'overcome', and its prince
"judged" (John 16:33, 11). If we are walking by faith, as risen with the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan, the world, and the flesh are under our feet." ---J.N.D.

"Not a hair of the child of God can fall with-out God's permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God's will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them. They will but work out for us His own purpose of love."

"What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:35, 37).

Miles Stanford

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

"FOR OF HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, AND TO HIM, ARE ALL THINGS: TO WHOM BE GLORY FOR EVER AMEN."

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CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

"If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf" (1 Peter 4:16).

Often the lapidary will polish the jewel with its own dust. Just so our Father makes use of the weak and beggarly element of our nature to
produce the mirror like luster in which His image is finally reflected for all to see. "they shall be Mine.. . in that day when I make up My jewels" (Malachi 3:17).

"Those who know the Lord best are those who have gone the deepest way. Those who go the deep way of trial do so because God puts the premium upon their knowledge of Him. They are the people who are shut up to God. But this knowledge is firstly, constitutional: that is, it is to
constitute a certain kind of person and character; and secondly it is vocational: it does not end with the person concerned, but is the essence of service, in time and eternity. God is very prac-tical, and requires that things in His service are never merely theoretical but real and true to life." ---T.A-S.

"Our path ought to be the mold, the opportunity, for the expression and virtue of Christ's life. Saints seek to use Him rather in order to get
through their circumstances, instead of seeing in the circumstances the mold in which they are to be taught the strength and power of the Lord
Jesus. May we grow in Him, knowing Him, not only as helping us through circumstances, but using the circumstances which He puts us through as opportunities for enlarging our souls in Himself."

"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).

MILES J. STANFORD

GAZE & GROW

"Who (Jesus), being the brightness of His (God's) glory, and the express image of His person" (Hebrews 1:3).

Basically, the Bible is the Biography of the Beloved. Its primary object is to provide the Object for our contemplation and conformity.

Many a Christian has not got beyond this: Christ is a shelter for me, and takes care of me. Souls look for their barrel of meal not to waste, and their cruse of oil not to fail. But is that all? Is it that Christ comes and dwells with me and cares for me?

I maybe bold to say it is not. Is it shelter only? No! You are mutilating Christianity if you confine it to that. God says: I have
saved you by My own Son, and now another factor must come in; you are to live by the One who has saved you; My purpose is that you are to be conformed to His blessed image.

There comes a moment when the soul knows union with Christ. Has your soul ever got a glimpse, by the Spirit, of Christ risen? Of 'the mark' of which Paul speaks? It is Christ in heaven; He is my Object!

Practically it is what souls have lost sight of. They do not look for acquaintance with Christ Risen. The first thing is the education of the
Word; the second, Christ Himself must be seen (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Word delights the heart, but till the eye of your spirit has rested on the Person of Christ, you have not the model for the Word to take; there is no formation.

"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

MILES J. STANFORD

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SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

"And you, that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight" (Colossians 1:21,22).

In order for our Father to be satisfied with us, He placed us in His Son. In order for us to be satisfied with our Father, we "rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).

"On what ground is our faith tested? It is on the ground of our very relationship with God and God's attitude toward us. The concen-tration of the enemy is upon that point---to interfere with out link with God.

"What is our link with God? It is this---the Lord Jesus Christ, as the answer to God and to Satan for us. It will never be what we are in ourselves. If you are expecting a day to come when in virtue of what you are in your-self you can satisfy God, you are destined to an awful disillusionment. The day will never come when we can satisfy God in ourselves, not even more or less."

"How could there be any doubt about the believer's perfect security if his position in the Lord Jesus were realized? It would be impossible. Can He change? Or will God say to Him, I cannot any longer accept You as
standing for this people? Or, once again if standing for them, is He on probation? Is His work completely done, or still to do?"---F.W.G.

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:13).

MILES J. STANFORD
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THY WILL BE DONE

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into various trials" (James 1:2).

You can be sure that you are in the will of God when He keeps you dependent upon Himself, walking in the Holy Spirit, and abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Often all we think of is, having our need met; but how little a thing is that with God! It would cost Him nothing, we may say, to meet the need of a lifetime in a moment; and a lesser love than His would supply it at once, and get rid of the constant burden.

"But that is not His way. To supply the need is a small thing; but to supply it in such a way as to make us feel in each seasonable supply the Father's heart never withdrawn from us, the Father's heart ever employed about us---that is what He means. 'Give us our daily bread': is it not much more than to ask, 'Give us now, that we may not have to come again?'

"The God given experience of the Spirit's working many a time passes away, and leaves the soul apparently dull and dead. This is only until the double lesson has been full learned: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God, even when feeling and ex-perience appear to contradict the promise (Romans 8:28, 29); and (2) that the divine life
only predominates as the life of the flesh is held in the place of death, inoperative (Romans 6:11a). The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Cor. 4:11, 12), and as in weakness and nothing-ness we look to Him (2 Corinthians 3:18)."---A.M.

"Knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:3).

MILES J. STANFORD
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VICTORIOUS VINEDRESSER

"No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteous-ness unto them who are exercised by it" (Hebrews 12:11).

Vision: The Word gives us the true picture of growth.
Verification: The Spirit gives us a taste thereof.
Vindication: The Lord Jesus, later, gives us maturity.

"A great mystery surrounds the spiritual growth of the hungry-hearted believer. The Spirit gives a foretaste of a deeper life before the believer is led into the fullness of it. Many believers mistake their foretaste for the fullness, not realizing that the Lord is just beginning to lead them in."

"The forwardness of nature is the failure of our youth---our spiritual youth, as well as our natural youth; eagerness to run in God's path, but not apprehending what the path is, or what it requires to walk in it. On the other hand, when the cost is counted, and our weakness known, the energy begotten of self-confidence being gone, we need a stimulat-ing call on God's part, to get out of the per-sistent occupation with our weakness now, as with our strength before."---F.W.G.

"Suffering is not meant by God to be loss and deprivation. Satan says that it is. God means suffering to result in increased spir-itual capacity, which is the basis of added responsibility, trust, and fruitful sharing. The branch of the vine may bleed from the drastic pruning and feel stripped of much glory; but more and better fruit is the vine- dresser's vindication."

"As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49).

MILES J. STANFORD

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RAISON D'ETRE

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace" (John 16:33).

Great will be the day when you come to re-alize that the sole reason for the existence of your Bible, your soul and your spirit is to
glorify---and share---the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The moment we begin to rest our peace on anything in ourselves, we lose it. And this is why so many saints have not settled peace. Nothing can be lasting that is not built on God alone. How can you have settled
peace? Only by having it in God's way. By not resting on anything, even the Spirit's work within, but on what the Lord Jesus has done entirely outside you. Then you will know peace---conscious unworthiness, but yet peace.

"In the Lord Jesus alone, God finds that in which He can rest concerning us, and so it is with His saints. The more you see the extent and nature of the evil that is within, as well as without, the more you will find that what the Lord Jesus is and did, is the only ground at all on which you can rest.

"Alas! the freedom which the Gospel brings may be used to take things east, and, more or less retain or gain in the world; but where this is the case, it is seldom a soul possesses any large measure of spiritual enjoyment, and it is never accompanied by solid peace. The soul becomes thus unsettled and uncertain. The oscillations may go on for a certain
time, until God carries on the work more deeply in the heart."

"As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God" (1 Peter 2:16).

MILES J. STANFORD
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TREASURE TROVE

"But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9).

The Spirit's ministry is to make Christ all to each.

"We are the objects of the continual care and discipline of our heavenly Father. If we walk after the flesh, instead of after the Spirit, this may call for His loving rebuke and chastening (child training); but that in no way interferes with the precious truth of our continual acceptance and position in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, by whose one offering we have been perfected forever.

"Through grace, we are not in the flesh, but in Christ, yet the flesh is in us; but our part is to reckon it as having been, before God and to faith, judicially put to death in Christ crucified, thus setting us free to be so con-stantly occupied with the triumphant Son of God, as to find all our resources, all our strength, all our springs, in Him."---H.H.S.

"If we have the Lord Jesus, we have all---without Him, we have nothing. You can be happy without money, without liberty, with-out parents, and without friends, if HE is yours. If you have not Christ, neither money, nor liberty, nor parents, nor friends can make you happy. Christ, with a chain, is liberty; liberty without Christ is a chain. Christ without anything is riches---all things, with-out Christ is poverty indeed."

"If children, then heirs---heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ---if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together' (Romans 8:17).

MILES J. STANFORD
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DIVINE LAYAWAY

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12).

In faith we apprehend the growth truths; in fact the Lord Jesus apprehends us for growth in those truths.

"I have been much struck by the thought of the hiddenness and slowness of God's workings. It must be a matter of distinct faith. If we do not understand this it will make us impatient. If we understand it will
teach us to rest in God and to yield ourselves all the more joyfully to Him to work out His purpose. In all creation time is the great perfecter of growth. So with us, God will perfect that which concerns us."

" 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness' (Romans 4:3) when his faith apprehended the promise of God; yet it was nearly 40 years after that this Scripture was fulfilled, when he offered his son. The faith had it apprehension and enjoyment for many a year before the work of faith.

"In proportion as the revelation is of God, in like measure must there be an answer to it sooner or later. Effect must follow cause. If the light has been received, the day will come that it must assert and obtain an expression of itself."

"Two glad services are ours, Both the Master loves to bless.
First we serve with all our powers, Then with all our helplessness."

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).

MILES J. STANFORD

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THE WORD'S WORD

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19).

The written Word is meant to reveal the Living Word, not to hide Him. Many know prophecy better than the Prophet. Our Father gave us His written Word that we might know His Son, not only as Saviour but as our very Life. "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

"The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of the believer's life. That is, it underlies our very relationship with God; it underlies all our growth in grace; it underlies every fragment of our service. There is noth-ing which comes within the compass of the life of the Christian which does not depend upon the knowledge of the Lord Jesus."
---T.A-S.

"Heart acquaintance with Christ is the secret of spiritual growth. One may know all the truths of the Bible, and yet be practically ignorant of the person of the Lord Jesus. It is possible to go back into the world with acquaintance with the scriptures, but it is virtually impossible to return thither with the scriptural acquaintance of Christ in the heart."

"The believer should have but one object; knowing Christ has laid hold of him for glory, his heart is running after Him. He is to have no other OBJECT, though he may have many things to do. The Lord Jesus is 'in all' be- lievers as the power of life, and He is 'all' as the object of that life. He is 'all and in all' (Colossians 3:11). And, 'all to Him I owe'."

"Having an high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:21, 22).

MILES J. STANFORD
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GRATUITOUS GRACE

"Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but under grace" (Romans 6:14)

.

Grace forsaken is freedom forfeited.

"In considering the whole testimony of the Bible, it is almost as important for the believer who would do the will of God to recognize that which does not concern him as it is for him to recognize that which does concern him.

"It is obvious that, apart from the knowledge of dispensational truth, the believer will not be intelligently adjusted to the present purpose and will of God in the world. Such knowledge alone will save him from assum- ing the hopeless legality of the dispensation that is past or from undertaking the impossible world transforming program belonging to the dispensation which is to come."---W.S.C.

"The Law of Moses is interrelated and wholly dependent on the sacrifices and ritual provided for Israel in the land. The laws of the kingdom (Sermon on the Mount) are only related to the future kingdom conditions which shall be in the earth under the power and presence of the King when Satan is bound, creation deliver-ed, and all shall know the Lord from the least unto the greatest."

"All harmony of truth is shattered when there is the slightest comin-gling of the principles of law and grace. Grace alone now reigns through Christ to the glory of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

"By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abun-dantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

MILES J. STANFORD
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LOVE'S LEGACY

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).

Ignorance insures insecurity; scriptural knowledge secures strength. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).

"In mechanics, wobbling is weakness. Power issues from God's restfulness. Are we rest-ing in the Lord? Can we wait patiently for Him to act? Anxiety reduces spiritual energy. Lack of rest of heart is one of the most serious hindrances to Christians.

"Fret of soul when wronged, or fuss over financial or other concerns, is a depletion of power, a dissipation of energy. From the rock basis of rest in Him we can put forth the whole of our energies. Perfect peace is our promised portion."

"Martha gets instruction; we all get that, for our Lord neglects none of us; but she did not get His company; company is what gives rest to the heart."

"Nothing can separate the believer from the love of God, and under no circumstances whatever can he come under the infliction of wrath from God. He may have to correct His saints for their sins, and where there has been no failure He may chasten (child train) them for their profit, that they may become partakers of His holiness; but all this is in love, not in wrath. Every action of God toward His saints is in grace and blessing; it is ever the outcome of His love."

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil.4:7).

MILES J. STANFORD
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PROFFERED PROVISION

"We have known and believed the love that God hath to us" (1 John 4:16).

The Spirit convicts us of sins that we may be convinced of God's cleansing. We do not deserve to be forgiven, but the Lord Jesus deserves to be trusted.

"We find the greatest difficulty often in bring-ing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? How can I take it to God? If it was suffering for righteousness' sake, then I would, but I am suffering for my sin; and can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them."

"Yes: the Lord Jesus has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. Will God judge us both? No; I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can justly meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ's work has been so perfectly done." ---J.N.D.

"The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. If in the light of the throne one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other likewise. This gives settled repose to the conscience. God Him-self has provided a remedy for all ruin which the light of His throne has revealed."

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

MILES J. STANFORD

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The power of God has set us free in Christ

PLUS, OR MINUS?

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6).

Grace PLUS Law = Death Grace MINUS Law= Life!

"Covenant theology, which has molded the major theological conceptions for many generations, recognizes no distinction as to ages, therefore can allow for no distinctions between law and grace. This dominating attitude of Covenantism must account for the utter neglect of life truth (growth) in all their works of theology.

"No more representative theological dictum from the Covenant viewpoint has been formed than the Westminster Confession of Faith, which valuable and important docu-ment recognizes life truth only to the point of imposing the Ten Commandments on Christians as their sole obligation, and in spite of the teachings of the New Testament which asserts that the Law was never given to Gentile or Christian."---L.S.C.

"While freeing believers from the bondage of Rome, the Protestant Reformation brought them back, in large measure, under the bond-age of Sinai. The Reformation took away one set of bindings, but bound the believers with another---and this has atrophied the spiritual life of multitudes."---D.G.B.

"Not a single cluster of living fruit ever was, or ever will be, culled from the tree of legal-ity. Law can only produce 'dead works,' from which we need to have conscience purged just as much as from 'wicked works.'"--C.H.M.

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1).

MILES J. STANFORD
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PROPER PRESENTATION

"The things that thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, that same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

Truth based upon law will be presented le-
gally---it will be legislated. Truth based upon grace will be shared graciously, in love. "Adorn the doctrine of God" by "speaking the truth in love" (Titus 2:10; Ephesians 4:15).

"There are two things that have to taken into account in communicating truth. Not merely should there be certainty that it is the truth from God, but it must also be suited truth to those whom you address. They might need
it all, but they may not be in condition to receive it; and the more precious the truth, the greater the injury, in a certain sense, if it is presented to those who are not in a state to profit by it."

"We are to serve under His direction, and according to His pleasure; not just because opportunity or need offers. We require His direction, and the knowledge of His pleasure, however favorable the opportunity or the
occasion. We see a servant in Acts 8 taken away from an interesting field of service, to meet one man in the desert. "It is not a question of how we succeed; but have we the assurance that we are doing the Lord's
pleasure? Happy is the servant who is so led by Him that he always presents the measure of truth suited to the state of souls, and refuses to supply the knowledge that puffeth up."

"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13).

MILES J. STANFORD

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TRUTH TRIUMPHANT!

"To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice" (John 18:37).

Arminianism's experience omits truth. Cove-nant Calvinism's legality chokes truth. Cross-centered Christianity's Christ-life is Truth!!

"Greater zeal for the salvation of sinners, and the amelioration of the condition of mankind, never was more manifested than at present (1850). This is ground of rejoicing to all the friends of the Gospel. But there is one un-happy symptom of the present times, with respect to Christianity. Zeal for the PURITY of divine truth has not kept pace with zeal for the salvation of sinners."---A.C.

"The semblance of love which does not maintain the truth, but accommodates itself to that which is not the truth, is not love according to God. In the last days the test of truth is the maintenance of the truth.

"God would have us love one another; but the Holy Spirit, by whose power we receive the divine nature, and who pours the love of God into our hearts, is the Spirit of TRUTH, and His office is to glorify Christ.

"Therefore it is impossible that a love which can put up with a doctrine that falsified Christ, or which is indifferent to anything that concerns His glory, can be of the Holy Spirit---still less so, if such indifference be set up as a proof of that love."

"In all things commending ourselves as the ministers of God. . . by the Word of Truth" (2 Corinthians 6:4, 7).

MILES J. STANFORD
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MANUALLY CONTROLLED

"Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them" (Colossians 2:15).

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanks-giving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:15-17). AMEN!

"The sovereignty of God is what alone gives rest to the Christian heart in view of a world full of evil, which is gone astray from Him. To know that after all, in spite of the rebellion of the creature, things are as absolutely in His hand as ever they were--this brings, and alone brings, full relief. Still He rules over all, and where evil cannot be turned to good, limits and forbids it; He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath (what would go beyond this) He re-strains (Psalms 76:10)."---F.W.G.

"People may quarrel with the sovereignty of God, but I love it, because I know enough about my natural bent and will to be sure that if left to myself I should have gone straight to perdition. Some believers talk about man's free will when they are on their feet, but all are firm believers in God's sovereignty when they get on their knees."---C.A.C.

"Human history is not in the grip of fate, but in the hands of Him Who was pierced for us on Calvary."---W.G.S.

"Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ (2 Cor. 2:14).

MILES J. STANFORD
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TRUTH, OR CONSEQUENCES

"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you" (1 John 2:14).

Experience may ratify, or it may repudiate, truth. The Word alone, to faith, is truth unalterable.

"If I allow the thought that what I am toward God will in some way or other affect what God is toward me, I shall be filled with the specter of Bondage. But when I see that what God is toward me is altogether the
outcome of what He is, and that He is this though knowing perfectly what I am, it puts my heart in the right direction for LIBERTY."---C.A.C.

No, No No Bondage, please.

"God speaks to us according to His estimate of our standing, our position; it may not be our heart's experience. There is a distinct-ness between the operation of the Spirit of God in bringing me unto the LordJesus, bearing witness to me of God's love, and of the efficacy of what Christ has done---and His operation in my soul to produce the image of His Son.

I have that Liberty , feels so good

"That which is the subject of experience is what is produced in my soul, whereas that which gives me peace is His testimony to the work and life of Christ. A Christian who doubts the Father's love to him, and who
looks for peace to that which passes in his own heart, is doubting God's truth. The Word is the revelation God has given of Himself; it displays the love of God toward us, and what is in His heart. I can trust the
declaration of what is in God's heart, and not what I think of myself."---J.N.D.

"If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:6).

MILES J. STANFORD
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PERSONIFICATION

"God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction" (Genesis 41:52).

To share what we have may minister tempo-rarily to the physical; but to minister to the spiritual in an eternal way we must share what we are, and that calls for growth in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"We can only comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God. Others can only really be helped by what has been the power of life in the would-be helper.

"Information, by itself, however correct and orthodox, however strongly held in convic-tion and passed on in passion, will lack an essential and indispensable quality or value for spiritual constitution.

"Hence it has ever been God's way to raise up a vessel, personal or corporate, in which His message has been wrought by fiery ordeal. The messenger must not only have the message in him, but he must be in the mess- age; not only in mind and feeling, but in experience and being." ---T.A-S.

"We really can only come into the reality of things by being 'pressed out of measure' (2 Corinthians 1:8). So the Lord has to take much time to make our spiritual history. When at length our eyes are open, we cry,
'O, why did I not see it before!' But every-thing else had to prove insufficient before we could really be shown, and that takes time."

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).

MILES J. STANFORD
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EDIFYING EQUILIBRIUM

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15).

There should be neither undergrowth, nor overgrowth, but balanced growth. Spiritual equilibrium alone will bring forth much fruit both in us and in others.

"A popular notion that the first obligation of the Church is to spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. The first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it...to spread an effete (worn out) and degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the Great Commission."

"We were created for more than our own spiritual development; reproduction, not mere development, is the goal to mature being---reproduction in other lives. There is a tendency in some characters, running parallel to the high cultivation that spends its whole energy on the production of bloom at the expense of seed.

"The flowers that are bent on perfecting them-selves, by becoming double,end in barren-ness, and a like barrenness comes to the soul whose interests are all concentrated upon its own spiritual well-being, heedless of the needs around. The true, ideal flower, is the one that uses its gifts as means to an end; the brightness and sweetness are not for its own glory; they are but to attract the bees and butterflies that will fertilize and make it fruitful." ---L.T.

"Holding forth the Word of Life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain" (Philippians 2:16).

MILES J. STANFORD
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ATTENTION

"Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy 8:11).

Our Father would be free to favor us with far more of His riches in Christ Jesus if we would keep more in mind that grace is un-merited favor---so that "He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy" (Romans 9:23).

"It seems so natural, when one is surrounded with blessings, and thus sensible of being an object of divine favor, that the eye is turned from God to oneself; for when God is before one, self gets no place, though there be the deepest awareness of His favor.

"Hence it is the saint who is the object of the greatest favor who needs to be on his guard, that he allow not his eye to rest on himself where the favors are sent, but on God from whom they come. If his eye turns to himself because of the favor, then the favor has been the means of turning his heart from God to a mere gift of His."

"If there be a growing up into the measure of the stature of Christ, there must be a con-scious refusal of that which would tend to revive or invigorate the old nature. The saint is not only a new creature to grow into the likeness of the Lord Jesus, but he has to watch and beware lest the things he has to do with should in any way minister to another will in him, which would divert him from God to himself. Self is the circle and center of man's mind in his fallen state; but when Christ is formed in the soul, God is the center and source of everything."---J.B.S.

"For we...worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confi-dence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).

MILES J. STANFORD
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NO CROSS, NO CHRIST!

"Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27).

One hears much today about "body life," with its emphasis upon New Testament gathering, rather than Christ-centered growth. The Body is meant to manifest the Head, and that necessitates spiritual members.

"Where there is no Cross there is no life, and no ministry of life. The object of suffering is that there may be a full and abundant minis-try. ..ill treat our bodies. The Holy Spirit Him-self takes responsibility for our experience, leading us in paths where we encounter, in body, heart, or spirit, that measure of 'the dying of Jesus' that will mean enrichment
of our ministry."

"There are many today who seem to think that it is all or largely a matter of the order, technique, and form, and if we are to return to the 'New Testament' form or order of churches all would be well. The fact is that, while certain things characterize the New Testament churches, the Word does not give us a complete pattern according to which churches are to be formed!

"There is no blueprint for churches in the New Testament and to try to form such churches is only to create another system which may be as legal, sectarian and dead as others. Churches, like the Church, are
organisms which spring out of life, which
life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers. Unless believers are crucified people, there can be no true expression of the Church."---T.A-S.

MILES J. STANFORD
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DEAD MEN DON'T SIN

Freedom begins and ends at the cross of Christ. It was at Calvary that the penalty for our sin was dealt with once and for all. It was there that Christ was punished on our behalf in order that we might be free of sin's debt. But something else took place at the cross that equally effects our freedom. Not only was the penalty of sin dealt with that day, but the power of sin as well. Christ's death and resurrection marked the end of sin's power to control the believer. Just as sin could not control the Son of God, so it is powerless to control those who have been place into Christ through faith.
Unfortunately, many who would nod in agreement with the above statement are any-thing but free experientially. They are still slaves to the same habits and sin that plag-ued them in their pre-Christian days. There is no victory over sin. There is little joy. Consequently, there is little reason to keep struggling. And so for many believers their motto becomes "Well, nobody's perfect."
God does not intend for us to continue to live as slaves to sin. The message of the cross is freedom from sin--both its penalty and its power. While it is true that we will always be temptable, it is not true that we must give in to temptation. The moment you were saved, you were given new life--Christ's life. You died to your old life; a life domin-ated by the power and lure of sin. Your new life is the same life that enable Christ to walk this earth for three years without sinning. It is the very life that enabled him to walk out of the grave unaffected by death. On the day you were born again, you became a new person with a brand new potential in regard to sin and death.
To make this historical and theological truth a reality we must appropriate it. That is, we must accept it as fact and act on it. As long as we are convinced to the contrary, we will continue to live as slaves.
Have you acknowledged your freedom from sin's power? Have you been claiming it? Or have you been relying on your feelings as in-dicators of your relationship to sin? Your feelings will tell you that nothing has chang-ed; everything is as it has always been.
But God says you are different. He says you are dead to sin, and dead people are free from the power of sin. Who will you choose to believe today?

AUTHOR UNKNOWN TO ME
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Amen. Freed from sin's penalty at the cross, freed from sin's power in the present, and freed from sin's presence in glory. :)

"With Christ"

There is a well-known Negro spiritual which begins with these words: 'Were you there when they crucified my Lord?' The immediate answer is 'No, I wasn't there,' But after deeper reflec-tion we have to answer differently. 'Yes, I was there --in the person of Jesus Christ.'
'How do you arrive at that?' we inquire. The Word of God -- especially in Paul's epistles -- sets forth a marvelous truth. It centers in another 'big-little' word. This word is 'with.' When Christ was crucified, we were crucified 'with Him.' When Christ died, we died 'with Him.' When He was buried, we were buried 'with Him.' Then when He arose from among the dead, we were raised 'with Him.' When He ascended and passed through the heavens, we ascended 'with Him.' When he took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on High, we were seated together 'with Him' When He appears in His glory, we will also 'appear with Him in glory.' Then the promise is that if we 'endure, we shall also reign with Him' (2 Timothy 2:12).
Now all of this speaks not so much of our union with Christ as our association with Christ. We were 'with Him' in His death, burial, resurrection and enthronement. We are 'with Him' in His glorified life now. We shall be 'with Him' in the ages to come. This is glorious 'positional truth.' But what about the experiential side of this blessed truth? How does this affect my daily life here on earth?

It means that by faith, based on the divine facts. I reckon myself to have died with Christ unto sin and 'the elements of the world' (Romans 6:2,11, Colossians 2:20); to have been buried with Christ in death (Colossians 2:12); to have been 'quickened together with Christ' (Ephesians 2:1,5); to have been 'raised up together' with Christ (Eph. 2:6); to have been 'made to sit to-gether in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Ephesians 2:6). God has already accomplished these feats, and it is up to each one of us to believe what God has spoken and to rest upon them!

Then it also means that I presently share in the very life of Christ. We are 'saved in His life' (Romans 5:10). We have been called 'into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord' (1 Corinthians 1:9). This involves communing with Him, meditating in His Word of Truth, engaging in praise and prayer and drawing wisdom, grace and strength from Him. It means also not only to suffer for Him, but to 'suffer with Him' (Romans 8:17). Only His grace can enable us to do this since we naturally are averse to suffering. But what eternal rewards will be ours if we do so!

Finally, it means to walk with Him 'in newness of life.' 'How can two walk together, except they be agreed?' (Amos 3:3) As we daily 'trust and obey,' we can walk together in every circumstance, and experience what one hymn writer states, 'It is glory just to walk with Him!' Are you not only 'in Christ' but 'with Christ' today?

Pastor Paul Hume
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THE DEEPER LIFE

There is much in the Word of God relative to a closer walk with the Lord Jesus. To be exact as to Scriptural reference, I would like to submit a few: Ephesians 6:10, 'Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.'; 2 Peter 3:18, 'But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,'; John 10:10 , 'I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,'; Romans 12:2, 'And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.'

Beloved Christian, there is more than just being saved from something. Thank God we are saved to Someone. Salvation is not some sort of spiritual mechanism by which you are automatically escalated from one spiritual floor to another. Salvation is a spiritual romance with our beloved Savior. It is a walk of love. It is not a religious endurance con-test. Do we really love Christ Jesus? Do we love His companionship? Do we want to know Him better? Paul prayed, 'That I may know him...' Phil. 3:10.

Personally I have no time for a supercilious 'holier than thou' attitude. God doesn't either -- see Isaiah 65:5. Don't be fooled. This is not a deeper life. That life is usually composed of negatives -- don't - don't - don't. This is the devil's counterfeit. However, there is life of sweet and spiritual composure that bears testimony of a spirit-filled (controlled) life. We all need this badly. Will you, dear friend, pray with me relative to this matter? Let's not wear any badges or labels. Let's just show it by ministry in the many aspects of Christ's call-ing. Let's be prayer meeting saints; let's give Christ our talents; let's not get under the load. 'But be filled (controlled) with the spirit.' Eph. 5:18.

Amen and love,
Pastor Lloyd Peterson
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Quote from: Allinall on November 03, 2003, 05:33:09 AM

Quote

Amen. Freed from sin's penalty at the cross, freed from sin's power in the present, and freed from sin's presence in glory. :)

And Amen Bro

Brother Love :)

Quote from: Allinall on November 03, 2003, 05:33:09 AM

Quote

Amen. Freed from sin's penalty at the cross, freed from sin's power in the present, and freed from sin's presence in glory. :)

Thank You Jesus
AAAAAAAAAAAMEN

On Earth But Also In Heaven!

Someone asked another person who professed faith in Jesus Christ, 'What earthly good are you for heaven's sake?' You've heard it a hundred times about being 'so heavenly minded so as to be no earthly good.' 'Yet, it is terribly possible on the other hand to be 'so earthly minded and no heavenly good.'

The true believer in Christ Jesus today is rather an odd person! By that we mean that he is, in a sense, to have his head in heaven and his feet on earth! Look at Paul's line of reasoning about this in his Epistle to the Colossians, Paul writes: 'If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourselves to decrees...?' (Colossians 2:20.) Then follow Paul on into the next chapter: 'If (since) then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set our mind on the things above, not on things which are upon the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.'

The point of Paul's words seem to be that true believers in Christ have died (judicially) with Christ. They have experienced a spiritual resurrection insomuch that their life is 'hid with Christ in God.' Where is Christ? He is seated at the right hand of God.' So every believer is, in a very real sense, in heaven - - right now!

Another passage makes this clear: 'But God...made us alive together with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Ephesians 2:4,5,6). This seems so fantastic that it couldn't be real. But it is! We may not feel this truth very often, but we surely can believe it! By faith, resting upon the veracity of God's Word of Truth, we know we have been, as the hymn writer has stated:

'In the Beloved' Accepted am I,
Risen, ascended, and seated on high;
Saved from all sin thro' His infinite grace,
With the redeemed ones accorded a place.
'In the Beloved,' God's marvelous grace
Calls me to dwell in this wonderful place;
God sees my Savior and then He sees me;
'In the Beloved,' accepted and free.'

Now the truth of Philippians 3:20 becomes all the more bright: 'For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But then going back to Paul's exhortations in Colossians 3, we find him being very 'earthly' to his advice. He says, 'Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry (3.5) He speaks about our 'earthly body,' or 'our members which are upon earth.' Physically and bodily we are very much in this world and on this earth. But spiritually we are in heaven!

This is why the Apostle goes on in Colossians 3 to explain what a heavenly life is in a hell-like world! He goes on to tell us how to live a heaven-controlled life personally, domestically and vocationally every day. Meditate upon Colossians 3:5-4:6, and even commit it to memory. And let's gear our lives each day to keep in tune with heaven - where our real Life is - so that we'll be more earthly good.

Pastor Paul Hume
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Fellowship In The Gospel

In writing the church at Philipi Paul said, "I thank my God...for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Phil. 1:3,5. What does fellowship mean? Dr. Harry Ironside illustrated it by picturing a team of horses pulling together. The word itself means partnership. It implies working together with a common goal in mind. There are various aspects of fellowship. There is the possibility of sweet and wholesome communion while working together.

When we were boys and working together in the field we didn't spend all our time talking about the work we were doing. While we were doing that work we exchanged ideas, planned our recreation, told stories and debated. This was fun too; it helped us to pass the time as we labored and to make the burden of the day lighter. Fellowship is so important to all of us as Christian. We need to get together and have some of the other folk share life with us and we with them.

Man in a sense is a triumvirate, that is, an association of three in the governing forces of life Genesis 2:7 says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." To me this is Body, Soul and Spirit. Dust of the ground - Body; Breath of Life - Spirit, and living soul (union of body and spirit) -Soul. Daily we care for the body by feeding, washing and repairing it. The spirit is cared for too if we are right with God. This is done by the ministry through the Word of God. Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4.

What about the soul? Can its needs be met by physical culture or spiritual exercise? Indeed it cannot. There is therefore the need to care for the soul. In my way of thinking this is done by fellowship; the communion with fellow Christians. It does us all good to become acquainted with each other. The exchange of ideas, the expression of convictions concerning life, to get the other fellow's slant on life, the making known of burdens and problems, spiritual an economic, to gain the attention and sympathies of others. This is good and wholesome for us all. Do you want me to prove it to you? Doesn't it make you feel better to know your friends have problems financially as well as you do? Really now, wouldn't you hate to be the only person in your circle of friends having mortgage on your property? It may not really be right in a deeper sense to 'feel good' because your close friend is paying installments of his car, but it sure goes for encouragement. This may all seem trite but it is only to illustrate that we need fellowship as Christians in order to learn how goals are gained, problems are solved and trials are endured. We need one another more than we know. Should you be a person inclined to shut yourself off from the rest of the world, break the spell or habit, meet with fellow Christians for pure, good, clean and wholesome fellowship. The early Christians did, why not today? God forbid that we as a church should ever major in socials. This is not our calling. We are called of the Lord to 'peach the gospel.' However, in the preaching of the gospel there necessitates in our program a place for expression and communion relative to the soul. We can thus better pray for, sympathize with and encourage one another in our pulling together in the matters that are spiritual and eternal. Thus, should your class in Bible School or circle of friends in any auxiliary of the church meet for fellowship, be sure to meet with them. May God our Heavenly Father guide us in our spiritual programming that in all things we may please Him.

Amen and love,
Pastor Lloyd Peterson

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WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?
Acts 9:6

These are the words of repentant Saul on the road to Damascus. These words are fitting for any Christian as well. In fact, I think it is a good question to ask of God and then look to His Word for the answer. There are so many misconceived ideas as to what our Heavenly Father expects or desires the child of God to do. I'm not thinking so much of the Chris-tian's calling as I am the Christian's service in that calling relative to soul winning.

I have heard preachers, evangelists, etc. remark that unless a person has led someone to Christ they doubt the person's salvation. This sin-cerity is appreciated and thank the Lord for such a sincere and passionate desire to lead someone to Christ. Yet the Word of God does not teach such a doctrine. I've often said, and I suppose I'll go on saying it, 'I've had the joy of leading so and so to Christ.' Well, when you really look at the Word and think it over carefully, can we know who the instrument really was? Do you remember what Jesus said about His experience in Samaria? He said to them, 'And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth, I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.' John 4:37, 38.

God does let some choice vessels enter into the labors of others. It's a joy if a person has the privilege to bring someone to a climactic decision. However, the reward is shared and the greater portion is certainly for him who labored.

Why am I writing thus? Well, to seek to show that what God expects of us is to be faithful. He wants us to serve honestly, naively and faithfully in the errands He sends us on. He never says 'bring me so much fruit.' My father used to send me to the field for certain labors. Often I was in the field alone. And those fields to my boyish eyes were so horribly large. I thought , 'I'll just never cover this ground. I can never finish the job.' I used to get so discouraged, especially if it were the job of pulling mustard out of the grain fields. I hated that task. It seemed that the weeds grew faster than I could pull them. However, I can never recall that my father gave me so much ground to cover - or else! He just wanted me to be faithful. Do what you can with what tools you have. And so, be-loved that's all our heavenly Father wants. Just faithfulness. He could have made you with much greater abilities if He had so chosen. But He didn't. So let's never be discouraged if we are sure that we are faithful.

We have seen folk come to Christ here at church and it has been brought about by a faithful naive ministry of our members. Don't be discouraged where God has called you to labor. Just be truly faithful. We all have different gifts. Maybe yours is just to smile to encourage and strengthen another's heart. Maybe it's to labor behind the scenes. God keeps the books. He knows your heart. Don't weep if you feel you have never led a soul to Christ; as long as you are sure you've been faithful, you surely have. Maybe God let some-one enter into your labors. How wonderful!

May God make us one great team at our church - this is my prayer.

Amen and love,
Pastor L. Peterson
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The Difficulty Of Choice

In Joshua's last charge to Israel he said "Choose you this day whom ye will serve," Joshua 24:15 Strange as it may seem, Joshua was not asking the people to choose between his God and the gods of the pagan, "gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell." Were these people really regenerate; that is, had they come to know the Lord as a Christian knows his heavenly Father today? Had they really known the Lord, I don't think they would have had this charge put to them. Joshua had no trouble in the matter. He said, "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The world of unbelief is really to be pitied. I don't think we really realize their depraved position. It is so easy for me to judge a per-son for not surrendering to the Lord. I have visited families where there has been a tremendous need; in fact, the situation has been so desperate that only one thing and absolutely one could salvage the situation. That is a surrender of themselves to God. Usually, if not always, this is the last thing that they will consider. Any other plan that might be offered, from psychiatric treatment to a change of environment and social habitat, is usually considered; but a choice between the gods of this world and the God of the universe, that's out! Why is this so? As a Christian you ask, "Oh, why won't people choose the Lord for He gives so much and is the real answer to every problem?" There are reasons and we should know them. If we could get a true picture of Adam before the fall and Adam after the fall, then we would understand. When sin entered the nature of man it did something to him. Self was altered, twisted and warped. Self lies in the way.

I like very much what J. Gregory Mantle says about this, He says, "Self is the essence of personality." There are three elements in human personality -- the judgment, the affections and will. All these constituents of our selfhood have been corrupted and dis-located by the Fall. The judgment is not to be relied upon. It puts darkness for light and light for darkness. It has lost its proper estimate of values, and is set on gaining the world to the loss of the soul. The affection is depraved, seeking the things below rather than the things above. Its tendrils are turned earthward rather than heavenward. It loves the world and prefers it to the love of the Father. The will has lost its regal power, strong when it should be weak; and it is weak "when it ought to be strong. It says 'no' when it ought to say 'yes' and 'yes' when it ought to say 'no.' The egotist is a pitiable creature. The whole foreground of his picture is dominated by one sinister figure - SELF. The capital 'I' stands out everywhere! Man has to make a choice every day. He has but one nature or power from which to receive his directions--and that is from self-nature. Naturally, yes, just as natural as it is for us to get hungry and as natural for us to live in atmosphere rather than out of it; so natural it is for an unregenerate person to make a choice contrary to God. The natural person today wants gods. It is only a matter of choice between gods: Eddyism, Unity, Ruthrfordism, liberalism, modernism or what have you? That is why Joshua said "Choose between the gods" The true child of God will choose as Joshua did. The lesson in this whole matter is this: as Christians we should be thankful that we 'were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.' We should remember that somebody prayed for us before our salvation. I'm sure there were those who were wise enough to realize that we were 'dead in trespasses and sins' and they pitied us when we made some choices we did. Hence, we should pray for the un-converted. I think I know a little about His word but how and why he works is often a mystery to me.

But l do know He has asked me to pray for the unsaved and at His leading to invite them to make a choice and He will, at and in His time, quicken the mind that is dead. How thankful we should be that we have a new nature and IF we surrender our wills to His, our choice will always be 100% perfect.

Amen and love,
Pastor L. Peterson
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The Stillness of Trust
by Philip E. Howard, Jr.

For getting that God is still on the throne brings along a train of troubles. It is possible - in fact, it is almost a fad among some Christians - to spend entirely too much thought on the awful state of the world and to be continually wondering "what we are coming to." If we let our thoughts run too far on this gloomy theme it is but a step to thinking (unconsciously perhaps) that we could do a better job in the management of this world if only we had the chance! Of course, no believer would dare to say this openly, and would be shocked if he found himself giving reign to such thoughts; but an inch of anxiety soon grows into a yard of distrust.

Then, if we begin to count up the things that appear to go wrong in one day or one week in our personal lives, we very soon fall into a state of complaint and fretfulness that scatters our peace of mind to the winds. We say to ourselves, "If this hadn't happened and if that hadn't happened, I could have done thus and so; and since I can't, what is the use of even trying to do things well?" There is also the danger of blaming other people or "second causes," instead of believing that God had a purpose in allow- ing certain things to happen. The Forty-sixth Psalm is a good antidote for this state of mind, and it pays to read it over slowly, meditatively and prayer-fully. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"- always with us in time and space, so that we never need to wait for a special place or time to seek for His help. The "river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High," is a picture of the water of life, always available to refresh the one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. Twice we are reminded that "the Lord of hosts is with us." World-shaking conditions are described and we are invited to "come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolation's he hath made in the earth." Finally, against the back-ground of the world's, tumult, there is this quieting word, as refreshing and sparkling as the dew at sunrise on a summer morning: "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

It is as though God were saying to us: "Stop talking for a while and listen quietly to My Word; leave the government of the world to Me, for the day is coming when 'the govern-ment shall be upon his shoulder,' when the Prince of Peace shall rule in righteousness. And in regard to your own life, don't even try to manage every detail of every day, but commit the hours of each day to Me and really believe that I am working in you and for you. Cast all your care upon Me, for I do care for you, I love you for the sake of my beloved Son.

It is wonderful to see how obeying this com-mand will relieve the tension in the taut strings of our nerves, as when a violinist loosens the four strings of his instrument when he puts it away. Hear Him saying now to you, "Be still, and know that I am God."

Amen and love,
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Fulfilled And Filled Full
by Charles Wages

"That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." (Col.4:12).

Man never finishes anything! Only God can bring something or someone to complete-ness or a "full end." That fact certainly leaves "man"out of creation and the "new" creation. In other words, "man" had nothing to do with the creation of the heavens and earth (Gen. 1:1), or with salvation (the "new creation") (2 Cor 5:17).
Because of the "riches of His Grace," we have been forgiven. We have been completely for-given of all our sins. Colossians 2:13 reads,

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircum-cision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses:"

Previous to being redeemed or "forgiven all sins" we were considered "dead" according to God's laws and standards. However, God has "quickened" (made alive) us together with Christ.
He has "fulfilled" the law (Rom. 8:2) Romans 10:4 tells us that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." This means that our Lord has fulfilled every demand of the law (Old Testament). The be-lieving sinner has been declared righteous through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24).
What God begins He is able to finish! In the very beginning God intended for His creation to be perfect and that is exactly what it was. The garden of Eden was a perfect place. There were no sins, no struggles, no suffer-ing. A perfect environment for perfect people. Did the entrance of sin through the Devil abrogate, destroy, and deter God's ultimate plan for His original creation? The answer is no. In His own time we will see His plan completed. In 2 Peter 3:13, we read,

"Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous-ness."

Just like the first perfect "man," Adam, be-came imperfect through sin, the whole of God's creation has felt the detrimental effect. Yet, God's great plan was to bring the perfect "man," Christ, into the world to make "new" all who would believe in Him. This perfect man, the man Christ Jesus, by His perfect sacrifice for sin make all who believe in Him to be "new creations" ( 2 Cor. 5:17-19).
From the human standpoint, it appears as if God's great plan for humankind and His physical creation has been dealt a death blow. Man surmises "God started something He can't finish!" What about the salvation He freely bestows upon all who believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ? Remember, God never begins anything He can't bring to completion, fulfillment, fruition, or "end." Please read Colossians 2:10 and then Philippians 1:6.

"And ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power."

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Our first parents, Adam and Eve, inherited a perfect or complete environment unspoiled by sin and degradation. Their failure, in yield-ing to Satan's temptation, did not mean God's great plan failed. God sees the end from the beginning and the ultimate or com-pletion of His plan and purpose (Rom. 8:28).
Difficult for our finite minds to comprehend? Yes, but not difficult for God. In fact, if we believe God's Word, it becomes understand-able. However, we may never fully understand while on earth, but we can believe it! A con-scientious, careful reading of Romans 8:28-29 will do wonders in opening the eyes of our understanding and allow us to praise Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. What privilege, what hope, what encouragement to know we have been saved to serve the Awe-some, Almighty God. He is able and will finish all that He begins! We can say what the apostle Paul said of his trust in God.

"For the which cause also suffer these things: neverthe-less I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

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The Lord Knoweth

Part One

In a time when we are told that the "body of knowledge" is increasing with every giant step forward, we must be brought back to our senses and recognize that only God is omnis-cient. We must remember and acknowledge Romans 11:33-36,

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how un-searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen"

One of the ways man has tried to extend his natural knowledge is to delve into the human mind. Things psychological have taken on added interest and popularity. Something for all of us to keep in mind is that,

THE LORD KNOWETH THE THOUGHTS OF MAN

Psalms 94:11 reads, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity." It is interesting and enlightening to see this Scripture given prominence by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:20, where it reads, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." It has just been stated previously that, "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." We ask ourselves the penetrating question, What will we learn if we can read the mind and thoughts of mortal man? No doubt, a lot of foolish and vain information. People today speak of "brainwashing ," "programming and deprogramming the mind," "blowing the mind" and "psychological readings" through dream or ink blot interpretation. Even if this became a "science," what would we learn? That man's thoughts are vain, that they are foolish that they are deceitful, and that they are confused.
Yet, through it all, the gracious Lord knowing our thoughts, can straighten and stretch our minds with the wonderful wisdom of the Word. If we would earnestly heed Philippians 4:5-9, we would have a first class spiritual lesson on how to think. In any event, we should guard our thinking habits carefully, knowing that the Lord knoweth our thoughts.
We should also be consciously aware of the truth that,

THE LORD KNOWETH THE WAYS OF MAN

It was Job of old who said inspiringly, "But he knoweth the way that I take; when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). In fact, in 34:21, it is stated, "For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings." If one would attempt to trace and study all the references to this tremen-dous truth found in Job and Psalms, it would take a lifetime.

We should all be familiar with the statement in Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." An example of this is called in Jude 11, "the way of Cain." God looked upon the offering of Cain and rejected it. Why? Because it was the work or effort of sinful man to try to gain God's favor. This erroneous effort by Cain has become the basis for most of the religious dogma that has arisen through the centuries to the present. Man has tried in every age to work for his salvation, but God knowing man's thoughts and man's ways, has rejected them. We must ever keep in front of our minds and hearts, that our Lord Jesus said,

"I am the way, the truth, and the life;
No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me." (John 14:6)

Charles Wages
Part Two Friday
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The Lord Knoweth
Part two

The Lord Knoweth Our Days

In Psalms 37:18, David was led to say,

"The Lord knoweth the
days of the upright; and
their inheritance shall
be forever."

Yes, it must be true that the Lord knows how long we will live here on this present planet. But of more importance is how we live while here. In other words, the quality of our days is more important than the quantity of our days.
The days of our life are described in many vivid and interesting ways in Scripture. For instance in Psalms 90:9, it remorse-fully remarks, "For all our days are passed away in thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told." And another that is even more repre-sentative of our lesson is found in Psalms 144:4, "Man is liken to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away."
Yet, though all this seeming gloom and despair, God, who knoweth our days, can take the days of our lives and make them meaningful and useful for His glory! Every day can be a day of gladness and glory if we let Him have his way in our day!
Then, to the believing saint, there is no more comforting and heartwarming truth than that.

The Lord Knoweth Them That are His

In 2 Timothy 2:19, we read,

"Nevertheless the
foundation of God
standeth sure, having
this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are
His, and let every one
that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity."

The Lord doesn't just "know" us as so many names in a book, or numbers in computers. No, he knows us in a personal, loving way. No man will ever really know how God knows! However, we can appreciate a few of these ways. For instance, Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 12:29-30, "And seek ye not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of a doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after; and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things." O course, He went on to say, "But rather seek ye first the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." The gracious Lord knows that we need first spiritual things and then material things. Paul said, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus " (Phil. 4:19).
The Lord knows that our lives are full of trials and testings. Surely, we have all felt some-times, as if there was no way out of difficul-ties that beset us. But, we can take courage in the truth that,

The Lord Knoweth How to Deliver

I Corinthians 10:13, reads,

"There hath no
temptation (trial) taken
you but such as is
common to man, but
God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye
are able; but will with
the temptation also
make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear it."

Deliverance is a continuous process with God. Paul in writing to Corinthian believers, shows the three-fold tense of God's deliver-ance. He wrote,

"Who delivered (past)
us from so great a
death, and doth deliver
(present); in whom we
trust that he will yet
deliver (future) us."

Yes, the Lord knows everything about everything. He also knows everything about everyone! But how ignorant man is in all his natural knowledge. The following dialogue will humorously illustrate.
A preacher, while driving through the country stopped and said to a farmer by the road, "Are you a Christian?" The farmer said "No, I am a Jones, Christian lives down the road about a mile and to the left about a quarter mile." "No, you don't understand," said the preacher. "Are you lost?" "Nope," replied the farmer, "I've lived here going on 43 years, and know every nook and cranny hereabouts." The preacher scratching his head, said, "Are you ready for the judgment?" Jones answer-ed, "No, when is it ?" Disgusted, the preacher finally said, "For you, it may be Tuesday or Wednesday. "Good," said the farmer Jones, "I'll tell my wife, she will want to go both days!"
Ignorance is not always bliss, as some say, but is serious business in regards to one's destiny. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Saviour? He knows your heart, He knows your thoughts, He knows your ways.

"Trust in the Lord with
all thine heart. Lean not
unto thine own
understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy
paths." (Prov. 3:5-6)

Charles Wages
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THANKSGIVING TO GOD
By: Charles W. Wages

"Let us come before His presence with thanks-giving and make a joyful noise to Him with Psalms." (Psalms 95:2)

Thanksgiving is not a solar day, but an attitude of heart that leads to the act of prayer and praise. Only genuine redeemed people can really pray and praise the Lord for His goodness and blessings.

Thanks to the Lord in Prayer can be of a private nature. For example, read about Daniel in Dan, 6:10 which accounts of his stalwart faith and trust in God, even in a foreign and strange land: "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house; and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before God, as he did aforetime."

Thanks in conversation with God can be of a public nature as well as private. The Psalmist David, saw the great need to praise God "among much people." He felt this would be of great benefit, not only to him, but to all who hear, brethren, and enemies alike.

"I will give thee thanks in the great congre-gation; I will praise thee among much people." Psalms 35:18

Sometimes, we are all prone to give thanks to the Lord for what He has done for us personally. Often times, this thanks is given for material things. However, it is even possible to become selfish in our own spiritual matters.

We should be thankful for the salvation of others from the penalty and power of sin. Romans 6:17 reads: "But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."

Prayer can come from our hearts, but directed to God in response to the salvation of the lost, wher-ever and whenever they turn to God and are set free from the death penalty of sin.

Believers should thank God for the faith exhibit-ed by other believers. Paul put this right at the beginning of his list of thanksgivings. In showing gratitude and praise for the saints at Rome, he exclaimed: "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." (Romans 1:18)

We should never get to the place of thinking there are no faithful and loving people anywhere but on our own doorstep. God has His people everywhere and we should pray that they will be encouraged and endowed with great faith what-ever their position or condition in this world.

We often remark that "grace is God's unmerited favor bestowed upon helpless sinners." Paul was thankful for the Corinthian believers. He was so thankful for this grace shown to these saints that he saluted them by writing, "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 1:4)

Thanks should be given to God for earnest Christians who can care enough for fellow human beings to move with enthusiasm and dispatch in providing help to the needy. That need might be spiritual, or material. In 2 Cor. 8:6, Paul commended the brother Titus for his zeal and care in personally accepting and carrying out an act of mercy to others---"But
thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward of his own accord, he went unto you."

Yes, thanksgiving can be expressed by every child of God every day in many ways. It is meaningful in our own behalf, but becomes more meaningful and graceful when shown for others in their salvation, faith, grace, and zeal to serve.

"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth." (2 Thessalonians 1:3.)

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MY FATHER REIGNS!

"Put on the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:11a).

My sovereign Father gives me a subservient Satan.

"Our Father has better thoughts for us than a portion here. He is educating us for a bless-ed and eternal rest, free from evil and all that
could cause it, and He is bent on the blessing of His children; and moreover He is bound by His holiness to purge us suitably (though most graciously) for the place He has called us to. How often He lets Satan do this pain-ful work, and try to sift us as Job! But the Father's hand and will are behind it all. He gives His saints up to Satan's hand to a
certain point, but only so far as to bring the heart fully to a bearing before Himself." ---J.N.D.

"It is a wonderful thing to see the way in which through the overruling power of the Father, the efforts of Satan against His people only bring them out the more distinctly in their own place of blessing."

"We cannot judge God's ways without judg-ing God: we may not love Him in His ways, but the moment we judge or question that which He has revealed, we get above God, we make ourselves gods, and we put Him in the place of the creature as subject to us. This brings our souls under the power of everyone that is more clever than ourselves; we are in their hands, and they can do what they please with us.

"Now the devil is more clever than we are. Therefore we ought to keep God ever in His place of God in our souls, lest Satan should make gods of us, and set us judging God Himself. If God be displaces, we get into the
place of those who are irresponsible, and as creatures the prey of any more cunning than ourselves."---J.N.D.

"That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11b).

MILES J. STANFORD
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Why Is Heaven Silent?

by John D. LaVier

After the tragic event of September 11th just one ago, we often hear the question "Where was God?" or "Why did God allow this to happen?" The believer knows that God is still on His eternal throne, that He is sovereign, and nothing happens apart from His direct or permissive will, but for a season He has with-drawn from this earthly scene. He does in-deed work on behalf of His own, and other-wise as well, but He acts covertly and His action seen only with the eye of faith. Bloody wars take place among the nations, thou-sands perish from famine, flood, earthquake and storm, but no voice or action is heard from above. In one of Sir Robert Anderson's books the opening words are: "A silent heaven is the greatest mystery of our existence."
What is the answer to this mystery? For two thousand years the heavens have been silent and this is strange when we compare it with Old Testament times. God was then dealing with the Hebrew nation and they saw marve-lous displays of His person and power. He brought them out of slavery, making a path through the sea, and for forty years He fed them and led them and brought them into the land of promise with mighty victories over all their foes. Isaiah saw the Lord; Daniel fell at His feet; angels walked to and fro in the land; God fought for His people; heaven was not silent.
When Israel is enjoying the favor of God the heavens are open, but when Israel is in dis-favor with God the heavens are silent. Be-tween the two testaments, when Israel was being judged for their sins, there was a period of time which is often referred to as "the four hundred silent years." God spoke His last word through Malachi and then 400 years of silence. This silence was finally broken by the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias announcing the birth of John the Baptist. Then Gabriel spoke to Mary, telling her of that Holy One which should be born of her, even the Son of God. Later the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds announcing the birth of the Christ-child and from the opened heavens they heard the heavenly host praising God.
Heaven was not silent during the earthly ministry of Christ when He was presenting Himself to Israel as their Messiah nor was heaven silent after His resurrection and on into the Acts period, when Israel was given opportunity to repent. There were miracles, wonders, signs, angelic visitation, jail deliver-ances, sudden judgments, etc. The heavens were not silent. However, Acts 28:28 marks a great change. Israel no longer stands as a nation before God. They are set aside for a reason and a season. The reason was their rejection of Christ both in His incarnation and in His resurrection. The season is this pre-sent dispensation of the mystery. After the close of the Acts period we find a great man of God sitting in the Roman prison, but no angel comes to liberate him. An age of silence has begun. A silent God. A silent heaven. This silence has already lasted two millenniums. The nations rage and we see war, sin suffering and sorrow on every hand. The people of God oft suffer at the hands of their enemies, and we see the ever-increasing and God-defying masses sinning and sinning and sinning. And yet in the midst of it all, God remains silent.
When God turned away from Israel, that nation through which His earthly purposes are to be realized, He then and there with- drew from this earthly scene. C.H.M. wrote "So long as there was any ground of hope in connection with Israel, the heavenly mystery was held back; but when earth had been abandoned and Israel set aside, the apostle of the Gentiles, from his prison at Rome, writes to the Church, and opens out all the glorious privileges connected with its place in the heavens." God has for a season aban-doned earth but we are here as His ambassa-dors in enemy land and we are asked to walk by faith and not by sight. God is allowing man's day to run its course and is permitting the full development of the mystery of law-lessness. The mystery of iniquity is working. Soon the whole will be leavened. Man's day will be replaced by the Lord's Day. Then...

THE SILENCE TO
BE BROKEN

This is promised everywhere in Scripture. The psalmist declared: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence!" Just as the silence of the 400 years was broken by His first coming, so the present silence will be broken by His second coming. But before He manifests Himself to the world, He will manifest Himself to His own. This is the bright and blessed hope of the Church, the rapture, and it will be the opening rift in the silent heavens. After the Body of Christ has been removed from the scene God will begin to deal again with Israel and the nations. The silence will be broken and God will speak again, not then in grace, but in wrath. The heavens will be opened, not to pour out blessing, but disaster. The judgments of the Apocalypse will be visited upon the world, when the seals will be broken, the judgment trumpets sounded, and the vials of God's wrath poured out.
Finally, the heavens will be fully opened and the blessed Lord Jesus Christ will return. The Apostle John saw Him as the rider on a white horse, followed by the heavenly armies, and He wrote: "He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." The silence will be broken. The King will return and have His rightful place upon the throne, with all beneath His feet. Every eye shall see Him and the earth will be filled with His glory. And never again will their be silence for the lines of communication will always be open be-tween heaven and earth, both as to the millennial earth and on into the new earth.

Living The Crucified Life

Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a trea-sure to be grasped, (7) But emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men; (8) And being found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a (the) cross. (13) For it is God who operates in you both the willing and
the working for His good pleasure.

Words of Ministry

The pattern presented in these verses is now the life within us. This life is what we call a crucified life. The seven steps of Christ's humiliation are all aspects of the crucified life. Although Christ had the expression of deity, He laid aside this expression. However, He did not lay aside the reality of His deity. He laid aside the higher form, the form of God, and took on a much lower form, the form of a slave. In this, He emptied Himself. Surely this is a mark of a crucified life. Then, after becoming a man and being found in the appear-ance of a man, Christ humbled Himself even unto the death of the cross. This was the crucified life lived out in a full and absolute way.

Christ is not only an outward pattern for us; He is also the life within us. As this inner life, He would have us expe-rience Him and thereby live a crucified life. In this crucified life there is no room for rivalry, vainglory, or self-exaltation. On the contrary, there is self-emptying and self-humbling.

Whenever we experience Christ and live Christ, we automatically live such a crucified life. This means that when we live Christ, we live the One who is the pattern of a crucified life. Then we also shall empty ourselves and humble ourselves.

If we did not have the crucified life within us, we could never live according to the pattern presented in Philippians 2. Only the crucified life can live such a pattern. If we still do things out of rivalry and vainglory or are still ambitious to be leaders or elders, we are not living a crucified life. We are not emptying ourselves or humbling ourselves. However, we have a life within us that truly is a self-emptying and self-humbling life. This life never grasps at something as a treasure. Instead, it is always willing to lay aside position and title.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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WONDER OF WEAKNESS

"He said to me, My strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed" (2 Cor. 2:9,
Wms.)

Our Father does not test our faith so much as He exercises and develops it. In time, He makes us aware of our utter weakness; and in time, we trust and rest in His all sufficient strength.

"Until we are carried quite out of our depth, beyond all our own wisdom and resources, we are no more than beginners in the school of faith. Only as everything fails us and we fail ourselves, do we draw upon abiding strength. 'Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee'; not partly in Thee and partly in himself. The devil often makes men strong, strong in themselves to do evil --- great con-querors, great acquirers of wealth and power. The Lord on the contrary makes His servant weak, puts him in circumstances that will show him his nothingness, that he may lean upon the strength that is unfailing. It is a long lesson for most of us, but it cannot be passed over until deeply learned. And God Himself thinks no trouble too great, no care too costly to teach us this."

"Faith counts on the Word of God outside and apart from everything and everyone here. When you are in faith your life is cen-tered in the Lord Jesus. The moment the heart is detained by anything here, faith is obstructed. The visible is antagonistic to the invisible. If you walk in the Spirit you will be sensible of this in a moment, the effects and influences of the visible are counter to the invisible. Eve had lost faith when she saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes. If she had kept faith --depen-dence upon God --- she would not have look-ed; but she had parted with the faith which overcometh the world when she 'saw.' The moment one becomes occupied with the visible one has parted company with faith" ---J.B.S.

"Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with patience and longsuffering" (Colossians 1:11, Weymouth).

MILES J. STANFORD
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TURNING POINTS
By Charles Wages

We are acutely aware of great events that "change history." These events could include wars, inventions, catastrophes, depressions, and even the decline of an empire.
These are significant, but not to compare with "spiritual" changes. For example, the entrance of sin through our first parents changed the entire human race for all time! (Romans 5:12--14.)
Unless we note the great "turning points" that are found in the "official" account of human history "God's Word", we will never understand God's master plan for the ages. With our little minds we can only grasp a few of these great truths. Let's consider some "turning points" in one portion of God's Word.
In Ephesians 2 there are several events that are of great importance in understanding how God has dealt with mankind across the ages of time. Let's start with one that is individual and personal. This first personal "turning point" is introduced by the expression,

BUT GOD

We are told in Ephesians 2:1-3 that:
* We were dead in trespasses and sins.
* We walked according to the course of this world.
* We were controlled by "the prince of the power of the
air (Devil)."
* We had our conversation (manner of life) in the lusts of
the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh.
* We were by nature the children of wrath.
What A disgusting, degrading, and disastrous condition! Not a very pretty picture to look at or talk about.
"But God!" There is the "turning point." We are told that God, who is rich in mercy, loved us with a "great love" (Eph. 2:4). Not only did He love us, but we are told that "God commended his love toward us, in that, while were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). After trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour (Eph. 2:9), God not only saves us from "the penalty of sin," which is death, but does great things that only God has the power to do. These great things include:

* Hath quickened us together.
* Hath raised us up together.
* Made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. (Now)
* That in the ages to come, He might shew the exceeding
riches of His grace.
This manifest quite a change, quite a turning point. It involves the past, the present, and the future of every believer.
In another wonderful passage of Scripture, we see God in His grace, love, and mercy bringing a great change and "turning point" in those who trust the Lord. In Titus chapter three we see ourselves before the Lord comes into our lives. We were, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasure, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Another picture that is despicable.

BUT AFTER!

"But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared" --what a "turning point!" How did this "turning point"come about? Negatively, we are told, "not by works of righteousness which we have done." Positively, "it was according to His mercy He saved us." How was this accomplished? This great change in our lives took place by "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He shed on us abun-dantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour." The result of this change is "that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
This "but after" turning point, just like the "but God" turning point of Ephesians, can be shown in three tenses, that is, past, present, and future. The before salvation, that is our past lost condition, can be seen in,
* Sometimes foolish--now sensible
* Disobedient--now submissive
* Deceived--now self disciplined
In our present saved condition, (by His grace) we are just-ified.
* We can show kindness and love.
* We can walk around in His good works.
* Our future hope is to be "heirs according to eternal life."
These great "turning points" are not only spiritual in nature, that is the works of the Holy Spirit, but are practical, that is, effective in our daily lives. In one sense, we can say with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:13-14.
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
We can in one sense say, "forgetting those things which are behind (past) and reaching forth unto those things which are before (present), I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (future)."
How grateful we should be that these great 'turning points" took place when God turned us around (converted) and gave us a new life in Christ Jesus! Amen.

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Posted For Brother Love ;D

Freedom is ours as we trust Christ to live the Christian Life thru us.
+++++++++++++++++++++

"To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5).

There is no work involved in our receiving the Lord Jesus for life, and there should certainly be no self-effort involved in the manifestation of His life in and through us. The principle is the same, from re-birth to
maturity.

"Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 15:57). That is grace. That is the test of the real or the counterfeit. Just remember this; any victory over the power of sin whatsoever that you have to get by working for it is counter -feit. Any victory that you have to get by trying for it is false. If you have to work for your freedom, it is not the real thing, it is not that which the Father offers you in His Son.

"The effortless life is not the will-less life. We use our will to believe, or receive, but not to exert effort in trying to accomplish what only the Father has done. Our hope for freedom from the power of sin is not 'Christ plus my efforts,' but 'Christ plus my receiving.' To receive victory from Him is to believe His Word that solely by grace He is, this moment, freeing us from the dominion of sin. And to believe on Him in this way is to recognize that He is doing for us what we can never do for ourselves." ---C.G.T.

"The Father has left us as much dependent on the Lord Jesus' work for our deliverance as for our forgiveness. It is wholly because we died with Him on the Cross, but unto sin and unto the whole legal principle, that sin's power for those in Him is broken."

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt" (Romans 4:4).

MILES J. STANFORD
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The Miracle Of Love
by Pastor Robert Hanna

Jesus Christ, who is very God, thus address-ed His disciples: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:12,13). The magnitude of the love of God is beyond the scope of human comprehen-sion. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Obviously, the world is anything but lovable! Ergo, the evident meaning is that God show-ed forth such great love toward the world, that, despite their unregenerate condition, men might, upon believing, obtain eternal life. "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us " (Romans 5:7,8). How can we possibly con-ceive of such love! It would be impossible for us to generate equal love. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins....We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:10,19).

The central figure of the entire Word of God is Jesus Christ. And the total remedy for all of the ills of the world was effected by Him in the offering of Himself at Calvary, to suffer, bleed and die as the spotless lamb of the once-for-all sacrifice required to satisfy the demands of God's standard of justice. All
this was accomplished by the exercise of God's love. The supreme teaching of the Scriptures must surely be the doctrine of love.

How appropriately does our Apostle so emphasize: "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE" (1 Cor. 13:13). Our motivation--our driving force --as saints of God, is His love. "For the love of Christ constraineth us..." (2 Cor. 5:14). By the power of His love we are assured of ultimate victory. We are destined to suffer for Him in sundry ways, as members of His body. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12). There will be losses and defeats and pain and trials. But "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that love us" (Rom. 8:37).

The Apostle's personal testimony should be emulated by every saint of God. He passion-ately affirms, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith(fulness) of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

Our Apostle clearly defines the spiritual responsibility of the saint of God in testi-mony and witness. "Now the end of the commandments is love out of pure heart,
and of a good conscience, and of faith un-feigned" (1 Tim. 1:5) Having enumerated the proper behavioral characteristics of the faithful believer, Paul sums up with these words: "And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness" (Col. 3:14).

We must continually reassess our compli-ance, with the stipulations set forth by our Apostle. Are we preoccupied with our intel-lectual knowledge of Scripture? Do we pre-sent ourselves to others as superior and complacent and above reproach? Do we arrogantly contend for our personal opinion and demean those with whom we do not agree? We are admonished to avoid such behavior. "The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patient.....(2 Tim. 2:24)

The Apostle Paul prays for us as members of the body of Christ, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to com-prehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth know-ledge, that ye might be filled with all the ful-ness of God" (Eph. 3:17-19)

How very true it is, that the love of Christ "passeth knowledge!" Our reciprocal love toward Him can never compare with His love to us. That kind of love is far beyond our capacity to understand or express. But we can pour out the love of which we are capable of returning from a heart full of the joy and peace bestowed by God's grace.

Lest we be tempted to be caught up with the illusion of self-worth, may we be ever mindful of these humble words of Paul: "Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mount-ains, and have not love, I am nothing" ( 1 Cor 13:2).

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and WALK IN LOVE, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour" (Eph. 5:1-2.)
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CHRIST OUR POSITION

"In (this) freedom Christ has made us free --- completely liberated us; stand fast then" (Galatians 5:1, Amp.).

We are never going to be able to stand before our Father in prayer and fellowship because we are fit in ourselves. We finally come to see that we are in His presence because of our position in His Son.

"The ground upon which our Father deals with us is grace. Every blessing we receive of Him as His children is undeserved. In all of our spiritual existence we are debtors to the rich, free, sovereign grace of our Father. And what is it we are privileged to enjoy on that ground, when we enter "into this grace wherein we stand"? We then have a new position, and that position is the glorified Lord Jesus Christ.

"We are not only pardoned, but justified --- made righteous and this is not merely by that which He has done, or by what He has procured or bestows --- but in what He is. 'As He is, so are we in this world' (1 John 4:17). The believer must never lose sight of this fundamental truth: that the basis of his fellowship with the Father is not his own personal holiness, or what the Lord Jesus is in him, but his judicial position before the Father, or what the Lord Jesus is for him. He, 'the Lord our righteousness,' is the founda-tion and source of everything ---of walk as well as of position." ---E.H.

"Most look to get victory in order to get peace, but it is peace already made by the Lord Jesus' work and risen life that is ours. Conflict we shall find, but we know that the Father is for us, and that makes all the
difference." ---J.N.D.

"Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us.....righteousness" (1 Cor. 1:30).

MILES J. STANFORD
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SOLITARY SOURCE

"That I may know Him" (Philippians 3:10).

It takes us years of trial and error to finally realize that nothing outside the Lord Jesus Christ can fully satisfy and rejoice our hearts. Joy in Him includes 'the fellowship of His suffering.' So, 'rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings' (1 Peter 4:13).

"We sometimes have the idea that if we were going on rightly things would be much smoother here for us. Hardly. There is a discipline to correct us and a discipline to develop us. If you are in a wrong path, as you seek the Lord, you will be corrected; but on the other hand, the more you are set for Him here, the more you will find that there is nothing for you here, though at the same time you are daily finding more in Him. ' We which live are alway delivered unto death.' The more you enjoy the Lord Jesus who has been refused here, the more you are practi-cally severed from all here." ---J.B.S.

"It is a solemn moment when one who has been going on for years with a flourishing profession wakes up to the fact that his heart is entirely unsatisfied. I believe we have very little idea how natural feelings may be mixed up with what we think is our spiritual joy. Many go on happily because their surround-ings are happy, and they have no opposition to speak of --- perhaps in a Christian family, or in a happy Christian fellowship. They are carried along by the stream of compatible things around them.

"But anything that outwardly contributes to our joy will sooner or later fail us. Our Father loves us too well to allow us to rest in any-thing or anyone short of Himself --- not even Christian fellowship, or what people call 'the means of grace.' He wants to be so known by us that He becomes the deep eternal spring of satisfaction and joy for our hearts."
---C.A.C.

"Give your mind to the things above" (Colossians 3:2).

MILES J. STANFORD
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KNOWING GOD'S WILL

We need to understand how to apply grace to the decision-making process of our lives. When grace rules a person's life his perspec-tive changes on everything. He begins to understand that every detail of life flows from his relationship with God. Grace means that God does it all. We simply receive from Him, cooperating with the Holy Spirit by trusting Him moment by moment. To walk in grace doesn't mean that we are passive in matters of daily living. To the contrary, it means that we act in confidence, resting in the fact that it is God who will initiate, perpetuate, and con-summate is plan for our lives.

Many believers fall short of the joy God in-tends for them because they fail to under-stand how His grace acts on our behalf to bring to pass the wonderful plan He has for us. God has an awesome plan for your life.
It isn't a cookie-cutter plan, either. He design-ed a special agenda that was uniquely creat-ed just for you. Before you were ever born, He saw you and customized His plan for your life-time. (Ps. 139:16) One of the greatest joys in life is knowing that you are experiencing the very purpose for which you were created Fulfilling the will of God is not some elusive goal that can never be reached. It is possible for Christians to enjoy the experience of knowing that we are in the very center of God's purpose.

The starting point for understanding the will of God must be grace. The legalist asks, "What is the will of God for me?" The will of God is not primarily a plan, but instead is a Person. Jesus Christ is the will of God.When one rightly relates to Him, doing the will of God becomes the natural result of our union with Him.

Many Christians act like a deist* when it comes to God's will. They look for God to show them his will so that they can then go out and do it.

So under grace, it isn't the Christian's duty to find God's will, but rather God will reveal His will to the one who rests in Him. A Person ruled by law will pursue God's will with sincerity and yet never be confident that he has discovered it. One who enjoys intimacy with Jesus will know it without struggling to find it.
* A Deist, basically recognizes very little personal interaction between God and Has empowered the car (earth) to run, and now it is up to many where he drives it and how he runs it.
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Quote from: Brother Love on November 28, 2003, 04:36:22 AM

Amen

The starting point for understanding the will of God must be grace. The legalist asks, "What is the will of God for me?" The will of God is not primarily a plan, but instead is a Person. Jesus Christ is the will of God.When one rightly relates to Him, doing the will of God becomes the natural result of our union with Him.

And AMEN!!!

2 Timothy 2:15

WHOSE FAITH?

by Pastor Kerr Kinman

Does the faith which we exercise in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation come from us, or does it come from God? In our un-saved state, upon hearing the gospel, do we generate the faith to believe from within ourselves, or BECAUSE HE LIVES does God give us that faith?

As I recently studied through and taught the book of Ephesians, the answer to these questions became very clear to me and I want to share it with you.

The correct answer is that God gives us the faith to believe the gospel. One proof for this is in correctly translating and understanding what is being said Ephesians 2:8. With this in mind let us examine this verse in the light of the Greek text. The following would be a very literal translation of that text. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not out of you: the gift of God."

The thing we want to look at for clearer understanding of the verse is the word we have translated this. Let us ask ourselves what is the this that is the gift of God?
It is translated from the Greek word "touto," which is a nomin-ative or accusative, singular, neuter, demonstrative pronoun. As many have presupposed "touto" does not have reference to the aspect of salvation alone in this verse, but clearly refers to the entire concept of the grace, the being saved, and the faith, all being the gift of God. We can know this by understanding how Paul uses this word "touto" throughout all his writings.

He uses it most often to refer back to a grouping of nouns and verbs; i.e., to an entire concept. Occasionally he uses it to refer ahead to what he is going to say, as in the beginning of Ephesians 4:17. He rarely uses it to refer to a single word, but when he does, it will refer to a word of like case, number, and gender (i.e., nominative or accusative, singular, neuter).
In Ephesians 2:8 there is no word of like case, number and gender. In fact, the noun forms of the three words preceding in the verse are all feminine in gender; namely, the grace, the salvation, and the faith. Is there a problem? No not when we see "touto" commonly used in this way throughout the New Testament.

For some examples of its predominate usage let us look at Ephesians 5:17. In verse 16, we are told that we should be "redeeming the time because the days are evil." Then beginning in verse 17, Paul says "because of this [touto], do not be unwise ones, but know what the will of the Lord is "Here "touto" refers to the entire concept of verse 16.
Another instance is in Ephesians 6:1; "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this [touto] is right." Again, "touto" is referring to the entire concept of children obeying their parents.

Lastly, let us examine its usage in Ephesians 6:13. In verse 12, Paul says "We wrestle not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against powers, against world rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies." Then beginning in verse 13, we read "Because of this [touto; i.e., all these things] take up the whole armour of God."
There are many more examples which we could look at, but from those already cited we can see that the word "touto" is commonly used to refer back to a grouping of things or thoughts being spoken about. This is the way Paul has used it in Ephesians 2:8. In this verse, the grace, the salvation, and the faith, this (touto) is the gift of God.

As we are told in Ephesians 2:1, we were dead in our tres-passes and our sins. Dead persons can do nothing. They can make no responses and no decisions. As those being spiritually dead, God has to reach in to us to give us life. We could not reach out to Him (cf. John 6:44; Eph. 2:5). As those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) our salvation is totally the work of God, even to the point of giving us the faith to believe (cf. Phil. 1:29. May the understanding of this truth give each of us great joy in our God, thanking Him only for the pro-visions He has made in effecting our eternal salvation.

Amen & Amen
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THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST

By: James Roberts

I. INTRODUCTION

The theme "The Preeminence of Christ" is, in one sense, a general theme. A teacher could develop this theme in many different areas. Christ is preeminent as Savior, as Lord, as Head. Yet the theme is very narrow when we begin to study the Scriptures as to the per- son and work of the Lord Jesus. He is not one alternative among many. He is the pre-eminent and unique One. One is considered narrow minded and a religious bigot if one stands firm that there is only One way to the Father and that is through the person and work of the Lord Jesus.

In this lesson, we will study to see Him in His unique and preeminent position.

2. HE IS THE UNIQUE SAVIOR

(A) We live in the dispensation of grace. God saves us entirely by His grace (Eph.2:8-10.) Since salvation comes by grace, God provided a way by which sinful man might come to Him and be accepted without a
requirement on the part of that person. If a requirement of any kind of works were made then God would owe the person who made that requirement, and grace would not be grace (Romans 4:1-5.) That way what God provided is through faith in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus (Romans 3:21-28,)

(B) Religions, even the Christian religion, require man to do some religious thing(s). Salvation (having a perfect righteous stand-ing before God) comes from being in Him (Ephesians 1). We are complete in Him (Co-lossians 2:9-10).

(C) He, alone, has the preeminence as the One and Only Savior. He will not share that glory with another.

3. HE IS THE UNIQUE HEAD OF THE CHURCH

(A) Religious bodies, called by man, "the church," have 'heads' of their organizations. For example, the Roman church has the pope as the supreme head of that organization. He is called the vicar (Christ's substitute) of Christ. When he speaks from the papal chair (ex cathedra), his pronouncements are sup-posed, by many, to be infallible (without error).

(B) The unique Head of the one and true church is the Lord Jesus (Colossians 1:18.)

1. That church is not of man's organization. It is a body of believers that God is building in heaven. Every true believer in the finished work of Christ is a member of that church and is complete in Christ.

2. The head gives direction to the body. The risen Christ has given His infallible word to us through the apostle Paul (Colossians 1:24-26). We are to study it, rightly divided (2 Tim. 2:15). Christ gives authoritative direction to the body.

3. The Head nourishes and knits together the body. He, not rituals or traditions, causes growth in the believer (Colossians 2:19).

4. The Head, alone, deserves our worship. When He is so held, false worship will be-come evident. Those in Him have died to the basic principles. Worship is not being sub-ject to regulations derived from self made religion. These only have a show of humility and do not give power against the flesh. There will be no worship of angels (Col.2:16-23.)

4. HE IS THE UNIQUE LORD
(A) Every tongue will one day confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father (Philippians 2:9-11). Lord means one supreme in authority (we could say -- pre-eminent).

(B) Lord and Servant go together. The servant recognizes the authority of the Lord. The servant will want to do the will of his Master. The servant's obedience will be done with a desire to do His will and through His power (Philippians 2:13.)

5. CONCLUSION

Natural man's highest aim is summed up by this statement, "The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for." The believer's "essential to happiness" (yes, "joy") is to give preeminence to Christ in every aspect of life.
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KEEPING THE FAITH

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith"
(2 Tim 4:7)

The apostle Paul lists three major accomplishments in his special ministry for the Lord.

I Have Fought a
Good Fight

The "good" fight that the apostle fought was not an athletic contest to receive an earthly reward. He is referring to fighting the good fight of faith. This is the counsel he gave to his son in the faith Timothy.
"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses" (1 Tim 6:12)

This type of fight involves straining, striving, putting forth every effort to protect and preserve the work of the Lord. This "good" fight demands that the believer be in good spiritual condition because there is strenuous labor involved. Also, we must never forget, we have a strong adversary, the devil.

I Have Finished My
Course

This was a tremendous statement that the apostle could truthfully and triumphantly make. He had run a long and hard race, but he had crossed the finish line. The apostle Paul, several years before he finished his course, which involved bonds and afflictions, said,
"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)

The apostle "finished his course" and look a the results! Thirteen, possibly fourteen books of the Scriptures; the revelation of the mystery concerning God's plan for this age of grace; salvation by grace alone; and the blessed hope of our being "caught up" into glory every to be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).

I Have Kept The Faith

There is much more to keeping the faith than just living a good, clean, honest life. Every once in a while we hear someone say, "he was a good Christian" or "She was a good Catholic or Protestant." What does this mean? Does it mean they have truly "kept the faith?" Keeping the faith means far more. It means taking a stand and defending the faith. In Jude, verse 3, we read of "earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Contending means more than just fun and games, like some of our modern religious pop songs would lead us to believe. It conveys the idea that we are in a real battle and we must "agonize" as a real combatant. In Jude, verse 9, it tells us of Michael, the archangel, contending with the devil about "the body of Moses." Shouldn't we contend about "the body of Christ," the Church God is building today? Paul admonished Timothy,
"And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 1:14 )

He had earlier written,
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1 Tim 6:20 )

It appears that Paul had committed to Timothy the revelation of the mystery which had been given first to him (Eph. 3:1-12). Keeping the faith is akin to "keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3). We, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, need to be alert and watchful. This isn't a soft, easy task where we can sleep or even snooze. The trouble is that so many "Christians"don't know what "the faith" really is! We hear people talk of the Protestant faith, the Jewish faith, the Catholic faith, or even nondenominational faith, or interdenominational faith. We all need to be reminded that there is only "one faith" (Eph. 4:5) and that faith is stated in Galatians 2:20,
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20 )

Certainly, God has and will continue to preserve His Word. However, we as believers, have a very grave, yet wonderful privilege and responsibility of making His truth known, and then to defend and contend for this glorious truth. This is especially important when we see many trying to refute and even outright deny the truth of God's Word. The only true "faith" is that revealed in His Word.
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom 10:17 )

Wouldn't it be wonderful and a good testimony if it could be said of each of us, He/she has KEPT the FAITH!

by Charles Wages
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“ What is Grace”
By Cecil Argetsinger

In the English language grace is a word with a wide variety of meanings. It might mean beauty of form or movement, as graceful. It can refer to an attractive quality in persons, like kindness. A period of time in which payments or judgments are withheld is called a grace period. In religious circles it could mean a spiritual gift.

What we want, however, is to discover what the word means in Scripture, And there dictionary definitions will not always do. God has to take ordinary words and in-vest them with extraordinary meanings in order to reveal heavenly and spiritual truths. We must note how He uses a particular word in the Bible to discover its real mean-ing. When that is done grace is seen to be the infinite love of God, set free by the death of Christ, manifesting itself in the bestowal of measureless blessings on the believer in Christ. It indicates not only His kindness and goodness but reveals the very heart of God. It speaks of that which moved Him to save the lost.

“Without A Cause”

Romans 3:23, declares that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” However, Romans 3:24, goes on to declare that these same sinners are “justified (made righteous) freely by His grace.” In this passage the word freely is from the Greek word dorean. Dorean also occurs in John 15:25, where Christ, speaking of His soon coming death and quoting from Psalm 35:19, said that His enemies “hated Me without a cause.”

How true was that which He spoke. There was no reason or cause in Christ that those Jews should hate Him. He was no sinner, He had broken no law, He had harmed no one, rather it was written of Him that He “…went about doing good” and that”…God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). There was nothing in Christ, no cause in Him for their hatred, it had to arise from within themselves. It is what they were, the hardness of their own hearts, that caused them to crucify Him. They were thus giving expression to their own wickedness and unbelief. They hated Him “without a cause.”

That phrase, without a cause, is also a translation of dorean. If instead of freely we would substitute without a cause (and we have every right to do so), Romans 3:24 would then read “Being justified without a cause by His grace.”

How clearly those words express the truth. We have indeed been justified without a cause. Just as those Jews could find nothing in Christ to hate for there was no fault in Him (Luke 23:4), even so God h as found no cause in us as to why we should be redeemed. There was no good in us, no worth, no merit, only sinfulness (Rom. 3:9-18). Not what we are but what He is, a God of love and grace, moved Him to provide “so great salva-tion,” we deserved nothing but condemnation and judg-ment, but His own heart of love found a way in which His justice could be satisfied and His love set free to save us from sin. His grace has saved us without a cause.

Expects No Return

An excellent illustration of the meaning of grace is provided in Luke 6:32,33&34. In each of these three verses we find the word thank. Thank is a translation of the Greek karis from which we get our English grace. Let us examine those three verses.

In verse 32 we read, “For, if ye love them which love you, what thank (karis-grace) have ye? for sinners also love those that love them” There is no grace in loving someone who loves you, or from whom you hope to receive love in return. Grace loves without a cause. Grace does not consider whether or not love will be answered in kind; grace loves because that is what grace is.

In the next verse (33) we read, “And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank (karis-grace) have ye? for sinners also do even the same.” Again the same truth is present, that grace operates without a cause. Grace does not do good to someone expecting good in return. Grace does not say, “I will be good to you if you will be good to me.” Grace does not consider the results or the returns. Grace expresses that which is worthwhile in the character of the one who gives, not the worth or merit in the one who receives.

The last verse (34) states, “And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank (karis-grace) have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again,” Now it may be good business to lend expecting to be paid back, but this is not grace. Grace lends and grace gives because it wants to give, not because of any expected return. Grace gives whether is appreciated or not. Grace gives in spite of who or what the receiver is, not because of who he is. Grace is free, without a cause. Grace is God’s love expressing itself in immeasurable benefits to the believer in Christ.

In the light of all this, how plainly can it be seen that salvation is all of God. It is not because of any supposed merit or goodness in us that we have been justified and brought into fellowship with God. Neither is it because God could foresee that we would come to Him if we were but given the opportunity. It is not that He expects us to pay Him back. We have been saved because what is in God, not because of any good in us. Grace does not lend trusting to be repaid again. Grace does not do good hoping to receive in kind. Grace does not love looking to be loved in return Grace gives and grace blesses and grace loves simply because that is the nature of grace. It operates without a cause.

The Nature of God

The word grace, however, as it is used in the New Testament, goes far beyond a simple definition of the term. There it expresses and portrays a character of God never before seen. It describes a motivation, an urge in the heart of God, a desire to save and to bless and bestow. there is something in God that finds its expression and fulfillment in the free bestowal of blessings. Grace operates without a cause, despite lack of worth or goodness in the receiver; grace is something in God which moves Him to bless the undeserving believer. And that grace will bless, and bestow, and bless again, never ceashroughout all eternity to move Him in our behalf. It is His stated intention “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).

A warning

A word of caution needs to be added. To teach that God is motivated by His grace in the redemption of lost sinners is not to teach that all will be saved. God, it is true, has provided a salvation that is being offered to all, but it is applied only to “them that believe.” Grace is bestowed on undeserving sinners, not on unbelieving sinners.

Neither is it true that the teachings of grace encourage loose living. Rather, grace prohibits carelessness in the Christian’s walk. “What then?” says the Apostle, “shall
we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!” (Rom. 6:15). No statement regarding this truth can be clearer than the words of Titus 2:11-12. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared …Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present world.”

May”…The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus… make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:10-11).
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How about you? Don't be Left Behind

Left Behind

With all the disasters happening in the world today, one might wonder how much longer this world will be able to take all the destruction. I am thankful for all the people who are doing all they can to try and put out the fires and helping everyone they can. But I believe Christ is coming es all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. Verse 17, and that no one may buy back before man destroys this world. We have comput-ers now and that is all we need for the antichrist to be able to control the world. In the Book of Revelations chapter 13:16-17, and he causor sell except those who take the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. You can read Revelations chapter 13:14-18, NKJ and you will be able to understand how computers will be used to fulfill the Scriptures. When you go to buy food or other things they have computers to scan the things you buy. So we can understand now how this can be used to stop anyone from buying anything no matter how hunger they may be. Just by scanning the number on their hand or on their forehead. I have seen where they will take a little devise while waiting at the warehouse and bring it out and scan all my groceries in my basket one at a time and then when I get to the check out counter they already know just how many groceries I have. I can easily see how this could be used to scan the hand or a person’s forehead to see if they qualify to buy. The same with selling anything you would have to have the same thing did to qualify that you might be able to sell anything. So the people who have things to sell would have to do the same.

You certainly don’t want to be left behind when the Lord comes back for His Church, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Behold I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep, for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. I want to try to help to win everyone I can to the Lord. In Romans 10:13 for whoso-ever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Now we have the terrorists in our country and some are afraid to fly or get into crowds since we don’t know what will happen next. We have never thought things would get so bad in this Great Country of freedom we live in but it is here! We are proud of our men and women who are willing to fight for our freedom and our Country. Please search the scriptures and see for yourself, I realize if you are already saved, you will go up in the rapture when the Lord comes back, but please search the scriptures and see for yourselves. It is there we can see this in the Old Testament as well as in the new, especially in the book of Revelation that John wrote. A lot of those I know just say this is a future book and think they can’t understand it, that may be true but if you want God to help you to under-stand He has promised us that all scripture is for our learning.

It will be too late for those who have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and His way of Salvation, it is a free gift. He died for us so we would not have to die the death of an unsaved person, In the book of John Chapter 5 verse 24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlast-ing life, and shall not come into judgment, but has pass-ed from death into life. Yes, we can live forever in if we will just believe what God has said in His word. We must believe, so we can live and let Him live His life through us. Romans 5:1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There are many more scriptures in God’s Word where we can find that we can believe His Word and live forever and we don’t have to be left here when Christ comes for His Church.

By-Connie Spivey
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Posted By Ambassador4Christ for Brother Love

CAN GOD SAVE ME EVEN AFTER THE THINGS I HAVE DONE?

Answer: Yes, God will give eternal life to anyone that believes the gospel message that Jesus Christ died for their sins and was raised from the dead.

Many people are worried that they have committed sins that are so bad or have lived in such an evil way that they could never be saved. Some people believe that there are sins that are unpardonable and if they commit such an act they are beyond forgive-ness.

The Bible clearly teaches that Christ's death was sufficient to pay the penalty for any sin we commit. The verses in scripture that teach about the power of Christ's death and God's forgiveness of sins are clear: Christ's death paid for all the sins of everyone.

People often think that certain sins are worse than others and therefore, it takes more for God to be able to forgive them. From a human perspective it is true that certain sins are more serious. People make this distinc-tion because we are forced to live with the consequences of sin, therefore we consider certain sins worse than others because some have greater consequences. For example, a murder takes away a human life, a much more serious consequence than someone that steals a small amount of money. Therefore, because of the varying results of peoples' sinful behavior it is necessary for humans to have varying degrees of punishment.

From God's perspective sin is any act, thought or attitude which opposes His per-fect Will. Because God is completely right-eous and holy He must punish anything that goes against His nature. Likewise, when God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay for our sins, His death was a perfect sacrifice. It satisfied the righteous demands of God's justice. To say that Christ's death cannot save us is to say that what he did on the cross was somehow insufficient and lacking in power. Yet the Bible tells us that Christ's death was a perfect sacrifice, able to pay the penalty for all our sin.

One of many examples in the Bible of some-one that received eternal life despite having committed serious sins is Paul the Apostle. Before becoming a Christian his name was Saul and he was one of the greatest persecu-tors of the believers in Jesus. In 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul said, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -- of whom I am the worst." Clearly Paul believed that Christ's death was sufficient to save anyone.

Please read the following verses: 1 John 2:1-2; 1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 9:14; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 3:21-24.
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Posted By Ambassador4Christ for Brother Love

GRACE ABOUNDING

In a letter to his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul wrote, some 1900 years ago, about his conversion:

" was before a blasphemer, and a perse-cutor, and injurious, but obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. AND THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT..." (I Tim.1:13,14).

And he follows this with the now-famous declaration:

"THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING, AND WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, OF WHOM I AM CHIEF" (Ver 15).

Upon reading this statement by Paul, those who know their Bibles will immediately recall the words of Rom.5:20,21:

" . . .the law entered, that the offence might abound, BUT WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND; THAT AS SIN HATH REIGNED . . .SO MIGHT GRACE REIGN . . . ."

These two passages from the pen of Paul have a closer connection than may appear on the surface. The Apostle Paul, once Saul of Tarsus, had led his nation and the world in rebellion against Christ. "As for Saul," we read in Acts 8:3, "he made havoc of the church," and he himself testified to the Galatians: "Ye have heard.. .how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and laid it waste" (Gal.1:13).

Yet God, in infinite mercy, had saved Saul, not only for Saul's own sake, but to make him the living demonstration of His grace. Thus in writing to Timothy, the Apostle goes on to explain:

"Howbeit, FOR THIS CAUSE I OBTAINED MERCY, THAT IN ME FIRST JESUS CHRIST MIGHT SHOW FORTH ALL LONGSUFFER-ING, FOR A PATTERN TO THEM WHICH SHOULD HEREAFTER BELIEVE ON HIM TO LIFE EVERLASTING" (I Tim. 1:16).

Let us, then, take our places with Saul, the sinner, and find salvation by grace through Christ, the Savior. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts16:31).

Connie Spivey
Grace Christian Ladies
http://www.voy.com/24596/
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BIRTH: SAVIOUR; GROWTH: SPIRIT

"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).

We receive life by reliance upon the Saviour; we grow in that life by reliance upon the Spirit.

"Many think that because of faith they are cleared of everything before God through the Cross, and therefore by faith they are clear of
everything in themselves. But that is the error of 'holiness by faith.' The objective (position) is that we are clear before the Father; the subjective (condition) is that we are cleared from ourselves by the growth ministry of the Holy Spirit."

"As you by faith in the positional facts realize that you are in the Father's presence, you will not try to depend upon any sense of His
presence. You know His presence because you know that your position in the Christian life is a life of faith in the facts---nothing else. That the Father forces you to live by faith so as to draw you into His presence---not you, by sense, trying to draw Him into yours."---M.J.S.

"We are, naturally, suspicious of any offer to make us happy in God. Because our moral sense, our natural conscience, tells us of our having lost all right even to His ordinary blessings. But in the Word of our Father, faith reads our abundant title to be near to Him and happy with Him, though natural conscience and our sense of the fitness of things would have it otherwise. Faith feeds where the moral sensibilities of the natural mind would count it presuming even to tread." ---J.G.B.

"The moment we walk by sight we are outside of faith. The Father would never have us outside of faith; hence, even in answering faith, He so answers it that we need it again the next moment, even while we are enjoying the results of it." ---J.B.S.

"Faith is...the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

MILES J. STANFORD
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

RECEPTION AND RESISTANCE

"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works" (Hebrews 4:10).

Besides the rest of reception, there is also the rest of resistance. Any time there is effort involved in the matter of resisting sin, we can be sure that we are depending to some extent upon the flesh, instead of resting in the finish-ed work of the Cross.

"The question is 'How are we to meet sin?' 'Reckon yourselves dead unto sin.' The moment that you begin to fight with it ---no matter how resolutely you may struggle against it --- that moment you begin to exper-ience sin as your master. For it is then that we forsake our true position, which is one of freedom from sin as a master.

"Let it be remembered we are to fight 'the good fight of faith' which consists of resting in our position of freedom, and not in obtain-ing that position. We are to fight not for it, but from it. He alone has obtained it. It is our Father's free gift. Let us be fully abiding in the One who is Life, and sin when it acts, will find us dead to it."---E.H.

"Calvary is the secret of it all. It is what the Lord Jesus did there that counts, and what He did becomes a growing force in the life of the believer when it is seen, and rested in by faith. This is the starting point from which all godly living must take rise. We shall never know the fact of the Lord Jesus' victory in our lives until we are prepared to count upon His work on the Cross as the source of our personal freedom from the dominion of sin and the flesh within. There is no liberty for us that was not first His. The beginning of spiritual growth is faith in that fact."

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1).

MILES J. STANFORD
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CHRISTMAS POEM

Written by a Marine stationed in Okinawa Japan.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA, IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."

This poem was written by a Marine stationed in Okinawa Japan. The following is his request. I think it is reasonable.....

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your small part to plant this small seed.
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

FROM EXPOUNDER TO EXPONENT

"Now we have received...the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Corinthians 2:12).

The Holy Spirit ministers the truth of the Word via the mind, that we may share the One who is Truth via the heart.

"If you do not know the Bible as the very Word of God, all is lost! Where have you learned anything from the Lord distinctly, but where every counter influence was in-admissible---in the sacred enclosure of His own Word and Presence, where nothing to qualify what He says can exist?"

"I must not only be an expounder of the truth, but an exponent of it. There should be the sense, I have learned that word for myself. It is not just being able to describe it, or to put it in correct dispensational order; but having that word for myself from the Spirit."

"The mistake with many saints in the present day is that they think because they can de-scribe a truth, that therefore they have learn-ed it. When a truth is really accepted, the conscience demands that there should be accordance with it."

"The Scriptures tell me what the Father gives me, but they do not give it to me. The Spirit applies the Word to me in it's divine meaning, and then I possess what Scripture tells me is mine through God's grace. For instance, the Word tells me that if I behold the Lord's glory I shall be transformed. It doesn't transform me, however clearly I may see what it states. It communicates to me a very great thing, but it is the Spirit who makes it experiential to me." ---J.B.S.

"Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

MILES J. STANFORD
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

RECEPTION AND RESISTANCE

"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works" (Hebrews 4:10).

Besides the rest of reception, there is also the rest of resistance. Any time there is effort involved in the matter of resisting sin, we can be sure that we are depending to some extent upon the flesh, instead of resting in the finish-ed work of the Cross.

"The question is 'How are we to meet sin?' 'Reckon yourselves dead unto sin.' The moment that you begin to fight with it ---no matter how resolutely you may struggle against it --- that moment you begin to exper-ience sin as your master. For it is then that we forsake our true position, which is one of freedom from sin as a master.

"Let it be remembered we are to fight 'the good fight of faith' which consists of resting in our position of freedom, and not in obtain-ing that position. We are to fight not for it, but from it. He alone has obtained it. It is our Father's free gift. Let us be fully abiding in the One who is Life, and sin when it acts, will find us dead to it."---E.H.

"Calvary is the secret of it all. It is what the Lord Jesus did there that counts, and what He did becomes a growing force in the life of the believer when it is seen, and rested in by faith. This is the starting point from which all godly living must take rise. We shall never know the fact of the Lord Jesus' victory in our lives until we are prepared to count upon His work on the Cross as the source of our personal freedom from the dominion of sin and the FLESH within. There is no liberty for us that was not first His. The beginning of spiritual growth is faith in that fact."

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1).

MILES J. STANFORD
=================================
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Posted By Ambassador For Christ For Brother Love

UNOBJECTIONABLE OBJECT

"That...the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Christ)" (Ephesians 1:17).

The object of the Christian life is that we may center in the Object of the Father --- His Be-loved Son.

"If we go on with the Father, sweet as is the assurance that we belong to Him, yet the uppermost thought will in the long run be Himself. We shall come back to His Person. We shall in our praises weave with them what
the Lord Jesus has done, suffered, and won for us; but the primary thought in our hearts is, not what we have gained, however true, but what He has been for us and what He is for us, yes, what He is in Himself." ---J.B.S.

"There is usually only occupation with the Lord Jesus for the relief of the conscience, and if so, where does it stop? It stops when the relief is gained. But if He is the object of the heart, you will never be satisfied but in fellowship with Him where He is."

"I know of no arguments, and I am acquaint-ed with no power, that will move the heart to devotedness except the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Himself and His love. It is poss-ible to read books by the score, and to listen to the most faithful and blessed ministry for years on end, and yet never know the Lord Jesus as a present loving Object in heavenly glory. It is nigh impossible to see and know Him there by faith without a resulting intense desire to be wholly devoted to Him here." --- C.A.C.

"We have a new Person before us as the Object of our faith and affections; and as we drop ourselves and have the Lord Jesus as our Object, He is formed in us. What has been judicially accomplished at the Cross has its fruition by the Spirit in our souls, and it is by that principle that we grow." --- C.A.C.

"For it pleased the Father that in Him (Christ) should all fullness dwell" (Colossians 1:19).

MILES J. STANFORD
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

SPIRIT-TAUGHT AND SPIRIT-WROUGHT

"Hath made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5).

If we fail to rely upon the Holy Spirit for the practical day-by-day realization of the ident-ification truths, we will fall short of Romans 8, and find ourselves bound in the struggle of Romans 7.

"If some of you who have been the Lord's for a long time cast a glance over your past history, you will be able to recall occasions when He spoke and you obeyed instantly. But you can recall other occasions when He spoke and you failed to respond; yet strange-ly, after a time you just found yourself in the way of obedience.

Such is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's govern-ment in our lives. Even if we are totally unable to obey and cannot even exercise faith, a day comes when the resistance has vanished and we are trusting the Lord Jesus in simplicity of heart. It is the tireless energy of the indwelling Spirit that has accomplish-ed this.

Our union with the Lord Jesus is a union of life. We were raised with Him, we are made alive in Him. True, our bodies are to be changed, and those who have died in Christ are to be raised as to their bodies, but now we are raised with and are made alive in Him.

The trouble is that many are not aware of this wonderful fact and position; all of it seems so far away and unreal. If we will believe God's Word and begin to thank Him for the truths that He tells us, the Holy Spirit will ere long begin to make these truths living realities in our lives." ---L.L.L.

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).

MILES J. STANFORD
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

EXPERIENCING GOD'S BEST

Psa 26:3 For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.

Some of the requirements to experiencing God's best include:
. An open and willing heart --
Before you can experience the blessings of God, you must be open to His love and will for your life. He takes great joy in blessing those who love Him. Ask and you shall receive were the words Jesus spoke to His disciples.

Being open to God's blessings does not mean just being open to receive something good from Him. It means being willing to receive whatever He sends your way. And in some cases, He may send something that you did not wish to receive. However, you can be sure that every gift is ultimately good and sent from a loving Father who has your best interest in mind.

. Obedience--This is a key to receiving and enjoying the goodness of God. Many times the obedience that we exercise is not notice-able to others, but God knows. When we take a step forward in obedience, the Lord always sends His blessings our way.

. The Ability to dream--God wants us to look forward to His blessings. When we lose the ability to dream and think on the good-ness of God, something inside of us dies. No matter how small your dream for the future appears, refuse to let go of it. Allow God to reshape it if necessary, but always believe in His loving ability to supply answers to your hopes and dreams.

Author Unknown
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

"GRACE AND MERCY"

But my God shall supply all your need accord-ing to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

If and when the trial comes, you will find Him waiting there.

"We should always be prepared for circum-stances that will arise, and for blessings that are to come, without foreseeing what the circumstances and blessings will be. This preparation consists in attention to present
responsibility, and acceptance of present discipline.

"If day by day we first seek divine direction, and then follow it, we shall be ready, when new circumstances arise, for the new bless-ings which will be offered. Today should be preparation for tomorrow. The only proof that we shall be equal to tomorrow's test is that we are meeting today's test believingly and courageously. The only evidence that we shall be willing for God's will tomorrow is that we are subject to His will today." ---WGS.

"Our Lord has special reserves of grace for special needs. If ever you feel that you could not go through a certain trial, that if you had to face that, you just could not go through with it, you are taking on something that you have no right to take on.

"If the Lord calls you to go through fire or water, He has a special reserve of grace for you in that. And that grace will be from the throne of grace. It is the throne above, medi-ating grace for need and suffering as it is required." ---T.A-S.

"Let us...come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16).

MILES J. STANFORD
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

GOD'S SOLUTION IS ALWAYS BEST

SOLVING PROBLEMS THROUGH PRAYER ,,,,,,,,2 CHRONICLES 20

JEHOSHAPHAT HAD ADMONISHED ISRAEL TO RETURN TO THE LORD, REMINDING A REBEL-LIOUS NATION OF THE GOD WHO HAD FREED IT FROM BONDAGE IN EGYPT AND SUSTAINED IT THROUGH MUCH ADVERSITY. THEN CAME THE REPORT THAT THREE TRIBES WERE MOUNTING AN ATTACK ON ISRAEL.

JEHOSHAPHAT'S RESPONSE WAS A GODLY EXAMPLE NOT ONLY FOR ISRAEL BUT ALSO FOR US TODAY. THE KING'S FIRST ACT WAS TO IMMEDIATELY SEEK THE LORD. BY DOING SO, JEHOSHAPHAT INHERENTLY DEMONSTRAT-ED THE KNOWLEDGE.

BECOMING A CHRISTIAN DOES NOT GIVE US A FREE RIDE FROM THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE. WHEN WE ENCOUNTER TROUBLE, OUR FIRST RESPONSE ALWAYS SHOULD BE TO SEEK THE LORD.

GOD WILL GIVE US A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM-IN HIS TIMING. WE MAY HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIS ANSWER. THE WAIT MAY BE LONG. HE OFTEN USES SUCH TIMES TO MOLD OUR CHARACTER AND TO TEACH US PRIN-CIPLES HE KNOWS WE LACK. SOMETIMES, WE'RE NOT READY FOR HIS PERFECT ANSWER, SO HE HAS TO PREPARE US.

FINALLY, GOD'S ANSWER TO OUR CHRIST- CENTERED (NOT PROBLEM-CENTERED) PRAYERS USUALLY REQUIRES AN ACT OF FAITH ON OUR PART. SOMETIMES-AS WITH HAVING A CHOIR LEAD AN ARMY INTO BATTLE-HIS PLANS WON'T IMMEDIATELY MAKE SENSE. BUT THEY ARE PERFECT. " Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."
( 1 THESS. 5:24).

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Posted By A4C For BL :)

Baby Jesus Missing????

About a week before Christmas, Mom bought a new nativity scene. When she unpacked it, she found two figures of the Baby Jesus.

"Someone must have packed this wrong," mother said, counting out the figures. "We have one Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds, two lambs, a donkey, a cow, an angel, and two babies. Oh, dear! I suppose some
set down at the store is missing a Baby Jesus because we have two."

"You two run back down to the store and tell the manager that we have an extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes saying that if a set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7126. Put on your warm coats, it's freezing cold out there."

The manager of the store copied down mother's message, and the next time we were in the store, we saw the card-board sign that read, "If you're missing Baby Jesus, call 7126." All week long we waited for someone to call.
Surely, we thought, someone was missing that important figurine. Each time the phone rang, mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus." But it never was.

Father tried to explain there are thousands of these scattered over the country, and the figurine could be missing from a set in Florida or Texas or California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time. He suggested
that she just put the extra Jesus back in the box and forget about it.

"Put Baby Jesus back in the box?! What a terrible thing to do," said mother. "Surely someone will call. We'll just keep the two of them together in the manger until someone does." When no call had come by 5:00 on Christmas Eve, mother insisted that father "just run down to the store"
to see if there were any sets left. "You can see them right through the window, over on the counter," she said. "If they are all gone, I'll know someone is bound to call tonight."

"Run down to the store?" father thundered. "It's 15 below zero out there!"

"Oh, Daddy, we'll go with you!" We began to put on our coats. Father gave a long sigh and headed for the front closet. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered. We ran ahead as father reluctantly walked out in the cold.

Tommy got to the store first and pressed his nose up to the store window. "They're all gone, Daddy," he shouted. Every set must be sold. Hooray! The mystery will be solved tonight!"

Father heard the news still a half block away and immedi-
ately turned on his heel and headed back home. When we got back into the house, we noticed that mother was gone and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine. "Someone
must have called, and she went out to deliver the figurine," father reasoned, pulling off his boots. "You kids get ready for bed while I wrap mother's present."

Then the phone rang. Father yelled "answer the phone and tell 'em we found a home for Jesus." But it was mother calling with instructions for us to come to 205 Chestnut Street immediately, and bring three blankets, a box of
cookies and some milk.

"Now what has she gotten us into?" Father groaned as we bundled up again. "205 Chestnut. Why that's across town. Wrap that milk up good in the blankets, or it will turn to ice before we get there. Why can't we all just get on with Christmas? It's probably 20 below out there now. And the
wind is picking up. Of all the crazy things to do on a night like this."

When we got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street, it was the darkest one on the block. Only one tiny light burned in the living room, and the moment we set foot on the porch steps, mother opened the door and shouted, "They're here! Oh thank God you got here, Ray! You kids take those
blankets into the living room and wrap up the little ones on the couch. I'll take the milk and cookies."

"Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" Father asked. "We have just walked through below zero weather with the wind in our faces all the way."

"Never mind all that now," mother interrupted. "There is no heat in this house, and this young mother is so upset, she doesn't know what to do. Her husband walked out on her, and those poor little children will have a very bleak Christ-mas, so don't you complain. I told her you could fix that oil
furnace in a jiffy. My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk while my brother and I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled together on the couch. The children's mother explained to my father that her husband had run off, taking bedding, clothing, and almost every piece of furniture, but she had been doing all right until the furnace broke down.

"I been doin' washin' an ironin' for people and cleanin' the five and dime," she said. "I saw your number every day there, on those boxes on the counter. When the furnace went out, that number kept goin' through my mind. 7162,
7162. Said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should call you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people, willin' to help folks. I figured that maybe you would help me, too. So I stopped at the grocery store tonight, and I called your missus. I'm not missin' Jesus,
mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I am missin' heat. I have no money to fix that furnace."

"Okay, okay," said father. "You've come to the right place. Now let's see. You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room. Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look it over, see what it needs."

Mother came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and warm milk. As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I noticed the figure of Baby Jesus lying in the center of the table. It was the only sign of Christmas in the house. The children stared wide-eyed with wonder at the plate of cookies my mother set before them. Father finally got the oil burner working, but said, "You need more oil. I'll make a few calls tonight and get some oil. Yes, sir, you came to the right place." Father grinned.

On the way home, Father did not complain about the cold weather and had barely set foot inside the door when he was on the phone. "Ed, hey, how are ya, Ed? Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say Ed, we have kind of an unusual situation here. I know you've got that pick-up truck.

Do you still have some oil in that barrel on your truck? You do?"

By this time the rest of the family was pulling clothes out of their closets and toys off of their shelves. It was long after our bedtime when we were wrapping gifts. The pickup came. On it were chairs, three lamps, blankets and gifts. Even though it was 30 below, father let us ride along in the back of the truck. No one ever did call about the missing figure in the nativity set, but as I grow older I realize that it wasn't a packing mistake at all. Jesus saves, that's what He does.

Author Unknown

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Grace And The Truth
www.graceandthetruth.com

E-Mail GracentheTruth@aol.com

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
This is my last day on this Forum.

Grace & Peace

Brother Love :)

It Is All Of Grace

When we learn about grace we learn what life is all about. The "IN CHRIST" expression occurs some seventy times in Paul's epistles and only twice elsewhere. The central passage on this truth is 2 Corinthians 5:17: " Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Other passages tell us we are in him: Romans 8:1; Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 2:10; Ephesians 2:13.

We learn who we are "In Christ" and more importantly we learn about who God is, what the Gospel is for the age of Grace and our relation-ship with Him. We enter into a dimension of life we never dreamed possible. And was not pos-sible to the Nation of Israel, as they were under, obedience, law, and some 350 ordinances. Praise the Lord all these were nailed to the cross at the death of Christ (Col 2:14).

GRACE is not getting what you do deserve, but receiving what we do not deserve. GRACE is the unmerited favor that God has given to us by His choice (Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim 1:9).

GRACE is Being "in Christ" the believer is made to share in the whole history of Christ's passion, burial, resurrection, ascension, and glorification.

GRACE is knowing that there is no more guilt, condemnation (Rom. 8:1)

GRACE is knowing that we were chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

GRACE is knowing we have been jointly cru-cified with Christ (Rom. 6:6 and Gal. 2:20).

GRACE is knowing that God accepts me just the way I am, accepted in the beloved (Eph. 1:6).

GRACE is knowing that I am not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14) and that Christ is the end of the law (Rom. 10:4), it is not up to me to live the Christian life, but to trust Christ in me to do it (Gal. 2:20).

GRACE is knowing we have been made to jointly live with Christ (Eph.2:5).

GRACE is knowing we are jointly seated with Christ at present in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1).

GRACE is knowing we are jointly glorified with Christ (Romans 8:17; 8:30).

GRACE is knowing that the believer has already died unto sin through Christ's death (Rom. 6:10).

GRACE is knowing that the believer was bap-tized (Identified) by the Spirit into one body. (1 Cor. 12:13).

GRACE is knowing that we have been blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in heavenlies in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

GRACE is knowing we can walk around in His good works (Eph. 2:10).

GRACE is knowing that Satan was defeated at the cross and has no power over me (Col. 2:15).

GRACE is knowing that there is no Jew or Gentile in the body of Christ, we are all the same, members of His body, the Body of Christ.

GRACE is knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head, and that we are the body.

GRACE is knowing our blessed hope, the being caught up into the air to meet out Lord (Titus 2:13; 1 Thes. 4:13-18).

GRACE is knowing that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13).

GRACE is knowing we are His inheritance, and we are His will (Eph. 1:18).

GRACE is knowing that God will finish the good work that He has begun in his (Phi.1:6).

GRACE is knowing that we have the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5).

GRACE is knowing that we can walk by faith (Col. 2:6)

I pray that this will be a rich blessing in your life, for it surely has been in mine. For your own growth "in Christ", don't just read this, but take and study each Scripture, and I know that the Holy Spirit will lead you into the Truth.

=================================
Should this devotional be a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving the daily word. You may forward this to them, by copy and paste method, and they can use the below link to subscribe. We love to meet new people

Daily Inspirational

WEB SITE
Grace And The Truth
www.graceandthetruth.com

E-Mail GracentheTruth@aol.com

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
This is my last day on this Forum.

Grace & Peace

Brother Love :)

ChristiansUnite Forums

Theology => General Theology => Topic started by: Brother Love on August 12, 2003, 06:36:08 AM