GRACE AND THE TRUTH - DAILY INSPIRATION

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Called and Chosen
by Anabel Gillham

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord,
who has strengthened me, because
He considered me faithful, putting me into service . . .
                    I Timothy 1:12 (NAS)



            It must have been very traumatic for me because I still remember the feelings after all these years, and if they haven't gone away by now, I think they must be there to stay! What was it that brought on these feelings of despair? (Remember that it was a long time ago, please.) This tragic, very emotional event was being chosen for the "Red Rover" team. Did you ever play, "Red rover, red rover, let someone come over (and I always hoped it would be me that they called for--but I was a girl and a little one to boot!) And that chosen "someone" was to run as hard as they could and break through the clasped arms of the opposing team! Then wild cheering and you were a winner!  But to be left standing with the group of rejects who were not chosen for the team was almost unbearable! Not to give up, come next recess I would be standing there among the hopefuls.

            To be an accepted part of some group/ organization/ family is one of the driving desires for all of us. A long time ago when "hippies" were weird (they aren't any longer) one of the identifying marks was that the males in the group didn't wear any underwear. (Really? Really!) So I can just imagine someone who wanted to be a part of the "hippie" clan, sidling up to the group and proclaiming, "Hey! I'm just like you! I don't have on any underwear! Can I be a part of your gang?" Whatever it takes to be an accepted part, we will often do it.

            Being a member of a winning football team can become so important that anything it takes ignoring my family, cutting back on my scholastic achievements, getting up early and staying up late building my body through blood, sweat, and tears that's okay. I want so desperately to be a part of the team!

Then there's Paul. Paul knew who he was in Christ; he knew he was totally forgiven; he knew that he was now a righteous, holy, blameless person all of those beautiful things bestowed on all of us as Believers, but he could never quite get over the incredible fact that God had allowed him to become a part of "His team." Not that being a part of His team guaranteed status, comfort, plenty, or safety. It was important to Paul because he admired the Master so much and wanted to have his name on the list of apostles.

Because of his violent persecution of the Believers, Paul felt unworthy in his position as an apostle and apparently felt the necessity to defend his position.

For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1Corinthians 15:9).

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord (1Corinthians 9:1-2).

            Paul just knew what the whisperers were saying as he walked by a group huddled together: "See that man over there? He's the one who sent my parents to prison I never saw them again.” “As far as I'm concerned, you can't change the spots on a leopard and that's the same man who has been going around killing Christians. No way am I going to trust him!"

             Would he ever live it down? He was ashamed of it terribly ashamed, but he had one marvelous thing in his favor: He knew that God had forgiven him and that God had chosen him to be on His team. This controlled his every act.

            For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that will cause me to be ashamed of myself but that I will always be ready to speak out boldly for Christ while I am going through all these trials here, just as I have in the past; and that I will always be an honor to Christ, whether I live or whether I must die. For to me, living means opportunities for Christ, and dying well, that's better yet (Philippians 1:20-21).

            Not only was Paul on God's team, he was "called to come over!"

            Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel (Acts 9:15 NAS);

            But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles (Romans 11:13 NAS),

            Paul's dream came true . . . to be on God's team and his final words tell us that he accomplished his dream: The glorious fight God gave me, I have fought.  The course I was set I have finished, and I have kept the faith (II Timothy 4:7 PHILLIPS).

            We're on His team. He has chosen us. How wonderful! How incredible! And He has assigned us as His apostles to do certain things. Do we consider this awesome tribute the way Paul did?

            "Hey! I'm on The Lord's team! He chose me! I am someone very, very special! Not only that, He has called me to 'come over!' I'll break through that line! I'll be a winner! Just watch me run!"

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"THE CHURCH WHICH IS HIS BODY"



In this day and time, God manifests much grace in His dealings with His creatures. While He saves them upon the same basis as always He has and always will, that. is, upon the basis of the sacrifice and shed blood of our loving Lord on Calvary's cross, yet He makes this salvation available in a much more gracious manner than He did aforetime. Then one had to come under a rigid routine of sacrifice and service to be accepted of God, now we are "accepted in the Beloved," (Eph. 1:6) which means that by His grace through faith salvation is ours, without any conditions. Then, in order to have the continued blessings unto full development in the life He gives, ceremonies and ordinances had to be carefully observed; now, we are "complete in Him," (Col. 2:10) being "His body" (Eph. 5:30)  of which He is the "Head," (Col. 1:18 ) and from Him comes the nourishment needed apart from any and all ritualistic rites, whether public or private. By the grace of God all believers are saved and made new creations in Christ Jesus, and by His grace, as a unit, constitute the "Church, which is His body," sustained by the sustenance which the "Head" supplies and rejoicing in an all-sufficient Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Before this "dispensation of the grace of God," (Acts 20:24) in which we are now living, believers were promised a hopeful future, and, like-wise, the people of God comprising the "body" have also been promised a hopeful future. However, these promises appertain to different callings and destinies, so that while others have their future hope located on earth or in heaven, we have our hope located far above all heavens (Phil.3:20;Eph. 2:6). That is what the phrase "heavenly places" literally expresses, and we are told that we have been "made alive together with Christ," (Eph. 2:5) and also "raised up together and made sit together in the heavenly places." (Eph. 2:6) Christ has "passed through the heavens" and ascended up "far above all heavens," to that sphere where our hope is located, and where the Church is now "blessed with all spiritual blessings," (Eph. 1:3) and where we shall be some day, for God is going to display there "the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2:7)

Old Testament writers spoke of the "place above the heavens," also, "the place where thou hast put thy glory," and, so far as Scripture gives us light, it is the most exalted sphere to which God can raise any of His creatures, whom He has redeemed. It would be folly, to say the least, for us to trade any of our peculiar and precious blessings for those of another calling, and entirely outside the will or purpose of God, yet many are unknowingly doing that very thing by attaching teaching to the "body" which really does not belong to it. This is brought to pass by giving the "Church, which is His body" a designation which does not refer to it, and then upon that premise building doctrine that pertains to another calling.  Selected

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Understandest Thou What Thou Readest?
by Pastor C. R. Stam


      This was the question Philip asked of the Ethiopian prince as he sat reading from Isaiah’s prophecy (Acts 8:30), and it is a question which we should continually keep asking ourselves as we read the Holy Scriptures.

There are always those among God’s people who do not much care whether or not they understand what they read, if only it warms their hearts! To them the Bible is little more than a fetish. Taking only those Scriptures which appeal to them, and leaving the rest, they actually feel themselves quite spiritual and often talk about believing the Bible whether they understand it or not!

But such “spirituality” is far from genuine, and such “faith” is blind and superstitious at best.

While it is true that the Bible teaches many truths which we believe, although they are beyond our comprehension (such as its opening verse!), yet how can we believe what the Bible says unless we understand what it says? God would have us understand what we read and believe it intelligently. Indeed, true faith will want to know and understand more and more of God’s Word. One who does not care whether or not he understands what God has said is not interested in knowing what God has said at all. His faith is based on his own will rather than on God’s Word, for regardless of the meaning of Scripture, he will take any passage that suits his fancy and use it as he wishes.

How great an emphasis God Himself puts upon the importance of understanding His Word! On one occasion, when our Lord saw the multitudes, He “was moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34).

And now that the secret of God’s great plan has been made known, how much more reason there is to study the Scriptures with a view to understanding them! How Paul, by the Spirit, emphasizes this as he writes of his prayers for the saints:


“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…”(Eph.1:17,18 ).

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GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY AND OUR SUFFERING
By Paul Hume



Scripture Reading: Job 42:1-10; Psa. 4:1; 2 Cor. 4:16-18

J.N. Darby has rendered Psalm 4:1 in and excellent manner: "When I call, answer me, 0 God of my righteousness: in pressure thou has enlarged me; be gracious unto me and hear my prayer." Did you note those words, "in pressure thou has enlarged me?" Pressure! Who of us enjoys pressure the "pressure" of disappointments? the "pressure" of sorrows? the pressure of a cruel or unkind loved one, relative, friend, or employer? Yes, life is full of such pressures, but the unsaved in  many cases seem to "get by all right." But not you! You're saved, yet you have to "sweat.-it out" sometimes. The words of the Psalmist you say a loud Amen to: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" (Psa. 34:19).

A lady was visiting beautiful Switzerland one summer. One day she came upon a mountain sheepfold. She stood and watched very interestingly, for there was one poor sheep, lying there moaning and looking very sick. She saw his leg was broken, and full of pity, asked how it had happened. "I broke it myself," said the shepherd sadly. She thought that it must have been an accident, but the shepherd went on to explain, "No, it was done. on purpose; it was the only way. That sheep will follow me, afterwards, when I've nursed it and got it better, and it will always come at my call then. But before it wouldn't; it was always wandering off into dangerous places, and it wouldn't let me take care of it along with the rest, and wouldn't even come when I called. It would have got killed certainly if I hadn't done that."

Why must we sometimes be afflicted? Why must we occasionally have to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death?" So that, like Job, through suffering, we might find our "captivity turned" (that is, our natural selfishness broken), and then experience enlargement. Study those words of Paul to the saints in Corinth (2 Cor. 6:11-13)! In their carnality they were "straitened." Only the crucible of suffering could remedy that narrowness of soul and release the Spirit of Christ within unto the blessing of others.

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THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD
by C. R. Stam


In 1866 Alfred Nobel invented an explosive made of nitroglycerin absorbed in a porous material. It was by far the most powerful explosive that had so far been invented.

When Nobel and his friends saw what his invention could do, and had to decide on a name, they sought for the strongest possible word for power -- in any language. The word they finally chose was the Greek word dunamis, from which our word dynamite is derived.

This word, in Greek also the strongest word for power, is used again and again in the New Testament and is generally translated simply "power".

When our Lord wrought miracles, for example, St. Luke testifies that "the POWER [dunamis] of the Lord was present to heal" (Luke 5:17). In promising His apostles that they too would work miracles, He said: "Ye [shall] be endued with POWER [dunamis] from on high" (Luke 24:49).

When the Sadducees questioned the resurrection, Jesus answered: "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the POWER [dunamis] of God" (Matt.22:29), and St. Paul declares that Christ was "declared to be the Son of God with POWER [dunamis]...by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom.1:4).

Using this same word, Paul, by inspiration, declares that "the gospel of Christ...is THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION, to every one that believeth..." (Rom. 1:16). This is because, according to this gospel, or good news, "CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS", and "THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS", he says, is to believers "THE POWER OF GOD" (I Cor. 1:18 ).

But not only are believers saved by the power of God; they are "KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD" (I Pet. 1:5). Indeed, the adjective of this same word "dunamis" is used in Hebrews 7:25, where we read that the Lord Jesus Christ is "ABLE...TO SAVE...TO THE UTTERMOST [THOSE] THAT COME UNTO GOD BY HIM". Thus the Bible uses the very strongest word for power to show how secure is the salvation of those who trust in Christ.

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KNOWING THE POWER OF GOD
by Russell S. Miller


It will greatly assist the child of God to know that when the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s cross, He not only died for our sins, past, present and future, but He also died to put away that old sin nature, that part of us that always sins.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:6).

This word, knowing, has been defined in the Companion Bible as “to know (by experience and effort); to acquire knowledge, become acquainted with; hence, to come or get to know, learn, perceive.”

Thus with “experience and effort” through the study of God’s Word, and prayer, the Holy Spirit leads us to “perceive” (Gal. 2:9) and “understand” (Phil. 1:12) what Christ actually accomplished for us through “the death of the cross,” and such “knowledge” (Acts 17:13) refutes the doctrine of sin’s eradication.

The child of God is to know that his old sin nature has been “crucified” with Christ. He is to know that no matter how much effort he puts into its restoration the old Adamic nature of man has been “crucified” and “buried,” positionally, with Christ. Thus Paul’s exhortations to practical Christian living:

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instrument of righteousness unto God” (Rom.6:11-13).

Knowing the power of God’s grace the child of God is no longer to “serve sin.” And through knowing these things he can truly appreciate all that Christ accomplished for us at Calvary, and occupy, experientially, that position in Christ that Jesus “purchased with His own shed blood” (Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:7).

“But GOD BE THANKED, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have OBEYED FROM THE HEART THAT FORM OF DOCTRINE which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17,18 ).

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SLOW BUT SURE
By Miles Stanford


"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him,. fret not thyself" (Ps. 37:7).

Our Father moves on the basis of His finished work, therefore hurry is not a factor with Him nor should it be with us. We are to 'walk in the Spirit,' and the blessed Holy Spirit will see to it that we obtain all that our Father has for us, step by step. ''The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in His way" (Ps. 37:23). Don't be discouraged---Enoch walked with God for three hundred years before he was translated!

"We cannot become spiritual all at once; we must be content to begin as babes. Spiritual maturity and strength do not come by effort but by growth; and growth is the result of being nourished by proper food. But if we do not grow by effort it is important to remember that we do not grow without exercise.

"God begins by giving our hearts a sense of the blessedness of the grace in which He has called us, that we may be awakened and enhungered to pursue the knowledge of all this with purpose of heart and prayerful study." - C.A.C.

"Whatever we do accurately must take time and collectedness of mind, and there is no accuracy in all the world like keeping company with God, and yet nothing so free from bondage or tediousness. By going slow with the Lord we accomplish more than by going with a rush, because what He  does is done so much better and does not have to be undone. It is done in a better spirit, with deeper motives, and bears fruit far out in the future, when all mushroom performances have been dissipated forever." - G.B.W.

"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Ps. 37:4).

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The Grace Of God

by Pastor C. R. Stam


In the Bible, the grace of God is His loving favor toward fallen man. St. Paul has more to say about grace than any other Bible writer, opening every one of his epistles with the declaration: “Grace be unto you and peace.”

Little wonder, for he himself was God’s greatest demonstration of salvation by grace. In I Tim. 1:13,14, he says:

    “I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy… and THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT….”

After years of service and suffering for Christ, he declared:

    “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 [GOOD NEWS] OF THE GRACE OF GOD” (Acts 20:24).

Salvation is wholly by God’s grace, not partly by man’s works, for in Rom. 11:6 we read: “…if [it be] by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.”

And in Rom. 4:4,5: “…to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Thus salvation is “not of works” but “unto good works” (Eph. 2:8-10). Good works is the fruit, not the root.

“All have sinned,” says Rom. 3:23 but, thank God, all may be “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

Thus it is God’s purpose “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).

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Saved By His Life
by Anabel Gillham


For if while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through
the death of His Son,
much more, having been reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life.
- Romans 5:10

How many sermons did it take? How many years did I refuse to even consider Christianity? Poor Mom and Dad—they tried so hard to put me in places where I’d hear the gospel, everything from private Christian schools, to Vacation Bible School to church camp. Well, I wish they were here to see me now. I finally made that decision and started a new life. Jesus is my Savior and I’m trying to allow Him to be my Lord, but I keep falling flat on my face. What’s wrong? I try and try—but I keep falling. You talk about miserable!  Oh, my family doesn’t know and I’m keeping up a good front with my accountability buddy. But I’m about ready to throw in the towel. There’s got to be more to Christianity than I’ve tapped into. (Anonymous)

Can you relate? How many of us have said, “There’s GOT to be more to the Christian life than I’m experiencing!”  How many people sitting in the pew on Sunday simply made their weekly pilgrimage and will face next week just like they faced last week—in their strength, carrying their burdens, basking in their achievements, minimizing their failures? They’re doing it their way. But go on down the pew where others are wrestling with their failures. Anger. Smoldering pain. Depression. The magazine with the centerfold. Selfish. Foul language. And there are times when both groups think about how disappointing they must be to God—how they want to do better and wonder if there isn’t more to Christianity than this.

 If you identify, you are a disappointment to God. Not because you picked up the pornographic magazine or did things your way. He is disappointed for you because you haven’t gone far enough in your relationship with Him. Yes, He’s your Savior and you’re trying to let Him be your Lord. But there’s another step. You see, you can never walk consistently with Him as your Lord until you take up your cross (and you die on a cross) and allow Christ to be your life! He longs to walk past the magazine rack for you. He wants to face life for you all week long. You can’t overcome the gossip and lust—but He can. Jesus Christ is the only one who has ever lived or will ever live the Christian life. We choose—our way or His way!

Let’s say that you are a promising tennis player. Your coach is a pro who says you’ve got the makings of a champ! Now, would you rather have your coach on the sidelines shouting instructions or, if possible, would you have him crawl inside your body where he could make the shots through you while sizing up your opponent’s weaknesses? Oh, you’d still be you with your unique talents and gifts, but He would be your source. Hey, you really would be a champ!

This is the gospel that God initiated when we asked Jesus to come into us to save us. “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”  If we have been saved by Jesus’ death, then what is His life saving us from?  From the pressures of life on Earth! Christ living the Christian life through us is just as much a part of the gospel as Christ dying for us.

Don’t throw in the towel! You need Christ as life. This is your answer. God has no plan to “help” you meet your circumstances. Jesus living through you is God’s provision to meet every circumstance! But if you keep trying to stay in control, you’ll keep failing or lack His peace. And it won’t change...not until you say:

Jesus, blessed Savior and Lord, I can’t make life work and I need You to make it work for me, through me. I need You to be my life, to handle the backhand blows, the smashes, the lobs, the serves, the wins and the losses. Show me how to let You do it all for me—through me, please Lord.

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SPIRIT-MOTIVATED SURRENDER
By Miles Stanford


"Keep on seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1, Wms.).

When the Spirit of Christ has the hungry heart prepared, there will be surrender. No struggle; no questions. "We reason when we ought to repose; we doubt when we ought to depend. Confidence in our Father's love is the true corrective in all things." "For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him" (2 Tim. 1:12).

"If a believer surrenders or lays aside anything without an adequate divine motive, he will either secretly hanker after it, and probably long to return to it, or he will take credit to himself for having given it up, and will thus reveal self-righteousness and spiritual pride.

"A certain school of religious teachers make much of 'surrender' as the way to attain blessing, but it ends in self-sufficiency, because the only motive that is presented for it is the acquisition of a better spiritual state, or power for service, or something of that kind. A divine motive and attraction is needed if souls are to be drawn into the race and prepared to surrender in a truly spiritual way,  and this divine motive and attraction is our risen Lord in Glory." --- C.A.C.

"Communion with the Lord Jesus requires our coming to Him in the Word. Meditating upon His person and His work requires the prayerful study of His Word. Many fail to abide in Him because they habitually fast instead of feast." ---J.H.T.

"Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name" (Isa. 26:12,13).

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Enemies Of The Cross
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler


      Scripture Reading:


        “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” – Philippians 3:18, 19



During the Apostle Paul’s visits to Europe he had frequently warned the Philippians about those who were nothing more than deceivers. It is apparent that the problem in the assembly had greatly intensified for Paul writes, “I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping.” These men are labeled by the apostle as “the enemies of the Cross of Christ.” They may have appeared outwardly religious but in reality they were ungodly, self-seeking, arrogant, sensual men who were destitute of faith.


There are three indictments that are handed down against these workers of iniquity: First, in the order of enumeration is the statement, “whose end is destruction.” Surely this cannot be said of the saved. On the other hand the unsaved will experience everlasting destruction as foretold in II Thessalonians 1:7-9. Secondly, notice the object of their worship. Were they worshipping the true and living God? No! their god was their belly — sensuality, which produced the in satiable desire to satisfy the appetites of the flesh. Thirdly, we are told they set their affections solely on worldly things such as: philosophy, intellectualism, power, popularity, fortune, etc.


Little wonder Paul calls them enemies of the Cross, “they had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof.” These emissaries of Satan had no desire to understand the preaching of the Cross, whereby they could be justified from all things. Things haven’t changed very much, today these imposters brazenly substitute the gospel message with the doctrine of positive thinking, which has led many to a false sense of security in thinking that they are right with God. Sad to say, that even some believers have fallen under the spell of this insidious teaching. Sir Walter Scott said of those who are given to deception:

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
when first we practice to deceive.”

Thankfully, even though the gospel is sometimes hindered, it continues to be the “power of God unto salvation.” Beware of the enemies of the Cross, they are among us even at this hour.

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THE PINNACLE
by Douglas Falk

For in Him dwelleth all the Fullness
 of the Godhead bodily.

And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head
 of all principality and power (Col. 2:9-10, A.V.)

For in Him the entire complement of the Deity
is dwelling bodily.

And you are complete in Him, Who is the Head
of every sovereignty and authority (Col. 2:9-10,
 Concordant Version).

Because in Him resides bodily every perfection
 of the Divinity,

And you are perfected in Him, Who is the Head
of every power and authority (Col. 2:9-10, Ferrar Fenton).

Because in Him there is continuously
 and permanently at home all the Fullness of the
 Absolute Deity in bodily fashion.

And you are in Him, having been completely
 filled full with the present result that you are
 in a state of fullness (Col. 2:9,10, Wuest).



Never before has been and never again will be said so much in so few words. The grandness and the implications of these words can be easily missed due to the scarcity and simplicity of the words themselves. These words have given us a vantage point from which to relate all of God's dealings with the human race to the Person of Christ. It is, as it were, a pinnacle from which all else is seen and interpreted.

In verse nine (9) we have Christ being the embodiment of all the Fullness of the Godhead, and in verse ten (10) we have Christ being the Fullness (verb built on same root as "fullness") of ourselves. God's dealings with us and our dealings with God are both accomplished through Christ. Not only "through," but also perfect representation and interpretation of ourselves and God. Christ represents God to us and us to God. The interpretation that God has of us is Christ as well. When Christ faces toward us, we see the Fullness of God; when Christ faces toward God, He sees our fullness. The world knows little of verse nine; the religion of Christianity knows little of verse ten.

Verse nine;

This is the answer of mankind's searching for something beyond himself. It is this "seeking" that makes man, man; which makes him distinct from the rest of creation; that man feels deeply within himself that there is SOMETHING beyond himself. The search may be expressed in literature, myth, drama, art, history, story, or philosophy. The expression of the search may be simple or profound, but the ultimate search for answer has been found: it is given in this verse of Scripture.

The fact that Christ is all the Fullness of Deity bridges the gap between the distant heaven and the closeness of earth, between the Creator and the creature, between the outside and the inside, between the Divine and the human, between the spiritual and the material. The gap is not mended gradually, partially, or distributively, but in one sweeping move man's search has ended and has been infinitely satisfied regardless of when, where, or how the search is expressed.

Verse ten:

Verse nine is the answer to that which is outside of man; verse ten answers that which is inside of man, the conflicts he often experiences within himself - depression, loneliness, fear, weakness, guilt, doubt, shortcomings, separation, divorce, suicide, war, all are ultimately solved by having our fullness in Christ. Though our apprehension and experience of this fact light be gradual and timid, there is no better or other solution. Society desires us to think otherwise. It wants us to view ourselves as a mirror-image of itself, that it might in some manner control us physically and psychologically. We still we as a fact our fullness in Christ and in Christ alone. In this fullness we are indeed free from all bondage, in Christ we are accepted by God under all conditions, and in Christ we are fulfilled perfectly and completely.

Verses nine and ten;

All of this, either verse nine or ten, is done, solely, completely, and irrevocably through, in and by Christ. We cannot add to it, nor in any manner "help it along," because the solution is a perfect response to the problem; we cannot subtract from it or change it because the initial "doing" was not of us; nor can it be improved upon because it cannot be made any better; we cannot "diminish" it by giving it out since it is not ours to give; it cannot be sold regardless of the price we might offer, large or small, because it cannot be owned as chattel; we cannot presume to take any credit for it (not even our faith), nor claim it upon some supposed merit; indeed, aside from being a recipient, we had nothing to do with its proposing or fulfillment. We cannot fully comprehend! apprehend it because it is limitless. We can, however, reflect it because its implications are continually available; we can grow in it since its implications extend beyond our present boundaries; we can apply it to those who are the hardest to apply it to; we can be bold in it regardless of the arguments used against it; we can continually remind ourselves of it, for we certainly need to do so; we must, however, under all conditions and for all time, stand as its champion and defender since all else is against it.

Because these things are all of Christ, all the divisions and fences that either we make or have built around us or others of whatever nature, all are utterly demolished (and likely even a cause of humor). We probably do more to hinder than to help spread the very news that we seek to spread. If we would see that others do not need to look, think, believe, agree, follow, or worship like us - that we in turn do not need to conform to others to be accepted by God and pleasing to God.

The facts of Colossians 2:9-10 are true regardless of whether or not we see their import or importance; they are true without taking into account our naive conditions; they are true without distinctions, and they are true without merit on our part, and true because God wishes it to be so on His part.

[nChrist]

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Marching Confidently
to the Drumbeat of Grace
By Preston Gillham



For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38-39).

You are secure!

You are as secure as your Father’s hand is big. You are as secure as He is strong. You are as secure as He is bound by His integrity. You are as secure as God’s promise to be faithful. You are as secure as Father’s love demonstrated in Christ. You are as secure as His life is eternal. You are as secure as Christ’s provision for sin is sufficient. You are as secure as Jesus’ promises. You are as secure as God is divine by nature. You are as secure as the love God has in His heart for you.

Walk confidently! You are secure! You are as secure as Father’s grace is abundant.

Walk confidently as a demonstration of His grace. Take up His confidence as yours, and demonstrate grace. In the confidence of His grace, live a life of grace. With the confidence that Christ is in you to express His life through you, extend grace. In the confidence that you are a recipient of grace, unfurl your life into the storms of ungraciousness and demonstrate God’s grace.

Will you get the dirt of the world under your fingernails? Yes. Will you feel the stress of the un-grace around you? Yes, you will. Do not be put off! Grace flourishes in ungracious places.

Don’t ever forget, grace is a person! Jesus put a face on grace. He sought you in your ungracious place, and seeks you in the ungraciousness of your messes. He gives you the confidence to be His representative in the ungracious places around you. And He gives you the inspiration to be His representative simply through the security of your confidence in Him. For “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20).

Grace. Demonstrate it. Share it. Live it. Let yourself be caught up in it. Be astonished by it. Marvel at it. Take it into your soul and treasure it. Give it safe harbor in your heart. Fix your eyes on it. Set your mind upon it. Take hold of it and adopt it. Love it. Respond to it. Cherish it. March to its beat. Dance to its tune. Rally to its cry. Join in its shout. Advance upon its signal. Lock arms with it. Depend upon it. Find your security in it. Place your confidence in it. Let its extravagance exude from the pours of your smile, the gleam in your eye, and the warmth of your touch.

Have you considered what it will take for you to live a life of grace, and have you considered what that life will look like?

[nChrist]

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EQUIPPING THE SAINTS
by Pastor Robert N. Renberg Jr.

In this day and age of grace, God has given to His Church, the body of Christ, gifted leaders. Their primary aim is to teach sound doctrine and to preach Christ as contained in the Mystery, the revelation given to and through the Apostle Paul.

However, God's purpose for these men, who are referred to as "pastor-teachers" in Ephesians 4:11, is not just for them to be cold, didactic expounders of the Scriptures alone. His purpose is for the pastor-teacher to be equipping the saints for ministry (diakonia). The Word of God is alive and powerful (Heb. 4:12), and, taught correctly, it has the ability to produce in its hearers an echo that reverberates to those around (1 Thess. 1:8 ).

For many years, the basic layman had the attitude, Let those who are trained do the work of ministering, and he came to church only on Sunday mornings to get a weekly "fill-up." As we come to God's Word, however, this reasoning does not hold up under the light of the gospel. In writing to the "saints and faithful ones in Christ Jesus" in the Book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul sets forth the type of men that have been given to the Body as gifts. In Ephesians 4:11, this list of gifted men is given. We want to further develop the thought and intent of the Holy Spirit in verse 12 concerning the "work of ministry."

The goal of the pastor-teacher is to equip the saints for a specific purpose. This purpose is the "work of the ministry" or "work of ministering." It was never our heavenly Father's intent to have only certain ones in the body of Christ do all the work. In fact, we find in First Corinthians 12 that, just as in our physical body, every member has a vital role to play. Much more in the Body of Christ every member is a necessary part to a smooth functioning organism.

On what then is the focus of the pastor-teacher to be centered? Is he to be running all the various departments and all programs of the local assembly, plus do all the visitation, organize all special events, do all the emergency counseling, and all the other administrative functions? When does he make time for his real focus, the study of God's Word, which is a prerequisite for teaching the Scriptures?

The pastor-teacher must be a trainer and example to his people through teaching the Word and personal discipleship. Then as the various ministries are established, leaders are established also. Being confident with this leadership, the pastor can move on to spearhead the other needed ministries, still having time to do those pastoral functions and study God's Word. Therefore, he is still able to bring out the truth of the Scripture in a clear, concise and applicable way so that the Holy Spirit can motivate others to "the work of ministry. "

While it might not be the flashiest and quickest way to motivate the hearers, teaching the literal intended meaning of the New Testament writers in a verse by verse method is by far the best way to produce grounded and foundationed saints. These believers are then motivated by the Holy Spirit, not the flesh, to do the work of ministering.

As a pastor-teacher, I am constantly looking at how I can involve the other members to do these very things, and it has been my privilege to see others picking up in areas that need special attention, but that are often overlooked because they are considered of lesser importance by some. God simply needs saints who are available and willing. Be assured that when you desire to be used, He will give you a "work of ministry" that will bring glory and honor to His name!

"And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ." (Col. 3:23,24)

[nChrist]

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Are You A Token Grace Believer?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


        “We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

        “Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God” (II Thes. 1:4,5).


In 32 years of pastoral ministry, this writer has had the privilege to officiate at many a wedding ceremony. When it comes time for the groom to say “I do,” we initiate this response by asking him, “Do you give your ring, and accept your bride’s ring, as a token that you will keep the pledge and perform the vows that you have made this day?”Since the word token has been defined as “something that serves as an indication or an expression of something else,” we then conclude the ring ceremony by saying, “These gold rings will serve as continual reminders of the lasting and imperishable faith that you have pledged to one another this day.”

In the Bible, we read that God gave the rainbow as a “token” of His promise to never again destroy the world with a universal flood (Gen.9:11-13). Similarly, circumcision is said to be a “token” of the covenant God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:11), and the blood of the Passover lamb was said to be a “token” of God’s promise to Israel to spare their firstborn (Ex. 12:13).

Here in our text, the apostle Paul says that the patient manner in which the Thessalonians were enduring persecution was “a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” That is, their patient endurance of tribulation was a sign that, when God finally does judge the world, “He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31), for He will be paying the world back for persecuting His people. As Paul goes on to say in the verse that follows our text,

“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” (II Thes.1:6).

You see, when a Christian is persecuted for his faith, an injustice has taken place; an unrighteous thing has occurred. In God’s perfect system of justice, which can leave the debt of no sin unsettled, this injustice must be paid for, and God solemnly vows to right this wrong “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,

“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:   
“Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (II Thes. 1:7-9).

Here God vows that He will someday avenge the Thessalonians for the tribulations given to them by their persecutors, beginning with the destruction that He will bring upon the world at His Second Coming. Of course, God knows that He will be charged with unrighteousness, as He always is when He is forced to sit in judgment upon men. This is why the  Book of Revelation is sprinkled with affirmations that God’s Tribulation judgments are not unrighteous, that they are rather “just and true” (Rev. 15:3), and “righteous” (16:5-7; 19:2). Similarly, here in our text, Paul is defending the righteousness of the Lord’s Second Coming judgments.

Next, Paul says that the righteous judgment of God on these persecutors of God’s people will then continue in the Lake of Fire, the “everlasting destruction” of which he goes on to speak of here in II Thessalonians 1:9. Here we see clear evidence that all those in any age who reject God’s provision for their sins will die in their sins (cf. John8:24), and must themselves be made to pay for their sins.

Of course, the Thessalonians themselves could have retaliated against their persecutors, and forced them to pay for the crimes they committed against them. Surely there were times when they felt like evening the score. However, had they done so, it would then be unrighteous for God to someday recompense tribulation to their persecutors, and God will not be guilty of double jeopardy. As it was, Paul was able to tell the Thessalonians that the “patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure…is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” If the world should someday ask why God is troubling them, He can reply, “Well, you used to trouble My people,so now, by the same token, I am troubling you!”

There is a lesson that we can learn from this. If we take vengeance on those who trouble us, that means God can’t. What an incentive to leave vengeance to the One whose judgments are always fair and equitable! When we take vengeance, we often retaliate too little,leaving our sense of justice feeling unsatisfied. Or we retaliate too much,creating an additional imbalance of justice that leaves our adversary feeling a need to strike at us again. “But we are sure that the judgment  of God is according to truth against them which commit such things” (Rom. 2:2). God will judge all men fairly, for His judgment will be according to truth. No wonder Judgment Day is called“the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (2:5).

Are you a token grace believer? Is your patient endurance of those who trouble you a token that, when God judges your persecutors, He will do so in righteousness? None of us would ever knowingly and purposely take something away from God that He says belongs to Him, and yet this is what we do when we take vengeance away from the One who has said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19).If you are thinking of making someone pay for what they did to you, why not determine right now to leave it all with Him?