THE HEART OF DAVID

Matthew 6:21



Where your treasure is - If "God" be the treasure of our souls, our hearts, i.e. our affections and desires will be placed on things above. An earthly minded man proves that his treasure is below; a heavenly minded man shows that his treasure is above.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. This seems to be a proverbial expression, and contains in it another reason, dissuading from "worldly mindedness"; because of the danger the heart is in of being ensnared and ruined thereby: and the sense of it is, if your treasure is on earth, and lies in earthly things, your hearts will be set upon them, and be in them, in your bags, your coffers and storehouses; and so your souls will be in danger of being lost; which loss will be an irreparable one, though you should gain the whole world. But if your treasure is put into the hands of God, your hearts will be with him, and be settled on him; your desires will be after heavenly things; your affections will be set on things above; your conversation will be in heaven, whilst you are on earth; and that will be the place and seat of your happiness, to all eternity.


Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven - That is, have provision made for your eternal felicity. Do not exhaust your strength and spend your days in providing for the life here, but let your chief anxiety be to be prepared for eternity. Compare the notes at Isa_55:2. In heaven nothing corrupts; nothing terminates; no enemies plunder or destroy. To have treasure in heaven is to possess evidence that its purity and joys will be ours. It is to be heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 1Pe_1:4. The heart, or affections, will of course be fixed on the treasure. To regulate the heart, it is therefore important that the treasure, or object of attachment, should be right.

ARE YOU GROWING?

THE WAY TO GROW SPIRITUALLY IN CHRIST

1 Peter 2:2
As new born babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

 A person who is "Born Again" starts a new life similar to that of a newborn infant.   Seven rules that promote good health in babies can be adapted and applied to a Christian's spiritual growth.

1.   Daily Food.   Take in the "pure milk of the word" through study and meditation (chewing the word over).

2.   Fresh Air.   Pray often or you will faint.   Prayer is the oxygen of the soul (mind,willpower,emotions).

3.   Regular Exercise.   'Put into practice', what you learned in God's Word.

4.   Adequate Rest.   Rely on God at all times in simple faith.

5.   Clean Surroundings.   Avoid evil company and whatever will weaken you spiritually. Get along side Christian brother's and sisters in Christ who are each growing and increasing in the teachings of the Kingdom.

6.   Loving Care.   Be part of a Church where you will benefit from a pastor's teaching and Christian fellowship.   Which is the body of Christ each joint and ligament doing it's part supplying to the body each
part drawing from the vine which is Jesus.

7. Periodic Checkups.   Regular examine your spiritual health.

If we neglect any of these rules, our progress will be hindered.   God wants us to grow "in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"
(2 Peter 3:18) Are You Growing?

Read:  Hebrews 10:25, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 1:22, 1 Corinthians 11:28, 1 Peter 2:2, Psalm 37:7,
1 Corinthians 15:33-34. -H.G.B.

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS ON THE WAY TO MATURITY IN THE SPIRIT!

But take heart! I've conquered the world

John 16:33 
I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. 
In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." 

John 16:1-33

In chapter 16 a further step is taken in the revelation of this grace. The Holy Ghost is looked upon as already here below.
In this chapter the Lord declares that He has set forth all His instruction with regard to His departure from the Earth; their sufferings in the world as holding His place; their joy, as being in the same relationship to Him as that in which He had been while on earth to His Father; their knowledge of the fact that He was in the Father and they in Him, and He Himself in them; the gift of the Holy Ghost, in order to prepare them for all that would happen when He was gone, that they might not be offended. For they should be cast out of the synagogues, and he who should kill them would think that he was serving God. This would be the case with those who, resting in their old doctrines as a form, and rejecting the light, would only use the form of truth by which they accredited the flesh as orthodox to resist the light which, according to the Spirit, would judge the flesh. This would they do, because they knew neither the Father nor Jesus, the Son of the Father. It is fresh truth which tests the soul, and faith. Old truth, generally received and by which a body of people are distinguished from those around them, may be a subject of pride to the flesh, even where it is the truth, as was the case with the Jews. But fresh truth is a question of faith in its source: there is not the support of a body accredited by it, but the cross of hostility and isolation. They thought they served God. They knew not the Father and the Son.
Nature is occupied with that which it loses. Faith looks at the future into which God leads. Precious thought! Nature acted in the disciples: they loved Jesus; they grieved at His going away. We can understand this. But faith would not have stopped there. If they had apprehended the necessary glory of the Person of Jesus; if their affection, animated by faith, had thought of Him and not of themselves, they would have asked, "Whither goest thou?" Nevertheless He who thought of them assures them that it would be gain to them even to lose Him. Glorious fruit of the ways of God! Their gain would be in this, that the Comforter should be here on earth with them and in them. Here, observe, Jesus does not speak of the Father. It was the Comforter here below in His stead, to maintain the testimony of His love for the disciples, and His relationship to them. Christ was going away: for if He went not away, the Comforter would not come; but if He departed, He would send Him. When He was come, He would act in demonstration of the truth with regard to the world that rejected Christ and persecuted His disciples; and He would act for blessing in the disciples themselves.
With regard to the world, the Comforter had one only subject of testimony, in order to demonstrate the sin of the world. It has not believed in Jesus — in the Son. Doubtless there was sin of every kind, and, to speak truth, nothing but sin — sin that deserved judgment; and in the work of conversion, He brings these sins home to the soul. But the rejection of Christ put the whole world under one common judgment. No doubt every one shall answer for his sins; and the Holy Ghost makes me feel them. But, as a system responsible to God, the world had rejected His Son. This was the ground on which God dealt with the world now; this it was which made manifest the heart of man. It was the demonstration that, God being fully revealed in love such as He was, man would not receive Him. He came, not imputing their trespasses unto them; but they rejected Him. The presence of Jesus was not the Son of God Himself manifested in His glory, from which man might shrink with fear, though he could not escape; it was what He was morally, in His nature, in His character. Man hated Him: all testimony to bring man to God was unavailing. The plainer the testimony, the more he turned from it and opposed it. The demonstration of the sin of the world was its having rejected Christ. Terrible testimony, that God in goodness should excite detestation because He was perfect, and perfectly good! Such is man. The testimony of the Holy Ghost to the world, as God's to Cain of old, would be, Where is my Son? It was not that man was guilty; that he was when Christ came; but he was lost, the tree was bad. [62]
But this was God's path to something altogether different — the demonstration of righteousness, in that Christ went to His Father, and the world saw Him no more. It was the result of Christ's rejection. Human righteousness there was none. Man's sin was proved by the rejection of Christ. The cross was indeed judgment executed upon sin. And in that sense it was righteousness; but in this world it was the only righteous One condemned by man and forsaken by God; it was not the manifestation of righteousness. It was a final judicial separation between man and God (see chapters 11 and Joh_12:31). If Christ had been delivered there, and had become the King of Israel, this would not have been an adequate consequence of His having glorified God. Having glorified God His Father, He was going to sit at His right hand, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, to be glorified in God Himself, to sit on the Father's throne. To set Him there was divine righteousness (see Joh_13:31-32 and Joh_17:1, Joh_17:4-5). This same righteousness deprived the world, as it is, of Jesus for ever. Man saw Him no more. Righteousness in favour of men was in Christ at God's right hand — in judgment as to the world, in that it had lost Him hopelessly and for ever.
Moreover Satan had been proved to be the prince of this world by leading all men against the Lord Jesus. To accomplish the purposes of God in grace, Jesus does not resist. He gives Himself up to death. He who has the power of death committed himself thoroughly. In his desire to ruin man he had to hazard everything in his enterprise against the Prince of Life. He was able to associate the whole world with himself in this, Jew and Gentile, priest and people, governor, soldier, and subject. The world was there, headed by its prince, on that solemn day. The enemy had everything at stake, and the world was with him. But Christ has risen, He has ascended to His Father, and has sent down the Holy Ghost. All the motives that govern the world, and the power by which Satan held men captive, are shewn to be of him; he is judged. The power of the Holy Ghost is the testimony of this, and surmounts all the powers of the enemy. The world is not yet judged, that is, the judgment executed — it will be in another manner; but it is morally, its prince is judged. All its motives, religious and irreligious, have led it to reject Christ, placing it under Satan's power. It is in that character that he has been judged; for he led the world against Him who is manifested to be the Son of God by the presence of the Holy Ghost consequent on His breaking the power of Satan in death.
All this took place through the presence on earth of the Holy Ghost, sent down by Christ. His presence in itself was the demonstration of these three things. For, if the Holy Ghost was here, it was because the world had rejected the Son of God. Righteousness was evidenced by Jesus being at the right hand of God, of which the presence of the Holy Ghost was the proof, as well as in the fact that the world had lost Him. Now the world which rejected Him was not outwardly judged, but, Satan having led it to reject the Son, the presence of the Holy Ghost proved that Jesus had destroyed the power of death; that he who had possessed that power was thus judged; that he had shewn himself to be the enemy of Him whom the Father owned; that his power was gone, and victory belonged to the Second Adam, when Satan's whole power had been arrayed against the human weakness of Him who in love had yielded to it. But Satan, thus judged, was the prince of this world.
The presence of the Holy Ghost should be the demonstration not of Christ's rights as Messiah, true as they were, but of those truths that related to man — to the world, in which Israel was now lost, having rejected the promises, although God would preserve the nation for Himself. But the Holy Ghost was doing something more than demonstrating the condition of the world. He would accomplish a work in the disciples; He would lead them into all truth, and He would shew them things to come; for Jesus had many things to tell them which they were not yet able to bear. When the Holy Ghost should be in them, He should be their strength in them as well as their teacher; and it would be a wholly different state of things for the disciples. Here He is considered as present on the earth in place of Jesus, and dwelling in the disciples, not as an individual spirit speaking from Himself, but even as Jesus said, "As I hear I judge," with a judgment perfectly divine and heavenly: so the Holy Ghost, acting in the disciples, would speak that which came from above, and of the future, according to divine knowledge. It should be heaven and the future of which He would speak, communicating what was heavenly from above, and revealing events to come upon the earth, the one and the other being witnesses that it was a knowledge which belonged to God. How blessed to have that which He has to give!
But, further, He takes here the place of Christ. Jesus had glorified the Father on earth. The Holy Ghost would glorify Jesus, with reference to the glory that belonged to His Person and to His position. He does not here speak directly of the glory of the Father. The disciples had seen the glory of the life of Christ on earth; the Holy Ghost would unfold to them His glory in that which belonged to Him as glorified with the Father — that which was His own.
They would learn "in part." This is man's measure when the things of God are in question, but its extent is declared by the Lord Himself: "He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. An that the Father hath is mine: therefore, said I, He shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you."
Thus we have the gift of the Holy Ghost variously presented in connection with Christ. In dependence on His Father, and representing His disciples as gone up from among them, on their behalf, He addresses Himself to the Father; He asks the Father to send the Holy Ghost (Joh_14:16). Afterwards we find that His own name is all powerful. All blessing from the Father comes in His name. It is on His account, and according to the efficacy of His name, of all that in Him is acceptable to the Father, that good comes to us. Thus the Father will send the Holy Ghost in His name (Joh_14:26). And Christ being glorified on high, and having taken His place with His Father, He Himself sends the Holy Ghost (Joh_15:26) from the Father, as proceeding from Him. Finally, the Holy Ghost is present here in this world, in and with the disciples, and He glorifies Jesus, and takes of His and reveals it to His own (Joh_16:13-15). Here all the glory of the Person of Christ is set forth, as well as the rights belonging to the position He has taken. "All things that the Father hath" are His. He has taken His position according to the eternal counsels of God, in virtue of His work as Son of man. But if He has entered into possession in this character, all that He possesses in it is His, as a Son to whom (being one with the Father) all that the Father has belongs.
There He should be hidden for a while: the disciples should afterwards see Him, for it was only the accomplishment of the ways of God; it was no question of being, as it were, lost by death. He was going to His Father. On this point the disciples understood nothing. The Lord develops the fact and its consequences, without yet shewing them the whole import of what He said. He takes it up on the human and historical side. The world would rejoice at having got rid of Him. Miserable joy! The disciples would lament, although it was the true source of joy for them; but their sorrow should be turned into joy. As testimony, this took place when He shewed Himself to them after His resurrection; it will be fully accomplished when He shall return to receive them unto Himself. But when they had seen Him again, they should understand the relationship in which He has placed them with His Father, they should enjoy it by the Holy Ghost. It should not be as though they could not themselves draw nigh to the Father, while Christ could do so (as Martha said, "I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, he willgive it thee"). They might themselves go directly to the Father, who loved them, because they had believed in Jesus, and had received Him when He had humbled Himself in this world of sin (in principle it is always thus); and asking what they would in His name they should receive it, so that their joy might be full in the consciousness of the blessed position of unfailing favour into which they were brought, and of the value of all that they possessed in Christ.
Nevertheless the Lord already declares to them the basis of the truth — He came from the Father, He was going away to the Father. The disciples think they understand that which He had thus spoken without a parable. They felt that He had divined their thought, for they had not expressed it to Him. Yet they did not rise really to the height of what He said. He had told them that they had believed in His having come "from God." This they understood; and that which had taken place had confirmed them in this faith, and they declare their conviction with regard to this truth; but they do not enter into the thought of coming "from the Father," and going away "to the Father." They fancied themselves quite in the light; but they had apprehended nothing that raised them above the effect of Christ's rejection, which the belief that He came from the Father and was going to the Father would have done. Jesus therefore declares to them, that His death would scatter them, and that they would forsake Him. His Father would be with Him; He should not be alone. Nevertheless He had explained all these things to them, in order that they should have peace in Him. In the world that rejected Him they should have tribulation; but He had overcome the world, they might be of good cheer.
This ends the conversation of Jesus with His disciples on earth. In the following chapter He addresses His Father as taking His own place in departing, and giving His disciples theirs (that is, His own), with regard to the Father and to the world, after He had gone away to be glorified with the Father. The whole chapter is essentially putting the disciples in His own place, after laying the ground for it in His own glorifying and work. It is, save the last verses, His place on earth. As He was divinely in heaven, and so shewed a divine heavenly character on earth, so (He being glorified as man in heaven) they, united with Him, were in turn to display the same. Hence we have first the place He personally takes, and the work which entitles them to be in it.
Note #62

Man is judged for what he has done; he is lost by what he is. 

These things I have spoken unto you,.... As this is the conclusion of our Lord's sermons to his disciples, these words may well enough be thought to have regard to all that he had said in general; as concerning his departure from them; his going to prepare a place for them; his union to them, and their communion with him; and the various persecutions and afflictions they should endure for his sake; and the many blessings both of grace and glory they should enjoy; and particularly what he had said in the context, concerning their forsaking him, which supposed tribulation, and would be a prelude of what they were afterwards to have in the world; and concerning the presence of his Father with him, and which they might also expect to have: 

that in me ye might have peace; not in the world, in which they were to have tribulation: there is no true, solid peace, to be enjoyed in the world, and the things of it; the world can neither give it, nor take it away; nor have the men of it any knowledge and understanding of it; and much less enjoy it: nor in themselves; spiritual peace does not arise from any duties, services, and performances of men; no, not from an attendance on the Gospel, and the ordinances of it; nor even from the graces of the Spirit; for though peace may be enjoyed herein, and hereby, and through these, as means; yet does not come from them, but from Christ, in whose strength alone all duties are performed aright; who is the sum and substance of the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, and the object of all grace: it is in him, and in him only, in his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, which speak peace, pardon, and atonement, that a soul finds any true, solid peace, rest, comfort, and joy; and here he may, and does find it, in opposition to the cry of sin, law, and justice, for wrath, ruin, hell, and damnation. There is a peace by Christ, which he has made for his people by the blood of his cross; and there is a peace in him, which is enjoyed through faith's looking to his blood for pardon, to his righteousness for justification, to his sacrifice for atonement and satisfaction; and by having communion with him, and discoveries of his love, and by seeing safety and security in him. 

In the world ye shall have tribulation; this is certain from this declaration of Christ, who is the omniscient God, and truth itself; from the instance and example of Christ, who was all his life a man of sorrows; from the conformity of the members to the head; from the divine appointment that has so determined it; from the natural enmity of the world to the saints; from the experience of the people of God in all ages; from the usefulness of tribulation to try the graces, and bring about the temporal, spiritual, and eternal good of believers: and though they have tribulation in the world, yet not by way of punishment for sin, but as fatherly corrections and chasten for their good, that they may not be condemned with the world; and it is only in this present world they have it; as soon as they have done with the world, they will have done with tribulation: 

but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world; it is very observable how the phrase, "in the world ye shall have tribulation", stands, and is encompassed, before, with these words, "that in me ye might have peace", and behind, with these, "be of good cheer", &c. Believers, of all men, notwithstanding their tribulations, have reason to be of good cheer, since their sins are forgiven, the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, their redemption draws nigh, and they have hopes of glory; and particularly, because as Christ here says, for their encouragement under all their tribulations in the world, "I have overcome the world": Satan, the god and prince of the world, with all his principalities and powers, which Christ has led captive, ransomed his people from, and delivers them from the power of; and all that is in the world, the lusts and sins of it, their damning power by the sacrifice of himself, and their governing power by his Spirit and grace; and the men of the world with all their rage and fury, whom he has trodden down in his anger, restrains by his power, and causes the remainder of their wrath to praise him; in all which conquests he makes his people share, and even makes them more than conquerors, through himself: so that they have nothing to fear from the world; nor any reason to be cast down by the tribulation they meet with in it.

I AM THY SHIELD!

“I am thy shield.”
Gen_15:1-18
Gen_15:1
Let those fear who touch the Lord’s anointed, but as for those who trust in the living God they have no cause for alarm. Five kings or fifty kings may come against them, but while Jehovah defends them they are secure. Perhaps the Lord saw a rising fear in Abram’s mind, and therefore came to him with this word of comfort: God is not willing that his servants should be in bondage to fear.
Gen_15:4
The strongest faith has its conflicts. Abram’s heart was set upon being the progenitor of the Messiah, and he believed in the promise of God that he should be so, but still it appeared impossible, for he had no son, nor did it appear likely that he would ever have one. It is wise always to spread our doubts before the Lord, for he can meet them for us.
Gen_15:6
Over the head of every difficulty and physical impossibility he believed in God; and therefore he stood accepted as righteous before the Lord.
Gen_15:7-11
The sacrifice ratifying the covenant is the most satisfying food for faith. Let us see Jesus confirming the promises and we are content. True, a few distracting questions like these ravenous birds will molest us, but by faith we chase them away. When the Lord covenanted with his servant over the bodies of the beasts slain in sacrifice, he gave him the strongest possible confirmation; and in the death of Jesus we have solid assurance that the promises shall all be fulfilled.
Gen_15:17
This symbolised the history of the chosen seed: the furnace of affliction with its darkening smoke is often theirs, but the lamp of God’s salvation is never removed from them.
Gen_15:18
Thus was the fear of Abram cured by the covenant: let us ever resort to the same remedy.

‘This is mine the covenant of grace,
And every promise mine;
All flowing from eternal love,
And sealed by blood divine.

On my unworthy, favoured head,
Its blessings all unite;
Blessings more numerous than the stars,
More lasting and more bright.

That covenant the last accent claims
Of this poor faltering tongue;
And that shall the first notes employ
Of my celestial song.


“Christ is all.”
Rom_4:1-25
Paul was moved by the Spirit to explain to us the bearings of the solemn transaction which we considered in our last reading. Let us hear his exposition.
Rom_4:23-25
The argument is very clear and conclusive. Abraham was justified by faith, therefore by grace; and this justification was not given to him as a circumcised man, for he was not circumcised till years after; therefore the covenant blessings are not given in connection with the law and its work, but in connection with faith and grace. The covenant promise was made to a seed to be born not after the flesh but according to promise, and in that promise all nations had an interest, for out of them would come a blessed people whose badge should be faith, and not the deeds of the law. Jesus is the promised seed, and those believing in him are Abraham’s seed. Are we all in this family believers in Jesus? Who is there among us unsaved? Pass the solemn question round.

No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of thy Son.

The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before thy throne;
But faith can answer thy demands,
By pleading what my Lord has done.

CULTIVATING GOOD RELATIONSHIPS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

                                         


CULTIVATING GOOD RELATIONSHIPS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

 Romans 14+

     Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do.  And don't jump all
over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with - even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department.  Remember, they have their own history to deal with.  Treat them gently.

     For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly.  But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't
it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat?  God, after all, invited them both to the table.  Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering
with God's welcome?  If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.
     
     Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be sert aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other.  There are good reasons either way.  So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

     What's important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God's sake;  if you eat meat, eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib;  if your a vegetarian, eat
vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli.  None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters.  It's God we are answerable to - all the way from life to death and everything in between - not each other.  That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again:
so that He could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the
petty tyrannies of each other.

     So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother?
And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister?
I'd say it leaves you looking pretty silly - or worse.  Eventually, we're all going to end up
kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God.  Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit.  Read it for yourself in Scripture:

     " 'As I live and breath, ' God says,
             'every knee will bow before me;
         Every tongue will tell the honest truth
             that I and only I AM GOD.' "

     So tend to your knitting.  You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.   Forget about deciding what's right for each other.  Here's what you need to be concerned about:  that you don't get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it is already.
I'm convinced - Jesus convinced me! - that everything as it is in itself is holy.  We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.

     If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat, you're no longer a companion with them in love, are you?  These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died.  Would you risk
sending them to hell over an item in their diet?  Don't you dare let a piece of God-blessed food
become an occasion of soul - poisoning!

     God's kingdom isn't a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness' sake.  It's what
God does with your life as He sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with koy.  Your task
is to single-mindedly serve Christ.  Do that and you'll kill two birds with one stone:  pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

     So let's agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.  Help others with encouraging words;  don't drag them down by finding fault.  You're certainly not going tp permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God's work among you, are you?

     I said it before and I'll say it again;  All  Food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling.  When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus.  So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating.  Don't eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.

     Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others.  You're fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent.  But if you're not sure, if you notice that you are acting
in ways inconsistent with what you believe - some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them - then you know that you're out of line.  If the way you live
isn't consistent with what you believe, then it's wrong.

   15.  Those of  us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status.  Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?"  That's exactly what Jesus did.  He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out.  "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way the Master and Scripture puts it.  Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us.  God wants the combination of His steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever He will do next.

     May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all.  Then we'll be a choir - not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
So reach out and welcome one another to God's Glory.  Jesus did it;  now YOU do it!  Jesus, staying true to God's purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old
ancestral promises would come true for them.  As a result, the non-Jewish OUTSIDERS have able
to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God.  Just think of all the Scripture that will come true in what we do! For instance:  "Then I'll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
                                                             I'll sing to your name!" 
                                And this one:
                                                        "Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!"

                                And again:      "People of all nations, celebrate God!
                                                             All colors and races, give hearty praise!"
                                And Isaiah's word:   "There's the root of our ancestor Jesse,
                                                                       breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
                                                                         Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take                                                                              hope!"

    Oh! May the 'God of Great Hope' fill you up with JOY, fill you up with PEACE, so that your believing lives, filled with the [life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit], will brim over with HOPE!

A Word Fitly Spoken?

A Word Fitly Spoken?

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver” (Pro_25:11).

One of my favorite movies is “The Princess Bride.” Our family has watched it so many times we just about have it memorized, and we often find lines from the movie inadvertently slipping into our conversations.

In one scene, the dread pirate Roberts (which is actually “my sweet Westley the farm boy” posing as the pirate) is single-handedly sailing a ship in pursuit of rescuing Princess Buttercup (the most beautiful woman in the world), who has been kidnapped by a trio of mistmatched villians made up of Vincinni the smug Sicilian mastermind, Fezzik the rhyming Giant, and Inigo Montoya, the sword-fighting Spaniard bent on avenging his father’s death at the hands of evil Count Rugen, the six-fingered man.

Wesley (posing as the pirate) is gaining on them with great speed despite their efforts to outrun him. Vincinni repeatedly exclaims, “Inconceivable!”  He says it so many times that finally the Spaniard says, “You keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.”

I mention this otherwise meaningless scene to say that many of us today do the same thing with the word ‘Grace.” We keep using the word, but “I do not think it means what you think it means.” We have unintentionally diminished the word “grace” to where it is no longer “a word fitly spoken.” Instead, it has become one more word in the big pot of Christian jargon.

Consider this, and see if it is so. On virtually every occasion that the word “grace” is used in pulpits and prayer closets, as well as in daily conversations, there is an unmistakable inference being made to God’s love, mercy, goodness, favor and blessing – none of which we deserve.

Yes, God loves us – but is that grace? No, that is love. Yes, God is merciful unto us – but is that grace? No, that is mercy. Yes, God is good to us, and favors us with blessings – but is that grace? No, that is God’s goodness. And so on, and so on.

See what I getting at? We keep using the word “grace” as though it were a synonym for God’s love, mercy, goodness, and favor. As a result we are missing out on one of the greatest revelations given by Jesus to His Church, and are consequently living less than the Lord purposes for us.

GRACE — “You keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.”

I tell you what…step over here for a moment and let me show you something wonderful off in the distance on the other side of this great valley below us…. (to be continued)

The Message of the Law: Be Holy

The Message of the Law: Be Holy

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God'."  (Lev_19:1-4)
When any aspects of God's law is being considered, what is its overall message? How could a person summarize the law of God? In this statement to Moses, the Lord mentions a few of the commandments from His holy law. He speaks of proper treatment of parents, observance of the Sabbath day, and refraining from idolatry. Then, He provides a two word summary of all His law: "be holy."
In this call to holiness, the Lord holds forth Himself as the reason for, and standard of, living holy lives. "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy." God is holy, so He wants holiness to be a distinctive trait of His people.
What is the holiness of God? It has to do with His character. Holiness speaks of that which is innate with God, as well as contrasting that which is absolutely foreign to His being. In the Lord God there is perfect righteousness. On the other hand, in Him there dwells no unrighteousness of any type. In our God there abides complete moral purity. Contrariwise, in Him there is not even a trace of moral evil. In fact, everything about Him is spiritually pure and morally unpolluted

This holy character of the Lord God is the standard of life that the law holds forth for humanity. God's chosen nation, Israel, was given this standard in writing. All others have this standard written on the conscience (Rom_2:15). Every one who is born into this world is measured by God's law, which demands that the holy character of God be seen in their life before God, including how they relate to God and to one another. The message of the law is: "be holy."

O Holy Father, I worship You for Your perfect holiness. None is holy, O Lord, besides You. You are pure and righteous in all of Your being and all of Your doing. Father, I am aware of, and convicted of, my lack of innate holiness. I confess that I could never produce a life that would measure up to Your holy standards. I thank You for the gracious forgiveness that is available in Your Son, Jesus Christ. I take comfort in, and find hope in, the righteousness that Your Son can bring into the lives of those who trust in Him day by day, in His name. Amen.