Be Strong in Grace:

Be Strong in Grace:

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” (2Ti_2:1)

“Excuse me, please,” the lady said, still holding in her hands the Book of Paul’s Letters to Timothy. “There is yet another passage that seems to be lifting off the page. Would it be alright if I read it aloud?”

“By all means,” I replied; “Please do!”

Paul writes, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2Ti_2:1).

“Whoa,” said a young man with tattoos on his left bicep, “that, like, makes total sense to me now!”

“Explain it to us” I said.

“Well, since Timothy was, like, with Paul through all that crazy stuff that happened to him in those weird cities; and he, like, watched how God’s power carried Paul through it all – he would, like, know that there is only one way any of us can overcome in this world – it is by the grace of God….you know, the power of Christ working in us to do God’s will in, like, whatever situation arises.”

“Well said, dude.” The group chuckled a bit, and the tattooed man, like, smiled.

Seeing this as a “teachable moment” I picked up where the young man left off.

Remember, it was Paul who said to us, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

And he leaves no doubt as to his meaning – “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Php_4:11-13).

I once heard a preacher put it this way, “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” (Eugene Peterson, in The Message, Php_4:13).

That’s what it means: To be Strong in Grace. 

It is experiencing the empowering presence of God enabling us to be who God created us to be, and to do what God has called us to do – right where we are.

How ‘bout the rest of you? Are you beginning to see it, too?

A quiet hum filled the Ancient Library. We all were experiencing the presence of the Lord of Grace – feeling His power fill our hearts.

Oh, my!

God’s Holy Remnant

lara stang

Shared privately  -  17:21

 

God’s Holy Remnant:
By B. E. Warren.

By the Word of God we understand that in this last dispensation of time God is gathering to himself a holy remnant, out of all the places where they have been scattered. As I look out upon this dark world of confusion, my heart is often made sad to see the awful sleep and stupidity, that is creeping over this Gentile world.

Truly their hearts are becoming harder and harder, and their eyes are being blinded: and with their ears they will not hear. And yet, thank God, there is a remnant to be saved. “We are living in the time of gleaning.

See Isaiah 17: 6. “When thus it shall be in the midst the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.”- Isaiah 24: 13.

1st. There is a remnant to be saved. “Even so then at the present time also there is a remnant, according to the election of grace. “- Romans 11: 5. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.”- Isaiah 10: 20, 21.

These prophecies are present truth. Reader, will you be one that makes up this remnant?

2nd. This remnant is holy. “In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem. “- Isaiah 4: 2, 3. ”

And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.”- Isaiah 62: 12. Read Hebrews 12: 14. Holy means, to be pure, spotless, blameless, cleansed from all sin. In order to measure to these commandments, we must sever ourselves from every man-made creed; obey Revelation 10: 4; 18: 4.

3rd. This remnant is in harmony. “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”- Matthew 24: 31. “And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them.”- Jeremiah 32: 39.

This oneness includes:
First, oneness of the ministry. “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice: with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.”- Isaiah 52: 8.

This is a beautiful type of the oneness and unity that exists between all the true ministers of God. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” Second, oneness of all believers. “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things in common “- Acts 4: 32.

4th. This remnant does no iniquity. “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. . . . The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies: neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.”- Zephaniah 3: 9, 13.

5th. It is a persecuted remnant. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”- Revelation 12: 17. “And others had trials of cruel mockings and scourging, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments: they were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented.”-

Hebrews 11: 36, 37. O, brethren, may we not shrink, but may we with Paul of old “fight the good fight.”

 Finally,
6th. It is a triumphant remnant. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” –

 Revelation 15: 1, 2. ” And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they! And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”- Revelation 7: 13, 14.

OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN AND LET IT RAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYx4tbq65TM

https:///fenfolkforchrist

THERE IS MUCH TALK LATELY ABOUT THE LAST DAYS!

Growing In God by Jim Cymbalahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFvt4ZITJR8

lara stang is in a circle that you get notified about. More info

lara stang

Shared publicly 

There is much talk lately about the "last days" when Jesus Christ comes to bring judgement upon the earth and save those who were faithful to Him.  There are many different disputes and opinions about the rapture, who's saved and who's not, when the tribulation occurs, who the true church is, among other things regarding this great and destructive event our generation may live to see.  The story of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 is just one parable Jesus uses to explain what's really important about Christ's return and what we should be most concerned with.

When we are so preoccupied with things nobody on this earth is 100 % certain of regarding God's intricate plan, we lose the most important focus God intended for us.  Our relationship with Him.  Our faith, our relationship, and our obedience to God will be our lifesaver in the last days by giving us the strength and protection to endure the tribulation and whatever else our future brings.  Wasting time arguing only separates the church, takes our eyes off God, distorts our true purpose (God's will), and stunts the work for His kingdom, which is never good.  

Before Jesus ascended into Heaven in front of His apostles to return to the Father , they asked Him about His plans for the future but Jesus didn't want them worrying about this.  He wanted them to do His will on earth by spreading the gospel, and being fishers of men.  He never intended for them or us  to waste time arguing about how or when that day will come. 

Acts 1:6 

Act 1:6  When they were together for the last time they asked, "Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?" 

Act 1:7  He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. 

Act 1:8  What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world." 

Act 1:9  These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. 

Act 1:10  They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared--in white robes! 

Act 1:11  They said, "You Galileans!--why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly--and mysteriously--as he left." 

Act 1:12  So they left the mountain called Olives and returned to Jerusalem. It was a little over half a mile. 

If all our energy and priorities are on being right about every detail, winning every argument and having special knowledge instead of knowing God, we could find ourselves locked out and told it's too late to enter the great banquet God is preparing for His faithful servants.   Would God really turn away those who love Him and know Him, even if they don't know every detail of His plan for His return?  That's goes against everything Jesus teaches us in His word, the Holy Bible.

We are all responsible for the way we live, the path we chose, (the world or Jesus) and our preparedness for Christ's return.  When the day comes I want my heart right with God more than being right about certain beliefs, dates, times, who's and why's.  It's good to be aware of world wide events around us however, but nothing should take priority over quality time with God.  He desires a relationship with us and our dedication to living out His will here and now on earth more than anything else.  

The whole world will know the truth in the end, regardless of what our beliefs are.  Let's not be like the unfortunate 5 virgins, but instead like the 5 lucky ones who came prepared.  Have your lanterns filled (HOLY SPIRIT) and ready (strong faith) for His return so you won't be left unprepared and locked out by the bridegroom saying "I don't know you!"

https://www.facebook.com/fenfolkforchrist

Be still, and know that I am God

st
https://www.facebook.com/fenfolkforchri The Ministry of Silence:

"Be still, and know that I am God." Psa_46:10

There are certain voices which we never hear except when everything is silent. They reach us as a revelation of the stillness. Sometimes on a summer afternoon one gets away from the city or the village and climbs up the grassy hillside till all the noise of human life is lost, and it is often then that there breaks upon the ear a certain indistinguishable murmur as of the moving of innumerable wings.
Travelers tell us that there are rivers flowing beneath the streets of the ancient city of Shechem. During the hours of the day you cannot hear them for the noise of the narrow streets and the bazaars. But when evening comes and the clamor dies away and the dew falls on the city, then quite audibly, in the hush of night, you may hear the music of the buried streams.

There are many voices like those hidden waters. You can only hear them when things are still. There are whisperings of conscience in the heart which take only a very little to drown. There are tidings from the eternal Spirit who is not far away from any one of us; tidings that will come and go unnoticed unless we have learned the grace of being still.

The Art of Being Still:

And yet the very element of stillness is one which is conspicuously lacking now. We have been taught the art of exercise, and we have lost the art of being still. A recent writer, in a brilliant essay on the music of today, tells us that we are living nowadays under "the dominion of din." And whether or not that is true of music, of which I am not qualified to speak, it is certainly true of ordinary life. Our forefathers may have had very imperfect ideals of Christian service. They may have tolerated social abuses which we would never tolerate today. But they had one element in their Christian life in more abundant measure than we have it, and that was the blessed element of silence. What peace there was in the old-fashioned Sabbath—what a reverent stillness in the house of God—what a quiet and peaceful solemnity in worship at the family altar! And if today we cannot but be conscious that something of that old spirit has departed, we know that something precious has been lost. It is gain to be immersed in service. It is a high ambition to be energetic. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." And yet the Bible never says to us, "Be energetic, and know that I am God." It says, "Be still, and know that I am God."
Indeed, we are so in love with noise today that stillness is commonly looked upon as weakness. And it is well to remind ourselves occasionally that often the very opposite is true. When the rain beats against the window pane, we are awakened by its noise. But the snow falls so silently, that never an infant stirs within its cradle. And yet the snow may block up every road quite as effectually as a landslide and dislocate the traffic of a kingdom. Set a thousand digging shovels to work, and you produce a certain effect upon the soil. But when the frost comes with her silent fingers and lightly touches field and meadow with them, in a single night that silent frost will work more effectually than a thousand shovels.

God does not work in this strange world by hustling. God works in the world far more often by hush. In all the mightiest powers which surround us, there is a certain element of stillness. And if I did not find in Jesus Christ something of that divine inaudibility, I confess I should be tempted to despair. When Epictetus had had his arm broken by the savage cruelty of his master, he turned round without one trace of anger, and said to him quietly, "I told you so." And when a heathen satirist taunted the Christians, asking what nobler thing their Master did, one of them answered, "He kept silence." There is a silence that may speak of weakness. There is another silence that is full of power. It is the empty husk that rattles in the breeze. It is the brook and not the river that makes the noise. And it is good that we should remember that when we are tempted to associate quietness with weakness, as perhaps we are all tempted nowadays.

The Stillness of Absorption:

There is, of course, a certain kind of silence which is only the outward sign of self-absorption. It does not indicate that a man is hearing anything; it just means that he is withdrawn into himself. I have heard runners say that in long races they have been oblivious of every sound. There may have been a thousand voices cheering them on, and yet they seemed to run in a great silence. Perhaps all of us have had hours such as that—hours of suffering or of intense activity—when we felt ourselves alone in a deep solitude. That is the stillness of absorption. It is not the stillness to which our text refers. It is of another quietness that it speaks; the quietness which is the basis of communion. For there are times when we never speak so eloquently, and times when we never hear so finely, as when the tongue is silent and the lips are closed and the spirit is the one interpreter. A love that has no silence has no depth. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." There are people whose love we instinctively distrust because they are always telling us about it. And perhaps it is simply because God is love, in all the glorious fullness of that word, that we have to be still if we would know Him.

Indeed, there is often no surer sign than silence that the heart has been reached and the depths been broken up. In their greatest hours men are seldom noisy. I have watched sometimes an audience at a concert—for to me the audience is more interesting than the music—and 1 have watched the listless attention which they gave to music that reached no farther than the ear. And then perhaps there was some perfect melody, some chord which had the insistence of a message, and it was as if a voice had cried out loud, "Be still, and know that I am God."

Charles Reade, in one of the best of his novels, tells a story of some Australian miners. He tells how they traveled through a long summer Sunday to hear the singing of a captive thrush. And they were reckless men familiar with riot, but when they heard it, there fell a hush upon them, for it brought back memories of childhood again and of England where they had been boys. In a greater fashion that is true of God. We do not clamber to Him by the steps of logic; we reach Him by the feelings of the heart. And it is just because, when the heart is moved profoundly, there falls upon it a silence and a stillness, that we are bidden in our text to be still and know that He is God.

Probably that is the reason, too, why great silences have a divine suggestion. Great silent spaces speak to us of God. I remember a year or two ago visiting the cathedral at Cologne. I suppose it is the most magnificent example of Gothic architecture in the world. And I recall vividly, as though it had happened yesterday, how, passing in from the crowded city streets, the thought of the presence of God was overwhelming. I knew He was present in the teeming city. I knew He was present in the crowded street. I knew that where the stir and traffic were, the infinite Spirit was not far away. And yet it is one thing to know, and it is quite another thing to feel; and in the calm and solemn quiet of the cathedral I felt that God was there. That is what spiritual men have always felt under the silence of the starry sky. That is why they have always thought of God when they lifted up their eyes unto the hills.

Our noisy, talkative life is like the surge breaking on the edge of the shore, and away beyond it is the silent ocean carrying the message of infinity. We lose our sense of God in a big city far more readily than lonely dwellers do. And we lay the blame of that upon a score of things—on the strain of business, on our abundant pleasures. 

Perhaps there is a deeper reason than all these; it is the loss of the ministry of silence: of the field and the meadow and the hill; of the solitude's which are quivering with God. Spare your compassion for the Highland dweller. The man may be far richer than you think. It may be he has kept what we have lost in the keen and eager zest of city life. It may be he has kept, in all his poverty, those intimations of a present God which are given where a great silence is, as of the lonely field or meadow.

Why God Makes Silences:

I close by suggesting that this is the reason why God makes silences in every life; the silence of sleep, the silences of sorrow, and then the last great silence at the end. One of the hardest things in the world, as you all know, is to get little children to keep still. They are in a state of perpetual activity, restless, eager, questioning, alert. And just as a mother says to her child, "Be still," and hushes it to sleep that it may rest, so God does sooner or later with us all. What a quiet, still place the sickroom is! What a silence there is over a house of mourning! How the voices are hushed, and every footstep soft, when someone is lying within the coffin. Had we the choosing of our own affairs we should never have chosen such an hour as that; and yet how often it is rich in blessing. All the activities of eager years may not have taught us quite so much as that. There are things which we never learn when we are active. There are things which we only learn when we are passive. And so God comes, in His resistless way, which never ceases to be a way of love, and says, "Be still, and know that I am God." If that is so with the passive hours of life, may it not be so with the passive hour of death? What is death but the Almighty Father saying to our talking lips, "Be still"? And I for one believe that in that stillness we shall awaken to know that He is God, in such a love and power as will be in heaven.

Saviour King



Disciple John
One of the answers to winning people is telling them that you have been a wicked sinner and you know Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world forgave you and washed your sin away and gave me a new beginning with Him in your  life.

THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
"For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."-- Rom_8:2.

THE SIMPLEST child knows something of the law of gravitation. The word is from the Latin gravitas, which is the attraction of weight by weight. What gravitation is to matter, the down-pull of the flesh is to the spirit. There is not a single one of us, who is seeking to live the better life, that is not conscious of this down-pull. Indeed the laws of gravitation in the natural world have their counterpart in our inward experience. There is always a down-pull to the center of gravity, i.e. to self--what I like, what I choose, what I prefer! The fall of the soul toward the flesh--or self-life--becomes increasingly rapid, so that every time we yield it becomes easier to yield, and the velocity becomes headlong. 

The child of God would fall with velocity equal to that of the depraved sinner if it were not for (the law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus which makes him free from the law of sin and death).

Overcoming the Earth-pull. You may see it in the soaring of the lark, singing as it rises, until you think it will split its tiny throat with song. One of the delights of an ocean voyage is to watch the gulls, as regularly, evenly, and easily they keep level with the progress of the boat. The bird does not float in the air; it balances itself; it measures its wings against its weight, and defies the earth-pull. But if the means of flight are maimed, it drops helplessly on land or water. Alas for the bird, though it be an albatross, that happens to alight on water covered by the oil discharged from an oil-driven vessel. When once its wings have become glued to its body, by immersion in that oil-bath, there is nothing for it but a miserable end!

The Spirit works according to Law,--"the law of the Spirit of Life." Do not grieve Him by any act of insincerity or hatred. If you are aware of the subsidence of His energy, go back till you have discovered where you dropped the thread of obedience to His gentle promptings. Pick it up by confession and restitution, and again you will become conscious of His mediation to you of a Law of Life that laughs at sin and death! Yours will be the wings of an eagle's flight, the soaring of a lark, sun-ward, heaven-ward, God-ward! But you must take time to be holy--in meditation, in prayer, and especially in the use of the Bible.

PRAYER
Help me, O Lord, to find my life according to Thy promise. I thank Thee that Thou hast implanted the germ of Thine own nature. Leave me not, neither forsake me in the upward climb. Teach me to change my strength and mount up with the wings of eagles. AMEN.

Righteousness through Christ in Sanctification

Righteousness through Christ in Sanctification

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (Rom_8:3-4)
How wonderful it is to be "justified freely by His grace" (Rom_3:24). Yet, what disappointment and discouragement awaits us, if we do not learn that God desires to sanctify us freely by His grace as well. This plan of God, as we should expect, hinges upon the work of Jesus Christ. 
In matters of justification, as well as sanctification, the law has a weakness. This weakness is that natural human resources, the flesh of man, cannot live up to the standards of God. Thus, to accomplish what the law could never accomplish the Father sent his Son. "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son." 
Jesus came as a man and died on the cross to eradicate the consequences of sin. This death of Christ certainly provided justification for all who would believe in the Lord Jesus. Yet, the next verse reveals that through His sacrificial death on the cross progressive, practical sanctification is available day by day through faith in the Lord. "That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." 
The word "walk" makes Rom_8:4 a verse on sanctification, not justification. Justification takes place with the first moment of faith in Christ. Sanctification continues step by step, day by day, throughout the life of a believer. 
Think of this grand truth. God's grace provides a way "that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us." Remember, that heavenly demand is "be holy," be like Christ. This transformation of life takes place daily in the life of any believer who does "not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." If we renounce the natural resources of man and trust in the Lord Jesus step by step through life, His Holy Spirit accomplishes His sanctifying work in us by the grace of God. 
O Lord of compassion and generosity, what bountiful grace You offer to us, grace that justifies and grace that sanctifies. How foolish and unnecessary have been my futile attempts to fulfill the lofty requirements of Your holy law by my own feeble efforts. Father, how thrilling and encouraging to see that You have provided a gracious and effective way for me to grow in Christ-likeness. This day I place my hope for godly progress in the irreplaceable work of Your Holy Spirit in me, in Jesus name, Amen.



Deuteronomy 32:9-10 Jacob, in the howling wilderness gave the answer to this very question. He saw a vision of God and cried out in wonder. Genesis 28:16, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I KNEW IT NOT." Jacob has never been for a fraction of a millisecond outside the vision of the all pervading Presence, but he knew it not. That was his trouble, and it is ours. Men do not know that God is here. What a difference it would make if people become more aware of His Holy Presence.