"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9
I read this story long ago - here's the way I remember it.There was a man whose wife and children were all saved, but he was not, and he had little interest in spiritual things, though he had heard the gospel.
One snowy Christmas Eve his family asked him, as they often had, did he want to go with them to the service. He declined. While they were gone, he heard a thump against a window. Looking out, he saw a little bird, injured by the crash, struggling in the snow. The man felt compassion for it, went outside to rescue it, but, as expected, it tried to get away. Nevertheless, he was able to pick it up; and he brought it into the warm house.
As he cared for the helpless little bird, it suddenly dawned on him —he was like that little bird. He had long been in need of being saved but had resisted. He realized, for the first time, how God had wanted to rescue him and save him. His heart was broken. He surrendered to the Lord.
When the family returned home, they found a tearfully joyous husband and father who had finally joined them in being new creations in Christ Jesus. God used a little, wounded bird to awaken him to his need.
Dear friend, God knew the way to reach that man's heart; He knows how to reach yours too. If you, like that man, have been resisting God's loving entreaties, won't you surrender today?
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Timothy 1:15)
Only a step to Jesus: oh why not take it now? L.I.F.E.LINES
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...the person of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:10
The person of the Christ,
Enfolding every grace,
Once slain, but now alive again,
In heaven demands our praise. Miss Wigram
First, the hymn-writer declares the scope of the expression; The Person of the Christ, encompassing every one of the graces revealed to us in the character, work and glory of our Lord and Saviour. Then the writer goes on to address the two facts central to the Gospel: the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And finally, the Lord is seen as back in Heaven and He will be there eternally. A song of praise has begun in the hearts of the redeemed now, and will be sung perfectly when we are with Him.
Although not stated in the hymn, His love, and that of God, are felt by believers every day. It takes in (1) the very beginnings of our blessings, part of God's plan from a past eternity, (2) the reality experienced during our lives on earth as believers, and (3) its continuation forever.
Meditating on our Lord - We could go on down a long list of the attributes of our Lord, and it is a worthwhile subject for personal meditation. This short document doesn't allow room for such a full exploration, but you only have to read through the four Gospels to see His qualities played out in love, kindness, mercy, sympathy and grace, as the Lord Jesus interacted with people of the world, who were not unlike us in our needs, attitudes and relative insensitivity. Hebrews 1:3 speaks of the Lord Jesus being the brightness of God's glory, and the precise image of God's persona. This a wonderful confirmation of all that The Person of Christ stands for. The more our thoughts take in the whole Person of Christ, the more we will want to live as a reflection of His life. And this will lead to more praise and worship, to the glory of God.
Hebrews 2:9: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Lorne Perry
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The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. James 5:8
Early 2023, we wrote: "The new year is well under way; the first month already behind us! What do the next ones have in store for us? The bad news from previous months is still haunting us and the horizon seems all the more uncertain. Stability and peace do not appear in the forecast".
What about the start of 2024? To the enduring Ukraine/Russia conflict now is added the terrible Israël/Hamas war. This new element perfectly matches the Bible prophecies concerning the last days where Israel is central. And what about the accelerating moral decline and confusion of the West, even upheld by it's leaders? We must be on the very edge of the Great Tribulation described in the Bible.
Be not deceived, God is in control and will work all things out according to His counsel and purpose, according to His final solution. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape"
(1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).
When men will say Peace and safety, that will surely be after a time of trouble and great concern and instability such as we are now facing. The solution then proposed and accepted by the majority will lead to the forceful imposing of the system of the Beast described in chapter 13 of the book of Revelation in the Bible. But as the Word of God indicates, that will be a sign of sudden judgment and ruin!
The Perspective of Faith
The plan of God is to establish His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the supreme ruler over this world and establish a thousand year reign of peace and righteousness. This unequaled period of peace will be followed by an eternal new creation where righteousness will dwell (2 Peter 3:13). All the details pertaining to this are given in the Bible, the Word of God. Everything predicted in it about the past has been fulfilled exactly as prophesied; we are persuaded that the same applies to future events God has told us about. We send out this message to challenge the reader to inquire, to search, to be attentive and believe what god has given us to know in His Word.
The past year was full of upheavals; the coming months seem to predict even more tragic developments, polarizing the masses. It is urgent to seek the Lord, time is running out. God in His patience is waiting for the last ones. He sent His Son into the world for the world to be saved by Him. Those who have put their trust in Him will not be condemned; but those who reject Him or neglect to trust Him will. For these there is no mercy or grace for they have refused the wonderful offer of God. Be not part of those who reject and will experience the forewarned sudden destruction. Trust in the Lord Jesus now, accepting Him as your Saviour.
World leaders propose various paths to peace and safety that will never come to pass; those of God will surely come to pass and exactly as He has said. The final solution can only be the coming of the Lord Jesus and the establishment of His rule over this world. Turn to Him now without delay! God offers only one route to peace and safety; through His Son who died to prepare the way. Michel for Vision 2020 in 2024
"Neither is there salvation in any other." (Acts 4:12).
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The Comforter...the Spirit of truth … He shall testify of Me. (John 15:26.)
Does it really matter in a practical sense whether the Holy Spirit is a person, a power, or an influence? Yes! How one thinks of Him changes everything for one's practical life. If He is only a power that works in me, I can make and carry out plans availing myself of this power. However, if this is a divine Person who dwells in me, then it should be He who makes the plans and carries them out. I am not to be the worker then, but merely an instrument that He may use for whatsoever He will.
And is there not an enormous difference between a creature such as I, on the one hand, wanting to lay hold of God to use Him for my purpose, and, on the other hand, the Almighty God condescending to use me to carry out His will? The first concept leads to an overestimation of self and to acting in self-will. The second leads to humility and dependence, but also to the glorious assurance of being in the ways of God and of having His approval.
A person is a living being that is conscious of its existence and that consciously thinks, wills, and acts. This is what Scripture teaches about the Holy Spirit:
He loves (Rom. 15:30);
He has a mind and intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26-27);
He searches, knows, instructs, and convicts (1 Cor. 2:10-11; Neh. 9:20; In.
16:8,13);
4. He has a sovereign will (1 Cor. 12:11; Acts 13:2);
5. He can be grieved (Eph. 4:30; Isa. 63:10)
6. He can be insulted (Heb. 10:29);
7.He can be lied to (Acts 5:3). Further-more, Scripture says (Acts 5:3-4) that the Holy Spirit is God.
Thus, the Holy Spirit is not only a person—He is a divine Person. He is God the Holy Spirit! H. L. Heijkoop
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THE BLESSEDNESS OF CHRISTLIKENESS
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place."
2 Corinthians 2. I4.
The supreme witness for God in this world is the one whose life is Christlike in spirit and conduct. "To be like Christ," says Henry Drummond "compared with that, every ambition is folly, and all lower achievement vain." Just as glass may be considered as brilliantly beautiful until we see the fascinating radiance of a diamond, so, when we behold our all-glorious Lord, we are ready to cry out with one of old : "He is altogether lovely" Song of Solomon 5:16.
"No mortal can with Him compare,
Among the sons of men;
Fairer is He than all the fair,
That fill the heavenly train.
In Mark 3:I4 it is said that the Lord Jesus ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach; and in Acts 4.13 we have an illustration of the effects of that. The officers took knowledge of Peter and John that they had been with Jesus, because these two men of God carried with them the fragrance of the One in Whose presence they had been dwelling.
For us to-day who have not access to His physical presence, the whole secret is enshrined in a word which occurs three times in the New Testament; the word metamorphoomai. This word is found in Matthew 17. 2, where it is translated " transfigured "; in Romans 12. 2, where it is rendered "transformed "; and in 2 Corinthians 3. 18, where it appears as "changed". The first of these occurrences shows the pattern to which; the second, the principle upon which; and the third, the power by which, we are transformed."
“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" 2 Corinthians 3:18). The transformation produces the fragrance. Samuel Rutherford prayed that the Rose of Sharon growing in his heart, might shed its fragrance abroad in his life; and wherever he went, he scattered abroad the perfume of the knowledge of God. Henry Durbanville
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“Adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” Titus 2:10
Dr Watkinson says: “There is a piece of music spread out before me. I am told it is magnificent, but as I do not know anything about music I cannot read it; I simply believe what I am told, namely, that it is a beautiful piece of music. But I hand it to someone who can play.
The musician sits at the organ, and with his eyes upon the page sweeps the keys with his fingers. That musician is not making the music: he is not the composer; but he is adorning the music by interpreting it to me so that I can understand it.” The men and women whose lives are filled with good works are the most practical exponents and interpreters of the music of the gospel message; for they apply the spiritual blessings and material benefits of the Evangel to the needs and circumstances of the hour.
Thus, Florence Nightingale, spending and being spent on behalf of the soldiers amid the rigours of the Crimea; Mary Slessor, wearing herself out in loving-hearted service to the benighted Africans; Mary Reed, giving her life to the lepers of India, and eventually dying among them, herself a leper: these noble women, impelled to their sacred tasks by a yearning pity for mankind, the burning charity divine, are among the choicest of the gifts with which God has blessed and enriched our poor world. They adorn the gospel, and were themselves adorned by it (1 Timothy 2:9-10).
It was in this way that many of the early pagans were won for our Lord. When maligned and persecuted, the Christians did not retaliate, but laid before their persecutors the unanswerable argument of kindly deeds (1 Peter 2:12). “In the deed,” says Cowper, “the unequivocal authentic deed, we find the true argument, we read the heart.” Winsome Christianity
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If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23
Byways
Long ago I read these words of George Herbert:
“Who goeth in the way which Christ hath gone, is much more sure to meet with Him, than one that traveleth byways.”
Are we going in the way which Christ has gone, or are we only talking and praying and singing about it? What about likes and dislikes?What about choices? What about Self?
Christ’s way is the way that says “No” to the “I” that rises up so often and in many different disguises. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself [say “No” to himself], and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” A “by-way” is any other way, any easier way, any self-pleasing way. We shall not meet Christ if we travel in a byway. Thou Givest . . . They Gather - Amy Carmichael
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Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8
There are not so many hours in a year as there may be thoughts in an hour. Thoughts fly in flocks like starlings, and swarm like bees. Like the dry leaves in autumn, there is no counting them and like the links in a chain, one draws on another. What a restless being man is!
His thoughts dance up and down like small flies on a summer’s evening. Like a clock full of wheels, with the pendulum in full swing, his mind moves as fast as time flies. This makes thinking such an important business, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).
We ought to mind our thoughts, for if they turn to be our enemies they will be too many for us and will drag us down to ruin. Thoughts from heaven, like birds in spring, will fill our souls with music; but thoughts of evil will sting us like vipers.
There is a notion abroad that thought is free; but I remember reading that although thoughts are toll-free, they are not hell-free; and that saying quite agrees with the Bible. We cannot be summoned before an earthly court for thinking, but depend upon it, we shall have to be tried for it at the Bar of God.
Evil thoughts are the marrow of sin; the malt that sin is brewed from; the tinder which catches the sparks of the devil’s temptations; the churn in which the milk of imagination is churned into purpose and plan; the nest in which all evil birds lay their eggs. Be certain, then. that as sure as fire burns brushwood as well as logs, God will punish thoughts of sin as well as deeds of sin. C. H. Spurgeon
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- But they cried saying crucify Him, crucify Him . . . Luke 23:21
- And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required . . . (v.24)
- And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him . . . (v.33)
- Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what they do. (v.34)
- And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. (v.46)
On that same night, Lord Jesus, when all around Thee joined
To cast its darkest shadow across Thy holy mind,
We hear Thy voice, blest Saviour, “This do remember Me:”
With joyful hearts responding, we do remember Thee.
The depth of all Thy suffering no heart could e’er conceive;
The cup of wrath o’er flowing for us Thou didst receive;
And, oh! of God forsaken, on the accursèd tree.
With grateful hearts, Lord Jesus, we now remember Thee.
We think of all the darkness which round Thy spirit pressed,
Of all those waves and billows which rolled across Thy breast.
Oh, there Thy grace unbounded and perfect love we see;
With joy and sorrow mingling, we would remember Thee.
G. W. Frazer
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Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
As a boy I worked for a Scottish shoemaker named Dan Mackay, a forthright Christian. It was my responsibility to pound leather for shoe soles. A piece of cow hide would be cut to suit, then soaked in water. I had a piece of iron over my knees and, with a flat-headed hammer, I pounded these soles until they were hard and dry. It seemed an endless operation, and I wearied of it many times.
What made my task worse was the fact that, a block away, there was another shop, and in it sat a jolly, godless cobbler who regaled the neighbourhood with lewd tales that made him dreaded by respectable parents. Yet, somehow, he seemed to thrive.
I noticed that he never pounded the soles at all, but took them from the water and nailed them on, with the water splashing from them as he drove each nail in. One day I ventured inside. Timidly, I said, “I notice you put the soles on while still wet. Are they just as good as if they were pounded?” He gave me a wicked leer as he answered, “They come back all the quicker this way, my boy!”
Feeling I had learned something, I related the instance to my boss. Mr. Mackay stopped his work and opened his Bible to the passage that reads,”Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.”“Harry,” he said, “I do not cobble shoes just for the money I get from my customers. I am doing this for the glory of God.
I expect to see every shoe I have ever repaired in a big pile at the judgment seat of Christ, and I do not want the Lord to say to me in that day, ‘Dan, this was a poor job.’ I want Him to be able to say,’well done, good and faithful servant.’ (Matthew 25:21)” He went on to explain that just as some men are called to preach, so he was called to fix shoes, and only as he did this well would his testimony count for God. Colossians 3:23-25) H. A. Ironside
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Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2
THE AUTHOR OF SALVATION
The whole of His saving work is warranted in the light of His own worthiness. His holiness and honour stand highest in heaven. The salvation Christ accomplished does not depend on human behaviour but on the beloved Saviour Himself, for "He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him" (Heb. 5:9). Nor does this speak of a transient deliverance from temporal troubles and trivialities, but of deliverance from the domain of the Devil and from the dominion of sin and death forever.
Therefore, we can safely say that His will determined the purpose, His wisdom planned it, His work wrought it, and His own Word declared it finished. The perfect suitability of His precious blood for propitiation supplies a permanent basis for the peace of salvation. Charles J. Rolls
Great Captain of salvation,
Now crowned with highest glory,
Joyful we raise,
Our songs of praise,
And lowly bow before Thee;
We worship and adore Thee,
Each heart and tongue confessing,
Worthy to reign,
The Lamb once slain,
Of honour, power, and blessing. J.G. Deck
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Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. 1 Corinthians 14:19
FIVE WORDS
How important for all speakers to remember this! We know that tongues had their value. They were for a sign to the unbelieving. The grand end of speaking in the assembly is edification, and this end can only be reached when people understand what is said. It is impossible for a man to edify me if I cannot understand what he
says. He must speak in an intelligible language and in an audible voice, else I cannot receive any edification. This surely is plain and worthy of the serious attention of all who speak in public.
Further, we would do well to bear in mind that our only warrant for standing up to speak in the assembly is that the Lord Himself has given us something to say. If it be but "five words," let us say the five and sit down. Nothing can be more unintelligent than for a man to attempt to speak ten thousand words when God has only given him five. It is regretful that something like this should so often occur! What a mercy it would be if we could only keep within our measure! That measure may be small. It matters not; let us be simple, earnest, and real. An earnest heart is better than a clever head. A fervent spirit is better than an eloquent tongue.
Where there is a genuine, hearty desire to promote the good of souls, it will prove more effective with me and more acceptable to God than the most brilliant gifts without it. We should covet earnestly the best gifts, but we should also remember the "more excellent way," even the way of love that ever hides itself and seeks only the profit of others. It is not that we value gifts less, but we value love more.
C. H. Mackintosh
May the love of Jesus fill me, as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing, this is victory. K. B. Wilkinson
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Grace be unto you, and peace, from God 0ur Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:2
Grace means “Free, undeserved favour.” And, Thanks be to God, that is just what God has shown us; and this is the message with which this lovely Epistle begins. But let us remember it is Grace, not from pity, but from Love. I write in Hong Kong, surrounded by tens of thousands of refugees in the most desperate poverty, misery, and squalor: daily I see the children in their rags and wretchedness, and my heart is moved with pity, and I seek to do what little I can to remove their misery.
In a measure I show them Grace, for they do nothing to deserve help. But it is Grace moved by pity. But there are a few whom I dearly love, what a difference that makes! A few days ago a dear child we have known and loved for several years, showed me the soles of her shoes, without saying a word: both had great holes right through to her bare feet. I got her new shoes, and at the same time a pretty new dress, for I think she had only the shabby one she had on: I paid about ninety cents for it.
When I gave them to her, she climbed on my knee, buried her head on my shoulder, her heart too full for words: and then at last she looked up with wonder, saying: “Mr. Lee, you must have paid a great deal for it!” It was grace, but grace moved by Love, and who can say whose pleasure was greater, the Child’s or mine? Let us ponder the love behind the words “GRACE TO YOU,” and let us remember always the unfathomable cost. May our hearts respond, not with any formal thanks, but like the Child, may our hearts burst forth: “THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT ! ! !”
Sacrifices of Joy Being Meditations of Philippians - G. Christopher Willis
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