I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Death and judgment are behind us,
Grace and glory are before;
All the billows rolled o’er Jesus,
There they spent there utmost power.
First fruits of the resurrection,
He is risen from the tomb;
Now we stand in new creation,
Free, because beyond our doom.
Jesus died, and we died with Him,
“Buried” in His grave we lay,
One with Him in resurrection,
Now “in Him” in heaven’s bright day.
(Mrs. J. A. Trench)
N.J.Hiebert — 9595
“In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
Proverbs 3:6
Some thoughts to consider as prepared by Ralph Klassen.
- To lead others to Jesus, you must first learn to follow Him.
- There are no dead ends on the road of obedience to God.
- Spiritual growth requires the solid food of God’s Word.
- Some people go through life standing at the complaint counter.
- What we know of God encourages us to trust Him in all we don’t know.
N.J.Hiebert — 9596
“Remember them which have the rule (leaders) over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God… Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls… Salute all them that have the rule over you. (Hebrews 13:7,17,24)
It is a fatal mistake to speak against the very feeblest and humblest of God’s servants. If the servant does wrong — if he is in error, if he has failed in everything — the Lord Himself will deal with him; but let the fellow-servants beware how they attempt to take the matter into their hands, lest they be found like Miriam (Numbers 12:1), meddling to their own hurt.
If we have not been able to discover the good thing in our brother and fellow-servant; if our eye has only detected the crooked thing; if we have not succeeded in finding the vital spark amid the ashes — the precious gem among the surrounding rubbish; if we have only seen what was of mere nature, why, then let us with a loving and delicate hand, draw the curtain of silence around our brother, or speak of him only at the throne of grace. “Speak evil of no man” (Titus 3:2) (Food for the Desert)
N.J.Hiebert - 9597
“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.” (1 Timothy 4:6)
The seducing spirits, of which the Holy Spirit speaks, sought to exalt man with the sense of religious importance and sanctity. The true servant seeks to exalt Christ by ministering the truth.
To be a good servant of Jesus Christ, it is not enough to know the truth, and hold the truth; we need to be nourished by the truth, and, in practice, to follow up fully the truth. Our own souls must be fed if we are to feed others.
We must be nourished, not simply in the words of teachers, however true, but “with with the words of the faith” which convey to us “the good teaching” of Christianity and, if followed up, will produce a practical effect in our lives, preserving us from the evils of the latter times. (Hamilton Smith)
N.J.Hiebert - 9598
"And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in
Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for
I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them
(Exodus 3:7,8)
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16)
One thing that is brought before us in Exodus 3 is the compassionate love of God. We find Him coming down; and what has brought Him down? Oh, He has heard some sighs, some groans; He has looked upon some burdened ones, and He has been moved with pity, and has come down to deliver. Well, we know how fully that is seen in God coming down to this poor world- sin-stricken and under the burden and bondage of corruption, where there is a continual groaning going on. We know what led Him to come down; that is, it was the compassion of His love - "God so loved." (W. Potter)
N.J.Hiebert — 9599
"Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (John 9:3)
A young boy became excessively fearful during the great New York blackout of 1977. When his parents questioned him, he confessed that at the exact moment the lights went out he had kicked a powerline pole. As darkness engulfed the city, he thought he was to blame and would be punished
That kind of cause-effect thinking must have triggered the disciple's question about the man who had been born blind."Who sinned?" they asked. "This man or his parents?" Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”
All sickness, of course, originated when sin entered the world. But our Lord's response reveals that not all disabilities and sicknesses are due to moral failure in a person's life. Sometimes excesses and abuses lead to a breakdown of one's health. But when the cause is not obvious and we have confessed and forsaken our sins, we must accept our situation and ask God to work through it for our good.
God can be glorified in sickness just as He can through a miracle of healing. When we suffer, it's always wise to take spiritual inventory. But when God gives us no answers, we can still trust Him because we know that He is good. - DJD
My prayer is a simple one, Lord:
Whatever is best for me, do;
In sickness and health I desire
What brings the most glory to You. - Fasick
God's love for us cannot be measured by the degree of our health.
"Our Daily Bread, BC Ministries, copyright 1993, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted permission.
N.J.Hiebert — 9600
"Who His Own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24)
The cross is a low place, a thing that strains all the pride of man. Have you ever known what it is to be brought down to death's door from conflict? I have known what it is - passing week after week and never closing the eyes, simply because
I wanted to do something, and Christ had done it all.
Peace came to me in that cross, God saying, "My Son bore all your sin in His own body on that tree." What a thought! that the anointed Saviour, (two thousand years ago), suffered everything for me, and that it was only my own horrid self-will, wanting to do something, which kept me from getting peace in Him.
It was not the suffering earth gave Him, not the nails, the spear - but something deeper far; the wrath of God was born by Him, nailed to that cross, when He cried out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" You cannot find the cross itself on earth now, but the record of it is in heaven. God is constantly reminded of it, by the presence of the Lamb that was slain, at His right hand. (G.V. Wgram)
N.J.Hiebert — 9601
"Let us pass over unto the other side." (Mark 4:35)
Even when we go forth at Christ's command, we need not expect to escape storms; for these disciples were going forth at Christ's command, yet they encountered the fiercest storm and were in great danger of being overwhelmed, so that they cried out in their distress for Christ's assistance.
Though Christ may delay His coming in our time of distress, it is only that our faith may be tried and strengthened, and that our prayers may be more intense, and that our desires for deliverance may be increased, so that when the deliverance does come we will appreciate it more fully.
Christ gave them a gentle rebuke, saying, "Where is your faith?" Why did you not shout victory in the very face of the storm, and say to the raging winds and rolling waves, "You can do no harm, for Christ, the mighty Saviour is on board"?
It is much easier to trust when the sun is shining than when the storm is raging.
We never know how much real faith we have until it is put to the test in some fierce storm; and that is the reason why the Saviour is on board.
If you are ever to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, your strength will be born in some storm. - Selected
"With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.
Christ said, "Let us go to the other side"
- not to the middle of the lake to be drowned. - Dan Crawford.
N.J.Hiebert — 9602
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew Him not." (1 John 3:1)
The young believer revels in this - I was a lost sinner, at enmity with God, and now I am called a son of God, a child in God's family. Here is marvellous love indeed "that brings a poor, vile sinner into His house of wine." It, however, is not only for the young, because the more we mature in the things of the Lord, the more we marvel at the wonders of His love. No matter how old we are in the faith, may we never look on His love in any lesser degree. (Reg L. Jordan)
Behold what love, what boundless love, the Father hath bestowed
On sinners lost, that we should be now called the sons of God.
(M.S. Sullivan)
N.J.Hiebert — 9603
"The Lord shall count, when HE writeth up the people,
that this man was born there." (Psalm 87:6)
"Tychicus... a beloved brother, faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord... Onesimus, a faithful servant and beloved brother... Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner... Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas. Justus... Epaphras... a servant of Christ...Luke, the beloved physician and Demas. Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.. Archippus. The salutations by the hand of me Paul. (Colossians 4:7-18)
We are all going to be written up. That process is going on now. In the close of the epistle to the Colossians we get a little foreshadowing of that kind of thing… we are given a few remarks about some of the brethren.
These remarks are the estimate that the Apostle Paul by the Spirit of God put upon them. No two of these men are characterized alike. Each one has that that is distinctly his.
No two of us are expected to be duplicates. The Spirit of God has been pleased to put these records here that we might pick up a bit of profit from them.
If the Lord tarries and you live for several more years, what kind of a record will God be able to write of you at that time? If the Apostle Paul were going to close one of his epistles and wanted to mention you, what kind of a record would he be able to give? For example, Tychicus has a nice recommendation. Here is a "beloved brother." There was something about that man that made him very dear to the heart of Paul. He was a beloved brother.
There are some brethren whom we can scarcely speak of without using that word.
We always think of them as beloved brothers. Perhaps there are others about whom we would not be so ready to speak in that way. Of course, we are all beloved of the Father, but that is not the side of things in the scriptures noted. It is not what we are in Christ, but what is manifested in our practical everyday life. (C.H. Brown)
N.J.Hiebert — 9604
“God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Revelation 7:17
We sing of the realms of the blest,
That country so bright and so fair,
The glorious mansions of rest—
But what must it be to be there?
We tell of its service of love;
The robes which the glorified wear;
The church of the Firstborn above—
But what must it be to be there?
We tell of its freedom from sin,
From sorrow, temptation, and care,
From trials without and within—
But what must it be to be there?
Do Thou, Lord, ‘midst pleasure and woe,
Still for heaven our spirits prepare;
And shortly we also shall know
And feel what it is to be there.
(Elizabeth Mills)
So wrote Elizabeth Mills a few weeks before she was taken
“there.” This hymn was suggested by a remark someone
made to her few weeks before her death. This remark was,
“We speak of heaven, but oh to be there!” At only 24 years
of age she learned what it must be to be there! She was
married to Thomas Mills, a Member of Parliament - England.
N.J.Hiebert - 9605
"Think on these things." (Philippians 4:8)
- How consistently we see in the history of God's people that those who were great in their littleness became little in their greatness.
- The minute the words of our lips are beyond our spiritual condition, we are in the place of danger.
- If personal communion be not diligently maintained, the higher our position, the greater our danger and the more disastrous our fall. (C.H. Mackintosh)
- Beware of a half truth. It may be the wrong half.
- Everyone of us gets as much of Christ as we want, and our lives show how much we want. (H.E. Hayhoe)
- John did not draw near to get the Lord's mind, but because he was leaning on His bosom, he got the mind of the Lord. (T.C.N. - Things to Think About)
N.J.Hiebert — 9606
"Slothfulness (laziness) casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." (Proverbs 19:15)
Even before Adam sinned, he had responsibility. He was called to till and keep the garden (Eden), planted exceptionally by Jehovah Elohim with every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. When fallen, as the ground was cursed on his account, he had to eat of it all the days of his life with toil. Thorns and thistles it yielded unbidden, so that man had to eat bread in the sweat of his face all his diminishing life.
Slothfulness therefore ill became his position, and all the more when he faced adversity through his own fault. The sun arises, and the wild beasts get away to their dens, but man goeth forth to his work till the evening; and, as he is, it is well ordered for him. But slothfulness traverses all, and casts into a deep sleep while it is day, and pays the penalty. If any will not work, neither let him eat. The idle soul
shall suffer hunger. (William Kelly - The Proverbs)
N.J.Hiebert — 9607
No comments:
Post a Comment