“The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. ” “Nothing indicates a tongue befitting the disciples of God, so much as the gift of administering consolation; and such a gift is possessed by the speaker here. “To help with words him that is exhausted” (with suffering and self-torture).” K and D commenting on Isaiah 50:4 Exhausted? Self tortured? There is a word hastening, there is a word succoring. Yes, a word nourishes the soul, as in Proverbs 10:21. Those words from righteous lips know how to bring delight in 10:32. Pro 16:12 -13 teaches “It is an abomination (regarded with disgust or hatred), to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness. “Righteous lips…
Category: <span>Walk, for Christians</span>
The book of Ecclesiastes reminds us in 10:1, “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.” What does it mean to have reputation? The Latin root tells us “reconsideration.” “to think again.” Webster’s says, “overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general. b: recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability.” So, reputation or “my qualifications as judged by others,” can be sullied by a dead fly? Yes, a Kamikaze fly could destroy a good perfume, causing a stench. But, Jesus made Himself of no reputation. He emptied Himself of qualifications; those judged by Men, but also real ones. see Philippians 2:7 What does that look like? Sounds like He refused to cling to an external judgement which stood on shaky ground, but also gave up…
The song goes: When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, When we all see Jesus, we will sing and shout the victory! However, the Supreme joy of that “eternal” future is treasured in a lingering and finite present day earthen vessel. In our current “body of death” we may become apprehensive, worrisome, even fearful of the future. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds us of a natural “temperament” which makes us all unique. He says: “The human person is very delicately and finely balanced. Fundamentally, we all have the same general characteristics, but the relative proportions vary tremendously from case to case.” “…we have our own particular characteristics: Our virtues, Our failures, Our weaknesses, Our blemishes. Lloyd-Jones goes on to say, “The fact that you have become a Christian, does not mean that you cease to have to live with yourself.” In keeping with these observations,…
Romans 14:16 teaches: “Let not then your good be evil spoken of.” “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemns not himself in that thing which he allows.” Romans 14:22 “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Galatians 6:4-5 Fellow believers, do you have this kind of confidence? Before I turn to the burdens of others I must bear my own burden. Is my faith before God? Am I living outside of condemnation? Does my walk before God carry more weight than any other, enough to ignore the evil spoken of me? What does it mean? Frankly put, do you know who you are? Do you carry with you this identity and set of values into every varying circumstance? In addition, does…
In 1Corinthians 3:10-11 Paul’s words speak loudly to our hearts: it’s the Bema Seat of Christ. “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 3:12-13 go on to explain: “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” Tim Stevenson writes this in his book, “The Bema:” He describes a vision he received, as God takes him right to the actuality of the Judgment seat of Christ for believers…
Paul and Silas went to jail. The charge? They hindered the monetary gain of men who exploited a soothsaying woman. Soothsaying? Yes, a person supposed to be inspired who foretells the future, but actually casts spells. This one had a spirit, and Paul cast it out. She had followed Paul and Silas proclaiming, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.” The Story comes from Acts chapter 16. So, Paul and Silas were seized and dragged before Magistrates, charged with violating customs and proclaiming unlawful practices. “But the whole charge was pure hypocrisy; for as these men would have let the missionaries preach what religion they pleased if they had not dried up the source of their gains, so they conceal the real cause of their rage under color of a zeal for religion, and law, and good order.”…
From an disturbing article on the meaning of life; New York Times: “when the Hubble space telescoped (sic) pointed to a black spot in the sky about the size of an eraser head for a week it found 30,000 galaxy(sic) over 13 billion years old with many trillions of stars and many many more trillions of inferred planets. (So) how significant are you? … You are not a unique snowflake, you are not specials (sic), you are just another piece of decaying matters (sic), on the compost pile of this world. Nothing of who you are and what you will do in the short time you are here will matter. Everything short of that realization is vanity. So celebrate life in every moment, admire its wonders, (and) love without reservation.” What? Really? The conclusion does not match the premise! Tim Keller addresses the discrepancy “…given the secular view of the…
“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. …have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” I Peter 4:7-12 Revelation 18:23 teaches, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee (Babylon); and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee:…
Jeremiah, prophet of God in an evil time, brought a message from God to the Nation — it fell on deaf ears. Jeremiah 7:23 “But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 11:7 “Obey my voice.” Jeremiah 12:17 “But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 18:10 “If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.” Jeremiah 26:13 “Therefore now amend your…
In the ancient garden, God planted trees good for fruit. The tree of life was there, so also grew the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This second tree became a forbidden one, since God warned Adam to not eat of it. “…for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17b Then God formed Eve of Adam’s rib and the Hallmark Channel had it’s first story to tell. Problem came, as the ‘intuitive’ first lady ate some “knowledge tree” and so joined her Adam; death happened to both in the form of a brand new Consciousness. In one fatal swoop, a Serpent enabled an awareness of an evil kingdom — it’s evil side, but also it’s good side. On the evil side of darkness, our first parents opened a Pandora’s Box of things like hatred, killing, rape, theft and overall abuse of fellow…