Presumptuous Sin

……. hath God said…..?  (Gen 3:1)

Whenever we reason over what God has already said, it speaks of the condition of our heart that is bent on disobedience given the slightest excuse. Believing God is not to be grappled in the mind but begins in the heart (Rom 10:10). Once we have settled to believe God in our heart, all other affections should become dead. Death is where the voice of the world, sin, evil, etc becomes incoherent but only what God has said becomes clear. Perhaps the reason why the love of God has difficulty to be completed in us (1 John 2:5), is because there is lack of single heartedness toward Jesus Christ.

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.  (Psa 19:12)

Don’t underestimate the power of the deceitful heart that can lead us to gross error (Jer 17:9). Being presumptuous is to take the position that we have the boldness and ability to take charge. Keep ourselves yoked to Christ in humility and ‘be sober, be vigilant’ (1 Pet 5:8). Don’t put ourselves in the place where there is a room for questioning. If we do, we can become presumptuous and another insidious power dominates us, leaving us unpreserved to the end (Psa 19:13, Prov 30:5).

The Principle of Sin
Oswald Chambers

From the book, "If Thou Wilt be Perfect."

Truth in Acknowledging the Messiah

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? ….  (1John 2:22)

Fact is a knowing that something exists. Truth is when fact becomes a perpetual reality, transcending the realm of the intellect of the soul, piercing into the spirit of a man. It is the shedding of God’s light at the spirit level that it becomes revelation. It is one thing to intellectually grasp that Jesus is the Christ or Messiah, He is eternal life (1 John 1:2) to all who have the revelation. Truth has a life that brings the things of the Spirit into the soul which is subsequently evident in practice (1 John 1:6).

Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.  (2Ki 18:21)

The very moment we receive the revelation that Jesus is the Messiah, immediately all other forms of salvation or help or deliverance become dead to us. Though there may be temptations to seek others, the Holy Spirit will remind us to run to the God of our Salvation. Any other means would be abominable. There is only One Savior, only One Messiah. Not judging the outcome but faithful to endure regardless of outward circumstances and what our eyes behold. We will find out that Jesus our Messiah is faithful and cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13).If we mentally accept that Jesus is Messiah, and our response shows otherwise, could we be living in a lie?

Natural Outworking

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.  (1Cor 10:31)

The outworking of our faith is from what God has built in not the reverse (Php 2:13). We don’t have to be overly conscious of the outworking, if we are than there is a possibility that we are trying to please God. If we continually abide in Christ we are already in the place of God’s pleasure. It pleases the Father to work into us and out of that building on that foundation (Jude 1:20), which He has laid comes forth actions that will glory God. Often we may not be aware of it because in that abiding in Christ, self consciousness is diminished…’because as He is, so are we in this world’ (1 John 4:17). How else Jesus Christ is leaving His handprints in this crooked and perverse generation unless it’s through the Church, His body.

For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.  (John 12:8)

There is a family that is currently in financial need and the brethren have been sharing their evening meals with them. One day there was a cut in the water supply hence no cooking could have been done that day. The mother was at a lost as to how to supply the family with food and purchasing KFC was the best option at that time. Later that evening the water supply was restored and the mother eventually cooked dinner for her family. Later a message came from the father that KFC was an answer to his children’s request for the week and couldn’t do so due to their financial situation. God had to intervene to shut the water supply in order to answer a child’s request. Who else could have engineered the whole situation? The Father’s heart is toward the poor, the fatherless and the widows. God allows poverty for His body to demonstrate mercy (Mic 6:8), in order to test if indeed we are walking in the Light (1 John 2:10). Don’t consider great exploits if we can’t even fulfill daily needs of others.

Purpose of Anointing

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, …….., and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.  (1Jn 2:27)

The Apostles looks at it as ability in relationship that brings us into the possibility of abiding in the Son of God, not to be sort after for the purpose of having the ability to perform a task. It is the oneness with Christ that we have His mind to do His task on earth. Simon mistaken the power for outworking, in reality the outworking comes out of our abiding in Christ (Acts 8:18).

.......The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.  (John 5:19)

A servant is not greater than the Master. Jesus preached, performed miracles, gave everlasting life as well as laying down His life was out of His abiding in the Father. If it is for works that we seek anointing we can ask amiss (Jam 4:3), Jesus did because He saw the Father doing. In that stature, the doing will always glorify the Greater. Check our hearts, who is the focus. Do we behold Jesus (John 14:9)? If we do, we will do His greater works (John 14:12).

The Distraction of Contempt 
Oswald Chambers


Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt (Psalm 123:3)

What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives. 


Beware of “the cares of this world . . .” (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.” 


Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves. 


When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.

Calmed and Quieted Soul

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.  (Psa 131:2)

‘Surely’ is a certainty and being in a state of doubtlessness that we can attain as God’s child. It is not to be considered waveringly but steadfastly. Our certainty is not in ourselves but because we are ‘rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith’ (Col 2:7), abounding with thanksgiving because it is a done deal. There isn’t a need to ask if we can; faith is bringing into substance that we can, in Christ. If we say we will ‘try’, then it is of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Eze 36:27). There is a cause because the Spirit is effectual.

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.  (Php 4:9)

We will subconsciously enter into the Shalom of God. There is an overwhelming benefit of experiencing the Peace of God as well as having the God of Peace being with us. We become what we feed our minds (Phil 4:8). Fill our minds with truth, honesty, justice, purity, loveliness, good report, virtuous and praise worthiness. Regurgitate on these things. The only things is of any worth has the essence of Christ in them. Be utterly dependent on Christ (1 Cor 2:16) and we will know how to deal with the rest (Matt 6:33). Defeat begins in the mind; we have the God given privilege as sons to be overcomers.

Consistency
Oswald Chambers


Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, “I will never do this or that,” in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. There was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent with His Father. The important consistency in a saint is not to a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life that continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him.

Indecision in Religion 
Asahel Nettleton

 

The State of the Church and Coming Judgment (Excerpt)
A.W. Tozer

 

True Knowledge is in Keeping His Commandments

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  (1John 2:4)

  

Liars face a terrible end in judgment (Rev 21:8). What is worst than being deceived is self-deception. Our glorious destiny is independent on if we know Him, but rather if He knows us (Matt 7:23). There is so much emphasis on the love of God in the antinomian gospel, however it is in keeping His commandments that the love of God is made complete and full in us (1 John 2:5).

  

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  (John 14:6)

The way to salvation is only one; the path of salvation is based on truth. Without truth we are liars and sons of the father of it (John 8:44). Therefore we can be either abide in truth or abide in lies. Truth is precise, not gray but black or white. Truth is a sword that divides that which is self centered and that which is of the Spirit. Truth stands the test of time. Truth is neither a philosophy nor ideology. Truth brings life. Truth is Jesus Christ.

To obey is to love God. We do not obey to be loved by God. Obedience is bringing into reality His promises. Not obeying so that we can receive His promises. Obedience brings us into great knowledge. We do not know we if can walk until we start walking (John 5:9). God never contradicts, He reveals Himself through truth. Practice the truth and we will receive greater revelational light (1 John 1:6).

Deterrence to Fulfilling Our Spiritual Destiny

Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.  (Act 21:13)

Reality cannot be the reason not to continue on in faith. Faith is beyond seeing the natural, but the ability to behold our spiritual destiny and whole heartedness to substantiate the things God has laid hold of us. Don’t let situations, fear, danger and uncertainty deter us. If we are not willing to lay our lives down and rise to the occasion in fulfilling the purposes of God in and through us, He will not fail, He will raise another (Est 4:14). Natural reality can never stop God from intervening in human affairs for His glory, it is whether we are willing to avail ourselves to be vessels of honor for His divine purposes. Following Jesus would mean heartaches to loved ones and ourselves, don't let these be the enemy in fulfilling our spiritual destiny.

True Measure of Life

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.  (1 John 3:14)

Don’t measure existence of the life of Christ in any fellowship by the amount of spiritual activity. It is not how much faith that bears witness of the disciple but how much love toward each other (John 13:35). Even faith requires action. We love one another not because we agree in a matter or share common interests. We love because we are brethren. To love the brethren is to over look each other faults and shortcomings, ‘love covereth all sins’ not some sins (Prov 10:12). This is the cross we ought to bear. This is the walk we ought to walk after the footsteps of the Master (1 John 2:6).

We want God to love us. Selfishness is when we don’t share the love of God with others, especially of the household of God. We know the love of God because Jesus laid down His life for us, similarly the outworking of the love of God toward the brethren (1 John 3:16).

Christian love is practical not just talk (1 John 3:18). Don’t just say that we love one another, show it. We know that the love of God dwells in us by ensuring our brethren have what we have.  Sin is shutting up compassion and selfishly hoarding for ourselves. The true measure of Christ life in us is when we love unconditionally, not wanting anything in return. God gave, so do we in like manner.

Integrity

I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.  (Psa 101:2)

A disciple is not passive otherwise we would have been created as mindless automatons. Work out the little the Lord has built in and He will work in more of Christ nature, lest spiritual laziness and passivity set in. A son of God has to’ will to do’ (John 7:17), don’t say ‘I will do as He moves me’. God will never move us; He moves and the sheep follows.

Integrity is to adhere to God’s moral principles which are evidenced by our behavior in light of public eyes or in secret. It soulish to do the honorable in public to garner honor from man (Matt 6:4, 6, 18), seek God’s approval by carrying the same moral stature in private. It is in the private when our thoughts and actions will be tested and judged. Integrity need to be demonstrated consistently in the light of man’s eyes and in the light of God’s eyes.

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.  (Prov 11:3)

A child of God who lives in integrity in God’s light has the reward of a pure conscience toward the Lord and others (1 John 1:7). There is unwavering security even in the midst of external storm. There is a peace that surpasses human understanding. Steadfastness because one is anchored in the Savior and the pathway of our pilgrimage is very clear with a certain glorious end. Conversely those who transgress against the rule of integrity will bring about self destruction.

Lust Kills Compassion

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  (1Jn 2:16)

What massive consumerism did was to create a superficial 'need' for things. Things have become so part of us that has defined our culture of narcissism. Fellow human suffering and especially that many are travelling the broad way to destruction is no longer a cause for concern as long as 'I' can keep my toys and play them.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?  (1Jn 3:17)

Not having compassion to the poor and needy is blindness. It is looking at gratifying self that is the cause for blindness. ‘I’ want to be loved, ‘I’ need attention, ‘I’……there is a grave concern that ‘I’ is satisfied. This is a big deception because the ‘I’ can never find its fulfillment (Prov 30:15). How can God pour His love to this generation? It is only to the cross bearers who deny lust of things and undeniably choose simplicity which is in Christ (2 Cor 11:3).

Fearing God

But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.  (Luke 12:5)

The warning was not an apostolic or prophetic one, but from the Lord Jesus Himself. Fearing God is not to be misunderstood lest it can bring about an unrealistic form that could lead to the pride of pseudo spirituality. For some rejecting what God commanded because its misinterpretation resulting in cowering and coldness, void of lovingkindness. Without the fear of God, there is a danger of subconsciously denying the reality of hell, likewise also denying the existence of Kingdom of God. This denial is to say that God is not just, hence claiming blasphemously that God doesn’t judge.

What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?  (Psa 34:12)

On the contrary, fearing God is demonstrated in the most practical way (Psa 34:11-14). This way that the Lord has paved for us is always for good not for evil (Psa 34:12). It benefits us, putting us in the light of having more to gain. Resolve in prayer to fear God, not being double hearted about it (Psa 86:11). Fearing God benefits others and brings the Shalom of God into relationships (Eph 5:21). Wholeness in relationship will flourish with the fear of God. This peace will be the outworking of our lives to place us in the glorious position to be called a child of God in His Kingdom (Matt 5:9, Rom 14:17).

The Uncritical Temper
Oswald Chambers

Love Where You Are Not Respected 
Oswald Chambers

 

Hardening Our Hearts

And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts….  (Mar 3:5)

More often than not the cause of Jesus grief wasn’t among the unreligious, but among those who have knowledge of the Word and even His disciples. Not among the ignorant, but among the informed. The opposition Jesus had was almost always in everyday circumstances. God will confront us in the daily working out of our lives to see if the knowledge and mountain top experiences lasts and deeply rooted. Spirituality requires an expression in the natural, never to be experienced and left behind at the mountain top experiences.

Few like confrontation, especially if truth is directed toward us. Never say that we will readily believe everything the Lord and His Word says. There is a danger in thinking that believing is a result in knowledge and spiritual experiences. Belief becomes reality when the knowledge is worked out in daily application.

Jesus will come to challenge everything we believe in to see if we believe in Him. Is it prayer, the Word, good works versus Christ and Christ alone? Is He our exceedingly great reward? He will confront us because He is a jealous God. Confronting us to reveal what is our truest affections.

Hardening our hearts is to be unbelieving (Matt 6:14). He will come to right us, are we willing to receive His correction?  Continue in the place of meekness and humility so that when the Holy Spirit brings light into areas of our darkness, pride or poor character which we may never know existed, yielding to allow the Potter to do all that is necessary to transform and conform to His image. Though painful, sons of God are always ready to expose all of their insides to God’s refining fire.

The Night of Weeping 
Horatius Bonar

 

The Cross, True Discipleship

…….. let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. (Mat 27:42)

The cross is a stumbling block and foolishness; firstly it is an open display of meekness and lowliness void of worldly pomp and glory, secondly, human understanding and reasoning resist the cross (1 Cor 1:23). The cross can be averted on these two counts. It is easy to reconcile that the cross of Christ is the entrance for our salvation, however do we believe Jesus when He says ‘the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord’ (Matt 10:24)? Acceptance of salvation of the cross of Christ is palatable, simultaneously the pilgrims progress requires a cross bearing life.

In denying this narrow and difficult way (Matt 7:14) the devil will be our insurmountable nemesis. If the choice is to follow the cross bearing way of the Master, the devil would not be a problem (Rom 16:20). Very quickly there will be a discovery that self is the greater enemy of the salvation of our soul (Matt 16:22-26). Peter knew the cost of discipleship but desired to avert the way (as we often do), hence daring to rebuke his Lord. Denying the cross is satanic in nature which goes against every grain of the will of God (Matt 16:23).

In order for the manifestation of life of the Son of God, the old man has to be put to death. Remove the filth that the Holy can be poured in. The old man and its lustful appetites wars against Christ nature, how can the two mix and find its homogeneous form? The Christian life is black or white, not gray.

Salvation is free. The cost of discipleship is high. It will cost us everything in exchange for son-ship (Php 3:8).

The Difficult Way to Life / The Broad Way to Destruction 
Matthew Henry

 

Cross Evasion: The Subterfuge of our Modern Christianity
Art Katz

God’s actual visitation, the coming of Himself, and the form that it took, and the way that it was culminated in His crucifixion, death, burial  and resurrection has got to be the single greatest epochal event in the whole history of the human race.  I marvel that the nations are completely oblivious to that fact, and that the Jewish people themselves have found a way to remove the event from their own consideration.  But even in Christendom the event has become modified, sentimentalised, trivialised, cheapened, and rendered almost into a “non-event.”  There are unplumbed meanings in the cross that wait to be unearthed, or we will remain participants with those who seek to modify and remove the cross of its content and power—even in our ignorance. 

“Nothing reveals the falsity of man more than the evasion, the side-stepping of man from God, and from the crucified Christ” (See footnote).  In other words, by side-stepping the crucified Christ, we reveal that man is, in his very nature, a liar, phoney, false, and flees from truth.  What shall I say about my own Jewish people?  The event took place in our history; our Messiah, in our Jerusalem; and yet we rejected Him, and made of His life a non-event, as if Jesus was some kind of pitiful Presumer who ran afoul of the political authorities and had to suffer their judgments.  We missed the entire truth of His coming, as the very Son of God, as Sin-Bearer, fulfilling a necessary sacrifice that no animal could provide, and was Himself both the sacrifice and the High Priest—and we suffered the consequences for our dismissal of Him.

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Spiritual Journey

They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. (Psa 145:7)

What are the most important milestones of our Christian pilgrimage? It is easy to recall what God has done 'for' me, but have we considered and able to give praise to our gracious Savior for what great things the Lord has done 'in' me? His benefits are tremendous for He commands His loving kindness over us (Psa 42:8), do we recall His faithfulness in the evening years (Psa 92:2)?

.........few and evil have the days of the years of my life been........(Gen 47:9)

What has God done in Jacob’s life to transform him to Israel? He was a man who lived for himself, selfishness and deceitful. His respond to the beginning of God building into him was to build a monument out of his pillow (Gen 28:18). At his return to the same starting point he built an altar (Gen 35:3, 7). First it was a vision of the Lord’s lovingkindness to preserve him, the latter an altar to recall of His faithfulness. First it was a monument of haphazard and shabby from what he had used and the latter an altar of worship. The Lord had stripped him of self confidence, then worship out of deepest recesses of what God has built into Him poured forth (Php 3:3). Out of such a life comes an ability to bless others and not self (Gen 47:10) because he has been dealt with by the Blessor and taken on His imange. He saw the dealings of the Lord in His life as the righteousness of God. Declare of His right doings, for He is not concern with our comfort but desire the fruit that abounds to our account. God only bother with sons (Heb 12:6).

Innocence, the Beginning to Spiritual Victory

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. (Psa 8:2)

What are the things that proceed from our mouth? Does it cause a stir to the spiritual environment in which we speak into (Matt 21:15), or the devil isn’t too bothered. The Father is looking for children in His quiver that has the spiritual stature to unashamedly ‘speak with the enemies in the gate’ (Psa 127:5) and to ‘possess the gate of his enemies’ (Gen 22:17).

Babes are not those who have towering physique nor exceptional vocal volume, but a company of believers that have the innocence, not in the sense of ignorance but in the sense of harmlessness (Matt 10:16) or gentleness (Php 4:5). Untainted by the world and living the realm of the Father’s love; whose eyes are fixed and unfazed by the glitter of the temporal (Psa 123:2). Suckling that feed on one life giving source (1 Pet 2:2), whose palate has not touched that which defiles. It is from such mouths that the Lord can use to still the enemy and the avenger unto spiritual victory.

Have we been winning spiritual battles lately? If not, check out what do we regard in our heart (Psa 66:18) and our secret desires (Prov 9:17). Not only God know, the devil does to.

Discipline

Before I was afflicted, I did err; but now I observe Thy word. (Psa 119:67)

Godly discipline or His dealings is a reality in following Christ that we cannot and should not avoid. We have to submit to the boundaries that the Lord has set for us (Gen 3:3). It is for our own good. Disobedience is our choice and so is bearing the cross and following Jesus daily (Luke 9:23). We disobey because we don’t believe the full extent of His Word. God rules by His Word, but if necessary the rod is applied (Prov 20:30). We disobey because it is our will we desire to exercise over His.

…… My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him (Heb 12:5)

It is the ‘flesh’ in us that resist God’s discipline and it should be tested to the very limits of the human soul. That is precisely the work of the cross so we reach the bottom of the barrel and reckon ourselves dead indeed but alive to Christ (Rom 6:11). Whenever we resist and do not submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God we despise the dealings to us as sons (1 Pet 5:6). It takes meekness and humility to accept His dealings. We can avert His dealings, but we also avert being a son.

The cross is a choice we chose to carry. No one lays it on us but our loving Savoir. It is the building in us Christ character and to learn of Him (Matt 11:29). How much are we willing to yield? The more we yield the less the striving. The end is that we observe His Living Word that has been worked in being worked out (Php 2:12, 13). It is His working in, His dealings that will align us to His Word. His Word Who become flesh that ‘as He is, so are we in this world’ (1 John 4:17), now not after He returns.

Excerpt From 'The Salvation of the Soul'
Watchman Nee
Chp 3, Its Manifestation: The Kingdom


When the Son of God was on this earth, the cross was the only thing that He had as a possession; all the rest He borrowed. The manger was borrowed, the inn was borrowed, the ass on which He rode to Jerusalem was borrowed, the room in which He ate the Passover feast was borrowed, and finally the tomb in which He was buried was borrowed. Everything in the world except the cross was borrowed by the Lord. Yet how very unlike Him we are!

Being Living Patterns

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Php 4:9)

Many are willing to be consultants with regard to the Christian life because it lack the responsibility (1 Cor 4:15). Godly fathering takes maturity. Desire to mature beyond overcoming the evil one, being strong in the faith and having the abiding Word (1 John 2:13, 14) that is a depth farther than experiencing victory, believing and having our minds transformed (Rom 12:2). It is a depth of relationship with the Father of fathers. A father is called one by virtue of reproduction.

There are spiritual fathers and non spiritual ones (John 8:44) where the former is one where truth of the Word is demonstrated. Truthful in the sense of us being consistent and not living double lives. Natural children can be confused by the double lives parents demonstrate. An inconsistent standard set in morals, values and virtues can lead to disillusionment and many a Christian children have walked out of their faith in Jesus when they grow up.

Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (Php 3:17)

Spiritual fathers live their daily lives by carrying their own crosses and single mindedly following their master daily. Walking is a simple everyday necessity in our conduct with regard to all aspects of the mundane as well as the extraordinary occurrences. Spiritual fathers whose eyes set on one Good Shepherd and not flippant about choosing their heroes or beliefs.  Our confidence of being a good father to both physical and spiritual children does not lie in our ability or experience. It is a relationship yoke with the Savior and walking to the same end (Php 3:21). It is a relationship that continues to yield everything to the Master and laying down of self daily. 

Many Are Called, But Few Chosen
Commentary by Matthew Henry

 

Bible Commentary on Isaiah 62
A.R. Fausset


 

Guidance

For such is God, our God, for ever and ever; He will guide us eternally. (Jewish Publication Society, Psa 48:14)

Can we fathom that God is our Elohim, the Supreme Creator is our portion and we have become His? He even considers details of our being that we are ignorant of (Matt 10:30). He who feeds the fowls of the air yet a sparrow falling to the ground is within His will (Matt 10:29). Knowing His will is not an elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is as real as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. He governs over all and able even to subdue all things unto Himself (Php 3:21).

It is not an issue of whether He is able; it is whether we like children willing to believe Him with regard to all things.  Not reckless and blind by presumptuously thinking that God will shield us from every danger due to our imprudent conduct (Matt 4:7). A faith that is founded on knowledge of the Truth which has led us to reckon our self will dead. It is a calculated death according to the standards of the cross we chose to bear (Luke 9:23). A cross not forced upon, but of our own choosing to take up or not, the laying down our will. Not some form of self imposed religion by inflicting pain in the name of self righteousness.

A laid down will takes us to a position as a meek son of God that can be lovingly led by the Good Shepherd unto eternity. We will find that our life is unlike vapor, but glorious.

Seek to Stop Sinning or Have I stopped Sinning?
Oswald Chambers


"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." (1 John 3:9.) 


Do I seek to stop sinning or have I stopped sinning? To be born of God means that I have the supernatural power of God to stop sinning. In the Bible it is never - Should a Christian sin? The Bible puts it emphatically- A Christian must not sin. The effective working of the new birth life in us is that we do not commit sin, not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have stopped sinning. 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin; it means that if we obey the life of God in us, we need not sin.

Generosity

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.(Mat 6:22)

One of the biggest enslaving idol today is called mammon. Jesus has a lot of things to say about money; He warns of the danger of the love of it (Matt 6:24, 1 Tim 6:10) and provides a solution. No one can be more practical in handling issues as with our Lord.  In this context, Jesus is saying that love of money can cause us to lose focus and not be singular with regard to Him as our Light. We can become blind to people around us in greater financial need and become inward looking. The remedy is stated in the preceding verse ‘herefore when thou doest thine alms’ (Matt 6:2). He did not use the word ‘if’ but ‘when’. God allowed poverty (1 Sam 2:7) to exist along with those who have more than enough (the rich) that His mercy may be manifested through the generosity of His saints (Matt 5:7).

….. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

(Psa 41:1)

The trap of this form of idolatry brings, interestingly is darkness to the body. Show mercy that we will receive mercy, which is how He works (Psa 41:1-3). In our generosity we exemplify our trust in Him ‘who giveth us richly all things to enjoy’ (1 Tim 6:17); in this our getting more than enough (richness) ‘he addeth no sorrow with it’ (Prov 10:22). The problem of inability with regard to the issue of generosity is the issue of contentment (1 Tim 6:8). Poverty is the state of the mind, not the state of being (2 Cor 8:2).

Faithful in What He Givs Us

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Mat 25:21)

Above all, the Lord is looking for faithfulness in our being and faithfulness in our doing with regard to the things that He has given us, not what things we conjure up out of ourselves. Whatever He bestows upon us is not for our safekeeping but to be multiplied and presented back in full to Him. This Multiplication is not for our own kingdom building plans, but dying to ambition of the self and having only His Kingdom in mind. Bearing fruit of which is of Him not that which represent us (Gal 5:22).

Keep good accounts of what He bestows, we mustn’t be careless. Work out what He has put in (Php 2:13), to the degree we have attained, walk by them (Php 3:16). Live in constant urgency, looking for His coming as though it is the next moment. Yet living each day faithfully, in patient endurance in all that life will throw at us though it is ‘after a long time’ (Matt 25:19). Don’t let go of what He gave, but multiply. Add on; faith, to faith virtue, etc (2 Pet 1:5). Faith without working it out is dead.

The Lord will do the accounting, it is faithfulness He desires.  Faithful only in what He gave, anything else extra is not credited. The end of faithfulness is to enter into His Joy and greater rule. Count all else loss, take on what He gives. Rule or take action over the ‘very little’ (Luke 19:17) He gives to us, in that He will multiply it back to us.

Transcendent Life
Watchman Nee


And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. (Mat 5:41)


Our transcendency is before the Lord for no one demands more than the Lord. The most people can demand is only one mile, but what Lord requires is the second mile.


May the Lord’s hand be on me. If I lose all, I will not be able to lose any more. When I am totally dead, I will not be able to die further. As long as I may yet die, I have not died enough. Since I may still lose, I have not lost enough. I am willing to increase the Lord’s hand on me, rather than to lighten it.


If we are able to stand on the Lord’s side and deal with ourselves, we will never entertain the thought of revenge on others.

Burden or Life

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; (Pro 2:1)

The Torah and the Sermon on the Mount can either be viewed as a heavy burden or we see the grace to abundance of life. If the Commandments are considered information on what we ‘should be’ and what to shun, then we have an unbalanced view of a tyrannical God. His commandments are never meant to be grievous (1 John 5:3).


Experiencing abundance of life comes by taking the first few steps of obedience in faith than realization that we can do it because it is by His grace. We should not ask for evidence before we keep what He says, but believe without seeing by doing first, in that we will be blessed (John 20:29); ‘in keeping of them there is great reward’ (Psa 19:11).

Glorious Pursuit


I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Php 3:14)


There is something about pursuing God that He loves in a man and a woman. It is a trusting in the Unseen God and thrusting our life, future and in fact everything into His loving hands, sojourning into the uncharted territory where man’s council and experience could never articulated. God’s ways are beyond all scope of human understanding and history.


Once we have been called, He is faithful to keep calling us. Whenever we forget, face discouraging hurdles, pain, suffering, despair, He keeps reminding us of the call. Don’t give up as much as He doesn’t; He cannot deny His character of faithfulness.


Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (Heb 12:14)


Our pursuit is ‘in the Kingdom’, not outside. This pursuit of holiness only avails to those who believe and testify that Christ is Savior and Lord. Christians are not to remain idle, but to pursue. Never boast (Prov 27:1) of any form of spiritual attainment (Php 3:12, 13) nor compare ourselves against others who haven’t attained but remain faithful in whatever station of life we are in and continue to press on (Php 3:16).


Our reward is great. We will discover that in our pursuit, there will be much rubbish that requires shedding off to complete the race gloriously, clothed with nothing but His righteousness (Job 29:14, Php 3:9).

What is the original Hebrew name for Jesus? And is it true that the name Jesus is really a pagan corruption of the name Zeus?
Dr. Michael Brown


I am continually amazed by how many people write to our ministry and ask us questions like this one, which came in last week: “Some Christians say we have to use the Hebrew name, Yashua. They say calling on the name of Jesus is calling on Zeus. That Jesus is a disguise name for Satan. What answers do you have for this? Where can we prove the name of Jesus is correct to use in its English translation and pronunciation?”


As bizarre as these questions are, the fact that they keep coming up means that they need to be addressed, so here are some simple responses (for more details, see What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus, question #38).


The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is yeshu‘a, which is short for yehōshu‘a (Joshua), just as Mike is short for Michael. The name yeshu‘a occurs 27 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, primarily referring to the high priest after the Babylonian exile, called both yehōshu‘a (see, e.g., Zechariah 3:3) and, more frequently, yeshu‘a (see, e.g., Ezra 3:2). So, Yeshua’s name was not unusual; in fact, as many as five different men had that name in the Old Testament. And this is how that name came to be “Jesus” in English: Simply stated, this is the etymological history of the name Jesus: Hebrew/Aramaic yeshu‘a became Greek Iēsous, then Latin Iesus, passing into German and then, ultimately, into English, as Jesus.


Why then do some people refer to Jesus as Yahshua? There is absolutely no support for this pronunciation—none at all—and I say this as someone holding a Ph.D. in Semitic languages. My educated guess is that some zealous but linguistically ignorant people thought that Yahweh’s name must have been a more overt part of our Savior’s name, hence YAHshua rather than Yeshua—but again, there is no support of any kind for this theory.


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THE GATEWAY TO THE KINGDOM
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3
Oswald Chambers


Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.


The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.

Parashat Pinhas: Leadership through speech
By SHLOMO RISKIN




“Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ‘Let the Lord God of all the spirits of mortal flesh appoint a person of stature over the witness congregation’” (Numbers 27:15).


Moses was the master of all prophets, and the individual who came closer to God than any other mortal in history. Now, after a chorus of rebellions against him, God tells him that he is about to be taken from this world without entering the Promised Land. His response to God demonstrates his deep and abiding commitment to his nation. He does not seek a reprieve for himself, but rather a fitting successor for his people. In so doing, he identifies the area in which he himself failed, and the qualities which his heir must have in order to succeed, thus defining the sine qua non condition of leadership for future generations, and so leaving a crucial legacy to “Knesset Yisrael.”


The biblical words are stunning in their simplicity: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Climb to the top of this Abarim Mountain [just in front of Mount Nebo] and gaze upon the land which I am giving to the Israelites. After you see it, you will be gathered to your nation, in the same manner as was Aaron your brother. This is because you rebelled against My word at the Zin desert, just as the witness-congregation were engaged in dispute and you neglected to sanctify Me before their eyes with the water…” (Numbers 27:12-14) God is now exacting the punishment He had meted out to Moses in last week’s biblical reading, when the prophet was instructed to take his staff and “speak to the rock”; but instead, “struck the rock with the staff twice.” Although at the time much water gushed forth, God proclaimed that as a result of this transgression, Moses and Aaron would not be permitted to lead the nation into the Land.


Why did God command Moses to take the staff but only to speak to the rock, whereas almost 40 years before, after the splitting of the Red Sea, when the Israelites also bitterly disputed with God over the lack of water, He instructed Moses to take the rod and strike the rock with it? Why was striking the rock a commandment then and a transgression now? Apparently, Moses himself had pondered this question, and in this week’s portion, he arrives at the reason.


There are two types of leadership: leadership with a staff, and leadership with words; leadership by means of power and leadership by persuasion.


A slave people, beaten into submission by a powerful despot, will be moved only by a greater and mightier power. Slaves lack the emotional energy and the rigorous reserve to respond to logical thought or inspirational visions. They require a God with plagues more powerful than the Egyptian Nile, and a leader with a staff more efficacious than that of Pharaoh’s magicians.


But almost 40 years have passed since then, years of wandering in an alien desert and years of being protected by a loving Deity, years of commitment to God’s laws and years of studying God’s words.


And now, when history is repeating itself, when the witness-congregation is again panicked by the lack of water, God adjures Moses: Take your staff of leadership, but instead of striking with your hand, speak with your mouth; instead of commanding with the fiery law of a written Torah from God on High, try convincing with a song of an Oral Torah whose chorus is composed and sung by the souls of all of Israel; the Written Torah is a strict law, eternal, absolute and unchanging, emanating from the Lord, Creator of the Universe, while the Oral Torah is a soft law, born of dialogue with Israel and informed by the compassion and loving-kindness of the God of history.


And so Moses understands that the next leader of Israel must be less a prophet of God and more a man of the people, less a conveyor of God’s eternal law and more a mediator between God’s words and the people’s needs. Moses is at peace with his realization that if the staff was crucial to bring Israel out of Egypt in order to form a nation committed to God and His law, the next leader must use the word – speech and dialogue – to convince, inspire and extract new insights and interpretations of Torah from God’s partners in history, the nation of Israel.


“Moses spoke to the Lord saying, Let the Lord God of all the spirits of mortal flesh appoint a person of stature over the witness-congregation. Let him go out in front of them and let him come in before them, let him take them out and let him bring them in, so that the witness-congregation of the Lord shall not be as sheep without a shepherd” (Num. 27:15-17).

Finally


Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord…..(Php 3:1)


What is the ‘finally’ in our Christian life we are experiencing? Conclusively is there rejoicing? Not in what we have done, achieved, accumulated or any form of spiritual trophy placed on the pedestal of a Christian’s hallway of fame. The finality of our faith is Christ and Christ alone (Php 3:8) and to be found in Him (Php 3:9). To be established where our enduring existence is not of our own but His only.


I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine…… (Son 6:3)


Exclusivity comes with a price of suffering loss and reckoning all else as dung (Php 3:8). As with a marriage there has to be a leaving and a cleaving unto oneness; our position where He will spread His banner of love over His church (Son 2:4). His joy will sustain us (Neh 8:10). Our pursuit is not then aimless and our destiny laid out; the path has been drawn out. We keep our eyes focus on the goal of our upward call. It is upward glorious resurrection to save us from all forms of depreciating corruption that surround us daily, into an everlasting Kingdom. Rejoicing now and rejoicing in the end.


With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. (Psa 45:15-17)

Consistency


And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)


Have we asked ourselves why we roller coaster through our Christian walk? Victory sometimes can be grasps at an arm’s length and other times it does not seem to avail to us. David knew about the importance of consistency (Psa 51:10).


For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (Luke 14:28)


Victory requires reckoning or accounting with regard to the issue of the cross. Weigh not on what is the gain, but on the loss. The next step of faith is to cut off (Matt 5:30) and put off (Eph 4:22). His grace avails deeply for us, but we have to weigh and be willing to suffer loss (Phil 3:8). There is no short cut but always remembering that His grace avails always. Keep in mind that the person who carries the cross is not dead but a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). 'Dead' yet alive to a higher life (Rom 6:11), it is a mystery that can only be fully realized if we live on the foundation of grace. An Old Testament sacrifice is severed, place on the altar, burned with fire and reduced to the lowest irreversible and consistent form, ashes. The Lord is not concerned with the gruesomeness of the sacrifice but in the aroma it finally emits.


Consistency is a narrowing journey (Matt 7:13). We have to reckon and account for loss in order to end at the gates of the ‘Celestial City’ (Pilgrims Progress, John Bunyan). Loss in order for great gain (Matt 14:36). The secret to consistency is carrying the cross and following Jesus. He will never lead us the wrong way. Cross equals loss, the end of great gain.

What Glory Do We Seek For?


And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22)


The bride is the focus of attention in any wedding, which is how much glory Jesus bestows upon His church.  It is not ours to earn nor striving nor fighting to gain (John 18:36). It takes faith to receive. Looking at not with human senses, but having a belief full of unshakeable substance and able to behold things not seen (Heb 11:1).


The glory is not then, but now. The manifestation of the glory is unity. Oneness is in Christ where the bond of brotherhood becomes thicker than blood which is of the spirit (Eph 4:3). The humanly base idea of glory is exaltation of self to prove we are better. God’s glory is founded on love, not the sentimental kind but one of action toward others, never self seeking nor arrogant. This is the true mark of discipleship (John 13:35). Christ’s glory given to the church is deeply founded in His love (John 17:24, 26), what else do we desire or seek for?

The Church and the World
Catherine Booth


When the church and the world can jog comfortably along together, you can be sure something is wrong. The world has not compromised - its spirit is exactly the same as it ever was. If Christians were equally as faithful to the Lord, separated from the world, and living so that their lives were a reproof to all ungodliness, the world would hate them as much as it ever did. It is the church that has compromised, not the world.

The Pulpit by J.C. Ryle


‎Without Christ crucified in her pulpits, a Church is little better than a dead carcass, a well without water, a barren fig-tree, a sleeping watchman, a silent trumpet, a lighthouse without fire, a stumbling-block to weak believers, a comfort to unbelievers, a hot-bed for formalism, a joy to the devil, and an offence to God.

Rulership


And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
(Psa 106:41)


It is a fearful thing to be delivered to the hands of man because of God’s wrath and abhorrence (Psa 106:40). David knew it and in great strait asked to ‘not fall into the hand of man’ (2 Sam 24:14). ‘Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men’ (John 2:24). We may not be conscious that we are being ruled by man, it will show when the crunch comes.


So why it is that man is sought first before God? Man’s help and out stretched hand can become a dangerous crutch; a ‘broken reed…..whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it’ (Isa 36:6). When man rule or control our destiny than God’s sovereignty is left out. When God rules, we trust Him in getting alone with Him and faith is when we hear no answer, seeing greater promises afar off (Heb 11:13) and hearts at perfect peace that our cries have been heard in heaven; ‘having obtained a good report through faith’ because ‘God having provided some better thing for us' (Heb 11:39, 40).


The difference of rulership can be subtle. Man’s rule seeks human intervention, selfish and long term untrustworthiness. God’s rule is eternal and glorious even if it requires to die in faith (Heb 11:13). After all, everyone must die, the finality is where we stand in the last judgment (Heb 9:27).

Have You Come to "When" Yet?
Oswald Chambers


"And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." Job 42:10


The plaintive, self-centred, morbid kind of prayer, a dead-set that I want to be right, is never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is a sign that I am rebelling against the Atonement. "Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer; I will walk rightly if You will help me." I cannot make myself right with God, I cannot make my life perfect; I can only be right with God if I accept the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to resign every kind of claim and cease from every effort, and leave myself entirely alone in His hands, and then begin to pour out in the priestly work of intercession. There is much prayer that arises from real disbelief in the Atonement. Jesus is not beginning to save us, He has saved us, the thing is done, and it is an insult to ask Him to do it.


If you are not getting the hundredfold more, not getting insight into God's word, then start praying for your friends, enter into the ministry of the interior. "The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer. Wherever God puts you in circumstances, pray immediately, pray that His Atonement may be realized in other lives as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now; pray for those with whom you come in contact now.

The Tension of the Ages
Rebekah Mui


Talk has been going on for quite awhile in the church about “the end times” and “the last days”. What exactly are the end times and the last days? How do we know for sure where we are on the Biblical calendar? And how are we youths supposed to live our lives since time is so short?


“End times” is not a phrase found in the Bible at all. The phrase used in the Bible is “last days”. Jacob prophesied over his sons over what would befall them in the last days (Genesis 49:1). Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1 speak of YHWH’s house being established and all the Gentiles flowing towards it.


In the New Testament scriptures, the first mention of the last days is at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell (Acts 2:7). The fact is, the “last days” and “end times” began 2,000 years ago. The early church was very conscious of Jesus (Yeshua’s) return and lived soberly and in vigilance.  Hebrew 1:2 speaks of “these last days”. 2 Timothy 3:1 says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”


The Hebraic and Biblical understanding of the times is that there is this present evil age and the age to come. Last month, I mentioned the Hebrew word “olam”, meaning age or universe. The Olam Hava is the age to come, hava meaning come. (Baruch hava b’shem Adonai means "Blessed is he who comes in the name of YHWH.”). Olam Hazeh literally means “this world”. As the Scriptures say clearly, this earth was created by God (Elohim). The world in which we live in today is temporal and sinful. The Messiah comes to usher in the eternal Kingdom of God.


We know that Yeshua the Messiah of Israel has come. The last days have already begun, because with His coming, He brought the Kingdom of Heaven into individual lives. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (within reach)”, Jesus preached. We know that Yeshua is the Messiah because He has fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will fulfill all the word of the Tanakh (Old Testament). The olam hazeh is passing away and the olam haba has already come.


Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Kingdom of God is already established, the feast has been prepared. We are living in the overlap of the ages, between Jesus’ two comings. The tension between the ages must be a part of our Christian life! The literal, physical, worldwide, and total bringing in of the Kingdom will come when Jesus comes again, but it is our duty as sons of God who has entered into the Kingdom to preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16), bringing the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven.


Peter warned us in 1 Peter 3 that in these last days scoffers will come, that deny that God created the heavens and the earth, and also deny that Jesus will come again. (One common objection is that the church has been waiting for 2,000 years already and He still hasn’t come). Actually, as Peter says, it’s because God is very patient and doesn't desire any should perish. The New Testament scriptures are full of exhortations to the church to live soberly and be vigilant in these last days. 


“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand yearsas one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.


Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." (2 Peter 3:7-18 KJV)


It is our duty to store up our treasure in heaven (Matthew 6) and set our minds and hearts on things above (Colossians 3). It is our duty to be watchful and vigilant. It is our duty, as Jesus commanded, to go into all the world and preach the gospel.


And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14 KJV)


Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:2-6 KJV)


Let us live godly lives and pray for the salvation of the peoples of this world and for our governmental authorities. Let us pray and preach the Kingdom of God to the lost peoples of this world. Let us remember the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 and 25 about watching and praying, staying awake. Don’t be like the virgins who fell asleep. The reason why we still have time is to bring souls into the Kingdom of God in the harvest of these last days, not to idle away and spend our lives on the things of this world. Let us not be distracted by the cares of this life, the pursuit and vanity and riches. Let us pray for laborers in the harvest fields of the kingdom! Let us never lose hope in the promises of God found in the Prophets.


Let us have faith in Jesus that will stand no matter what fiery trials and tribulations come our way. Let us have peace in our hearts, the true shalom of YHWH, that will stand sure and strong on the Rock of Ages, YHWH the God of Israel. Let us stand with Israel and bring the gospel back to Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit was poured out 2,000 years ago!


Let us live every day of our lives in eager anticipation, expectant hope, watchful preparation, sober vigilance, and solidarity as a body, for the coming, returning, glorious King Messiah and His Kingdom (of which there will be no end), the fullness, completion, and beginning of all, for He is all and He is in all of His! Amen