10-2-00

What great value is this?...

Matthew 13:45
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is  like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he  went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

What have  you been looking for today?  Are you searching for anything in particular?  Is  there something that is just on your mind all the time and you just have to have  it? 

Many people search intently for cars, boats, relationships, hope,  money, prestige, control, power, fame, and all sorts of pleasurable things.   Yet, when is the last time you found something that pleased the LORD, that was  of great value to the LORD, and gave or gave up whatever you had (time, money,  personal talents, etc.) in order to lay hold of and 'own' that which pleases the  LORD?

Take some time today and seek the Kingdom of God.  Listen and find  out what pleases the LORD - what does He say is of great value to Him and to  you?  When you find that thing (or things - like spending daily time with Him,  being in His Word, fellowshipping with the Body, prayer, worship, humility,  obedience, etc.) then forsake everything else, open your purse strings, and do  or obtain it AT ALL COSTS!

Do not wait for this - what can you do to day  that is of greater worth than Pleasing your LORD and GOD>!?!?!
 

 

Matthew 13:45
"Again, the  kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one  of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought  it."

All that we have and all that we are - are His in Christ Jesus,

10-3-00

Remember, O LORD...

Lamentations 5
1 Remember,  O LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our  inheritance has been turned over to aliens, our homes to foreigners.
3 We  have become orphans and fatherless, our mothers like widows.
4 We must buy  the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue  us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt  and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we  bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us, and there is none to free us  from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the  sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from  hunger.
11 Women have been ravished in Zion, and virgins in the towns of  Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no  respect.
13 Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of  wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped  their music.
15 Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to  mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to  us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint,  because of these things our eyes grow dim
18 for Mount Zion, which lies  desolate, with jackals prowling over it.
19 You, O LORD,  reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
20  Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to  yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old
22 unless you  have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond  measure.

 

Friends, in the days of prosperity in our nation (the United  States) and in our blessing to have a free church and a free people, we often  become lax in our understanding and commitment to God.  Please reread the verses  above, and with Thanksgiving in your heart, call out to God in repentance for  anything that you have done or are doing against His command - against His  desires for you.  Acknowledge that you and I and we all have sinned!  Oh,  beloved, see the Grace and Mercy that has been afforded you all of your days!   Ask for open eyes to realize the blessings you have, even if there is but  one...

In Lamentations, God's people were enslaved, punished, disgraced  and shamed due to their arrogance and pride as a nation.  They had previously  accepted the protection and blessings of God but did not, in return, trust or  fear or respect His Ways.  Praise God that we know the One true God and Jesus  Christ, His Son - so that we might never be in the fear that God may reject us  for our inability to keep our end of a covenant.  Praise the Father that His  Covenant is with Jesus His Son, sealed by His Blood, and not a covenant that we  could never uphold.  Praise the Father that He has not utterly rejected us and  become angry without measure - which He could if He thought it  just! 

Please also pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ who are,  even today, undergoing persecution and pain around the world.  Pray that they  will continue to persevere and be victorious - by and only through the Power of  Christ Jesus.  Pray also that we can all see clearly that the persecution of the  physical body is no less horrible than the persecution of the soul that  Americans have due to our abundance.  Pray that all our eyes can be opened to  the enemies ways and tactics that we might be able to pray against him and his  army - that we will not be enslaved.  Our Father is with us, in all situations,  and in His Presence He sets the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual  captives free...  Truly, The Kingdom of Heaven is near...


God's Heart  is near...  Open up yours that you might see and accept the splendor He has in  store for each of you, in Christ Jesus Name,
 

10-24-00

Living Words of the New Testament, by Rev Dr  Leon Morris

JOY

"Rejoice in the Lord always;  again I will say, Rejoice" wrote Paul in
(Phil. 4:4) and in  so doing sounded one of the great notes of the
New Testament. Jesus had, of  course, said it before: "These things
I have spoken to you, that my  joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be full" (John  15:11).

We do not always realize how thoroughly joy permeates the  New
Testament. But when men whose backs were sore from a beating with
rods  and who had been thrown into a dungeon and their feet made
fast in the stocks  could sing cheerfully at midnight they had a deep-seated joy.
Acts  16
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and  the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.
23 After they had  been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was  commanded to guard them carefully.
24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them  in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight  Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners  were listening to them.

This is not the cheerfulness of the  worldly person who is happy because things are going well with him. This is the  joy of people who have known the wonderful salvation that Christ died to bring  and whose lives have been made new in his service.
2 Corinthians  5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;  the old has gone, the new has come!"

The noun "joy" and the verb  "rejoice" occur over and over in the
New Testament. But this is only the  beginning. Many of the great
Christian words are built up on the word for  joy. The Greek for
"joy" is chara and the Greek for "grace" is charis; you  can hear
the one word in the other. Basically "grace" means "that  which
causes joy" and in the Christian set-up nothing causes joy like
what  God has done in Christ.

One of the words for forgiveness, charizomai, is  built on chara.
And there are others. It is not easy to let the Greek New  Testament
fall open anywhere and not have on the pages open before you one  or
other of the joy words. Christianity is just about the most  joyful
thing that ever hit a sad and sorry and sin-sick old world.

Yet  modern Christians have so often made it dull! From reading the
New Testament  I would not have thought it possible, but that's what
we have all too often  done. Let's get back to New Testament
Christianity, for it is still true that "the joy of the Lord is
your strength" (Neh.8:10).

(and a small tidbit of knowledge from me --- One day while I  was watching TV many years ago, I decided to watch/observe the atheist's late  champion, Madelyn Murray O'Hare.  She and her co-host were slamming the church,  the Boy Scouts, etc.  They were both livid with irrational and disturbing  anger.  However, I believe solely by the grace and revelation of God, Ms. O'Hare  paused, took a few deep breaths, looked strait into the camera and stated to her  audience, "You know, without Christians, there would be no happiness in this  world."  I was floored and awestruck.  Yet even - just as the mighty Truth of  God passed from her lips and into the expanse of time - she did not understand  nor comprehend the full depth of the words that leapt from her mouth.  No sooner  had she finished her statement, blinked, and turned to her taken-a-back co-host,  did she start accusing, slandering, and tearing at the people of God once  again.  I was saddened that she could not comprehend the words she spoke, but I  was also filled with the Joy of knowing my LORD is Sovereign, even over the  tongues of those who wish to slander and destroy His Name and His people.  The  True Joy of our LORD is always present, yet we must be ready to acknowledge and  be strengthened by it - even in the darkest and most improbable  places.)

Thanks brother. I am reminded of this scripture:

Psalms  76:10  "Surely the wrath of man shall praise You; With the remainder of wrath You  shall gird Yourself."

Wonderful, awesome, sovereign God.

--JB

May the JOY of the LORD be our Strength in Christ Jesus,