Just sharing.

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God works for good
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,

Hebrews 10:23,24 NASB

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God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Cor. 1:9 KJV

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And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 NIV

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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

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“How many are mine iniquities and sins?”

Job 13:23

Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin of God's people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression, and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelian upon Ossa, mountain upon mountain. What an aggregate of sin there is in the life of one of the most sanctified of God's children! Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude of the redeemed, “a number which no man can number,” and you will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the people for whom Jesus shed his blood.

But we arrive at a more adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only and well-beloved Son. God's Son! Angels cast their crowns before him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround his glorious throne. “God over all, blessed for ever. Amen.” And yet he takes upon himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for our offences. No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God's people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably greater.

Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and cry, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea rather, that hath risen again.” While the recollection of his sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes it a foil to show the brightness of mercy—guilt is the dark night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene splendour

 

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The Bible's Accuracy and Authority
by Don Landis
Ever since the serpent said to Eve, “Indeed, has God said?” the Word of God has been questioned and attacked.
The serpent’s words focused on two important elements—the Bible’s accuracy and its authority.
The Bible’s Accuracy
There are those who say that the Bible we have today cannot be trusted. They say that it was written by men and, therefore, contains errors. They also suggest that during the centuries of copying, men introduced many errors.

The supreme argument for the accuracy of Scripture is simply that God Himself tells us it can be trusted. Do you know why?​

However, one important goal of anyone who defends the Bible is to give evidence that we have in our hands exactly what God said and exactly what He wants us to have.
One such evidence that the Bible has been copied accurately in the past is shown in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls, found by a shepherd boy in 1947, are dated from 250 to 150 BC. This discovery pushed back our available oldest Scripture text almost 1,000 years. And when the content of the scrolls was compared to later copies, no significant differences were found. That means scribes had been copying with great precision for almost ten centuries. This amazing discovery moved us one millennium closer to the originals.
We can also make sound arguments for the trustworthiness of Scripture based on lower criticism, grammar, and contextual evidence. We can show that the scribes were meticulous in their copying of the text of Scripture. We can evidence the life-changing qualities of the Bible in the lives of millions of believers. We can evidence the historical accuracy of the text of the Bible.
But there is another, internal argument for the accuracy of Scripture, based on the character and attributes of God, and this argument is supreme.
The Scriptures claim that God Himself breathed out Scripture (using human instruments, 2 Peter 1:21) and that it can be trusted to be His Word. His wisdom is infinite, and He is all-powerful and holy, so everything He says is trustworthy, accurate, and without error. Since God’s work will image His own nature, the accuracy of Scripture is guaranteed.
But this argument goes even further, including the faithfulness of God to preserve the record of His work through Christ. God sent His own Son, the second person of the trinity, to take human form for the purpose of redemption. What was the cost of God’s incredible gift of salvation offered to man? His own Son’s life!
The Bible is the record of Christ’s coming, His payment for our sin, and all the truths we need to know about Him.

The nature, character, and attributes of God demand that the Scriptures be accurate​

So here is a question. If God sent His Son, paid the highest price imaginable for the redemption of human beings, and made a record so all future generations could know, would He allow the text to be adulterated and the message ruined by error? Impossible!
If God allowed the text to be lost and the message to be muddled, He would then be unfaithful to His own purpose and to His own Son and His sacrifice on the Cross. Logically, theoretically, practically, that is impossible.
God will not and cannot allow the record of the perfect work of His Son to be lost to mankind. Otherwise, He would void—for succeeding generations—the payment of His Son, Jesus Christ.
The nature, character, and attributes of God demand a faithful witness of His decrees, promise, plan, and purpose, climaxed in the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son.
The Bible’s Authority
The Scripture has authority because God has all authority. And because God is the author of all Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), Scripture is authoritative. God is the basis for the Bible’s authority. Since God has ensured the transmission of the message of His Son and since He reinforces this message by His own authority, mankind has only two choices: to obey Him or reject Him. The fact that God gave us the Scripture is the reason we know that it is accurate and that it is exactly what He wants us to have. And because God has spoken it, we can be confident in the Scripture’s authority. It is true and represents faithfully His offer and promise of forgiveness and eternal life to those who meet His criteria of belief in His Son.

 

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Confidence in The Faithful One
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,

Hebrews 10:23,24 NASB

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God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Cor. 1:9 KJV

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And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:28-31 NIV

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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

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“Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”

Psalm 25:5

When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord's school: four times over in two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits.

“For thou art the God of my salvation.” The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation to his people. Reader, is he the God of your salvation? Do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial.

“On thee do I wait all the day.” Patience is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously he once waited for us.

 

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When Life Drags You Down
I hate it when life drags me down—don’t you? The day can start off so very swimmingly, and then within minutes…

…a parent yells at you
…a friend texts with bad news
…you feel a cold coming on
…the car breaks down
…the weather stinks
And before you know it, what seemed like a day that would be a walk in the park turns into a sluggish journey through the muck.

Perhaps that’s what the lads from One Direction were thinking about when they wrote the song Drag Me Down. Check out these lyrics:

All my life

You stood by me
When no one else was ever behind me
All these lights
They can't blind me
With your love, nobody can drag me down
This song was released with zero pre-marketing, and yet it still hit #1 like a bullet. Although much of the song’s success is due to the power of the 1D fandom (as in they would all download a recording of the boys brushing their teeth—right?), there is a common connection that we all have with the need for someone to pick us up when we have been dragged down.

The problem, though, is the fact that everyone on the planet is often in a state of being dragged down themselves, therefore we are depending on the dragged down to drag us up, even though they are in a state of draggedness—what a drag!

So while the song is a very complimentary shout out to whoever is helping Harry, Liam, Louis and Niall out of the grind and strain and drudgery of their circumstances, perhaps there is another source of hope and strength to which we could turn when life drags us down?

My advice would be to ask the person in the Bible who was pretty much dragged as low as any human being could get. His name is David—who you may know as King David. But did you know he was also pauper David, hunted David and heartbroken David? He hung out with disgusting and dirty sheep, and he reigned as the monarch of Israel. He was a skilled warrior, but he knew defeat and despair.

And on top of all his life experiences, he was a songwriter who composed a range of poetic refrains that ranged from an overjoyed heart, to music that reflected a heart that had been dragged down into the pit.

But the common theme to all his songs was his constant and abiding faith in the God who would never leave Him or forsake him.

You could say that David’s psalms were all pointed one direction!

And here is one of the songs he wrote while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that I turn to when life drags me down:

I look to the mountains;
where will my help come from?
My help will come from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let you fall;
your protector is always awake.
The protector of Israel
never dozes or sleeps.
The Lord will guard you;
he is by your side to protect you.
The sun will not hurt you during the day,
nor the moon during the night.
The Lord will protect you from all danger;
he will keep you safe.
He will protect you as you come and go
now and forever (Psalm 121:1-8, GNT).
What an amazing reminder of this truth from God’s word! Not even the strength of the mighty mountains compares with the power and might of God in our lives, so why would we trust in any single person when the Creator of the universe stands ready to help us?

I like One Direction’s contention that at the heart of giving them strength is the love of another person. Love is like an all powerful magnet that pulls us out of the yuck and muck of life’s ever changing circumstances, but there is no love on earth that matches the love from the God who made heaven and earth.

So the next time life drags you down, lift your eyes out of your circumstances and remember these encouraging instructions:

Now stay focused on Jesus, who designed and perfected our faith. He endured the cross and ignored the shame of that death because He focused on the joy that was set before Him; and now He is seated beside God on the throne, a place of honor (Hebrews 12:2, The Voice).

With Your love, Jesus, nothing can drag us down!

When life drags you down this week, look up to Jesus, who loves us with an everlasting love!

PRAY: Jesus, thank You even for the times when life drags us down, because it is then we are reminded of Your great love for us. Please give us opportunities to help others out of life’s pits as well.

READ: Jeremiah 31:3.
Long ago the Lord said to Israel:
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself..."

 

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What is on your mind?
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Colossians 3:2-4 NASB

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I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:20,21

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Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

1 Peter 4:1,2

__________________

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

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“When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live.”

Ezekiel 16:6

Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate of mercy. Note that this fiat of God is majestic. In our text, we perceive a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in his glory; he looks, he pauses, and he pronounces the solitary but royal word, “Live.” There speaks a God. Who but he could venture thus to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this fiat is manifold.

When he saith “Live,” it includes many things. Here is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be condemned, but the mighty One saith, “Live,” and he rises pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life. We knew not Jesus — our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear his voice — Jehovah said “Live,” and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of spiritual life. “I said unto thee, Live:” and that word rolls on through all the years of time till death comes, and in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lord's voice is still heard, “Live!” In the morning of the resurrection it is that self-same voice which is echoed by the arch-angel, “Live,” and as holy spirits rise to heaven to be blest for ever in the glory of their God, it is in the power of this same word, “Live.”

Note again, that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God. A voice is heard from heaven and a light is seen above the brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” This mandate is a mandate of free grace. When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will do it to magnify his free, unpurchased, unsought grace. Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden you live, see to it that you live in earnest.

 

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"You Are Mine"

Dark eyes pooled with tears
the mark of "S" upon her clothes
Guilt, shame etched into her face.
She is thrown before the Teacher
By those with violence barely masked in their eyes

The seething rage they try to choke down comes up like vomit in their throats. They truly cannot contain their hate.

But who do they hate more, the one they deem the "sinner" or the Teacher who's ministry of love, truth and grace shines so bright that it exposes the heart of the accusers instead?

Teacher, THIS one has sinned. The Teacher looks at the accusers with stones ready in their hands, the Sinner with bowed head and knees. He calmly reaches down with his finger and begins to write in the dirt. What could He be writing? When He sees the hatred, the judgment, the wrath....He writes not the "Sinner's" sins, but those who are so ready to judge her, it is their sins He writes down.

The secrets of their hearts. They think no one is able to see them. But they are seen with every rock held in their hand. A sign of a lifetime of hate. And so the Teacher continues to write. And one by one, the sound of rocks dropping from outstretched hands plop at His feet. And the dust is kicked up in His face as they turn abruptly and leave.

The Teacher then looks up. It is only the Sinner and the Teacher left standing. The Sinner barely able to look up, the shame weighs so heavily. The Teacher reaches over and cups the Sinner's face in His hands "Where are your accusers my daughter?" She can not look Him in the face. The piercing love, the peace that radiates from this man...Oh how can it be that He looks upon her, a Sinner, like no man has?

She hastily looks around her. "They have all left, Teacher." He continues to hold her face, gently helping her to look fully upon his gaze. "They have not condemned you, and neither do I, now GO AND SIN NO MORE."

It is in this instance that for the first time, she knows, love, mercy and grace. It pours over her soul like a wave in the ocean. She is changed in an instant. Oh such love has she ever known? It then requires all of her daily effort to walk in the way God has asked her to. No looking back, no returning to that sin that so easily entangled her.

It happened because of The Teacher. The One we call Jesus. He reached down and was willing to get His hands dirty for the "least of these." And it changed her life.

And it has changed my life.

So where are you in this story? Are you the one who feels like you have a Scarlet letter on you that no one can forgive? Or are you the one holding the stone of continued unforgiveness, believing you are in your "right" to do so? Or are you trying to emulate the lessons from our greatest Teacher? He was willing to get His hands dirty and to walk through the hard stuff with those who may not deserve it. The funny thing is I don't deserve it either. And neither do you.

Jesus looked into my heart, saw I needed Him and reached down and saved me out of my sin. He was willing to tell me three things: That I AM a sinner , that I need Him to save me, and that He loves me enough to die for me. And that He did. Therefore, I live for Him. I point others to Him, and I turn from my sin, daily and follow Him.

He who gently took my face in his hands and looked upon me, His child, and said "You are mine, no one can pluck you from my hand. Come, turn from your sin and walk with me." And over thirty years ago, I did just that.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me and never letting me go. Thank you for a day like Easter to remember all of this, and more. And Jesus? Thank you, for the Adventure that my life is. You have blessed me more than I could ever believe or imagine.

 

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God always leads us in triumph
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

2 Corinthians 2:14,15 NASB

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An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.

Exodus 20:24 NKJV

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Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"

Romans 11:33,34 NIV

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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

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“And God divided the light from the darkness.”

Genesis 1:4

A believer has two principles at work within him. In his natural estate he was subject to one principle only, which was darkness; now light has entered, and the two principles disagree. Mark the apostle Paul's words in the seventh chapter of Romans: “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.”

How is this state of things occasioned? “The Lord divided the light from the darkness.” Darkness, by itself, is quiet and undisturbed, but when the Lord sends in light, there is a conflict, for the one is in opposition to the other: a conflict which will never cease till the believer is altogether light in the Lord. If there be a division within the individual Christian, there is certain to be a division without. So soon as the Lord gives to any man light, he proceeds to separate himself from the darkness around; he secedes from a merely worldly religion of outward ceremonial, for nothing short of the gospel of Christ will now satisfy him, and he withdraws himself from worldly society and frivolous amusements, and seeks the company of the saints, for “We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.”

The light gathers to itself, and the darkness to itself. What God has divided, let us never try to unite, but as Christ went without the camp, bearing his reproach, so let us come out from the ungodly, and be a peculiar people. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; and, as he was, so we are to be nonconformists to the world, dissenting from all sin, and distinguished from the rest of mankind by our likeness to our Master.

 

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Creation Q & A
The Preservation of the Bible

by Mike Matthews


One of the most amazing testimonies to Scripture’s truth is its preservation over thousands of years despite sometimes intense efforts to destroy it.

Jesus Christ made an amazing prophesy about this preservation of His Word: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mark 13:31; also Matthew 24:35). He believed that God’s Word is indestructible (“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle [small mark in Hebrew lettering] of the law to fail” Luke 16:17).

Moreover, Jesus believed His words would spread around the world: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14); “the gospel must first be preached to all the nations” (Mark 13:10). And that is what we find today. God’s Word has been preserved.

The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 confirmed that we still have the same Old Testament as they did at Jesus’s day. The survival of thousands of New Testament manuscripts confirms that the New Testament writings were also providentially preserved. The question among textual scholars is not whether some words are missing, but which variant readings, in a few minor cases, are the correct ones.

In contrast, few copies have survived from nearly every other classic book, such as Caesar’s Gallic Wars or Herodotus’ Histories. While copies of major portions of the New Testament survive from documents dated around AD 300, most other classic books survive in copies no older than around AD 900.

God’s Word survived despite intense efforts to destroy it. For instance, in 175 BC the king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes, ordered the Jews, on pain of death, to destroy their Scriptures and worship the Greek gods. But Judas Maccabaeus saved the books and led a revolt that won independence for the Jewish nation. (Today, Jews celebrate this event at Hanukkah.)

Another example is the Roman emperor Diocletian’s order to have Christianity outlawed, its leaders killed, and their Bibles burned. As a sign of God’s providence, the next emperor, Constantine, legalized Christianity and paid for fifty new hand-written copies of the Bible.

The Bible has not only been preserved, but translated into over two thousand languages (both ancient and modern). Many of the earliest surviving manuscripts include translations, such as Syriac versions, showing that God’s Word was spreading from the very beginning, and the words of its message have been preserved in many languages.

 

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Love in action and with truth
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:17,18 NIV

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But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.

And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.

Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me!

Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

Psalm 38:19-22 NASB

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The bloodthirsty hate the blameless,
But the upright seek his well-being.

A fool vents all his feelings,
But a wise man holds them back.

Proverbs 29:10,11 NKJV

__________________

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

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“And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

Genesis 1:5

The evening was “darkness” and the morning was “light,” and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness.

This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, “Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?” Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

The place of the morning is second, it dawns when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, “That which is last, lasts for ever.” That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; “thy sun shall no more go down.” The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred, high, eternal noon.

 

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One Race

• The families that scattered from Babel brought different combinations of genes with them. But their physical differences were trivial. We all have the same basic brown pigment, and we belong to one race—the human race—descended from Adam.
  
  Have you ever been “people watching” in a shopping mall and noticed how different people look? So many shapes, colors, and sizes! In family photos that include my adopted daughter from China, it’s easy to see some of those differences. They aren’t major but nonetheless visible. My daughter will tell you that my eyes are rounder than hers and my skin is lighter brown. If all people descended from Adam and Eve as the Bible makes clear (Genesis 3:20; 1 Corinthians 15:45), why do we look so different?
  
  The Bible gives us the answers. Although Adam and Eve are often shown to be fair-skinned and blond, this was unlikely. To derive all the different skin shades from one couple, Adam and Eve likely were middle-brown in color. If Adam and Eve had a mixture of “light color” genes and “dark color” genes, then their descendants could have a wide range of skin color from very light to very dark, with most people somewhere between (as seen in the world today). Adam and Eve likely possessed genetic variation for eye shape and other distinguishing characteristics as well.
  
  As people migrated from Babel, different groups became isolated from others and likely married only within their language group. Each group carried a set of physical characteristics as determined by their genes. As they intermarried, certain characteristics would begin to dominate due to the group’s small pool of genes. Over time, different people groups displayed distinct physical characteristics. For example, Asians typically have almond-shaped eyes, dark hair, and middle-brown skin, whereas Europeans have round eyes and fair-colored hair and skin.
  
  The term race is often used to classify people based almost solely on physical characteristics. According to evolutionary ideas, these so-called races descended from different ancestors separated by location and time. However, based on biblical history, the term race must be incorrect. We are all one race (“one blood” in Acts 17:26), the human race, descended from two ancestors, Adam and Eve.
  
  When we stand boldly and confidently on God’s Word, we can correctly understand the unity and diversity of the human race.

FROM ONE, MANY All people of the earth descended from Noah’s descendants, who scattered from Babel. “From [Babel] the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11:9​

 

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Pray at all times
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Ephesians 6:18 NASB

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Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:26 NKJV

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And foreigners who bind themselves to the
LORD to serve him,
to love the name of the LORD,
and to worship him,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant-

These I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations."

Isaiah 56:6-7 NIV

__________________

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

[beensetfree]

Fades.

Discover The Words And Phrases To Capture And Keep A Man's Heart
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Evening by Evening Devotional for July 11
Charles H. Spurgeon
“Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”

Joel 1:3

In this simple way, by God's grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land—the beloved of the Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord's arrangements.

To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday school teachers, or other friendly aids; these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental teaching is a natural duty — who so fit to look to the child's well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish.

Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith. Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an accepted work, for God has saved the children through the parents’ prayers and admonitions. May every house into which this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive his smile.

 

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I’ve Seen The Desolation of Smaug!
We humans aren’t really all that different from hobbits, right? To be sure, they are smaller in height, have bigger (and hairier) feet and live in holes in the ground rather than houses up above.

But despite the superficial dissimilarities, we share much in common with our imaginary heroes from the mastermind named J.R.R. Tolkien. We like to enjoy food and good company like hobbits. And at a deeper level, we are both creatures of comfort who have turned into comfort creatures.

We like to dream about adventures, but when it comes down to it, they represent disturbances in our well planned and structured lives…so if Gandalf came knocking on our doors, our reply would most likely be, “No, thank you very much!”

My friends, I am right with you. I love my hobbit hole and all the amazing amenities contained within. I don’t have a handkerchief and an overcoat with many buttons, but I certainly couldn’t leave home without my smart phone and MacBook Pro!

But lately I feel like I’ve heard a knocking on the door of my heart, and I’m not sure if it’s a Wizard or the voice of God - but I can definitely make out what the message is: “We've been blind, and in our blindness, our enemy has returned.”

In the same way that we are like hobbits, our world parallels Middle Earth in many aspects, as well. In their world, the relative peace and safety turned the eyes of the good people away from vigilance and kept it focused on all the wonderful “stuff” they had at their disposal to enjoy.

Then the dragon came…

We’ve been blinded too, my friends. The glitter of our success as a culture has made us blind to the evil and suffering around us, and “in our blindness, our enemy has returned”!

What enemy? None other than the one mentioned in Revelation 12 as “the Dragon”! Smaug the Stupendous is definitely a fearsome creature, but compared to Satan and his power, he is more like Smaug the Sickly Snake.

Our enemy doesn’t have the dragon sickness that is driven by a lust for gold. No, his gaze is set on something infinitely more valuable and eternal: the souls of those who haven’t trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation.

So have you heard the knock on your door as well? Jesus calls us to go fight the real dragon and reclaim what is rightfully His. Not a city under the mountain filled with treasure that will one day pass away, but a planet under the gaze of heaven comprised of 7 billion ever-living, never-dying people who need to be set free!

Gandalf wisely observed in An Unexpected Journey that while “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I’ve found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”

And do you know what? Gandalf’s advice aligns with The Bible!

This is what the Lord… “It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies (Zechariah 4:6).

If you feel like ordinary folk , only capable of small acts, then you, my friend, represent a bigger danger to the Dragon than you realize. ANY act, large or small, done in the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God is a victory for the King of Kings.

When you sit by someone in the cafeteria who has no friends, you keep loneliness at bay.

When you forgive an enemy, you keep bitterness at bay.

When you say no to temptation, you keep addiction at bay.

And when you share the gospel message for the sake of THE Cause with your family and friends who don’t know Jesus, you keep hell itself at bay!

Let’s leave our hobbit holes and play out our role in the grandest story in the entire universe. Let’s go fight the dragon who keeps the souls of our friends jealously guarded and seemingly unreachable. We are armed with the Sting of God’s Word and the company of fellow adventurers. Doesn’t that beat out our cozy little creature comforts any day of the week?

And by the way…I’ve seen the Desolation of Smaug. Not only the movie, but also the day that the real Dragon goes down:

A battle broke out in heaven. Michael, along with his heavenly messengers, clashed against the dragon. The dragon and his messengers returned the fight, but they did not prevail and were defeated. As a result, there was no place left for them in heaven. So the great dragon, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was cast down to the earth along with his messengers (Revelation 12:7-9).

Now THAT’s the best ending I’ve read in a long time!

Don’t get too comfortable in your hobbit hole. Take some time this week and pray about what adventure Jesus might be calling you to, and what role you can play in keeping the darkness at bay! Then get started!

PRAY: Jesus, thank You that You love us just the way we are, and You love us too much to let us stay that way. Give us the courage and strength to fight the Dragon and do our part for THE Cause of Christ, and may all this be to Your glory.

READ: 2 Corinthians 10:4. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

 

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May your love abound more & more
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteous - ness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11 NIV

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And beside this, giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge;
and to knowledge temperance;
and to temperance patience;
and to patience godliness;
and to godliness brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-8 KJV

 

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His heavenly kingdom.”

2 Timothy 4:18

Yonder city of the great King is a place of active service. Ransomed spirits serve him day and night in his temple. They never cease to fulfil the good pleasure of their King. They always “rest,” so far as ease and freedom from care is concerned; and never “rest,” in the sense of indolence or inactivity. Jerusalem the golden is the place of communion with all the people of God. We shall sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in eternal fellowship. We shall hold high converse with the noble host of the elect, all reigning with him who by his love and his potent arm has brought them safely home. We shall not sing solos, but in chorus shall we praise our King.

Heaven is a place of victory realized. Whenever, Christian, thou hast achieved a victory over thy lusts — whenever after hard struggling, thou hast laid a temptation dead at thy feet — thou hast in that hour a foretaste of the joy that awaits thee when the Lord shall shortly tread Satan under thy feet, and thou shalt find thyself more than conqueror through him who hath loved thee. Paradise is a place of security. When you enjoy the full assurance of faith, you have the pledge of that glorious security which shall be yours when you are a perfect citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. O my sweet home, Jerusalem, thou happy harbour of my soul! Thanks, even now, to him whose love hath taught me to long for thee; but louder thanks in eternity, when I shall possess thee.

“My soul has tasted of the grapes,
And now it longs to go
Where my dear Lord his vineyard keeps
And all the clusters grow.
“Upon the true and living vine,
My famish'd soul would feast,
And banquet on the fruit divine,
An everlasting guest.”