Year: 2021
THE LIVING GOD
How many times we find this expression in the Scriptures, and yet it is just this very thing that we are so prone to lose sight of! We know it is written ‘The living God’; but in our daily life, there is scarcely anything we practically so much lose sight of like the fact that God is the LIVING GOD; that He is now whatever He was three or four thousand years since; that He has the same sovereign power, the same saving love toward those who love and serve Him as ever He had, and that He will do for them now what He did for others two, three, four thousand years ago, simply because He is the living God, the unchanging One. Oh, how therefore we should confide in Him, and in our darkest moments never lose sight of the fact that He is still and ever will be the LIVING GOD.
THE WEDGE
Often God seems to place His children in positions of profound difficulty — leading them into a wedge from which there is no escape; contriving a situation which no human judgment would have permitted, had it been previously consulted. The very cloud conducts them thither. You may be thus involved at this very hour. It does seem perplexing and profoundly serious to the last degree; but it is perfectly right. The issue will more than justify Him who has brought you hither. It is a platform for the display of His almighty grace and power. He will not only deliver you, but in doing so He will give you a lesson that you will never forget; and to which, in many a psalm and song in after days, you will revert. You will never be able to thank God enough for having done just as He has.
WHAT YOU BELIEVE MATTERS
You see, no matter what you believe you are still exercising faith that what you are investing your life in is true and has lasting value. Obviously, the bigger risk-taker is the atheist since he/she is gambling that Jesus lied (some even deny He ever existed) and that the Bible bears false testimony as to the origin, purpose, and destiny of all men. Hmmm. Kind of hard to swallow, isn’t it?
THE SEPARATE AND OBEDIENT SOUL
“Has the voice of God long been silent to thee — no fresh command, no deeper insight into truth? Separate thyself not only from what is clearly wrong, but from all that is questionable, and the Lord will speak to thee things it is not possible for a man to utter (express)…Whatever Abraham renounced, when he left his home or gave Lot the right to choose, he received back in the usual measure of God, with an overflowing overplus (more than what he actually needed). God gave him the entire land, including Lot’s portion. We can never give up for God, without receiving in this life more than we gave.”
ON LETTING GO
“Be still,” says the Lord, “and know that I am God.” A careful word-study of this simple passage brings out some wonderful, applicable truths for all of us pilgrims of the Faith! As we dissect this verse, we’ll see just how marvelous and encouraging is the Word of God.
WAXING THEOLOGICAL
I’ve presented many a sermon over the years on Biblical Christology, and recently I read an excellent synopsis (from Tabletalk/Ligionier Ministries) of Christ’s divine-human nature. Indeed, the quickest way to identify a non-Christian cult, false teacher, or off-base religion is to simply see what they teach about who Jesus was/is!
ON LETTING GO
Pondering the recent loss of two former beloved parishioners, as the Lord would have it, I “happened” to begin reading excerpts from the memoirs of revivalist Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) in which he wrote about the extreme affliction of mind and immeasurable grief he suffered over the loss of his first wife (Lydia).