Friday, January 11, 2019

Brother Died


My brother died in his sleep today. He had a big family that loved him. He was in the infantry in the Korean War. He was a master cabinet maker., his cabinet shop was called the Restin company. He was seven years older than I. We had an older brother who died twelve years ago. As a younger brother I always looked up to my older brothers. 

Joh 14:1  “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 
Joh 14:2  In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 
Joh 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 


Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Timing


Someone pulled up in our driveway and asked if I was the one who had a car for sale. Yes, my daughters car is for sale. It has a lot of miles so he was not wanting it. He said that he was a tree cutter and asked if I had trees that needed trimming. This has been a need, but I was not sure when or how to get it done. I asked my daughter if she would take less for her car. She said yes, so I offered the man a lower price. He drove it around the block and it runs great, so we sold the car at a discount and he will trim my trees for a reasonable price. These two things needed to be done and the timing was right. We were just discussing time and timing last night in our chat room. If you would like to join us in chats and Bible studies and prayer, ask for a link to our special chat room.  Gary

Ecc 3:1  For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Be Sure


Php 1:21  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 

Paul could say this with the assurance that he would be with Jesus when he died.

2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 
2Co 5:8  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 

I believe this.  There are others who believe in God, but is that enough?  Jesus said that he is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)  People have foggy ideas of leaving this life. Some do not think they can be forgiven. You can be forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ. Let's be sure that we know this before the roll is called up yonder. Is our name written in the Lamb's book of life?

Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. 



Saturday, January 5, 2019

The Power and Might of God


Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 

In his great series of sermons on this text, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones listed many ways in which he believes Christians wasted their strength. It was as if they had received some of the available might of God, but it simply leaked away like water in a bucket full of holes. These are some of the things Lloyd-Jones thought sapped the strength of the Christian:

• Committing to too many spiritual works or things

• Too much conversation

• Arguments, debates, wrangling

• Laziness

• Too much time in the wrong company

• Too much foolish talk and joking

• Love of money and career

• A desire for respectability and image

• An unequal yoking with an unbeliever

• Ungodly entertainment

• A wrong attitude toward or doubting the Word of God

By faith we rely on His might more and more and then we we do the work.

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 
2Co 10:4  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 




Friday, January 4, 2019

Redeem the Time


Eph 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 
Eph 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 

Redeeming the time, not wasting time. Are we using our time to advance the goodness of God? There is no questioning that the days we live in are evil, but we do not choose to do evil. We are to walk in the Spirit, for this is where God shows us his will.

Eph 5:18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 

Being drunk is the fleshes way to escape into darkness. Come out of there and be filled with the Spirit. 

Eph 5:19  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 

Encourage yourself speaking to ourselves Psalms and hymns. Some of the great hymns are Bible messages in themselves. Sing and make melody in your heart. This is uplifting and removes depression. Some speak in tongues to edify themselves. I like making music in my heart.

Eph 5:20  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 

Be thankful to God. Sing the hymn "Count your many blessings:.

Count your Blessings - YouTube

Eph 5:21  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 

Submitting to one another, seeking the good of the other, being thankful with reverent fear of the LORD. We want our Heavenly Father to bless our lives as we seek to bless others.


Thursday, January 3, 2019

Grieve Not


Eph 4:29  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 

Words can build up the hearer or tear them down. Speak words to edify.

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 
Eph 4:31  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 

To grieve the Holy Spirit is to cause heaviness, sorrow and sadness to the Holy Spirit within you. Should this not be a warning to stop and think and listen to the still small voice inside? He isn't going away as he did in the old testament, we are sealed by God's Spirit. But I can assure you from experience, if you grieve the Holy Spirit you will be very miserable.

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 



These are the things we are to put on as God's children; kindness, a tender loving heart and forgiveness. Perhaps this starts with remembering it was God who from kindness drew us to Jesus, his tenderheart spoke words of comfort to us and he has forgiven our sins by his shed blood on the cross. The world is hostile and contrary to God's will. We will receive grace to continue and grace to show the love and kindness of God to others.



Put Off and Put On


Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

Jesus was both God and a man, without sin. When we are saved by faith in Jesus, we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We have two natures in us; the old  nature, or the old man after the sinful nature of Adam with the lusts and desires of the flesh. We are to put off this old man and be renewed in the spirit of our mind. In Christ we are new creations.

2Co 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 

It is our responsibility to put on the new man in God's Spirit, which is righteousness and true holiness. True, not false, not error and corruption, but truth and incorruption. Each day we must put on the new man, much as we are commanded to put on the whole armour of God. The purpose is to be equipped to lead a holy life and to resist the old man and the devil. The world, flesh and the devil are the enemies to our new Spiritual walk in the new man. We must learn our authority and walk in it, it is our choice. Choose to be Spirit filled and follow Jesus.






Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Filled with Love


Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 
Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 
Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 
Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

We look for fulfillment or to be filled in the emptiness inside of us. We fill it with all kinds of things, but we remain empty until God touches us through faith in Jesus Christ. Then we receive the Holy Spirit and the very presence of Jesus in the inner man. If our inner man is filled with the love of God, then our outer man will show it. What comes out of us shows what is in us. Be rooted and grounded in love. So many are restless, moving from one place to another in search of peace and fulfillment, when God is seeking you to fill you with his love.

• God’s love is wide enough to include every person.
• God’s love is long enough to last through all eternity.
• God’s love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner.
• God’s love is high enough to take us to heaven. (Guzik)

Through his love, be filled with all the fullness of God. When I witnessed to a person with multiple personalities and the soul received Jesus and His Holy Spirit entered. The other personalities saw that the Holy Spirit was in charge, and that he was greater and that he was bringing order. One by one the personalities submitted to Jesus until they were made one in His Spirit. Only God can put together broken and scattered lives and fill the inner man with His love. We must desire to be emptied of things that do not belong. Being empty can lead us to his filling through faith in Jesus Christ.

Luk 11:13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Together


Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 

People may love each other and sit together, but often they separate and go their own way. Will God leave us? Will he tire of us? I like the last verse that gives us assurance. Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

He loved us apart from Jesus, he sent Jesus to die for our sins and by his grace he forgave our sins and we were made alive with him. We are connected to Jesus by the Spirit of God. By grace are we saved and we are risen together with Christ and we sit together with Christ in heavenly places. This is where we are spiritually even now, in Jesus. God is going to give of his exceeding grace and kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. All our hope and future is in Jesus. Because Jesus is God we are partakers of grace, much grace and we will not be rejected in our Lord Jesus Christ. We will receive kindness from our loving Father.

Let us who are in Jesus show his grace and kindness to others. Last night we were blessed in a reunion of friends from AOL chat days. There was much love in our room and the Lord was in our midst. We are together, with unity in Christ Jesus.