Monthly Archives: April 2014

The Bright and Morning Star

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“Praise the Lord, for He is good!  His Mercy endures forever.

Who is His Mercy?  Jesus the Christ is the Mercy of God.

For by Him we live and move and have our being in the Heavenly Father.

By Him we have strength.  By Him we are bold.

By Him we sing a new song; a song of great strength and hope.

By Him we have warmth; the warmth of the Bright and Morning Star.

By Him we are fed with food which does not come from this world.

By Him we thrive as we were intended to thrive.”

So sings the vibrant Robin in the morning.

Let man consider the faithful and unashamed song of the Robin.

He wakes to hunt.  He wakes to proclaim the faithfulness of the Most High God in the Lord Jesus.

He wakes, and opens his mouth to sing praises for the Life he Lives.

Yes, let us consider the purity of the Robin’s song.

Useless Christianity

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The kingdom of heaven seems infinitesimally small to the man of the world.  What is important to him is to gain the things he can hold.  The natural man has no desire for the promises of God. 

“These are things that have no use among those who desire to be useful.  I would rather profit by the work of my own hands than to become so heavenly minded that I am of no earthly use.”  So says the man of the world.

But the one who enters into the kingdom of God says no such thing.  This one says to himself, “I perceive that men die.  I have faith that God is, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.  Therefore I would rather be your fool among men and embraced by the living God, than to gain 10 pounds of the world’s riches.  I will become so heavenly minded that I am no longer of any worldly use.”

The one who sets his mind on the things of God will be come a son of God.  All the steadfast righteousness of God rises up within the man.  By rejecting the usefulness of the world. The man becomes indispensable to the world.  What the world counts as useless is exactly what it needs.

By His Grace

The greatest possible

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It is impossible that a man should find himself standing anywhere other than where he puts his feet.  What he has done and what he is doing is where he is.

All the while the man has traveled to be where he was he was always where he found himself.  Whether he traveled in righteousness or wickedness, there he traveled.

All the while the Holy Lord has remained where He is.  It is man’s to wander and to do.  And everywhere he has wandered the Holy Lord has been aware.

According to a man’s faith, according to what he believes is true, the Holy Lord has either been the greatest of possible friends or the greatest of possible enemies.

The sovereign God does not move between wickedness and righteousness.  This belongs to men.  Either we embrace the Holy Lord and all His righteousness, or by measure upon measure we remain wicked.

Jesus has been sent to draw us to what is righteous.  He has been sent to cause us to cease our wandering.  He has been sent to bring righteousness to where we stand.  So that when we perceive our location we find a friend in the Holy Lord.

When and where will a man submit?  When will he stop and find himself at peace with the Most High God?  He will find himself arriving when he learns to listen to and obey the Son of God.

Either the living God is your greatest of possible friends, or he is your greatest of possible enemies.  Jesus has appeared at the will of the Father to bring us into friendship.  We began as enemies.  By His grace we end as friends.

By His Grace

On your own

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What is the difference between the tears a believer in Christ and the godless?  What is the difference when a believer in Christ is afraid or the godless know fear?  What difference is there when the child of a believer dies or the child of a godless man dies?

If you would cry or be afraid or lose your loved ones, why would you try to do so on your own? 

You will cry.  You will be afraid.  You will lose your children to death.  You yourself will inhabit a life of hopelessness.  So what is the difference whether you inhabit that life alone or with the living God’s help?

Do you know what keeps you from him?  Do you know why you reject the gospel?  It’s not because God is invisible.  And it’s not because this world is so wicked.  You simply reject the gospel because you are simply proud.

You have to face life alone.  You exercise faith every moment of every day.  Why not put your faith in Jesus?  Why not allow humility to take the place of pride?

My heart aches for you.  I know what is coming upon the world.  You will cry.  You will be horribly afraid.  You will lose your children and your loved ones.  Some will starve to death.  Others will die from hideous disease.  Earthquakes and Wars will kill and maim at random. 

Why would you face this?  Most men and women will curse God to his face.  Why would you be one of them?  Humble yourself.  Why is this too much to ask?

By His Grace

EEEWWW!

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Have you ever poked a hole in a lemon and sucked the juice out?  Before you read the rest of this you might wanna go give it a try.  It will make you seriously appreciate a strawberry.
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Life is sour.  We can be injured and hundreds of thousands of ways.  And if you let it happen, you can develop a serious distaste for waking up in the morning.

To counteract the natural horror of this place, man has developed a multitude of additives.  If applied correctly, any man may experience a rather pleasant life.

In the end, however, we face the greatest horror of all.  The effectiveness of our additives comes to an abrupt end.  We say we don’t care.  We may wear the additive of “I’m strong enough to deal with it.”  But there will be no dealing with death.

We make plans for a pleasant casket.  Gold handles, mahogany wood, polished stainless steel trim, and fancy white satin, make a real nice last house.  But getting into that sucker is no pleasant task at all.  And once we’re there we have left behind another need for additives.  Nevermind.  You’ll deal with that later.

There is another place where additives are well applied.  And apparently they have some great success in dulling down the sour.  But just as in the rest of life, they do not change reality.  They only change our perception.  And in society, perception is everything.  Just ask Hollywood.

To make sure we’re all on board, please allow me to give you a short tour of some additives.  I don’t have time to write them all, and no one would take the time to read that list.  So I’ll just pick a few at random.

1. Easter has more to do with a bunnies and eggs and candy than the living God raised from the dead.  But it’s not appropriate to talk about such things outside of the church building.

2. If you leave a Bible on conspicuous display people will consider you a good man or woman.  You don’t need to have a clue what’s in it.

3. If you get dressed up real nice, put on a sweet face, talk pleasantly about inconsequential things, and be completely cordial when you go to church, you don’t need to consider the state of your soul or your relationship with the living God.

(I realize that’s a very long sentence.  You can’t see it, but I wear a big sign on my back that says, “Does not play well with others”.)

Water it down.  Water it down!  Water it down, until the gospel has no apparent effect on anyone.  Keep using additives to mask the truth!  We’ll deal with all that when we have gotten into that very tight casket.

Go ahead!  Water down the Lord Jesus Christ!  But the Lord is a consuming fire that no Fire Department in the universe can put out.  But by all means, go ahead and water it down.

By His Grace

What’s My Line

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There used to be a game show on television.  Three men would sit at a desk.  It was proposed that one of them was in a certain unusual occupation.  The contestants would ask one question at a time trying to determine which one was the real thing.

At the end of the show the moderator always said, will the real ‘Mr Jones’ please stand up.”  I remember that we were always surprised.

Today many religions present themselves as did these men in the game show.  They leave it to the public to ask questions.  The end of the game is yet to be seen.  But billions will be surprised.

What is the difference between the Son of God, Jesus, and all these other religions?  The answer we are all looking for is summed up in one word: Eternity.

We are all looking for the one who has answers toward the eternal God.  We are looking for the one who has the authority to speak.

The impostors will say they know.  But they will refer to a writing or some earthly teacher.  Many will accept such men because they have some measure of truth.  But if these contestants were to consider exactly what they need to find, they would abandon these Impostors with haste.

Jesus is the only man, ever to have lived among us, who can rightfully make a very special claim.  He not only knew what was written about the Father.  And he not only had the full measure of the Father’s Spirit upon him.  He had lived with the Father for eternity before he appeared to us in flesh.

Consider the following words of the Lord Jesus.

“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” ( I would give you the verse, but I think we learn more when we have to go find it ourselves)

By writing this post I have asked the question for all of us before the show is over.  “Will the real Jesus please stand up.”

By His Grace