Month: August 2020

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Devotionals

THE THIRD PHASE OF CHRIST’S WORK IN HIS HUMAN NATURE FOR OUR SALVATION

August 21, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE THIRD PHASE OF CHRIST’S WORK IN HIS HUMAN NATURE FOR OUR SALVATION

“When Christ at last cried out, ‘It is finished,’ He had completed the SECOND PHASE of His work. But there was still THIRD PHASE before Him, which included His SESSION at the right hand of God as [the penitent sinner’s merciful High Priest, all-powerful Mediator, Intercessor and Advocate] and the demonstration which He was to make IN His saints in earth—a work closely connected with that which He was to do in the SANCTUARY ABOVE, and vital to our [eternal] salvation.”

“Christ had demonstrated in HIS OWN BODY that it was possible to be completely victorious over sin; but the question would naturally arise as to whether His victory was merely a SiNGULAR DEMONSTRATION made possible by His unique relation to the Father OR whether OTHERS could do what He had done? Could men overcome as He had overcame?”

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Devotionals

FIRST, THE WILDERNESS OF TEMPTATION, GETHSEMANE, THEN CALVARY

August 20, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

FIRST, THE WILDERNESS OF TEMPTATION, GETHSEMANE, THEN CALVARY (a wilderness, a garden, then a lonely hill)

“Satan had once challenged God, accusing [the patriarch] Job for serving Him for ULTERIOR [self-serving, self-promoting] motives. ‘Doth Job serve God for nought (nothing)?’ he had sneeringly asked.

Job 1:9.

“To show the falsity of Satan’s ACCUSATIONS, he was permitted [by God] to test Job. Satan applies every possible torture, but Job did not sin. At last Satan retired defeated. Job had STOOD THE TEST and proved Satan’s accusation false. ‘Though He slay me yet will I TRUST Him,’ he exclaimed. Job 13:15.”

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Devotionals

CHRIST SUFFERS GOD’S WRATH AGAINST SIN ALONE AT GETHSEMANE

August 19, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CHRIST SUFFERS GOD’S WRATH AGAINST SIN ALONE AT GETHSEMANE

“I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me.”

Isa. 63:3, NKJV.

So prophesied the gospel prophet regarding Christ’s superhuman agony at Gethsemane culminating at Golgotha. The Greek ‘Gethsemani is a transliteration of the Aramaic ‘Gath Shemani,’ meaning, ‘oil press.’ It cannot be mere coincidence that this specially appointed place located in the western side of Mount of Olives was called an ‘oil press’ where Christ would fulfill the prophecy that He would ‘trod the winepress alone’ for our salvation.

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Devotionals

CHRIST’S SECOND PHASE OF WORK BEGAN AT GETHSEMANE COMPLETED AT CALVARY

August 18, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CHRIST’S SECOND PHASE OF WORK BEGAN AT GETHSEMANE COMPLETED AT CALVARY

Jesus demonstrated to perfection in the flesh-and-blood human nature that was subject to temptation and death that it is entirely possible, by appropriating God’s saving grace to constantly resist and obtain victory over every temptation!

“When He came to the end of His public ministry and faced GETHSEMANE and GOLGOTHA, He confidently affirmed, ‘I have glorified Thee on earth: I HAVE FINISHED THE WORK which Thou gravest Me to do.’ John 17:4. Within the time allotted, and as far as He was concerned, He had made ‘an end of sin.’ This work He finished BEFORE the cross in the BODY given Him. THIS WAS THE FIRST PHASE OF HIS ATONING WORK.”

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Devotionals

THE ‘WORK’ CHRIST ‘FINISHED’ BEFORE DYING ON THE CROSS

August 17, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE ‘WORK’ CHRIST ‘FINISHED’ BEFORE DYING ON THE CROSS.

“Christ voluntarily took our sins upon Him. Every temptation we have to meet [whether desires of the flesh, attractions of the world, physical or emotional afflictions, etc.], He met, until Satan’s darts were exhausted.”

“With no other help from God that we may have, He DEMONSTRATED that it is POSSIBLE to resist sin and have constant victory over every temptation. His BODY TEMPLE, which Satan attempted to defile, was STAINLESS [remained undefiled, sinless, uncorrupted].”

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Devotionals

HOW THE CREATOR ‘PURGED’ AND ‘MADE AN END OF SINS’ IN HIS ADOPTED HUMAN NATURE

August 14, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

HOW THE CREATOR ‘PURGED’ AND ‘MADE AN END OF SINS’ IN HIS ADOPTED HUMAN NATURE

“Christ in earth gave a demonstration in earth when humanity is fully yielded to Him. In ‘the body prepared for Him,’ He was tempted as men are tempted. ‘He was oppressed and He was afflicted;’ ‘He hath borne our griefs, and carried out sorrows;’ was ‘wounded for our transgressions’ and ‘bruised for our iniquities.’ He ‘was despised and rejected of men,’ ‘poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors;’ He ‘bare the sin of many’ and ‘made his soul an offering for sin.’ Because of this He was ‘to justify many [not everyone]: for He shall bear their inquiries.”

Isa. 58.

“This presents Christ as Sin-bearer. ‘God made Him to be SIN for us, who KNEW NO SIN.’ 2 Cor. 5:21. ‘His own self bare our sins in His body on the tree.’ ”

1 Pet. 2:24.
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Devotionals

HOW ONE LOSES THE POWER HE ONCE HAD TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN TRUTH AND ERROR

August 13, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

HOW ONE LOSES THE POWER HE ONCE HAD TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN TRUTH AND ERROR

“Whenever the CAUSE exists, the same RESULTS will follow He who deliberately STIFLES his convictions of duty because it INTERFERES with his inclinations, will FINALLY lose the power to distinguish between truth and error.”

“The understanding becomes DARKENED, the conscience CALLOUS, the heart HARDENED, and the soul is SEPARATED from God. Where the message of divine truth is SPURNED or SLIGHTED, there the [generic] church will be enshrouded in darkness; faith and love grow cold, and estrangement and dissension enter. Church members center their interests and energies in WORLDLY pursuits, and sinners become HARDENED in their impenitence.”

E. G. White, The Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p. 379.
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Devotionals

NOT ONCE-ENLIGHTENED-ALWAYS-ENLIGHTENED

August 12, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

NOT ONCE-ENLIGHTENED-ALWAYS-ENLIGHTENED

Apostasy means “falling away from the truth.” An apostate is one who once knew the truth but turned away from it, gave it up and the light of truth he once possessed and cherished, turns to darkness and hates what he once loved. Hence the warning of the prophets to God’s people from the earliest of times!

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent to their own sight.”

Isa. 5:20,21, A.V.
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