Month: July 2024

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Mid-week Manna

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 21: HIS EFFICIENCY: COMFORTS, STRENGTHENS COMPREHENSION, UNDERSTANDING, MEMORY

MID-WEEK MAMNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK;
July 31, 2024

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 21

HIS EFFICIENCY: COMFORTS, STRENGTHENS COMPREHENSION, UNDERSTANDING, MEMORY

Read John 14:26 and 16:13, 14 first. Now this from the inspired pen (all emphasis and bracketed words supplied):

 “At all times and in all places, in all sorrows and afflictions, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone, the COMFORTER will be sent in answer to the PRAYER OF FAITH. Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend; but NO circumstances, no distance, CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE HEAVENLY COMFORTER [the Third Person of the Godhead]. 

 “The disciples still FAILED TO UNDERSTAND Christ’s words in their SPIRITUAL SENSE, and again HE explained His meaning. By the [Holy] Spirit, He said, He would MANIFEST HIMSELF to them. ‘The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall TEACH you all things.’ NO MORE will you say, I cannot comprehend. NO LONGER will you ‘see through a glass (mirror)  darkly.’ [1 Cor. 13: 12]. You shall be able TO COMPREHEND with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST, which passeth knowledge.’ Eph. 3:18,19. 

“The disciples were to BEAR WITNESS to the life and work of Christ. Through THEIR WORD He was to SPEAK to all people on the face of the earth. BUT in the humiliation and death of Christ they were to SUFFER great trial and disappointment. That AFTER this experience their word might be ACCURATE, Jesus promised that the Comforter should ‘bring all things to REMEMBRANCE, whatsoever I have said unto you.’ 

‘I have yet SO MANY THINGS to say unto you,’ He continued, ‘BUT YE CANNOT BEAR THEM NOW. Howbeit, when HE, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, IS COME, He will guide you into ALL TRUTH: for He shall NOT speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall He HEAR, that shall He SPEAK; and He will show you THINGS TO COME. He shall GLORIFY Me: for He shall RECEIVE of Mine, and shall SHOW it unto you.’ (John 16:13,14). 

 “Jesus had opened before His disciples a VAST TRACT OF TRUTH. But it was MOST DIFFICULT for them [and us, too!] to keep His lessons DISTINCT from the TRADITIONS AND MAXIMS of the scribes [Jewish religious scholars] and Pharisees. They [the first disciples themselves] had been EDUCATED to accept the teachings of the rabbis as THE VOICE OF GOD, and it still HELD A POWER OVER THEIR MINDS, and MOLDED THEIR SENTIMENTS. EARTHLY IDEAS, TEMPORAL THINGS, still held a large place in their thoughts. 

 “They did NOT UNDERSTAND the SPIRITUAL NATURE OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM [how about us today?] though He had SO OFTEN explained it to them. THEIR MINDS HAD BECOME CONFUSED. [Such is the soul-destroying results of the doctrinal Babylonian confusion warned of in Revelation!] 

 “They did NOT COMPREHEND THE VALUE of the Scriptures Christ presented. [even much worse today]. Many of His lessons seemed ALMOST LOST upon them. 

“Jesus saw that they did not lay hold of the REAL MEANING of His words. HE  COMPASSIONATELY PROMISED that the HOLY SPIRIT SHOULD RECALL THESE SAYINGS TO THEIR MINDS. 

 “And He had LEFT UNSAID MANY THINGS that could not be comprehended by His disciples. THESE ALSO WOULD BE OPENED TO THEM BY THE [Holy] SPIRIT. The Spirit was to QUICKEN ThEIR UNDERSTANDING, that they might have an appreciation of HEAVENLY things.” - E. G. White, Desire of Ages, pp. 669-71, Pacific Press Publishing Asso., New Ed., Thirteenth Printing, April, 1950.

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Plead for the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit, with fire! For “Wherever sin is, our God is a consuming fire!” Bless all, NMF.

Categories
Mid-week Manna

Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 20 : PRAYER INTERCESSOR WHO MAKES ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD OF THE FAITHFUL

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 24, 2024

Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 20

PRAYER INTERCESSOR WHO MAKES ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD OF THE FAITHFUL

First, read Rom. 8:1-25 (KJV, RSV, or RV). Herein is clearly revealed that the precious blessings imparted through the Holy Spirit applies only to those “who walk after the Spirit, not after the flesh.” They are called “saints.”

John reveals more specific details regarding them: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.” (Rev. 14: 12); they love Jesus by obeying His command: “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15), and following His example (John 15:10) They possess, not merely profess in lip service and practice Bible faith—the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; Christ’s faith; the apostles’ faith; the faith of all the named and unnamed saints immortalized in Hebrews chapter 11, which I call the Bible’s “Hall of Faith,”—-not the widely-accepted-and practiced counterfeit, presumption—which was the third class of temptation Satan subjected Jesus to in His 40-day fast weakened state in the wilderness (Matt 4).

Now this (all emphasis provided):
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit [Himself] maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.

  “And He [God in Christ the Word] that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 

  “And [thus] we know that all things work together for [the] good [of] them that love God, to them who are called [and respond] according to His purpose.” Rom. 8:26-28, KJV.

Prayer is the “breathe of the soul.” In the physical realm when we stop or are deprived of breathing for whatever cause or reason, we will die in a very short time. Infinitely deadlier is it in the spiritual life. And because of inherent human frailties, weaknesses, yea, infirmities which no mortal is spared while still alive, even the faithful and obedient saints fall short of fulfilling every single time the requirements of the divine “science” of the “effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man.” (James 5:16).

Knowing infinitely more than finite human minds can ever attain in the yet-corruptible flesh nature, and how exactly to translate and/or reword our feeble word into the one spoken in the heavenly courts, the language Paul heard when taken in vision “to the third heavens, paradise itself, which is unlawful for man to utter” (2 Cor.12: 4, 1-2)—the Holy Spirit then accompanies these words, not with heavenly music, as majestic and moving it must be but “with groanings that cannot be uttered” or emoter by the human vocal chords and voice box.

How wonderfully comforting it is for all struggling saints—still traversing this antitypical Wilderness of Sin-cursed earth—to know that Jesus, the “First Comforter” is traveling with us every step of the way towards the heavenly Canaan as our Counselor, Guide, Sin and Burden-bearer, and Protector in and through the “another Comforter” in the Third Person of the Godhead! Indeed, “Ye are of God [the Godhead], little children, and have overcome them [false prophets and those have the spirit of the antichrist]: because GREATER is He that is IN you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4: 4).

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

Categories
Mid-week Manna

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 19: SIN REPROVER; WITNESSES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 17, 2024

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 19

SIN REPROVER; WITNESSES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

Read John 16:8-11 first. Now this from the inspired writer (all emphasis and bracketed words supplied):
“The OFFICE of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified in the words of Christ: ‘When He is come He will REPROVE [convict] the world of SIN, and of RIGHTEOUSNESS, and of JUDGMENT.’ (John 16:8). It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin. If the sinner RESPONDS to the QUICKENING INFLUENCE of the Holy Spirit, he will be brought to REPENTANCE, and aroused [awakened] to the importance of OBEYING the divine requirements.”

NOTE: God’s requirements of divine love, wisdom, mercy, and justice are also the terms of His everlasting covenant- relationship with all His intelligent creatures—specifically man, created alone “in His own image and likeness.”

These are definitively defined in the Ten Commandments which He wrote twice with His own finger on two different occasions on two tables of stone and handed over to Moses to give to ancient Israel under the Old Covenant dispensation.

And in the New Covenant, New Testament dispensation of the church, it is “written in the hearts and minds of the individual members of each of the seven church periods as named in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

“To the repentant [contrite, not proud, spiritually self-confident Laodicean believers], hungering and thirsting for RIGHTEOUSNESS [see Matt. 5: 5, 10] the Holy Spirit REVEALS the Lamb of God that TAKETH AWAY [not overlooks, covers up, excuses, justifies] THE SIN of the world. ‘He [the Holy Spirit] shall RECEIVE of Mine [righteousness] and shall SHOW it unto you,’ Christ said. ‘He shall TEACH you all things, and bring all things to REMEMBRANCE, whatsoever I have said unto you.’ (John 16:14; 14: 26). 

“The Holy Spirit is given [by the Father through the Son as His Successor and Vicegerent in earth since after His ascension to these closing hours of earth’s probation] to be a REGENERATING AGENCY [in behalf of the Father in the Son] to make EFFECTUAL the salvation wrought by the DEATH of our Redeemer. 

“The Holy Spirit  is CONSTANTLY seeking to draw the attention of [fallen, sinful] men to the GREAT OFFERING made on the cross of Calvary, to UNFOLD to the world the LOVE of God, and to open to the CONVICTED SOUL the PRECIOUS THINGS of the Scriptures.”

NOTE: God unconditionally loves the SINNER with ‘perfect love’ while He unconditionally hates SIN with ‘perfect hatred.’ In this divine dichotomy are embodied the opposing natures and principles constantly working in the “enmity” of the great controversy between Christ and Satan and the plan of salvation of the gospel to redeem all that was lost to sin and Satan.

 “Having [first] brought conviction of sin, and presented before the mind the STANDARD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS [the law that Christ Himself ‘magnified and made honorable’ by His substitutionary death, Isa. 42:21], the Holy Spirit WITHDRAWS THE AFFECTIONS from the things of the earth ], and FILLS the soul with a DESIRE FOR HOLINESS [also ‘the hunger and thirst for righteousness sake.’ See Matt. 5: 6, 10]. 

 “He will GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH’ (John 16:13), the Savior declared. If men are WILLING to be molded, there will be brought about a SANCTIFICATION of the whole being [is God’s will, 1 Thess. 4:3]. The Spirit will take the things of God and STAMP [seal] them on the soul. By His power the WAY OF LIFE [‘the straight and narrow’] will be made SO PLAIN THAT NONE NEED ERR [be misled; deceived].” -E. G. White, Acts of the Apostles, pp. 52, 53, Pacific Press Publishing Asso., 1911.

Now, just with these sobering yet inspiring revelations of the Holy Sprit’s divine person, presence, office, authority, power, and closing work on earth before its six-thousand year probation ends, who dares to doubt, belittle, deny, and grieve Him away, finally committing the unpardonable sin—“the most common manifestation of which is persistently refusing to accept heaven’s invitation to repent!”

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

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Special Message

THE DIFFERENT CLASSES TO WHOM THIS MESSAGE IS MEANT

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WGM TEAM PARTNERS:
July 12, 2024

The Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans Series

THE DIFFERENT CLASSES TO WHOM THIS MESSAGE IS MEANT

Hereunder are specific examples, both individuals and classes of people to whom the Straight Testimony of the “Amen, the Faithful and True Witness” applies to. (All emphasis and bracketed words mines):

 “The PROUD HEART strives to earn salvation; but both our TITLE to heaven [thru justification by faith] and our FITNESS for it [thru sanctification by faith] are found in the RIGHTEOUSNESS of Christ. The Lord can do nothing for the recovery of man [from the degradation of sin] until, convinced of his OWN WEAKNESS, and stripped of all SELF-SUFFICIENCY he yields himself to the control of God. Then he can receive the GIFT that God is waiting to bestow.”

Q. What gift is this? “From the soul that feels his need, nothing is withheld. He has UNRESTRICTED ACCESS to Him ‘in whom all fullness [of the Godhead dwells [bodily, Col. 2:9; 1:19]. ‘For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place [of the heavenly sanctuary], with him ALSO that is of a contrite and humble spirit not with the proud and self-sufficient Laodicean], to REVIVE the spirit of the humble, and revive the heart of the contrite ones.’ Isa. 57: 15, A.V. “- E. G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 300.

“In the days of Christ THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS of the people felt that they were RICH IN SPIRITUAL TREASURE. The prayer of the Pharisee, ‘God, I thank Thee, that I am not as the rest of men’ (Luke 18:11, R.V.), expressed the feelings of HIS CLASS [the religious hierarchy] and, to a great degree, of the WHOLE NATION. But in throng that surrounded Jesus there were SOME who had a sense of their SPIRITUAL POVERTY. When in the miraculous draft of the fishes the divine power of Christ was revealed, Peter fell at the Savior’s feet, exclaiming, ‘Depart from me; for I AM A SINFUL MAN, O Lord’ (Luke 5:8); so in the MULTITUDE gathered upon the mount, there were souls who, IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST’S PURITY, felt that they were

‘wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked’ (Rev. 3:17); and they longed ‘for the grace that bringeth salvation’ (Titus 2:11). In these souls, Christ’s words of greeting awakened HOPE; they saw that their lives were under the BENEDICTION of God.” -Ibid, Mount of Blessing, pp. 6, 7.

It is only those who humbly accept “the Amen and True Witness’s stern, yet soul-saving rebuke that they are spiritually-bankrupt as “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” instead of self-confidently thinking they are already “rich and increased with goods, and have no need for anything more” whose lives are under the benevolent power of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. They have the “hope that does not deceive nor disappoints!

To be continued, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

Categories
Mid-week Manna

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 18 : BETTER THAN PERSONAL PRESENCE OF THE CREATOR’S INCARNATED NATURE

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 10, 2024

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 18

BETTER THAN PERSONAL PRESENCE OF THE CREATOR’S INCARNATED NATURE

Jesus said to His first disciples (all emphasis supplied):
“BELIEVE ME that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me FOR THE VERY WORKS SAKE. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that BELIEVETH IN ME, the WORKS that I do shall he do also; and GREATER WORKS THAN THESE SHALL HE DO, because I go unto My Father. . . . And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you ANOTHER COMFORTER, that He may ABIDE WITH YOU FOREVER; even the Spirit of truth.” John 14: 11, 12, 16, 17.

“Go ye therefore, and TEACH all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them observe ALL THINGS I have commanded you: and, lo, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.” Matt. 18: 19, 20.

  1. How could the disciples “do greater things than Jesus their Master, verily God in the flesh, did? Surely He who is “the way, the TRUTH, and the life” spoke nothing but the truth. So what did He really mean?
    1. How could they remember all that He taught in order for them to teach these “to all nations” after He returned to the Father, when on several occasions they could not even understand His parables? He even said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” John 16:12.
    2. Since He was soon to die at Calvary, resurrect “on the third day” and forty days later (Acts 1: 1-3; 1 Cor. 15: 1-8, etc.), in the presence of the Twelve, visibly ascend to heaven in His glorified incarnated human nature—how could He promise them He would still be “with them alway even unto the end of the world?”

Ah! All these and much more would be enabled and accomplished through the divine power of the Third Person of the Godhead, Christ’s invisible presence in and through His Successor on earth after His ascent, according for the divine plan of redemption. Because “these three [Persons] are one” (1 John 5:7, A.V.) the “fullness of the Godhead” resides both in the Father and the Holy Spirit, but in Christ the only-begotten, “it pleased the Father that “in Him should dwell all the fulness of the Godhead BODILY” (Col. 2: 9; 1:19) both in the work of Creation (Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-3, 10; Col. 1: 13-18; Heb. 1: 1, 2, 8-12; the work of Redemption, beginning in “the mystery of godliness in the incarnation. Furthermore, Christ alone is “the brightness of the glory” and EXPRESS image of the person of the Father” (Heb. 1: 2, 3)!

E. G. White, God’s servant, magnifies these precious truths (all emphasis and bracketed words mine):
“Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim [the Lamb of God], Christ sought for the MOST ESSENTIAL AND COMPLETE GIFT to bestow upon His followers, a gift that would bring within their reach the boundless resources of GRACE. [John 14: 16-18 quoted].

“BEFORE THIS the Spirit  had been in the world [since beginning of creation]; [and then] from the very beginning of the work of redemption He had been MOVING UPON MEN’S HEARTS. But while Christ [in His adopted human nature from the incarnation] was on earth, the disciples had desired no other Helper. Not until they were DEPRIVED of His [physical, visible] PRESENCE would they FEEL their need of the Spirit, and then He would come. 

 “The Holy Spirit is Christ’s Representative [Successor; Vicegerent; Vicar], but DIVESTED OF THE PERSONALITY OF HUMANITY, and INDEPENDENT thereof. 

“CUMBERED with [the natural limitations of] HUMANITY, Christ COULD NOT BE IN EVERY PLACE PERSONALLY. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His Successor on earth. NO ONE could then have ANY ADVANTAGE because of his LOCATION or his PERSONAL CONTACT with Christ. By the [Holy] Spirit He would be ACCESSIBLE TO ALL. In this sense He would be NEARER TO THEM than if He had not ascended on high.” - Desire of Ages, pp. 668-9, Pacific Press Publishing Asso., New Edition, 1950.

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

Categories
Mid-week Manna

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 17: THE EFFICIENCY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 3, 2024

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 17

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

  1. A Divine Agency at Creation:
    The opening words of the Bible, declaring the genesis of all things beginning with the work of creation, immediately introduces to fallen mankind the presence and first works of the Holy Spirit, here called “the Spirit of God.” (All emphasis supplied).
    “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the SPIRIT OF GOD moved upon the waters.” Gen. 1: 1, 2, KJV.

The “Spirit of God” at work with the Creator at creation is one and the same as “the Spirit of God” working in His duly appointed capacities in both the Old and New Testament dispensations and in the plan of redemption.

Please read the following verses for yourselves from your own Bibles, preferably the KJV (or Authorized Version, A.V.), or the Revised Standard Version (RSV), not the NIV or other versions.
OT: Gen. 41: 38; Exo. 31:3; 35:31; Num. 24:2; 1 Sam. 10:10; 11: 6; 19: 20, 23; Job 27:3; 33: 4; NT: Matt. 3: 16; 12: 28; Rom. 8: 9, 14; 15: 19; 1 Cor. 2: 11, 14; 3: 16, 6: 11; 7: 40; 12: 3; 2 Cor. 3: 3; EPH. 4: 30; 1 Pet. 4: 14; 1 John 4:2.

Indeed! A veritable “battalion” of “It is written,” and “Thus saith the Lord” attesting to and defending the awesome truth that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead is specifically identified in these verses as “the Spirit of God,” the same in beginning of creation!

  1. The Comforter as The Spirit of Truth:
    Just before taking His last painful steps in His blood-stained path leading to Calvary to die as the Father’s divine Sacrificial Lamb of God for fallen mankind, Jesus promised His first Twelve grieving disciples:
    “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you ANOTHER COMFORTER, that He may abide with you FOREVER. Even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He DWELLETH WITH YOU, and shall be IN YOU. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you [through the Spirit of Truth ].” John 14: 16, 17 (all emphasis and bracketed words supplied).

Ponder these precious thoughts in your hearts and minds, praying for fresh supplies of grace imparted alone by the Holy Spirit. To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.