Month: September 2024

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 25, 2024

The Third Person of the Godhead series – Part 29

LOVE: THE FIRST ‘FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Part 2)

Before considering more Scriptures that amplify the sublime meaning of the sacred nature this “love” fruit borne only by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the true believer, take a closer look at how, by inspiration of the selfsame Holy Spirit, apostle Paul contrasts by comparing two detailed lists of the 17 “manifestations of the works of the flesh” on one hand, and the the 9 (actually 10) manifestations of the “fruits of the Spirit” on the other. See Galatians 5: 19-21, then 22, 23; cf. 14-26, K.J. V.

Notice that heading the list of the “works of the flesh,” ADULTERY comes first, followed by fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. . . .” While heading the list of the “fruits of the Spirit” is LOVE. This by no means is coincidental or happenstance but by divine design. Here’s why:

Beginning in the fall in Eden, where Adam “was not deceived like Eve was” (1 Tim. 2: 13, 14) but knowingly chose to join his wife in disobeying the Creator because “he could not bear the thought of losing her.” He loved his wife more than his Creator!

The original, pristinely pure principle of “love” that emanates from “the God of love, life, and light” steadily degraded into the carnal, corrupted, perverted, earthly, sensual, self-pleasing, self-indulging, emotionalism, sentimentalism, and romanticism, idolatrous worship of man for his fellow mortals and his achievements and works, bringing in its train the curses that brought the long-suffering wrath of God upon the wicked antediluvian world with the flood. Gen. 6: 1-22.

Jesus plainly warned our final generation: “As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.” Matt. 24:37-51.
John made it plain and simple: “LOVE not the WORLD neither the THINGS that are in the world. If any man love the world, the LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT IN HIM. For all that is in the world, the LUST OF THE FLESH, and the LUST OF THE EYE, the PRIDE OF LIFE, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the WORLD PASSETH AWAY AND THE LUSTS THEREOF; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever [never passes away!].” 1 John 2: 15-17.

Find time to see for yourself the expanded list of the “works of the flesh” and their certain consequences and final rewards in the following: Rom. 1: 16-32; 1 Cor. 1: 19, 20; Eph. 5: 1–17, etc.

Unless our hearts and mind are transformed by God’s amazing, empowering grace, and the “old man” with a carnal
mind is replaced with “the new creature in Christ Jesus” possessing “the mind of Christ,” the “love fruit” of the Holy Spirit cannot be manifest in us! What will appear are its many counterfeits that “will have the form of godliness but will deny its power thereof.”

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

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 18, 2024

Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 28

LOVE: THE ‘FIRST FRUIT’ OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“God is love.” 1 John 4:8-16.

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is ONE LORD. And thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with ALL thine heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy might [or strength].” Deut. 6: 4, 5. (Compare to Mark 12: 28-34; Luke 10: 25-28).

To be sure, there is only one God—the Creator and the Redeemer. All others who claim and pretend to be (or are made to be so by idolaters of all stripes, such as the sun, moon, stars, and animals, etc.) beginning with Satan “the enemy of God and man,” their master, are false gods.

The fulness of God Almighty the Eternal One, is beyond ken of His intelligent creatures; much less of fallen, sinful, finite mortals. But according to His own Word, omniscience, love, and “enduring mercy,” He chose to reveal His fulness in and through the GODHEAD made of three Persons. “For there are THREE that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost (Spirit): and these Three are ONE.” 1 John 5:7, A.V.

The Word is first and foremost, Christ, Jehovah the Creator (John 1:1-3, 14) and then, Redeemer through His mysterious incarnation, atoning sacrifice in His death by crucifixion, victorious resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father in His glorious, white throne in heaven. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. . .” John 1: 1-3. Then the Word is both “the written and the spoken word by and through the power of the Holy Spirit: “It is written”; “Thus saith the Lord.” “To the law and the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is NO light [of truth] in them.” (Isa. 8:20).

The God of love is the “Lord our righteousness” Jeremiah 23:6. Thus, God’s “Righteousness is LOVE, and love is the LIGHT and LIFE of God.” (E. G. White, Sons and Daughters, p. 304).

John was the youngest of the first Twelve when they were “called from their nets” by Jesus. He was drawn to and personally stayed closer to Christ than the eleven. Thus he was called even to this day as “John the beloved,” i. e.. of Jesus. Among the four synoptic gospels, John presents the most sublime aspect of the same gospel recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

It is in John’s gospel where we read a concentration of Christ’s pre and post crucifixion promises of the coming of, person, presence, office work, and efficiency of the Holy Spirit, His appointed Successor and vicegerent on earth after His ascension—the third Person of the Godhead “but devoid of the personality of humanity and independent thereof.”

In solemn biblical fact and spiritual truth, the Holy Sprit is “the fulness Godhead”—not “bodily” as Christ alone, “the “only begotten Son of God,”
incarnated into “the likeness of sinful flesh” in “the great mystery of godliness which is beyond any controversy” and thus gain the new identity and unique relationship to the Father. In both Sonships, Jesus repeatedly declared to the Pharisees and the Jewish nation in His time, “I and My Father are one.”

John wrote in language that even a child and the unlearned can understand regarding the love of the Father in Christ for Christ, His only-begotten Son and their undeserved love for fallen men.

John 3:16 is a keystone verse of this glorious truth of God, and the Godhead’s love underwriting the “counsel of peace” entered into by the Godhead “before the foundations of the earth were laid,” where and when the plan of redemption was contemplated and devised in the event man would fall, and did fall.

For beginners, we’ll just quote “what is written” from the “little John’s.”

 “Behold, what manner of LOVE the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the WORLD knoweth us not, because it knew Him NOT.” 1 John 3:1. 
“My little children, let us NOT LOVE in word, neither in tongue but in DEED and in TRUTH.” 1 John 3:18.
 “The Lord our Righteousness.” Jer. 23:6.
 “Fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Col. 2:9, 10; 1: 19, 16-18. 
 “In the likeness of sinful flesh.” Rom. 8:3.
 “Beloved, let us LOVE ONE ANOTHER: for LOVE IS OF GOD and everyone the loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the LOVE OF GOD TOWARD US, because that God sent His only-begotten Son INTO the world, that WE MIGHT LIVE THROUGH HIM. Herein is love, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation [atoning sacrifice in His substitutionary death] for our sins.” 1 John 4: 7-10, KJV.

Likewise, beloved brethren in Christ, as you pray daily, “ask, seek, and knock” for the Holy Spirit” for it is only by and through Him that we can “bear the fruit of the LOVE OF CHRIST for undeserving sinners like us, and His perfect ENMITY (righteous indignation and hatred) towards SIN (transgression of His law) for it SEPARATES (Isa. 59: 2) the omnipotent Creator from His creatures, the loving Redeemer from all who are deceived, mesmerized, enamored, and enslaved to sin and Satan “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning.”

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

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 11, 2011

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 27

RECEIVER BEARS TEN KINDS OF FRUITS AND ‘BY THEIR FRUITS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM’

In Luke 11:9-13 (KJV) Christ repeated His promise of the Holy Spirit ten times, including it when He taught His disciples the definitive “Lord’s Prayer,” which He first revealed as part of His comprehensive Sermon on the Mount declared at the outset of His public earthly ministry when and where He introduced to the multitudes gathered there the spiritual nature of the kingdom He was to establish on earth. It was and is definitely unlike any kingdom, nation, empire of man and the earth, past, present, and future. So that He compared and illustrated its inception, growth, and progress “like a mustard seed.” See Matt. 17:20.

He likewise armed His disciples, then and now, by equipping them with a spiritual detector to discern and expose the true and truth from shiny “deep fakes,” look-alike counterfeits; His true messengers and servants from the fanatical, zealous yet spiritually immature, naïve, and unlearned, as well as hard-core charlatans, deceivers, and impostors—-verily “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

In one fell swoop as it were, He laid down this second fool-proof principle and test: “By THEIR FRUITS ye shall know them.” See Matthew 7:15-20.

The first one was enunciated by the prophet in the Old Testament, “To the law and testimony [‘It is written’ and ‘Thus saith the Lord’]; if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them.’ Isa. 8:20.

And where the Holy Spirit, His office work, Person, and Presence is specifically and especially concerned, apostle Paul instructs God’s faithful followers and co-workers how to test, try, and “prove all things” by referencing thoughts, words, and deeds by a definitive list of the “fruits of the Spirit.”

NOTE: The “fruits of the Spirit” are not the same as the “gifts of the Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12: 1-31, then, 13:1-13. The former results from a faithful and wise use of the spiritual “gifts” of God-given talents, particularly time, exclusively for God’s glory, gospel work, and kingdom of righteousness.

There are nine “fruits of the Spirit” that Paul identifies in Galatian 5:22, 23. We don’t do any violence to this glorious truth when we add, as adjuncts, the following: “righteousness and truth” (Eph. 5:9; cf. James 3:18), and “the Spirit of “wisdom and revelation, and knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1:17, 18).

Humbly aware that “spiritual things can only be spiritually discerned,” i.e., by the Holy Spirit; that “the carnal mind is at enmity with God’s law;” that “the wisdom of man is foolishness with God” and vice versa; that God’s thoughts and ways are not like that of fallen, finite, sinful mortals, then we are better prepared to accept and understand the spiritually-magnified meaning of each of the nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22, 23.

Their unforced, unfeigned, and unconscious manifestation in the words, actions, and lifestyle are the “fruit” and “fruit-bearing” evidences and living testimony of an indwelling Holy Spirit and the infilling of divine grace with its enabling power in the believer’s life.

We will take up the Spirit’s fruits of Love, Joy, Peace, Long suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, and Temperance, Righteousness, and Truth “against such there is no law” for they are simply also the unmistakable evidences of loving—not coerced, enforced, legalistic, performative and mercenary obedience—to God’s immutable law of righteousness, the transcript of His character, and foundation of His everlasting throne.

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

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NA’S DESK:
September 4, 2024

The Third Person and the Godhead Series – Part 26

RECEIVING HIM AN ESSENTIAL AND PRECIOUS EXPERIENCE

See David’s “last words” with the Holy Spirit in him and speaking through him in 2 Samuel 23: 2-4. And was true of David centuries prior was also experienced by the first disciples and apostles of Jesus when they received the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and then in the final loud cry of the “fourth Angel” of Revelation 18.

Now this from the inspired pen (all emphasis mine):
“All things that the Father hath are Mine.’ “When He, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH is come, He will guide you into all truth. . . He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.’ John 16: 15, 13, 14, KJV.

 “The disciples had seen Christ ASCEND from among them on the Mount of Olives. And as the heavens received Him, there had come back to them His PARTING PROMISE, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’ Matt 28:20. 

“They knew that His SYMPATHIES were with still. They knew that they had a Representative, an Advocate, at the throne of God. In the NAME OF JESUS they presented their petitions, repeating His promise, ‘Whatsoever ye ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.’ John 16:23.

 “Higher and higher they extended the HAND OF FAITH, with the mighty argument, ‘It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is RISEN again, who is even at the RIGHT HAND of God [the Father], who also maketh INTERCESSION for us.” Rom. 8:34. 

NOTE: ‘There is only one Intercessor and Mediator/Advocate/High Priest between God and man, Jesus Christ. 1 Tim. 2:5, etc.].

“Faithful to His promise, the Divine One, EXALTED IN THE HEAVENLY COURTS, IMPARTED HIS FULNESS to his followers on earth. [How and by what means?]. His enthronement in God’s right hand was SIGNALIZED BY THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT upon His disciples.

 “By the work of Christ these disciples had been led to FEEL THEIR NEED OF THE SPIRIT; under the SPIRIT’S TEACHING they received their FINAL PREPARATION and went forth to their lifework.

“NO LONGER were they ignorant and uncultured. No longer were they a collection of independent units of a discordant and conflicting elements. No longer were their hopes set on worldly greatness [the great sin as part of covetousness, plaguing the world and corrupting the churches and religions in these last days of earth’s history]. 

“They were of ‘ONE ACCORD,’ of ONE MIND and ONE SOUL. CHRIST FILLED THEIR THOUGHTS. The advancement of His kingdom [of righteousness] was their aim. In MIND AND CHARACTER [the true ‘spirit’ of humans] they had become LIKE THEIR MASTER, and men ‘took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.’ Acts 4:13. 

“Then there was such a REVELATION OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST as had never been witnessed by mortal man! Multitudes who had REVILED HiS NAME [as is happening today in the commingling of politics and religion; church and state, sacred and common] and despised His power, confesses themselves DISCIPLES of the Crucified.

“Through the co-operation of the DIVINE SPIRIT the labors of the HUMBLE men whom Christ had CHOSEN stirred the world. To every nation under heaven was the GOSPEL carried in a SINGLE GENERATION [after Pentecost]. 

“The SAME [Holy] SPIRIT that in HIS STEAD was sent to be the  INSTRUCTOR of His first co-workers, Christ has commissioned to the Instructor of His co-workers TODAY. ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the END of the world’ (Matt. 28:20) is His promise.” E. G. White, Education, p. 95.

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