Category: Devotionals

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Devotionals

UPHOLDING ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER

August 6, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

‘UPHOLDING ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER.’ Heb.1:3, A.V.

Take note if that. ‘Upholding all things by the word of His power,’ rather than ‘by the power of His Word,’ as we would quickly say, without much thought.

“Christ is said to be ‘upholding all things.’ The word for ‘upholding’ denotes MORE than merely sustaining something so that it will not collapse. It means ‘bearing forward to a destination.’ While it includes the idea of sustaining, it has the ADDED meaning of ‘movement, of guidance, of purposeful progress.’

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Devotionals

PERSON: THE VERY INMOST NATURE

August 5, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

PERSON:  THE VERY INMOST NATURE

“Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.”

Heb. 1:3, A.V.

“The Greek Word ‘hupostasis,’ translated to English ‘person’ is the same word rendered ‘substance’ in Heb. 11:1 [‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for’]; whereas in 1 Cor. 11:17 and Heb. 3:14 it is translated ‘confidence.’”

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Devotionals

THE ‘EXPRESS IMAGE OF THE PERSON’ OF GOD THE FATHER

August 4, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE ‘EXPRESS IMAGE OF THE PERSON’ OF GOD THE FATHER

“Who being the. . . . express image of His person.”

Heb. 1: 3, A.V.

For a Biblical reference on the glory of God being the sum total of His divine attributes, see Exo. 33: 18; 34: 6,7.

“Man was created [never evolved] in the image of God, but Christ [‘the only-begotten of the Father’] is the EXPRESS image of the Father. As a seal impresses an exact image of itself upon the wax, so Christ is the EXACT counterpart of God.”

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Devotionals

CHRIST, THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FATHER’S GLORY

August 3, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CHRIST, THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FATHER’S GLORY

“Who being the brightness of His [the Father’s] glory.”

Heb. 1:3, A.V. (See verses 1-3).

“The third verse presents Christ as ‘being the brightness of His glory.’ The participle ‘being,’ is an expression of eternal, timeless existence, and has the same sense as ‘was’ in John 1:1. ‘In the beginning WAS the Word.’ The Word is Christ. (Verse 14).

“He did not come into existence in the beginning. In the beginning He WAS.  When He came to this world He  BECAME flesh. He has not been previously flesh.”

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Devotionals

GOD CREATOR AND HIS KINGDOM ARE BASED ON DIVINE, NOT HUMAN, LAW AND ORDER

August 2, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

GOD CREATOR AND HIS KINGDOM ARE BASED ON DIVINE, NOT HUMAN, LAW AND ORDER

“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you set at naught your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” “So then everyone one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Rom. 14:10, 12, A.V.

“The God who made the laws of the universe, who determined the laws of nature, also made the laws MAN’S MENTAL AND PHYSICAL NATURE. He is also the same God who gave the Ten Commandments as the guide of life [of man who He created in His image and likeness].”

“It was according to a predetermined plan that the law which demands the life of the transgressor should have as its author the One who was later to suffer the penalty for man’s transgression of it.”

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Devotionals

CREATOR OF THE WORLD AND THE WORLDS

July 31, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CREATOR OF THE WORLD AND THE WORLDS

“By whom also He made the worlds.”

Heb. 1: 2, A.V.

“It was through Christ that God ‘made the worlds.’ The One who took Adam’s place and was ‘appointed heir,’ is the Creator of all things. In making the world God used the Son as His Intermediary, not as one uses a tool, but as fellow worker.”

“That Christ is Creator indicates a division of activity among the members of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit has His work to do; so has the Son, and so has the Father. In the plan of God He who was to be man’s Redeemer [if and when he falls] was also the Creator.”

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Devotionals

THE FATHER APPOINTED CHRIST AS ‘HEIR OF ALL THINGS’: WHY? HOW?

July 30, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE FATHER APPOINTED CHRIST AS ‘HEIR OF ALL THINGS’: WHY? HOW?

“God. . . .hath in these last days. . . appointed heir of all things.”

See Heb. 1:1,2, A.V.

“God spake ‘by His Son,’ should rather be “IN His Son,” according to the original. For “the same God who formerly spoke IN the prophets has now spoken IN His Son. This places Jesus in the prophetic line as One of the prophets and messengers of God.”

“The Son is said to be ‘appointed heir.’ Some have taken this to mean that the time will come when the Father will ‘resign’ His throne and ‘relegate’ Himself to a secondary, and the Son will take over the kingdom permanently.”

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Devotionals

HOW AND BY WHOM DID GOD SPEAK?

July 29, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

HOW AND BY WHOM DID GOD SPEAK?

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers [early patriarchs] by the prophets.”

Heb. 1: 1, A.V.

“As the original reads, God spoke IN [rather than by] the prophets, which suggests that God did not use these prophets as mere mechanical instruments, as one does in blowing a horn [or trumpet], but that while the Lord spoke, human lips framed the words and clothed them in human language.” Andreaaen, The Book of Hebrews, p. 45.

Another apostle states the same truth in these words: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were MOVED by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Pet. 1: 21 (See verses 19,20).

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