Category: Devotionals

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Devotionals

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

July 28, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

I am seizing this opportunity to focus on the book of Hebrews, so strangely ignored and neglected by mainstream Christianity. I am under solemn obligation to call the attention of the spiritual Hebrews to the “two-edged sword” messages given “whether they will hear or whether they will forbear!” It is my prayer and hope that you will “hear” and not “forbear.”
So away we go!  Hebrews 1:1-3, A.V.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the WORLDS: who being the brightness of His [the Father’s] glory, and the EXPRESS image of His person, and upholding all things by the WORD of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Heb. 1: 1-3.
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Devotionals

DO CHRISTIANS TODAY UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND LIBERTY?

July 27, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

DO CHRISTIANS TODAY UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND LIBERTY?

Maybe not. Because the brothers James and John, two of the first Twelve disciples did not, even after they had the special privilege together with Peter to witness the transfiguration! See Lue 9: 28- 36, 51-56 first.

“James and John, were GREATLY ANNOYED at the insult shown to their Lord. They were filled with INDIGNATION because He had been insulted by the Samaritans whom He was honoring by His presence. They [James & John] had been with Him in the mount of transfiguration, and had seen Him GLORIFIED by God, and honored by Moses and Elijah. This manifest DISHONOR by the Samaritans, should not, THEY THOUGHT, be passed over without marked PUNISHMENT.”

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Devotionals

OUR INDIVIDUAL STANDING BEFORE GOD

July 26, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

OUR INDIVIDUAL STANDING BEFORE GOD

“And He said to them, you will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal Yourself!’ Whatever we have heard in Capernaum, do also here in Your country. Then He said, ‘Assuredly [verily, verily, KJV], I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his country.’”

Luke 4: 23,24, NKJV. (Read verses 16-30).

Then He added, “But of a truth I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and to none of them was Elijah sent, but ONLY to Zarepath, in the land of Sidon, unto a WOMAN WHO WAS A WIDOW. And there were MANY LEPERS IN ISRAEL in the time of Elisha the prophet; and NONE of them was cleansed, BUT only Naaman, the Syrian.” Luke 4:23-27, R.V.”

“By this revelation of events in the lives of the PROPHETS, Jesus met the questionings of His hearers. The servants whom God had chosen for a special work were not allowed to labor for a HARDHEARTED and UNBELIEVING people.”

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Devotionals

JESUS’ CHILDHOOD: THE ONLY PERFECT EXAMPLE OF CHRISTIAN CHILDREN

July 24, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

JESUS’ CHILDHOOD: THE ONLY PERFECT EXAMPLE OF CHRISTIAN CHILDREN

“And the child grew, and waxed in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the GRACE of God was upon Him.” “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

Luke 2:40,52, A.V.

“The childhood and youth of Jesus were spent in a little mountain village [not in a palace, castle or gated community]. There was not a place on earth that would not have been HONORED by His presence. The palaces of kings would have been privileged in receiving Him as a Guest. But He PASSED BY the homes of wealth, the courts of royalty, and renowned seats of learning, to make His home in obscure and despised Nazareth.”

“Wonderful in its significance is the BRIEF record of His early life [Luke 2:40 quoted]. In the sunlight of His Father’s countenance, Jesus increased with wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man….”

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Devotionals

WHAT TO EAT THE HEAVENLY MANNA MEANS.

July 23, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

WHAT TO EAT THE HEAVENLY MANNA MEANS.

“Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Matt. 4:4; cf. Deut. 8:3, A.V.

Jesus said, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” Find time, with all the downtime afforded by this pandemic crisis, to prayerfully read John chapter 6.

“The life of Christ that gives LIFE to the world is IN His Word. It was by His Word that Jesus healed disease and cast out demons; by His Word He stilled the sea, and raised the dead; and the people witnessed that ‘His Word was with power.’

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Devotionals

PRESUMPTUOUS MISHANDLING OF GOD’S WORD PREPARES FOR SPIRITUALISM

July 22, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

PRESUMPTUOUS MISHANDLING OF GOD’S WORD PREPARES FOR SPIRITUALISM

“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples. . . . And when they say to you, Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead in behalf of the living? To the law and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light (of truth) in them.”

Isa. 8:18,19,20, NKJV.

“In the days of Christ the leaders and teachers of Israel [the Jewish nation] were powerless to resist the work of Satan. They were neglecting the ONLY means by which they could have withstood EVIL SPIRITS. It was by the Word of God that Christ overcame the wicked one.”

“The leaders of Israel professed to be the expositors of God’s Word BUT they had studied it only to SUSTAIN their traditions, and enforce their man-made observances. By their interpretations they made it express sentiments that God has NEVER given.”

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Devotionals

NOT A GREAT CITY NOR A GRAND CATHEDRAL OR TEMPLE BUT A HUMBLE MOUNTAIN

July 21, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

NOT A GREAT CITY NOR A GRAND CATHEDRAL OR TEMPLE BUT A HUMBLE MOUNTAIN

“And when He has spoken these things, while they yet beheld, He was taken up: and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”

Acts 1: 9, A.V. (Read verses 10-12).

“At the place of His ascension, Jesus chose the spot so often hallowed by His presence while He dwelt among men.”

“Not Mount Zion, the place of David’s city, not Mount Moriah, the temple site, was to be thus honored. There [in these man-honored places] Christ has been mocked and rejected. There the waves of mercy, still returning in a stronger tide of love, had been beaten back by hearts as hard as rock. Thence Jesus, weary and heart-burdened, had gone forth to find REST IN THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.”

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Devotionals

CHRIST’S CROWNING AND GREATEST GIFT TO MANKIND

July 20, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CHRIST’S CROWNING AND GREATEST GIFT TO MANKIND

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He May abide with you for ever.”

John 14:16, A.V.

“Christ declared that, after His ascension, that He would send to His church, as His crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take His place. This Comforter is the HOLY SPIRIT—THE SOUL OF HIS LIFE, the efficacy of His church, THE LIGHT AND THE LIFE of the world. With His Spirit, Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power to take away sins.”

“God has instructed me to tell you and all His people to be VERY CAREFUL not to resist the working of the Holy Spirit—the Comforter that Christ sends. FEAR TO TAKE THE FIRST PRESUMPTUOUS STEP OF RESISTANCE.”

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