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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

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.”