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Devotionals

FIRST, THE WILDERNESS OF TEMPTATION, GETHSEMANE, THEN CALVARY

August 20, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

FIRST, THE WILDERNESS OF TEMPTATION, GETHSEMANE, THEN CALVARY (a wilderness, a garden, then a lonely hill)

“Satan had once challenged God, accusing [the patriarch] Job for serving Him for ULTERIOR [self-serving, self-promoting] motives. ‘Doth Job serve God for nought (nothing)?’ he had sneeringly asked.

Job 1:9.

“To show the falsity of Satan’s ACCUSATIONS, he was permitted [by God] to test Job. Satan applies every possible torture, but Job did not sin. At last Satan retired defeated. Job had STOOD THE TEST and proved Satan’s accusation false. ‘Though He slay me yet will I TRUST Him,’ he exclaimed. Job 13:15.”

Categories
Devotionals

BEWARE OF OUR OLD SUPERSTITIONS & FEARS

June 5, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

BEWARE OF OUR OLD SUPERSTITIONS & FEARS

As the Israelites impatiently waited for Moses (reminding us of how impatiently the first king of Israel, Saul, waited for prophet Samuel, and committed his first apostasy), something happened that lead worst things:

“Feeling their HELPLESSNESS in the absence  of their leader, they RETURNED  to their OLD SUPERSTITIONS.

“The ‘mixed multitude’ had been the first to INDULGE murmurings and impatience, and they were the LEADERS in the APOSTASY that followed.

Categories
Devotionals

FIFTH COMMANDMENT: FIRST COMMANDMENT WITH A PROMISE

May 29, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

FIFTH COMMANDMENT: FIRST COMMANDMENT WITH A PROMISE.

“Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Exp.20: 12, KJV.

“Parents are entailed to a degree of love and respect which is due to no other person. God Himself, who has placed upon them [parents] for the souls [their children] committed to their charge, has ordained that during the EARLIER years of life, parents should STAND IN THE PLACE OF GOD to their children.

Categories
Devotionals

THE FIRST OF ALL COMMANDMENTS

May 13, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE FIRST OF ALL COMMANDMENTS

“Thou shall have no other gods before Me.” Exo. 20:2.

“Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent, uncreated One, Himself the Source and Sustainer of all, is alone entitled to supreme reverence and worship. Man is forbidden to give other object the FIRST place in his affections or in his service. Whatever we cherish that tends to LESSEN our love for God and INTERFERE with the service due Him, of that we do make a GOD.” E.G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, p. 305.

“Since God has created man, in the nature of things the FIRST OF ALL RELATIONSHIPS is that to God: and the FIRST OF ALL DUTIES could be nothing but duty to God.”

Categories
FMM

Which is Deadlier: Deception or Temptation?

Friday Morning Manna 

March 6, 2020

Nathaniel Fajardo                                                                           email:[email protected]
Which is Deadlier: Deception or Temptation?

    “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven . . . Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, cast out demons in Thy name, and one done many wonderful things in Thy name? And then I will declare unto them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice iniquity ”

Matt. 7: 23

Calling upon His, i.e., Jesus Christ’s name, invoking the authority and power His name, apparently doing the very works He entrusted to His disciples, apostles and followers— prophesying, which of course comprehends teaching and expounding on the prophecies, casting out demons, ah! Yes! exorcising demons out of the possessed, and doing many wonderful things, including performing miracles of course!  

Categories
Devotionals

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

February 17 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

Based on the Bible and the First Amendment of Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution: “RELIGION is ‘the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it.’ LIBERTY is ‘the state of being exempt from the domination of others, or from restricting circumstances.

In ethics and philosophy, the power in any rational agent to make his choices and decide his conduct for himself, spontaneously and voluntarily, in accordance with reasons or motives.’ RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, therefore, is man’s exemption from the domination of others, or from restricting circumstances: man’s freedom to make his choices and decide his conduct for himself, spontaneously and voluntarily: in his duty to his Creator, and in the manner of discharging that duty.’ Since God created man, in the nature of things the first of all relationships is that to God; and the first of all duties could be nothing but duty to God.” A.T. Jones, “Individuality in Religion,” Introduction, 5,6.

Categories
FMM

Revealed! The Fowler’s fastening Cords and Snares!

Friday Morning Manna                                                    

February 7, 2020

Nathaniel Fajardo                                                                  

email: [email protected]
Revealed! The Fowler’s fastening Cords and Snares!

   “I will say unto the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler.”

Ps. 91: 2, 3, K.J.V.  

Here’s more: “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of a snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Ps. 124: 7, 8. “Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.” Prov. 6: 5. “The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come: Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the [false] prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.” Hos. 9: 8.

Categories
FMM

The “Fullness of Time” Never Specified Specific Time

Friday Morning Manna

December 27, 2019
By Nathaniel Fajardo                                                                                                                                                           email:[email protected]

The “Fullness of Time” Never Specified Specific Time

      “But When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the [condemnation] of the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”  

Gal. 4: 4, 5, N.K.J.V.

Sent forth by the Father, the only-begotten Son of God was “born of a woman” and became the Son of man “when the fullness of time had come,” not a “twinkling of an eye” earlier or later. As the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, He was the subject of the first and beginning of all promises and propheciesof the Bible, coming first as “the seed” (Gen. 3: 15) and at last, “the Lord Jesus,” “King of kings and Lord of lords” in His glorious second coming!