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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.”

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CHRIST SUFFERS GOD’S WRATH AGAINST SIN ALONE AT GETHSEMANE

August 19, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CHRIST SUFFERS GOD’S WRATH AGAINST SIN ALONE AT GETHSEMANE

“I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me.”

Isa. 63:3, NKJV.

So prophesied the gospel prophet regarding Christ’s superhuman agony at Gethsemane culminating at Golgotha. The Greek ‘Gethsemani is a transliteration of the Aramaic ‘Gath Shemani,’ meaning, ‘oil press.’ It cannot be mere coincidence that this specially appointed place located in the western side of Mount of Olives was called an ‘oil press’ where Christ would fulfill the prophecy that He would ‘trod the winepress alone’ for our salvation.

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HOW ONE LOSES THE POWER HE ONCE HAD TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN TRUTH AND ERROR

August 13, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

HOW ONE LOSES THE POWER HE ONCE HAD TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN TRUTH AND ERROR

“Whenever the CAUSE exists, the same RESULTS will follow He who deliberately STIFLES his convictions of duty because it INTERFERES with his inclinations, will FINALLY lose the power to distinguish between truth and error.”

“The understanding becomes DARKENED, the conscience CALLOUS, the heart HARDENED, and the soul is SEPARATED from God. Where the message of divine truth is SPURNED or SLIGHTED, there the [generic] church will be enshrouded in darkness; faith and love grow cold, and estrangement and dissension enter. Church members center their interests and energies in WORLDLY pursuits, and sinners become HARDENED in their impenitence.”

E. G. White, The Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p. 379.
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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘PURGING’ AND ‘PURIFICATION’

August 7, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘PURGING’ AND ‘PURIFICATION’

“When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in high.”

Heb. 1: 3., NKJV.

“Christ by Himself purged our sins.’ These words introduce Christ as High Priest. The word ‘our’ is not found in the best manuscripts, and is to be omitted. The reading therefore is that Christ ‘by Himself purged sins,’ or better ‘made purification of sins. It is true that Christ purged ‘our’ sins, but the author [Paul] takes a more INCLUSIVE view, though later he will fully discuss ‘our’ sins.”

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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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