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Devotionals

GRACE OF HUMILITY: ANTIDOTE TO APOSTASY

July 8 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

GRACE OF HUMILITY: ANTIDOTE TO APOSTASY

“Draw nigh (near) unto God and He will draw nigh unto you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners [from the spiritual ‘coronavirus’]; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”

James 4:8, Authorized Version

“The nearer the Christian lives to God, the more he advances in divine illumination of mind. He has more distinct sense of his own littleness, discerns his defects of character, and sees his duty in the light in which God presents it.

“The more closely he draws to Jesus, the more he has a bear and clear sense of his defects which had before escaped his notice, and he sees the necessity of humbling himself under the mighty hand of God.

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Devotionals

THE BURDEN OF THE LAST MESSAGE STILL MINGLED WITH MERCY TO THE WORLD

June 24, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE BURDEN OF THE LAST MESSAGE STILL MINGLED WITH MERCY TO THE WORLD

“All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness.” Psalms 111:7,8 KJV.

When the laws of man, themselves blatant breakers of God’s law or even lawless or “a law to themselves,” enact laws and enforce them, the “fruit” or the result is only as good, reliable, truthful, lasting and righteous as the “trees” that bore them or from where they were plucked or fell from.

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Devotionals

ACHAN’S SIN CAUSED DEFEAT OF ISRAEL’S ARMY IN CANAAN

June 16, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

ACHAN’S SIN CAUSED DEFEAT OF ISRAEL’S ARMY IN CANAAN. (See Judges 7: 1-26 first).

“But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things….for Achan took of the accursed things, so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.” Verse 1.

Achan means “trouble.” He is also called Achar. After their miraculous victory of taking down the massively-fortified city of Jericho, Joshua led the army to attack a small town called Ai. “The hearts of the people melted and became as water.” Joshua “rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eve tide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.”

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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.

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Devotionals

TOO MUCH TIME RESULTED IN IDOLATRY AT SINAI

June 4, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

TOO MUCH TIME RESULTED IN IDOLATRY AT SINAI

With the whole nation, spiritual Israel suddenly found plenty of time on hand, in fact too much. Here is a solemn lesson and a dire warning from the example of ancient Israel as to what they did when Moses and Joshua went up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from God:

“While Moses was absent, it was a time of WAITING and SUSPENSE to Israel. The people KNEW that he had ascended the mount with Joshua, and had entered the cloud of thick darkness. which could be seen in the plain below, resting in the mountain peak, illuminated from time to time with the lightning of the divine presence.”

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Devotionals

THE SABBATH POINTS TO NATURE AND NATURE POINTS TO THE CREATOR

June 1, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE SABBATH POINTS TO NATURE AND NATURE POINTS TO THE CREATOR

“All things were created by the Son of God. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God….All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.’ John 1:1-3,KJV.

“And since the Sabbath is a MEMORIAL of the work of creation, it is a TOKEN of the love and power of Christ.  The Sabbath calls our attention to nature, and brings us into communion with the Creator. In the song of the birds, the sighing of the trees, and the music of the sea, we may hear His VOICE who talked with Adam in Eden in the cool of the day.

“And as we behold His power in nature we find COMFORT, for the Word that created all things is that which SPEAKS LIFE to the soul. He ‘who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’ 2 Cor. 4:6.

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Devotionals

THE LAW WRITTEN IN THE HEART BEFORE IT WAS WRITTEN ON STONE

May 28, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE LAW WRITTEN IN THE HEART BEFORE IT WAS WRITTEN ON STONE

Christ the Creator and Lawgiver wrote the law in the hearts and minds of Adam and Eve in their creation as the crowning act of His creative power.

“Adam and Eve, at their creation, had a knowledge of the law of God; they were acquainted with its claims upon them; its precepts were written upon their hearts.”

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Devotionals

‘BACK TO EDEN’ MEANS MUCH MORE THAN ORIGINAL DIET

May 27, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

‘BACK TO EDEN’ MEANS MUCH MORE THAN ORIGINAL DIET

“God the Father always worked through His Son, both in creation and redemption (Gen. 1:1-24; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:1-3,8].  Therefore it was Jesus Christ who created ‘the heavens and the earth’ and ‘rested the seventh day.’

‘All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.  He was in the world and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.’ John 1:3,10,KJV.