FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
BOUNDLESS RESOURCES OF CHRIST’s EMPOWERING GRACE IMPARTED THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF TRUTH
Jesus said to His disciples, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16,17, KJV.
Before offering Himself as the antitypical sacrificial Victim, verily the Lamb of God at Calvary “Christ sought for the MOST ESSENTIAL AND COMPLETE GIFT to bestow upon His followers, a gift that would bring within their reach the BOUNDLESS RESOURCES OF GRACE. [John 14:16-18 quoted. Read it].
“Before this the Spirit had been in the world [see Gen. 1:2]; from the very beginning of the work of REDEMPTION He [the Holy Spirit] had been moving upon men’s hearts. But WHILE Christ was upon the earth [for 33 1/2 years and only 3 1/2 years public ministry from His baptism to His crucifixion], the disciples desired NO OTHER Helper. Not UNTIL they were deprived of His presence would they feel their NEED of the Holy Spirit, and then He could come.
“The Holy Spirit [never any Pope!] is Christ’s Representative [Vicar], but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cambered with humanity [all the limitations of man’s nature four thousand years after the fall], Christ could NOT be in every place PERSONALLY [He partook of the same flesh and blood nature as His brethren, Heb. 2:14].
Therefore it was FOR the disciples’ interest that He SHOULD go to the Father, and then send the Holy Spirit as His Successor on earth. NO ONE then could have ANY ADVANTAGE because of his location or personal contact with Christ. By the Holy Spirit Christ [and His empowering. saving grace] would be ACCESSIBLE TO ALL.
In this sense He would be NEARER to them than if He had not [in His permanent adopted human nature in the Incarnation] ascended on high.
“This promise [of His grace imparted by the Holy Spirit] belongs to US NOW as it belonged to the first disciples. Let every church member kneel before God, and pray earnestly for the IMPARTATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Cry, ‘Lord, increase my faith. Make me to understand Thy Word; for the entrance of Thy Word gives light. Refresh me by Thy presence. Fill my heart with Thy Spirit.’ Amen.
“At all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all afflictions, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone [like now], the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of faith.” (From God’s Amazing Grace, p. 191). Bless all, NMF
Tag: Holy Spirit
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
WHO SHALL THE SPIRIT GIVE POWER OF SPEECH AND WHAT TO SAY IN TIME OF TRIAL?
Jesus said, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought [don’t worry or stress] what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour [at that moment and place] what ye shall speak.” Matt. 10:19, KJV.
Read Matthew 10: 1-42. It contains the marching and working orders for Christ’s disciples, then and today. Now this:
“The servants of Christ are to prepare NO SET SPEECH to present when brought to TRIAL for their faith. [Why?] Their preparation is to be made DAY BY DAY, in treasuring up in their HEARTS the precious truths of God’s Word, in FEEDING upon the teaching of Christ, and through PRAYER strengthening their faith; then, when brought before trial [before ‘kings, governors, and great men of the earth’], the Holy Spirit will bring to REMEMBRANCE the very truths that will reach the hearts of those who shall COME to hear. God will flash the knowledge OBTAINED by diligent searching of the Scriptures, into their MEMORY, at the very time when it is needed.
“You are NOW to get ready for the [soon coming time of trial]. Now you are to KNOW whether your feet are planted on the Eternal Rock [as the wise man built his house (character) upon the rock, not sand].
You must have an INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE and not depend on others for your light. When you are brought to the test, how do you know that you will not be ALONE, with no EARTHLY friend at your side? Will you then be ABLE to realize that Christ is your support?
“Will you be able to RECALL the promise, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world?’ [Matt. 28:20]. There will be INVISIBLE ONES about you bent upon your DESTRUCTION.
Satan and his agents will seek in every way to make you WAVER from your steadfastness to God and His truth. But if you have ‘an eye single to His glory’ [Matt. 6: 22, 23], you need not take a thought as to HOW YOU SHALL WITNESS for His truth.
“Are you ‘growing up to the full stature of men and women in Christ’ [Eph. 4:13], so that when the CRISIS COMES, you cannot be separated from the Source of your strength?
If we would stand in the TIME OF TEST [now and the final one], we must now IN THE TIME OF PEACE, be gaining a LIVING [not vicarious, insipid or half-awake] EXPERIENCE in the things of God [not the ‘things of the world’].
We must now understand what are THE DEEP MOVINGS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD. Christ must be our all and in all, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ (Rev. 22:13).”- E. G. White, Maranatha, p. 255.
Gather and stock up as fast and as much as you can now. Earth’s final bitterest and darkest spiritual winter is on its way! Bless all, NMF
October 2, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
WE PARTAKE OF THE DIVINE NATURE IMPARTED THRU THE DIVINE POWER OF CHRIST’S HUMAN NATURE AS GOD IN THE FLESH
“To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our GOD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, as His DIVINE POWER has given to us all things that PERTAIN to LIFE and GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us EXCEEDINGLY GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES, that through these you may be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust [unholy, worldly, carnal desires and the lust of the eye and the flesh’].”
2 Pet. 1:1-4, NKJV.
The Incarnation: “Layon aside His royal robe and kingly crown, Christ clothes His divinity with humanity, that human beings might be RAISED from their degradation [caused by sin], and placed on vantage ground.
OUR YOUTH AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
September 25, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
OUR YOUTH AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
“And [take] the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Eph. 6:17
Jesus was particularly emphatic regarding the treatment of, welfare, and salvation of the tender, receptive and yes, vulnerability of the children and youth during His three and half year ministry on earth. He declared some of His strongest words of rebuke and warnings ever against those in authority who would mislead and/or become stumbling blocks to the youngest members of His spiritual kingdom in earth! They are both literally and spiritually the helpless lambs of His flock!
“God’s holy, educating Spirit is in His Word! A light, a new and precious light, shines forth from every page. Truth is there revealed, and words and sentences are made bright and appropriate for the occasion, as the VOICE OF GOD speaking to the soul [the whole, living, rational person].
CHRIST’S HUMAN NATURE
September 14, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
CHRIST’S HUMAN NATURE
Please find time to prayerfully and unhurriedly read verses 1-18 of Hebrews chapter 2. Here are the first 4 verses(emphasis mine):
“Therefore we must give the MOST EARNEST HEED, to the things we have heard, LEST WE DRIFT AWAY. For if the word spoken through angels, proved steadfast, and every TRANSGRESSION AND DISOBEDIENCE received a just reward, HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE IF WE NEGLECT so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God AlSO bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
Heb. 2:1-4, NKJV.
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER: “This chapter opens with a warning against INDIFFERENCE. It is the first of many admonition scattered throughout the book, which evince the author’s [apostle Paul] anxiety for the SPIRITUAL WELFARE of his readers. From the nature of the exhortations we learn that, unlike the Corinthians, the DANGERS threatening them were NOT MORAL DELINQUENCY but a GRADUAL DRIFTING AWAY from the things they had heard, COUPLED WITH a lack of desire to apply themselves to a SERIOUS study of the Word.
“The larger part of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of the HUMANITY of Christ. In the first chapter the author brought indisputable proof of the DEITY of Christ. In the second chapter he shows that it is NEEDFUL for Christ to BECOME A MAN IF He is to be a merciful and faithful High Priest.
“How else could He deal gently with the weak and erring? He MUST be TEMPTED IN ALL POINTS LIKE AS WE ARE for it is only by passing through the EXPERIENCE to which [all] men are subject that He can succor [save, deliver, empower] those who are weak!
“This section contains a warning against the SUBTLE SINS of apathy and carelessness. Paul was greatly concerned about the SPIRITUAL condition of the people. There were TROUBLOUS TIMES AHEAD for the church. Persecution would soon break out anew; in a very few years the Roman armies would take the city, the Temple would be destroyed, and the Christians would be compelled to flee for their lives.
“Despite this, THE CHURCH WAS NOT FULLY AWAKE. They were ADRIFT with no anchor. Their condition was critical, and MOST SERIOUS OF ALL, they did not sense their danger!” (Andreasen, The Book of Hebrews, 79, 80).
This is same condition we are facing today! The very signs taking place right now in America and the world are already announcing, in trumpet tones, that we entering the prophesied early time of trouble! Are we adrift or are our hearts and minds firmly anchored in the Rock, Christ Jesus and His Word—“It is Written,” “unto the law and the prophets,” “to the law and the testimony.” Bless all, NMF
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
THE ‘ARMOR’ WE ARE ‘WEARING’ NOW DETERMINES WHAT SIDE OF THE COMING FINAL CONFLICT WE WILL TAKE
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. [How?]. Put on the WHOLE armor of God, that ye may be ABLE to stand against the WILES of the devil. For we wrestle NOT against flesh and blood, but AGAINST principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this WORLD, against SPIRITUAL wickedness in high places. (Continue to verses 13-18). Now this:
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.”
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.”