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Devotionals

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST IS NOT THE ‘MISSING LINK’ BUT THE GOLDEN LINK THAT UNITES HUMANITY TO DIVINITY

October 1, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST IS NOT THE ‘MISSING LINK’ BUT THE GOLDEN LINK THAT UNITES HUMANITY TO DIVINITY

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed in in the world, received up into glory.”

1 Tim. 3:16, KJV.

“It will be profitable to contemplate the DIVINE CONDESCENSION, the SACRIFICE, the SELF-DENIAL, the HUMILIATION, the RESISTANCE the Son of God encountered in doing His work for fallen men.

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Devotionals

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].

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Devotionals

BEAUTIFUL FEET SHOD WITH GOSPEL OF PEACE

September 17, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

BEAUTIFUL FEET SHOD WITH GOSPEL OF PEACE

“And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”

Eph. 6:15, KJV.

Paul  wrote further: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring good tidings of things!” Rom. 10: 15, NKJV (See verses 14-16).

“We are living in the midst of an ‘epidemic of crime,’ at which thoughtful, God-fearing men everywhere stand aghast. Everyday brings its heart-sickening record of violence and lawlessness, of indifference to human suffering, of brutal, fiendish destruction of human life. Everyday testifies to the increase of insanity, murder, and suicide. Who can doubt that Satanic agencies are at work among men with increasing activity to distract and corrupt the mind, and defile and destroy the body?

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Devotionals

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 

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Devotionals

MORE ABOUT THE ANGELS AS ‘MINISTERING SPIRIT’

September 7, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

MORE ABOUT THE ANGELS AS ‘MINISTERING SPIRIT’. See Hebrews 1: 13, 14.

“Angels were held in high esteem by the Jews, so much so that apostle Paul at one time WARNED against angel worship. (Col. 2:18). This tendency to reverence angels doubtless made Paul’s argument in Hebrews very effective. If the Jews, or some of them, thought angels worthy of worship, God’s command to the angels to worship Christ must have made a deep impression upon the Jews. If Christ were so much higher than the angels that they were required to worship Him, then He must indeed be none less than God Himself.”

“That angels—though they are but ministers, servants—are accorded a high place and entrusted with great responsibilities, is clearly taught in the Old Testament.

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Devotionals

THE ‘SECOND ADAM’ SUCCEEDED WHERE THE FIRST ADAM FAILED

August 26, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE ‘SECOND ADAM’ SUCCEEDED WHERE THE FIRST ADAM FAILED

“And so it is written, the first man Adam became a living being [soul, Gen. 2:7]. The last Adam became a life giving [‘quickening,’ KJV] spirit. However, the spiritual is not the first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust, the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly [spiritual, not carnally-minded]. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust [our unconverted state with an unregenerate heart], so we shall also bear the image [moral character] of the heavenly Man [the truly converted ‘new creature in Christ Jesus’].”

1 Cor. 15: 45-49, NKJV.

“The right hand of the Majesty on high’ is the seat of honor, or authority. This seat was given Christ when He had made purgation [‘purging’] of sin. He had finished the work given Him in earth to do. He had succeeded where Adam had failed, and had won for Himself if God [the Father] and the right to speak and act FOR MANKIND [as the ‘second Adam,’ and thus High Priest, Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate in the heavenly sanctuary where He ascended to at His resurrection].”

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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

CHRIST PROMISED THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHAT FOR?

July 15, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CHRIST PROMISED THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHAT FOR?

“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, A.V.

“Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim, 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].

“Before this the Spirit had been in the world; from the very beginning of the work of redemption He has been moving upon men’s hearts. But while Christ [the incarnated Creator] was in earth, the disciples desired no other Helper. Not until they were deprived of His presence would they feel their need of the Spirit, and then He would come.