#left it open for whosoever you desire to use <3

[wpureimagination]

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚ @cloudsc0ut liked for a starter ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

"Huh? Er...I beg pardon, you'll have t' speak up a bit more, I'm not so sure I heard you correctly."

[muhtesemz]

Why is it so hard for man to lower his gaze?

And why is it so hard for woman to hide her beauty?

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Jawaab al-Kaafi (125):

There are a number of benefits in lowering the gaze:

1. It is obedience to the command of Allaah, which brings happiness to man in this world and in the next. There is nothing more beneficial to a person in this world and in the next than obeying the commands of his Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, and those who are happy in this world and the next can only attain that happiness by obeying His commands, and those who are doomed in this world and in the next are only doomed because they ignore His commands.

2. It prevents the poisoned arrows (of the shaytaan), which may lead to his doom, from reaching his heart.

3. It creates a heart that is devoted to and focused on Allaah. Letting the gaze wander distracts the heart and keeps it far from Allaah. There is nothing more harmful to a person than letting his gaze wander, as it creates alienation between a person and his Lord.

4. It strengthens the heart and brings it peace, just as letting the gaze wander weakens it and makes it sad.

5. It brings light to the heart, just as letting the gaze wander brings darkness to it. Hence Allaah mentioned the verse of light immediately after the command to lower the gaze, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

'Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts…' [al-Noor 24:30]

Then straight after that He says (interpretation of the meaning):

'Allaah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as (if there were) a niche and within it a lamp'. [al-Noor 24:35]

i.e., the likeness of His light in the heart of His believing slave who obeys His commands and heeds His prohibitions. If the heart is enlightened blessings will come to it from all sides, but if it is darkened, calamity and evil will come to it from all places. Whatever exists of innovation, misguidance, following whims and desires, avoiding true guidance and turning away from the means of happiness and focusing on the means that lead to doom, that will be recognizable by means of the light that is in the heart. If that light is lost then one will left like a blind man stumbling in the darkness.

6. It generates true insight which can distinguish between truth and falsehood, sincerity and lies. Allaah rewards His slave for his good deeds with something similar and if he gives up something for the sake of Allaah, He will compensate him with something better than it. So if he lowers his gaze and refrains from looking at things that Allaah has forbidden, Allaah will compensate him with enlightenment; he will compensate him for restraining his gaze for the sake of Allaah, and will open to him the doors of knowledge, faith and true insight which he only attained by means of the light in his heart. The opposite of that is the blindness which Allaah attributed to the homosexuals, which is the opposite of insight. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

'Verily, by your life (O Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), in their wild intoxication, they were wandering blindly.' [al-Hijr 15:72]

7. It creates a heart that is steadfast, brave and strong. Allaah will give him both insight and power and strength, as it says in the report:

'The one who goes against his whims and desires, the shaytaan flees from his shadow.'

On the other hand, the one who follows his whims and desires will feel a sense of humiliation, indignity, worthlessness and insignificance, which is the punishment which Allaah has decreed for those who disobey Him as al-Hasan said: 'Even if they ride the finest of mounts, the effect of sin will never depart from them. Allaah insists that the one who disobeys Him will be humiliated.'

Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, has connected strength to obedience to Him, and humiliation to disobedience to Him. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

'But honour, power and glory belong to Allaah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and to the believers.' [al-Munaafiqoon 63:8]

'So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers.' [Aal ‘Imraan 3:139].

Faith is both words and deeds, inward and outward. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

'Whosoever desires honour, power and glory then to Allaah belong all honour, power and glory [and one can get honour, power and glory only by obeying and worshipping Allaah (Alone)]. To Him ascend (all) the goodly words, and the righteous deeds exalt it (i.e. the goodly words are not accepted by Allaah unless and until they are followed by good deeds)'. [Faatir 35:10]

i.e., whoever desires power, let him seek it by means of obedience to Allaah and remembrance of Him, by speaking good words and doing good deeds. In Du’aa’ al-Qunoot it says: 'he is not humiliated whom You have befriended, nor is he honoured who You take as an enemy.' Whoever obeys Allaah is His friend in as much as he obeys Him, and he will have support and honour from Him commensurate with his obedience towards Him. Whoever disobeys Him is His enemy in as much as he disobeys Him, and he will have humiliation from Him commensurate with his disobedience towards Him.

8. It blocks the shaytaan from a means of entering his heart, for he may enter with looking, and penetrate the heart faster than the wind blowing through an empty space, and he may present to him the image that he looked at and make it attractive, like an idol to which his heart becomes devoted, then he encourages him and gives him hopes, and fans the flames of desire in his heart, adding the fuel of sin which could not have reached his heart without looking at that image. So his heart becomes inflamed and surrounded with fire on all sides, resulting in infatuation and frustration, and he is in the midst of it like a lamb in the oven. Hence the punishment for those whose desires were fuelled by haraam looking is that in al-Barzakh they are placed in an oven of fire.

9. It distracts one from thinking of what is in one’s best interests, so his affairs become neglected and he follows his whims and desires and neglects to remember his Lord. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

'and let not your eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp and glitter of the life of the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, and who follows his own lusts, and whose affair (deeds) has been lost.' [al-Kahf 18:28]

10. Between the eyes and the heart there is a connection which means that the one is affected by the other, and if one of them becomes good, the other will also become good, and if one becomes corrupt the other will become corrupt. If the heart becomes corrupt the gaze will become corrupt, and if the gaze become corrupt the heart will become corrupt, and similarly if one is sound the other will also be sound.

These are just a few benefits of lowering gaze and hiding beauty for women. Immense reward in the Hereafter and the social impact are yet to mention. So it is hard, in fact almost impossible as Shaytan is always around us, trying to mislead us. But the reward is also huge, right? InshaAllah if we keep it in mind, it'll be easier for us to obey. May Allah make this easy for everyone of us.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

tapestry 👑 VI

Warnings: eventual dark elements (tags to be added as fic continues)

This is dark!(king)Steve and explicit. 18+ only.

Summary: King Steven had a wandering eye but you never thought it would fall upon you.

This Chapter: Tension comes to a head.

Note: Chapter 6. Gotta go to work again so enjoy this while I suffer retail torment. It’s getting intense in here and the more I write the more I realize we’re just traversing deeper into messiness over her. But this is what you get.

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply! Love ya!

Your father appeared shortly after. You were thankful to be kept from the presence of the queen so soon, though you would have to trade it for that of the king. Your father informed you of the royal request of your presence. His demeanour gave you worry. He was as close to joyful as you had ever seen him. His happiness rarely meant yours.

“Now, I remind you daughter, to remember your manners. I paid far too much gold on your training to have it wasted.” He said as he walked with you down the corridor. “The king has pursued his fancy you, see that it does not end so suddenly as it began.”

“Yes, father.” You replied meekly.

“I mean it.” He stopped short and seized your arm. He turned you to face him. “You did not mind my first order, I know it. But you will not disobey me again and you certainly won’t defy the king.” He smiled and let go. “You will be mindful during this meeting. Do not slight me before him.”

“Yes, father.” You repeated.

He turned and carried on. It took a moment for you to catch your step. He strode along proudly and beamed as he came upon the king’s door. How long had your father dreamed of royal favour? So long he would trade anything for it.

The guards greeted him with a nod and the one at your left knocked with his elbow. Hugh opened the door as he had the last time you were there. He looked between you and your father. His eyes lingered on you. You lowered your head and kept quiet.

“The king has requested an audience. Lord Willis of Malford.” Your father announced.

The footman nodded and the door stayed open as he retreated. He appeared again and waved you within. You lifted your head and followed your father. Inside, the king sat a large oaken desk decorated with gold gilt. He stood as he saw you.

“Lord Willis,” The king greeted your father with a nod as he rounded the desk. “My lady.”

He took your hand and kissed it. Your father raised his brow sharply and you curtsied. The king stood and his eyes clung to you as his hand did. He turned and guided you toward his desk.

“You may sit, my lord,” He said as he led you to one of the cushioned chairs. “My lady, please.”

You sat and he released you wistfully. He did not resume his seat but instead leaned against the front of his desk. Your father sat in another chair with a grin.

“Your highness.” Your father relished the words on his tongue.

“My lord,” The king began. “I have called this audience with you to discuss a grievous plight.” He paused, a forlorn shadow upon him. “You see, I am taken by your daughter, so wholly and so deeply, and yet I understand you would protect her virtue, as she does so piously.”

He spoke with a feeling so overt it could only be farce. You shifted in the chair.

“And I would not tarnish her. Could not for I admire her too much, but it pains me. I cannot be without her, I cannot.”

Your father blinked and pretended at surprise. Your mouth was dry.

“Any lord brings his daughter to court in hopes of seeing her wed well. Seeing her off to a life of comfort and I would not take that from her. And again, I find esteem in her as she is so diligent, so loyal a daughter to you. So I would spare her reputation and your own and would propose a compromise.”

The king touched his chest as if he was in pain.

“And I realize this is unprecedented and not entirely proper but I have thought on it endlessly. I would offer you a fine betrothal for your daughter, to see her married, to see her protected. An arrangement so that we may keep our feelings secret; so that none would decry your name.”

“A betrothal?” You father sat up. “To who?”

“A duke.” The king looked to you. “Lord Barnes. He is a fair match for any lady in the kingdom and without.”

Your father feigned thought as he held his chin. “You believe this would serve my daughter as well as it would you?”

“If I could, I would find another way,” The king mourned. “If I were not already constrained, I would see to her a proper union. But alas…”

“Whosoever I shall marry will know me to be a loyal wife.” You declared evenly. “I would adhere to any vow I give, be it to Lord Barnes or another.”

The king turned to you slowly. “None would know. My lady, that is the purpose of the union. You will have title, land, and name. And while I cannot make you my queen, I will make you most happy. None will be given to any other; not Eleanor, not Rose, not any other but you. And you would be bound to Lord Barnes in law only.”

“It is wrong. Deceitful.” You protested. “A mistress all the same.”

The king’s nostrils flared and he sighed. He turned his broad shoulders to you and paced before your father. He spun and slammed his fist on the desk. “Enough, woman.” You flinched at his tone. He paused and gritted his teeth. “Lord Willis, Hugh, if you would… leave us for a moment.”

“Your highness, I must have a chaperone--”

“You must obey your king.” He growled and looked to the other men.

Your father rose with a mumble abeyance and Hugh followed him to the door. You peeked over your shoulder as they left. You gripped the arms of the chair as the door closed and left you alone.

“I...am sorry--” You began breathlessly.

“No, I am,” The king’s voice was softer. “I am sorry for my temper. I did not mean to frighten you. It is only, I am so enraptured by you that I cannot think of not having you. And yet you spurn me. You would spurn my offer of absolution. Can you not see how you have affected me and yet you sit here stoic and unfeeling?”

“I am not unfeeling, I only know that circumstance does not always allow the fulfillment of our desires. There can be no way around it, your highness. Fate would have it otherwise.”

“Desires?” He stood before you. “You...desire me?”

You stared up at him. You gulped. Your lip trembled but you could not speak.

“I understand you are afraid to admit it, I understand your caution, which is why I propose the union. So that you need not be afraid, my lady.”

“I…I could never betray the queen. You must understand, she will know.”

“The queen? Is that what she is? She shows her king no love and bears me no heirs. I wonder if she is truly that.” He bemoaned and slowly backed away. He sat heavily in the chair your father had formerly occupied. “She’s never loved me.”

“But she is your wife.” You insisted. “By law and by heaven’s grace.”

He was silent a moment. He looked to you and his blue eyes searched yours. He dropped his shoulders and his head.

“And yet I wonder if that is the truth. If our union was ever truly sanctified.” He pushed his hair back as he lifted his head. “She was bound to another before me. A betrothal to a prince in the east. He did protest our marriage but it was overruled.”

“An expired betrothal, your highness.” You assured. “Consecrated by the lord.”

“I don’t know if it is. I think on it often. Of how she neglects me. Of how she must think of her former eastern fiance. They were children together. They knew each other for years. I suspect...oh, but these are things I’ve never dared to say aloud.”

“But it was overruled. The former betrothal nullified and the new one blessed by the see.”

“It is a cursed union and now you would have it that I suffer more. That I am tortured by your denial.” He exhaled and slowly he sat up. He pushed himself to his feet and neared you again. “I swore to you I would find a way. I will have you.” He reached down and took your hand. He tugged until your were forced to stand. “If you will not marry Barnes, you will marry me. By my will, it shall be done.”

“You cannot--”

“Cannot!” He drew you close until his arm was around you. “I am a king, I can do as I choose.” He leaned in and spoke quietly. “If I wanted to tear that bodice off and bend you over this desk, I could, with your father at the door.” His lips grazed your ear as he held you to him. “But we will do it as you wish, my lady.”

👑

You were bent over the tapestry among the other women. Each focused on their rosettes as they added to the field of blooms. It was peculiarly silent. Even the queen was deeply enthralled by her work. It was as if everyone had tired of courtly intrigue. To sit and not think for a while was a true respite.

Since the harvest celebration, rumours flew anew, many with your name attached. You did your best to ignore them, along with the king’s gaze and his incessant letters. You hoped that you could deter him with distance. Keep aloof and he may just forget his ideas of annulment.

Every time you thought of your audience with him, your chest tightened. You looked at the queen, a scarlet hood over her pale hair. He was as trustworthy as she was. These royals were entirely conceited. They’d never known any different; had never been deprived of any want.

You lowered your head and wove your needle carefully around your finger. You mourned your former regard for her. The sense that she was a secret companion amid the chaos. She always watched over her ladies so closely, never begrudged them without reason. Or so you’d believed.

As you were about to secure your rosette, there was tug on the tapestry. You looked in the direction of the pull and met with a pair of vicious blue eyes. Rose sneered as she sat on the other side of Joan. There was no place among the ladies you could sit without an enemy upon your flank.

“My apologies,” She said with a smirk. “My needle was caught.”

“Not at all,” You said stiffly and pointed your needle once more at the middle of your rosette. Another yank. This one nearly had half the cloth upon the floor. You looked to her again along with several other women.

“Of course it wouldn’t bother you to take from another, would it? Hmm? To wrestle it away without a single thought?” She leaned in and hissed. “Then to act the innocent in all of it.”

You shook your head and freed your needle from the where it had poked into the fabric.

“A simple diversion, that’s all you are,” She kept her voice low. “He’ll come back to me, I know. A homely mouse like you cannot keep him.”

“I have no desire of him,” You spat under your breath. “So save yourself the shame and let me be.”

“I know your trick. You think you can snare him by acting coy. By acting as if you don’t want him. Every lady wants him.” She was almost upon Joan’s lap as she snarled. “Your father no doubt wants him as much, hmm? A daughter with royal preference; a blessing for any earl.”

“Lady Rose, would you kindly be quiet?” You snapped. “Perhaps you should focus on your work so that your hands may be as sharp as your tongue.”

“Ladies,” The queen’s voice cut through the rising tension. You glanced over at her guiltily though Rose showed little remorse. “Let us remind ourselves of decorum. This is a sewing circle, not a common tavern.”

You bowed your head repentantly and concentrated on your needle. Rose huffed and dropped her edge of the tapestry. She sat with her hands folded. “My fingers begin to cramp from this tedious work, your highness.”

“Then you may sit in silence or excuse yourself. You’ve disturbed this court enough.” The queen retorted. 

Rose scoffed and looked around the circle of women. “No wonder the king cannot stand you.”

“Pardon me, girl,” The queen growled.

“How could he ever lay with you long enough to beget a child? Or perhaps you are too frigid to for any life to grow.” Rose said as she stood. “For it surely is not the king who lacks.”

“Lady Rose, I will not warn you again. You gird your tongue.” Eleanor released the tapestry and got to her feet. “If you insist on causing a disturbance, you can leave this room and this court. I think we’re all quite done with you.”

“Are we?” Rose narrowed her eyes. Her hand slipped across her middle as she pressed her palm to her stomach. “I doubt the king would see his bastard out in the cold.”

Eleanor paled and the chamber grew stifling. It was as if the collective breath was stolen from each lady. You watched with the rest as the woman faced each other like wild felines.

“You really are pathetic. To lie of such a thing.” The queen accused.

Rose laughed. It was poisonous. It assured all of her honesty. “We shall see who is lying soon enough. When I begin to grow and you remain unchanged. Barren as the witch you are.”

“Go,” The queen’s tone was acidic. “Now.”

Rose lowered her lashes and slowly turned away. She neared the door and as she reached for the handle, a knock sounded. The sound broke through the silence and the women whispered in confusion. The timing of a visitor couldn’t have been worse.

Rose opened the door slowly. The man at the door seemed not to notice the mood. He greeted Lady Rose and then bowed to the queen. His blue eyes sparkled as he awaited an invitation.

“Lord Barnes,” Eleanor greeted. “It is a most unexpected visit.”

“It is, your highness,” He stepped inside as Rose held the door. She watched him in confusion as he barely seemed to notice her. “A brief one. I come,” He grinned as he looked around the room, “Simply bearing a message.”

“I shall receive it, my lord, but as you can see, I am occupied with my ladies.” The queen smiled graciously.

“I do not bear a message for you,” Barnes returned. His tone was even, unemotional. “But I promise, it will be brief.”

He caught your eye as he found you amid the circle. You frowned and clung to the tapestry, tempted to pull it over your head and hide. He crossed to you and got to one knee. For a moment, you recalled the king in a similar pose. You shook your head at him as he pulled forth a small box.

“For you, lady,” He held it out as you turned on the bench. “From King Steven.”

Gasps, whispers, hisses. All rose in a flurry of disgust. Rose let out a growl and her slippers stomped from the room. The door fell closed behind her, a frightful clatter in her stead.

“No. I--” You looked to the queen. She looked concerned. The king had never been so overt. So outright in his attentions as to intrude upon her ladies thus. “I cannot accept.”

“I have orders not to leave until you do.” Barnes insisted. “And I have ever been a faithful servant to my king.”

“Don’t do this,” You whispered. “Please.”

“Do not be ungrateful, lady,” Eleanor’s voice was brittle. “You are the most obedient subject.”

You looked between the queen and the lord knelt before you. A dozen pairs of eyes glared at you; judged you; assumed the worst in you. They had all heard Rose’s words and they believed them. For a woman who had committed the same sin must be the most adept to see it in another. 

You stared at Lord Barnes and your eyes felt as if they would water. You reached out shakily and he nodded. He did not smile, only waited patiently. He understood what his task was; not just to deliver a gift, but to send the queen a message too. The king would not hide anymore. Her ploy had failed for now she faced worse humiliation than before. And it did not matter that it was Rose or you, only that it was.

“You…” You swallowed and found your voice. “You may tell the king that I thank him. That I am most grateful for the kind gesture, my lord.”

“You must open it,” Barnes urged. “I am to...return to him your thoughts upon it.”

“Oh Lord, just be done with it,” Eleanor seethed and turned her back. “And the rest of you ladies can go. Follow that harlot back to your chambers.”

You lowered your head. You opened the box to reveal a polished opal on a golden chain. Your lips parted and you forced a smile as you stood. Lord Barnes returned to his feet as you cradled the box in your hands. The ladies tarried as they folded up the tapestry and began to shuffle to the door.

You looked into his eyes. He blinked. He knew you would say what was expected. 

“You may tell him it is very beautiful.” You closed the box. “That I like it very much.”

“I shall let him know,” Barnes bowed his head and made his retreat.

You didn’t dare look back as you followed the other ladies to the door. You passed through into the corridor and walked numbly along as the other kept as far from you as they could. The box felt heavy though it weighed almost nothing. You could have tossed it against the wall but you held your composure and squeezed it until it felt as if it would crumple.

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tags to be added in reblog

[voipload973]

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures

King Solomon: the wisest man to ever live, builder of the temple, beautiful poet and national leader--he was a man who seemed to have it all. Yet, at the end of his life, he penned these words in Ecclesiastes 2:11:

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Study

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures In The Bible

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verse

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verses

“When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

1 Kings 1:1-53 ESV / 14 helpful votes. Now King David was old and advanced in years.

Song of Solomon inspired worship. If you sit down to read this book, you may notice a few verses are lines in a popular worship song titled, You Won’t Relent. It was one of the first songs I.

1 Kings 11:9-13 ESV / 29 helpful votes. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart. Solomon wrote numerous passages of Scripture. Solomon is responsible for writing a great amount of Scripture (1 Kings 4:23-34). He wrote Ecclesiastes, Proverbs (Proverbs 1:1), and Song of Solomon. Some believe that Proverbs 30 and 31 were written by others. Solomon was wise, but Christ is 'Wisdom.' Solomon built a Temple, but also altars to false gods overtopping it across the valley; and his Temple was burned with fire. But Christ is the true Temple as well as Priest and Sacrifice. Solomon was by name 'the peaceful,' and his land had outward rest, darkened at the last by war and rebellion.

Solomon was a complex man. He had his victories and defeats, just like us. We may have heard stories about this great king, but there are a few things left to uncover.

Icom m700 service manual. Here are 9 Interesting Things You Might Not Know about King Solomon:

Photo Courtesy: Unsplash/Micah Man

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Lesson 31: The Wisdom of King Solomon

Lesson 31

“Lesson 31: The Wisdom of King Solomon,” Primary 6: Old Testament (1996), 135–39

To strengthen each child’s desire to become more like Jesus Christ by developing wisdom and an understanding heart.

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Study

Preparation

Prayerfully study:

1 Kings 1:39—Solomon is anointed.

1 Kings 2:1–4—David charges Solomon to keep the commandments.

1 Kings 2:10, 12—David dies; Solomon is king of Israel.

1 Kings 3:3–15—Solomon asks for an understanding heart.

2 Chronicles 1:7–12—Solomon asks for wisdom and knowledge.

1 Kings 3:16–28—Solomon determines the mother of a child.

1 Kings 4:29–30, 34—God blesses Solomon with wisdom and understanding.

Chapter headings for 1 Kings 5–8—Solomon builds and dedicates a beautiful temple.

Study the lesson and decide how you want to teach the children the scripture account (see “Preparing Your Lessons,” p. vi, and “Teaching from the Scriptures,” p. vii). Select the discussion questions and enrichment activities that will best help the children achieve the purpose of the lesson.

Materials needed: a Bible for each child. Online forms microsoft.

Invite a child to give the opening prayer.

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures In The Bible

Enrichment Activities

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verse

You may use one or more of the following activities any time during the lesson or as a review, summary, or challenge.

Write knowledge, wisdom, and an understanding heart on the chalkboard. Discuss the meaning of each one. Explain that knowledge is learning gained through study or experience; wisdom is using what we have learned in the best way to make right choices; and an understanding heart enables us to know how others feel.

Have the children suggest situations, such as the following, where they might ask Heavenly Father to bless them with knowledge, wisdom, or an understanding heart:

A younger brother or sister is hurt or afraid.

A friend has hurt your feelings.

Someone has a problem and asks you for advice.

Help the children realize that they can receive these gifts if they seek them and live worthy lives.

Refer to the children’s ideas on the chalkboard of what gifts they might ask for (see the attention activity). If the ideas listed are spiritual gifts, discuss how to develop them and use them. If some or all of them are worldly gifts, have the children suggest spiritual gifts in place of the worldly ones before discussing them.

Explain to the children that David, Solomon’s father, had wanted to build a temple but was denied the privilege. The Lord instead chose Solomon to direct the seven years of construction. When the elaborate temple (much of it was overlaid with gold) was finished, the priests carried the ark of the covenant, which contained the two tablets of stone the Lord gave Moses, “to the most holy place” of the building (1 Kings 8:6). Then the glory of the Lord filled the temple (see 1 Kings 8:10–11), and Solomon offered the dedicatory prayer (see 1 Kings 8:22–53.)

Show the picture Temple Baptismal Font (Gospel Art Picture Kit 504; 62031). Point out that each temple today has a baptismal font resting on twelve oxen, similar to that in Solomon’s temple. In Solomon’s day this font was used to baptize the living; in our temples today the fonts are used to perform baptisms for the dead.

Have the children find the book of Proverbs in their Bibles. Explain that most of these proverbs (wise sayings) were written by Solomon, and because of his great wisdom, these sayings can help us today.

Choose some of the following passages from Proverbs and write their corresponding letters on separate pieces of paper. Place the papers in a container and have the children take turns choosing a letter. Read the proverb or have the children find it in their Bibles and read it. Help them state it in their own words. Then help them decide how it applies to them. The children may want to mark some of these proverbs in their own Bibles.

“Hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (1:8).

“If sinners entice thee, consent thou not” (1:10).

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (3:5–6).

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (3:13).

“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight” (12:22).

“A soft answer turneth away wrath” (15:1).

“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance” (15:13).

“The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous” (15:29).

“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!” (16:16).

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18).

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (16:24).

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty” (16:32).

“A friend loveth at all times” (17:17).

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (17:22).

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (20:1).

“Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right” (20:11).

“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (23:7).

“Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me” (24:29).

“A faithful man shall abound with blessings” (28:20).

“Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (29:25).

Help the children choose one of the proverbs to write down or memorize and share with their families.

Sing or read the words to “Love One Another” (Children’s Songbook, p. 136; or Hymns, no. 308) or “A Special Gift Is Kindness” (Children’s Songbook, p. 145).

Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verses

Invite a child to give the closing prayer.

[dailyaudiobible]

05/03/2021 DAB Transcript

Judges 17:1-18:31, John 3:1-21, Psalms 104:1-23, Proverbs 14:20-21

Today is the 3rd day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it’s great to be here with you as we get busy about our work week our first workweek of this month of May. But before we do, let's just center ourselves, exhale all that anxiety, come around this Global Campfire and let the Scriptures speak. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, working our way through the story of the different judges of Israel, which is a period of several centuries between Joshua's leadership and the time of the monarchy, the time when Israel decides it wants a king. So, let's dive in. Judges, chapters 17 and 18 today.

Commentary:

Okay. In our reading from the book of John today we encounter I think probably the most famous passage in all the Scriptures, at least in the New Testament. We can probably say it together, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” What may be a lesser-known, as is the case with a lot of very famous versus, is the context of this…this saying. It was Jesus himself who said this passage, “for God so loved the world.” Jesus said that. He said it to a man named Nicodemus, who was visiting Him under the cover of the night so that he wouldn't be exposed to the rest of the Council that he was having a private meeting with Jesus. And it's in that context of that conversation that Jesus tells Nicodemus, “you gotta be born again.” And that's where we get the concept that we use when we talk about being born again. This is all coming from a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus after dark one night long ago. Of course, Nicodemus is a grown man. He's a…a scholar of the Torah. So, he's confused. Obviously, like, how would a person go back into their mother's womb and be born again. And this is when Jesus explains this salvation process. A person is born of water, which represents a physical birth into life and a person can be born again of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives birth to new life within. That's what being born again means, that the spirit of God is within us, integrated within us, completing us as human beings as we were intended to be from the beginning. When we believe this, when we believe Jesus, we open our hearts to God's Spirit and we’re never the same again. According to Jesus when we do believe there is no longer anything held against us to condemn us. But for those who do not believe they’re all…they’re already experiencing condemnation. Like there already experiencing judgment or I just quote Jesus here. “whoever believes in Him…” Actually, let me just back up. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” Then Jesus goes on to talk about how light, when light comes into the darkness, those in the dark that don't want to be in the light go further into the darkness. Like they don't want to be exposed. And that should generally be easy enough to see in the world. Just a little bit harder to see it in ourselves. So, you know, the question that arises then is, “what am I trying to keep in the dark?” You know, “what am I afraid of being exposed? Because whatever I'm afraid of being exposed, that's ultimately pulling me deeper into the darkness.” And we have probably already learned by now that life on the margins in the shadows, there's not really any life there. And, so, this is one of the examples where we see Jesus teaching a lesson, giving us really the essence of salvation from His own lips, but also this theme of darkness and light that permeates Jesus’ teachings. It’s this contrast between false and true. And we try to spend our lives because of the way our culture is made up, because of the repercussions we…we live most of our lives, kind of in the shadows, right? When Jesus...Jesus was true. He was total light. And the and we see what the darkness is capable of as we look at…what it…how it raged against Jesus. We should also remember how that story ended. Jesus, the light of the world returned to victorious over the darkness and we don't have to live in the darkness anymore. We would call that the good news. That's the good news that we’re supposed to be living and demonstrating and explaining.

Prayer:

Father, Holy Spirit come. Allow us to grow in our understanding and the depth of our awareness of our salvation and of our intimacy of our connection with You, and of Your desire…and this is the part that’s so overwhelming…of Your desire for the connection with us, a desire so profoundly deep that You sent Your only son, that You love the world so much that You sent Your only son, that whoever would believe in him will not perish but have eternal life. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is definitely the website, and it's definitely a place to find out what’s going on around here. If you're using the app, you can access all of this as well by using the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app screen. But there are a couple of sections that…that are worth being familiar with. And, so, I try to familiarize us one way or the other each day.

The Community section. This is definitely where to get connected on social media. It's also where the Prayer Wall is. And so…and it lives there always, and it's always on so we can always have a place to go and pray. And, so, being familiar with that is…it is certainly important.

Also, the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources that have been developed there over these years, specifically for the journey that we’re on, whether that be things to write with, or things to write on or things to wear, things to listen to, things to read, go deeper. So, just check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop as we continue our journey forward.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what's happening here around the Global Campfire every day brings light and warmth and good news into your life than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement…well…first of all, you can hit the Hotline button in the app and share from there no matter where you are in the world or there are a number of phone numbers that you can use. If you're in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. In the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello this is Beloved in Texas and I know that I've called in about this before, but my 13-year-old daughter's counselor wants to meet with me next time she goes in to see her because she feels as though she needs to go see her doctor for anorexia. And because body dysmorphia eating disorder is something that I struggled with I don't know how to help her. I'm covering her in prayer, and I know that's the best thing I can do but I just ask that my Daily Audio Bible family come along side me and just pray for peace and wisdom in how I deal with and react to and help my daughter. I just pray that the Holy Spirit speaks to me at every opportunity to speak life and peace and my daughter's life. Thank you.

Hey this…this prayer is for Running Bear. Man, your prayer request just broke my heart for you and your kids so much. And, so, I just want to pray for You. Lord, I bring before You Running Bear and his children God and You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and You are the God of comfort and Jesus You know every human suffering. But I just ask God that You would end this suffering that is being caused by our culture and humans that are adding to the pain that these kids have already been through. And Lord, I just lift them up. I ask that You bring them community God. I ask that You bring them faithful fellowship Lord. I ask that You bring them friends who will all walk alongside them, godly friends who will pray with them and talk with them and share in their hurt and not be afraid to cry when they cry and laugh when they laugh and…and walk with them. Lord we all need people like that in our lives. And, so, I just lift this family up God. Be with them. And Lord we know that You are good, and You can do this in a way that's better than they even had imagined for themselves. And, so, I just pray that You exceed expectations here Lord and just put an end to this suffering God. We pray this in Your Sons’ name. Amen.

Father God I would like to say some prayers with Running Bear for his children and for himself and that they find the Christian community more compassionate and more giving to their grief. It's been a while since their wife died and they need companionship and fellowship with Christians to be made felt that there's people grieving with them. I am so sorry Running Bear that you are experiencing this, and your children are. Just…just so sad. I…I just wanted to pray for you. Please, today God, please put Your hands on these children and this father for they need people to come alongside them and help them. I ask You this in Your name. Amen.

Hi good morning Daily Audio Bible family my name is Norman I'm here on the East Coast of Pennsylvania. I'm a double DABber as I guess I've heard before. First time calling in and I have a request. I was diagnosed with…with cancer two days ago. Should have had it diagnosed a few ago apparently. It's pretty aggressive. I’m at peace with where I'm going. I'm just asking for prayer that I can speak to my daughters again. I haven’t seen or heard them in 10 years. My oldest just turned 20 and youngest 18. So, I don't know what's been going on in their lives. I try to reach out to their mother but there's no communication. So, I also need prayers for my son and my mother. But I’d just like to have one more chance just to speak to them and tell them I love them. So, thank you Brian for your... It's amazing it's a blessing what you do here every day. God bless you and congratulations on your new…your new baby with China and her new baby. God bless. Bye-bye.

Hello daily DAB DABbers this is Trick Selena. I'm just calling it to say hi. I love you guys and I'm praying for you on the Prayer Wall and for everybody calling in. I just wanted to say and remind you all that we are made in the image of God and there is so much power in prayer, there is so much power in words. The Lord said let there be light and there was light. And just…I just want to remind you that, that we're able to walk into a storm and call peace. And I just wanted to say healing, healing is absolutely at the Lord's hands and that we are just praying for healing over November and Indigo and Checkered Johnny and all the people on the Prayer Wall asking for prayer and…and to lean in and never give up and never stop and keep going and always to have hope. And I just really wanted to pray for…I don't remember his name, but he called in had lost…he lost his wife and the teenagers mom and that the teenagers, people are avoiding them and the teenagers are really hurt by that. And, so, I'm just going to pray. So, Lord God just please be with his family. I pray that You just…just put a hedge of protection around them Lord. Give them peace, happiness, hope, joy, rejuvenate them every single day Lord God and send them messengers. Send them Your loving people to show Your love Lord God. And I pray, send them on the road of healing. Such a deep, deep, deep situation that's just so full of pain. Lord God I pray that You cradle them in Your arms and that You just heal them, heal them, heal them, and that they may take this sorrow and this sadness and pain they felt, and they will go out and they were help others who are in the same situation in their future because Lord You are building those teenagers into Your mighty warriors. Lord God and I pray for the husband Lord God. Just strengthen him, rejuvenate him every day and give him peace, happiness, hope, and joy in the name of Jesus. Amen. I love you guys. I love you all...

Hello DABber family this is the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. I am listening to the DAB, a little bit behind on Gideon and how the Midianites were taking sustenance from the Israelites and how Gideon then was threshing wheat from the wine press. I tried to leave this message earlier. I'm not sure it…it…it…it…it registered but I want to share it reminded me of a time during the Liberian civil war. I was 13 years old and a military kept coming and taking our food. And, so, I could relate to Gideon and being afraid and fearful for, you know, having…not only afraid of the military that having food would draw their attention but also afraid of you losing my food. And, so, I remember there was one military guy who used to come to bring us food once in a while. He brought us like a quarter of a…like a quarter of a thing of food and it was like a quarter of a…a bag. What do you say? Like a like a pillowcase of food and he would bring it to us and we had to cook it and we were trying to hide the smoke from the soldiers. Anyway, my point is we were fearful, but God was so faithful. And Gideon was fearful, God was so faithful. And, so, at the end of the day I'm alive today to share the story and my testimony that God was faithful even though I was fearful. You don't have to be fearless for God to be faithful. That's my point. I hope this actually records. I love you all. I'll talk to you later. Bye.

[drmonte75-blog]

An Ordinary Commentary by Ordinary Men  

“Living to Glorify God Brings Satisfaction to the Soul” 

#Christianity #Church #Bible #Commentary  

ordinarycommentary.blogspot.com

Types of Righteousness and Religion Matthew 6:1-18 Our Lord warns His followers against counterfeit spirituality seeking to be seen and praised by men.

Harvey Goodwin—Verse 1: “In these verses our Lord applies to the subject of almsgiving, to what we commonly call in these days charity, the same spiritual principles according to which He has already explained and expanded several of the Laws of the Old Testament. All the men of our Lord’s time would admit almsgiving to the poor to be a great duty; but then many of them held or seemed to hold that there was virtue in the mere giving, independently of the spirit in which it was done, so that a man might make his charitable doings redound to his own praise, sounding a trumpet when he was going to distribute his alms, and the rest. Our Lord declares that, of which we can have no doubt when we hear it asserted, namely, that in the sight of God such almsgiving can have no virtue, no beauty, no excellence: the spirit which can alone render almsgiving pleasing to Him who sees the heart is the simple spirit of love, which withdraws itself from observation, seeks not its own, is unselfish, desiring to do what is charitable for the sake of charity only. But mark the awful emphasis, and something like irony, with which our Saviour says of those who make parade of their charity, Verily I say unto you, They have their reward; yes, they have their reward; they wish to gain the attention of mankind, and they gain it; they wish for applause, and they have it; they are pleased when they hear people say, ‘What a liberal man he is! and they have plenty of pleasure such as this. But what does it all amount to? what treasure is laid up in heaven by mere earthly applause? what satisfaction can it be to have cheated men into the belief of our excellent qualities, if the rottenness of our hearts is open and undisguised in the sight of Him who sees in secret, and who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart? They have their reward, have it already in this present world, and a poor unsatisfactory delusive reward it is.” 42 Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Verses 2-4: “'2. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.' We must not copy the loud charity of certain vainglorious persons: their character is hypocritical, their manner is ostentatious, their aim is to be seen of men, their reward is in the present. That reward is a very poor one, and is soon over. To stand with a penny in one hand and a trumpet in the other is the posture of hypocrisy. ‘Glory of men’ is a thing which can be bought: but honour from God is a very different thing. This is an advertising age, and too many are saying, ‘Behold my liberality!” Those who have Jesus for their King must wear his livery of humility, and not the scarlet trappings of a purse-proud generosity, which blows its own trumpet, not only in the streets, but even in the synagogues. We cannot expect two rewards for the same action: if we have it now we shall not have it hereafter. Unrewarded alms will alone count in the record of the last day. 3, 4. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine atms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shalt reward thee openly. Seek secrecy for your good deeds. Do not even see your own virtue. Hide from yourself that which you yourself have done that is commendable; for the proud contemplation of your own generosity may tarnish all your alms. Keep the thing so secret that even you yourself are hardly aware that you are doing anything at all praiseworthy. Let God be present, and you will have enough of an audience. He will reward you, reward you ‘openly’, reward you as a Father rewards a child, reward you as one who saw what you did, and knew that you did it wholly unto him. Lord, help me, when I am doing good, to keep my left hand out of it, that I may have no sinister motive, and no desire to have a present reward of praise among my fellow-men” 43 William Nast—Verse 5: “Verse 5. The Jews attached to prayer a still greater importance than even to fasting and almsgiving, but had reduced it to a mere mechanical performance. They prayed three times a day, at nine o'clock, A.M., at twelve o'clock, and at three o'clock, P. M., and resorted to the synagogue for prayer on the Sabbath, on Monday, and Thursday. Many a zealous Jew spent nine hours a day in prayer. Nor did they go for public prayer only to the synagogue, but, like the Roman Catholics, also for private prayer, because greater efficacy was ascribed to prayer in the synagogue. The Pharisees managed it so—this is implied in ‘they love’—that they were overtaken by the hour of prayer while on their way to the synagogue, that the people might see them pray and praise their piety. It is evident from the context that these remarks of our Lord are not directed against common or public prayer—a duty resting on express Divine command—but against performing private prayer in public places..” 44 Adam Clarke—Verse 6: “But thou, when thou prayest. This is a very impressive and emphatic address. But thou! whosoever thou art, Jew, Pharisee, Christian—enter into thy closet. Prayer is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God, and as it were the conversation of one heart with another. The world is too profane and treacherous to be of the secret. We must shut the door against it: endeavour to forget it, with all the affairs which busy and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement, at least of the heart; for this may be fitly termed the closet in the house of God, which house the body of every real Christian is, 1 Cor. iii. 16. To this closet we ought to retire even in public prayer, and in the midst of company. Reward thee openly. What goodness is there equal to this of God! to give, not only what we ask, and more than we ask, but to reward even prayer itself! How great advantage is it to serve a prince who places prayers in the number of services, and reckons to his subjects’ account, even their trust and confidence in begging all things of him!” 45 James Morison—Verse 7: “But, in addition to secrecy as regards men, take heed as regards another matter, namely, the fitting mood of mind in relation to God, when engaged in praying, use not vain repetitions: ‘Battering’ away at God, as it were, and ‘blattering’ (Luther has it, viel plujypern). ‘Babble’ not in prayer, in the spirit of those worshippers of Baal ‘who called on his name from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us’ (1 Kings xviii. 26), or of those worshippers of Diana who ‘about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians’ (Acts xix. 34). As the Gentiles do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking: They think that in heaping word upon word, and persistently holding on with their speechifying, they shall secure attention and a hearing. Such multiplication of speaking is utterly in vain. ‘It proceedeth,’ as good David Dickson remarks, ‘from a base misconception of God.’ It is well observed however by Augustin that there is a great difference between much speaking and much praying. And even repetitiousness, when it is not wordiness but the expression of intensity of desire, will not be unacceptable to the Hearer of prayer. Such repetitiousness will not be immoderate. It is found in many of the psalms; and it was characteristic of our Saviour’s own prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, when He again and again ‘prayed, saying the same words’ (Matt. xxvi. 44).” 46 James Glentworth Butler—Verse 8: “Your Father knoweth what ye need. Prayer is the preparation and the enlargement of the heart for the receiving of the divine gift; which, indeed, God is always prepared to give, but we are not always prepared to receive. In the act of prayer there is a purging of the spiritual eye, which thus is averted from the things earthly that darken it, and becomes receptive of the divine light—able not to endure only the brightness of that light, but to rejoice in it with an ineffable joy. In the earnest asking is the enlargement of the heart for the abundant receiving; even as in it is also the needful preparation for the receiving with a due thankfulness; while, on the contrary, the good which came unsought would too often remain the unacknowledged also. Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery, to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul toward heaven, and to put him in mind that there is his Father, his country, his inheritance. He is a Father to whom we pray; let us go to him with confidence; he knows our wants; let us remove far from us all anxious disquiet and concern.” 47 Edwin Wilbur Rice—Verse 9: “After this manner, or ‘thus.’ Jesus gives a pattern or specimen of true prayer. Thus it was understood by nearly all the early fathers and by the majority of evangelical Christians. Some hold that he gave this as a formula always to be used. Others say this is against his teaching in v. 7; and that he did not make the use of this particular form obligatory on his followers. There is no historical evidence, so far as known, that it was used as a formula of prayer by the apostles themselves. It is to be accepted as a proper mode of prayer, and it may be used in the worship of God privately or publicly, but always and only in accord with the principle already declared by Jesus—not to use display or vain repetitions in praying. Onr Father. ‘The Lord’s Prayer,’ so called because the Lord gave it as a pattern, might more accurately be called ‘The Model Prayer.’ It is usually divided into three parts: 1, preface; 2, petitions.; 3, conclusion. The Latin fathers and the Lutheran Church make the number of the petitions seven. The Greek and Reformed Churches and the Westminster divines make the number six, by making only one petition of the first part of v. 13, while the others divide it into two petitions. The works written on this ‘Model Prayer’ would make an immense library. The Preface is literally ‘Father of us, who art in the heavens;’ ‘our,’ not my, implying the brotherhood of the human race, especially of believers. The ‘fatherhood of God’ was an old thought in the Jewish worship. It seems a common thought of the race. The Vedas of India, the Zend-Avesta of Persia, Greek literature, as Plato and Plutarch, and the older Baal worship, have the same idea. It seems to be a relic of God's earliest revelation of himself in patriarchal times. But Jesus brings it into a new form and touches it with a new life. First Petition. Hallowed he thy name. That is, help us and others to revere, hallow, sanctify and make holy God’s name and being. Reverence lies at the foundation of all true prayer. 48 Phillip Schaff—Verse 10: “Thy kingdom come (second petition). The Messiah’s kingdom, which in organized form had not yet come, but was proclaimed by the Lord Himself, as at hand. It did speedily come, as opposed to the Old Testament theocracy; but in its fulness, including the triumph of Christ’s kingdom over the kingdom of darkness it has not yet come. For this coming we now pray and the prayer is answered, in part by every success of the gospel, and will be answered entirely when the King comes again. A missionary petition, but not less a prayer for our own higher sanctification and for the second coming of Christ. —Thy will be done as in heaven, so on earth (Third petition). ‘Heaven’ and ‘earth,’ put for their inhabitants. As by pure angels, so by men. The idea of human doing is prominent, our will subordinate to God’s will. ‘As’ expresses similarity in kind and completeness.” 49 Matthew Henry—Verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread. Because our natural being is necessary to our spiritual well-being in this world, therefore, after the things of God’s glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life, which are the gifts of God, and must be asked of him,—Bread for the day approaching, for all the remainder of our lives. Bread for the time to come, or bread for our being and subsistence, that which is agreeable to our condition in the world, (Prov. 30.8.) food convenient for us and our families, according to our rank and station. Every word here has a lesson in it: (1.) We ask for bread; that teaches us sobriety and temperance; we ask for bread, not dainties, not superfluities; that which is wholesome, though it be not nice. (2.) We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread out of other people’s mouths, not the bread of deceit, (Prov. 20.13.) not the bread of idleness, (Prov. 31.27.) but the bread honestly gotten. (3.) We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow, (ch. 6.34.) but constantly to depend upon divine providence, as those that live from hand to mouth. (4.) We beg of God to give it us, not sell it us, nor lend it us, but give it. The greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread. (5.) We pray, ‘Give it to us; not to me only, but to others in common with me.’ This teaches us charity, and a compassionate concern for the poor and needy. It intimates also, that we ought to pray with our families; we and our house-holds eat together, and therefore ought to pray together. (6.) We pray that God would give it us this day; which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed; as duly as the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we should as well go a day without meat, as without prayer.” 50 John Bird Sumner—Verses 12-13: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. We are, then, trespassers: we need forgiveness. Our hearts must be ill-instructed in the divine law, if they do not tell us that it is so. And he who lives through mercy, must show mercy. An unforgiving spirit would mar the effect even of this Christian prayer, because it would betray a most unchristian state of mind. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. There are temptations which ‘are common to men.’ We see throughout all Scripture, that it is God’s will that his people should be tried. But who, that knows his frailty, and the infirmity of his best purposes, will not pray that he may be kept from temptation, and delivered from the evil one?” 51 Joseph Addison Alexander—Verses 14-15: “14. For, if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15. But, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. The next two verses, as already stated, purport to give a reason for something in the previous context, which can only be the last clause of v. 12. As if he had said, ‘In asking for forgiveness, you must stand prepared to exercise it also, for unless you are, you cannot be forgiven, not because the one is the condition of the other, but because the two must go together, and the absence of the one proves the absence of the other.’ The verb four times repeated here is the same with that in v. 12; but instead of the word delts another figure is employed, that of a fall or false step, rendered in the English versions, trespass, and intended to express the same idea, that of sin, which may be considered either as a debt due to the divine justice, or as a lapse from the straight course of moral rectitude. The fulness and precision with which the alternative is here presented may appear superfluous, but adds to the solemnity of the assurance, and would no doubt strengthen the impression on the minds of the original hearers. In this, as in the whole preceding context, God is still presented in his fatherly relation to all true believers; as if to intimate that even that relation, tender as it is, would give no indulgence to an unforgiving spirit.” 52 Charles John Elliott—Verse 16: “(16) When ye fast.—Fasting had risen under the teaching of the Pharisees into a new prominence. Under the Law there had been but the one great fast of the Day of Atonement, on which men were ‘to afflict their souls’ (Lev. xxiii.27; Num. xxix.7), and practice had interpreted that phrase as meaning total abstinence from food. Other fasts were occasional, in times of distress or penitence, as in Joel i.14, ii.15; or as part of a policy affecting to be religions zeal (1 Kings xxi.9, 12); or as the expression of personal sorrow (1 Sam. xx.34; 2 Sam. xii 16; Ezra x.6; Neh. i.4; et al.). These were observed with an ostentatious show of affliction which called forth the indignant sarcasm of the prophets (Isa. lviii.5). The ‘sackcloth’ took the place of the usual raiment, ‘ashes’ on the head, of the usual unguents (Neh. ix.1; Ps. xxxv. 13). The tradition of the Pharisees, starting from the true principle that fasting was one way of attaining self-control, and that as a discipline it was effectual in proportion as it was systematic, fixed on the fasts ‘twice in the week,’ specified in the prayer of the Pharisee (Luke xviii.12); and the second and fifth days of the week were fixed, and connected with some vague idea that Moses went up Mount Sinai on the one, and descended on the other. Our Lord, we may note, does not blame the principle, or even the rule, on which the Pharisees acted. He recognises fasting, as He recognises almsgiving and prayer, and is content to warn His disciples against the ostentation that vitiates all three, the secret self-satisfaction under the mask of contrition, the ‘pride that apes humility.’ The very words, ‘when thou fastest’ contain an implied command. Of a sad countenance.—Strictly, of sullen look, moroseness of affected austerity rather than of real sorrow. They disfigure their faces.—The verb is the same as that translated ‘corrupt’ in verse 19. Here it points to the unwashed face and the untrimmed hair, possibly to the ashes sprinkled on both, that men might know and admire the rigorous asceticism.” 53 Charles Rosenbury Erdman—Verses 17-18: “Very popular with the Jews among whom Christ lived, was that of fasting. If this is practiced in order to show to God our sorrow for sin; or if it is involved in our devotion to his service, it is right and commendable; but if it is employed as a means of winning the approval and praise of men, it is hypocrisy and pretense. Jesus insists that fasting, and all forms of self-denial, should be in secret; we are not to parade our sacrifices; we are not to make capital out of our devotion. We are to have regard only to the Father who is in secret, who sees in secret and who surely will reward.” 54 Endnote: 42   Harvey Goodwin, A Commentary on the Gospel of S. Matthew (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Company, 1857), 93-94. 43   Charles H. Spurgeon, The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Popular Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1893), 32. 44   William Nast, A Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark (Cincinnati: Poe & Hitchcock, 1864), 262. 45   Adam Clarke, The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew to the Acts), Volume 1 (New York: Lane & Scott, 1850), 84. 46   James Morrison, A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1895), 88. 47   J. Glentworth Butler, The Bible Work (or Bible Readers Commentary) The New Testament, in Two Volumes, Volume 1 (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1889), 157. 48   Edwin W. Rice, Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew (Philadelphia: The American Sunday School Union, 1897), 79. 49   Philip Shaff, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, Volume 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891), 67. 50   Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Volume 5 (Philadelphia: Edward Barrington & George D. Haswell, 1825), 67. 51   John Bird Sumner, A Practical Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, in the Form of Lectures (London: Hatchard & Son, 1831), 70. 52   Joseph Addison Alexander, The Gospel According to Matthew (New York: Charles Scribner, 1861), 176. 53   Charles John Ellicott, A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (Matthew-John), Volume 1 (Edinburg: The Calvin Translation Society, 1884), 26. 54   Charles Rosenbury Erdman, The Gospel of Matthew: An Exposition (Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1920), 56.

[dalyunministry]

DISCIPLED TO MAKE DISCIPLES

By. Pastor. Jeshurun Sogers

💥

Blessed evening to you all Royal family of God. My name is Pst Jeshurun Rogers from Sierra Leone. I will be ministering on the topic "DISCIPLED TO MAKE DISCIPLES" thanks be to God for the opportunity and I thank the woman of God for given me the platform.

Let us pray: Father in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth we gather unto you this moment, we thank you for your loving kindness your faithfulness and your tender mercy. Have mercy on us oh Lord and help us to be more like you. As we go through this teaching open the eyes of our understanding. We thank you oh Lord all this we ask in Jesus mighty name.

WHO IS A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST?

A disciple of Christ is one who (1) believes his doctrine, (2) rests on his sacrifice, (3) imbibes his spirit, and (4) imitates his example (Matt. 10:24; Luke 14:26, 27, 33; John 6:69).

What is discipleship?

Discipleship is a lifelong relationship between Jesus and a willing believer. The relationship is meant to produce Christlike.

Introduction

I will like to established the fact that you can not give what you don't have. For you to be qualify to disciple others, you most have pass through the process yourself.

God has only one means of making His vessels. That means is discipleship. The process of discipleship provides opportunity of preparation, molding and sharpening for anyone who desires to be God's instrument in his or her generation. Even in biblical days, God only use His servants to bring help, deliverance, revival and restoration of divine counsel after passing through the molding process under God or others that have gone through the discipline process. Moses took 40 years learning to be somebody, he went through another 40 years learning to be a non body. To show that you most die to self for you to be use of God. He later spent 40 years to do ministry.

Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior priority in His earthly ministry was discipleship.( Matt 4:18-21, Mark 3:13-15, Luke 12:1; Luke 22:28-29, John 20:21) following Jesus steps is a MUST for anyone who desires to be a worthy vessels in Gods hand. You must grow to be like Jesus.

God can not commit Himself to the crowd (John 2:23-25) for God to give attention to and focus on your life, you must separate yourself from the crowd of your friends, peers and contemporaries and commit yourself unto a personal, functional and progressive relationship with Jesus in discipleship.

Discipleship focuses on the inner life of the believer to deliver him from sin and sinful nature and pass unto him the very life of Christ.

The process of discipleship involves training, discipline and molding of character in the culture and principles of God's Kingdom. It is by this that the old, ugly, Adamic nature is deleted and the new beautiful life of Christ is form. Dodging it, is like dodging divine beautification that opens room for divine placement.

Looking at many Churches today, discipleship is no longer a priority, the gospel of the Kingdom has been replaced with the gospel of the belly. Many think that discipleship is a long process, so they chose the easy way. I pray that God will help us to put Him first in the Ministry He has put in Our care, that at the end He will say unto us well done thou good and faithful servant....

BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR DISCIPLESHIP ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE.

a. The New Life Experience ( John 3:3-6, John 1:12; 1st Corinthians 2:14)

The process of discipleship begins with a genuine experience Of the new birth. No unborn child can be trained and sent out for service. You must be Born Again is a basic entry qualification for anyone wishing to be use of God. Only Christ nature can be trained, nurtured and developed to grow like Christ. Certainly there is no amount of training that can turn a Pig to a Sheep. You must be Born Again.

b. Conviction and willingness ( Matt 4:19-22; John 6:64-68; 1Kings 19:19-21; 2Kings 2:1-15)

You need a conviction and a ready mind that will enable you to stand when face with opposition. Many of Jesus disciples went back from following Him because they were not resolute in their hearts. Many are still turning back by action and characters because their mind has not been made. Some give their lives to Christ on Sunday and collect it back on Monday because of the pressure. When a believer lacks conviction Of the beauty that discipleship is able to make out of his or her life, he or she will turn back to other alternatives. Certainly there is no future to anyone who turns back. Following Jesus in discipleship must be of your own willing mind.

¶ Looking at the Concept of a Human Discipler.

Jesus is the overall Master and discipler, but He appoints mature and older believers who themselves are growing and going in discipleship to take oversight of the growth of young disciple to clearly see the life of Jesus Christ. They exhort, teach, instruct, train, discipline and correct.

¶ Examples of discipler and disciples relationship in the Bible.

Moses and Joshua; Mordecai and Esther; Elijah and Elisha; Barnabas and Paul; Paul and Timothy.

¶ Lets look at Paul and Timothy discipleship illustrations.

The work of disciples making throws on us the challenge to be disciple ourselves. You will be a hypocrite to be a disciple maker who has never submitted his or her life under another person's discipline hands. Paul had the courage and experience needed to disciple Timothy not only because he was a believer but because he was also a disciple. ¶ Are you a disciple?

Looking at Paul, he was a learned man but when he receive the call of the Master, he submitted himself to be disciple. He did not look at his credentials.

Timothy, though born again and already a disciple of Jesus Christ, submitted his life and career under Paul in discipleship to become whom God wanted him to be. He left his father and mother, his Greek heritage and tradition.

Jesus says anyone who does not forsake all that he has, cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:26-33). Even Jesus had to forsake all and go through the painful death on the cross, having seen the joy that was set before Him.

What do you suppose it will cost you to submit yourself to a human discipler? It is nothing compared with the joy that is set before you.

¶ But the question is have you left all?

Now,Timothy followed Paul everywhere he went not to preach but to learn. (2Timothy 2:2). He learnt quietly seeing how Paul followed the Holy Spirits leading all the way. He allowed them to preach in Macedonia and other places. For effectiveness in discipleship, there is need for a regular if not Daily close interaction between the disciple and his discipler.

Discipleship is not without suffering (Acts 16:18, 22-23; Philippians 1:29). As Timothy followed Paul and Silas about, they encountered severe persecution in Philippi. Paul and Silas were beaten and cast into prison for casting out a demon. I wonder where Timothy was at that time, maybe he escape for his dear life; we were not told. That would have been a hard lesson for him. Phil 1:29 says that it has been given to us not only to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ but also to suffer for the sake of Christ. Today many only want to be at the milk and honey side, when it get bitter, they move some where else. Such people are not yet ready to be a disciple of Jesus. For whosoever put his hand in a plow and look back, is not fit for the kingdom.

First, you will discover that Paul left Timothy with Silas in Berea to probably follow up the believers there. He was been exposed to the ministry of Paul's partner Silas for more learning. In Acts 19:22 Paul send a newly recruited disciple in the team (Erastus) to follow Timothy to Macedonia for ministry. Discipleship is a follow, follow business. You keep on following until you become. When you finally become, others start following you. Timothy has grown now to teach a younger disciple.

Timothy's discipleship relationship with Paul was like a father and son. They related very closely together. Even when Timothy had grown to be a preacher himself, Paul still had liberty to send for him anytime Timothy's help was needed. He did not grow beyond discipleship. Discipleship is a relationship not just a program. Paul still taught and counseled him through letters even though they were separated due to the ministry he was heading. I believe this is a very big lesson we all should emulate even as we follow the Master closely.

Jesus said: " if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed" (John 8:31). Discipleship being a process requires continuity. Growth that comes from the process of discipleship is gradual and if it will not be neglected, the disciple must continue regardless of the experience. When discipleship is omitted or abandoned, effective and proportional growth is hindered.

Let's look at few examples from the Bible, people who either omitted or abandoned the opportunity of discipleship that was given to them.

1. Lot, Abraham's Nephew Genesis. 13:5-11; 14:12; 18:20-33; 19:1-38

2. The generation after Joshua and his mates- Judges 2:10.

3. Gehazi- 2Kings 5:20-27

4. Oprah- Ruth's mate- Ruth 1:14

5. The many disciples of Jesus John 6:66

6. The rich young ruler Mark 10:17-23

7. Demas- Col 4:14; 2Timothy 4:9-10.

As I conclude, I want you to know that discipleship is not optional for all who wants to follow Jesus, it is a most. For you to be able to disciple others, you must have gone through the process yourself. Jesus called the 12 to be with Him in order to make them. The process of discipleship require sacrifice, you must be ready to pay the price. God bless you all and remain rapturable in Jesus mighty name.....Amen....

[scripture-pictures]

https://victorcarjan.blogspot.com/2018/11/bible-case-for-no-have-baby.html?m=1 Scripture to back up why I think its wrong to have babies!

Isaiah 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;

they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth:

they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

1st: A horrible punishment from God is letting some guys know they will be in pain

like a woman giving birth!.....normally never have to think about this;

but if its so bad to me, why would I accept this precept of "nature" to put the girl I theoretically

would really love, in this sort of punishment!

Is it a punishment?

my answer is YES!!

Genesis 3:16

“Unto the woman he said,

I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and

thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;

and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

2nd Definitely a punishment the amount of pain they go through!;

so one way to avoid this punishment would be to avoid having the babies right?

I perceive, that is what I would do and if one is truly a believer and has faith,

then they would be willing to wait until the after-life right?

ISAIAH 56:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs

that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;

5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place

and a name better than of sons and of daughters:

I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

3rd point: Eunuchs, as far as I understand, means like a barren man;

a man that doesn't have babies, or can't have babies, or chooses not to have babies.

Sounds like God says he will reward them better than the sons and daughters!..

.so then its a reward?

Jesus in LUKE 23:29

28But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem,

weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say,

Blessed are the barren,

and the wombs that never bare,

and the paps which never gave suck.

30Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills,

Cover us. 31For if they do these things

in a green tree,

what shall be done in the dry?

ISAIAH Chapter 32

9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice,

ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.

10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled,

ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones:

strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

12 They shall lament for the teats,

for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

4th: who are they? I'm not sure!...but as I remember at this point, the context of his message

was that it was good to not have babies at least in those days for sure!..

but its a help to an argument using scripture as the sword and shield to state its better to

not have babies in this world presently in.

ISAIAH 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear;

break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail

with child: for more are the children of the desolate

than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.

5th: Clearly God, creator, is saying to woman to sing and be happy and rejoice

like she won something by not having babies!.. she avoided a major punishment

of woman by not having babies, I believe that is certainly true!...

Jeremiah 16:1-4

1The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

2Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons

or daughters in this place.

3For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters

that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare

them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;

4They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented;

neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth:

and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and

their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the

beasts of the earth.

(sounds like the Feast of the fowls at the end of the days as mentioned in

Revelations and in the old testament of Ezekiel,

please fear God and pay the respects due to make full good of these warnings)

Jeremiah 4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail,

and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child,

the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself...

6th ahh, pain...the first child must be a lot worse than its true;

the first one hurts more and after that its been opened already and stretched out

so I guess it makes sense..but I just don't like it anymore at all. its too gruesome sounding..

Jeremiah 13:21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?

for thou hast taught them to be captains,

and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee,

as a woman in travail?

Jeremiah 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars,

how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee,

the pain as of a woman in travail!

7th: Its not gracious and its a punishment; and its a warning from God to man,

that if you do wrong won't you get punished like a woman in travail or something?

HORRIBLE!! thus if I conclude its a horrible punishment how can I then justify

wanting to put someone through it?

Prayer; please God never let me have to go through pains

like a woman in travail or anything like it;

or like how Krillin from dragon ball z was depicted in those videos to help understand scripture;

please help me;

I do believe that before the punishment it was different having babies;

I don't know how exactly; but clearly different since it says greatly multiplying the pain..

8.24.18 2.34 A.M. update

Thoughts: Thus then, if we be towards the end of the world based on all the signs shown;

we may be in a similar scenario

ECCLESIASTES 3:5 a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

1 JOHN 3: 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;

for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,

because he is born of God.

Leviticus 12 WHY SIN OFFERING FOR HAVING BABY?

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,

If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child:

then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days

of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.

5But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean

two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of

her purifying threescore and six days.

6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter,

she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon,

or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle

of the congregation, unto the priest:

7 Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and

she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath

born a male or a female.

8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles,

or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the

other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her,

and she shall be clean.

MISCELLANEOUS

Jesus said in MATTHEW 24:19

19 And woe unto them that are with child,

and to them that give suck in those days!

Jesus said in LUKE 21:22+23

22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days!

for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.

Jesus said in MARK 13:17

17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

This regarding HOSEA 9, I believe can be best understood when referencing the passage

in ECCLESIASTES where the preacher saw all the oppressions done under the sun and praised the

dead more than the living, and said that better than both the dead and the living was that which never

existed. We also have Jeremiah in the book of JEREMIAH wishing he was never born, and Jonah in

JONAH wishing for death, and even Elijah wanting to not live. So if the world is a painful place to exist,

to bring a child into that world wouldn’t be righteous, and thus,

God giving them a miscarrying womb could be a greatly misunderstood mercy!

Who would feel good about bringing a child into this world to have it

be treated like the woman in Gibeah from Judges 19?

HOSEA 9

9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore

he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them,

that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place:

but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

Only more recently did I see this prayer by Hosea as a prayer of Mercy and love.

I wonder if others had similar experiences searching for the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Also remember Rachel died during giving birth to her 2nd Child,

Genesis 35:16 ...and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. 17And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have

this son also. 18And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing,

(for she died) that she called his name Benoni:

but his father called him Benjamin. 19And Rachel died...

Jeremiah 9:24 King James Version (KJV)

24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

[proseandprophecy]

We MUST Question God... TOGETHER.

Its been a while since I posted a long one like this, family. But bear with me. This was given to me today and I was supposed to put it up earlier but didn’t and now I feel an ALARMING urgency to publish it. Things are “shifting”, as so many like to say these days, and we must shift with it. Recently had a conversation on facebook on someone’s post about the latest happenings in Syria and the poster was questioning God about why this was happening. A woman, presumably a confessed Christian, commented saying we shouldn’t question God because God’s gonna take care of all of this whenever “he” decides to and that the world is not for us to fix. She said that we should focus on the real enemy which is Satan or the devil. I’m gonna skip all of the preliminary stuff about how God and Devil only represent our inner good and evil and get to the meat of the matter. I was simply watching the back and forth but I felt I had to interject. She said she didn’t wanna discuss it on facebook (even though she already was doing so with the other woman, complete with scriptures and everything) and that she wanted to talk to me privately. I told her my inbox is open. She never responded. I left it alone and went about my day. Then I woke up this morning from a dream that seemed significant, however random (or so I thought) and I didn’t think anything of it. But then I started receiving the following message and began to write… _________ People say not to question God about the state of planet earth and its inhabitants, but let’s think about it. If we don’t ask questions, how will we ever get answers? James 4:1-3 (ESV) 1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. YOU DO NOT HAVE, BECAUSE YOU DO NOT ASK. 3 You ask and do not receive, because YOU ASK WRONGLY, to spend it on your passions. We’re asking the wrong questions for the wrong reasons. But pay attention, that’s not all. When we realize we are all made up of stardust and particles (in scientific terms) or (in spiritual terms) that we are all made up of the collective consciousness of God expressed in physical matter (logos/thought/word made “flesh”), the innerstanding of who we’re actually questioning or supposed to be questioning is now unveiled. If we are, in our higher selves, one with God, and we are to be questioning God, then it follows that we should be questioning ourselves. It ALL comes back to the self or the divine self and why “I AM” sleeping on the job of co-creation and manifestation of a better world. Awakened gods = New Heaven New Heaven = New Earth Matthew 6:10 (ESV) 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, ON EARTH AS it is IN HEAVEN. So I thought about the idea of awakening to the divinity within and I was reminded of this passage about being asleep… 1 Corinthians 11:27-31 (KJV) 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, NOT DISCERNING the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are WEAK and SICKLY among you, and MANY SLEEP. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. I was taught the portion about many being sleep meant that they were dead. In other words, that if you are in sin or unworthy when you take the body and the blood of communion, you will die. But it was revealed to me this morning after I awoke from an interesting dream that this is not about drinking a little sip of wine or grape juice, nor eating a wafer, symbolizing Jesus. The ritual is only a physical representation of a deeper spiritual concept. The ritual is called COMMUNION. COMMON-UNION or COMMON-UNITY. This message was NOT about the ritual of communion, it was about the UNITY of divine beings or “gods” (US in our higher selves) working together to make the “BODY of our Lord” (the earth) whole!!!!!! I hope I am making this clear! Nature and humanity is one body. A finely tuned organism. A collection of organisms working together symbolically and in complete harmony. And as such, it has many different parts, organs, members, etc. We are an ecosystem. If one part of the system fails, the entire system is affected. For example, if one organ in the body fails, the entire body is affected. It is the same with us and earth. While we reside in our lower selves, we are a detriment to the ecosystem of the planet. It is for us to examine/judge ourselves. It is for us to STOP SLEEPING. Using the divinity within for our own selfish passions, as it says in the James passage above, is causing the body/planet to shut down. There is a unity in our raising of vibration that MUST BE, in order for there to be change. We must begin with the examination of our individualized selves but we CANNOT stop there!!!!!!!!! Unity and working together is ABSOLUTELY a necessity to the saving of the planet… to the manifestation of a new earth. The difference between what I’m saying and what we’ve heard before is this… Anyone and everyone can focus on their own “personal” spirituality and be in their own world. But without the communion… without the UNITY, there is no REVOLUTION. Without the communion with others, we are “not discerning” the body correctly. In other words, without communion with others, we are falsely diagnosing the disease in the body/planet and therefore it cannot get better. Connect with people who are raising their vibration. Connect with people who are against the status quo, who are actively operating in love and unity. There is no other way. We must heal the world. _________ We have created an online Facebook group called “#UnityLoveRevolution” built for this specific purpose of community. If you are interested, check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1644509575848241/ #UnityLoveRevolution #OrganicEtherealReEvolutionaryLiving #WiseQuestionsProduceWiseAnswers Love, Light, Wholeness, and Balance, - Mikal Anthony aka Ethereal Re-Evolutionary

[jolie-guerrier]

Surviving The Coming Great Tribulation - Apostle Series - Chapter Three

Part Three:

In the past Chapter, Chapter Two, I finished up with the announcements:

I feel that the stage is set for the best dramatization that has been happened on Earth since Jesus was brought into the world here, instructed here, mended individuals here, permitted Himself to be executed here, was raised from death by His Father here, and - before climbing to paradise - gave us who are alive here 'The Great Commission,' (KJV) Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and lecture the gospel to each animal.'

As His workers that are still here, we ought to be proceeding to do Our Lord and Master's requests Diamond Generator Chapters Jesus didn't state, "Go get yourself murdered for me." Jesus did say,'(KJV) Matthew 18:14 Even so it isn't the desire of your Father which is in paradise, that one of these little ones ought to die.'

While we are alive, we can tell others,'(KJV) John 3:16 For God so cherished the world, that he gave his lone conceived Son, that whosoever believeth in him ought not die, however have everlasting life.'

During the first 50% of 'The Great Tribulation', many will die. However others will be spared by the individuals who affirm and observer regarding the decency of Our Lord and Him having furnished them with a redemption vessel, as God had accommodated Noah and his family.

(CEV) Matthew 24:37 When the Son of Man shows up, things will be similarly as they were when Noah lived.

(CEV) Matthew 24:29 Right after those long stretches of anguish, "The sun will get dim, and the moon will not sparkle anymore. The stars will fall, and the forces in the sky will be shaken." 30 Then a sign will show up in the sky. What's more, there will be the Son of Man. All countries on earth will sob when they see the Son of Man going ahead the billows of paradise with force and incredible wonder. 31 At the sound of a noisy trumpet, he will send his blessed messengers to unite his divinely selected individuals from everywhere throughout the earth. 32 Learn an exercise from a fig tree. At the point when its branches grow and begin putting out leaves, you realize that mid year is close. 33 So when you see every one of these things occurring, you will realize that the opportunity has nearly arrived. 34 I can guarantee you that a portion of the individuals of this age will in any case be alive when this occurs. 35 The sky and the earth won't keep going forever, yet my words will. 36 No one knows the day or hour. The holy messengers in paradise don't have the foggiest idea, and the Son himself doesn't have a clue. Just the Father knows. 37 When the Son of Man shows up, things will be similarly as they were when Noah lived. 38 People were eating, drinking, and getting hitched straight up to the day that the flood came and Noah went into the large pontoon. 39 They knew nothing was going on until the flood came and cleared them all away. That is the way it will be the point at which the Son of Man shows up.'

(CEV) Luke 17:24 The day of the Son of Man will resemble lightning moving quickly over the sky. 25 But first he should endure appallingly and be dismissed by the individuals of today. 26 When the Son of Man comes, things will be similarly as they were when Noah lived. 27 People were eating, drinking, and getting hitched straight up to the day when Noah went into the large vessel. At that point the flood came and suffocated everybody on earth. 28 When Lot lived, individuals were likewise eating and drinking. They were purchasing, selling, planting, and building. 29 But on the very day Lot left Sodom, blazing flares poured down from the sky and killed everybody. 30 a similar will occur on the day when the Son of Man shows up. 31 around then nobody on a housetop ought to go down into the house to get anything. Nobody in a field ought to return to the house for anything. 32 Remember what happened to Lot's significant other. 33 People who attempt to spare their lives will lose them, and the individuals who lose their lives will spare them. 34 On that night two individuals will be dozing in a similar bed, however just one will be taken. The other will be left. 35 36 Two ladies will be as one granulating wheat, yet just one will be taken. The other will be left. 37 Then Jesus' followers made some noise, "Yet where will this occur, Lord?" Jesus stated, "Where there is a cadaver, there will consistently be vultures."

(CEV) Hebrews 11:7 Because Noah had confidence, he was cautioned about something that had not yet occurred. He obeyed and constructed a vessel that spared him and his family. Right now individuals of the world were judged, and Noah was given the endowments that come to everybody who satisfies God.'

(CEV) 1 Peter 3:14 Even on the off chance that you need to languish over doing beneficial things, God will favor you. So quit being apprehensive and don't stress over what individuals may do. 15 Honor Christ and let him be a mind-blowing Lord. Continuously be prepared to offer a response when somebody gets some information about your expectation. 16 Give a sort and deferential answer and keep your still, small voice unmistakable. Along these lines you will make individuals embarrassed for criticizing your great direct as a supporter of Christ. 17 You are in an ideal situation to obey God and languish over doing directly than to languish over fouling up. 18 Christ kicked the bucket once for our transgressions. A blameless individual kicked the bucket for the individuals who are blameworthy. Christ did this to carry you to God, when his body was killed and his soul was made alive. 19 Christ at that point lectured the spirits that were being kept in jail. 20 They had defied God while Noah was building the pontoon, yet God had shown restraint toward them. Eight individuals went into that vessel and were brought securely through the flood. 21 Those rising waters resembled sanctification that currently spares you. Be that as it may, submersion is something beyond washing your body. It implies going to God with an unmistakable inner voice, since Jesus Christ was raised from death. 22 Christ is currently in paradise, where he sits at the correct side of God. All heavenly attendants, specialists, and forces are heavily influenced by him.'

(CEV) 2 Peter 2:1 Sometimes bogus prophets addressed the individuals of Israel. Bogus instructors will likewise sneak in and talk destructive deceives you. In any case, these educators don't generally have a place with the Master who followed through on an incredible cost for them, and they will rapidly devastate themselves. 2 Many individuals will follow their underhanded ways and cause others to lie about the genuine way. 3 They will be eager and cheat you with smooth talk. Be that as it may, quite a while in the past God chose to rebuff them, and God doesn't rest. 4 God didn't have feel sorry for on the heavenly attendants that trespassed. He had them tied up and tossed into the dim pits of damnation until the hour of judgment. 5 And during Noah's time, God didn't have feel sorry for on the profane individuals of the world. He obliterated them with a flood, however he saved eight individuals, including Noah, who lectured reality. 6 God rebuffed the urban communities of Sodom and Gomorrah by consuming them to remains, and this is an admonition to any other individual who needs to sin. 7 Lot lived right and was enormously disturbed by the awful way those evil individuals were living. He was a decent man, and for a long time he endured in light of the abhorrent things he saw and heard. So the Lord protected him. 9 This tells the Lord realizes the best way to protect faithful individuals from their sufferings and to rebuff detestable individuals while they sit tight for the day of judgment. 10 The Lord is particularly hard on individuals who defy him and don't consider anything with the exception of their own dirty wants. They are careless and glad and are not terrified of reviling the radiant creatures in paradise. 11 Although holy messengers are more remarkable than these shrewd creatures, even the holy messengers don't set out to denounce them to the Lord. 12 These individuals are no better than silly creatures that live by their emotions and are destined to be gotten and murdered. They talk malice of things they know nothing about. Be that as it may, their own degenerate deeds will annihilate them. 13 They have done insidiousness, and they will be compensated with underhanded. They think it is amusing to have wild gatherings during the day. They are unethical, and the suppers they eat with you are ruined by the dishonorable and childish way they continue. 14 All they consider is engaging in sexual relations with another person's significant other or spouse. There is no closure to their underhanded deeds. They stunt individuals who are effortlessly tricked, and their psyches are loaded up with insatiable contemplations. Yet, they are set out toward inconvenience!

15 They have left the genuine street and have gone down an inappropriate way by following the case of the prophet Balaam. He was the child of Beor and adored what he got from being a law breaker. 16 But a jackass revised him for this insidious deed. It addressed him with a human voice and made him stop his silliness. 17 These individuals resemble evaporated water openings and mists passed up a windstorm. The darkest piece of damnation is sitting tight for them. 18 They gloat so anyone can hear about their dumb drivel. What's more, by being foul and unrefined, they trap individuals who have scarcely gotten away from carrying on with an inappropriate sort of life. 19 They guarantee opportunity to everybody. However, they are just captives of soiled living, since individuals are captives of whatever controls them. 20 When they found out about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they got away from the messy things of this world. Be that as it may, they are again up to speed and constrained by these dirty things, and now they are fit as a fiddle than they were from the start. 21 They would have been exceptional off in the event that they had never thought about the correct way. Significantly after they realized what was correct, they betrayed the blessed instructions that they were given. 22 What transpired is much the same as the genuine saying, "A canine will return to lick up its own regurgitation. A pig that has been washed will abound in the mud."

I accept that for some - who have ears to hear - the sound of a challenge to procure the methods by which to situate themselves and their friends and family safely away from the urban areas - where the greater part of the tumult and the protester assortments may - happen will have a wonderful ring.

I am proposing that brilliant Christians - and other people who will be focused on - rake in some serious cash quick!

The equivalent Precious Savior that "Relieved" me ~ quickly ~ of my most troublesome impediment "Incontince" (I was experiencing 20 to 30 dispensable diapers every day) that I have encountered of "Hopeless" MS (Multiple Sclerosis) gave me a "Monetary Deliverance Vessel" to perhaps sail to some remote goal - the headings including where - God will give

[araitsume]

The Desire of Ages, pp. 463-475: Chapter (51) “The Light of Life”

This chapter is based on John 8:12-59; John 9.

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

When He spoke these words, Jesus was in the court of the temple specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles. In the center of this court rose two lofty standards, supporting lampstands of great size. After the evening sacrifice, all the lamps were kindled, shedding their light over Jerusalem. This ceremony was in commemoration of the pillar of light that guided Israel in the desert, and was also regarded as pointing to the coming of the Messiah. At evening when the lamps were lighted, the court was a scene of great rejoicing. Gray-haired men, the priests of the temple and the rulers of the people, united in the festive dances to the sound of instrumental music and the chants of the Levites.

In the illumination of Jerusalem, the people expressed their hope of the Messiah's coming to shed His light upon Israel. But to Jesus the scene had a wider meaning. As the radiant lamps of the temple lighted up all about them, so Christ, the source of spiritual light, illumines the darkness of the world. Yet the symbol was imperfect. That great light which His own hand had set in the heavens was a truer representation of the glory of His mission.

It was morning; the sun had just risen above the Mount of Olives, and its rays fell with dazzling brightness on the marble palaces, and lighted up the gold of the temple walls, when Jesus, pointing to it, said, “I am the light of the world.”

By one who listened to these words, they were long afterward re-echoed in that sublime passage, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.” “That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:4, 5, R. V., 9. And long after Jesus had ascended to heaven, Peter also, writing under the illumination of the divine Spirit, recalled the symbol Christ had used: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the daystar arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19.

In the manifestation of God to His people, light had ever been a symbol of His presence. At the creative word in the beginning, light had shone out of darkness. Light had been enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, leading the vast armies of Israel. Light blazed with awful grandeur about the Lord on Mount Sinai. Light rested over the mercy seat in the tabernacle. Light filled the temple of Solomon at its dedication. Light shone on the hills of Bethlehem when the angels brought the message of redemption to the watching shepherds.

God is light; and in the words, “I am the light of the world,” Christ declared His oneness with God, and His relation to the whole human family. It was He who at the beginning had caused “the light to shine out of darkness.” 2 Corinthians 4:6. He is the light of sun and moon and star. He was the spiritual light that in symbol and type and prophecy had shone upon Israel. But not to the Jewish nation alone was the light given. As the sunbeams penetrate to the remotest corners of the earth, so does the light of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon every soul.

“That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” The world has had its great teachers, men of giant intellect and wonderful research, men whose utterances have stimulated thought, and opened to view vast fields of knowledge; and these men have been honored as guides and benefactors of their race. But there is One who stands higher than they. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” John 1:12, 18. We can trace the line of the world's great teachers as far back as human records extend; but the Light was before them. As the moon and the stars of the solar system shine by the reflected light of the sun, so, as far as their teaching is true, do the world's great thinkers reflect the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Every gem of thought, every flash of the intellect, is from the Light of the world. In these days we hear much about “higher education.” The true “higher education” is that imparted by Him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Colossians 2:3; John 1:4. “He that followeth Me,” said Jesus, “shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

In the words, “I am the light of the world,” Jesus declared Himself the Messiah. The aged Simeon, in the temple where Christ was now teaching, had spoken of Him as “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” Luke 2:32. In these words he was applying to Him a prophecy familiar to all Israel. By the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Spirit had declared, “It is too light a thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6, R. V. This prophecy was generally understood as spoken of the Messiah, and when Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” the people could not fail to recognize His claim to be the Promised One.

To the Pharisees and rulers this claim seemed an arrogant assumption. That a man like themselves should make such pretensions they could not tolerate. Seeming to ignore His words, they demanded, “Who art Thou?” They were bent upon forcing Him to declare Himself the Christ. His appearance and His work were so at variance with the expectations of the people, that, as His wily enemies believed, a direct announcement of Himself as the Messiah would cause Him to be rejected as an impostor.

But to their question, “Who art Thou?” Jesus replied, “Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning.” John 8:25, R.V. That which had been revealed in His words was revealed also in His character. He was the embodiment of the truths He taught. “I do nothing of Myself,” He continued; “but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things. And He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.” He did not attempt to prove His Messianic claim, but showed His unity with God. If their minds had been open to God's love, they would have received Jesus.

Among His hearers many were drawn to Him in faith, and to them He said, “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

These words offended the Pharisees. The nation's long subjection to a foreign yoke, they disregarded, and angrily exclaimed, “We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?” Jesus looked upon these men, the slaves of malice, whose thoughts were bent upon revenge, and sadly answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” They were in the worst kind of bondage,—ruled by the spirit of evil.

Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power. He is not his own. He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery. He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan. While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness. Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” sets us “free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2.

In the work of redemption there is no compulsion. No external force is employed. Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan's control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.

The only condition upon which the freedom of man is possible is that of becoming one with Christ. “The truth shall make you free;” and Christ is the truth. Sin can triumph only by enfeebling the mind, and destroying the liberty of the soul. Subjection to God is restoration to one's self,—to the true glory and dignity of man. The divine law, to which we are brought into subjection, is “the law of liberty.” James 2:12.

The Pharisees had declared themselves the children of Abraham. Jesus told them that this claim could be established only by doing the works of Abraham. The true children of Abraham would live, as he did, a life of obedience to God. They would not try to kill One who was speaking the truth that was given Him from God. In plotting against Christ, the rabbis were not doing the works of Abraham. A mere lineal descent from Abraham was of no value. Without a spiritual connection with him, which would be manifested in possessing the same spirit, and doing the same works, they were not his children.

This principle bears with equal weight upon a question that has long agitated the Christian world,—the question of apostolic succession. Descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character. So the apostolic succession rests not upon the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but upon spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught, this is the true evidence of apostolic succession. This is what constitutes men the successors of the first teachers of the gospel.

Jesus denied that the Jews were children of Abraham. He said, “Ye do the deeds of your father.” In mockery they answered, “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” These words, in allusion to the circumstances of His birth, were intended as a thrust against Christ in the presence of those who were beginning to believe on Him. Jesus gave no heed to the base insinuation, but said, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I proceeded forth and came from God.”

Their works testified of their relationship to him who was a liar and a murderer. “Ye are of your father the devil,” said Jesus, “and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.... Because I say the truth, ye believe Me not.” John 8:44, 45, R. V. The fact that Jesus spoke the truth, and that with certainty, was why He was not received by the Jewish leaders. It was the truth that offended these self-righteous men. The truth exposed the fallacy of error; it condemned their teaching and practice, and it was unwelcome. They would rather close their eyes to the truth than humble themselves to confess that they had been in error. They did not love the truth. They did not desire it, even though it was truth.

“Which of you convicteth [Revised Version] Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me?” Day by day for three years His enemies had been following Christ, trying to find some stain in His character. Satan and all the confederacy of evil had been seeking to overcome Him; but they had found nothing in Him by which to gain an advantage. Even the devils were forced to confess, “Thou art the Holy One of God.” Mark 1:24. Jesus lived the law in the sight of heaven, in the sight of unfallen worlds, and in the sight of sinful men. Before angels, men, and demons, He had spoken, unchallenged, words that from any other lips would have been blasphemy: “I do always those things that please Him.”

The fact that although they could find no sin in Christ the Jews would not receive Him proved that they themselves had no connection with God. They did not recognize His voice in the message of His Son. They thought themselves passing judgment on Christ; but in rejecting Him they were pronouncing sentence upon themselves. “He that is of God,” said Jesus, “heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”

The lesson is true for all time. Many a man who delights to quibble, to criticize, seeking for something to question in the word of God, thinks that he is thereby giving evidence of independence of thought, and mental acuteness. He supposes that he is sitting in judgment on the Bible, when in truth he is judging himself. He makes it manifest that he is incapable of appreciating truths that originate in heaven, and that compass eternity. In presence of the great mountain of God's righteousness, his spirit is not awed. He busies himself with hunting for sticks and straws, and in this betrays a narrow and earthly nature, a heart that is fast losing its capacity to appreciate God. He whose heart has responded to the divine touch will be seeking for that which will increase his knowledge of God, and will refine and elevate the character. As a flower turns to the sun, that the bright rays may touch it with tints of beauty, so will the soul turn to the Sun of Righteousness, that heaven's light may beautify the character with the graces of the character of Christ.

Jesus continued, drawing a sharp contrast between the position of the Jews and that of Abraham: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.”

Abraham had greatly desired to see the promised Saviour. He offered up the most earnest prayer that before his death he might behold the Messiah. And he saw Christ. A supernatural light was given him, and he acknowledged Christ's divine character. He saw His day, and was glad. He was given a view of the divine sacrifice for sin. Of this sacrifice he had an illustration in his own experience. The command came to him, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, ... and offer him ... for a burnt offering.” Genesis 22:2. Upon the altar of sacrifice he laid the son of promise, the son in whom his hopes were centered. Then as he waited beside the altar with knife upraised to obey God, he heard a voice from heaven saying, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.” Genesis 22:12. This terrible ordeal was imposed upon Abraham that he might see the day of Christ, and realize the great love of God for the world, so great that to raise it from its degradation, He gave His only-begotten Son to a most shameful death.

Abraham learned of God the greatest lesson ever given to mortal. His prayer that he might see Christ before he should die was answered. He saw Christ; he saw all that mortal can see, and live. By making an entire surrender, he was able to understand the vision of Christ, which had been given him. He was shown that in giving His only-begotten Son to save sinners from eternal ruin, God was making a greater and more wonderful sacrifice than ever man could make.

Abraham's experience answered the question: “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Micah 6:6, 7. In the words of Abraham, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering,” (Genesis 22:8), and in God's provision of a sacrifice instead of Isaac, it was declared that no man could make expiation for himself. The pagan system of sacrifice was wholly unacceptable to God. No father was to offer up his son or his daughter for a sin offering. The Son of God alone can bear the guilt of the world.

Through his own suffering, Abraham was enabled to behold the Saviour's mission of sacrifice. But Israel would not understand that which was so unwelcome to their proud hearts. Christ's words concerning Abraham conveyed to His hearers no deep significance. The Pharisees saw in them only fresh ground for caviling. They retorted with a sneer, as if they would prove Jesus to be a madman, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?”

With solemn dignity Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Silence fell upon the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed as His own by this Galilean Rabbi. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He who had been promised to Israel, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2, margin.

Again the priests and rabbis cried out against Jesus as a blasphemer. His claim to be one with God had before stirred them to take His life, and a few months later they plainly declared, “For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.” John 10:33. Because He was, and avowed Himself to be, the Son of God, they were bent on destroying Him. Now many of the people, siding with the priests and rabbis, took up stones to cast at Him. “But Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

The Light was shining in darkness; but “the darkness apprehended it not.” John 1:5, R. V.

“As Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.... When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”

It was generally believed by the Jews that sin is punished in this life. Every affliction was regarded as the penalty of some wrongdoing, either of the sufferer himself or of his parents. It is true that all suffering results from the transgression of God's law, but this truth had become perverted. Satan, the author of sin and all its results, had led men to look upon disease and death as proceeding from God,—as punishment arbitrarily inflicted on account of sin. Hence one upon whom some great affliction or calamity had fallen had the additional burden of being regarded as a great sinner.

Thus the way was prepared for the Jews to reject Jesus. He who “hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” was looked upon by the Jews as “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted;” and they hid their faces from Him. Isaiah 53:4, 3.

God had given a lesson designed to prevent this. The history of Job had shown that suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy. But Israel did not understand the lesson. The same error for which God had reproved the friends of Job was repeated by the Jews in their rejection of Christ.

The belief of the Jews in regard to the relation of sin and suffering was held by Christ's disciples. While Jesus corrected their error, He did not explain the cause of the man's affliction, but told them what would be the result. Because of it the works of God would be made manifest. “As long as I am in the world,” He said, “I am the light of the world.” Then having anointed the eyes of the blind man, He sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and the man's sight was restored. Thus Jesus answered the question of the disciples in a practical way, as He usually answered questions put to Him from curiosity. The disciples were not called upon to discuss the question as to who had sinned or had not sinned, but to understand the power and mercy of God in giving sight to the blind. It was evident that there was no healing virtue in the clay, or in the pool wherein the blind man was sent to wash, but that the virtue was in Christ.

The Pharisees could not but be astonished at the cure. Yet they were more than ever filled with hatred; for the miracle had been performed on the Sabbath day.

The neighbors of the young man, and those who knew him before in his blindness, said, “Is not this he that sat and begged?” They looked upon him with doubt; for when his eyes were opened, his countenance was changed and brightened, and he appeared like another man. From one to another the question passed. Some said, “This is he;” others, “He is like him.” But he who had received the great blessing settled the question by saying, “I am he.” He then told them of Jesus, and by what means he had been healed, and they inquired, “Where is He? He said, I know not.”

Then they brought him before a council of the Pharisees. Again the man was asked how he had received his sight. “He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day.” The Pharisees hoped to make Jesus out to be a sinner, and therefore not the Messiah. They knew not that it was He who had made the Sabbath and knew all its obligation, who had healed the blind man. They appeared wonderfully zealous for the observance of the Sabbath, yet were planning murder on that very day. But many were greatly moved at hearing of this miracle, and were convicted that He who had opened the eyes of the blind was more than a common man. In answer to the charge that Jesus was a sinner because He kept not the Sabbath day, they said, “How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?”

Again the rabbis appealed to the blind man, “What sayest thou of Him, that He hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.” The Pharisees then asserted that he had not been born blind and received his sight. They called for his parents, and asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?”

There was the man himself, declaring that he had been blind, and had had his sight restored; but the Pharisees would rather deny the evidence of their own senses than admit that they were in error. So powerful is prejudice, so distorting is Pharisaical righteousness.

The Pharisees had one hope left, and that was to intimidate the man's parents. With apparent sincerity they asked, “How then doth he now see?” The parents feared to compromise themselves; for it had been declared that whoever should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ should be “put out of the synagogue;” that is, should be excluded from the synagogue for thirty days. During this time no child could be circumcised nor dead be lamented in the offender's home. The sentence was regarded as a great calamity; and if it failed to produce repentance, a far heavier penalty followed. The great work wrought for their son had brought conviction to the parents, yet they answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: but by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.” Thus they shifted all responsibility from themselves to their son; for they dared not confess Christ.

The dilemma in which the Pharisees were placed, their questioning and prejudice, their unbelief in the facts of the case, were opening the eyes of the multitude, especially of the common people. Jesus had frequently wrought His miracles in the open street, and His work was always of a character to relieve suffering. The question in many minds was, Would God do such mighty works through an impostor, as the Pharisees insisted that Jesus was? The controversy was becoming very earnest on both sides.

The Pharisees saw that they were giving publicity to the work done by Jesus. They could not deny the miracle. The blind man was filled with joy and gratitude; he beheld the wondrous things of nature, and was filled with delight at the beauty of earth and sky. He freely related his experience, and again they tried to silence him, saying, “Give God the praise: we know that this Man is a sinner.” That is, Do not say again that this Man gave you sight; it is God who has done this.

The blind man answered, “Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

Then they questioned again, “What did He to thee? how opened He thine eyes?” With many words they tried to confuse him, so that he might think himself deluded. Satan and his evil angels were on the side of the Pharisees, and united their energies and subtlety with man's reasoning in order to counteract the influence of Christ. They blunted the convictions that were deepening in many minds. Angels of God were also on the ground to strengthen the man who had had his sight restored.

The Pharisees did not realize that they had to deal with any other than the uneducated man who had been born blind; they knew not Him with whom they were in controversy. Divine light shone into the chambers of the blind man's soul. As these hypocrites tried to make him disbelieve, God helped him to show, by the vigor and pointedness of his replies, that he was not to be ensnared. He answered, “I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be His disciples? Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art His disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is.”

The Lord Jesus knew the ordeal through which the man was passing, and He gave him grace and utterance, so that he became a witness for Christ. He answered the Pharisees in words that were a cutting rebuke to his questioners. They claimed to be the expositors of Scripture, the religious guides of the nation; and yet here was One performing miracles, and they were confessedly ignorant as to the source of His power, and as to His character and claims. “Why herein is a marvelous thing,” said the man, “that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this Man were not of God, He could do nothing.”

The man had met his inquisitors on their own ground. His reasoning was unanswerable. The Pharisees were astonished, and they held their peace,—spellbound before his pointed, determined words. For a few moments there was silence. Then the frowning priests and rabbis gathered about them their robes, as though they feared contamination from contact with him; they shook off the dust from their feet, and hurled denunciations against him,—“Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?” And they excommunicated him.

Jesus heard what had been done; and finding him soon after, He said, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”

For the first time the blind man looked upon the face of his Restorer. Before the council he had seen his parents troubled and perplexed; he had looked upon the frowning faces of the rabbis; now his eyes rested upon the loving, peaceful countenance of Jesus. Already, at great cost to himself, he had acknowledged Him as a delegate of divine power; now a higher revelation was granted him.

To the Saviour's question, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” the blind man replied by asking, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?” And Jesus said, “Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.” The man cast himself at the Saviour's feet in worship. Not only had his natural sight been restored, but the eyes of his understanding had been opened. Christ had been revealed to his soul, and he received Him as the Sent of God.

A group of Pharisees had gathered near, and the sight of them brought to the mind of Jesus the contrast ever manifest in the effect of His words and works. He said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” Christ had come to open the blind eyes, to give light to them that sit in darkness. He had declared Himself to be the light of the world, and the miracle just performed was in attestation of His mission. The people who beheld the Saviour at His advent were favored with a fuller manifestation of the divine presence than the world had ever enjoyed before. The knowledge of God was revealed more perfectly. But in this very revelation, judgment was passing upon men. Their character was tested, their destiny determined.

The manifestation of divine power that had given to the blind man both natural and spiritual sight had left the Pharisees in yet deeper darkness. Some of His hearers, feeling that Christ's words applied to them, inquired, “Are we blind also?” Jesus answered, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.” If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. “But now ye say, We see.” You believe yourselves able to see, and reject the means through which alone you could receive sight. To all who realized their need, Christ came with infinite help. But the Pharisees would confess no need; they refused to come to Christ, and hence they were left in blindness,—a blindness for which they were themselves guilty. Jesus said, “Your sin remaineth.”

[sammy24682468]

Quotes collected from various sources.

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36

In the work of redemption there is no compulsion. No external force is employed. Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan's control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God. DA 466.4

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 1 John 3:4, 5.

We are authorized to hold in the same estimation as did the beloved disciple those who claim to abide in Christ while living in transgression of God's law. There exist in these last days evils similar to those that threatened the prosperity of the early church; and the teachings of the apostle John on these points should be carefully heeded. “You must have charity,” is the cry heard everywhere, especially from those who profess sanctification. But true charity is too pure to cover an unconfessed sin. While we are to love the souls for whom Christ died, we are to make no compromise with evil. We are not to unite with the rebellious and call this charity. God requires His people in this age of the world to stand for the right as unflinchingly as did John in opposition to soul-destroying errors. AA 554.3

 “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” John 12:35.

Those who turn away from the light which God has given, or who neglect to seek it when it is within their reach, are left in darkness. But the Saviour declares: “He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. Whoever is with singleness of purpose seeking to do God's will, earnestly heeding the light already given, will receive greater light; to that soul some star of heavenly radiance will be sent to guide him into all truth. GC 312.3

[2/24, 8:20 AM] Albert: "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Philippians 2:3-4

Every association of life calls for the exercise of self-control, forbearance, and sympathy. We differ so widely in disposition, habits, and education that our ways of looking at things vary. We judge differently. Our understanding of truth, our ideas in regard to the conduct of life, are not in all respects the same. The experience of no two people is alike in every particular. The trials of one are not the trials of another. The duties that one finds light are to another most difficult and perplexing. MHH 283.1

So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that all of us should be careful in the estimate we place upon another. We little know the bearing of our acts upon the experience of others. What we do or say may seem to us of little consequence, but if our eyes could be opened, we would see that upon it depended the most important results for good or for evil. MHH 283.2

"And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Psalm 50:15

No one need say that his case is hopeless, that he cannot live the life of a Christian. Ample provision is made by the death of Christ for every soul. Jesus is our ever-present help in time of need. Only call upon Him in faith, and He has promised to hear and answer your petitions. 5T 215.2

"Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." Hebrews 12:12, 13.

We must look on the faults of others, not to condemn, but to restore and heal. Watch unto prayer, go forward and upward, catching more and more of the spirit of Jesus, and sowing the same beside all waters. Give not your heart to the possession of any hatred because you see professed Christians pursuing a course that is not what you might expect from those who have had an experience in the truth. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” [Psalm 19:7.] See that you are not a commandment breaker in any wise because others disregard the principles of God’s holy law. Lt89-1894.8

[faithnotes-blog]

Why You Must Not Perish in the Lake of Fire

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. AND DEATH AND HELL WERE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:10-15

Christ died to save us from perishing in the lake of fire. All through the Bible we are told that there is a place called “hell”. The lake of fire is the final destination for all who go to hell.

The Room Mate Who Went To Hell

I once heard a startling story of how the Lord Jesus appeared to an Assemblies of God pastor in a vision and told him, “I want you to become more evangelistic so I am going to take you to hell so you see how real it is.”

This pastor had known the Lord from his youth but when he became a teenager he backslid and forsook God. This backsliding continued until he went to the university, where he re-dedicated his life to the Lord.

In fact, he became so zealous that he left college and decided to go into Bible School and into the ministry. One Sunday night, the Lord appeared to him, urging him to be more evangelistic.

During the vision the Lord took him to hell, where he saw all the sights and sounds of hell. He saw the weeping, the gnashing and the wailing of the lost. He said, “If the Lord had not been with me, I would have been really frightened of what I saw in hell.”

Suddenly, they came across someone in hell whom he recognized. This person was his roommate whilst in second year in college.

He exclaimed, “What are you doing here? “

To his amazement his roommate said, “I was killed in an automobile accident on Friday.”

Remember that this vision took place on Sunday night.

When he came out of the vision, he was so disturbed and wanted to call his mother to find out if she knew anything about his roommate but it was too late to call. So he called his mother on Monday. After exchanging niceties with her he asked, “Have you heard from so and so, my roommate?”

His mother answered, “I was going to tell you, he was killed in a terrible car accident on Friday.”

The pastor could not believe his ears. He was in shock. It was real. He had actually seen his former roommate in hell. He had actually seen the inside of the prison with his own friend and roommate in it.

Dear friend, hell is real and the people in hell know and remember how they died! They know when they died! They have found out first hand that the Bible is true!

1. You must not perish in hell because hell is a vast lake of burning brimstone (sulphur).

There are many huge lakes of burning sulphur on the earth today. We call them volcanoes and indeed they are a sober reminder of the reality of the eternal lake of fire.

Burning sulphur has an acrid odour that is found in volcanoes. It is a marvel that modern sceptics cannot imagine lakes that are continually on fire. Volcanoes are burning lakes of fire found in different mountains all over the earth. Many of these volcanoes have been simmering for hundreds of years and no one has asked how the liquid fire in these vast lakes is kept ablaze.

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE [burning sulphur], where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Revelation 20:10

2. You must not perish in hell because it is a place of sorrows.

There are many well-known sorrows on this earth. However the Bible warns of the sorrows of hell. If the sorrows of this earth are difficult to bear how much more terrible will the sorrows of hell be? Hell is a place to avoid because of the sorrows there.

The SORROWS OF HELL compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

2 Samuel 22:6

3. You must not perish in hell because it is a place where you never die and where the suffering never ends.

And IN THOSE DAYS SHALL MEN SEEK DEATH, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Revelation 9:6

The Husband Who Thought He Could End It All

The endless nature of hell is perhaps the most frightening aspect of all. I once heard the true story of a Swiss lady who was suffering in the hospital from terminal cancer. Her husband visited her everyday and watched his wife suffer and her health deteriorate. His wife was constantly writhing in agony and desperately wanted to die.

One day, he decided to end it all himself. Since he was a member of the reserve army of Switzerland, he went home, took his gun, went back to the hospital and shot his wife. Then he handed himself over to the police. He could not stand the suffering of his wife any longer and he decided to end it all. This gentleman was happy with the outcome because he knew he had ended his wife’s suffering on this earth.

As I thought of this story, I remembered what Jesus had said about a place where the suffering never ends. You will not be able to take a gun and end anything. The worm never dies and the heat is never turned off.

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: WHERE THEIR WORM DIETH NOT, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.

Mark 9:43-44

4. You must not perish in hell because it is a place worth giving up your eyes, arms and legs in order to avoid.

I know of no place on earth that is worth giving up your arms or your eyes for. Perhaps there is no stronger description to help us comprehend the kind of place that hell must be. A place so terrible that you should gladly offer your hand, your foot or your eye so as to escape from there!

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than HAVING TWO HANDS TO GO INTO HELL, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

Mark 9:43-47

5. You must not perish in hell because in the lake of fire, you will be bound in chains forever.

To be bound for a few hours is a hard enough experience. I cannot fathom what it must be like to be bound forever in chains of darkness.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into CHAINS OF DARKNESS, to be reserved unto judgment;

2 Peter 2:4

6. You must not perish in hell because you will remain alive in the lake of fire.

You will not drown in the lake! Neither will you be burnt to ashes! You will be alive in this fire! This is not comparable to death by firing squad, drowning, hanging, poisoning or even electrocution. In those cases, death comes after a few minutes; and the horrors of the execution scene will pass away quickly whilst you are transported into another world. In this lake of fire, you will be alive whilst burning in a lake of fire.

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were CAST ALIVE INTO A LAKE OF FIRE burning with brimstone.

Revelation 19:20

7. The lake of fire will never be full because the Bible says hell is never full.

There is space for you in hell if you stubbornly refuse the gospel salvation through Christ.

Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

Proverbs 27:20

8. The lake of fire is constantly being expanded.

Because the majority of people are on the broad way, there are endless numbers of people heading towards hell. Multitudes await the good news of Jesus Christ in the corners of the earth whilst Christians rejoice over nothing in their big city churches.

The lake of fire is being expanded because more and more people are rejecting God, in their pride.

Therefore HELL HATH ENLARGED HERSELF, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Isaiah 5:14

9. You cannot afford to perish in the lake of fire.

Today must be the day of your salvation. You must not wait even one minute. You must not juggle with your very life.

The Italian Juggler

One day, an Italian man was returning home to Italy after living in America for a number of years. He was on a steamboat that was crossing the Atlantic Ocean from America to Europe. The journey across the ocean took several days and everyone on board was looking for some entertainment.

One day, this Italian man came across a young boy who was juggling a couple of oranges on the deck of the ship.

It happened that this Italian man was a professional juggler and that was the job he had been doing in America for so many years. He approached the young boy and offered to juggle his oranges for him. Because he was so good at juggling, a little crowd gathered around him. The juggler became excited and took on more and more oranges. Each time he took one more orange the crowd became more frenzied and cheered him on. The Italian juggler became even more excited and told the crowd, “I am going to show you something.”

He excused himself from the crowd and went to his cabin to take something. When he came back on the deck he showed the crowd what he had in his hand. Everyone gasped! It was a huge valuable diamond belonging to this Italian juggler. He had bought it with all the money and savings he had earned from his years of work in America. He told the crowd, “I am going to juggle this diamond. It is my life’s savings.”

People told him not to do it but he told them that his hands were very sure and that juggling was his profession. He threw the diamond into the air with the other oranges and began juggling. The crowd was silent as they watched the Italian juggler play with his whole life’s fortune.

Up went the diamond, glistening and sparkling in the sunshine. Just when the diamond came back to the juggler’s hand the ship lurched and the diamond missed the juggler’s hand and fell on the deck and bounced off the deck into the sea to the disbelief of the entire crowd.

This is what many people are doing in their lives. They are juggling with their souls. They are playing around with the reality of eternity. Like the Italian juggler, they do not realise how high the stakes are. It is their very lives that are at stake. Walking away from Jesus is walking away from your life. Walking away from Jesus Christ is to walk into the lake of fire.

by Dag Heward-Mills

[revelation1211-blog]

The Sin of Immorality

Purity of mind, conscience, and body is a tremendous personal asset. While this alone is not godliness, it is a Christian virtue and a blessing to mankind. The declining moral values of today are allowing men and women to accept and indulge in behavior that the Bible clearly defines as sin. This behavior has become an accepted way of life for many people. That which God calls sin is often no longer called sin. What will be the result?

Television, movies, and much literature are filled with violence, sex, and other immoral practices. This evil influence is brought into the home for entertainment. The minds of men, women, and children are filled with lustful thoughts and desires. It is sad that this evil environment is even found in the homes of some professing christians today.

God's Word tells us that " evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, decieving and being decieved" (2 Timothy 3:13). "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection...despisers of those that are good...lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

" The heart is decietful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" ( Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus told his disciples in words that we can understand and apply to our lives, " For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, " (Matthew 15:19).

" For as he [man or woman] thinketh in his heart, so is he" ( proverbs 23:7). Again Jesus says in the Holy Scriptures, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28).

Men and women are seeking a life of pleasure and are going to all means to satisfy their lust. They are enjoying today and not worrying about tomorrow, unconcerned about giving an account of their deeds on the judgement day when all must stand before God. Some of the pleasures which are indulged in today are drink, drugs, and sex. Men and women go to parties and dances to relax and enjoy themselves. There every passion can be aroused with very little or no control. They often indulge in drink and drugs which Rob them of their resonable sense. Satan is in control.

" Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise" ( proverbs 20:1). " The theif cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy" (John 10:10).

Because of these indulgences, homes are broken, and innocent children are left without father or mother. Sometimes the resulting hatred is so great that it ends in murder. " The way of transgressors is hard" ( proverbs 13:15). In Galatians 5:19-21 we read that the works of the flesh are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, hatred, murders, drunkenness; and that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

It is accepted in many cultures to have a boy or girlfriend and start dating at a young age. This often is supported by the parents who think this will help their child be more accepted and included in the popular crowd. The young people soon become too familiar with each other. Much time is spent in dating and partying, which often leads to petting and sex. The reasoning might be that others are doing it. " But every man [ boy or girl] is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath concieved, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:14-15).

Many times young people do not consider the consequences of these sins. They think they can escape the penalty of sin, but no one is a match for Satan. Young men violate young women and the sacredness of procreation is lost. Concienses are defiled and purity is lost. Innocence is destroyed. The pure beginning that enhances intimacy in marriage is compromised.

Often times the girl finds herself pregnant. This results in shame, guilt, confusion, and the prospect of the responsibility of caring for a child. Often the mother resorts to an abortion. A life is destroyed, which adds still more sin and guilt to her heart. Otherwise, young people become parents at a premature age. The enjoyable years of youth are spoiled, the young girls friends forsake her, parents and family are dissapointed- all because of a little sinful enjoyement. These are the wages of sin. " The wages of sin is death" ( Romans 6:23)

Marriage is honorable and a blessing to those who follow the plan of God. God intended men and women to be happy and enjoy the marriage union. " Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled" ( Hebrews 13:4).

A couple in love with each other may plan to marry, but to live together as husband and wife without being properly married is sin in the eyes of God.

God spoke against homosexual practices. Through Moses he said, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is abomination" (Leviticus 18:22). When one allows sexual lusts to dominate his thoughts, he will sometimes resort to deviant practices in order to satisfy his unrestrained passions.

Homosexuals no longer are ashamed of their immoral conduct. They have come out in the open and want to be accepted by society. Homosexuality is often excused because of inherited characteristics, however, personal accountability must be accepted.

" For Whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people" ( Leviticus 18:29). In regards to these sins, Romans 1:32 reads, " Who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death"

Some serious diseases in the human race are the result of immoral conduct. The dreaded AIDS and other venereal diseases are common. Needless suffering and death have ensued because of these diseases. Those who defy the laws of God will endure the consequences of such disobediences.

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" ( Matthew 5:8). The word chastity means to be sexually pure, not indulging in sexual relations outside of marriage ( fornication), not engaging in immoral practices. To be chaste is a command of God given to Moses for his people. " Thou shalt not commit Adultery" (Exodus 20:14).

Jesus says, " Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another committeth adultery: and Whosoever marrieth her that is put away committeth adultery: and Whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery" ( Luke 16:18).

Sexual sin is a great distraction to a person in his work causing him to deviate from his worthy goals or to neglect his duties. His family is neglected, which results in an unhappy home. Guilt from such sins often causes emotional distress. On the other hand, the rewards of pure living are great. A morally pure person can have peace of mind and freedom from fear, whereas the impure can have no part in the kingdom of God.

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?" ( 1 Corinthians 6:9).

The Spirit of God will reprove an individual of sin and will lead him to repentance. An immoral life can be changed and the sins forgiven if ones repentance is sincere. The first step is to recognize the sin and it's seriousness in the eyes of God, without an attempt to justify one's self. Then one must come to God with humility, acknowledging his guilt with heartfelt sorrow, pleading for forgiveness and asking for Grace to make restitution and forsake sin.

Jesus says,

" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden [ with sin ], and I will give you rest" ( Matthew 11:28). " Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" ( Isaiah 1:18).

" The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be if a contrite spirit " ( Psalm 34:18).

Let us turn from our evil ways and call unto the Lord while there is still time.

Do you desire a relationship with God?

Learn about how to begin a brand new relationship with God through his Son Jesus Christ

Visit peacewithgod.net

[frederickwiddowson]

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 22:54-62 comments: Peter denies he knew Christ

Luke 22:54 ¶  Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off. 55  And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. 56  But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. 57 And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. 58  And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. 59  And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean. 60  And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. 61  And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 62  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

 Here is a moment that probably stayed imbedded in Peter’s mind for the rest of his life. As Christ said he would, Peter denies that he knew Christ. It is a sorrowful moment for Peter and probably resulted in the “conversion” that Christ prayed for him to receive.

 As Matthew Henry noted in his commentary, “It is well for us that Christ does not deal with us as we deal with him.” How many of us, when placed in a situation that wasn’t even dangerous for us denied, even if only by our inaction or our lack of speaking on His behalf, our Lord. We might do this for fear of rejection by peers or family. We might do this in fear of loss of employment or position.

 The important thing is that Christ had a plan to restore Peter and for Peter to provide the leadership he does as represented in Acts. Christ has a purpose for Peter’s life and does not dispose of him in this most awful moment of his life to this point.

 The act of denying Christ for whatever reason carries big weight in the Bible. Here, it is defined as a conscious refusing to admit one’s association and familiarity with Christ. Remember this passage in Luke, chapter 12;

 Luke 12:8  Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: 9  But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

 The importance of holding onto one’s faith in the face of fear or persecution or the hardening of sin, temptations as they are to deny Christ, is underscored by Paul.

 2Timothy 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

 Enduring until the end is spoken of in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and as Paul also says in Hebrews in regard to sin itself hardening our hearts;

 Hebrews 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

 Hebrews 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

 Sometimes atheists will reveal that they believed at one time but stopped and if you examine their life a little closer you will see that the desires of the flesh paid some part in their apostasy. I will post again something I noted earlier about one notable atheist scientist.

 Many people, especially young people, have abandoned their faith when the lusts of youth demanded their attention. A noted evolutionary biologist, Edward O. Wilson, wrote a book entitled Consilience in which he writes in chapter one about the joy he felt when he found and believed in the theory of evolution and the unity of all sciences with that atheistic determinism as their foundation, well unquestionable fact more than theory to him with the following as part of his journey to what I call atheism;

On a far more modest scale, I found it a wonderful feeling not just to taste the unification metaphysics but also to be released from the confinement of fundamentalist religion. I had been raised a Southern Baptist, laid backward under the water on the sturdy arm of a pastor, been born again. I knew the healing power of redemption. Faith, hope, and charity were in my bones, and with millions of others I knew that my savior Jesus Christ would grant me eternal life. More pious than the average teenager, I read the Bible cover to cover, twice. But now at college, steroid-driven into moods of adolescent rebellion, I chose to doubt.

It can also be suffering that puts pressure on your faith and, if you are not grounded in God’s word, can lead you away from Him in your pain and anguish.

 Galatians 4:14  And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

 And it can be persecution that forces you, in order to be accepted by people or to keep from losing life, liberty, family, employment, or property, to consider turning your back on God.

 For Wilson, unlike Peter, there appears to be no second chance as his heart was hardened beyond all redemption even though he insists he is not an atheist while simply stating that belief is part of evolution and should be studied as a byproduct of man’s evolving thought processes from an ape-like creature. But, for Peter and others, God left a door open and there was a way back. Hopefully there is for Wilson as time is running out for him.

 There were many movements in the early church that did not want to allow those who had repudiated their faith under persecution or handing in their scriptures to the Roman authorities to return to the faith. With names given to them like Novatianism or Donatism these movements did not accept those who had renounced their faith under fear or pain.

 And truthfully, Paul wrote in Hebrews something that can be considered as a warning that it is impossible to return under certain circumstances.

 Hebrews 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

 However, another way of looking at that passage is considering how Jesus dealt with Peter, understanding that there can be a way home in these circumstances for the repentant denier. If that is so then the passage in Hebrews 6 merely points out the absurdity of thinking you can lose your salvation. Christ was crucified once and that is sufficient for all.

 Hebrews 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us…26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

 Hebrews 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 Peter’s realization of what he has done and the fact that he wept bitterly shows us that he was deeply repentant over his betrayal. Compare this with Judas’ betrayal for which repentance was not expressed in bitter tears but worldly sorrow expressed in self-harm.

 Matthew 27:3  Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

4  Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5  And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

 I suppose one lesson that can be learned from this passage is that Godly repentance, in guilt, seeks God’s forgiveness acknowledging His authority while worldly sorrow, though still an act of sorrow over what you have done, is expressed not in glorifying Christ but in self-hatred or shame, a sort of reverse glorification of one’s self making self not Christ of the most importance.

 2Corinthians 7:10  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

 One of the most notorious ways modern so-called Christians deny Christ is to call Him a liar. Christ said;

 John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 John also wrote this about believing what Jesus said about Himself.

 John 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

 So, it is amazing to me how many people today call themselves Christians but, not wanting to offend anyone and not wanting to appear not inclusive, they call Christ a liar and say that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe in something or that everyone has to choose what is right for them. How can Christ overlook such a hateful rejection of His own words?

 As Peter so famously said;

 Acts 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

 And yet, curiously, I have met even people who claim “the Golden Rule” as their motto, who do works of charity that are exemplary, but who, in the end call Christ a liar and deny Him.

[drmonte75-blog]

An Ordinary Commentary by Ordinary Men   "Living to Glorify God Brings Satisfaction to the Soul" ordinarycommentary.blogspot.com

Types of Righteousness and ReligionMatthew 6:1-18Our Lord warns His followers against counterfeit spirituality seeking to be seen and praised by men.Harvey Goodwin—Verse 1: “In these verses our Lord applies to the subject of almsgiving, to what we commonly call in these days charity, the same spiritual principles according to which He has already explained and expanded several of the Laws of the Old Testament. All the men of our Lord’s time would admit almsgiving to the poor to be a great duty; but then many of them held or seemed to hold that there was virtue in the mere giving, independently of the spirit in which it was done, so that a man might make his charitable doings redound to his own praise, sounding a trumpet when he was going to distribute his alms, and the rest. Our Lord declares that, of which we can have no doubt when we hear it asserted, namely, that in the sight of God such almsgiving can have no virtue, no beauty, no excellence: the spirit which can alone render almsgiving pleasing to Him who sees the heart is the simple spirit of love, which withdraws itself from observation, seeks not its own, is unselfish, desiring to do what is charitable for the sake of charity only.📷But mark the awful emphasis, and something like irony, with which our Saviour says of those who make parade of their charity, Verily I say unto you, They have their reward; yes, they have their reward; they wish to gain the attention of mankind, and they gain it; they wish for applause, and they have it; they are pleased when they hear people say, ‘What a liberal man he is! and they have plenty of pleasure such as this. But what does it all amount to? what treasure is laid up in heaven by mere earthly applause? what satisfaction can it be to have cheated men into the belief of our excellent qualities, if the rottenness of our hearts is open and undisguised in the sight of Him who sees in secret, and who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart? They have their reward, have it already in this present world, and a poor unsatisfactory delusive reward it is.” 42Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Verses 2-4: “'2. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.' We must not copy the loud charity of certain vainglorious persons: their character is hypocritical, their manner is ostentatious, their aim is to be seen of men, their reward is in the present. That reward is a very poor one, and is soon over. To stand with a penny in one hand and a trumpet in the other is the posture of hypocrisy. ‘Glory of men’ is a thing which can be bought: but honour from God is a very different thing. This is an advertising age, and too many are saying, ‘Behold my liberality!” Those who have Jesus for their King must wear his livery of humility, and not the scarlet trappings of a purse-proud generosity, which blows its own trumpet, not only in the streets, but even in the synagogues. We cannot expect two rewards for the same action: if we have it now we shall not have it hereafter. Unrewarded alms will alone count in the record of the last day.📷3, 4. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine atms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shalt reward thee openly. Seek secrecy for your good deeds. Do not even see your own virtue. Hide from yourself that which you yourself have done that is commendable; for the proud contemplation of your own generosity may tarnish all your alms. Keep the thing so secret that even you yourself are hardly aware that you are doing anything at all praiseworthy. Let God be present, and you will have enough of an audience. He will reward you, reward you ‘openly’, reward you as a Father rewards a child, reward you as one who saw what you did, and knew that you did it wholly unto him.Lord, help me, when I am doing good, to keep my left hand out of it, that I may have no sinister motive, and no desire to have a present reward of praise among my fellow-men” 43William Nast—Verse 5: “Verse 5. The Jews attached to prayer a still greater importance than even to fasting and almsgiving, but had reduced it to a mere mechanical performance. They prayed three times a day, at nine o'clock, A.M., at twelve o'clock, and at three o'clock, P. M., and resorted to the synagogue for prayer on the Sabbath, on Monday, and Thursday. Many a zealous Jew spent nine hours a day in prayer. Nor did they go for public prayer only to the synagogue, but, like the Roman Catholics, also for private prayer, because greater efficacy was ascribed to prayer in the synagogue. The Pharisees managed it so—this is implied in ‘they love’—that they were overtaken by the hour of prayer while on their way to the synagogue, that the people might see them pray and praise their piety. It is evident from the context that these remarks of our Lord are not directed against common or public prayer—a duty resting on express Divine command—but against performing private prayer in public places..” 44📷Adam Clarke—Verse 6: “But thou, when thou prayest. This is a very impressive and emphatic address. But thou! whosoever thou art, Jew, Pharisee, Christian—enter into thy closet. Prayer is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God, and as it were the conversation of one heart with another. The world is too profane and treacherous to be of the secret. We must shut the door against it: endeavour to forget it, with all the affairs which busy and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement, at least of the heart; for this may be fitly termed the closet in the house of God, which house the body of every real Christian is, 1 Cor. iii. 16. To this closet we ought to retire even in public prayer, and in the midst of company.📷Reward thee openly. What goodness is there equal to this of God! to give, not only what we ask, and more than we ask, but to reward even prayer itself! How great advantage is it to serve a prince who places prayers in the number of services, and reckons to his subjects’ account, even their trust and confidence in begging all things of him!” 45James Morison—Verse 7: “But, in addition to secrecy as regards men, take heed as regards another matter, namely, the fitting mood of mind in relation to God, when engaged in praying, use not vain repetitions: ‘Battering’ away at God, as it were, and ‘blattering’ (Luther has it, viel plujypern). ‘Babble’ not in prayer, in the spirit of those worshippers of Baal ‘who called on his name from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us’ (1 Kings xviii. 26), or of those worshippers of Diana who ‘about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians’ (Acts xix. 34). As the Gentiles do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking: They think that in heaping word upon word, and persistently holding on with their speechifying, they shall secure attention and a hearing. Such multiplication of speaking is utterly in vain. ‘It proceedeth,’ as good David Dickson remarks, ‘from a base misconception of God.’ It is well observed however by Augustin that there is a great difference between much speaking and much praying. And even repetitiousness, when it is not wordiness but the expression of intensity of desire, will not be unacceptable to the Hearer of prayer. Such repetitiousness will not be immoderate. It is found in many of the psalms; and it was characteristic of our Saviour’s own prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, when He again and again ‘prayed, saying the same words’ (Matt. xxvi. 44).” 46📷James Glentworth Butler—Verse 8: “Your Father knoweth what ye need. Prayer is the preparation and the enlargement of the heart for the receiving of the divine gift; which, indeed, God is always prepared to give, but we are not always prepared to receive. In the act of prayer there is a purging of the spiritual eye, which thus is averted from the things earthly that darken it, and becomes receptive of the divine light—able not to endure only the brightness of that light, but to rejoice in it with an ineffable joy. In the earnest asking is the enlargement of the heart for the abundant receiving; even as in it is also the needful preparation for the receiving with a due thankfulness; while, on the contrary, the good which came unsought would too often remain the unacknowledged also. Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery, to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul toward heaven, and to put him in mind that there is his Father, his country, his inheritance. He is a Father to whom we pray; let us go to him with confidence; he knows our wants; let us remove far from us all anxious disquiet and concern.” 47📷Edwin Wilbur Rice—Verse 9: “After this manner, or ‘thus.’ Jesus gives a pattern or specimen of true prayer. Thus it was understood by nearly all the early fathers and by the majority of evangelical Christians. Some hold that he gave this as a formula always to be used. Others say this is against his teaching in v. 7; and that he did not make the use of this particular form obligatory on his followers. There is no historical evidence, so far as known, that it was used as a formula of prayer by the apostles themselves. It is to be accepted as a proper mode of prayer, and it may be used in the worship of God privately or publicly, but always and only in accord with the principle already declared by Jesus—not to use display or vain repetitions in praying.📷Onr Father. ‘The Lord’s Prayer,’ so called because the Lord gave it as a pattern, might more accurately be called ‘The Model Prayer.’ It is usually divided into three parts: 1, preface; 2, petitions.; 3, conclusion. The Latin fathers and the Lutheran Church make the number of the petitions seven. The Greek and Reformed Churches and the Westminster divines make the number six, by making only one petition of the first part of v. 13, while the others divide it into two petitions. The works written on this ‘Model Prayer’ would make an immense library. The Preface is literally ‘Father of us, who art in the heavens;’ ‘our,’ not my, implying the brotherhood of the human race, especially of believers. The ‘fatherhood of God’ was an old thought in the Jewish worship. It seems a common thought of the race. The Vedas of India, the Zend-Avesta of Persia, Greek literature, as Plato and Plutarch, and the older Baal worship, have the same idea. It seems to be a relic of God's earliest revelation of himself in patriarchal times. But Jesus brings it into a new form and touches it with a new life.First Petition. Hallowed he thy name. That is, help us and others to revere, hallow, sanctify and make holy God’s name and being. Reverence lies at the foundation of all true prayer. 48Phillip Schaff—Verse 10: “Thy kingdom come (second petition). The Messiah’s kingdom, which in organized form had not yet come, but was proclaimed by the Lord Himself, as at hand. It did speedily come, as opposed to the Old Testament theocracy; but in its fulness, including the triumph of Christ’s kingdom over the kingdom of darkness it has not yet come. For this coming we now pray and the prayer is answered, in part by every success of the gospel, and will be answered entirely when the King comes again. A missionary petition, but not less a prayer for our own higher sanctification and for the second coming of Christ. —Thy will be done as in heaven, so on earth (Third petition). ‘Heaven’ and ‘earth,’ put for their inhabitants. As by pure angels, so by men. The idea of human doing is prominent, our will subordinate to God’s will. ‘As’ expresses similarity in kind and completeness.” 49📷Matthew Henry—Verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread. Because our natural being is necessary to our spiritual well-being in this world, therefore, after the things of God’s glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life, which are the gifts of God, and must be asked of him,—Bread for the day approaching, for all the remainder of our lives. Bread for the time to come, or bread for our being and subsistence, that which is agreeable to our condition in the world, (Prov. 30.8.) food convenient for us and our families, according to our rank and station.📷Every word here has a lesson in it: (1.) We ask for bread; that teaches us sobriety and temperance; we ask for bread, not dainties, not superfluities; that which is wholesome, though it be not nice. (2.) We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread out of other people’s mouths, not the bread of deceit, (Prov. 20.13.) not the bread of idleness, (Prov. 31.27.) but the bread honestly gotten. (3.) We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow, (ch. 6.34.) but constantly to depend upon divine providence, as those that live from hand to mouth. (4.) We beg of God to give it us, not sell it us, nor lend it us, but give it. The greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread. (5.) We pray, ‘Give it to us; not to me only, but to others in common with me.’ This teaches us charity, and a compassionate concern for the poor and needy. It intimates also, that we ought to pray with our families; we and our house-holds eat together, and therefore ought to pray together. (6.) We pray that God would give it us this day; which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed; as duly as the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we should as well go a day without meat, as without prayer.” 50John Bird Sumner—Verses 12-13: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. We are, then, trespassers: we need forgiveness. Our hearts must be ill-instructed in the divine law, if they do not tell us that it is so. And he who lives through mercy, must show mercy. An unforgiving spirit would mar the effect even of this Christian prayer, because it would betray a most unchristian state of mind.📷And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. There are temptations which ‘are common to men.’ We see throughout all Scripture, that it is God’s will that his people should be tried. But who, that knows his frailty, and the infirmity of his best purposes, will not pray that he may be kept from temptation, and delivered from the evil one?” 51Joseph Addison Alexander—Verses 14-15: “14. For, if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15. But, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. The next two verses, as already stated, purport to give a reason for something in the previous context, which can only be the last clause of v. 12. As if he had said, ‘In asking for forgiveness, you must stand prepared to exercise it also, for unless you are, you cannot be forgiven, not because the one is the condition of the other, but because the two must go together, and the absence of the one proves the absence of the other.’ The verb four times repeated here is the same with that in v. 12; but instead of the word delts another figure is employed, that of a fall or false step, rendered in the English versions, trespass, and intended to express the same idea, that of sin, which may be considered either as a debt due to the divine justice, or as a lapse from the straight course of moral rectitude. The fulness and precision with which the alternative is here presented may appear superfluous, but adds to the solemnity of the assurance, and would no doubt strengthen the impression on the minds of the original hearers. In this, as in the whole preceding context, God is still presented in his fatherly relation to all true believers; as if to intimate that even that relation, tender as it is, would give no indulgence to an unforgiving spirit.” 52📷Charles John Elliott—Verse 16: “(16) When ye fast.—Fasting had risen under the teaching of the Pharisees into a new prominence. Under the Law there had been but the one great fast of the Day of Atonement, on which men were ‘to afflict their souls’ (Lev. xxiii.27; Num. xxix.7), and practice had interpreted that phrase as meaning total abstinence from food. Other fasts were occasional, in times of distress or penitence, as in Joel i.14, ii.15; or as part of a policy affecting to be religions zeal (1 Kings xxi.9, 12); or as the expression of personal sorrow (1 Sam. xx.34; 2 Sam. xii 16; Ezra x.6; Neh. i.4; et al.). These were observed with an ostentatious show of affliction which called forth the indignant sarcasm of the prophets (Isa. lviii.5). The ‘sackcloth’ took the place of the usual raiment, ‘ashes’ on the head, of the usual unguents (Neh. ix.1; Ps. xxxv. 13). The tradition of the Pharisees, starting from the true principle that fasting was one way of attaining self-control, and that as a discipline it was effectual in proportion as it was systematic, fixed on the fasts ‘twice in the week,’ specified in the prayer of the Pharisee (Luke xviii.12); and the second and fifth days of the week were fixed, and connected with some vague idea that Moses went up Mount Sinai on the one, and descended on the other. Our Lord, we may note, does not blame the principle, or even the rule, on which the Pharisees acted. He recognises fasting, as He recognises almsgiving and prayer, and is content to warn His disciples against the ostentation that vitiates all three, the secret self-satisfaction under the mask of contrition, the ‘pride that apes humility.’ The very words, ‘when thou fastest’ contain an implied command.📷Of a sad countenance.—Strictly, of sullen look, moroseness of affected austerity rather than of real sorrow.They disfigure their faces.—The verb is the same as that translated ‘corrupt’ in verse 19. Here it points to the unwashed face and the untrimmed hair, possibly to the ashes sprinkled on both, that men might know and admire the rigorous asceticism.” 53Charles Rosenbury Erdman—Verses 17-18: “Very popular with the Jews among whom Christ lived, was that of fasting. If this is practiced in order to show to God our sorrow for sin; or if it is involved in our devotion to his service, it is right and commendable; but if it is employed as a means of winning the approval and praise of men, it is hypocrisy and pretense. Jesus insists that fasting, and all forms of self-denial, should be in secret; we are not to parade our sacrifices; we are not to make capital out of our devotion. We are to have regard only to the Father who is in secret, who sees in secret and who surely will reward.” 54📷Endnote:42   Harvey Goodwin, A Commentary on the Gospel of S. Matthew (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Company, 1857), 93-94.43   Charles H. Spurgeon, The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Popular Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1893), 32.44   William Nast, A Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark (Cincinnati: Poe & Hitchcock, 1864), 262.45   Adam Clarke, The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew to the Acts), Volume 1 (New York: Lane & Scott, 1850), 84.46   James Morrison, A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1895), 88.47   J. Glentworth Butler, The Bible Work (or Bible Readers Commentary) The New Testament, in Two Volumes, Volume 1 (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1889), 157.48   Edwin W. Rice, Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew (Philadelphia: The American Sunday School Union, 1897), 79.49   Philip Shaff, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, Volume 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891), 67.50   Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Volume 5 (Philadelphia: Edward Barrington & George D. Haswell, 1825), 67.51   John Bird Sumner, A Practical Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, in the Form of Lectures (London: Hatchard & Son, 1831), 70.52   Joseph Addison Alexander, The Gospel According to Matthew (New York: Charles Scribner, 1861), 176.53   Charles John Ellicott, A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (Matthew-John), Volume 1 (Edinburg: The Calvin Translation Society, 1884), 26.54   Charles Rosenbury Erdman, The Gospel of Matthew: An Exposition (Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1920), 56.