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Saturday, December 30, 2017

Preparing to Worship Psalms 99: 9


click to Read the passage: Psalms 99  (a new browser window will open)


(Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is
  holy.)

1. There must be possession of the heart by God-ownership.

2. There must be possession of the heart by God- yieldedness.

3. There must be a clean heart of the believer.

4. There is to be a heart willing to encounter God on His terms.
Illustration- Luke 19: 11-26- parable of talents

5. There is to be a heart desiring to hear from God.

6. There is to be a heart yielded to Christ's glory.

7. There is to be a heart caught up in the timelessness of His presence.

8. There is to be a heart filled to overflowing with His grace.

9. There will be a clear witness of God's spirit presiding, exalting the work and
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
Man will not be exalted at all.

10. There will be a sustaining holy reverence empowering the worship of God,
          capturing and holding the believer's heart to God.



Wednesday, December 27, 2017

The Joy That Follows Faith Matthew 2: 10-12


click to Read the passage: Matthew 2  (a new browser window will open)

( They rejoiced with exceedingly great joy .... ) 

1) The joy of obedience 
following the star 

2) The joy of faithfulness 
continuing over many miles, many days 

3) The joy of fellowship 
Joseph, Mary, Jesus 

4) The joy of reward 
Jesus - worshipping Jesus 

V 11 5) The joy of giving 
( they presented unto Him gifts, ... ) 

v 12 6) The joy of renewal 
( they departed ... ) 

v 12 7) The joy of continuing. 
The effect of being in Christ's presence never wears off. 

Saturday, December 23, 2017

A Manger Luke 2: 7


click to Read the passage: Luke 2  (a new browser window will open)

(And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped Him in swaddling 
clothes, and laid Him in a manger;)

1. Heaven's cradle for deity.
Isaiah 30: 15;    32: 17

2. Heaven's statement of humility.
contrasting with lost man’s great pride problem
contrasting with zealous or sincere believer’s attempts to right wrongs

3. Heaven's highlight for majesty.
Zechariah 9:9;  Isaiah 9: 7

4. Heaven's flexibility for man's insensitivity.

5. Heaven's adaptability to man's incompatibility.

6. Heaven's favor sheltered with God's integrity.

7. Heaven's hold on man's only hope and security.
Christ, the hope of glory
Everlasting life- the inclusion of forever in His presence
Jude 24, 25








Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Christmas Gift Isaiah 9: 6


click to Read the passage: Isaiah 9  (a new browser window will open)                                                              
                                                 

1) A personal gift 
(For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,) 

2) A personal ruler 
(and the government shall be upon His shoulder;) 
Lord 

3) A personal love 
(Wonderful,) 

4) A personal word 
(Counselor, ) 

5) A personal defender 
(The Mighty God,) 

6) A personal extender 
(The Everlasting Father,) 

7) A personal satisfier 
(The Prince of Peace.) 








Saturday, December 16, 2017

The Certainty of God's Time Luke 1: 20


click to Read the passage: Luke 1  (a new browser window will open)

(And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that 
these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words,
which shall be performed in their season.) 

1. God does have a time for fulfilment of His will, else he wouldn't reveal it.

2. God requires faith of His servants.

3. The opportunity of faith is consequential.

4. God asks His servant only to believe and wait patiently, not to complete
God's will.

5. God is just and clearly reveals His will, his choice.

6. God's words are true from the beginning.

7. Fulfilment is but the arriving of God's time.








Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Believer Don't Quit on the Lord Luke 1: 57


click to Read the passage: Luke 1  (a new browser window will open)


(Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she 
brought forth a son.)

1. God’s truth is most sure; contrary circumstances can only have a temporary
presence.

2. It is the truths of scripture that remain and give lasting virtue and benefit to
God’s people.

3. God most surely has an honorable and worthy purpose in mind for your
trial of faith.

4. That which seems to bar God’s provision untimately fits into God’s superior
plan and finds it must fit into God’s sovereign dominion.

5. It is the plan of God and that plan alone which God concludes worthy and
to which God is immeasurably and totally committed.

6. The plan(s) of man do not nor cannot refute the plan of God.
A believer should not allow the appearances of man’s plan to deter nor
defer his faith.

7. A believer can only wait on God’s fulfilment; the believer’s hand is
powerless to obtain. Thus, the believer is to wait in firmness of hand and 
sureness of heart.







Saturday, December 9, 2017

Secure in God's Hand Genesis 39-50


click to Read the passage: Genesis 39  (a new browser window will open)


God allows two types of trials: 
(1) Those God allows to come into our life to built our faith, 
(2) Those that are the result of our omission of God's instruction or transgression against God. 

39, 40  (Potiphar’s house and prison)
1) God allows tenured testing to build our life. 
It has a season.

40
2) The presence of struggles doesn’t mean God is not present.
We wil see His presence at work.

39-40 
3) God's attentiveness is continually present, as is His accompaniment. 
in Potiphar's house, in prison , in Pharaoh's court 

40:8 40:16 
4) God's desire is to enlarge our spiritual borders--of insight, of love, of understanding; of commitment. 

41: 39 (Pharoah’s acknowledgement)
5) Wisdom is a jewel of great price often produced through struggles and challenges of faith.

45:5-8 (God sent me)
6) God's purpose is the only one to stand. 

50:23-26 
7)  Godly heritage awaits those willing to abide before God. 

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Christ's Teachings-On the Heart of Giving Luke 21: 1, 2


click to Read the passage: Luke 21  (a new browser window will open)

v.1 1. Giving is not measured by the capacity and choice of men.
(And He looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the
treasury.)

v.1 2. The gift given is not to please man, but to please God.

v.1 3. The gift is not measured by man’s scales.

v.2 4. The gift is measured by the amount of love depicted and represented.
(And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.)

v.2 5. Giving is measured by the size of the heart of the one giving.

v.2 6. Giving is to reveal God as the provider.

v.2 7. Giving is measured by God’s acceptance of the giver.









Saturday, December 2, 2017

What Prayer Changes Nehemiah 1: 6-11; 2: 4, 8, 10, 20


click to Read the passage: Nehemiah 1 (a new browser window will open)

click to Read the passage: Nehemiah 2  (a new browser window will open)




v.6 1. It changes the consequences that resulted from sin.
(...and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against 
thee:...)

v.9 2. It changes the hearts of God’s people.
(But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, …)

v.9 3. It changes the hopeless to hope.
(Yet will I gather them from there, and I will bring them unto the place that I
                have chosen to set my name.)

v.10, 4. It changes the course of God’s people.
   11 (Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou has redeemed…)
(and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name and prosper I
pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. …)

2:4, 5. It changes the heart of the king.
  8 (so I prayed to the God of heaven.)
(And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me.)

2: 10 6. It changes the impact of opposition.
(Sanballet and Tobiah)

2: 20 7. It changes defeat and ruin to the splendor of victory.
(…The God of heaven will prosper us. therefore we His servants will arise and
build.)






Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Two Ways for a Believer Luke 17: 13-19


click to Read the passage: Luke 17  (a new browser window will open)

One way:

v.13, 1. Many benefit from the goodness of a loving Lord.
   14 ( …and it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.)
They were cleansed of leprosy; this does not mean they were converted
to salvation.

v.14 2. God does not necessarily remove His goodness because of man’s omission.
( they were cleansed.)

v.17 3. Not all who seek after Christ  follow after Christ.
(And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are 
the nine?)

v.17 4. Men can gain from Christ temporally without gaining Christ eternally.
(And Jesus answering said, …)

The right way:

v.16 5. A believer who takes up Christ’s way bows his heart in honor and
submission to the holiness of Christ.
(And fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a 
Samaritan.)

v.18 6. The way of true surrender is the way that honors and glorifies Christ.
(There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.)
A Samaritan- only the household of faith gives God glory.
The Hebrew lepers did not return to honor Christ. v.14 identifies the
Hebrews by the command to go show yourselves unto the priests.)

v.19 7. Wholeness accompanies faith that totally recognizes and accepts Jesus as
the Son of God.
(thy faith hath made thee whole.)




Saturday, November 25, 2017

What Touches God's Heart Nehemiah 1: 3-11, 2: 20


click to Read the passage: Nehemiah 1  (a new browser window will open)

click to Read the passage: Nehemiah 2  (a new browser window will open)




v.3 1. Compassion for God’s people.
(The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great 
affliction and reproach;)

v.3 2. A genuine heart for God’s work.
(…the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, …)

v.4 3. Willingness to bear a burden for Godliness to be gained.
(...when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, ....and mourned certain
days, and fasted, and prayed.)

v.5 4. Genuine faith.
(I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, …)

v.6 5. Genuine repentance of sin and turning from it.
(...and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against
thee:...)

v.8, 6. Steadfast assurance in God’s faithfulness.
  10 (Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant, Moses, 
…)
(Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou has redeemed…)


1:11 7. A desire for God’s name to be exalted, His work accomplished, His people
2: 20 obedient, His presence acknowledged, His testimony presented, His glory given.
(delight to fear thy name)
(…The God of heaven will prosper us.)





Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Failing to See God's Goodness Numbers 13: 28


click to Read the passage: Numbers 13  (a new browser window will open)


(Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are 
walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.)

1. God’s people do see, they just see the wrong things.

2. God’s people have too long recorded what they think are the failings of
God.

3. God’s people too long have suffered at the hands of their own choices, but
falsely conclude God is at fault.

4. God’s people look for contentment with ease and absence of trial, thus, 
it is difficult for them to see the blessings of God which accompany faith.

5. God’s people do not evaluate God’s goodness on the basis of redemption 
and grace.
The people of God believe they have some worth that should be 
recognized and rewarded.
The righteousness of man is not righteous.    Is. 64: 6

6. The view of man is always most troubling; the view of God is always most
freeing.
Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

7. The goodness of God is a spiritual fact; God’s people allow spiritual
blindness to blind their eyes.