Ingratitude (Mar 29)

2 Corinthians 12:15

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

Psalm 35:12

They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.

Proverbs 17:13

Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

John 10:32

Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

Luke 17:17-18

17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

Romans 1:20-22

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

Ordered Steps (Mar 22)

I would like to share this writing by F.B. Meyer entitled, Ordered Steps.

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand." – Ps 37:23-24.

IT IS a mistake to think of our Lord's sufferings as a fact of history come and gone, an incident of the great past. It is this, but much more. He does not leave us to bear all the burden of life, unaided and alone. He shares everything with us now–our pain, our griefs, our weariness. "In all our affliction He is afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saves us." As another has put it: "Not standing over against me, holding back a hand that might help, but side by side; nay, even, 'closer than breathing.' Within the inmost hiding-place of my sufferings, He suffers also, bears my griefs and carries my sorrows, as though they were His own. If only we will avail ourselves of His sympathy and help, they who watch us shall see One like unto the Son of Man walking in the fiery furnace, by our side."

God is ordering all things in our life to secure the best results here and hereafter. In the darkest sky there are a few inches of blue. Happy is the soul which watches these, and dwells on them, and believes that they will widen until the darkness is passed, and all the sky is clear! We often forget that what seems to be a disaster is really the seed of a joyous harvesting. If we had visited this earth of ours in one of the great eras of the past, we should have found it covered by a dense mass of vegetation. But that era was not destined to last. Volcanic action of the fiercest character overwhelmed those mighty trees, and hurled them into the dark caverns and cellars of the yawning gulfs which seamed the planet. You and I, had we been there, might have cried: "Wherefore this waste?" To our poor and limited vision, it would have seemed a contradiction to the ordered progress of the Creator's plan. Why hurl into the bowels of the earth all this fair growth! But out of that cataclysm, the profuse vegetation, pressed together in the heart of the earth, became coal to give us light and heat.

Once, when staying in the country with a friend, he took me into his garden and showed me the weather-vane over his coach-house, and asked if I could distinguish the sentence woven into its texture. I discovered it to be: "God is Love!”....”Yes," he said, "for I have found that whatever comes to me is from the quarter of the Love of God!"

PRAYER

Help me to believe, O Lord, that all things are of Thee; and that Thou hast a plan for my life, of which each passing incident is a part. AMEN.

Psalm 40:1-3

1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Live an Orderly Life (Mar 14)

Last week, we learned what it meant to live a pure life. Today, we will pick up on the discussion and I would like to spend a few moments discussing an orderly life. What exactly does orderly mean? Webster defines it as arranged in some order or pattern, governed by law, methodical, well-behaved, and/or peaceful. (see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orderly[1])

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; 11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

My Bible titles this section A Brotherly and Orderly Life. In the previous section (which we looked at last week), Paul exhorted the church to continue to obey God and live out all of the stuff that they had learned. He also called them to live a pure life, abstaining from sexual sins and all other things that are inappropriate or impure. It is in this section, then, that he continues to describe the Christian life. Not only should Christians live rightly before God (pure in their thoughts and actions), but also in many practical ways with one another.

Many people today incorrectly subscribe to the fallacy that the Christian life is only a man or woman living righteously before God. If you read the Bible, you'll see that very much involves a man or woman living righteously before and among his fellow people as well. This is the orderly life. The life is arranged in God's order, governed by God's law, well-behaved, and at peace with one another. The first thing that Paul says in this regard is to love one another. In fact, he says that he doesn't even have to tell them because God has already taught them this. You have already heard this command so many times, I do not need to even have a lesson about this life. But, I remind you again anyways, because even in the things that you have been taught and have been obedient, the lesson is for you to increase more and more. That is just like what was said last week. You know the things that we've taught and you obey, but increase! I don't know of all of my audience whether people are having brotherly love one for the other. I'm sure some are and some aren't. But for those of you that already are: increase! Do you have brotherly love for some in the church, but not for others? Shouldn't the work of God in your heart be perfected? So then should the response be perfected. Live righteously before not just some, but all people.

Study to be quiet. Matthew Henry wrote on this subject, “It is very desirable to have a calm and quiet temper, and to be of a peaceable and quiet behavior. Satan is busy to trouble us; and we have in our hearts what disposes us to be unquiet; therefore let us study to be quiet. Those who are busy-bodies, meddling in other men's matters, have little quiet in their own minds, and cause great disturbances among their neighbors.”

There are so many specific things that we could look at, but I think it is probably best for you to pray to God and ask him what areas of your life are not orderly. Where do you lack peace between you and another? Where do you spar with others instead of exuding the love of Christ toward all? In what dealings with others are you dishonest or hurtful? Yes, your life is before God and when you sit in your room and pray and do other righteous things, God is glorified. But your life is also before people. Is your life an example to those outside of the church of real love? Or, is all the righteous stuff you do before God just empty words and actions as you walk dishonestly before men?

Live a Pure Life (Mar 8)

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

You have learned a lot of things. I have taught many things from the Bible and you have sat through countless sermons in church discussing the finer points of Christianity. You have learned how you ought to walk in your spiritual life and you have learned how to please God. You have learned how you ought to be and what it means to be a Christian. OK, so far, that's just a bunch of knowledge. Fine, knowledge is good, but without action, it's worthless. A few weeks ago, we learned that we know that we know God if we keep His commandments. So you know that you should obey the things that you learn from the Word of God. Today I say that you should obey abundantly. You should continue to obey and walk in the way that you have learned. In this way you should abound. What good does it do you to walk in the right way only some of the time. You walk in the right way, then you walk through the mud, and then you walk in the right way. We learn today that it is the will of God that you walk in His way and be sanctified and free from immorality.

Ephesians 4:1-3

1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

God is calling us to obey Him in all things. We should be able to conduct ourselves in such a way that lives a pure life towards God and towards one another. We will abstain from all specks of filthiness. We will not live sexually immoral lives, but we will also abstain from spiritual immorality. We will not indulge our lusts, but we will also hearts and minds set only on God. We will not sin against each other because we know that it is also a sin against God. God is calling us to live a pure life. He did not call us to uncleanness but in holiness.

You may not want to hear this word. In fact, you may not want to hear any word taught in church. Perhaps you just reject it to spite me. Let me remind you: the one that rejects this does not reject the man teaching it, but God.

God is Faithful (Mar 1)

I would like to share this devotional with you. It is from Our Daily Walk by F.B. Meyer.

A FAITHFUL CREATOR

"Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a Faithful Creator." – 1 Peter 4:19.

THE MORE one ponders these words, the more wonderful they appear! That God is faithful is as clear as noonday. He is faithful in the return of the seasons and the orbit-order of the stars; faithful in holding back the flood, that it should not overflow the world and destroy the homes of men; faithful to every living creature that He has made, providing for its exact sustenance. Even the odd sparrow, which Christ must have seen thrown in by the dealer, when His Mother bought four others, does not fall to the ground without His notice. God is the Faithful Creator in the heavens above and in the earth beneath. We are not surprised, therefore, to find His faithfulness the theme of Holy Writ; but why does Peter lay emphasis on His faithfulness as Creator, when ministering to the special circumstances of suffering believers? Is not this the reason? We are apt to concentrate our thoughts on the Birth, the Cross, the Grave, the Intercession of our Lord, and to forget that behind all these, deep in the nature of God–the Almighty Creator–there are ever-welling fountains of faithfulness, love, and tenderness. We are summoned to go back beyond the story of Redemption to the infinite silence of Eternity, when each of us was a distinct thought in the mind of God. In His book, all our members were written, when as yet there was none of them.

Whether we have realized that eternal purpose is open to serious questioning, but everyone of us has a right to look into the face of God, and say" "Thine hands have made me, and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn Thy commandments." We may not question God's dealings with us. They are immutably wise and right. But we may claim that in some way He should make good our deficiencies, so that though sorrowful, we should be always rejoicing; though poor we should make many rich; though having nothing, we should scatter our wealth, as though possessing all things. There is no reason why our life should be a failure, no reason why we should not minister richly to others, no reason why, by His grace, we should not be more than conquerors! We may humbly make this claim on the Almighty Creator, and He will not allow His faithfulness to fail!

PRAYER

Help us to commit ourselves to Thee in well-doing, O God, our Faithful Creator. May we find a solace for our own griefs and disappointments, in sympathy and ministry to others. AMEN.

1 Thessalonians 5:24

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

2 Timothy 2:13

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Hebrews 10:23

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)