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who are these wise men?

12/13/2018

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         Who Are These Wise Men?

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him (Matthew 2:1-2.)

WISE MEN. MUCH TIME AND SCHOLARSHIP HAS BEEN DEVOTED to these “wise men.” Who were they?  It was common practice for kings in the area of Babylon and Persia to assemble a body of the smartest men they could find who were masters of accumulated science and philosophy.  Kings wanted “professionals” at studying the stars and heavenly bodies. They grasped for any straw of connection to any existing deity “out there” anywhere who could guide them in controlling and expanding their kingdoms. That is the background.

HOWEVER, MIXED WITH THIS IS THE JEW FACTOR. As the Jews in the two southern tribes of Judah were conquered and forced into exile among the conquering kingdoms to the east, first Babylon and then Persia (modern-day Iraq and Iran) they took with them a firm belief in the one true God who had given them their land and their sacred books. Their sacred books had told them of one promised to come to Israel who would be an unusual, powerful governor.

THESE WISE MEN APPARENTLY WERE OFFICIALS OF GOVERNMENT in that they had considerable wealth in their wearing apparel and their mode of transportation. It is doubtful that they simply asked a few months off from their kingly duties to go on vacation. In short, the idea that they would have undertaken such a long trip as a private venture apart from their government authority and wealth is practically zero.

WE DON'T KNOW EXACTLY HOW THESE MEN WERE DRESSED but we can know this much: They did not look like lowly shepherds or merchants whose animals were covered with dangling items of merchandise or bags of spices. Their camels were not old and worn out. They almost certainly had traveling with them, trusted and skilled servants to take care of the animals and do food preparation. It was an entourage, well-organized and well-financed. We don’t know how many “wise men” there were. Three is a reasonable number.

THEIR GOVERNMENT HAD A HIDDEN INTEREST IN SUCH A VENTURE. The government of the wise men was heavily involved in commerce and commerce involved ships. The navigation of ships relied on a knowledge of the stars. I can’t prove it by the Scripture, of course, but I believe their government had an interest in the strange star they had been watching and studying.

THESE WISE MEN WERE STRONGLY INFLUENCED BY THEIR JEWISH BACKGROUND and the Jewish Bible. Their rulers in the east would have an interest in a strange star and a strange story believed by the Wise men: that a new king, an unusual king could be related to this unusual star. 

A READER COMMENTS: “These wise men would have no doubt had copies of Daniel's scriptures...Daniel was the chief of the magi of Babylon and taught in the school of the seers the prophecy of the star, the sign of the King of the Jews...Because of the faith Daniel to teach the truth of God, hundreds of years after his death the magi knew the prophecy and came to see the new born King" (Comment by George Gullickson, a reader)


THE GOVERNMENT'S INQUIRY WAS NOT ABOUT A SUFFERING SAVIOR who would save people from their sins. Their interest was about a new king born to the Jews. This would be a profitable journey for a sponsoring government. But apparently, they had a connection with God that their government did not have. God does as He pleases and on His own time schedule. These wise men made a long journey to find the Christ of the Jewish prophets. Wise men still seek Him today. Have you sought Him for yourself?

THE BIG PICTURE OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS THE CHRIST (Jewish messiah) is that the entire Old Testament says repeatedly: “He’s coming!” Beginning with Moses and continuing to Malachi, reference is often made of God’s promised one. The New Testament summarizes it: But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4-5).
                     ●This article is an edited reprint of “Good Morning December 11, 2007”

Read Through the Bible in a Year
 DECEMBER 14, 2017 - FRIDAY
 A.M. Amos 1-3     P.M Revelation 5
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

A Good Verses to Memorize:
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.  (Galatians 4:4-5)
 
Song for Today: 
Beautiful Star of Bethlehem (3:41) (Gaither Group – Ben Speer)  
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM1YEgtRZ08
 You may have to adjust the volume and delete an Ad
 
 
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mary and the angel gabriel-2

12/12/2018

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​              Mary and the Angel Gabriel
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.  And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women (Luke 1:26-28).
 
IN THE SIXTH MONTH...The story of Jesus’ birth occurs in Matthew and Luke, in the first two chapters of each book. (The birth of Jesus is not told in Mark and John.) In Matthew, the text is arranged to display Jesus’ legal position as the heir to the throne of David. Matthew tells the story of Jesus as the long promised and long expected Jewish Messiah; the Christ. Jesus is his name. Christ is his title.
 
IN LUKE, THE TEXT IS ARRANGED TO SHOW JESUS AS THE GOD-MAN, portraying more the humanity of Jesus. The narrative is an almost uninterrupted story. In Matthew and in Luke there is a strong connection between Elijah and the promised Christ-King. 
 
IN LUKE, WE MUST ENTER THE STORY OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST through the story of the birth of John the Baptist. Notice the words: in the sixth month (Luke 1:26). Christmas pageantry in our churches usually does not mention this except on our way to the birth of Jesus. Our Christmas plays are very limited in what they can do, so, they are almost always condensed.  In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist, in v.36 the text says: “…thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.”
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IS THERE AN IMPORTANT CONNECTION between Elizabeth and Mary? Between John the Baptist and Jesus? There is a big connection. The prophet Malachi said: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: (Malachi 4:5).
 
FAST-FORWARD 30 YEARS: And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. (Matthew. 17:1-3)
 
NOTICE THE CONVERSATION THAT FOLLOWS: And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.   And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? (Mat 17:9-10)
 
AND JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things.  (Matthew 17:11) But I say unto you, That Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise, shall also the Son of man suffer of them.  (Matthew 17:11-2) Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.  (Matthew 17:13)
 
HAVE WE OVEREMPHASIZED ELIJAH? I don’t think so. There are two aspects of Jesus’ role in coming to earth: The Suffering Messiah and the Ruling Messiah. Jesus offered the Promised Messiah and the Promised Kingdom, but not on their terms. When they rejected their Messiah, they had already rejected the message and ministry of John the Baptist who had come in the spirit of Elijah in fulfillment of the prophecies. They wanted a Messiah they could use against the Roman Government. They did not want to be submissive to him and in their rebellion, they had blinded themselves to the prophecies about the Suffering Messiah.
 
THE LANGUAGE OF MALACHI SPEAKS OF ELIJAH coming before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Jesus is coming back to earth as the ruling Messiah to rule and execute judgment upon the earth, immediately after the seven years of tribulation spoken of in Revelation. Malachi saw the result of the coming Messiah and the end characteristics of Elijah the prophet. Many scholars believe that one of the two unnamed witnesses in Revelation 11 is Elijah. They perform miracles like those of Moses and Elijah. 
 
●These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.  (Revelation 11:4-6)
 
●And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.  (Revelation 11:7-9)
 
●And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.  (Revelation 11:10-11)
 
“CHRISTMAS" CAME SIX MONTHS AFTER JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS BORN; six months after “Elijah” was born. It is good to read these things and discuss them with the intention of remembering them. Teach these things to your children. A set of figurines depicting the Christmas story are valuable in allowing young children to tell the story and place each figure in the proper place as the story is told. The birth of John the Baptist should be included in the story. Teach it well at home and they will have it for life.

EVERY YEAR LET THE CHILDREN TELL THE COMPLETE STORY. Observing the Advent Season with the lighting of candles is also a good way to focus on the Christmas story. The different colored candles stand for specific things that need to be remembered by adults and children as well.

 WHEN THE CHRISTMAS SEASON IS OVER, pack up all the story pieces and keep them for next year. You can grow the collection a bit each year. Make it a part of your Christmas celebration. Do your children know the two angels that had names revealed to us? (Gabriel and Michael) Let’s make our homes to be strong teaching centers that coincide with what the children learn in church and in the Christian schools. Ω
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year 
 DECEMBER 13, 2018 - THURSDAY
A.M.  Joel 1-3   P.M. Revelation 4
 (BIBLE GATEWAY will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
 
A Good Verse to Memorize: 
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.  (Luke 24:27)
 
 
 Song for Today:
Choir & Orchestra: Joy to the World (Anonymous.  Good music.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-KU7DewGos  
 (Wait several seconds. You may have to delete an ad.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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GAPS IN THE BIBLE - PART 2

12/9/2018

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    Gaps in the Bible – Part 2

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  (Psalm 19:1-3)
 
TODAY WE CONTINUE AND CONCLUDE with “Gaps in Bible.” That is, times when God was silent between the Old Testament and New Testament and other times when God did not, does not comment on what He is doing or why He does it. He was silent for 2,000 years before Moses wrote anything and for the 2,000 years since the New Testament was completed. This is a book-size question, but today I’m going to try to finish all I have to say about it.
 
I RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE RECENTLY and in the last article I began responding to it. Here is the message: “I’ve been thinking a lot about the “gaps” in the Bible and why certain things were put in and why others were left out. I’ve learned that in the New Testament, the books chosen were from men who were directly associated with Jesus. The Old Testament though is still unclear to me. What happened to the souls of the people who were born gentiles and not of God’s chosen people? During the years of exile, when the Jewish people were not always able to make their sacrifices, what happened to the souls of those people who passed before their sins could be atoned? I saw this link and it did answer some questions, but I wanted to get your opinion on them”
 
THESE QUESTIONS ARE RAISED: “What happened to the souls of gentiles who were not God’s chosen people? During exile, what happened to the souls of those chosen people who could not make sacrifices and passed before their sins could be atoned?” Good questions.
 
THE BOOK OF HEBREWS DECLARES that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. Then, why sacrifice all those animals? The sacrificing of these animals was to remind the people of two things: 1. That the wages of sin is death. 2. That a perfect sacrifice, Jesus, would one day come to pay for their sins. Hebrews (10:4-11)
 
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.  (Hebrews 10:4-7)
 
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  (Hebrews 10:8-10)
 
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (Hebrews 10:11)
 
ANOTHER QUESTION OFTEN ASKED IS: “Can the heathen who have never heard of Christ be saved?” When I was a junior in high school in Stevenson, Alabama, I confronted my young Social Studies teacher, who was not long out of college, about his soul. “Are you going to Heaven when you die?” I still ask that question. I didn’t ask him every day, or many times. But it really got to him and he evidently had considered it while he was still in college. One day as I greeted him before class, he beat me to the draw and said: “Dan, I have a question for you. Can the heathen who have never heard the gospel be saved before you get there to tell them how to be saved?”
 
I SAID, "WELL, SOMEONE WOULD HAVE TO TELL THEM HOW TO BE SAVED." (I knew a lot  back then, more than I know now.) He was gentle and didn’t ask me anything further. He had fastened a question to the bulletin board of my mind that would remain posted for the next 20 years. I knew I had not answered him and that I did not know how to answer him. It was one of those unanswered questions that would sometimes drift into by bedroom and perch itself on my pillow and say: “Well?”
 
TWENTY YEARS LATER, I was a lobbyist in the North Carolina Legislature for religious liberty and for the lives of unborn babies. I was visiting in the office of a legislator who was a farmer in East Carolina and a Methodist Stewart in his church. He asked me, one day: “Can the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved?” It was a hot arrow that shot straight back to that day in high school when my teacher asked me the same question.
 
THE GAME WAS OVER. NO MORE STALLING. I had had 20 years to think it over and I had been too lazy to dig into the Bible. Go into a Christian book store and look on the shelf that has all the books on the heathen being saved before they have heard the Gospel. (It’s in the basement in a closet under several boxes of plumbing supplies that were left there when the building was built 100 years ago.)
 
I SAID, "I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION but if you will give me three days, I will dig into the Bible and get back with you.” He was pleased, and I could tell that he expected me back in his office in three days with an answer from the Bible. In three days, I was back in his office with an answer. The answer was there all along but for twenty years I let it slide because…I really didn’t want to know the answer. I had a college degree with a major in Bible and that question had never come up. The prevailing view, the prevailing unfounded assumption was the same as I had answered my high school teacher 20 years earlier and somehow, I knew that my answer did not fly. Here are some important answers I have found.

●Christ died for the sins of the whole world. 
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  (1John 2:2) Christ died for the sins of Adam and Eve as well as for you and me: the whole world. Christ died for every human being that had been born or ever would be born. Those saved in the Old Testament were saved through the blood of Christ who would one day come and be the Lamb slain for them, from the foundation of the world. God will save men by the blood of Christ who call upon the Lord, but who know very little about God.
 
●Christ died in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. 
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (1Peter 1:20) And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  (Revelation 13:8)
 
 
●There is but one God. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.  (Isaiah 45:22) We do NOT have one God in the Old Testament and another God in the New Testament.
 
●God the Father and God the Son are one.
 
If you have called upon the name of the Lord, you have called upon the Father and you have called upon the Son. I and my Father are one.  (John 10:30)  We cannot go to God the Father and say: “Now Father, this is just between You and me. Please don’t tell Jesus about it.”
 
Jesus saith unto him (Phillip), Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. (John 14:9-11)
 
●Every knee shall bow to God the Father and to God the Son. 
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.  (Isaiah 45:23)
 
For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.  (Romans 14:11)
 
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  (Philippians 2:10)
 
 
●God Has Shown ALL MEN the first thing He wants men to know: His power and Godhead – His authority. 
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 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: (Romans 1:19-20)
 
●The Heavens--all Creation tell all men the first thing God wants them to know: 
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Rom 10:13)
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  (Romans 10:14)
 
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  (Rom 10:17)
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.  (Rom 10:18) (This is a quote from Psalm 19:1-3)
 
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  (Psalm 19:1-3)
 
 
●To Encounter God, One Must Believe God Exists and Rewards Those Who Diligently Seek Him. 
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  (Hebrews 11:6) Must believe that God exists and that this God will reward them or respond to them if they diligently, sincerely seek Him. This is open to every human being on earth.
 
●Man is not lost because he “doesn’t know.’ Man is lost because he rebels against what God has shown him.
It is God who has made every one of us, and 102 times the Bible declares that salvation is of the Lord. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 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: (Romans 1:18-20)
 
●Only God can reach every soul He has made.
Jesus said: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.  (John 6:44-45)
 
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  (Genesis 6:3)
 
 
●God does not hold a man responsible for what he does not have or does not know. 
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.  (2Corinthians 8:12)
 
●Cornelius illustrates God’s telling people how to go further…
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,  (Acts 10:1)And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.  (Acts 10:5-6)
 
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
 DECEMBER 10, 2018 – MONDAY
  A.M. Hosea 5-8   P.M.  Revelation 1
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

A Good Verse to Memorize:  
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.  (2Corinthians 8:12)
 
 
Song for Today: 
Who At My Door is Standing? (3:01)  (Eddie Arnold)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrqxn6q1OSM  
 Wait a few seconds for the sound to come on.
 You may have to adjust the volume or delete an ad.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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GAPS IN THE BIBLE

12/7/2018

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Gaps in the Bible…

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  (Psalm 19:1-3)
 
Notice the underlined words of communication: sheweth, uttereth speech, voice, knowledge, heard.  God has been showing the people of every age and in every nation, certain things about Himself. “There is a God!” The prophet, Isaiah, wrote: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.  (Isaiah 45:22)
 
TODAY'S ARTICLE IS A LETTER I WROTE today in answer to a recent letter, asking questions about “gaps in the Bible.” The questions are worthy of thought. This person writes:
 
“I’ve been thinking a lot about the “gaps” in the Bible and why certain things were put in and why others were left out. I’ve learned that in the New Testament, the books chosen were from men who were directly associated with Jesus. The Old Testament though is still unclear to me. What happened to the souls of the people who were born gentiles and not of God’s chosen people? During the years of exile, when the Jewish people were not always able to make their sacrifices, what happened to the souls of those people who passed before their sins could be atoned? I saw this link and it did answer some questions, but I wanted to get your opinion on them” 
 
HI SUSAN! (NOT HER REAL NAME)
 
THANKS FOR YOUR EMAIL, sharing your questions about Bible gaps. I read the article behind the link that you included: https://redeeminggod.com/400-years-of-silence/
 
HIS WRITTEN REVELATION TO US IS COMPLETE. We can assume that God is saying to us: “Here’s everything I want you to know that you can’t figure out for yourself.” God has never left Himself without a witness of His existence and our responsibility to Him. God does not show us everything we may want to know, but He does show us all that He deems necessary for us to know and in keeping with His purpose. You are asking about the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testaments.
 
THE SILENCE OF THOSE YEARS DOES NOT MEAN that God was inactive for 400 years, but that during that time He did not ordain any prophets to speak for Him. A much larger time of silence was the time before Moses, some 2,000 years. Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Another time of silence is the time after the New Testament was completed, another 2,000 years.  The New Testament is in the Old, contained. The Old Testament is in the New, explained.
 
THE LONG PERIODS OF TIME between the utterance of prophecies and their fulfillment provide a means for proving the Bible to be the Word of God. The Book of Daniel is the key to understanding God’s hand in history, stretching from Babylon to the Roman Empire. Daniel tells us that the Stone that smashes the feet of the towering image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is the smashing of the kingdom of Satan and the entrance of the reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years and then there comes a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness…the eternal state. Thus, Daniel is relatively short by powerful!
 
WE HAVE ANOTHER WITNESS IN CREATION. 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: (Romans 1:20)
 
SOME OF THE PROPHETS WROTE MESSAGES to nations hundreds of miles away but the prophet did not get on a horse and take them a copy. Jonah did. Jonah walked through the streets of Nineveh for 12 days or so and gave them a short message: “40 days and God is going to destroy you.” Very limited. But it was enough to cause them to repent and God delayed their destruction for almost 150 years. It was the most powerful nation on earth at the time. 
 
THERE ARE SOME PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION WITH GOD. Who takes the initiative: God or man? James wrote:  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  (James 4:8) In this case, it looks like the initiative is with man, but other verses indicate that God has already taken the initiative. What is “drawing nigh to God?” He abruptly talks about cleansing hands and dealing with heart issues, avoiding a double-mind.
 
WHEN WE GET READY AND TAKE THE FIRST STEP, God will draw close to us in response. He has been waiting for us to respond to what He has already done. If we don’t want God, He will leave us alone. But, as we read the Bible, we also see this: We love him, because he first loved us.  (1John 4:19) God has already taken the initiative.
 
ANOTHER PERTINENT VERSE IS: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  (Hebrews 11:6) Must believe that God exists and that this God will reward them or respond to them if they diligently, sincerely seek Him.
 
A PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION WITH GOD is promised by Isaiah: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.  (Isaiah 45:22) In principle, it is the same as 2Chronicles 7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  (2Chronicles 7:14)
 
JESUS AND HIS FATHER ARE ONE. Jesus saith unto him (Phillip), Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. (John 14:9-11)
 
PAUL TELLS US IN ROMANS 10:13:  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  McGee says of this verse: “This is a remarkable statement, which Paul draws from the Old Testament (see Joel 2:32), to enforce his argument that salvation is by faith. This makes it very clear that both Jew and Gentile are to call on the Lord. To "call upon the name of the Lord" means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (McGee)

TO REPEAT: This verse is Old and New Testament. When one calls on the Father, one has also called on the Son, and I might add: has called on the Holy Spirit. Can one call on Jesus and not call on the Father? Can one call on the Father and ask Him to keep it a secret from Jesus or tell the Father that it doesn’t pertain to Jesus? (Father, don’t tell this to Jesus. This is just between You and me.) Deep water here, but very important. The same verse is used in Joel and Romans pertaining to how to be saved. When one calls upon the Father, one has called upon the Son. Those who were in fellowship with the Father, recognized the preaching of the Son. See the verses following that show the oneness of the Father and the Son.
 
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.  For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.  (John 6:37-38)
 
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.  (John 8:19) John 1:10 tells us that Jesus was co-creator of the world with God the Father: He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  (John 1:10)
 
There is a timeline in God unfurling His communication to us and His dealing with us: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,  (Galatians 4:4) God’s communication with us is PROGRESSIVE and that process involves a timeline. In promising Abraham the land He was going to give Him, God said this: But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.  (Genesis 15:16)
 
God was saying to Abraham that the land he was seeing would be his but not in his lifetime. God was going to give the land to Abraham’s seed, but He could not kill them and give their stuff to Abraham because they were not yet wicked enough, but they were on their way. When they were wicked enough, God would be just in giving Abraham’s seed the property of those wicked people. There was a timeline.
 
God also has a timeline in revealing things to individuals. Those who choose to walk with God will have things revealed to them when it is appropriate to do so. God does not show us the date of our death when we are ten years old. He merely tells us we are going die after a while. God showed me Shirley’s death ten days before it happened…not the death itself, but a very strong impression, like a curtain, that I could not go to Washington for the March for Life. He arranged for me to be there when she died.
 
God told Ezekiel he was going to take his wife: Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,  Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.  (Ezekiel 24:15-18)
 
You asked about gaps in the Bible. What is a gap in the Bible? There is a general understanding among Bible students about gaps in the Bible. It’s a period of time when God does not speak. But there is also a gap, or millions of gaps in people getting access to the Bible. Most of the people through history and to the present time have never had a Bible in their hands or heard anyone read a Bible verse. These are gaps of a different kind. Only a small percentage of earth’s population has ever entered the doors of a public place of worship. But, God has not left Himself without a witness.
 
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  (Psalm 19:1-3) Notice the underlined words of communication: sheweth, uttereth speech, their voice, knowledge, heard.  God has been showing the people of every age and in every nation, certain things about Himself. “There is a God!”
 
Then He says by the prophet: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.  (Isaiah 45:22)  OK, the message is to all the ends of he earth but Isaiah is one man without a radio microphone, not even a laptop to write an email. How does Isaiah get his message to all the ends of the earth? He doesn’t. He can’t get his message to the ends of the earth. But he is telling the ones who have access to what he wrote, “This is how you get saved!”  “Look until me and be ye saved.” Who does that apply to? All the ends of the earth.
 
Who is going to tell them what God requires them to hear? Psalm 19:1-3 reveals that the heavens and the firmament above their heads told them what God wanted them to know: that He is God, the only God. The New Testament book of Hebrews ties into that when it says: “Must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
 
Man is lost because he rebels against what God has shown him. It is God who has made every one of us, and 102 times the Bible declares that salvation is of the Lord. Since I got saved at age nine, I have been telling the story of Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead and that He is not willing that any should perish. But God has never turned over to me the job of being the main speaker for the gospel. I try to remember that the Gospel message goes to “every creature.” I speak a word or leave a tract or do what I can to carry out the Great Commission Jesus left with us.
 
But I must be honest and say that there have never been enough preachers to tell every individual on earth the story of the Gospel of Christ. There have never been enough church buildings to hold all the people on earth. A very small percentage of earth’s population has ever held a Bible in their hands.
 
But there has always been the sun rising and setting and the things that only God could make to declare His authority and Godhead over them. It is up to God to decide how much of the complete picture He is going to show each individual. He shows His power and Godhead to every soul on earth and they are responsible to respond in faith and submission to what God has shown them. If anyone responds to what God has shown them, He will show them enough for them to be saved. God convicted Peter through the crowing of a rooster. God spoke through the mouth of a donkey to Balaam. Notice what Paul said in Romans about God showing things to people:
 
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 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: (Romans 1:18-20)
 
God has two books: the written Word of God, and the display of His majestic and powerful creation! He has made it all and man cannot make it. That’s why the devil has worked so hard at trying to convince people to believe in evolution, that order can come out of chaos. I have never seen a new Thunderbird sports car drive out of a big pile of scrap metal. I have never heard of an unabridged dictionary coming out of an explosion in an ink factory. Only God can bring order out of chaos.
 
Only God can reach every soul He has made. Jesus said: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.  (John 6:44-45)
 
There is not room in this brief article to explore this subject completely. But perhaps these references will help to put the “Bible gaps” in perspective. Thanks for writing and sharing. Ω
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
 DECEMBER 7, 2018 – FRIDAY
  A.M. Daniel 9-10   P.M.  2John 1
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
A Good Verse to Memorize:  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.  (Jeremiah 1:5)
( Picture: Eli and Samuel)
 
Song for Today: No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus (2:27)  ( George Beverly Shea)
                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHhDXLkInUI
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strangers and pilgrims2

12/2/2018

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Strangers and Pilgrims

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (1Peter 2:11).

THE BIBLE IS THE MOST WONDERFUL BOOK! It tells us where we came from, what we’re doing here and where we’re going when we leave this world. It tells us how to get to Heaven and how to live in this world until we get to Heaven. God does some things for us that we have nothing to do with. Which of us had anything to do with our being born into this world? We woke up one day and here we were, hungry and in need of a change.

I CAME ACROSS THIS ARTICLE over the weekend (Dec.1, 2018) and decided to reprint it with a bit of editing. This is old-hat to many but to some, it may be new and much-needed. Anyway, I need this article as a foundation for what I plan for tomorrow: “Love Covereth All Sins.” (Proverbs 10:12)
 
IT IS GOD WHO MADE US and not we ourselves. We are told: Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  (Psalm 100:3)

IN THE SAME WAY, IT IS GOD WHO SAVES US us and not we ourselves. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.  (Ephesians 2:8-9

BUT, WHOM DOES GOD SAVE?  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Romans 10:13) This is a quote from Joel 2:32: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered (saved).  For a long time, God has been saving people who want to be saved and will call upon Him. I called on him in a bean market one night in October 1943 when I was nine years old.

THE BEAN MARKET WAS FULL OF PEOPLE. The old rough lumber altar was full of people on their knees and there was no one available to talk to a nine-year-old boy who was desperate to be saved. That was no problem. God did the saving without anyone explaining the details. Been saved ever since! Then came the learning of how to live the Christian life. Still learning. Peter wrote to help people live the Christian life.

STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS. That may not be who you want to be, but that’s who you are if you are a genuine Christian. After the world wears you out, you may think that’s a pretty good idea. Getting our eyes on where we’re going and who we are sometimes takes a while. Many people have labored for years to accumulate lots of toys and one day in their emptiness ask the classic question: “Is this all there is?” People listen to God better when they get tired of their toys.

ABSTAIN FROM FLESHLY LUSTS - Such desires and passions as the carnal appetites prompt to.  A sojourner in a land, or a pilgrim, does not give himself up to the indulgence of sensual appetites, or to the soft pleasures of the soul. All these would hinder his progress and turn him off from his great design. Compare Romans 13:4; Galatians 5:24; 2Timothy 2:22; Titus 2:12; 1Peter 1:14.” (Barnes)

THE CHRISTIAN IN HEART is faced with commands of the Lord that may be summarized in the verse above and the verses that follow. It is not enough to be “Good Americans” as wonderful as that is. There’s no other nation like America. But the Christian’s inner life is much higher than being a “Good American.” We are rather, to be “Good Christians.”
 
PART OF THAT ROLE has to do with what we are to abstain from. That’s just one side of it, but it does exist and it is not legalism. We don’t do these things in order to be saved. We are to do these things because we are saved, and God desires us to become like His Son. That is God’s ultimate goal for every child of God. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  (Romans 8:29) That is, that Jesus might have many like Himself in love and purity of soul.

WHAT WILL PEOPLE THINK OF US IF WE ARE UNWILLING to live like everybody around us?  The Bible acknowledged that question two thousand years ago:  Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: (1Peter 4:4). And what does God think of those who think you are “strange?” God has declared the future of those people: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick [living] and the dead (1Peter 4:5).

ONE OF THE LEADING CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEYS IN AMERICA once told a group of us: ‘You are radicals.” He meant that he was convinced we were a genuine article and not a fake. We were about to go to court against the State of NC and he did not want to waste his time trying to defend the rights of phony Christians. Radical includes "deep-seated, thorough, far-reaching, sweeping, major.”

A FOOTBALL THAT LOOKS LIKE AND BEHAVES LIKE A FOOTBALL...is radical. A Bible Christian is radical because he/she believes the Bible and acts like it.  On TV, a radical is one who is unreasonable and dangerous.  But, that’s not the dictionary primary definition. Millions of people claim to be Christians who are Christian in name only. A Christian may fall on his face into the pig pen, but he won’t stay there and make himself comfortable with the hogs.

JESUS TALKED ABOUT BEING THE REAL THING: Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (Matthew 7:21-23).

WE ARE NOT SAVED BY DOING. We are saved by what we have become. We have become a child of God through the new birth. A thing does what it is. An animal does what it is. A bird builds the kind of nest it’s programmed to build. A born-again Christian has the Spirit of God dwelling in Him and if surrendered to the Spirit, will live like a Christian and abstain from fleshly lusts.

GOD HAS A RIGHT TO MANAGE US.  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (Ephesians 2:19).  Our job is not to fit in with those who exercise no restraint upon themselves. They are like those of old: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?  (Psalm 12:4)

WE ARE PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS ON THIS EARTH.e are pilgrims and strangers on this earth. When you become a Christian and act like a Christian, you won’t fit in anymore. You are of the household of God and you look for a city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews.11:10). In your heart of hearts, you know that’s who you have become: a traveler, a wanderer. Your permanent home is not here. Your citizenship is not here.  Therefore, your real home and your real treasure is “up yonder.” Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year
 DECEMBER 3, 2018 – MONDAY
  A.M. Exodus 9-10   P.M.  Matthew 18:1-20
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

A Good Verse to Memorize:  
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.  (Jeremiah 1:5)

Song for Today: 
When Jesus Comes to Stay (2:41)  ( Lester Roloff)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zCxPcpMsyY
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what a day that will be!

11/29/2018

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What A Day That Will Be!

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
 
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. 
 
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  (Revelation 21:2-4)
 
THE BIGGEST DISTTORTION WE HAVE IN VIEWING THIS LIFE is the assumption that it is long and that the earth is the main place to be. A timely Christian song says: “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through. My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door and I can’t feel at home in the world, anymore.” Before we were born, we had never existed. But, after we are conceived, we shall never cease to exist. That distinguishes us from all other forms of life.
 
A MAN WAS WALKING DOWN A SIDEWALK and encountered a 12-year-old boy sitting on the curb. The man said: “Son, do you want to go to Heaven?” “No sir.” “You don’t want to go to Heaven?” “No sir!” The man was taken back and thought a few seconds. “Young man, do you mean to say that when you die you don’t want to go to Heaven?” “Oh! Yes sir! But I thought you were getting up a bus load to go this afternoon.” That about covers it.
 
GOD MADE US WITH A SENSE OF BELONGING to the earth as our home. It is only as we become acquainted with the Bible or attend funerals that we shift our sense of belonging. We are made to have a longing for “home.” Even dogs and birds have a sense of home and will defend their homes. Have you ever had a Blue Jay to attack you on the head? It’s called: “territorial.” We are territorial.
 
MY FIRST WIFE, SHIRLEY (WHO DIED IN HER SLEEP AT 49) was also having trouble with a longing for “home,” wherever it was. She came from Missouri to Chattanooga, TN to attend school, just as I had. We decided that Chattanooga was the most likely place to feel “at home.” Owning a piece of property helps one to feel “at home,” much more than renting. But the school where we felt at home was temporary. It’s gone now. Many of the school mates are in Heaven. Dr. Roberson, the founder and all the faculty are in heaven. My room mates, Bill Compton and Lindsay Terry are in Heaven.  
 
BARBARA AND I HAVE BEEN MARRIED 32 YEARS and have lived in the same house for 31 years. It feels like home, but we know it’s temporary. The cemetery joins our property and is not far to travel when our time on earth is finished. But the grave site will not be home; it will not be a final resting place. It’s temporary.
 
SINCE I WAS A KID, I have enjoyed walking through cemeteries and reading names and dates and imagining what it will look like in that place when the trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18) It’s a habit with me and I wonder what the cemetery adjoining our property will look like at the sound of the trumpet. When I was younger, an able preacher painted a word picture of what a cemetery might look like. It said it will look “like a plowed field!” Maybe so.
 
GOD HAS A WAY OF PUTTING HIS WORK ON DISPLAY and He might just make a show of His power in the graveyards of the world. He certainly won’t try to keep it a secret when Jesus comes and resurrects the bodies of the saved and unites them with their respective spirits. There won’t be any mix-ups. That is, at the resurrection, all the spirits that are reunited with their bodies, will not get mixed up and return to the wrong body. Maybe that never bothered you?
 
WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD, the angel rolled away the stone…not so Jesus could get out…but so people could see that He was no longer in His grave. The Bible does not say, but God may open the graves, so people can see that we are not in our graves. And perhaps to show the spectators that some of the graves are NOT opened. (Graves of the unsaved.)
 
WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE GRAVE, many graves in Jerusalem were opened during the earthquake when He died. When He rose from the dead, many came out of those opened graves and showed themselves alive to many. There were a million Jews in town for the Passover Feast and when they went home, I can’t imagine them keeping all of that a secret and not telling anybody, can you?
 
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.  (Matthew 27:51-53)
 
WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE WHEN GOD SHOWS THE UNIVERSE, what He planned from the beginning. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep.  (1Thessalonians 4:14-15)
 
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  (1Thessalonians 4:16-17)
 
Please notice this: “them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. God will bring the spirits/souls of the dead with Him. He does not go to the graves to “wake up” those in the graves, because the souls/spirits of the dead are not in the grave, asleep. The souls/spirits of the dead are with God/Jesus when He returns to earth. Those souls/spirits will go to the body of their origin and the bodies will come out of the graves and be reunited with the soul/spirit that God/Jesus brought with Him from Heaven.  
 
OK, ALL THESE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE have just gotten their soul/spirit/body reassembled and they’re standing beside their grave (or maybe they came out of the ocean) (or maybe their ashes have been scattered), the question remains: Where is home? That is THE question. Jesus tells us:
 
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.  (John 14:1-3)
 
ITOLD YOU ALREADY THAT THE GRAVE PLOT seems like a temporary place, to me. It’s just a holding spot while Jesus is getting my new house finished. That’s going to be my permanent address. There may not be an email address or a telephone number. I don’t know. At least, there won’t be all the fund-raising phone calls and people wanting upgrade your credit card account.
 
OUR SONG FOR TODAY HIGHLIGHTS THE MINDSET OF MILLIONS OF GOD'S PEOPLE. The chorus says: What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see; And I look upon His face, the one who saved me by his grace; When He takes me by the hand, and leads me to the promised land, what a day, glorious day, that will be. https://namethathymn.com/christian-hymns/what-a-day-that-will-be-lyrics.html
 
IVE TOLD YOU I HAVE SEEN SOME PEOPLE MIRACULOUSLY HEALED. But I have helped put many times that number in the ground and tried to comfort those sitting under the tent beside the grave; family and friends. It never ends, a steady stream of those who have breathed their last and whose spirit has departed from their bodies. But we have a blessed hope! We are going see our saved loved ones again. What a day that will be!
 
TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOME-GOING OF BARBARA'S SON: Doug Cordell. He was 24, a good athlete and good in academics, one year short of college graduation. Adult-onset diabetes shut down his body in 1981 and he was gone. His body is buried in the cemetery adjoining our house. His grave is a temporary holding place until the great day. Our great-granddaughter: Riley June Clarke, 15 months old, went home May 17, 2013. She was a lively one. She’s waiting to show us around. You’ve got your own list of loved ones and friends who are waiting for you. What a day that will be!
 
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  (John 3:16)
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
NOVEMBER 30, 2018 – FRIDAY
 A.M Ezekiel 43-44   P.M 2Peter 2
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize: 
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  (Revelation 21:2)
 
Song for Today: 
What a Day That Will Be/How Beautiful Heaven Must be (7:17)          
(David Ring & Gaither Group)  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xtv3uUQJPk
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​If this song doesn’t light your fire, your wood is wet!
 
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my god is real - part 2

11/28/2018

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My God is Real – Part 2

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 
 
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.  O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!  (Psalm 8:4-9)
 
HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN SOMETHING IS REAL? When I was about 10, I visited my Aunt Esther Ramsey in Nashville, TN, for a week. I was sick with strep throat most of the time and bored. I finally told her that if I knew how to get out of town, I would just walk home (125 miles). When my appetite began coming back, I began to get hungry and spotted a bowl of fruit on the coffee table in the living room. Aunt Esther had gone shopping and I was by myself. I picked up an apple out of the fruit bowl and chomped down on it. Big mistake. It was wax. Not real. I left my teeth marks in the wax, so I turned the apple over, so it would look nice. It’s important to know if things are real.
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS IN GREECE who spent all their time probing and debating ideas left us with this word: Epistemology. It’s “a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge.”
 
ATHEISTS BELIEVE THERE IS NO GOD. Agnostics say they don’t know if there is a God. They are on safer ground than the atheists. No one can be in all places of the universe at one time to see if God is there. So, when this thought began to be faced by atheists and they looked like fools, they changed from atheism to agnosticism. Atheism has fallen on hard times in the philosophical world. They are: “anti-intellectual.” It’s more honorable to be an agnostic than to be an atheist.
 
IN PART 1 OF "MY GOD IS REAL," I gave a few instances of God’s power and presence that I had witnessed, such as sudden physical healing of human bodies. This kind of proof of God being real is what Jesus referred to when He was doing miracles and people still didn’t want to believe that He was the promised Messiah, or God in the flesh.
 
SOME PEOPLE WILL NOT BE CONVINCED FROM MORE PROOF. After Jesus rose from the dead, the sky was dark for three hours, the earth shook, the veil was rent from top to bottom, the graves opened, and dead people walked out of them alive; some still would not believe but wanted to put Christians to death.
 
GOD IS A GOD OF INFINITE (UNLIMITED) VARIETY. He makes snowflakes that are not quite alike and people and cats that are similar but not quite alike. People may look a lot alike and be able to do amazingly different things. Some can sing beautifully and some can’t carry a tune in a bucket. The picture today of “the heavens’ recalls that there are no two stars alike. And God says of them: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  (Psalm 19:1) Paul writes:
 
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:(Romans 1:20)
 
GOD DOES NOT LEAVE HIMSELF WITHOUT A WITNESS. Many men (and women) will declare: “Oh, if only I had proof that there is a God…”  But, proof of God is not what they are looking for. They are looking for a god who will agree with them, a god that they can manage. It is their pride, their arrogance that is the problem. Among them are a few honest skeptics, but that is not really a problem. An honest skeptic won’t be a skeptic very long because God will see to it that they have in hand the few things they need to see that God is real.
 
WE KNOW GOD IS REAL BY LOOKING AT THE ENDLESS NUMBER OF THINGS He has designed and made. Dr. Bob Jones, founder of Bob Jones University, loved to tell of things he used to think when he was a barefooted boy, walking the dirt roads in South Alabama. I heard him tell of one such story. He would walk by a beautiful rose and declare: “God has been here. He has made and painted this beautiful rose. Only God could do that.” He looked up in the sky at night and said to himself: “I know God lives up there. I see the dew drops on His front lawn where He lives above us.” I agree with him. Seeing what God has made, is enough to convince an honest person that God is real.
 
IF YOU THINK A BIG PILE OF SCRAP METAL CAN GIVE BIRTH TO A NEW BOEING 737, ready to fly out of the junkyard, there’s something wrong with you. If you can look at a newborn baby and not know that God is real, there’s something wrong with you.
 
READING THE BIBLE HAS CONVINCED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE that God is real.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  (Romans 10:17)
If you want to know God is real, read His word and it won’t be long until the message of the book will become real to you. This is the way it works: And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.  (John 20:30-31) 
 
The testimony of God’s witnesses convinces many that God is real. Isaiah says of one group of people: …I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. (Isaiah 66:19)
Jesus gave the Great Commission to His followers:  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  (Mark 16:15)
 
GOD USED THE BIG OLD COUNTRY PREACHER to convince me that God is real. God uses the testimony of people to convince other people. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.  (1John 1:3)
 
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  (James 4:8) Ω
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
 NOVEMBER 26, 2018 - MONDAY
 A.M Ezekiel 40   P.M 1Peter 5
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize: 
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.  (John 14:10-11)
 
 Song for Today: 
How Great Thou Art (7:43) (Kim Collingsworth)  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO67xEESp1M&t=83s
You may have to adjust the volume and delete Ad.

It blesses me to see people do things who believe in what they are doing. I don’t know anything about the Collingsworth family, except that she is a terrific concert pianist who plays “before the Lord.” I read that her father was a preacher and when she was three years old, he told about God giving Solomon the gift of wisdom. It struck her to talk to God, when she got home, about giving her a gift like Solomon. She wondered what she would be like when she woke up the next morning. No gift of wisdom. 

​However, when her older sister played a number on the piano, she said to herself: “I can do that.” She went to the piano and figured out where to start and played the song her sister had been playing,… like her sister had been playing it. Her mother thought the sister was still playing. I don’t doubt that God endowed her with a gift when she was three years old. God does a lot of things and one of them is to give gifts of ability to people. Matthew Henry, the famous Bible commentator was reading by the time he was three and writing by the time he was seven.
 

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my god is real

11/26/2018

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            My God is Real
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.  (John 14:10-11)
 
WE SPENT THANKSGIVING IN CHATTANOOGA, TN with as much family as we could get together. We were able to visit with all five of our great-grandchildren from California to North Carolina. The noise level was high and, like you, we ate all we could hold – several times. It’s good for America to renew its family ties at least once a year. It’s good to give thanks unto the Lord.
 
SATURDAY MORNING, Jim Cofield read Psalm 100 and I had a few minutes to share with the group a few highlights on why God is real to me. God is as real to me as you are, but in a different way. He is reliable. He is my past, my present and my future. God is the most reliable, unchanging thing in my life. It wasn’t always that way and I can’t tell you in one short article. But, we’ll get started. There’s enough room here to plant a seed. It’s up to you to water it.
 
SOME OF MY FAMILY, ARE ON SOLID ROCK, some are on solid ground, and some are not sure there is a rock. The young ones are working their way from learning to sit alone, to learning to crawl, how best to get on top of the dining table, how to survive without a “passie,” and all of them are trying to figure out how to have their own way and manage their parents.
 
SINCE I MET GOD IN THE BEAN MARKET IN OCTOBER 1943, God has shown Himself to me many times as I have attempted to walk with Him. Some of my walk, I wish I could do over again: more Bible, more prayer. But there remains the part that I would not change if I could. I was saved at age 9, and sure of Heaven. That is the greatest thing and I would not change that. God is real to me. All my grandchildren do not know that.
 
MANY PEOPLE KNOW A FEW THINGS ABOUT GOD IN THEIR HEAD, but God is not real to them. Things happened to Elijah and things happened in Jesus’ day and to the Apostles and early church, but that’s all locked up in a sacred book. “God is real inside the book, but not in my life where I have to live every day.” I shared with my family that our greatest need is to know that God is real; not just in Moses’ day or Jesus’ day or the Apostles’ day, but in your day; in your life. The people who knew God in the Bible were not perfect people. Most of them were common, ordinary people. Some were highly educated. Some didn’t know their right hand from their left hand. (The people Jonah preached to.)
 
WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN, I talked with Mrs. York (retired farmer’s wife) across the road from us. She told me that a few days after she gave birth to her first baby, she needed to borrow something from a neighbor across a field from her house. She left the baby and walked across the field to the neighbor’s house. A sudden rain began, and she could not afford to get wet. But she had to get back to her baby.  
 
SHE ASKED THE LORD TO KEEP HER DRY as she began walking through the rain, across the field. She got to her house and there was not a drop of rain on her clothes or head. She had a reputation for telling the truth except she had had some strange encounters with God that no one else had had. I quickly decided to learn everything I could from this woman. I would ask her questions and listen carefully as she talked.
 
FIVE YEARS LATER, I was in college and my speech teacher, Mrs. Green told a strange story one day. Her father was a farmer in Decatur, AL and taught the adult Sunday School class in his church. He and the farmers around him had all cut their hay and it lay drying in the fields. An unexpected rain was moving their way. On Saturday evening, one of Mr. Green’s neighbors talked to him at the store about the upcoming rain and was he going to get his hay in Sunday morning. He replied that he was not, that he would go to church and teach his Bible class and trust the Lord with his hay. “The hay belongs to the Lord.” The farmers began working Sunday morning, getting up their hay.
 
Sunday, about 10:30 a.m., while Mr. Green was teaching his Bible class, the bottom fell out and the rain fell on the church roof and Mr. Green had to talk above the noise. Church was over, and the rain was over. As they were eating Sunday dinner, the phone rang. It was the neighbor Mr. Green had talked to at the store. “Mr. Green, have you looked at your hay field?” “No, we’re eating dinner.” “Well, you should go look at your field.” Mr. Green finished eating and made his way to his big hay field.
 
ALL AROUND HIS HAY FIELD, THE GROUND WAS SOAKING WET, and water was running in some of the drain ditches. He opened the gate and walked into his hay field. It was dry! His whole field was dry. And all around his big hay field, in the fields of his neighbors, the ground was soaking wet.  
 
WHILE I WAS STILL A COLLEGE STUDENT, the Temple Baptist Church on Rossville Blvd. in Chattanooga, paid me to be their pianist for $15 a week. That paid for our groceries, including milk and diapers. One morning the pastor announced a special prayer request for a little girl in Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. She had gone blind.
 
AS 300 PEOPLE PRAYED, many of us on our knees, the phone rang in the church office behind the choir. Someone ran to answer the phone and in 3-4 minutes came back and whispered in the pastor’s ear. The pastor went to the pulpit and announced to the praying people that the call was from a nurse at the hospital and they had just discovered that the little girl could see, and the doctors were amazed by it.
 
ABOUT 18 YEARS LATER, I was with a dozen or so pastors and a few church members who had gone to a house on Blue Ridge Parkway, above Winston-Salem, NC. The family was away, and we were using their house for three days of fasting and prayer. We were limiting our diet to water and orange and apple and grape juices. On the third day, we had our last juice and were about to pray. “Does anyone have anything you want us to pray about?”
 
A YOUNG MAN NAMED: "JACK" 19-20 years old was there with a broken leg. A motorcycle had slipped out from under him and skidded to a stop with his leg under the motorcycle. X-rays showed that the bones in his leg were broken and crushed from his ankle, all the way up his leg. Doctors put a cast on the leg but had to take it off and wrap his leg in a stretch bandage. Jack asked if we would pray about his leg. He was in danger of losing his leg.  
 
WE GATHERED AROUND JACK AND PUT OUR HANDS ON HIM,wherever we could find a place. MY hands were around his leg just below his knee, on the calf of the leg. After we had prayed a few minutes, I distinctly remember feeling heat come from his leg and said to myself: “This sure is a warm-blooded dude.”  We finished praying and everyone stood up…but Jack. He just sat there, staring out through the picture window of the living room. His pastor said: “Jack! Are you alright?” Jack said: “I think God just healed my leg!” 
 
JACK STOOD UP AND GENTLY BOUNCED A BIT on his feet and then began walking around and JUMPED up and down on his feet. We all came unglued. I was at his church a couple of weeks later to speak and sat down beside Jack on the front pew. While they were singing, I leaned over and said: “Jack…are you still healed?” He smiled big and said almost out-loud: “Yes I am!”
 
A FEW YEARS LATER, FOLLOWING THE FLU, I got a case of Guillain Berre’. “French Polio.” I was partially paralyzed. In a couple of days, it hit me again. Much pain. I couldn’t hold a tooth brush. I put a pillow between my knees to dull the pain. It was the week-end and no doctors were available, so I toughed it out. The 2nd attack hit my eyes and pulled the right eye inward, leaving me seeing double.
 
ONE OF THE BEST OPHTHAMOLOGISTS IN CHATTANOOGA (who taught the subject in medical school) said the nerves in my eyes were damaged. She referred me to a neurologist who checked my legs by inserting needles and injecting surges of electricity. A spinal tap confirmed I had Guillian Berre’. The ophthalmologist said, “It will take several months, maybe six months for this to heal…if it heals. You will need to come back every two weeks and let me plot the progress. She shined a bright light into my eye and recorded how well my eye could follow the light.
 
I READ AN ARTICLE IN READER'S DIGEST (BY COVERING ONE EYE) about “The Woman in Bed 10.” She had it much worse than I. If Guillian Berre’ hits the inner chest muscles, it can paralyze the lungs or heart and would be fatal. I wore a heart monitor for several days. A team of blood specialists came in and explained that they might have to remove all my blood and “scrub” my blood in a special machine. I resigned myself to their diagnosis. I had to wear an eye patch over that eye if I rode in a car because seeing double was excruciating. The brain could not unscramble and interpret the double images that fast.
 
IN A FEW DAYS THE FLU SYMPTOMS SUBSIDED and I tried walking. I could only scoot my feet, 8-10” at a time. I could not step up on a curb. I got hold of a car and pulled myself onto a curb with my arms and hands. Very painful. After a few days I began to be depressed. I was determined to walk around a long block. The smallest dip or hump in the pavement would put me on the ground. A couple of times I fell when an oncoming car was near, and I managed to throw myself toward the side of the road away from the car.  
 
ON JANUARY 1, 1987, ABOUT 11:00 O'CLOCK, I was scooting my feet along the street and looked at “two” trees at the end of the block. It was actually one tree that I was seeing twice. I began to talk to the Lord in a severe desperation, so deep and intense that I could not have worked it up. Suddenly, the two trees became one tree. I looked around, slowly, and all the “two’s” of everything were now “ones.” 
 
I KNEW THAT THE LORD HAD TOUCHED MY EYES and straightened them. What might have taken six months and maybe never would have taken place, took place in five seconds. When Barbara came home from work, she noticed it immediately: “Your eyes are straight!”  Yes, my eyes were straight. I didn’t need to go back to the ophthalmologist, so I didn’t go. I should have, as a testimony of what God had done, but I was done with it. So, I didn’t go back.
 
DID I LEARN THROUGH ALL OF THOSE THINGS, beginning with Mrs. York walking through the rain without getting wet…did I learn anything? Yes indeed! I learned that God is real, not just in Elijah’s day or in Jesus’ day, or in the days of the Apostles. God is real in my day. These were token manifestations of God’s presence and power. They didn’t happen every day. These were special times when God revealed Himself at my point of great need and to carry out His purpose.

THE REST OF MY BODYY HEALED SLOWLY over a period of two years and my legs never completely healed. It would baffle a doctor as to how the healing was selective and sudden and the rest of my body was not affected by it.

SEVERAL OTHER STORIES COME TO MIND but this is all I have room for today. I hope you like the song. You may want to file this article where you can remember to read it again. I think you will want to see this 7-minute story told by the man it happened to: the Gunnar Olson Plastic Bag Testimony:  https://youtu.be/teKv2EIqN4I 

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  (James 4:8) Ω
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
 NOVEMBER 26, 2018 - MONDAY
  A.M Ezekiel 36-37   P.M 1Peter 3
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize: 
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.  (John 14:10-11)
 
 
Song for Today: 
My God Is Real (3:34) (John Starnes & Gaither Gathering)  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPVxtUEeYM4
                    You may have to adjust the volume and delete Ad.

NOTE: This theme (and song) have been driving me for several days. I needed to find someone who would sing it with sincerity and conviction. I don’t like singers who are more clown or comedian than singer, or who don’t know why they are there.  A lot of people have sung this song on YouTube, but I was disappointed with the insincerity.

​This is a special song that claims God is real. Then it should be sung like it. The face should reflect awe. I don’t like for singers to add so much to the song that you can’t recognize the song. So, it took me a half-hour to decide on John Starnes. He does a little improvising, but I’ve never doubted John’s sincerity. He’s a very gifted tenor. I heard this song by another singer when I was a teenager and it has stuck with me for 70 years.
 
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thanksgiving day 2018

11/21/2018

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Thanksgiving Day 2018

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name.  (Psalm 100:3-4)
 
THE PILGRIMS WHO CAME HERE and inaugurated the first Thanksgiving celebration, were thankful for food and survival of a harsh winter. But their Thanksgiving involved far more than food and friendship with the local Indians. Things were really bad back there where they came from: prison and death.
 
THEY HAD RISKED THEIR LIVES FOR THE FREEDOM TO WORSHIP and serve God as their conscience directed them. See this short historical summary, by CBN NEWS, of the harsh reality of the Old World from which they came that propelled them to endure such hardship. (There is a brief ad at the beginning.) You may want to keep this link for future reference and review.
 
Brutal Old World Helped the Pilgrims Shape a Glorious New World 
 
http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/video?video=494216
  
Read Through the Bible in a Year
 NOVEMBER 22, 2018 - THURSDAY
 A.M Ezekiel 27-28   P.M James 4
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize: 
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  (Psalm 100:4)
 
Song for Today:
 Come, Ye Thankful People, Come (2:54) (St. George’s – Windsor)  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3n7IUCdqAM&t=32s
 You may have to adjust the volume and delete Ad.

ALFORD WROTE "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" in 1844 while he was the rector of Aston Standford church in Buckinghamshire, England.[2] It was first published in Hymns and Psalms in 1844 with seven verses under the title "After Harvest".[1] "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" was set to George J. Elvey's hymn tune St. George's, Windsor in 1858.[  (Wikipedia)
 
 
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the instruments of thanksgiving

11/20/2018

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The Instruments of Thanksgiving

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. (Psalm 100:2-5)

OUR THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY IN AMERICA  gets its background from Psalm 100 and other Old Testament references to thanksgiving and praise, and the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. It is a time of thanking God for a harvest of food and survival of the pilgrims, aided by friendly Indians in the early colonies.

SOME AMERICAN MONEY CRUNCHERS ARE ESTIMATING that Americans will spend “$991 million dollars on turkeys this year” (2018). That sounds high for just the turkeys and may include the whole turkey-centered meal. The average family is projected to spend $175.00 for Thanksgiving food. Most American money for Thanksgiving is spent on travel and then food. Our financial recovery is boosting travel and celebration of Thanksgiving. Football games and Thanksgiving parades, televised nationwide, have become a staple of stimulation for this much-loved holiday. National celebrations were God’s idea in the time of Moses and it has continued to this day.

IT'S HARD TO SAY HOW MUCH OF THE CELEBRATION has anything to do with thanking God or worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth. Probably, very little, except among the true believers in Christ who take the celebration seriously. Americans have been scattered all over the map all year long and are ready for returning to their roots and hearths for renewing of family ties and a bit of feasting.

OUR JEWISH CONNECTION TO AMERICAN THANKSGIVING can be summarized as written by Kevin L. Howard and Marvin Rosenthal, in their book: “The Feasts of the Lord,” (Thomas Nelson, Pub. C.1997). “The seventh and final feast given to Israel by the Lord is known as Sukkot or “The Feast of Tabernacles.” It is the most joyful and festive of all Israel’s feasts. It is also the most prominent feast, mentioned more often in Scripture than any of the other feasts. This feast also served as the historical backdrop for the important teaching of the Messiah in John, chapters 7-9.”

PSALM 100 IS IN THE SETTING OF THE JEWISH TEMPLE in Jerusalem and is a service manual for public, corporate, worshipping of God. I had first written as a title: The Attitude of Thanksgiving, and then changed it to “instruments of Thanksgiving.”  Whoever the writer of the Psalm, (David?) he charges into his writing by using such words as “gladness,” “singing,” “thanksgiving,” “praise,” and “bless his name.”

THE UNDERGIRDING OF THANKSGIVING is honest and sincere praise of God from the heart. That is the attitude. The reason for those things is that the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. Those who know nothing or not much about the Lord, may not be impressed with such high and lofty words. McGee summarizes it:

“THIS IS THE WAY GOD WANTS YOU TO COME INTO HIS PRESENCE. Someone told me the other day that he attended the services of one of the great churches of the past and had never witnessed a place that was so dead. Do you know what the problem was? People were not coming to church with praise in their hearts. They did not come to the service with thankfulness in their hearts to God. They did not enter His gates with thanksgiving. If you go to church on Sunday to worship, make sure you go with thanksgiving and praise in your heart. If you fail to do that, you are not going to be very helpful to your church.”

YOU MAY WANT TO FOLLOW THIS LINK to read Chas. Spurgeon’s comments on Psalm 100: https://www.christianity.com/bible/commentary.php?com=spur&b=19&c=100
 
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Read Through the Bible in a Year
       NOVEMBER 21, 2018 - WEDNESDAY
       A.M Ezekiel 24-26   P.M James 3
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize: 
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  (Psalm 100:4)
 
Song for Today: 
Great Is Thy Faithfulness (2:09) (Calv.Christian Sch. 1st & 2nd Grade)  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va2X6fJRVY4
 You may have to adjust the volume and delete Ad.
You will want to hear these 1st and 2nd grade children sing this old hymn.
 
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    Author

    Dan Carr is a "retired" pastor, writer, teacher and continues to write at this website. This blog and other articles are e-mailed free to anyone who wants them. Go to: 
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    Dan and Barbara live 
    at Flat Rock, AL between Chattanooga, TN and Huntsville, AL. on Sand Mtn.
    We enjoy gardening, reading, church, family and friends.

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