1 Peter 5: 1 -10

 

(5)     (1) The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed; (2)  Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3) nor as being lords over those entrusted to you but being examples to the flock; 4) and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away, (5) Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.  Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

 

“God resist the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.” 

 

(6)     Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.  (7)  Casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.

 

Ray of Hope

 

I.    We cannot meet our own needs by our own strivings.

        A .  “I never thought I’d see the day”

        B.   Quote by Dr. David Jeremiah

II.  “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5 : 5 KJV)

III.  The Pilgrims that we are on this very pilgrimage.

1. Housing, homelessness, and health.
2. Being poor.

IV.  Resolutions

1. Lives plagued with the old.
2. Nurturing new life.
3. Glory in the Lord.

V.  Feed on the “Spiritual milk of Christian teachings.”

1. Entrusted to you.
   1.  “Paragello” in Greek means charge
   2.   At the crossroads
   3.   Greek word meaning entrusted.

 

He who glorifies let him glory in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1: 30-31 KJV)

 

Ray of Hope

By

Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

In a book written by Dr. David Jeremiah which is called “I Never Thought I’d See the Day” Dr. Jeremiah says, “When we make the decision to sacrifice ourselves we are telling God that we are willing to be His personal representative on earth to be open to His will and do it.”  This book and the book of 1 Peter of the Bible are both a little controversial, to historians; importantly because of their sociology.  The church was beginning to take its form between 98 A. D. to 117 A.D., when the apostle Peter died a martyr’s death.  The problem of that age was a “stream of consciences” (i.e. the church was being socialized); which existed and still exists today except, in that time they were being persecuted to their death.  God does not want us to be martyrs for our faith.  Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin on the cross.  His work is finished.  It was fulfilled.

 

Peter and Paul both suffered martyrs death by being followers.  Peter feeling himself unworthy of the same death as Jesus Christ requested to be crucified upside down on the cross.  He addressed the experience of economic deprivation.  Alienation not from heaven, but from society!   It was and is!  God wants us to look at His word, His work, and His commandments.

 

These sins were called former lusts, vain conversation, respecters of persons, and corruptible seed.  They were the ingredients for a bad institution, and not the “good news.”  It is better to be reproached for the name of Jesus Christ which was understood by the saint; who is the Apostle Peter, then to live a sin filled life and die in that state.  It is how you choose to go about things that God honors!

 

What do I mean by a stream of consciences?  Stream of conscience is something intended to recreate the experience of something.  “Actors recreat acts for a movie.   We can re-creat based on anyone or any things.   Except God created us.   There is and was a sociological problem, which existed through time and there is and was no metaphor for it!  And, it was often unspoken.  This was the image of God.   The cornerstone of our Church who is Jesus Christ of all time will not and should not be a stumbling block for the church in any matter.  It is God’s work of creation.

 

There are a lot of nice couples in our church.  But, we cannot judge a life by an institution alone, a marriage or a relationship.  We are recreated in the image of God when we are saved.  There are 7.5 million couples in this post-modern time who are co-habituating or living together; because they are a modern family.  For the benefits!  This is not the plum line for a Christian Life.  A plum line is a means of measurement, to the precise center of gravity on earth used in the Bible.  It was used as a metaphor in the teachings of the Old Testament, where God’s power reigns upon the world from heaven which is above.  The plum line creates order, strength and fortitude!  It’s the force that keeps the world in orbit.

 

Now, I want to talk to someone.  “We can no meet our needs by our own co-dependent strivings says one recovering addict” in a “Serenity” story i read  on addiction.   Today, there is no plum line to measure anything true but, the church and his word.  What then does God say about drugs?   Drinking and drugs are a false consciousness.  The apostle in today’s reading gives answers to these questions in the word, “We must cast our own anxieties and burden unto God’s care.”   This is the seventh step of the steps in Alcoholics Anonymous.  “We must humbly ask Him (God who is the God of understanding) to remove our shortcomings.”

How It Works

When ready, we say something like this: “My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.” We have then completed Step Seven.
-A.A. Big Book p.76

 

We must not make the mistake of making Jesus Christ a stumbling block.  The church is the cornerstone and God has entrusted the church itself to us.  He is the measure of all things.  We must look at it…. We must look at ….  His work!  God’s word!   The Bible!   His commandments!

 

The beginning of the New Year is a good time for men and women both to make new “resolutions.”  In 2011 seven point five million unmarried couples were living together.  And, 15,000 of people in this country have died from an overdose or an addiction to pain killers.  A serious vice!  In a press recent release on the super painkiller ‘Zohydro1’that is going on the market soon,  r e a d s  “there also seems to be a correspondence between stress and the lack of willpower to carry out the required adjustments” when talking about drug addiction.   This is our society.  This is our conscience.  “Maybe it feels like it overwhelms at this point” says the press i.e. when addicts who are “peopling” that start “popping” “pills” lose their life from overdoses and self-esteem.  It is to, the pumping one more time of iron to survive the disability that’s causing them to survive being placed on the margins of society where they sit only human.

 

Dr. Jeremiah says, “You cannot patch up an old shirt when nothing’s left of it but the button.  I ran into a guy at the summer parade and fair in Washington, PA several summer’s ago.  His name was Dave.  He was living in a hotel in the middle of town where he died.  People say it was a suicide or a homicide, probably from drugs he had to take for the rehabilitation of pain.  In Roman 7: 18 the Bible says “without Christ nothing good dwells inside.”   God is Life!

 

In Romans 7: 18-20  Paul states this (18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)  nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  (19)  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  (20) Now if I do what will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”(KJV)

 

Sin is a problem. No one knew thisas well  as the apostle Paul, a friend of Peter’s in the early church who persecuted Christians before he was saved by Jesus Christ on the road himself to Damascus.  This is his testimony.   On a road he saw a light that blinded him to his fall and rise into Christianity.  God gave his “ray of hope” to many Christians. Paul’s conversion was the reason for hope and  conversion of men  that followed him through Jesus Christ.

 

If, I am speaking to you, if God has touched your heart, if you are willing to sacrifice your old way of life, when you go home I ask that you pray.  If there is no reason why you should not receive him as your savior, I ask you to ask him into your heart.  And, to make a resolution to say this prayer and look into His Word.

 

Dear Lord Jesus,

     I know that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness.  I believe that you died for my sins.  I want to turn from my sins.  I now invite you to come into my heart and life.  I want to trust and follow you as Lord and Savior.

In Jesus name,

Amen 

  

 

 

Ezekiel 34: 11-30

 

(11)  For thus saith, the Lord God; Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.  (12)  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep, that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day (13) And I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.  (14) I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel (15)  I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.  (16)  I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgments (17) And as for you, O my flock thus saith the lord God, Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.  (18)  Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? And to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?  (19)  And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.  (20) Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them, Behold, I even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.  (21)  Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the Disease with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; (22) therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.  (23)  And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.  (24)  And I the lord will be thine God, and my servant David a prince among them, I the lord have spoken it (25)  And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods (26)  And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. (27) And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.  (28) And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.  (29)  And I will raise up for them a plant of renown and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bears the shame of the heathen any more. (30) Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the lord God (31)  and ye my flock, the flock of my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the lord God.

 

 

 

 

Peace, Blessing, Fruit: Renown  (Outline)

 

I.     “I am your God,” saith the Lord God.

          A.   On a dark and cloudy day

 II.  Feed

           A.  Good ground

1.    You will feed on good pasture
2.     They will eat on good land
3.     They will get rest

 

III.   Good Shepherd 

           A.   He Places a Shepherd over Them

           B.   The Shepherd brings healing

1.       He bind up the broken
2.       He strengthen the sick

            C.    Covenant over them

IV.    Peace

           A. Knowledge of  the Lord

1.      No more a prey
2.      No more evil
3.      To dwell safely

 

V.    Definition: A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds, guard’s flocks of sheep.

           A.  The men.

1.  The Lord is our shepherd.
2. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 34 v. 31 KJV)

 

 

Peace, Blessings, Fruit: Renown

By

Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

In history, Ezekiel was a prophet who had extraordinary dreams, rather than ordinary dreams over the ordinary, but he dreamt of things seen in an “extraordinary way” over the extraordinary.  He was a prophet who was known for his revelations over and far above the ordinary.  This is one of the characteristics or differences between one prophet and another.  The prophet Amos had an  opposite type of experience than Ezekiel, he  had ordinary dreams.  They were both visionaries.  In the Old Testament there were two types of prophets; a Major Prophet and a Minor Prophets; one who worked around kings and governments, and the other who did not.   They worked in the perifery or margins.   The prophets told others about future things to happen, even healed the sick and raised the dead.  Moses was the clearest of all the prophets.  He wrote the “Ten Commandments.” He was an archetype and a law giver!  Moses was the first leader of the Israelites, who lead the people out ofEgyptto the Promised Land.  These men were known for their revelations; and what they had to say to us from God.  The belief is in this that, God communicates with men in a way that gives direct propositional content; plans, intentions, and suggestions to men.  In today’s passage from the prophet Ezekiel God has a plan for us of “Our Savior”, he is nothing like a modern king, but he is savior and a shepherd.  Jesus Christ!   A revelation is typically disclosed to a man in a vision or by another other worldly way; such as a mediator, who is often, more times than not an angel.  The prophet Ezekiel is a great person who serves as a channel of communication between God and man.  The prophet Ezekiel was on another worldly journey and with it is a revelation, with an explanation, and a promise; a promise not to sheep, but to men of our promised Messiah and Savior who is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the light of the world and in these two periods of time, both in Old Testament and the New Testament the prophet tell us about the spiritual blindness of people, the condition of the Jews and of a promise to follow the light of a Savior who is our Lord, Jesus Christ.  

 

This was a dark and gloomy day in time.  And, there were man shepherds.  Only one was the Messiah.  I do not know if you have ever had a dark and gloomy day. Not to funny.  When I was a young girl I use to baby-sit. The only time I was away from home other than church and school.  Often!  There was a television show which presented the dark and gloomy.  The father and mother of the young girl; who I babysat, let me know I was going to baby-sit their one daughter, and sometime son; and their daughter would be aloud to stay up and watch their favorite program after midnight; Chiller Theater, with Chilly Billy Cardilly.  “Chiller Theater’ was a dark and gloomy show.  There would be popcorn, chips, and soda(s) in the kitchen.  However, this was my first taste of a different kind of world.  We stayed up past the evening news for anything except New Years Eve.  In those nights we had a glimpse of Hollywood & watched movies about the dark and gloomy sides of everything.  Even Frankenstein!   And, no-one wanted to be this man Frankenstein’s puppet. 

 

When we serve God, we are not called to be puppets.  Maybe, you have gone through dark and gloom days, with or without a shepherd.  With God we have good news!

 

This is good news. Indeed!  One night I said to myself, “I would never go to sleep without knowing God.”  Let me tell you of another story.  I was in a place with God.  It was a dark and a gloomy night, near winter.   Please, I do not know if you know what it is like to sleep outside.  It was very cold!  It was camping!  It was cold outside much like the weather we are experiencing outdoors this week in Washington County.  Now!  I needed God!  It was the 1970’s.  And, we had heard there were fish in the river, off of Lake Erie near Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania called Walnut Creek.  God had me in a place where I needed Him to make me a decision.  It was cloudy and dark outside. I was thankful God was with me.  I was just a teen, then nearly twenty years old.  Nevertheless,  I went along with a plan to  go to Walnut Creek to go Salmon fishing.  However, something was stirring up on the lake and it was called a lake shore storm.   There was an alternate plan to go.   If, you have ever been on Lake Erie, if you would know about the storms that were coming off of the Lake shore, then you would know what I mean; a rainy day could easily do a turnabout and snow with or without lightning.  And, on that day it did a tun about!  The storms stirred for hours, they had sounded worst than a beater, blender or a garbage disposal when they came from Canada off the lake.  The storm sounded as it appeared terrible when it hit.  People who lived there took off.  I was camping.  I did not make a turn about.   I was not going to go anywhere with any strangers when it hit my tent, where I was sleeping.  I was all alone in a two man tent with my Siberian husky with a closeness to God.  Me, myself and I!  I prayed because I knew I needed to know our God better and I needed His help.   My sleeping bag was on an inflated air mattress.  My Siberian husky dog Brandy had jumped on top of me;  because we were frightened.  We were cold.  And, we were wet.  Water was rushing in through the tent floor.  And, I could not move.  However, God made me feel secure in an insecure place.  Brandy, my husky and I made it through the night unharmed.  Praying that God would be with us in the storm and we would not be hit.  It is funny how God will be with you or bring you to places where you need Him and only Him.   In my little tent we were both safe!

 

There were many shepherds in the time of Ezekiel the prophet. And, there is one good Shepherd.  A real shepherd does not leave his sheep.  In those times, a livestock shelter or a natural cave in the mountains were used to shelter sheep in very bad weather and in “bad times.”  In the Bible it was the job of solitary males without children to tend the sheep.  They lived in rugged places.  Some sheep were mixed with chickens and pigs.  The duty of the shepherds was to keep their flock of sheep intact and protect the flock from wolves and other predators.  This was there sole job.  They supervised the migration of the flock, tended the sheep and made it to market with the animals for shearing.  Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool.  One day God will judge us.  They grazed in the high rugged lands, which were mostly mountainous area. Lowlandsand river valleys were kept for the growth of grain and cereals. 

 

When compared to sheep we are clearly different, as men we can stay warm and eat.  We have the hope of being given good ground with good pasture to live upon and to get our rest. We have the hope of God.  There will be a time though, when God will gather us together forever.  We will be in one assembly or group with Him.  We need to be prepared.  God feeds us differently, than animals with His visible promise; in his Word and with this very promise God says we will not go hungry.  He brings us down from the rugged land, if we hear and heed his evident intentions, explanations and plans to a better place.  He is our “Good Shepherd.”  We have the promise of being feed; of being healed, of being no more a prey to men, of seeing no more evil, and of dwelling safely.  At the feet of Jesus Christ we can feel like sheep with a good shepherd.  He is our Savior.  God gives us many good places to survive the storms of life.  Let us be with Him.  If, we are in a bad place in God’s plan we can know it is only a temporary place and we can know this with His promise we are saved.  In Ezekiel 34 verse 31 the prophet says, “And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God. (KJV)

Follow Him !

 

Let us pray:

 

Watch Dear Lord, with those who wait or watch or weep.

 

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings, with Your most gracious favor, and further us with Your continual help that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in You, we may glorify Your Holy Name; and finally, by Your mercy, obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  

 

Support us all day long, till the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed and the fervor of life is over and our work is done.  Then in your mercy, give us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at last.  

Amen

 

Know this; the Lord himself is God;

 He Himself has made us,

 and we are His;

 people and the sheep of his pasture.

 

 

 

The Gospel of John 17: 1-10

 

(1)   Jesus spoke these words lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify you.  (2) “As you have given Him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given Him. (3)  “And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  (4)  “I have glorified you on the earth.  I have finished the work which you have given me to do.  (5) “And, now, O Father glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was!  (6) “I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world.  They were yours.  You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  (7)  “Now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you.  (8) “For I have given to them the words which You have given me and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You and they have believed that you sent Me. (9)  “I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours (10) “And all mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.”

 

We Are One (Outline)

By

Deborah A. Farnsworth

 November 4, 2011

1.  Who?  Jesus Christ
   1.  This is His prayer.

 

1.  He prayed for us.
   1.  The apostles, the disciples, and those to be “saved.”
   2.  God is glorified
      1. Through Jesus Christ.
      2. In everyone who is called.

 

1.  God is one with you.
   1. No-one else
      1. Not the evil one.
      2. Thanksgiving
      3. Petition

 

1.  The Lord’s Will
   1.  We might be kept (vs. 11-16)
   2.  We might be sanctified (vs.17-19)
   3.  We might be united (vs. 11, 20,23)
   4.  We might be glorified (vs. 24-26)

 

1.  The surety of God who saves us.
   1.  Definition of Eternal Life
      1.  Gospel of John Chapter 17 verse 3
      2.  Our end all and be all.

 

 

 

 

“And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”(John 17:3 KJV)

 

We Are One

 

By

 

Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

We know there is only one true God.  The first and easiest way to know Jesus Christ is to “get to know Him in His word.”  The earliest Christians got to know Him because they had first-hand experience.  They lived with Jesus Christ.  They walked with Jesus Christ.  They dined with Jesus Christ.  They watched Him walk “the Via de la Rosa” toCalvary.  We are years later on a different road at different cross-roads in our lives.  Nevertheless, we have an advantage, not a disadvantaged over many others who have come before us; we are able to see History unfold itself through God.  We learn in the gospel; through the scripture, understanding revelation(s), seeing the apostles, following the disciples, and meeting God.

 

The Church benefits everyone in their doctrines because of this vital word.  They both transform us through the work of God in Christ Jesus and through the Bible.  Why?  Then!  Did Jesus Christ come to us?

 

In the beginning we read about God in time and in history walking among us.  In the Garden of Eden he walked with Adam and Eve, and He gives us an invitation not to be alone.  One to trust Him!  In the Old Testament Moses encounters God in the burning bush.  Aha?  He knows Him and has seen Him.  This moves our exploration of the word toward God.  The word speaks about Moses, whom the Lord knew in the superlatives or the highest kind.  The passage says, “And there has not arisen a prophet since inIsraellike Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” (Deut 34: 10) Having God walk with us in the world is called anthropomorphism.  Seeing God face to face is extra-ordinary.  And, Jesus Christ has walked with us.  In Chapter 16 verse 32b of the text Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said, “Yet, I am not alone because the Father is with me.” God is everywhere through the ages.

 

In 270 C.E. when Christianity was not yet legal, there was a man whose name was Anthony the Great who took the call of God very seriously after hearing a sermon.  Sometime around 270 C.E. Anthony heard a Sunday sermon, stating perfection could be achieved by selling all of one’s possession, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Jesus Christ (Matt 19:21)  He took the message to heart and made the further step of moving deep into the desert, yes the desert to seek complete solitude.  To search for the benevolence with God he was not having where he lived. Intending on doing good will for God toward others, he left his home. Other, People journeyed after him.  And, coincidently Christianity was made legal ten year later inEgyptand thirteen years later inRome. They found God in prayer, by being still and knowing Him.  Meditatively!  By the time of Anthony’s death there were so any men and women living in the desert that it was described as “a city” by Anthony’s biographer.  Anthony’s life is the proof that God works through, prayer, thanksgiving, petition and supplication with us.  Always!

 

This is one of the prayerful “Desert Father’s” or followers of God’s sermons “good” sayings: when asked, “What shall I do in order to please God?”  Anthony replied, “Do what I tell you, which is this, wherever you go, keep God in mind; whatever you do, follow the example of Holy Scripture, wherever you are, stay there and do not move away in a hurry.  If you keep to these guide-lines, you will be saved.”  See this and understand that; they were living through a difficult time.  And, in the light of their following they found God’s will.  Each one to the glory of God!

 

In the Gospel of John Jesus Christ prayer is a prayer to Our Father from the heart.  We too!   Are not alone with God!  We are not alone; let me repeat this, if wherever we go, if we keep God in mind; and if we follow the example of scripture on this journey. I want you to know, that God is praying for all of us in these things called our lives.  And, God’s call and God’s prayer is most surely for everyone to be; kept, sanctified, united and glorified.  First, we are kept in God’s prayer, so we are free from all evil.  He will deliver us!  Second, we are kept in His prayer that each one of us is changed or transformed.  This is called being sanctified or made holy by Him.  Third, we are kept in His prayer so we are made united.  United as Jesus Christ experienced with God, when He walked on earth and when, we walk with Him.  And, fourth and last as Jesus Christ is we are kept in His prayer to the glory of God. 

 

In today’s Biblical interpretation we find the only one definition of eternal life.  It is the only definition in the entire Bible.  This passage is a very good verse to remember.  Meaning this in the Gospel of John Chapter 17:3 it states, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”(KJV)

 

Can you see Jesus Christ through the light, or in the darkness?  Remember, Jesus Christ is the one you see on the side of the road with an outstretched hand to help.  He is the Good Samaritan.  Jesus Christ is the grace for you in need and in time of trouble.  He is the one who knocks, and he is the one on the other side of the door.  God can distinguish between good; as well as bad.  Let Him into your life and walk with you.  God will be the one who will bless your comings and goings.  He will be the one to bring the word to you when you need it most, and he will separate you from darkness into His holiness and His light.  The Psalms says this. “My word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.”  Let us keep His prayer in our heart, and remember His words.

The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Our Lord.” (Romans 6: 23)

Through the ages, people have tried in many ways to bridge this gap; without success; by good works, religion, philosophy and morality.  This is not the remedy.  God is holy!  There is only one remedy for this problem of separation.  It is the Cross.  Jesus Christ is the only answer to this problem.  He died on the cross and rose from the grave, paying the penalty for our sin and bridging the gap between God and people.

“ . . . God is on one side and all the people on the other side and Jesus Christ Himself man is between them to bring them together . . .”^[1]  For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (1Tim 2:5 KJV)

We must trust Jesus Christ and receive Him by personal invitation.  The Bible says:

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20 KJV)

Again, I ask you this “Is there any good reason why you cannot receive Jesus Christ right now? 

1.  Admit your need  (I am a sinner)
2.  Be willing to turn from your sins.   (repent)
3.  Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave. 
4.  Through prayer invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life; through the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9 KJV)

Will you say this prayer with me?

Dear Lord Jesus,

     I know that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness.  I believe that you died for my sins.  I want to turn from my sins.  I now invite you to come into my heart and life.  I want to trust and follow you as Lord and Savior.  In Jesus name! 

                                       Amen

 

Luke 17: 1-10

 

(1)   Then he said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! (2) ‘It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. (3) Take heed to yourselves.  If, your brother sin against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. (4) And if he sins against you seven times a day, and seven times in a day returns to you saying, “I repent” you shall forgive him. (5) And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase your faith.”  (6) So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you. (7) “And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?  (8) ‘But will he not rather say to him, “Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink?  Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him.”  I think not. (10) “So likewise you when you have done all those things, which you are commanded, say “We are unprofitable servants.  We have done what was our duty to do.”

 

 

 

At No Cost

 

I.     The Gospel Story – Luke 17: 1-10

 

      A.  At No Cost

         1. Rebuke

         2. Repent

         3. Repeat

 

II.   The Preach and the Priest

     A. Flood

     B. Weddings and Balloon’s

     C. Faith in Action

 

III. Encouragement to All

     A. Increase your Faith

     B. With a MOVE of God

         1. The Mulberry Tree

         2. The Wind

 

IV.   Faith as a Servant

     A. Hope for all things

     B. Faith in one day

     C. We are His servants

         1. Un-profitable

         2. Reward

 

 

 

 

At No Cost

By

Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

I want to open with a couple mixed stories.  There is a good Methodist preacher who served in a church where he worked very hard up against the “laws and forces of nature.” Time to time on one of the three rivers inPittsburgh,PAwhere the church is located there would be a flood.  Sometimes a flash flood!  The church would be up against weddings and other services due to the conditions on theYoughioghenyRiver.  However, the storms would never become a ‘stumbling block.”  People can get all numbed out yet, stay faithful to God with the outside realities that effect their every day to day activities in their church, their ministry, and/or their mission.  Needless to say, the work of the church has got to be done with a Christian moral.  In reality, it is impossible to go through the life of the church or ministry without any offenses.  In the church, the flood waters; besides mud and debris would leave stuff floating in the cold walls of the church and the buildings Narthex and in the front where the Baptismal font sat.  Storms are major league stuff.  Everyone has to pitch in to help!  The storm was not much unlike weddings when one of the hot air balloons from a church wedding got caught up in the top of the ceiling.  They had to wait till it subsided or floated down.  As they floated to the ceiling one-by–one for a wedding the people had to ask the children to ‘not stand’ or ‘jump’ on the pews.  One time after, the church service ended a person began to climb up, on top of things when the Pastor had to ask him to stop from trying to pull some balloon’s down for fear he would fall off the very pews.

 

A Lutheran priest inMillville,PAleft his church over some of the same problems.  Flash floods!  Water debris and mud took away everything; even him.  He began to help in a community where he preached with their clean-up and future.  He looked with God’s eyes open into what he heard, and into what he could in-vision in his brain; and went out to help a community; in need.  At that moment, for this Christian priest there were no more walls and no more boundaries.  There were plans and resolutions to the issues that they had faced.  The goals were now “God’s community”, and they were meeting at the table of the community.

 

Bring in the utility fans!  And!  Do not jump on the pews!  Changed with community in this one man’s church!  To bring us up a dumpster up from down on Larimer Street, to let’s make a future difference with; Smart phones, I-Pads, research projects, a few University projects and some good social organizations.

 

In todays, reading we can hear what Jesus Christ saw in the towns where he preached, and some of our towns.  Jesus Christ prophesied with encouragement and warranted dismay at the offenses around him when the work of spreading the Gospel needed to be done for it to be fulfilled.  When we listen to this Gospel we see the insider and the outsider in this story.  The outsider brought offense through the very young.  God in Jesus Christ wanted to protect them.  They were Stewarts of the next generation.  Very little children were in the mind of Jesus Christ throughout His life and ministry.

 

In the textJerusalemwas soon at hand.  What did this mean?  He warned, He taught and He helped all of God’s people to follow Him.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ was not a cause for a stumbling block, specifically to the young sons’ and daughters because of their new found faith in the word.  This path was the path of Salvation.

 

Now, the mind-full things of God were being addressed by Jesus Christ through the ministry of the word through the ‘good news’ of faith.  The mature nurtured and directed the young; against any of the foretold offenses.  For instances!  If God said, “all men are liars”.  Did you teach your little children to be liars?  No.

 

Teach them God’s truth.

 

What is God’s truth?  Listen to this parable. “Be aware!”  The Lord said, ‘If, you have faith of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you.”  In the text, Jesus Christ is talking to people about the disorder he had foretold in and among His followers or Stewarts of His word.  He said this to those who have not listened; offended, repeatedly calling out to them first; rebuke and repent.

 

The Lord wants us to have the faith, powerful enough to move a tree out to the sea.  A lost tree!  A strong tree!  A good tree!

 

Through research of the Old and New Testament we can learn a little bit about this important tree, and we can have the faith of a mustard seed.  The Mulberry tree is stout, gnarled, and long-lived.  The black mulberry or sycamine tree Jesus Christ spoke about grew in a more temperate region, outside of Jerusalem.  The mulberry plants which are allowed to grow tall with a crown height of 5 – 6 feet from the ground level having stem girth of 4 -5 inches or more is called tree mulberry.[i]  

 

The tree Mulberry was not in the Holy Landuntil New Testament time, during the time Jesus Christ lived, before then it was in the Caspian Sea Region.  The Bible Dictionary states they are “trees whose leaves stir noisily in the slightest breeze.”  In sum, in the trees the Bible tells us if you listen quietly you can hear the footsteps of God and the holy angels.  Therefore, subtract all the negative vibes, offenses, and all of the brother’s sin in human life; human beings can brings in sum a person to a place where he can hear the footsteps of God in the slightest stirring of the tree.  In a prayer!  An individual, in a need would be well able to listen and hear the voice of God.  Even if and when a pin would drop!

 

In the Old Testament there is reference to the Mulberry tree twice, it says in 1 Chronicles 14: 14-15 you can hear the sound of footsteps in the tops of the balsam trees.  Take a moment to listen!  “For then shall the Lord {when he hears this} go out before thee.”  David won a significant victory when he fought the Philistines in the very valley, the signal came from above, and it was his Father. Thereafter, David did not go out without enquiring of the Lord.  David a great King moved with God.

 

Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon a street preacher said this in a sermon, “My brethren, let us learn from David to take no steps without God.”
“Let us enquire of the Lord!”

 

He said this, “First, there are certain special duties, which are not duties to everybody, but only to some people. If we wish to know whether we are to perform these duties, we must seek signs concerning them, and not go and rush into a duty to which we are not called, unless we get a sign, even as David got the rustling among the mulberry leaves.  And then I should use it, the second place, thus, there are certain duties which are common to all of us; but when we see some sign of God’s Holy Spirit being in motion, or some other signs, these are seasons when we ought to be more than ever active, and more than ever earnest in the service of the Master.”

 

In the passage, on this day Jesus Christ asks that our little children be protected and looked after with the care of God.  When we were little children we all had gone astray, from the sound of the rustling of God; and maybe moved to the beat of another drummer. 

 

Do you want to know if you can be a part of God’s will for you?  Ask yourself this question, “Can you pray?” 

 

We knew when we were called what to do!

 

1.  Rebuke:  If, your brother sin against you.

 

1.  Repent:  If he repents forgive him. 

 

1.  Return:  Seven times a day.

Jesus Christ died for us.  His cross reaches to heaven.  The Holy Spirit will come down to inspire you.

 

We have to listen,

In Silence,

In Prayer,

At work,

In the noise,

To GOD~

                                                                                                                                           Nimeth 

 

 

 http://christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_3_1857/the_sound_in_the_mulberry.htm

 

 

The Coming of Christ

September 2, 2011

(Outline)

 

I.  The Gospel of Matthew

        A.   W.O.E.  – Way of Existing

                     1.   Pray 1Tim. 2:8 (KJV)

II.  Flight of the Storm

          A.   Diaspora

III.  Flight from the Storm

             A.    587 -86 B.C. Old Testament Diaspora

                               1.   Dispersion of the Jewish people from Israel

                               2.   The days will be shortened

                                       3.     “The Really Hard Problem”

 

IV.   Digital Diaspora

              A.   Meaning in a lost world

                   1.  The feeling of being a stranger(s) in your own land.

                        2.    The soon return of Jesus Christ.

                        3.    Faith

Acts 13:17
The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. (KJV)

  

Mathew 24:  17-22, 32-36

 

(1) Let him which is on the housetops not come down to take any thing out of his house, (18) Neither let him which is in the field return back to take is clothes (19) And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck  in those days; (20) But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day;  (21) For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor even shall be.  (22) And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened…(32) Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; (33) So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even  at the doors (34) Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (35) Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (36) But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not angels of heaven but my Father only.

 

The Coming of Christ

 

By

 

Miss Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

 

Have you ever had to leave home in a hurry?  If you have ever had to leave your home in a hurry, won’t you listen to me; or you had to abandon your home: like in the recent Hurricane Irene’ storm, which traveled up theEasternCoastof the United States of American. I want to suggest to you what you might have with you, a) A “Bible” that you can carry; it will bring you light, b) a deck of playing card, c) a Frisbee d) a stress nerd ball, and e) a flashlight with batteries.   Call upon God.  At this crossing!  Why?  You will need Him. At this crossing a post – modern day preacher, like me should say thank you!  Let’s! “Chime in anytime.”  We have modern day channel. It is the internet.  It is You-Tube! It is Face book!  It is Twitter!  This is the net channel where you will hear a chime on your computer internet after an upload or before a download when and where you can be ready to view the latest events that have taken place and you can read the Bible.  Today, I am here to preach to you and not’ to talk to you about viewing an everyday event, about being a refugee, or living in the shelter; but about “real lives being saved.”

Unlike that of the great tribulation which we have read about in the Bible, called the second coming, I meet a Christian man who witnessed this very thing to me about going through a tribulation of their own.  Why?  What he received was faith.  I met the everyday Hawaiian man in an airport where he believed he was giving back to the Lord our God, what he received our faith.  So you will believe.  He carried suitcase(s) for the travelers.  This is a very true story.  The day he carried the suitcase the native Hawaiian man witnessed to me specifically about how Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ worked in his life, and how God had saved him from the very mad storm.  One day, he had to take flight in a storm, which came from the ocean across his tropical Island in the Pacific Ocean calledHawaii.  Immediately, he did what he instinctually knew what to do best.  He climbed a palm tree!   Which we see in theMiami Beacharea off the coast ofFloridain theU.S.A.?  However, the storm and it’s aftermath he had experienced were major.  So bad, he broke his spine falling from the tree where he and many native Hawaiians had previously earned their wages to live.  Our God healed him of his injuries through faith and saved his life; from death through what he had read about and learned about in the Bible.

If, we should have to take flight, from our home and/or family, or friends we probably want to have with us immediate belongings of faith; i.e. “God’s word in our heart.”  “It is good to be able to land first.” See! “The Bible” and your needs of identification are important!  God knows you! God is looking to a day where and when you will not need them. God knows us in time.  Be prepared.  Like in an emergency!  So, God’s designated time and place will be yours.  Here and now!  We together have a designated place where we can meet with your Pastor in the plan for survival.

 Know God.

Did you know?  In history God’s Jewish people have felt like strangers in their own land.  After, taking flight and returning home toIsrael?  Where is this land?

In the reading from the Gospel of Matthew it says, one day there will be a large flight, “unalike” any we have seen or heard and we should be prepared for this time.  This flight will be called the “great tribulation

Why?  First, In the New Testament let me refresh this thought with what is said in the Book of Act aboutIsrael’s home.

The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. (Act 13; 17 NKJV)

Second, let us praise Him:

For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven (Psalm 148: 13)

Third, allow me to extend to you a good news verse to memorize in your journeys:

³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:32-34 KJV)

And fourth, we are going to walk together, it is not easy to predict a flight of the magnitude of the “Great Tribulation.” And, God is not a God of maybe! The Bible denotes not even Jesus Christ will know the time or the day of the end.  Only the Father!  And, we know there will be the end.  We know if we are in end times to read signs.  The importance of this where we read in the Bible “all things must be fulfilled!”

In his sermon, inLondon,Englanda preacher by the name of the Reverend Charles Simeon who is a friend to the restoration society on behalf of the church to Jews and Gentiles spoke on redemption.  He talked about the Diaspora or the dispersion of Jews from thelandofPalestinein the year 587-86 B.C. before Jesus Christ.  He told people everywhere “the dispersion” was a flight of people that helped pave the way for the spread of the gospel.”  The gospel I read to you, and we must not forget is both our heritage; Jews and Gentiles.  Alike! 

Let me be reassuring with the former when meaning comes out of an event to restore world peace; as a flight or of great sorrow we know this is God’s restoration.  God is love!  The exchange is a sign of fulfillment and this sign is called our salvation.

God who is our Supreme Being is our meaning for every season, winter, summer, autumn and spring. And, our fulfillment is in Jesus Christ our Messiah.  Today, images of people are being seen on the internet, everywhere to find change, and hope because they are far from God’s home.  In like manner, the meaning of God is very near to us and we are at home with Him at the Outreach.

What does it mean to you to find God in-flight?  In history for many Jews the flight has never ended.  It is an ongoing search.   Forever, we bring the good news.  The ‘good news’ is the Messiah who has come and will return again.

In the book of Acts the apostles (Act 14:1) went into the synagogue, thankful for this heritage of the gospel to preach and they always found men divided.  I do not want to treat us any differently.  We talk together. Listen together.  Listen to these “touching and penetrating words” which The Charles Simeon read from the Bible on many men.  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a  hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.”[1]

Have faith in Him when you are divided among yourselves.

Why?  Love!  Let me speak to you personally. What?  Hold your head up.  God knows your pain.  Why?  He died for YOU.  You have been saved.  Why?  Jesus Christ’s labor.  He will come again!  In the end! This has been called the “great tribulation.”  Find Him because He searches you.  Why?  He loves you very much.  It brings God joy to find a sinner lost.  If, you think it’s about your actions invite him to forgive you. He will forgive you.  Ask Him.   He loves you.  Do you have an image that, you are divided between, that you are far from the Lord.  Far from the Lord!  God!  Like Him. Get to know Him. Words are important to Jesus Christ.  He will save you.  Can you be a man or a women and learn from Christ?  It is intended for His love.  He loves you.  He knows love.  Why?  He was 1^st loved.  And, He is love.  Open eyes have lost Jesus Christ over nothing.  Why?  The love of Jesus Christ!  Feel this in your heart; I bring it to you because I myself love you.  And, God knows this!

This week at the grocery store where I shopped the cashier told me about a girl who brought her friend at school a bead.  This bead had meaning to life. Riding the school bus and standing at the bus stop was not good.  Beads brought them together.

The real hard problem is meaning.

In my surfing the web I found people are searching the internet for a Diaspora of a different kinds, these diaspora’s have  an effect on everyone.  And, they have given people hope with the idea of division, they can not absorb.  There are two images around the globe, now equally authoritative, but not obviously mutually comfortable.  How can both of these images be true to people?  

First, on television and the internet; there is a changing image of a person from one image to another image i.e. for example the image of a black slave in an under ground tunnel traveling across American soil to get freedom in an all-white church and, it’s change a post-modern day black American president in the capitol.  This image of flight and change is known as the “Digital Diaspora.” It must be an image needed for the transformation in blackAmerica.

Then there is a “manifest image!”  How, I see it this way.  How, you see it that way.  It is “how people see things.”  And, this very image is the image that brings division.  In an ongoing search this is what people see in science and with religion, it occurs when two equally authoritative truths each are not absorbed.  As a result, in a search for God some people do not hold to the faith that, He has provided for us in his love.  He loves you.

 

Let us pray.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  Proverbs

  

  If you have

 

 

 

 

  

your Bibles:

 

 

 

Mark 2: 24-28, 3: 1-5

 

(24) And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?   (25) And he said unto them, “Have ye never read what David did, when he had need and was an hungred, he and they that were with him?  (26) How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?  (27) And he said unto them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; (28) Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath, [3] (1) And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand (2) And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him.  (3) And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand “stand-forth.” (4) And he saith unto them “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or to do evil?  To save life or to kill?”  But they held their peace.  (5)  And when he had looked round about or them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts he said unto the man, “Stretch forth thine hand.”  And, he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other.

 

The Outstretched Hand of Jesus Christ  (Outline)

 August 5, 2011

 

The Outstretched Hand of Jesus Christ (Outline)

 

I.  The Gospel of Mark (Mk 2:24-3:5)

     A.  Do we know much about the man with the withered hand?

 

II.  Old Testament

     A.  Proverb (Prov. 19:8)

     B.  David in the time of Saul

     C.  Feeds his men

 

III.   The New Testament

     A.  Jesus Christ is the Instructor

     B.  God’s Presence in the World

     C.  Good (Mk. 16:15)

 

 IV.  Words with resolution (Jn. 14:6)

     A.   The way of goodness

     B.   The way of truth

     C.   The way of peace

     D.   Duty

 An Outstretched Hand

of

Jesus Christ

By

Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

We have read in the Old Testament this proverb, “He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul; he that keepth understanding shall find good.” (Prov.19:8 KJV) You see Jesus Christ was the instructor in the Temple who was given to instruction on understanding. Our Lord!  The Pharisees who lived there wanted to stop him.  Understanding is a very good thing!  God is true.  Jesus Christ was on a mission that brought men the “good news.”  Who were these Pharisees?  That they stood there waiting for Jesus Christ to perform a miracle.  They mostly lived in Palestine, and they were the most influential observant Jews.  Except of course on this day!  They wanted to change or charge an innocent instructor, who was Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with what they could find in their Books of Laws.  They had to have been first, well read in the law.  And, second they had to have an answer to  i.e.  what Jesus Christ quizzed them on.  Whose hand was withered?  We know very little about this man; whether he was liked or disliked.  For salvations choice or our Lords!  In Chapter 3 of the Gospel of Mark God heals by the Law of the Pharisees a man condemned for having a paralytic hand.  This man’s arm kept him from ordinary abilities.  And, now Jesus Christ enables him and His apostles to preach the word or to put his “gifts” to use.  What Jesus Christ was about was the ‘good news?’ This good news would be a movement throughout the world as God called it to move.  He said in the Bible to “Go in   to all-the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” This is what the scripture says specifically in the New Testament from the Gospel of Mark.

 

And he said unto them, “Go ye into all-the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (19) So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.  (20) And they went forth, and preached every-where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” (KJV)

 

It is radical for a man with a disability to be healed of a sickness!

 

Let us all begin to understand this chapter together, in this story of the Book of Mark a man who had a withered hand was healed by God.  We know very little about this man. He was made in the image of God.  He was not Jesus Christ.  But, he could be one of his followers!  The Lord was working with the Jewish people and God had confirmed the word with His signs that followed the “good news.”  Understanding good had once again become good.

 

In the story, of the withered man’s hand, Jesus Christ refers to the shewbread, once kept in the Arc of the Covenant  & in now in the Holy Temple.  He did not refer to  the withered man when they wanted an answer.  He mentioned the shewbread which was eaten by David who would become the King of a Monarchy.  He David was to carry the sword of Goliath and take the shewbread from the Temple to his men during a time of escape. This was important because the bread represented the presence of God.  And, God would move with them, as he moved in the Arc of the Covenant with the Israelites. They in history had to move from under the reign of the current King and the High Priest.  This was understood by the Pharisee.  

 

The synagogue of this day and from this age was called into reprehension by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for putting an obstacle in the way of good. “Who should be denied the good of God?” I ask you this? Jesus Christ found need to answer this question to the unwarranted accusations and blame he was getting from the Pharisees during the “the age of His grace” for man.

 

The dispensation of God’s grace in Our Lord Jesus Christ brought and demonstrated; radically the “mercy of God”  to us, to a sinner or a man who’s hand was withered.  The grace to walk among His people was made real.  In front of everyone it was complete!  In the present of the men it was not ended!  In the Temple it begun!  Not in the hub of Washington!  Nor, at a spa in Salt Lake City! Not in a back alley.  In Church!  Jesus Christ was being accused of justifying the healing of a man that was sick of palsy.  And, his grace moved on.

 

The church in the time of when he David escaped the rule of the kingdom was steeped in Divination.  People who imagined a vain thing lived during this rule!  These were vain imaginations for these who ruled over them.  They were offenses justified for power and control.  They were divination. 

       What is divination? 

You see.  The divine!  Is different!  Different then the un-divine! I say.  However, you see not! It was not the casting out by anyone.  It is a twist of the tongue. And, it is wrong. Listen to the Book of Romans!  In chapter one verses 20 through 22 of the book of Romans it says, “because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were (they) thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their heart was darkened.”

 

What God is telling us is that the hearts of men were hardened with the imaginations of their own minds for convenience.  It was these things David the soon to be King of Israel escaped.  And, those things were the things Jesus Christ healed them from. 

 

This is the research.  The Holman Bible Dictionary says “The Old Testament often attests to the practice of magic by the Hebrews themselves, reflecting how entrenched it was.  Saul the first Hebrew King is said to have “put away those that had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land.”(1Sam. 28:3)

 

How sweeping?

 

God who is on the side of resolution; the way, the truth and the life dispenses grace?  He is able to see truth?  He is able to forgive by His word!  He is peace?  The following words are very common and well spoken.  They areiIn John Chapter 14: 6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” These truths are in his word. 

 

Do you remember the movie the “Raiders of the Lost Ark?”  Indiana Jones who is Harrison Ford is an archeologist.  No ordinary one. He was somewhere in the Peruvian jungle in 1936 running booby- traps to fetch a solid-gold idol.  God is not sending anyone on such a search.  These truths are in His word.

 

There is only one remedy for this problem of separation between people and God.  God has provided the way.  We must make the choice.  Jesus Christ is the only answer.  He died for our sins on the cross and he rose from the grave, paying the penalty for sin and bridging the gap between God and people.  Only he can heal your sickness.  Call on Him and He will answer you.

 

Dear Jesus Christ,

   I know that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness.  I believe that you died for my sins.  I want to turn from my sins.  I now invite you to come into my heart and life.  I want to turn from my sins.  I now invite you to come into my heart and life.  I want to trust and follow you as Lord and Savior.  In Jesus name!                                                Amen

 

Mark 10: 1(b) – 15

(1b) And the people gathered to Him again, and as he was accustomed, He taught them again. (2)  The Pharisees came and asked Him ‘is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him. (3)  And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” (4)  They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to dismiss her.” (5) And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.  (6) “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’”  (7)  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,  (8)  and the two shall become one flesh, so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.  (9) ‘Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.”

The World We Live In

I.  The beginning of the Gospel of Mark (Mk 1:1 KJV)

A. The Creation Story

1. My messenger.

2. Before my face.

3. Walk with me.

II.  If You Really Want to Know Me

A.  Know God’s Book

1. Direction (witness)

2. Go to God’s First Book

a. The lust of the flesh

b. The seven deadly sins

3. Find Out the Remedy

c. The second deadly sin

III.  Do You Know How to Do This?

A. Companion Intersession

1. Jesus Christ

2. Temptations

3. The Lusts that Rule the Heart

4. Repentance

IV.  The Time is Fulfilled and the Kingdom of god is at Hand(Mk 1:15KJV)

Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every creature.

—

—

“The World We Live in”

By

Miss Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

In the story of the Gospel of Mark Jesus Christ is the messenger of the passage.  Our Lord is asked by the Pharisees a group of particularly influential Jews in Palestine to answer an important question on the subject of adultery.  The direction from our Savior is for the Pharisees to go back to the Creation story in the Book of Genesis for the answer to their burning desires.  It was a memory test.  A test of activity and vows!  A memory test for Jesus Christ who had no sin!  In marriage the church tells us if we are married, to renew our wedding vows and repent, if there is any question in regards to the subject of fornication or adultery.  Annulment is not the answer to many people.  Moses himself had difficulty with this theory.  He says, let the women in the marriage go on her way and dismiss her from any legal vow.  He is not thinking about the purpose of family, or children or serving his neighbor.  However, Mark the writer of this Gospel tells us the ‘readers of the Bible’ to go to the heart of the message with Jesus Christ our Savior to understand this story.

 

In the situation of adultery “lust” rules people’s heart instead of God ruling the heart.  In the world we are told to go.  To speed it up!  We are told to run from our problems.  Needless to say, people do this in different ways.  The command to go is not an easy command to hear or to understand from the perspective of the gospel story.  It means being still.  It is much easier to read and understand the Bible if we refer back to one of the stories in it.  In the Bible we must understand both messages of God “to go and to stay” to understand God.   And, Jesus Christ did this with the Pharisees.  He helped them understand there impulsivity.  They were quick to jump into a conversation with Jesus Christ with a question, and not an answer.  We are lost.  And, many people are looking for the answer.

 

In the “Creation Story” Eve went into the Garden to eat the first fruits of a tree which was forbidden to be eaten of by God.  Eve was a lender of an ear i.e. to Satan; as a lender of an ear to him, rather than to God Eve was breaking the rules, and she had to learn a hard lesson about life through the disobedience. This lesson Moses himself had difficulty hearing.  If we are going to live in; the world we live in we are going to have to face God and walk with Him to have peace.  We are not to have anything cut off. This means being ready to ask Jesus Christ to walk with us in our life.  In our garden!  In our Journey!  In our years!  In our souls!

 

At this point, I want to witness to you for you to know what my life was like as a young girl before; I received the free gift of eternal life.  In 1957, when I was only four years old, life around me was a little bit crazy.  Everyone’s life was going in various directions.  And, this is what life seemed like to me. Nowadays, the world is in a disorder[1]!  Then, I had a picture of life in my brain.  I did not know what it was like to have a mom or dad who was “one.” But, I knew God’s family was exactly that “one.”  I wanted to know who had the goal or purpose to be a family.  There was only one answer.  The command ‘to go’ was clear in life.  However, the goal of purpose and family was not clear.  There was a need to be separated.  And, I realized my need for Jesus Christ was important.  Listen to what is important.  In church, cards, and Christian teachings, God said come to me little children. He is good.  And, I did!  In prayer!  At this time, the command ‘to go” was associated with the terms to ‘speed it up’ or to ‘let’s go and to then “let God.”  This was the red flag which was called divorce.

 

That day, i.e. which was the day of the “real divorce” of my parents  for me was and is the moment when I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior we moved.  Now, it was called separation.  My sister and I were sitting on the steps, which lead to the down stairs basement.  We were two little girls who were afraid.  Close to the top of the steps we sat, making important decision, and asking and answering many questions and answers about divorce.  Maybe you are on the go.  And, you need answers.  This subject of divorce is not foreign to anybody.  Neither is being on the go.  What is foreign to God is people.  Models of families without purpose are all over the television and media.  But, God asks us to stop. And, He asks us lend our hearts to him.  I asked my big sister little things like was the ‘doll house” coming with us or going i.e. out to the garbage … the list of what stayed or went went on … the doll baby, the bike, the sand box…our toys, etc. We answered questions like how do we feel?  Answering questions like about… How did I feel about this?  How did I feel about that …?  Christmas, Easter, Birthdays!  And I realizing we needed God.  There was no direction without Him.  I learned all this that day, through prayer. I learned how it all was… …to be happy! To be sad! To cry and to laugh!  Most importantly, I learned how it was to be saved.  God gave me faith. God gave me hope.  God gave me all the love I needed to make it through a day.  He gave me life.  We had all these feelings that I felt healed.  And, we were packing up to go to my Pap and Gan’s house.  As a child, I called my grand-father Pap and my grand-mother Gan.  It was good.  It is good for everyone to have a Pap and Gan.  And, it is good to know I have God.  I want you to know our God who saved me is with me.  Whether, I am here or whether I am at home.

 

In a religious sense this is called a transfer of trust over to the God we must serve.  I transferred my trust over to Jesus Christ for my salvation because I wanted to be part of a bigger family.  God’s family!  God bridges that gap through Jesus Christ to include everyone, i.e. you and I, who wants to be a part of His family and through Jesus Christ who I believe; had saved me from sin.  With this belief He gave me His peace.  In 1957, I did this at that instant when I needed Him through prayer.  

 

Do you know Jesus Christ says to us to, “Go in to the entire world and preach the gospel to every creature?” In the word it also says, “Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” (vs. 15)  God reaches out His hand to all of us. He reaches a hand out to His children.

He has allowed me the opportunity to tell you about Him on this day.  HIS light shines, and Jesus Christ lights cannot be hidden.  There is no-one but God who can do this.

 

Only, man can be separated from God by his actions.  Jesus Christ attributes sin to the hardness of a man’s heart in adultery.  Men’s hearts are hard.  You must know this very thing sin will rule a man’s heart, if not God.  In the act of adultery lust rules a person, rather than God ruling in the heart.  According to a professor, Dr. William S Stafford of Virginia Theological Seminary, lust is one of the seven deadly sins.  And, here is what it can do.  And, this is why I am telling you.  The role of the inner life of a person is to draw people closer to God; through this spiritual gift, the gift we call salvation by which we are saved.  It will bring you all the grace you need to live by.  The passions, addictions, enslaving habits, lusts, and their excessive rationality will pull and push you away from the deepening dependence or inner life and attention to God.  Dr. Wm. S. Stafford in his book “Disordered Loves” said what he has seen; when you see excessive rationality in a person there will be sin.  Excessive rationality in desires, even in-ordinate love will mis-shape the purpose we have with one another, in family, in neighbor and in serving each other.  At the heart of creation is a sexual love given to the knowledge on being “one”, and knowing “One.”  Without this oneness there is sin.  Ultimately, sins rule people’s heart instead of God.

 

In 1 Corinthians 10 13 the Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man;  but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation [He] will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”  At once, He will make the way of escape available.  If you take this into account we will have the love and support of God and the fellowship with each other and with other believers.  Salvation and intersession with Jesus Christ will give you hope.  He will pick you up and He will not put you down.  He will bring you back into the path called life.  Rely on Him and He will encourage you.  Remember, in the New Testament the book of Philippians directs us to Jesus Christ for our help.  In Philippians Chapter 4: 13 is says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Today, I ask you to let Jesus Christ strengthen you through belief and through coming to Him in Salvation.

 

Let us pray:

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Stafford, William S   “Disordered Loves, Healing the Seven Deadly Sins.” Cambridge.  Cowley Publications.  1914

NOTES

 The role of the inner life of a person is to draw people closer to God; through this spiritual gift, the gift we call salvation by which we are saved.

 

Matthew 3: 1-17

 

(1)In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

(2)And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

(3)For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

(4)And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locust and wild honey,

(5) Then went out to him Jerusalem, an all Judea, and all the reign round about the Jordan,

(6) And were baptized of him in the Jordon, confessing their sins.

(7) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

(8) Bring forth therefore, fruits meet for repentance;

(9)And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able ⊕to these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

(10) And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees’ therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

(11) I indeed baptize you with water into repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I’ m not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire;

(12) Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

(13) Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordon unto John, to be baptized of him.

(14) But John forbade him, saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me?

(15) And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now: for this to become us to fulfill all righteousness, then he suffered him.

(16) And Jesus, when he baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him,

(17) And lo a voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

“Born in Him”

 

By 

Miss Deborah A. Farnsworth

 

It is an ordinance in the Baptist Church to be baptized.  The Baptist Church stands on this exact premise “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matt 28: 19 KJV)  An older lady who was a friend of ours wanted to be baptized just like Jesus Christ was baptized; she was from the Catholic Church living near the Mason Dixon line, south of here.  While she was on vacation in Europe across the Atlantic Ocean with her church family, this is exactly what she did “on her summer vacation” somewhere between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea on the Jordon River where Jesus Christ Our Lord himself was baptized by John the Baptist. She got Baptised.

In most of the Baptist Churches baptism by immersion is a “next step” in faith.  The day John the Baptist immersed Jesus Christ in the Jordon River the Holy Spirit descended from the heavens above and descended upon his head. The heavens were opened!  The Bible says the Holy Spirit appeared “straightway” out of the water. (Matt 3: 16, 17 KJV) In Baptism Christ our Savior has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.[1] 

From that time, in history Jesus Christ began his prophetic office.  He began to preach and to say, ‘Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It was something familiar for the people of the land to hear.  He had another plan for our salvation.  The order was different.  Today, people have motives for everything, and the motive of baptism for Jesus Christ was different.  “It is understood guile differently, (in the text) it was not for sin, rather it was a “theophany” i.e. self-revealing of God.”  It was for us to see and know God’s preferred. God’s help! Theophany from the Ancient Greek (meaning “appearance of God”) refers to the appearance of a deity to a human or other being, or to a divine disclosure.  Jesus Christ was identified as God’s “Beloved Son” and he was commissioned as the herald, the messenger, and the bearer of news: the sign of God’s Kingdom. In the Bible it says, ‘This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.’(vs. 17)

In a Commentary, Jesus Christ has been referred to in this specific passage as the ladder – who – has his foot on Earth![2]

Jesus Christ is the ladder who has its “top in Heaven![3]” A miracle!  It refers to the manifestation of God to man; the sensible sign by which the presence of God is revealed.  Too us!  He was born of the Spirit of God.

I want you to know this “Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave, paying the penalty for our sin and bridging the gap between God and people. (1Tim 2: 5, 1Pet 3: 18a, Rom 5: 8 KJV)  As our Lord and Savior!

Jesus Christ prophetic ministry started here on Earth with Baptism.

Did you know there are good angels who have come down from heaven?  To help us with God’s plan and to understand the cross.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus first appeared publicly at his ‘Baptism.”  The Jordon River is a river that runs from north of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.  Immediately afterward, we are told in the next chapter of the Bible that the Holy Spirit led Him (Jesus Christ) into the wilderness where he fasted and was tempted by the devil.  The devil himself!  What could be worse than that!  The good news is this!  After he had rejected the devils’ temptation Jesus Christ was ministered to by the angels sent from heaven. (Matt 4: 11)  God always makes a way of escape.  Jesus Christ gained strength in the wilderness.  Jesus Christ needed strength in the wilderness for a spiritual battle against a relentless enemy.  With this strength he conquered the devil.

This is our plan of salvation.  Men have in many ways attempted to bridge this gap, between God and man without success.

In Psalm 127 of the Bible the Lord says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” There is a way.   Wait upon the Lord.  And, let him be your builder.  Your way!  Your light unto salvation!  Jesus bore the cross and the suffering and he will help us along this way; as he showed us on Earth.

In the Old Testament an angel helped Abraham’s servant choose a wife for Isaac.  (Genesis 24: 7 KJV)

God had a plan.

While he waited, Jacob saw angels ascending and descending a heavenly ladder as they received and delivered communications and executed God’s desires for his children. (Gen 28:12 KJV)

God had a plan.

Moses received instructions through the angel of the Lord in the burning bush. (Ex 3:2 KJV)

God had a plan.

While Balaam was planning to curse the children of God for personal profit,  there stood in the path before him, though he would not detect it an angel of the lord, the mule saw it, however, and would not trot past the angels road block.  This saved the lives of many Israelite’s including Balaam himself. (Num 22: 32, 33 KJV)

God had a plan.

Angels announced not only Jesus birth, but also His resurrection (Luke 1-2, Matt 28, 5-7 KJV), and they will be with Jesus Christ when He comes again.  (Matt 24: 30-31, 1Thess 4: 16 KJV)

God has a plan!

In heaven, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.  Needless to say, he will get us through.  The angels look down perplexed at history and the world.  Be that it may!  They have a vantage point.  A very good benefit!   We should be willing to go far, rather than come short of communion with God.  They who seek God will find God.  The good news is the son of righteousness Jesus Christ teaches us not to shrink from pain or toil, that we may have an opportunity of drawing near to God in an Ordinance.  In a sacrament!  In a prayer!  And, in a life!

Heaven is a place where God has people who have flesh on their bones. Have your life in order.

 [4]Let God’s plan in salvation history take its course in your life.

Once, when we were giving a “Life in the Spirit” seminar in the surrounding Washington D.C. area; a lady came up to the altar to be saved with many other people.  She had lost her job at a big company called Lockheed Martin.  At the time she was lost.  She looked in every direction, but she could not find a remedy, nor could she find an answer.  She was not saved until she turned her life over to Jesus Christ. When she received and understood the plan of salvation for her life, she was at peace.  In the end, my friend never got her job back at Lockheed Martin; however she did obtained everlasting life and a plan for her salvation.  Ultimately, God’s plan helped her with her will to go on and gave her peace.

 

Let us pray:

 

Dear Jesus Christ,

 

I know that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness.  I believe that you died for my sins.  I want to turn from my sins.  I now invite you to come into my heart and life.  I want to turn from my sins.  I now invite you to come into my heart and life.  I want to trust and follow you as Lord and Savior.  In Jesus name!

 

Amen

 

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[1] Henry, Matthew.  “Matthew Henry’s Commentary in One Volume.”  Zonderven Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1960.  P. 1212

[2] Ibid, 1212

[3] Ibid, 1212

[4] Ibid, 1212

5 Malz, Betty.  “Angels Watching Over Me.”  A Choosen Book.  Fleming h. Revell Company. 1986

 

Luke Chapter 11: 1-13

 

(1)And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

(2)And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

(3)Give us day by day our daily bread.

(4)And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

(5)And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

(6)For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him?

(7)And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

(8)I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

(9)And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

(10)For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

(11)If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

(12)Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

(13)If ye then, being evil, knows how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

 

 

Where My Hat is I Am

by

Deborah Farnsworth

 

The Greek word used here for hallowed in the Bible is hagiazo which means purify or consecrate.  In the prayer the ‘Our Father’ God asks us to hallow His holy name.  He wants us to keep it pure.  He wants us to keep it straight.  He wants His name to give us strength.  According to the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible[1] the word means to venerate, to keep holy, or to hallow.  To venerate God’s name is to lift His name up or hold His name up above all other names.  This is our hope in the Bible.  In the same manner, God means for each one of us to keep Him and the things of His pure.  This is our treasure and hope.

I would like you to know having homage to God is where our very hope is found.  It is a two-fold process.  Giving homage to God is having an allegiance to our God.  Importantly, our hallowing God’s name is something done in our mind or mentally, that can be done privately or publically in prayer. Lifting up His name gives us all hope.  The “Our Father” is the prayer in the gospel we can say in a public place.  Look!  Listen!  God is our American Dream!  In Luke 12: 33 it says; “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.  This is your hope!  In the Bible it says we have a hope, that no one can take away.  This hope of God we have has a promise with it and it is called an anchor. God will anchor us in His hope by prayer!  God looks down from heaven and knows we are secure, if we are living by our hope and promise of Him. In the book of Hebrews Chapter 6: 19 it says “this hope we have [is] as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence hind the veil.” This means Our Savior is with us!  He sees us.  He knows us. He Loves us.

In Webster New World Dictionary homage is defined as the relationship between Lord and vessel, i.e. between God and man i.e. between God and us. In the Old Testament things were engraved and consecrated to the Lord to show their homage.  This is how people knew someone worshipped or served God.  There was an earthly separation.  In Exodus Aaron the high priest who was like Jesus Christ was reminded that God was Holy and that his priesthood must be holy. He was separated from other men.  An engraving on a golden plate was worn on his forehead which read “Holiness to the Lord.”  Aaron was a mediator.  He was a type of Jesus Christ who bore the iniquity of the holy things, so that they may be accepted before the Lord.

Recently, in the news we say homage given to God and the royal crown in England at the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  Homage was a vow to the “royal crown.”  Queen Elizabeth placed something old “a tiara” in Kate Middleton’s’ hands to wear on her wedding day on her head to show homage to both God and an allegiance to the crown.  (To the Queen of England.)  These things are not separated from men without God.  This tiara was the one the Queen herself wore at her own wedding when she made her vows to God.

Jesus Christ crown as we know it is different.  I would like to talk to you about this.  Through the ages many leaders wore crowns, head dresses and coverings on their heads to symbolize their honor.  Jesus Christ crown was made of thorns.

First, let me tell you a couple of stories.  I was a young woman in college at the University of Pittsburgh.  There was a physician in our hospital who had a story to tell us about when he was on call at the Emergency room where I worked.  On that particular day he was called away from his classroom at the medical school before his weekly lectures to the E.R. to see a patient who needed his help.  When he returned to his class-room his students had all left.  The next day, when he returned to class He made a remark to his medical students! “If you see my “hat” on my podium, I am here.” The professor/ physician was never far away from his work or his students.  He was dedicated to both the classroom and to the patients he saw in the E.R.  God is dedicated to us like a physician.  He is the great physician.

In Jeremiah 29: 11 the word says, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord; plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

It also says, ‘But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be wary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 KJV)

The Lord God knows where we are, who we are and where we are going.  He has made the plans for our salvation on the cross. He is our hope and salvation.

This is my second story.  When I look back on my life as a younger girl, I remember playing cowgirls and Indians with all the other kids in the neighborhood.  Everyone wanted to be a cowboy.  No one wanted to be an Indian or an Indian squaw.  If so, they would choose rather to be a chief! This was a dream.  Forever and a day, there are and was the “battle of the sexes.”  Indian headdresses with feathers symbolize Chiefs.  Indian chiefs were never girls.  Cowboy hats indicated cowboys.  And, cowboys were always boys.  We were living out the American dream.  As children who were at play.

This is the next story called history. Then I did not know much about history.  Rarely, did anyone talk about what happened on the 4^th of July. We played out the lesson of our forefathers, on the battle field that gave us a victory.

Before July 4^th, 1776 there were real wars in America.  The one we played out was the wars of King Phillip.  They were real. Then, America’s hope was anchored in other things before this signing of the Declaration of Independence.  The Aristocracy!  A few religions!  The Ana-Baptist!  The Unitarians!  Whiskey!  The county fairs!  However, denominations and the word denominationalism were words coined in the United States of America with this independence.  This was the American dream.  And, this continues to be our hope!  That people of all faiths would worship God together not separately in our country.  In my heart lies this promise.

During time in history between 1735 and 1736 there was a man who tried to Evangelize America for the change; for the better.  God gave him a zeal for the word he had never had before, after failing to reach the Indians and some of the early settlers.  His old techniques went out the back door, when the “Holy Spirit” touched his heart and came through the front door.  This man was given a new hope.  His name was John Wesley.  For many years Mr. John Wesley used the catechism to teach religion in America.  The catechism was a handbook of questions and answers for teaching the principles of religion.  It was like many other books that taught the fundamentals of a certain subject, like English, Mathematics, History and Science.  However, this did not work.  And, he felt hopeless!  On a return trip to England, on a ship with mostly Moravians and their sea “Captain” a very bad storm hit the ship.  Mr. John Wesley witnessed a faith that was greater than many of his fears.  He gained a hope against all hope when he believed in the plan of salvation.  He was changed forever.  The Moravians on the ship sang hymns of God and had a peace which surpassed understanding.  This peace was over all the men, women and children of the ship during the storm.  It was real!  

It was the same hope we read about in the book of Romans.  In Romans, it says this about the Father of Faith Abraham, “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.” (Romans 4: 18 KJV)

On the Moravian ship at sea Mr. John Wesley received a peace from God as he described in his testimony, that which surpassed human understanding.  It gave him a real zeal for the gospel.  This hope occurred with and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God in his heart.  You too, can have this hope!

Jesus Christ took on His head a crown for all of men, different than the crowns we have read about in history.  It was given to Him by the soldiers of Rome.  In the book of John 19: 2 it says, “And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe.”   His crown was accounted to us for His righteousness.  Nothing worthy of death was ever done by Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ fell among the thorns for our sins.  He was the seed among the thorns that has given us our hope.  The good news is we are saved by this “hope” in Jesus Christ. 

The New King James Version of the Bible says, “Nor is there  salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4: 12 K.J.V.)

Let us Pray

 

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[1] Strong, James, S.T.D., LL.D.  “Strong’s New Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.”  World Bible Publishers, Inc. p.5