Friday, October 31, 2014
Heaven Is Not Ours Because Of Our Works
Heaven is not ours because of our works. Doing good things for
others will not take us one step closer to heaven. Heaven is ours
because of Jesus' willingness to take our punishment upon himself. If
we accept that sacrifice and love God, heaven is ours for eternity.
Even so, God does expect us to get busy and do good things. He won't forget the good we do. He will reward Christians for their good deeds.
There is a difference between our salvation and our reward. Salvation is a gift. Our reward is given because of our good works. Of course our reward will be worth a gazillion times more than we deserve.
Even so, God does expect us to get busy and do good things. He won't forget the good we do. He will reward Christians for their good deeds.
There is a difference between our salvation and our reward. Salvation is a gift. Our reward is given because of our good works. Of course our reward will be worth a gazillion times more than we deserve.
Reward comes WITH salvation, not separate from salvation. We can do
good works without believing in God. Many people do so. They do not
receive an eternal reward for their good works.
For those who believe in Jesus and God and accept the sacrifice and love of Jesus, salvation is theirs. Because they cannot help but love Jesus and God, works automatically follow.
"“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done."
"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds."
"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
"The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor."
Edith Smith
For those who believe in Jesus and God and accept the sacrifice and love of Jesus, salvation is theirs. Because they cannot help but love Jesus and God, works automatically follow.
"“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done."
"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds."
"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
"The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor."
Edith Smith
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Changed Meanings Of Words
"Sinfully delicious", "decadent desserts", "wickedly delicious", "eat
wicked - never feel guilty", "chocolate sin cake" (all real
advertisements), and "that's BAD, Dude" ... terms calling good things
"bad" but we understand that they mean "good"?
Have you noticed how at times words have changed in meaning? Words that actually mean "bad" are used to mean "good"? Words that actually mean "good" are used to mean "bad"?
No, I don't think it has come to the meaning in Isaiah 5:20. But when I hear these phrases, it sure brings that verse to my mind. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil".
Have you noticed how at times words have changed in meaning? Words that actually mean "bad" are used to mean "good"? Words that actually mean "good" are used to mean "bad"?
No, I don't think it has come to the meaning in Isaiah 5:20. But when I hear these phrases, it sure brings that verse to my mind. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil".
(I have some of my Daddy in me. I know he would do this too.) If I
see a dessert advertised as "sinfully delicious" or "decadent
chocolate", I will not eat it. YES, even CHOCOLATE. Don't
misunderstand me, please. I do NOT believe there is anything wrong with
eating it and I CAN eat it with a clear conscious. It is simply my way
of keeping my mind from slipping into allowing those words that are tied
with evil from becoming less meaningful in my life.
And then there is ... "If there's no chocolate in heaven, I'm not going." ~Author Unknown
Ahh, wouldn't it be nice to know (when things are said in fun) at what point God's smile is beginning to fade because of the words that come out of our mouths.
All that being said, remember that "chocolate is an antidepressant, which is especially useful as you start to gain weight." ~Jason Love (whoever he is)
Edith L. Smith
And then there is ... "If there's no chocolate in heaven, I'm not going." ~Author Unknown
Ahh, wouldn't it be nice to know (when things are said in fun) at what point God's smile is beginning to fade because of the words that come out of our mouths.
All that being said, remember that "chocolate is an antidepressant, which is especially useful as you start to gain weight." ~Jason Love (whoever he is)
Edith L. Smith
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
God Does Not Compel Us To Go Against Our Will,
When the Canaanites hardened their hearts against God,
And grieved Him because of their sin,
God sent along hornets to bring them to terms,
And to help His own people to win.
If a nest of live hornets were brought to this room,
And the creatures allowed to go free,
You would not need urging to make yourself scarce,
You'd want to get out, don't you see!
They would not lay hold and by force of their strength,
Throw you out of the window, oh, no!
They would not compel you to go against your will,
But they would just make you willing to go.
When Jonah was sent to the work of the Lord,
The outlook was not very bright.
He never had done such a hard thing before,
So he backed and ran off from the fight.
Now, the Lord sent a great fish to swallow him up,
The story I am sure you all know.
God did not compel him to go against his will,
But He just made him willing to go.
CHORUS:
God does not compel us to go, oh, no!
He never compels us to go.
God does not compel us to go against our will,
But He just makes us willing to go.
And grieved Him because of their sin,
God sent along hornets to bring them to terms,
And to help His own people to win.
If a nest of live hornets were brought to this room,
And the creatures allowed to go free,
You would not need urging to make yourself scarce,
You'd want to get out, don't you see!
They would not lay hold and by force of their strength,
Throw you out of the window, oh, no!
They would not compel you to go against your will,
But they would just make you willing to go.
When Jonah was sent to the work of the Lord,
The outlook was not very bright.
He never had done such a hard thing before,
So he backed and ran off from the fight.
Now, the Lord sent a great fish to swallow him up,
The story I am sure you all know.
God did not compel him to go against his will,
But He just made him willing to go.
CHORUS:
God does not compel us to go, oh, no!
He never compels us to go.
God does not compel us to go against our will,
But He just makes us willing to go.
"Tell Her How You Love Her Everyday...",
"I saw this elderly gentleman dining by himself, with an old picture of a lady in front of him. I though maybe I could brighten his day by talking to him.
As I had assumed, she was his wife. But I didn’t expect such an interesting story. They met when they were both 17. They dated briefly, then lost contact when he went to war and her family moved. But he said he thought about her the entire war. After his return, he decided to look for her. He searched for her for 10 years and never dated anyone. People told him he was crazy, to which he replied “I am. Crazy in love”. On a trip to California, he went to a barber shop. He told the barber how he had been searching for a girl for ten years. The barber went to his phone and called his daughter in. It was her! She had also been searching for him and never dated either.
He proposed immediately and they were married for 55 years before her
death 5 years ago. He still celebrates her birthday and their
anniversary. He takes her picture with him everywhere and kisses her
goodnight.
Some inspiring things he said;
"I was a very rich man. Not with money, but with love"
"I never had a single argument with my wife, but we had lots of debates"
"People are like candles. At any moment a breeze can blow it out, so enjoy the light while you have it."
"Tell your wife that you love her everyday. And be sure to ask her, have I told you that I love you lately?"
Be sure to talk to the elderly. Especially strangers. You may think that you will brighten their day, but you may be surprised that they can actually brighten yours.”
Some inspiring things he said;
"I was a very rich man. Not with money, but with love"
"I never had a single argument with my wife, but we had lots of debates"
"People are like candles. At any moment a breeze can blow it out, so enjoy the light while you have it."
"Tell your wife that you love her everyday. And be sure to ask her, have I told you that I love you lately?"
Be sure to talk to the elderly. Especially strangers. You may think that you will brighten their day, but you may be surprised that they can actually brighten yours.”
You Are A Vital Part Of The Body Of Christ
Howard
Mooney: And then he spoke of the other feeling that is prevalent among
God's people - "I am no good in the Church". That is like the ear
saying, because I cannot be the eye, I am no good in the body; like the
foot saying, because I am not the hand or in other words, because I am
not doing what the other person is doing, I am no good in the body. And
he went to say, every member in the body is vital. If you do not
remember anything else that we are trying to tell you from our meeting
this afternoon, take this thought home with you. REGARDLESS OF WHO YOU
ARE, OR HOW OLD YOU ARE, OR HOW HANDICAPPED YOU ARE, YOU ARE A VITAL
PART OF THE BODY. There is no thing as a non-vital organ in the body of
Christ, for God has put everyone of them in the body as it has pleased
Him.
I Tim 4:12 This reference is to the youth. If there is anyone who might have a tendency to feel unnecessary in the body of Christ, it is the young people. And the reason why I know this, is because I remember my feelings when I was a teenager. I just felt sometimes so unnecessary. And I did not have a car at that time, so I wasn't able to go out and bring people to the meeting like the older folks could. I could not pray like the older folks, I felt so unnecessary. And having passed through the mill myself, I can understand the feelings of you young people. I wish you young people could know how much we do appreciate you. I wish you could understand how vital you are in this fellowship. I wonder if you realize how many times the workers who have been given a room to stay in your home - I wonder if you know how many times those workers have gone into that room and got down on their knees and thanked God for you.
We have been having some services on a University campus. We had a number of our professing young people there and they were real examples of the believers. And you know, there has been over one dozen of their fellow classmates that have come to the Gospel meetings and professed through the last couple of years; and one was an opera singer. She was way up in the higher circles of the opera world. She had just taken a tour of Europe; and she was so impressed with the godly example of our young folks, that she came to the meetings and professed. You naturally think, when a person like that comes to the meetings, what happens when they come to the crossroads? But it was only a short while after that young woman professed, that she came to me one day and she said, "Howard, I am giving up opera." I said, "That is good, what brought you to that conclusion?" She said. "You know, in the opera world, you do not get anywhere without stepping on somebody else". But she said, "In this fellowship, everyone is helping each other." And she said, "I would give up anything for what I have found in this fellowship. It's everything, compared with what the operatic world has to offer". These young people were a real example of the believers. They believed God could do for them more than anyone else could do, and it was showing in their lives. And as I said before, a number of their fellow students at the University have come to the meetings and professed as a result of their example. I would encourage every young person to read the 12th verse of this 4th chapter of I Timothy over frequently. If I am a believer, if I believe in the Lord - all that this verse teaches - then I am a vital part of this body. And even though I am just a young person and even though I may not pray very good and speak very well, I am still a vital organ in the body of Christ.
Howard Mooney: We were traveling - a group of us workers in a car - recently going from one convention to another and there was an old worker in the car who had been in the work over 50 years. And he was talking to us younger ones about the miracle of convention and the miracle of fellowship as a whole. He said: "I have been in the work now over 50 years and I understand perfectly how it works, but if God would take this miracle work out of this fellowship, there is not one thing I could do to make it work." He said, "There are no strings to pull, no buttons to push."
I Tim 4:12 This reference is to the youth. If there is anyone who might have a tendency to feel unnecessary in the body of Christ, it is the young people. And the reason why I know this, is because I remember my feelings when I was a teenager. I just felt sometimes so unnecessary. And I did not have a car at that time, so I wasn't able to go out and bring people to the meeting like the older folks could. I could not pray like the older folks, I felt so unnecessary. And having passed through the mill myself, I can understand the feelings of you young people. I wish you young people could know how much we do appreciate you. I wish you could understand how vital you are in this fellowship. I wonder if you realize how many times the workers who have been given a room to stay in your home - I wonder if you know how many times those workers have gone into that room and got down on their knees and thanked God for you.
We have been having some services on a University campus. We had a number of our professing young people there and they were real examples of the believers. And you know, there has been over one dozen of their fellow classmates that have come to the Gospel meetings and professed through the last couple of years; and one was an opera singer. She was way up in the higher circles of the opera world. She had just taken a tour of Europe; and she was so impressed with the godly example of our young folks, that she came to the meetings and professed. You naturally think, when a person like that comes to the meetings, what happens when they come to the crossroads? But it was only a short while after that young woman professed, that she came to me one day and she said, "Howard, I am giving up opera." I said, "That is good, what brought you to that conclusion?" She said. "You know, in the opera world, you do not get anywhere without stepping on somebody else". But she said, "In this fellowship, everyone is helping each other." And she said, "I would give up anything for what I have found in this fellowship. It's everything, compared with what the operatic world has to offer". These young people were a real example of the believers. They believed God could do for them more than anyone else could do, and it was showing in their lives. And as I said before, a number of their fellow students at the University have come to the meetings and professed as a result of their example. I would encourage every young person to read the 12th verse of this 4th chapter of I Timothy over frequently. If I am a believer, if I believe in the Lord - all that this verse teaches - then I am a vital part of this body. And even though I am just a young person and even though I may not pray very good and speak very well, I am still a vital organ in the body of Christ.
Howard Mooney: We were traveling - a group of us workers in a car - recently going from one convention to another and there was an old worker in the car who had been in the work over 50 years. And he was talking to us younger ones about the miracle of convention and the miracle of fellowship as a whole. He said: "I have been in the work now over 50 years and I understand perfectly how it works, but if God would take this miracle work out of this fellowship, there is not one thing I could do to make it work." He said, "There are no strings to pull, no buttons to push."
He pointed to one of the workers in the car and said "If God took over
and took life out of your body, there is not one thing that man could do
to make it work. You could get the latest physician in the country and
he could employ the latest methods known to science, but if God takes
that miracle out of your body, there is not one thing that we could do
to make it work."
He said: "The same is true of the body of Christ. This thing is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes; and it is a God-given miracle in this fellowship that makes it the living calling - something that we all found it to be." And that is why I am so thankful that in the scriptures we have this illustration so frequently used of the Church, of which Christ is the Head and we are the members and each one enjoying the miracles of that life.
He said: "The same is true of the body of Christ. This thing is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes; and it is a God-given miracle in this fellowship that makes it the living calling - something that we all found it to be." And that is why I am so thankful that in the scriptures we have this illustration so frequently used of the Church, of which Christ is the Head and we are the members and each one enjoying the miracles of that life.
Every Message Of God Is Personal
John
Parish (Tanama 2014): Every message of God is personal. Do not lose
it, thinking it is for someone else. There is power, life, blessing and
fruit in a seed, but only if it is planted.
Malachi 1: 2-3 "I have loved you, saith the Lord; and ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord. And I loved Jacob, v3 And I hated Esau, and (made) his mountains a desolation and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. " It was not unfair, or that God had favorites, but because of the qualities in their lives. God looks for certain qualities in our lives, and an attitude that allows God to work, and Esau was not willing for God to guide him, and didn’t care about o pleasing God.
Gen.25: 21-23. "And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. v22 And the children struggled together within her; and said: If so, why am I? And she went to inquire of the Lord; v23 and the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. "
Now this was written before their births (not as Malachi, hundreds of years after their lives). This is God's plan for each of us: that the older (human nature) will serve the younger, a new life that God gives us as we believe and obey the gospel. What comes from God cannot be produced by our nature. But we still have the old life and thoughts that are contrary to the new life. It is worth the struggle to follow the Spirit, because then we have peace, which we lose if human nature gets control.
Gen.25: 27. "And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents." Marks of the two natures. Esau liked his freedom, always going out even though there was enough in the home. Jacob was content. He was also quiet, which enables communion with God.
Gen.25: 29-34. "And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, tired, v30 Jacob said: Please let me have some of that red stew, for I am very tired. Therefore was his name called Edom. v31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. v32 And Esau said, Behold, I am going to die; Why, then, is the birthright to me? v33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day. And he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. v34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he ate and drank, and rose and went. So Esau despised his birthright. "
Jacob understood the value of the birthright. Esau, like the flesh, chose for the present. The flesh would be willing to sell what God has given us to get what we want. Jacob gave perhaps his own lunch-- willing to sacrifice the present for a future blessing.
Gen.26: 34-35 "And Esau was forty years old, took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemat daughter of Elon the Hittite; v35 and were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah "& 27:46" And Rebekah said to Isaac., I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life? "
Look for someone who can help you serve God, not be a snare. The unity of the home is so important. Gen.28: 1-2. "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. v2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. "Isaac knew that in that home they feared God, and Jacob obeyed.
Amos 1:11 "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; Because he pursued his brother with the sword, and violated all pity; and in his anger he has always stolen, and perpetually has kept the grudge. " 1,000 years later, the descendants of Esau still resented it. How would it be for us if God held a grudge? So we need to forgive.
Gen.32-33. Jacob feared and prayed. There was a struggle, and Jacob met Esau a changed man, willing to lose to have peace. God loves that attitude.
Malachi 1: 2-3 "I have loved you, saith the Lord; and ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord. And I loved Jacob, v3 And I hated Esau, and (made) his mountains a desolation and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. " It was not unfair, or that God had favorites, but because of the qualities in their lives. God looks for certain qualities in our lives, and an attitude that allows God to work, and Esau was not willing for God to guide him, and didn’t care about o pleasing God.
Gen.25: 21-23. "And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. v22 And the children struggled together within her; and said: If so, why am I? And she went to inquire of the Lord; v23 and the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. "
Now this was written before their births (not as Malachi, hundreds of years after their lives). This is God's plan for each of us: that the older (human nature) will serve the younger, a new life that God gives us as we believe and obey the gospel. What comes from God cannot be produced by our nature. But we still have the old life and thoughts that are contrary to the new life. It is worth the struggle to follow the Spirit, because then we have peace, which we lose if human nature gets control.
Gen.25: 27. "And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents." Marks of the two natures. Esau liked his freedom, always going out even though there was enough in the home. Jacob was content. He was also quiet, which enables communion with God.
Gen.25: 29-34. "And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, tired, v30 Jacob said: Please let me have some of that red stew, for I am very tired. Therefore was his name called Edom. v31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. v32 And Esau said, Behold, I am going to die; Why, then, is the birthright to me? v33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day. And he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. v34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he ate and drank, and rose and went. So Esau despised his birthright. "
Jacob understood the value of the birthright. Esau, like the flesh, chose for the present. The flesh would be willing to sell what God has given us to get what we want. Jacob gave perhaps his own lunch-- willing to sacrifice the present for a future blessing.
Gen.26: 34-35 "And Esau was forty years old, took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemat daughter of Elon the Hittite; v35 and were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah "& 27:46" And Rebekah said to Isaac., I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life? "
Look for someone who can help you serve God, not be a snare. The unity of the home is so important. Gen.28: 1-2. "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. v2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. "Isaac knew that in that home they feared God, and Jacob obeyed.
Amos 1:11 "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; Because he pursued his brother with the sword, and violated all pity; and in his anger he has always stolen, and perpetually has kept the grudge. " 1,000 years later, the descendants of Esau still resented it. How would it be for us if God held a grudge? So we need to forgive.
Gen.32-33. Jacob feared and prayed. There was a struggle, and Jacob met Esau a changed man, willing to lose to have peace. God loves that attitude.
Tanama 2014 - Jon Wright, Sun. AM – Friends
Tanama 2014 - Jon Wright, Sun. AM – Friends
James 4:4. “ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” One of the greatest dangers for us, is to be friends of those who aren’t friends of God, because we come to be like those we accompany.
Many in Chile chose to skip the last day of convention when it fell on New Year’s Day, although it was a day off from work. Their overseer wrote them to consider that the people we prefer to spend time with here, are those with whom we’ll spend eternity, whether in light or darkness.
We could also imitate the world in dress or speech even without one worldly friend.
If we spend time with the friends and workers, that will affect us too. We want to act and dress and speak in a way that will effect others for good. Spending time with God will affect us too. God made us that way. It will help us avoid a feigned faith.
Heb.10: 20. “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh...” Jesus is the veil. His death opened the way into God’s very presence. That’s why the religious leaders saw Him as a hindrance-- He blocked them from doing what they wanted. God’s Spirit is like a magnet drawing us to Christ, and what happened to Him, will happen to us also.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt.6:21) What happens to your treasure will happen to your heart also.
He was a friend of all, but not everyone was friends with Him. Matt.7:21. “Not every one that saith unto me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” That’s why it’s so serious...to be counted in with the world or be like them.
The way to the Holiest is open to those willing to identify with Christ. The Jews patched the veil and kept going as if nothing had happened.
Heb.10:26 “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins...” Remember that he was writing to the Hebrews, who felt offerings could cleanse sin. There is only one offering for sin-- nothing else we could offer. Even a whole lifetime of good works cannot cleanse us from one sin, but if we become His friend He cleanses us.
Rev.3:21. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” We can be in His presence eternally if we are now.
If we won’t forgive, we’re friends with the world. That’ what it does--to hold on to grudges for generations. Jesus was attacked more than anyone, but he was never offended, though He felt the attacks.
Gal.5:22-23. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Temperance is the love of God controlling. God isn’t in control if we excuse ourselves, “God will understand” or “He knows I’m weak.”
We knew a blacksmith in the mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico, an expert in tempering tools. The ‘temper’ is the condition of the metal. Going through afflictions, we can trust that God, like an expert smith, knows exactly how hot the oil needs to be and how long to leave the metal in to temper it. Too long or hot and it will be brittle, and break when struck; too short a time and it won’t hold an edge.
Any life submitted to God will accept His tempering, which helps us be firm without being hard and be useful without being proud. We get it daily on our knees.
1 Peter 2:21-23. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously...” He suffered more contradiction than anyone, His gaze on His Father, trusting God would not let Him be destroyed or lose.
Heb.5:7-8 “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered...”-- even though He had never disobeyed.
John 5: 30. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He was approved because He submitted to that tempering. This tempering is controlled by God. God doesn’t put out the fire, but gives peace.
James 4:4. “ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” One of the greatest dangers for us, is to be friends of those who aren’t friends of God, because we come to be like those we accompany.
Many in Chile chose to skip the last day of convention when it fell on New Year’s Day, although it was a day off from work. Their overseer wrote them to consider that the people we prefer to spend time with here, are those with whom we’ll spend eternity, whether in light or darkness.
We could also imitate the world in dress or speech even without one worldly friend.
If we spend time with the friends and workers, that will affect us too. We want to act and dress and speak in a way that will effect others for good. Spending time with God will affect us too. God made us that way. It will help us avoid a feigned faith.
Heb.10: 20. “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh...” Jesus is the veil. His death opened the way into God’s very presence. That’s why the religious leaders saw Him as a hindrance-- He blocked them from doing what they wanted. God’s Spirit is like a magnet drawing us to Christ, and what happened to Him, will happen to us also.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt.6:21) What happens to your treasure will happen to your heart also.
He was a friend of all, but not everyone was friends with Him. Matt.7:21. “Not every one that saith unto me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” That’s why it’s so serious...to be counted in with the world or be like them.
The way to the Holiest is open to those willing to identify with Christ. The Jews patched the veil and kept going as if nothing had happened.
Heb.10:26 “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins...” Remember that he was writing to the Hebrews, who felt offerings could cleanse sin. There is only one offering for sin-- nothing else we could offer. Even a whole lifetime of good works cannot cleanse us from one sin, but if we become His friend He cleanses us.
Rev.3:21. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” We can be in His presence eternally if we are now.
If we won’t forgive, we’re friends with the world. That’ what it does--to hold on to grudges for generations. Jesus was attacked more than anyone, but he was never offended, though He felt the attacks.
Gal.5:22-23. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Temperance is the love of God controlling. God isn’t in control if we excuse ourselves, “God will understand” or “He knows I’m weak.”
We knew a blacksmith in the mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico, an expert in tempering tools. The ‘temper’ is the condition of the metal. Going through afflictions, we can trust that God, like an expert smith, knows exactly how hot the oil needs to be and how long to leave the metal in to temper it. Too long or hot and it will be brittle, and break when struck; too short a time and it won’t hold an edge.
Any life submitted to God will accept His tempering, which helps us be firm without being hard and be useful without being proud. We get it daily on our knees.
1 Peter 2:21-23. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously...” He suffered more contradiction than anyone, His gaze on His Father, trusting God would not let Him be destroyed or lose.
Heb.5:7-8 “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered...”-- even though He had never disobeyed.
John 5: 30. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He was approved because He submitted to that tempering. This tempering is controlled by God. God doesn’t put out the fire, but gives peace.
South Australia convention 1985....
Ivan Shackleton – (Laboured in Japan & Russia) – Passed on 3rd May 2010 – South Australia convention 1985....
These last four days we have had lots of good counsel to help us in the coming days and one just wonders what else we can add to help one another to know victory in the coming year. I just thought I would like to tell you some of the experiences that I had that led up to my listening to the gospel and it might be of some help to some. My father, from a very young age, was a very zealous member of the Plymouth Brethren church and we used to go to church as children nine times per week, every day and three times on Sunday. It wasn’t always at night time. Sometimes it was in the afternoon after school and my father was very strict about what we did on Sundays. On Sundays we were never allowed to whistle or clean our shoes or do anything of that nature. We, as children, would say the best way to get through Sunday was to go to bed and stay there. We really felt that way.
I would like to tell you some of the differences I have found between the Brethren church, and perhaps others, and this way of God. Some of the big differences I have noticed was, as we heard this morning, about judging by the eye. That is one thing that we find in the Brethren church. They look at each other with a very critical eye. That would be a sad thing if that ever got in amongst the children of God, if we were to look at each other with a critical eye. We should be looking at each other with a merciful eye. Sometimes we look at brothers and sisters and they are not as moderate or modest as we feel they should be. There could be a tendency to say, “I am glad I am not like them.” Instead of that, it should drive us to God in prayer and pray God would be merciful to them as he has been unto us.
The way God works is from the inside, not from the outside. When I was quite young I learned to play the violin. One day, playing in front of the teacher, it must have been a terrible noise. He stopped me and said, “If you were to just think about what the composer was thinking of when he wrote the music, and that music was conceived in your heart, it would come out naturally through your fingers. You wouldn't have to practice as hard as what you have to if it is there in your heart.” That is the way God begins in our heart. Little by little it becomes a big thing in our lives. Then it comes out on the outward side of our lives. So I would like to have a merciful love.
Another thing I found. They always thought they were worthy. I always imagine the Brethren people rushing up to heaven and saying, “Here I am. I know you have been waiting for me.” A child of God always feels unworthy. After having done all, we are yet unworthy. We are still unprofitable as stewards.
Another thing, their sacrifice sometimes amazes me. How much some of the churches, and even the people, sacrifice. But I have noticed this, they only sacrifice things that they want to, and that is the big difference between others and the children of God, because the time will come when God will ask you to sacrifice something that you don't want to. I always think of Abraham when I think of these things. Abraham, wherever he went, the first thing he did was build an altar and he made a sacrifice to God. Abraham was a wonderful man. He wanted to do that, to sacrifice to his God. But then the time came when God touched something in his life that he didn't want to sacrifice. That was his only son. God had promised him that his children would become as the sands of the sea. Here he just had this one son and God was asking him to sacrifice this one son. It doesn't tell us what went through his mind. But he made up his mind to do it. It was when he went to sacrifice what he didn’t want to sacrifice that the Lord stayed his hand. He said, “Now I know you love me more than your son.” We never want to be afraid of something that costs us something, because that is what proves we are different to everyone else and the time will come in every one of our lives. God will touch something that we don't want to sacrifice. I used to often wonder about the church my father went to. They used to say, “All you have to do is believe on the blood of Jesus and you will be saved. Once you are saved always saved.” Yet even though they said that, if I was to clean my shoes on Sunday, I was a sinner and called a backslider. Well, that just didn't seem to go together somehow.
There is one thing different about my father and other members of his church. When we were very, very small we used to hear him talk. He would read his Bible every night and talk to my mother and say to mother, “Why isn't the Way that we read about in the Bible, still in the world today?” My mother would say, “Well that is two thousand years ago. I expect we can't expect to see that today.” This went on year after year. Father kept coming back to the same thing. “Why is it that the Way is not in the world today?”
The time came my father was shifted to another district. There was no Brethren church. He went to a church in a home. The preacher was trying to model his church after what we read in the Bible. He built a church in the home, not like we know it. He had a great big chapel with pews, an organ, an altar and even an annex where a shorthand typist was taking notes of every service there was. But it was while father was going there that two Workers came into the district. Visiting round one Worker went into a chemist shop. The chemist was a member of this church. The Worker asked this man to come to the gospel meeting. He said, “I don't have the time. I go to my own church every night.” He said to the Worker, “You come to our church.” He said, “Maybe we will sometime.” I can well remember the time when those two Workers came into the church. They sat in the back seat. The preacher that had that Church knew that they were Workers and he asked them to come up and speak. They went and they spoke. Everybody was very happy with what they heard and invited them to come back next Saturday. They came back but this night the older brother Worker started to separate light from darkness for the people. We could see the anger rising in the face of that preacher. As soon as the meeting was over, he ordered them out of the church. “Never darken my door again.” He sent a letter accusing these men of being false prophets. He put a half page advertisement in the paper warning people of the false prophets that had come into the town.
My father, something must have touched him. The next Wednesday night, my father went to the gospel meeting. With him he had a whole list of questions he wanted to ask the Workers, something he asked every preacher that came into the town. Father sat in the gospel meeting. By the time it was over, every question had been answered. It was something like a miracle to him. After the meeting was over he stayed back and talked. He walked home with the Workers to where they were staying, 12 km away, and talked until the small hours of the morning. Before he returned home that night he had made his choice to serve God.
I can still remember, I was nine years of age, father coming down to breakfast that morning, still excited, saying to mother, “I found the Way.” We did not realise then what it was going to do to our home. But a big change came into our home. Father said, “We won't be going to Sunday school or church any more.” We were quite happy going to meetings three times a week instead of nine. We saw the benefit of my father changing, but he had lots of books. The house was full of religious books. I saw him take the books outside and burn them - every book that he had. Above the dining room table where we used to always eat was a verse in a frame written on green velvet with gold letters: “Christ is the Head of this house, the Unseen Guest at every meal. The silent Listener to every conversation,” and a few other words. Father took it down from the wall also. He took it outside and burned it. But what we were to see after that was that Christ was the Unseen Guest in our home.
As I grew up I just disliked church. I hated the church and I hated preachers. I had seen so much of it. I disliked it all. Even at a young age I made up my mind the first opportunity I got as I grew older that I would leave home. My father and my mother took us to meetings. I am glad of that now. Impressions were made. But the biggest impression was the change in our home. That was something I hope I never forget. There was nothing wrong before, but somehow a different Spirit. The Spirit of God came into our home when I was 17. I told my father and mother I was leaving home and they didn’t object. They didn't say anything. I guess they could see it was no use. But before I left, my mother said to me, “I just want to tell you, while you have been in our home you have been our responsibility. If you leave, everything you do from now on is your responsibility. One day you will have to answer to God for everything you have done.” They were words that checked me many, many times after I left.
I went into the city and boarded. My life-long ambition was to be a policeman in the NSW police force. I went into the training college. I was disappointed at first, because what I found was I had to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning for three hours training - physical exercises - before we got a cup of tea or anything to eat. I had to clean my shoes and have my trousers pressed. I felt I had jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. The police order was more severe than what my father was.
I continued working in the city and I used to always think certain people of the upper classes really enjoyed life. As a policeman I was able to move in amongst those people. You know, the thought kept coming to me every time in their company, “These people haven't got what my father and mother had at home. Their lives are dead and empty.” Then, in the course of duty I came in touch with the dregs of humanity, people who had let themselves drift down in life. They just did nothing, no life no future. Somehow it made me begin to think seriously about life.
One day one of the things that really spoke to me was: a criminal had got away and a lot of policemen were looking for this man. As a result a policeman friend of mine was shot. He died and we went to his funeral. That night I went on duty in Sydney at the Police station. The officer in charge always called out what duties for the shift, and we were never called by name but by number. He called each officer’s number and we would answer present and he would read out the duties for the day. While he was doing this the officer came to the number of the man that had been killed and we had been to his funeral that day. He called the number. There was no answer. He took the pencil and crossed out that man’s number. Then he looked at us and said, “I wonder whose number I will be crossing out next?” That evening, as I walked around the streets of Sydney, it really spoke to my heart. I knew if my number was up next I was afraid to stand before God. I was not afraid to die so much. But I was afraid to stand before Him and give an answer for all I had done.
As I walked round the city that night I made up my mind if ever I had the opportunity to go to those gospel meetings again, I would go. Of course as time went by, I forgot these things. One day they were asking for a volunteer to go out west to a town. It was considered a hard town. No one volunteered. I was told to go to be certified as a police cyclist before I went. I had never ridden a cycle before. Next thing I had an order again, I was to go to the police headquarters for special tuition to ride a motorbike and then to proceed to this country town.
Before I went, I went home and told my parents I was going a long way away and would not see them for some time. Mother asked where I was going to stay. I said, “I suppose in the pub.” She said, “You come back before you go. Maybe I can give you an address where to stay.” Mother gave me an address and I passed it on to the police. They looked into it to see if it was all right for me to stay there. When I arrived at this town, I found it was the home of a young couple who had not been married very long. They were friends. When I went into the home, the thing that spoke to me the most was the purity in that young couple. I was looking at the dregs of humanity every day. It was a contrast for me to see their pure faces.
When I opened the box to take out my clothing I found two hymn books there. Apparently mother put one in and father, not knowing, also put one in. I guess they didn't want to risk a Bible. A hymn book might be all right. That really spoke to me because it was a silent prayer from my parents. I wasn't in that town very long before the Workers came from conventions and I was invited to gospel meetings. That is where I professed. One of those Workers was Eddie D., who is here today. As a policeman I tried to do my duty but this time with a different kind of spirit and attitude.
It wasn't very long after I decided I went to the Special Meeting and the Worker at the Special Meeting was speaking about being a help to other people. When I went back to the barracks where I lived, I used to pray every morning and evening to be a help, especially to the Workers. What I had in mind was: well, I had money, a car, and time, I could use all this to help the workers. I prayed the Lord would help me and show me how to use this. While praying like this one day, the thought came to my mind: “Why don't you go into the Work?” Immediately I put it out of my mind, because I hated preachers. That was the last thing I wanted to be. Anyway, a little while later the thought comes into my mind again and it became more frequent. I couldn't put it out of my mind. It was while I was like this I went to convention. The convention I went to was perhaps 600 miles away. I couldn't go to any other because of my duties. I felt very strange at that convention. I didn't know anyone. It was the first convention after I decided.
I sat down at the table for dinner. A man I didn't know sat opposite me. I looked at his face. I thought, “Well, you look like a criminal to me.” He kept looking at me. So, after we had looked at each other for a while, he said, “You wouldn't happen to be a policeman, would you?” I said, “Well, yes I am.” So he extended his hand across the table. “Would you shake hands with me?” He said, “That is the first time I have ever shaken hands with a policeman.” He told me his story then. I was right: he had been a criminal. He told me about the times he had been in jail. His two daughters 11 and 13 went with their grandmother to gospel meetings and had decided. When this man came out of jail and went back home, he found his two girls had changed. It really spoke to that man. The change was because of his two children. I will always remember that man's testimony in that Convention. He got up and said: “They say parents are examples to their children, but I am ashamed to say today that my children have been an example to me.” Just before going to this convention I had taken a man to jail for the16th time. No matter what punishment was given the police couldn't change him: 16 times and still doing the same old thing. It spoke to my heart in a very real way. Here were two little girls with the love of God in their hearts and able to change their father from that wayward life. Here, two little girls with the power of God in their lives were able to do what all the police in NSW were not able to do. That spoke to me very much at that convention and helped me to make up my mind that I would give my life into the Lord's harvest field. I felt I could do more for mankind by preaching the gospel than trying to correct men by the laws of our country.
I would just hope every young person here today would be prayerful about their future. We never know what God may be calling us to do. I always like that hymn: 0 Love that will not let me go. I feel that is my testimony, that the love of God just never let me go. But the last words of that hymn says: richer, fuller be. If we pray about our future, our lives will be richer and fuller as a result of it. No matter what it is we are thinking of - settling down and choosing a partner, or about the Lord's harvest field. I is a wonderful thing if we would pray God would show us what our future should be. Let God guide us.
There were two girls came to Japan the year before last from USA. They were Roman Catholics. They wanted to study to be missionaries. They went up to a northern town in Japan, Hokkaido. One was teaching English there. Also in that same town there was an American boy, a Mormon. One of his jobs was to convert people to Mormonism. One of our young Japanese sister workers invited them to meetings. Those three people professed. They went back to USA. I have seen letters from them since then. When they came to Japan, they thought they had their future decided. They kind of thought they knew what they wanted to do. But in their letters they said, “I wonder about my future. I pray to God He will open up the way and show me what He wants me to do.” If we would just have that prayer in our hearts, God will make our lives richer and fuller than they have ever been before.
I am glad I prayed that I wanted to be a help. Even though I didn't think what kind of help, I am glad I prayed that way. I am glad God opened the way up for me. I have to say now my life has been rich and fuller as a result of allowing God to have His way with me.
Just in closing, a verse that appeals to me - words which the police use a lot. Paul said: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. When I was a policeman I used to apprehend people. You know, I would look at people, the ones I apprehended, and I used to feel very strong, the power of all my country behind me, and he was caught in the act. I could see how weak and helpless he was. It put me in the strength of power. But after I left the police force, motoring down the highway, I heard the siren behind me. I thought, “What is on today?” It was not long before the policeman was alongside my car. He said, “Pull over.” He said to me, “You have broken the law.” I felt so weak and helpless.
Just to give you an illustration of what the two positions are: the position of weakness and the position of strength. So Paul says: I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Paul felt he had been apprehended. He was in the weak position. God had taken hold of his life and was perhaps moving him along in tracks that sometimes he did not want to go. God was going to change the position. I am going to take hold of him, change the position so I am in the position of strength. If we follow after and take hold, apprehend this love of God, O love that will not let me go, the love of God will not let us go. If we take hold of it with both hands, we will find our lives will be richer and fuller in the coming days.
PS About four years after my father made his choice 20 people left the church and began to walk in the Way of God. Eight years later the preacher and his wife and some of his family professed. After the preacher made his choice, he went to Sunday a.m. meetings in my parent’s home. His granddaughter is in the work today.
B. Simonton
These last four days we have had lots of good counsel to help us in the coming days and one just wonders what else we can add to help one another to know victory in the coming year. I just thought I would like to tell you some of the experiences that I had that led up to my listening to the gospel and it might be of some help to some. My father, from a very young age, was a very zealous member of the Plymouth Brethren church and we used to go to church as children nine times per week, every day and three times on Sunday. It wasn’t always at night time. Sometimes it was in the afternoon after school and my father was very strict about what we did on Sundays. On Sundays we were never allowed to whistle or clean our shoes or do anything of that nature. We, as children, would say the best way to get through Sunday was to go to bed and stay there. We really felt that way.
I would like to tell you some of the differences I have found between the Brethren church, and perhaps others, and this way of God. Some of the big differences I have noticed was, as we heard this morning, about judging by the eye. That is one thing that we find in the Brethren church. They look at each other with a very critical eye. That would be a sad thing if that ever got in amongst the children of God, if we were to look at each other with a critical eye. We should be looking at each other with a merciful eye. Sometimes we look at brothers and sisters and they are not as moderate or modest as we feel they should be. There could be a tendency to say, “I am glad I am not like them.” Instead of that, it should drive us to God in prayer and pray God would be merciful to them as he has been unto us.
The way God works is from the inside, not from the outside. When I was quite young I learned to play the violin. One day, playing in front of the teacher, it must have been a terrible noise. He stopped me and said, “If you were to just think about what the composer was thinking of when he wrote the music, and that music was conceived in your heart, it would come out naturally through your fingers. You wouldn't have to practice as hard as what you have to if it is there in your heart.” That is the way God begins in our heart. Little by little it becomes a big thing in our lives. Then it comes out on the outward side of our lives. So I would like to have a merciful love.
Another thing I found. They always thought they were worthy. I always imagine the Brethren people rushing up to heaven and saying, “Here I am. I know you have been waiting for me.” A child of God always feels unworthy. After having done all, we are yet unworthy. We are still unprofitable as stewards.
Another thing, their sacrifice sometimes amazes me. How much some of the churches, and even the people, sacrifice. But I have noticed this, they only sacrifice things that they want to, and that is the big difference between others and the children of God, because the time will come when God will ask you to sacrifice something that you don't want to. I always think of Abraham when I think of these things. Abraham, wherever he went, the first thing he did was build an altar and he made a sacrifice to God. Abraham was a wonderful man. He wanted to do that, to sacrifice to his God. But then the time came when God touched something in his life that he didn't want to sacrifice. That was his only son. God had promised him that his children would become as the sands of the sea. Here he just had this one son and God was asking him to sacrifice this one son. It doesn't tell us what went through his mind. But he made up his mind to do it. It was when he went to sacrifice what he didn’t want to sacrifice that the Lord stayed his hand. He said, “Now I know you love me more than your son.” We never want to be afraid of something that costs us something, because that is what proves we are different to everyone else and the time will come in every one of our lives. God will touch something that we don't want to sacrifice. I used to often wonder about the church my father went to. They used to say, “All you have to do is believe on the blood of Jesus and you will be saved. Once you are saved always saved.” Yet even though they said that, if I was to clean my shoes on Sunday, I was a sinner and called a backslider. Well, that just didn't seem to go together somehow.
There is one thing different about my father and other members of his church. When we were very, very small we used to hear him talk. He would read his Bible every night and talk to my mother and say to mother, “Why isn't the Way that we read about in the Bible, still in the world today?” My mother would say, “Well that is two thousand years ago. I expect we can't expect to see that today.” This went on year after year. Father kept coming back to the same thing. “Why is it that the Way is not in the world today?”
The time came my father was shifted to another district. There was no Brethren church. He went to a church in a home. The preacher was trying to model his church after what we read in the Bible. He built a church in the home, not like we know it. He had a great big chapel with pews, an organ, an altar and even an annex where a shorthand typist was taking notes of every service there was. But it was while father was going there that two Workers came into the district. Visiting round one Worker went into a chemist shop. The chemist was a member of this church. The Worker asked this man to come to the gospel meeting. He said, “I don't have the time. I go to my own church every night.” He said to the Worker, “You come to our church.” He said, “Maybe we will sometime.” I can well remember the time when those two Workers came into the church. They sat in the back seat. The preacher that had that Church knew that they were Workers and he asked them to come up and speak. They went and they spoke. Everybody was very happy with what they heard and invited them to come back next Saturday. They came back but this night the older brother Worker started to separate light from darkness for the people. We could see the anger rising in the face of that preacher. As soon as the meeting was over, he ordered them out of the church. “Never darken my door again.” He sent a letter accusing these men of being false prophets. He put a half page advertisement in the paper warning people of the false prophets that had come into the town.
My father, something must have touched him. The next Wednesday night, my father went to the gospel meeting. With him he had a whole list of questions he wanted to ask the Workers, something he asked every preacher that came into the town. Father sat in the gospel meeting. By the time it was over, every question had been answered. It was something like a miracle to him. After the meeting was over he stayed back and talked. He walked home with the Workers to where they were staying, 12 km away, and talked until the small hours of the morning. Before he returned home that night he had made his choice to serve God.
I can still remember, I was nine years of age, father coming down to breakfast that morning, still excited, saying to mother, “I found the Way.” We did not realise then what it was going to do to our home. But a big change came into our home. Father said, “We won't be going to Sunday school or church any more.” We were quite happy going to meetings three times a week instead of nine. We saw the benefit of my father changing, but he had lots of books. The house was full of religious books. I saw him take the books outside and burn them - every book that he had. Above the dining room table where we used to always eat was a verse in a frame written on green velvet with gold letters: “Christ is the Head of this house, the Unseen Guest at every meal. The silent Listener to every conversation,” and a few other words. Father took it down from the wall also. He took it outside and burned it. But what we were to see after that was that Christ was the Unseen Guest in our home.
As I grew up I just disliked church. I hated the church and I hated preachers. I had seen so much of it. I disliked it all. Even at a young age I made up my mind the first opportunity I got as I grew older that I would leave home. My father and my mother took us to meetings. I am glad of that now. Impressions were made. But the biggest impression was the change in our home. That was something I hope I never forget. There was nothing wrong before, but somehow a different Spirit. The Spirit of God came into our home when I was 17. I told my father and mother I was leaving home and they didn’t object. They didn't say anything. I guess they could see it was no use. But before I left, my mother said to me, “I just want to tell you, while you have been in our home you have been our responsibility. If you leave, everything you do from now on is your responsibility. One day you will have to answer to God for everything you have done.” They were words that checked me many, many times after I left.
I went into the city and boarded. My life-long ambition was to be a policeman in the NSW police force. I went into the training college. I was disappointed at first, because what I found was I had to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning for three hours training - physical exercises - before we got a cup of tea or anything to eat. I had to clean my shoes and have my trousers pressed. I felt I had jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. The police order was more severe than what my father was.
I continued working in the city and I used to always think certain people of the upper classes really enjoyed life. As a policeman I was able to move in amongst those people. You know, the thought kept coming to me every time in their company, “These people haven't got what my father and mother had at home. Their lives are dead and empty.” Then, in the course of duty I came in touch with the dregs of humanity, people who had let themselves drift down in life. They just did nothing, no life no future. Somehow it made me begin to think seriously about life.
One day one of the things that really spoke to me was: a criminal had got away and a lot of policemen were looking for this man. As a result a policeman friend of mine was shot. He died and we went to his funeral. That night I went on duty in Sydney at the Police station. The officer in charge always called out what duties for the shift, and we were never called by name but by number. He called each officer’s number and we would answer present and he would read out the duties for the day. While he was doing this the officer came to the number of the man that had been killed and we had been to his funeral that day. He called the number. There was no answer. He took the pencil and crossed out that man’s number. Then he looked at us and said, “I wonder whose number I will be crossing out next?” That evening, as I walked around the streets of Sydney, it really spoke to my heart. I knew if my number was up next I was afraid to stand before God. I was not afraid to die so much. But I was afraid to stand before Him and give an answer for all I had done.
As I walked round the city that night I made up my mind if ever I had the opportunity to go to those gospel meetings again, I would go. Of course as time went by, I forgot these things. One day they were asking for a volunteer to go out west to a town. It was considered a hard town. No one volunteered. I was told to go to be certified as a police cyclist before I went. I had never ridden a cycle before. Next thing I had an order again, I was to go to the police headquarters for special tuition to ride a motorbike and then to proceed to this country town.
Before I went, I went home and told my parents I was going a long way away and would not see them for some time. Mother asked where I was going to stay. I said, “I suppose in the pub.” She said, “You come back before you go. Maybe I can give you an address where to stay.” Mother gave me an address and I passed it on to the police. They looked into it to see if it was all right for me to stay there. When I arrived at this town, I found it was the home of a young couple who had not been married very long. They were friends. When I went into the home, the thing that spoke to me the most was the purity in that young couple. I was looking at the dregs of humanity every day. It was a contrast for me to see their pure faces.
When I opened the box to take out my clothing I found two hymn books there. Apparently mother put one in and father, not knowing, also put one in. I guess they didn't want to risk a Bible. A hymn book might be all right. That really spoke to me because it was a silent prayer from my parents. I wasn't in that town very long before the Workers came from conventions and I was invited to gospel meetings. That is where I professed. One of those Workers was Eddie D., who is here today. As a policeman I tried to do my duty but this time with a different kind of spirit and attitude.
It wasn't very long after I decided I went to the Special Meeting and the Worker at the Special Meeting was speaking about being a help to other people. When I went back to the barracks where I lived, I used to pray every morning and evening to be a help, especially to the Workers. What I had in mind was: well, I had money, a car, and time, I could use all this to help the workers. I prayed the Lord would help me and show me how to use this. While praying like this one day, the thought came to my mind: “Why don't you go into the Work?” Immediately I put it out of my mind, because I hated preachers. That was the last thing I wanted to be. Anyway, a little while later the thought comes into my mind again and it became more frequent. I couldn't put it out of my mind. It was while I was like this I went to convention. The convention I went to was perhaps 600 miles away. I couldn't go to any other because of my duties. I felt very strange at that convention. I didn't know anyone. It was the first convention after I decided.
I sat down at the table for dinner. A man I didn't know sat opposite me. I looked at his face. I thought, “Well, you look like a criminal to me.” He kept looking at me. So, after we had looked at each other for a while, he said, “You wouldn't happen to be a policeman, would you?” I said, “Well, yes I am.” So he extended his hand across the table. “Would you shake hands with me?” He said, “That is the first time I have ever shaken hands with a policeman.” He told me his story then. I was right: he had been a criminal. He told me about the times he had been in jail. His two daughters 11 and 13 went with their grandmother to gospel meetings and had decided. When this man came out of jail and went back home, he found his two girls had changed. It really spoke to that man. The change was because of his two children. I will always remember that man's testimony in that Convention. He got up and said: “They say parents are examples to their children, but I am ashamed to say today that my children have been an example to me.” Just before going to this convention I had taken a man to jail for the16th time. No matter what punishment was given the police couldn't change him: 16 times and still doing the same old thing. It spoke to my heart in a very real way. Here were two little girls with the love of God in their hearts and able to change their father from that wayward life. Here, two little girls with the power of God in their lives were able to do what all the police in NSW were not able to do. That spoke to me very much at that convention and helped me to make up my mind that I would give my life into the Lord's harvest field. I felt I could do more for mankind by preaching the gospel than trying to correct men by the laws of our country.
I would just hope every young person here today would be prayerful about their future. We never know what God may be calling us to do. I always like that hymn: 0 Love that will not let me go. I feel that is my testimony, that the love of God just never let me go. But the last words of that hymn says: richer, fuller be. If we pray about our future, our lives will be richer and fuller as a result of it. No matter what it is we are thinking of - settling down and choosing a partner, or about the Lord's harvest field. I is a wonderful thing if we would pray God would show us what our future should be. Let God guide us.
There were two girls came to Japan the year before last from USA. They were Roman Catholics. They wanted to study to be missionaries. They went up to a northern town in Japan, Hokkaido. One was teaching English there. Also in that same town there was an American boy, a Mormon. One of his jobs was to convert people to Mormonism. One of our young Japanese sister workers invited them to meetings. Those three people professed. They went back to USA. I have seen letters from them since then. When they came to Japan, they thought they had their future decided. They kind of thought they knew what they wanted to do. But in their letters they said, “I wonder about my future. I pray to God He will open up the way and show me what He wants me to do.” If we would just have that prayer in our hearts, God will make our lives richer and fuller than they have ever been before.
I am glad I prayed that I wanted to be a help. Even though I didn't think what kind of help, I am glad I prayed that way. I am glad God opened the way up for me. I have to say now my life has been rich and fuller as a result of allowing God to have His way with me.
Just in closing, a verse that appeals to me - words which the police use a lot. Paul said: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. When I was a policeman I used to apprehend people. You know, I would look at people, the ones I apprehended, and I used to feel very strong, the power of all my country behind me, and he was caught in the act. I could see how weak and helpless he was. It put me in the strength of power. But after I left the police force, motoring down the highway, I heard the siren behind me. I thought, “What is on today?” It was not long before the policeman was alongside my car. He said, “Pull over.” He said to me, “You have broken the law.” I felt so weak and helpless.
Just to give you an illustration of what the two positions are: the position of weakness and the position of strength. So Paul says: I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Paul felt he had been apprehended. He was in the weak position. God had taken hold of his life and was perhaps moving him along in tracks that sometimes he did not want to go. God was going to change the position. I am going to take hold of him, change the position so I am in the position of strength. If we follow after and take hold, apprehend this love of God, O love that will not let me go, the love of God will not let us go. If we take hold of it with both hands, we will find our lives will be richer and fuller in the coming days.
PS About four years after my father made his choice 20 people left the church and began to walk in the Way of God. Eight years later the preacher and his wife and some of his family professed. After the preacher made his choice, he went to Sunday a.m. meetings in my parent’s home. His granddaughter is in the work today.
B. Simonton
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Tanama 2014
Tanama 2014 - Jon Wright, Sun. AM – Friends
James 4:4. “ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” One of the greatest dangers for us, is to be friends of those who aren’t friends of God, because we come to be like those we accompany.
Many in Chile chose to skip the last day of convention when it fell on New Year’s Day, although it was a day off from work. Their overseer wrote them to consider that the people we prefer to spend time with here, are those with whom we’ll spend eternity, whether in light or darkness.
We could also imitate the world in dress or speech even without one worldly friend.
If we spend time with the friends and workers, that will affect us too. We want to act and dress and speak in a way that will effect others for good. Spending time with God will affect us too. God made us that way. It will help us avoid a feigned faith.
Heb.10: 20. “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh...” Jesus is the veil. His death opened the way into God’s very presence. That’s why the religious leaders saw Him as a hindrance-- He blocked them from doing what they wanted. God’s Spirit is like a magnet drawing us to Christ, and what happened to Him, will happen to us also.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt.6:21) What happens to your treasure will happen to your heart also.
He was a friend of all, but not everyone was friends with Him. Matt.7:21. “Not every one that saith unto me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” That’s why it’s so serious...to be counted in with the world or be like them.
The way to the Holiest is open to those willing to identify with Christ. The Jews patched the veil and kept going as if nothing had happened.
Heb.10:26 “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins...” Remember that he was writing to the Hebrews, who felt offerings could cleanse sin. There is only one offering for sin-- nothing else we could offer. Even a whole lifetime of good works cannot cleanse us from one sin, but if we become His friend He cleanses us.
Rev.3:21. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” We can be in His presence eternally if we are now.
If we won’t forgive, we’re friends with the world. That’ what it does--to hold on to grudges for generations. Jesus was attacked more than anyone, but he was never offended, though He felt the attacks.
Gal.5:22-23. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Temperance is the love of God controlling. God isn’t in control if we excuse ourselves, “God will understand” or “He knows I’m weak.”
We knew a blacksmith in the mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico, an expert in tempering tools. The ‘temper’ is the condition of the metal. Going through afflictions, we can trust that God, like an expert smith, knows exactly how hot the oil needs to be and how long to leave the metal in to temper it. Too long or hot and it will be brittle, and break when struck; too short a time and it won’t hold an edge.
Any life submitted to God will accept His tempering, which helps us be firm without being hard and be useful without being proud. We get it daily on our knees.
1 Peter 2:21-23. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously...” He suffered more contradiction than anyone, His gaze on His Father, trusting God would not let Him be destroyed or lose.
Heb.5:7-8 “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered...”-- even though He had never disobeyed.
John 5: 30. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He was approved because He submitted to that tempering. This tempering is controlled by God. God doesn’t put out the fire, but gives peace.
B. Simonton
James 4:4. “ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” One of the greatest dangers for us, is to be friends of those who aren’t friends of God, because we come to be like those we accompany.
Many in Chile chose to skip the last day of convention when it fell on New Year’s Day, although it was a day off from work. Their overseer wrote them to consider that the people we prefer to spend time with here, are those with whom we’ll spend eternity, whether in light or darkness.
We could also imitate the world in dress or speech even without one worldly friend.
If we spend time with the friends and workers, that will affect us too. We want to act and dress and speak in a way that will effect others for good. Spending time with God will affect us too. God made us that way. It will help us avoid a feigned faith.
Heb.10: 20. “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh...” Jesus is the veil. His death opened the way into God’s very presence. That’s why the religious leaders saw Him as a hindrance-- He blocked them from doing what they wanted. God’s Spirit is like a magnet drawing us to Christ, and what happened to Him, will happen to us also.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt.6:21) What happens to your treasure will happen to your heart also.
He was a friend of all, but not everyone was friends with Him. Matt.7:21. “Not every one that saith unto me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” That’s why it’s so serious...to be counted in with the world or be like them.
The way to the Holiest is open to those willing to identify with Christ. The Jews patched the veil and kept going as if nothing had happened.
Heb.10:26 “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins...” Remember that he was writing to the Hebrews, who felt offerings could cleanse sin. There is only one offering for sin-- nothing else we could offer. Even a whole lifetime of good works cannot cleanse us from one sin, but if we become His friend He cleanses us.
Rev.3:21. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” We can be in His presence eternally if we are now.
If we won’t forgive, we’re friends with the world. That’ what it does--to hold on to grudges for generations. Jesus was attacked more than anyone, but he was never offended, though He felt the attacks.
Gal.5:22-23. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Temperance is the love of God controlling. God isn’t in control if we excuse ourselves, “God will understand” or “He knows I’m weak.”
We knew a blacksmith in the mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico, an expert in tempering tools. The ‘temper’ is the condition of the metal. Going through afflictions, we can trust that God, like an expert smith, knows exactly how hot the oil needs to be and how long to leave the metal in to temper it. Too long or hot and it will be brittle, and break when struck; too short a time and it won’t hold an edge.
Any life submitted to God will accept His tempering, which helps us be firm without being hard and be useful without being proud. We get it daily on our knees.
1 Peter 2:21-23. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously...” He suffered more contradiction than anyone, His gaze on His Father, trusting God would not let Him be destroyed or lose.
Heb.5:7-8 “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered...”-- even though He had never disobeyed.
John 5: 30. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He was approved because He submitted to that tempering. This tempering is controlled by God. God doesn’t put out the fire, but gives peace.
B. Simonton
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Tanama Notes
Tanama Notes 2014 (not verbatim)
Sun. PM Robert Doecke. In a city in Australia they had wise sayings on the backs of bus tickets. Everyone would look at the back of their tickets, and there was even a book written about them, Talking Tickets. But I want to tell you about two that aren’t in the book. When I was 18, I had a lot of plans that required money, and I wasn’t earning money as fast as I wanted. So I took my money out of the bank and got on the bus to invest it. My bus ticket said, “Take time for God. It’s life’s only lasting investment.” I felt as if I had a voice on one side saying “maybe you shouldn’t be so selfish with your money,” but another voice said “go for it!” so I went for it. I bought Selected Securities for 53 cents (each.) When I sold them to go into the work they were worth 39 cents.
When you invest, you let go of what you have into the hands of another, to spend as they like, but there is a reward later. We are investing our lives, and the dividends are eternal.
Another bus ticket said, “Whatever awaits you around the corner, God is already there.” He’s there with provision, and the way prepared for you.
Gen. 24. Abraham’s servant prayed (v.12-14) His master had told him (v.7) “The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.” God goes ahead.
The servant prayed, “12 And he said O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: 14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.”
That’s what we pray many times. The servant knew that if that bride was going to make the distance, she must have the spirit of the second mile. The spirit of the bride-- in Prov. 31 we read how she went the extra mile for her family. Ecclesiastes 11:1-2: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.”
“You can never do a kindness too soon. You never know when it will be too late.”
The Good Samaritan, going beyond the two pence that is duty-- beyond is love. In the Old Testament, they were not to reap the corners of the field. Seeing a field, you would know whether the owner had a heart for others or not by how large the corners he left were.
Acts 28: 14 “Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome. 15 And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.” The extra mile always encourages people. We also thank God and take courage, seeing people make efforts for the Kingdom.
There are no traffic jams in the second mile.
Gen. 22 is like when we heard the gospel: “Take your only life, the life you love, and give it to me, and I’ll show you where to do it.” Abraham might have asked ‘why go so far?’--God had gone before and made provision. Going anywhere else, the provision wouldn’t have been there.
How does God know when we love and respect Him? When we don’t withhold. God doesn’t notice what we give as much as what we withhold. Withholding: Malachi 3: 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
There are so many stories that show the Lord goes ahead.
Gen.45: 4 “And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”
Ex. 23:20 “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.”
Deut.9:1-3 “Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, 2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak! 3 Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.”
Crossing into new experiences, there will be strong enemies, but He goes before and will deal with the adversary. It’s not for the sheep to tackle the wolf, but to keep close to the Shepherd, who will deal with the wolf.
Abigail. 1 Sam.25:32-33. ”And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: 33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.” It’s nice to think of people that God can use; who give good advice so we don’t have to have regrets.
Ex.12 Leaving Egypt, God told them to take the jewels. It wasn’t stealing. God was paying the wages for all those years of slavery, and now they had the means to give for the tabernacle. God had something in mind.
At the Red Sea, God went ahead to open the way. During the plagues in Egypt, when Pharaoh asked God removed the flies until there was not one left; at the Red Sea not one horseman was left. Just one doubt or one fear or one wrong thought can take our peace-- like one mosquito-- and God gave a wonderful victory.
Daniel knew prayer was his lifeline, as it is ours-- and God went ahead and shut the lions’ mouths.
During World War 2, two workers were in a camp for 3 ½ years, and treated terribly. The Japanese were cutting off 200 heads a night, and came for the workers. One managed to bring his hymnbook, and (though bound) to open it with his nose to the hymn we sang (Stronger than the strong is He), “the Lord is just ahead.” They were so prepared to meet the Lord the next day that it was a disappointment when they were released for being British subjects. (During the Japanese retreat, the British had bombed one unit until it was completely destroyed, and they sent a message that if the Japanese executed any more prisoners, their units would all be wiped out.)
When a few workers first went to South Africa and arrived penniless, the customs official put them to one side to wait. That night he took them home with him, and told them he’d been searching. God had gone ahead.
A woman with a very sad situation had asked a number of ministers, looking for answers, but they didn’t know. Finally she met a worker, who said, “I believe the Lord was preparing your heart for the gospel.”
The Lord sent the star ahead for the wise men, and their gifts prepared the way for when Joseph and Mary had to flee.
Elijah was fed by ravens, then by that widow. The Lord had told her to support him. She had no future, but he gave her a message so she would have a future. She got something that would never waste and never fail, because she put God first.
A lady said, “Before I heard the gospel, all I looked for was an open grave, now an open heaven.”
The women at Jesus tomb asked, “Who will roll away the stone?” There will always be difficulties ahead. If only we would trust Him. Around the corner, God is ahead with provision and answers.
Acts 10. Meeting with Gentiles for the first time, Peter had “standards,” but God said, “don’t you despise” (people He has cleansed.) During this time, I’ve seen “The eyes of my Saviour ne’er slumber.”
A post from FB, B. Simonton
Sun. PM Robert Doecke. In a city in Australia they had wise sayings on the backs of bus tickets. Everyone would look at the back of their tickets, and there was even a book written about them, Talking Tickets. But I want to tell you about two that aren’t in the book. When I was 18, I had a lot of plans that required money, and I wasn’t earning money as fast as I wanted. So I took my money out of the bank and got on the bus to invest it. My bus ticket said, “Take time for God. It’s life’s only lasting investment.” I felt as if I had a voice on one side saying “maybe you shouldn’t be so selfish with your money,” but another voice said “go for it!” so I went for it. I bought Selected Securities for 53 cents (each.) When I sold them to go into the work they were worth 39 cents.
When you invest, you let go of what you have into the hands of another, to spend as they like, but there is a reward later. We are investing our lives, and the dividends are eternal.
Another bus ticket said, “Whatever awaits you around the corner, God is already there.” He’s there with provision, and the way prepared for you.
Gen. 24. Abraham’s servant prayed (v.12-14) His master had told him (v.7) “The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.” God goes ahead.
The servant prayed, “12 And he said O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: 14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.”
That’s what we pray many times. The servant knew that if that bride was going to make the distance, she must have the spirit of the second mile. The spirit of the bride-- in Prov. 31 we read how she went the extra mile for her family. Ecclesiastes 11:1-2: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.”
“You can never do a kindness too soon. You never know when it will be too late.”
The Good Samaritan, going beyond the two pence that is duty-- beyond is love. In the Old Testament, they were not to reap the corners of the field. Seeing a field, you would know whether the owner had a heart for others or not by how large the corners he left were.
Acts 28: 14 “Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome. 15 And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.” The extra mile always encourages people. We also thank God and take courage, seeing people make efforts for the Kingdom.
There are no traffic jams in the second mile.
Gen. 22 is like when we heard the gospel: “Take your only life, the life you love, and give it to me, and I’ll show you where to do it.” Abraham might have asked ‘why go so far?’--God had gone before and made provision. Going anywhere else, the provision wouldn’t have been there.
How does God know when we love and respect Him? When we don’t withhold. God doesn’t notice what we give as much as what we withhold. Withholding: Malachi 3: 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
There are so many stories that show the Lord goes ahead.
Gen.45: 4 “And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”
Ex. 23:20 “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.”
Deut.9:1-3 “Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, 2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak! 3 Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.”
Crossing into new experiences, there will be strong enemies, but He goes before and will deal with the adversary. It’s not for the sheep to tackle the wolf, but to keep close to the Shepherd, who will deal with the wolf.
Abigail. 1 Sam.25:32-33. ”And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: 33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.” It’s nice to think of people that God can use; who give good advice so we don’t have to have regrets.
Ex.12 Leaving Egypt, God told them to take the jewels. It wasn’t stealing. God was paying the wages for all those years of slavery, and now they had the means to give for the tabernacle. God had something in mind.
At the Red Sea, God went ahead to open the way. During the plagues in Egypt, when Pharaoh asked God removed the flies until there was not one left; at the Red Sea not one horseman was left. Just one doubt or one fear or one wrong thought can take our peace-- like one mosquito-- and God gave a wonderful victory.
Daniel knew prayer was his lifeline, as it is ours-- and God went ahead and shut the lions’ mouths.
During World War 2, two workers were in a camp for 3 ½ years, and treated terribly. The Japanese were cutting off 200 heads a night, and came for the workers. One managed to bring his hymnbook, and (though bound) to open it with his nose to the hymn we sang (Stronger than the strong is He), “the Lord is just ahead.” They were so prepared to meet the Lord the next day that it was a disappointment when they were released for being British subjects. (During the Japanese retreat, the British had bombed one unit until it was completely destroyed, and they sent a message that if the Japanese executed any more prisoners, their units would all be wiped out.)
When a few workers first went to South Africa and arrived penniless, the customs official put them to one side to wait. That night he took them home with him, and told them he’d been searching. God had gone ahead.
A woman with a very sad situation had asked a number of ministers, looking for answers, but they didn’t know. Finally she met a worker, who said, “I believe the Lord was preparing your heart for the gospel.”
The Lord sent the star ahead for the wise men, and their gifts prepared the way for when Joseph and Mary had to flee.
Elijah was fed by ravens, then by that widow. The Lord had told her to support him. She had no future, but he gave her a message so she would have a future. She got something that would never waste and never fail, because she put God first.
A lady said, “Before I heard the gospel, all I looked for was an open grave, now an open heaven.”
The women at Jesus tomb asked, “Who will roll away the stone?” There will always be difficulties ahead. If only we would trust Him. Around the corner, God is ahead with provision and answers.
Acts 10. Meeting with Gentiles for the first time, Peter had “standards,” but God said, “don’t you despise” (people He has cleansed.) During this time, I’ve seen “The eyes of my Saviour ne’er slumber.”
A post from FB, B. Simonton
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Little Wonders
Little stones make big mountains,
Little steps can cover miles,
Little acts of loving-kindness
Give the world it's biggest smiles...
Little steps can cover miles,
Little acts of loving-kindness
Give the world it's biggest smiles...
Little words can soothe big troubles
Little hugs can dry big tears,
Little candles light the darkness,
Little memories last for years...
Little dreams can lead to greatness,
Little victories to success
It's the little things in life
That bring the greatest happiness...
When I think about all the little things,
warm thoughts of my friends come to mind
and all the joy that friendship brings,
always and forever sharing it with you.
(author unknown)
He Was Her Guardian Angel.
Lisa Adams for Reader’s DigestThen he heard an odd cooing that sent a chill down his spine. “Did you hear that?” he asked his grandfather Clay Smith.
“I think it’s probably an animal,” Clay replied.
David had been listening to animals all day. This was different. He stood up. “I want to see what it is.”
David followed the sound along 60 or 70 yards of fence that separated the country road from the forest. The cooing seemed to be coming from the woods. He swung his leg up and over a fence post, avoiding the barbed wire that jutted from the top, and looked down. There was a baby.
Overgrown weeds and brush formed a matted jungle three feet deep, and lying in a tangle of weeds was a tiny, dark-haired baby girl, loosely swaddled in a wet white towel. David jumped down. “There’s a baby here!” he yelled to his grandfather.
At David’s shouts, Clay came running. “Don’t touch,” he cautioned the boy. “Let me see.” Clay peered down at the newborn. The towel had come partly open, and he could see a piece of umbilical cord still attached to her belly. Blood from cuts on her left arm and torso—from the barbed wire, perhaps, or tree branches—had stained the towel red in spots. David knew next to nothing about babies, but to his eye, this one looked impossibly tiny and frail. Her lips were blue, but she was alive.
“We better not touch her,” David’s grandfather repeated. “We might do more harm than good. We’ve got to get her help right now.” Reluctantly, they left the baby in the grass and sped to a nearby farmhouse to call the police. Soon, a deputy sheriff whisked the baby to Richmond’s Reid Memorial Hospital.
That night at the hospital, David described to the police over and over the sound he had heard and the shocking sight of a baby in the grass. He overheard the officers discuss the wet towel—a clue, they thought, that the baby had weathered an early-morning rainstorm that had pushed temperatures into the 50s. No wonder she had been so frail and cold, David thought.
David and his grandfather knew the baby had been suffering when they found her, but in the following days, neither the sheriff nor the hospital would tell them anything new. They did learn, however, that social workers had named the baby Roseann Wayne—Rose for Richmond’s nickname, the Rose City, and Wayne for the county name.
A few months later, David was called to the principal’s office at the junior high school, where he was surprised to meet two nurses. One of them held out a baby wrapped in a blanket. “Dave,” one said, “we brought her to you to say goodbye. She’s being adopted.” Eagerly, he held Roseann for the first time, admiring how healthy she looked compared with the pale infant who’d clung to life in the forest.
The year was 1955.
Courtesy David Hickman, Courtesy Josh Smith/Palladium-ItemFor his part, David tried to put Roseann out of his mind and move on. After graduating from high school in Richmond, David served three years in the Army, then joined his parents and grandparents in Florida, where they’d moved. He got a job building houses and designing air-conditioning systems. In 1966, he married his wife, Gaile, and soon they were raising two sons. David and Gaile moved to Vonore, Tennessee, in 2006.
As full as David’s life was, the memory of the blue-lipped baby in the woods often surfaced in his mind. “It hurt me to realize that somebody put her out there to die,” says David. Even though he didn’t expect he’d ever see Roseann again, he couldn’t help wondering if she was healthy and happy.
Gaile understood that he fretted about Roseann as if she were his own flesh and blood. Sometimes she would catch him on their back porch, staring off into the distance. “I would see the ache in his eyes,” she says. “He’s never stopped thinking about the baby he found.”
On yearly fishing trips back to Richmond, David made the rounds from the sheriff’s office to the hospital to the newspaper, but he never heard anything new. Besides a few old newspaper clippings, “it was as if she never existed,” David says.
As a child, Ellen loved her adoptive parents, Merwin and Marga Test, but she hated the scars that roped down her left side, from face to arm to torso. “Where did these come from?” she’d ask her mother. “Sometimes when you adopt children, they have scars,” was all her mother would say.
When Ellen asked where she had come from and who her birth parents were, her parents seemed to dance around the questions. Ellen knew they were hiding something.
Still, the Tests assured Ellen that being adopted meant she was chosen, a special kid; the swimming lessons, ballet classes, birthday parties, and camping trips they lavished on her proved the point. Her family moved from Maryland to a small town in California the summer Ellen was nine, and in time her parents even bought her a horse to ride.
In 1982, at 27 and with two small kids of her own, Ellen decided to pursue the puzzle of her mysterious beginnings. According to her birth certificate, she’d been born in Richmond, Indiana, where her adoptive grandparents and cousins still lived. If any dark secrets were buried, she suspected, Richmond was where she would dig them up. So that summer, she flew to Richmond from California to start her search.
At the Wayne County Courthouse, a clerk produced a thick file: Ellen’s adoption records. Then, thinking twice, the clerk said, “You can’t see it. Indiana has a closed-records law.” Fighting the temptation to snatch the file from the clerk’s hands and run, Ellen marched across the street to the library, where she dug up reels of newspaper microfiche from September 1955, her birth month. She hoped to find a hospital birth announcement. But within 15 minutes, she was staring at a front-page headline: “Tiny Baby Girl Found in Woods at Boston.”
On September 22, 1955, the story said, a 14-year-old boy named David Hickman had heard a strange noise that turned out to be that of a newborn infant. Below the headline was a black-and-white photo of a nurse cradling a dark-haired baby. Wow, that’s really sad, Ellen thought. Then: Wait a minute. That could be me.
That night, Ellen tracked down a phone number for Corky Cordell, the town sheriff mentioned in the article. “Mr. Cordell,” she said, “do you remember a baby girl found in the woods 27 years ago?”
“Yes!” he blurted. “You live in California, and you have two children!”
Ellen was astounded. “How do you know that?” she stammered.
“I’ve been following you all your life,” he declared. Cordell explained that the sheriff’s department never identified her biological parents. A caseworker had placed her with a couple who had local ties but lived in Maryland—the Tests, Ellen’s adoptive parents. The Tests’ annual Christmas card to the local adoption caseworker kept Cordell apprised of Ellen’s life over the years.
Cordell also told her that her name hadn’t always been Ellen. For three months, she’d been Roseann Wayne.
The truth about her identity left Ellen shell-shocked. Back in California, her father, at last resigned to talking about Ellen’s history, explained that he and his wife had thought the truth was “too horrific.” Maybe they were right, Ellen thought. It sickened her to think that anybody could abandon a baby in the woods.
Before leaving Richmond, Ellen had found an address for the only David Hickman listed in the local phone book. She had questions, yes, but mostly she wanted to thank him. But the address turned out to be the wrong David Hickman. The David Hickman who’d found her, by then a 41-year-old man, had moved away.
OK, Lord, she thought, if I’m ever supposed to meet him, you’re going to have to arrange it.
In 2013, at 73, David was ready to give up and move on—“I guess I’m not meant to find her,” he’d tell Gaile—when a mutual acquaintance recommended he get in touch with a retired deputy sheriff named John Catey. “Let’s try this just one more time,” Gaile said to David.
They called. Catey pledged, “I’m going to do everything that I can to get you and your baby together by Christmas.” As he talked to more than 80 Richmond old-timers, bits of information started to come together. Someone knew that baby Roseann had been renamed Ellen—and that her last name started with T. The adoptive parents had moved to Arizona, or was it California? One day, luck led Catey to the home of Kevin Shendler. There Catey came across an old photo of Kevin’s aunt and uncle—Merwin and Marga Test. Yes, Kevin assured him, the Tests had adopted a baby in 1955.
On December 21, 2013, Ellen’s phone at work rang. “This is Dave Hickman,” a voice said.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you!” Ellen responded. She rushed to put his mind at ease. “Dave, I’ve had a great life!”
David was at a loss for words. He had dreamed of this moment for 58 years. Ellen eagerly told him that she was happily married with two grown children and four beautiful grandchildren. Life was good.
Last May, after months of e-mails and weekly phone conversations, Ellen and David met face-to-face at the 4th Floor Blues Club in Richmond, Indiana. Together they drove the country road where David and his grandfather had sat skinning squirrels all those years ago. David showed Ellen the thicket of grass and branches, on the far side of a five-foot barbed wire fence, where he had discovered an infant: the baby named Roseann, aka Ellen Test. Had he been ten feet to either side of the fence post that he’d jumped, he might have missed seeing her. Someone had most likely lifted her over the fence and dropped her into the brush.
Ellen looked at David. “If it hadn’t been for you, I’d be dead.”
“I was guided there by the grace of God,” David says now. “For 58 years, I worried about this little baby. It’s like a fairy tale with a very bad beginning and a wonderful end.”
Source: rd.com
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Love That Last's Forever
“Relationships are never easy. Some days you’re going to wake up and
that love you know you have for the person in the bed next to you, isn’t
going to come so naturally. We always say “no one told us it was going
to be this hard” but they do.We choose not to listen, because it seems
so unreasonable that one day you will be able to keep your hands off of
each other. One day you will spend your free time away from each other.
The only way you can make a relationship last is if you work at it every
day and never give up on it. Because if you take time to fight and
argue and still can’t imagine leaving them, then you love them. And
that’s the kind of love that’s forever.”~Unknown
This Is What True Love Is All About
A Good Relationship is when two people accept each other’s past, support
each other’s present, and love each other enough to encourage each
other’s future. So don’t rush love. Find a partner who encourages you to
grow, who won’t cling to you, who will let you go out into the world
and trust that you will come back. This is what true love is all about.
Source: lessonslearnedinlife.com
Source: lessonslearnedinlife.com
October
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
February has twenty-eight alone,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting leap year, that's the time
When February's days are twenty-nine.
April, June, and November;
February has twenty-eight alone,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting leap year, that's the time
When February's days are twenty-nine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)