JESUS-THE AFFLICTED HELPING THE AFFLICTED

By An Old Disciple

On the Person of JESUS CHRIST

"He is...a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief...Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows...and [He was] afflicted...He was afflicted"

(Isa. 53:3-4,7)

Being afflicted does not mean we cannot help the afflicted. A one-armed man can still reach out a hand to a drowning man. Jesus' enemies said of Him, "He saved others; himself he cannot save." 

In the worst of all afflictions our Lord helped another on to God. He didn’t allow His own infirmity to keep Him from being a blessing to others. 

As to helping Himself, it is not that He couldn't, it is that He wouldn't. We're told He could've called on the Lord and God would give him twelve legions (several thousand) of angels. God has a specific will for each of His elect-- some have faith to be delivered, others, by the same faith, to not accept it, Heb. 11:32-39. Paul was Christlike in this respect.

More times than none, the Lord uses us not in spite of our shortcomings, idiosyncrasies, and failures, but rather because of. God doesn't get as much glory from our perfections as He does our imperfections. God's five ranks of laughable fools in 1 Cor.1:26-29,31 are all for His glory. "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence...That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

PAUL'S RELATIONSHIP TO JESUS

 "Christ...the Son of God...loved me, and gave Himself for me."

(Gal. 2:20)

In Paul's letters he lists many of the numberless attributes of Christ; but some intimate things, I'm sure, are left unsaid, as it should be. Some personal things he kept between him and the Lover of his Soul! But of all the things he mentions most was Jesus' love for him. He never got over the fact how a person as himself, with such an unrelenting hatred for Jesus, could be loved by Him with an unfathomable love. Over and again in his epistles he speaks not only of Jesus' love for his brethren, but of him personally. It's a wonderful thing to know God loves others, but even greater to know he loves me!

After his meeting Jesus, Paul abandoned all for Him. Jesus was his all and in all, he tells us. He had an unreserved surrender; everything in life revolved around Jesus. He was ever upon his lips and heart. Jesus had all the crown rights! Paul's was a childlike effortless faith in Jesus; He was more real to him than life itself. As Gypsy Smith said when in his 80's, "I've never lost the wonder of it all!"  So it was with Paul.

When pastoring in Florida for some ten years, I had a blessed experience that I want to relate to you. In the Sunday evening service I was preaching on the text in Gal. 2:20. Like so many preachers do, I got hung up, so to speak, on the words, "for me." I began a long list of all the things Jesus had done for me. A little boy by the name of Dougie Thorpe leaned over and said in his mother's ear, "Mama, Jesus sure has done an awful lot for that preacher." AND SO HE HAS! Bless His Holy name!

O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee.

I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine oceans depths its flow may richer, fuller be. 

DOES JESUS CARE?

"And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?"

(Mk. 4:38)

I think I may have mentioned this story in a previous article. When first arriving here in northern California some nineteen years ago, I was taking my daily stroll in our mobile home park. Passing a very aged gentleman, I said, "Good morning; how are you today?" His reply took me back, "Ain't no use tellin'; nobody cares." Sad but true, I'm sorry to say, of the day in which we live. I lived in a time years ago that this wasn't so for most folks.

We can expect this from a fallen society; but it is never true of our Saviour, in spite of many of us, from time to time, questioning it in severe times of trouble and turmoil. Even if we do not say it audibly as the disciples, we think it in our hearts. The storms of life can bring out the best or worst in us. So often it is the latter of the two, I'm ashamed to admit.

But some time after this event, one of those disciples had learned, as do many of us, that He really does care! Peter wrote in his first epistle, "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." The song writer said it much better than I could:

1. "Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
   Too deeply for mirth or song,
   As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
   And the way grows weary and long?
   • Does Jesus care when my way is dark
     With a nameless dread and fear?
     As the daylight fades into deep night shades,
     Does He care enough to be near?
2. Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed
   To resist some temptation strong;
   When for my deep grief there is no relief,
   Though my tears flow all the night long?
3. Does Jesus care when I’ve said “goodbye”
   To the dearest on earth to me,
   And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks—
   Is it aught to Him? Does He see?
4. Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares,
   

   His heart is touched with my grief;

   When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,

   I know my Savior cares

JESUS' ANSWER TO A FRUITLESS LIFE

"He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ... Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit"

(Jn. 15:5,8)

The Lord's Supper being ended, the cross awaiting Him, and knowing it is the eve of His departure, He speaks the last of the seven "I AM'S" as recorded in John's gospel. Interestingly the subject He chooses to speak to His followers about before leaving this world is having a fruitful life. In this chapter He puts the emphasis on their bringing forth "much fruit." I'm of the opinion this fruit embraces more than souls. I think of it as taking in all "the fruits of righteousness," in a saint's life. Phil. 1:11, "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."

Many speak of "abiding in Him" if we are to be fruitful in our lives; this is certainly essential, but there was something else He spoke to them of earlier concerning "much fruit," which is  just as needful. The exact term, "much fruit,"  is found only three times in the Bible, all of them in John's book. The statement I refer to that was spoken previously is found in chapter twelve, verse twenty-four. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of  wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." 

There is a vast difference between "Loving life, as Peter mentions, 1 Pet. 3:10, and loving your life, Jn. 12:25. Those stalwart saints who manifested "Much fruit," in their lives didn't hold to that life! "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus," Acts 20:24. Compare this with Rev. 12:11, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." 

"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS"... says our Master! Then He goes on by mentioning giving one's life for others. Only by dying to self can others be helped.

"It is never too late to bear fruit in one's life."

"They shall still bring forth fruit in old age."

(Psa. 92:14)

THE GREAT ONE!

 "Art thou greater than ...? Art thou greater than ...?"

(Jn. 4:12; 8:53) 

JESUS IS THE GREAT ONE! The Bible tells of a man in Acts 8, Simon by name, who passed himself off to the people as a great one. But there is only one truly GREAT ONE. Christ is the greatest of the great. There have been many great men on this earth, "But Thou excellest them all." The scriptures tell us JESUS is greater than Jacob, Abraham, the Temple, Jonas, Solomon, and the devil, "Because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." 

The following story illustrates what I am attempting to get over to you:

In 1715 King Louis XIV of France died after a reign of 72 years. He had called himself “the Great,” and was the monarch who made the famous statement, “I am the state!” His court was the most magnificent in Europe, and his funeral was equally spectacular. As his body lay in state in a golden coffin, orders were given that the cathedral should be very dimly lit with only a special candle set above his coffin, to dramatize his greatness. At the memorial, thousands waited in hushed silence. Then Bishop Massilon began to speak; slowly reaching down, he snuffed out the candle and said, “Only God is great.”

 There is only ONE big shot in heaven, the rest are only little squirts."

(rds)

JESUS' CROSS AND OURS

 "And He (Jesus) bearing His cross ... And He (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

(Jn. 19:17; Lk. 9:23)

When Jesus told His followers to take up the cross and follow Him, He was not speaking of His cross, but theirs. Each of us has his or her individual cross to carry. They all are made of different materials but share a common characteristic: they crucify the one bearing it. It can be taken up, and therefore it can also be put down. It is a daily decision; although many have made it a permanent and ongoing  choice. "Many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him," Jn. 6:66. Their walk with the King of glory had ceased; they no longer desired to have Royalty as their daily companion.

Those who think they could ever carry Jesus' cross are delusional, to say the least. We're told at the beginning of His journey to Calvary that they placed His cross on another to carry no doubt because of His weak physical condition from the beatings and whipping of the previous night. "And as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus," Lk. 23:26.

 But they soon found out, as well as Simon, that His cross was made for only One Man to carry. His cross had the weight of the world upon it and only the One who made the world could bear up under such a load. To prove our point we're told when they reached the Place of the Skull, Jesus was carrying His cross. "And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha," Jn. 19:17

Those early believers didn't complain about their cross. THEY CARRIED IT! If living today they would have gone their way rejoicing, and as they went singing:

"Jesus, I my cross have taken

All to leave and follow Thee

Destitute, despised, forsaken

Thou from hence my all shall be

Perish every fond ambition

All I've sought or hoped or known

Yet how rich is my condition!

God and heaven are still my own."

THE SWEETEST NAME I KNOW

"… thou shalt call His name JESUS … Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name."

(Matt. 1:21; Phil. 2:9)

“JESUS." What a name. Only two syllables. A child can pronounce it, like MaMa or DaDa. Shakespeare said, "What's in a name?" Much in every way, if the name is JESUS! 

That name is cursed among the lost but blessed amidst the elect. The latter of these know the power in this holy name. They have seen as well as experienced its mighty effect on those who call upon it in faith. It gets people back on their feet again; performs miracles, when needed; delivers one from a life of sin and debauchery; calms a troubled heart; replaces bitterness with sweetness; soothes a tormented mind; and plants virtues and uproots vices. The list is endless. But having said the above, which is all true, always remember, having the Healer is greater than being healed! Ask Paul.

Jesus is the sum total of all delights. When Jesus is dear to us everything associated or connected to Him becomes dear to us. Judas sold Him for a meager thirty pieces of silver, not realizing, if you're going to put a price tag on Him, it must read, "INESTIMABLE!

Many are walking through green pastures at this time without the Great Shepherd, Jesus; but soon they will find everything around them has become parched.

A Name I Highly Treasure

I’ve learned to know a Name I highly treasure;

Oh, how it thrills my spirit through and through.

Oh, blessed Name, beyond degree or measure,

Oh, wondrous name of him so kind and true.

My heart is stirred when’er I think of Jesus.

That blessed Name that sets the captive free.

The only Name through which I find salvation;

No name on earth has meant so much to me.

A Good and Glorious change

 Dear Reader, 

I am about to have lived eighty and seven years, on God's good earth, October Fifthtenth. And at the threshold of beginning my sixty-fourth year in my walk with Christ. I am closer to seeing Him whom my soul loveth than probably any other time in my life.

Because of this I want to let you in on a change that will be coming immediately to my articles and blog site. I have talked to my son Andrew about it and also discussed it with my dear departed wife, while she sojourned among us; both thought it a good idea.

I want to give whatever time I have left on this earth exclusive to writing on the PERSON of JESUS; as found in the New Testament and Old Testament; in the latter case wherever He is seen in type, figure, or shadow. It will be almost entirely from my own thoughts of Him. I am entitling it, "Scribblings from the Scriptures"; by an Old Disciple.

My lifelong text has always been, "And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save JESUS only," Matt. 17:8. Thus, my lifelong philosophy, "If I can get a person to JESUS, all will be well."

The first edition will be posted soon; it can also be viewed on my blog site. http://tjrds.blogspot.com 

"May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering." (Moravian Saying)

An Old Disciple

THE BEST OF THE BLESSED

"Being made so much better ... more excellent ... than they."

(Heb. 1:4)

The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus being better than the prophets, the angels, Moses, Joshua, Aaron and whomever or whatever you want to throw in. He tops the priesthood, Judaism, etc. He is God’s final Word to this sin-cursed world. To accept anything or anyone, whether it be Mary, Peter, or your Protestant religious guru in His place, is to take less than the BEST and leaves one the poorer. 

The Bible is Christocentric. That is, HE is the centerpiece on God’s eternal mantel. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter learned this lesson. He wanted to put Jesus on the same plane as Moses and Elijah: Moses representing the Old Testament Law and Elijah the prophets of the old canon, whether they be forthtellers or foretellers. When their eyes were opened "they saw no man, save Jesus only."

I like the way A.W. Pink puts it, “In the Hebrew epistle the Holy Spirit takes up one object after another, holds each one up as it were in the presence of the all-excellent ‘Son,’ and as he does so, their glory is eclipsed, and the Lord Jesus is found alone. Thus, the very things which Judaism most highly esteemed are shown to be far inferior to what God has now made known to us in His Word.”

"HE IS GRANDER THAN THE GRANDEST!"

(rds)

By An Old Disciple

Convenience and Character

“…when I have a convenient season, I will…” 

(Acts 24:25)

Felix, like many today, was a man of convenience. But convenience and character rarely, if ever, mix. Doing right is not always easy, but it is always right. Character is doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. A person with this rare quality does not procrastinate when faced with everyday decisions and the responsibilities of life.

Most anyone is willing to carry a cross, if it is weightless or made of velvet. But how few there be who will take up the daily cross Christ spoke of. For this latter one can be burdensome, cutting into certain areas of our lives, thus making things very inconvenient for us. Since our cross is to be taken up daily, we should not be surprised if some portion of each day will be inconvenient for us.

Men and women of convenience never carry crosses.

By An Old Disciple

PRECONCEIVED THOUGHTS ON THE WAYS OF GOD

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

(Isa. 55:8-9)

A famous bus company had for their slogan, "Take the bus and leave the driving to us." This is not the case for most of us when it comes to God and His ways; rather than leaving the driving to Him, we're backseat drivers. 

How like Naaman of the Old Testament we are. Because God didn't do things in his life according to his preconceived ideas of how they should be done, it sent him into a quandary. His problem is seen in his words, "I thought..."

It is a serious thing to second-guess God. It can overthrow your faith. This is seen in Acts 12 at the prayer meeting in John Mark's mother's house, Mary when the early Christians were praying for Peter's release from prison. 

When Peter showed up at the door, they didn't believe it was him. Why? Because this was not the way they had anticipated. They had been seeing outward miracles daily in answer to their prayers, and they imagined this particular prayer would be answered in the same way as the others were answered. But they thought wrong!

There is no situation in which we can figure out God and the way He will do things. The distance between our thoughts and His is too far, as David said, "It is too high I cannot attain unto it." It is infinitely above us. We must abandon our ideas and comply with God's ways.

Whenever you make your request to God, leave it with God!

By An Old Disciple

GOING BACK

"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

(Jn. 6:66-68)

When asked if I ever feel like quitting, my answer has always been the same, "YES!, I've lost count of the hundreds of times." But I add, "I honestly don't know how to quit. I never learned. It is not found in my spiritual vocabulary dictionary. Therefore, I have no definition of what it means or how to go about it." All I have in the way of its meaning is in observing the lives of those who have. And that is not a pretty sight to behold.

I have heard some say the reason saints give up is that they have given up on themselves, I respectfully disagree: they gave up on God. They stopped believing that He can change a person, that He can pull one out of the miry clay, that He can deliver from anything, that He can cause the chains to fall off, that He is more powerful than the world, the flesh, or the devil. They ceased believing, "He is able."

Winston Churchill was one of my heroes during the 2nd World War. I have always found inspiration from his speech during the darkest days of that war: 

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

As the quip says, "Winners never quit and quitters never win." Many Christians have made it a life, you might say they have made an art of quitting. To go back is to return to the hog pen, to the vomit (says the Bible), to rot and ruin, to the stench of death. The only thing that awaits those who quit is a life of shame, remorse, and regret. They never look up again!

O, dear child of God, if you're tottering on this fence of decision, I beg you to consider C. S. Lewis' wise comment. "A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later." 

By An Old Disciple

ALWAYS TRIUMPHANT-IN CHRIST

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ."

(2 COR. 2:14-16)

Not some of the time, not even almost all the time, but ALL THE TIME! And the man who penned these words had a life that could prove that it was so. The old Puritans would say, "When you fall, shout the victory." They understood that we always have the Triumphant One within us — and that the loss of a single battle does not mean the whole war is lost. I like what Jacob says of one of his sons, "Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last." Gen. 49:19 As Yogi Berri of the Yankees would say, "It ain't over till it's over."

We need not to pray, plead, or make vows to God to enjoy this precious promise, but only to appropriate it personally. 

When the old-time lady of the house called out "supper's on," one need not to fall to their knees before her and beg, but rather sit at the table and appropriate what was provided.

The writer of Hebrews tells us the people of God in the Old Testament didn't enjoy the victorious life awaiting them that God had provided because of their lack of appropriating it by faith. To appropriate simply means, "to take (something) for one's own."

"WHEN GOD PROVIDES SOMETHING HE SAYS TO US, 'HERE IT IS, IT'S YOURS FOR THE TAKING.'" THE REST IS UP TO US!

(rds) 

An Old Disciple

DORMANT TRUTH

"And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey...And he [God] saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor." (Isa. 59:14-15) People want to know if the Bible is relevant today. The above text should answer that question. Just compare today's happenings with the condition of Isaiah's day. The prophet wrote some 750 years before Christ; yet if I were to print it in a news article today, without divulging its origin, the mass of thinking people would say the writer had exceptional insight.  Whenever truth is cast into the streets, only to be trampled on as filth, you can know of a surety that neither judgement, justice, or equity will be able to enter the civil courts or Christian congregations. Truth is first and foremost in all situations of life. In our day we have substituted opinion for truth. We put the inferior in the place of the superior. Such people, saved or lost, live a life of lies! Because they have thrown out truth like dirty dishwater, they're never able to come to the knowledge of it. If they happen to stumble over it, they do not offer to lift it up, but rather, like some, kick it like a cur dog. These truthless pagans are easily spotted; they call evil good and good evil. They acquit the guilty and accuse the innocent. For the small elect remnant who will not give in to this kind of tyranny but rather depart from such evil, they become a prey to these vicious beasts. They are ridiculed and a laughing stock among these mindless, heartless animals. As Paul puts it, "...I have fought with beasts at Ephesus..." When you give way to a bully, he becomes a bigger bully. Stop him in his tracks! The wonder of wonders in all of the above is that God Himself wondered at the absence of an intercessor! By an Old Disciple

YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE!

“Thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted...There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man...for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have...knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world...their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

(1 Kgs. 2:26; 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Thes.2:14; 1 Pet. 5:9: Rev. 6:11)

Do you see the prevailing theme in each of these five texts? It is not difficult. The common thread is commonness. The simple teaching is, none of us are alone in life’s afflictions, temptations, sufferings, etc. It is most embarrassing, to say the least, to speak to someone about our ills only to find they have like conditions, many times much worse.

The greatest danger in our narcissistic thinking along these lines is that we will be prone to take unwarranted and unscriptural liberties. Our carnal reasoning will be "since no one else knows what I’m experiencing, I am justified in any and all of my actions." Elijah had this problem. He needed to be reminded there were 7000 others like him.

All of us in the family of God need to realize that no matter what our brother or sister’s temperament may be, their station in life, or what plateau they’re on spiritually, they struggle with the same plagues of the heart as we do. It is refreshing as well as encouraging during our dark days to know that all the saints,

in all ages, were people just like us-- great or small!

"MEN OF LIKE PASSIONS"

By An Old Disciple

A HELPLESS CHILD OF GOD!

"Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah."

(Psa. 3:2)

Not any, but "many" it was who said to David he would find no help in his God. In fact, David tells us, it was a daily delight to the devils of this world to taunt him with such. "As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?"

Throughout the scriptures this term was the norm of the wicked against those who trusted in the Lord. To use one of today's idioms, "It was cast in their teeth" daily. Originally it meant to knock one's teeth out with stones. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Talk’s cheap.

When an old man David writes the people of God telling them. "And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him," Psa. 37:40. For you who are familiar with the life of David, knows he knew what he was talking about!

The writer of Hebrews penned, "... for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me," 13:5-6. He said, they said! When God says it, you can be bold in your spiritual vocabulary.

Since we're never helpless, we are never hopeless. When the Greater than David hung in agony on the cross the children of Belial, that is, the children of this world, asked why God didn't help Him NOW. He did, three days later. They were, "Johnny come latelies."

Nothing cuts deeper into the heart of a child of God than to hear the words, "There is no help for him in God."

(rds)

By An Old Disciple 

Turning the Tables

"And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me..."

(Gen. 42:26)

The little idiom, “Turning the tables," simply means to reverse a situation and gain the upper hand. When the tables are turned, the situation has changed, giving the advantage to the party who had previously been at a disadvantage. God is an expert when it comes to this. For example, we're told in scripture, “God turned the curse into a blessing.” As in Jacob's case.

If one is going to make it successfully through this life, he or she must learn to make stumbling stones, stepping stones. A good illustration of this can be seen in the life of man named Tom Dempsey. He was a place kicker in the NFL. He played for several teams during his career. He is known best for kicking a 63-yard field goal as time expired, to give the New Orleans Saints a win over the Detroit Lions. Tom was born with no fingers on his right hand and no toes on his right foot. He wore a special shoe with a flatted toe surface. Most certainly, he used his disadvantage, to his advantage. It could be said of him, “He turned the tables.”

There is a Bible character I have always admired who did this very thing. We are told he wanted to see Jesus who was passing by his vicinity, but couldn't because of the crowds. He was little of stature and couldn't see over the heads of the multitude. And so, rather than giving in to his handicap, he used it to his favor, Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree, the result being, he had the best view in the house!

The true test of a man or woman is seen in what it takes to stop them.

ByAn Old Disciple

GOD AND HIS HOUSE

" ...the house of God, which is the church of the living God..."

(1Tim. 3:15)

At the outset of this article, lest I be misunderstood, let me make it crystal clear I am pro-church: I am a 100% church man. Out of a ministry that spans threescore and three years, I pastored two local churches twenty 0f those years.  

From the beginning of my ministry I was associated with a group that, I'm sorry to say, oftentimes, magnified the church at God's expense. They're like in the case of the King James sect, of which I belong — with reservations, who speak more of King James than King Jesus. 

The writer of Hebrews tells us, "He who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house." What would you think of a bride who showed all her friends around each room of the house, showing it off, while her husband, who built it at great expense, sat in the front room unnoticed?

Most certainly Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. But He also loved the world and gave Himself for it. And Paul goes on to tell us He loved him and gave Himself for him. The world and Paul don’t come before our blessed Lord!

A good Bible illustration of the above is Jacob. When he had that blessed heavenly vision at Luz, he called the place Bethel, meaning, the House of God. But upon returning, many years later, he called it, El-Bethel; meaning the God of the House of God. He realized the difference!

It is well to remember that when we no longer have a house to worship in, we still have God! There is an interesting scripture in Psa. 74:8. "they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land." There was no public place of worship; but blessed be the people that know that worship of God is not confined to four walls and a roof. 

Jesus taught this to the woman at the well. "The woman saith unto Him...Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him," Jn. 4:19-21,23. As the old Puritan said, "Going to your closet is as important as going to Church."

"Some people don't know what to do when left alone with God!"

(rds)

By An Old Disciple

A Common Thread

"The Father...the whole family in heaven and earth..."

(Eph. 3:14-15)

One definition of the little idiom we have chosen to entitle this article is, “an idea or theme that is similar to others.” For example, what main thought does the following list of words bring to mind: father, birth, brother, friend, daughter, son, lover, family? If your answer is relationship, you’re right. Whatever else one might associate with this list, the word relational would have to be at the top.

Being a Christian doesn’t have anything to do with knowing doctrine, the Pharisees were fundamental in the “letter,” but were void of the “Spirit.” Nor is it in being familiar with the scriptures. Satan can quote them all day long. Going to church doesn’t qualify one either. John tells us the devil had his own seat where he regularly sat. And even faithful service will not merit us anything; Jesus says to such people, “I never knew you.”

All the above mentioned are to be commended in a person’s life, if they are a result of and not in order to, become a child of God. If you’re doing the latter to be a member of the family, then you’re putting the cart before the ox. The “Fatherhood of God” only applies to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. Paul makes it crystal clear in his Galatian epistle, “For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” To all such, God has sent His Spirit into our hearts crying, “Abba, Father.” What a blessed, affectionate, and endearing term, “Papa!” Every true child of God should be both comfortable and confident in addressing Him as such. Jesus did!

By An Old Disciple

MIND CONTROL

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

(2 Cor. 11:3)

The Korean war began June 25, 1950. I joined the Air Force in December of that year, 1950 at the age of seventeen, and shipped almost immediately to Seoul, Korea.  Mind control is believed to have been hatched during this period of time. It is also known by the term brainwashing.  It is attributed to the North Koreans, as well as the Chinese and Russians, their brainchild. It leaves its victim powerless, he or she becomes like a living puppet — a human robot. Its thesis was, and is: get a person to think as you and you can control the whole of  that individual. 

But we who know and believe our Bibles are aware this all began in the Garden of Eden, over 6000 years ago, not in present days. Paul tells us Satan's intent with Eve was to control the mind, thus bringing her under his mastery. All cults and pseudo religions adhere to this subtle governing over their followers. I believe much of the agonizing torments of the saints’ mental condition today can be attributed to Satanic influence but admittedly, not all. His first step in achieving his goal is to get one to question, to doubt God's Word!

I think a good line to add to the well-known children's song would be, "Be careful little mind what you think." The term, "Give your mind a rest," can be dangerous, in one sense. It is a good thing, I think, to always keep it engaged; that is, keep it in gear. The old timers had a saying, "An idle mind is the devil's playground." Or as others have said, "Still waters gather filth." The Apostle tells us transformation comes by renewing the mind, Ro. 12:2. See also Eph. 4:23 and Col. 3:10. Daily renewal is the secret to victory!

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things...and the God of peace shall be with you."

(Phil. 4:8)

By An Old Disciple