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Have you ever been under the test, under the gun, under the burden of a weighty terrible trial? You find yourself asking the questions, “What is the purpose? Where has God gone? Why did He allow this?” The doubts run fast and hard through your heart. Your resistance is quickly withered away, your stamina is swept down the drain, and your ability to cope seems to have jumped ship. These are the times that try men’s souls. These are the times that test the genuine quality of our faith. These are the times that give us a “gut check” regarding the stability of what we believe. God always has a reason! God always has a purpose! He has never lost a patient who would trust Him! He has never failed to complete what He started! He has never departed the scene without a job well done. So weary Saint, rest assured as you linger in the waiting room of life’s hospital, that the operation upon your faith is exactly what was needed. The One who supplied you with faith knows exactly what is required to secure your soul. Your faith will only be in surgery for about another hour. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit say, “It’s doing great! Press on!
Isaiah 40:28-29 - Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. (29) He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Proverbs 26:27
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
The context of this scripture is one of lying to, and hating others. Whoever digs a pit for someone else to fall into, they will themselves fall into it, and the Lord will make sure of it. Those who roll a stone in the attempt to crush someone, the Lord will make sure the stone returns in that same path upon them. We are too silly to think we are going to get away with anything before the Lord. A couple of years ago I was thanking the Lord for “Overlooking” my sins, and He quickly told me that He did not “Overlook” my sins, but forgave me through my faith in the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. No one is getting away with anything!
Jesus paid for every sin, and only through faith in His sacrificial work on the cross can we find true repentance and times of refreshing when we find our selves digging a pit for others or attempting to crush others whether it be with words or actions! The Lord is faithful and will forgive those who call on His name with a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22)!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
"But we Preach Christ Crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness: But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles), Christ the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:23-24).
The story of the Bible is the story of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Every Sacrifice in the Bible points toward that coming event. The entirety of the Tabernacle and Temple, with all of its furnishings, ceremonies, and rituals, all and without exception, point to Christ in either His Atoning, Mediatorial, or Intercessory Work. In fact, the entirety of the Law pointed to Christ in some manner.
That’s why Paul said, “We preach Christ Crucified.”
He didn’t merely say, “We preach Christ,” but rather “We preach Christ Crucified.”
Many presently are preaching Christ, but, within itself, that is not enough.
Why isn’t it enough?
The Virgin Birth of Christ was an absolute necessity; however, had it stopped there, not one single soul would have been redeemed. The Perfect Life of Christ was an absolute necessity, but had it stopped there, not one single soul would have been redeemed. The healings and miracles were an absolute necessity, but had it stopped there, not one soul would have been redeemed.
Jesus had to go to the Cross. The Cross was ever His goal. Some 750 years before the fact, Christ said, “I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them who plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting.
“For the Lord GOD will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (Isa. 50:6-7). His Face was set like flint for the Cross, meaning that He would not be deterred. The preaching of Christ Crucified is the Doctrine of the Atonement. It is the very heart of the Gospel. Remove that and there is no Gospel, but merely the ramblings of demented minds.
Why is Christ Crucified a stumbling block to the Jews?
The Jews knew that anyone who was hung on a tree for committing a dastardly crime was cursed by God (Deut. 21:22-23). Jesus was hung on a Cross. So in the mind of the Jews, He was cursed by God. Consequently, He could not be the Messiah, or so they thought. For how could one who was cursed by God be the Messiah?
Christ was, however, not cursed by God, but rather was made a curse, which is altogether different (Gal. 3:13). He had to be “made a curse” because He had committed no crime or sin of any nature — ever! The reason His death had to be on the Cross is because He had to pay for the very worst sins that could ever be imagined; He therefore had to die even as the worst sinner would die, but not because of any sin that He Himself had committed, because, as stated, He never committed any.
In effect, He actually became a “Sin Offering.” But all of this was a stumbling block to the Jews.
Regarding the Greeks, i.e., “Gentiles,” the idea of a naked man hanging on a wooden gibbet, thereby redeeming the entirety of mankind, was, in their thinking, “foolishness.” Those problems remain even unto this hour! But in spite of all that, if “Christ Crucified” is faithfully preached, whether to Jew or Gentile, to those who accept Christ, He becomes “the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God.”
No other Message will bring about these twin attributes. We must “preach Christ Crucified,” i.e., “Christ Crucified” must be the underlying foundation of all that we believe and preach.”’
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
There is never an end to the sanctification process. The Christian is called to be conformed to the image of Christ. This transformation begins on the day that they are born again and continues until their death or until the rapture of the Church. The joy of being changed cannot be compared to anything else in this present life. We have the privilege and the responsibility of watching the old lifestyle of sin being eliminated even as new goals of righteousness and true holiness began to surface and dominate our everyday lives. Man is not capable of bringing about this transformation in and of himself. It requires the active grace of God, the moving and operation of the Holy Spirit, which only comes as a result of properly placed faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us at Calvary. All Christians are called upon to enter into this continual transformation. There is no challenge in life more demanding nor is there any testing in life as rewarding. There is no room in this process for compromise, no time to embrace the pleasures of sin, and no reward for denying our true condition. Christ has made being changed into His image available. Pursue it with all your heart!
2 Timothy 2:19 - Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Proverbs 26:28
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
Here we learn the root of the lie is hate, and it is a hatefulness toward those being lied to. If we didn’t hate them, we wouldn’t be lying to them. Remember that we can argue until we are blue in the face, but it is God that we will stand before very soon, and all our excuses and reasonings within our own hearts will not make one single difference. Again, God says the liar hates those he is lying to, even as he watches their affliction due to their lying.
Also, it is the flattering mouth that works ruin, and not just for others, but ruin for their own selves as well. We cannot escape the finality of God’s Word, and He says that whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap (Galatians 6:7), and He reminds us not to deceive ourselves believing otherwise. The only answer for the lying tongue, the affliction due to it, the flattering mouth, and the ruin caused by it, is the very work of Jesus Christ at the cross as He triumphed over all principalities and powers there alone (Colossians 2:14-16). You can trust His work there, for it is finished and will make you complete (Colossians 2:10).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
"And I, Brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the Testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified (I Cor. 2:1-2).
Concerning Paul’s statement, Williams says, “As today, so in Paul’s day, people demanded that the Gospel should be preached in ‘terms of modern thought’ embellished with scholastic learning, convincing logic, forensic reasoning and cultured eloquence. The Apostle refused, declared such culture to be the wisdom of this world, and said that preaching according to the Divine Wisdom was preaching in the Power of the Holy Spirit, and that that was the only power which effected the moral result of the new birth.”
So the theme of the preaching of the Apostle, which also should be our theme — which must be our theme — was the Divine Person and atoning Work of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I think Paul definitely could have been labeled an “intellectual.” He was one of the most educated men used by the Holy Spirit in the writing of the Scriptures. However, he purposely never used any of that particular learning, rather concentrating on one aspect, which from him we learn is the very heart of the Gospel — “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.”
Changed lives are to be the end result of the Gospel. That refers to the entire gamut of society, even to the worst cases of bondage. Every single person in history who has ever been changed for the good, that change has been effected by the Lord Jesus Christ, and only by the Lord Jesus Christ. Millions down through the ages can declare that testimony.
But Paul proclaims here that that which makes the work of Regeneration, the work of change brought about in the hearts and lives of individuals, is the Cross of Christ. As we keep saying, and even as Paul proclaims here, Christ and His Cross must never be separated. By that we speak of the benefits of what He did.
As we have stated many times:
Jesus Christ is the Source, and the Cross is the means, by which all these things are done.
The word “determined” lends credence to the idea that Paul was tempted to go in other directions; however, the Holy Spirit insisted that if the purpose of the Gospel is to be realized, then the theme must always be “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.” That, and that alone, is the answer for hurting, dying, sin-benighted humanity. There is no other solution for man’s dilemma, even as there needs be no other solution."
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
God's Economy “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” —Luke 12:32
A good many of the prayer requests we receive—and we receive thousands—are due to money problems. People want prayer for better-paying jobs so they can stop working two or three. They need money to fix their cars, pay the doctor, feed and clothe the kids and send them to Christian schools. If they had more money—and more things—they would be better off, they say. So it’s easy to believe the experts who tell us that the average American owes more than $15,000 in credit card debt. Apparently, when the cash runs out, rather than go without, they charge it. The subject of money affects every area of a person’s life. Not having enough money—or even the fear of not having enough—causes people constant worry and fret. They know that money issues have the power to break marriages, damage work relationships, and distance the believer from God. Nowadays, people struggle to under-
stand the difference between a need and a want. My husband and I have traveled to many foreign countries where all you see is need—children needing food, clean water to drink, and clothes to wear. It’s heartbreaking to see them going without. Their parents struggle daily to meet these basic human needs, but often fail.
For those fortunate enough to live in America—where capitalism, thank God, still prevails—a good many make enough money to afford a place to live, pay their bills, and maybe have a little left over to save or spend. While this should be something to be thankful for, most Americans aren’t satisfied. They want more. They’re looking for a lifestyle, like the ones they see onscreen—the kind that looks pleasant to the eye. And advertisers know how to make it all look good. Billions of dollars are spent each year showing people—telling them—why they need a bigger house, nicer clothes, a newer car, more furniture, or a well-deserved vacation.
Money And Morals
But this approach is nothing new. It’s been going on since Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:6 says, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes ….” In his commentary, Matthew Henry points this out about Eve: “She saw. A great deal of sin comes in at the eye.”
Eve could have taken fruit from any other tree, but Satan made her want fruit from the one that was forbidden. Remember what he told her, “You will be as God.”
Every commercial you see is saying the same thing: “Buy this and you will be this: happier, richer, smarter. Sadly, most people believe this ancient lie and spend their way into financial—and spiritual—debt.
Why is that? Because the two are tied together—money and morals—which is why the believer does well to understand God’s economy and how it works.
Economics
A simple definition of the word economy is, “a thrifty and efficient use of material resources.” So how does this word apply to the Creator of the universe who owns everything? The Bible says that the earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof; the silver and the gold belong to Him, as does every beast of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills. God’s material resources are inexhaustible—He made them.
God is able to open the windows of heaven and pour out on us blessing—blessings so great they will chase down and overtake the child of God. He who is named Jehovah-jireh (which means “the Lord will provide”) promises to meet all of our needs. But there are conditions: We have to ask, and we have to believe—daily.
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” God is the God of today—today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow He holds in His hand. The Father’s resources are limitless, yet He meets the needs of His children in an efficient manner, as we see in the following verses:
“Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day…” (Ex. 16:4)
God told Elijah, “And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.” (I Kings 17:4).
Jesus told Peter, “Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee” (Mat. 17:27).
Jesus provided a meal: “And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes” (Mk. 6:42-43).
In each of these situations, the need of the moment was met—nothing extra and nothing wasted. When God’s children ask and believe Him to provide, the ravens come, the fish deliver money, and everybody is filled. But when there’s doubt and murmuring, like when the children of Israel tried to store up the daily manna, “it bred worms and stank.”
Incalculable Debt
God the Father wants to be our daily resource of provision. That was His original intent. In the garden of Eden, God was Adam’s sole source, but after the fall, man was indebted in every way possible. According to Matthew Henry, Adam’s habitation was cursed, the ground was cursed, his food became unpleasant to him, and his employments and enjoyments were embittered. Adam turned from God’s provision to tilling the ground, and it was hard. Henry writes, “Labor is our duty, which we must faithfully perform; it is part of man’s sentence, which idleness daringly defies. Uneasiness and weariness with labor are our just punishment, which we must patiently submit to, since they are less than our iniquity deserves.”
Most people realize that they have to work to earn a living. But as Christians, we shouldn’t look to our jobs as our source of provision. It is God who gives us jobs to earn money. He’s the one who gives us favor with our employers. He promotes. If we start believing that it’s our abilities, talents, and skills that make our paychecks possible, then we move our faith away from God as provider.
When Adam sinned, he stepped outside the spiritual realm of God’s provision. He fell, and all of mankind fell with him into a debt we could in no wise pay. Only Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross of Calvary was enough to satisfy the incalculable debt of sin. Salvation is God’s greatest provision for mankind. Once the sin problem gets solved in a person’s life, he is welcomed into God’s realm of provision—His economy—and eligible for God’s richest blessings.
Now maybe you’re thinking, “Frances, I’m saved, but God doesn’t care anything about me. He’ll bless other people, but He won’t bless me. He won’t help me. God doesn’t love me anymore. He hasn’t blessed my finances and He knows I don’t have anything.”
If that’s you, let me remind you of two widows who found themselves in extremely desperate situations.
Two Widows
In I Kings 17, we find the first widow, asked to give Elijah some water and a morsel of bread. She only had enough meal and oil to make a last supper for her and her son to eat and then die. But the prophet insisted that she feed him first. My husband says, “A great lesson is taught here. The economy of the Lord was about to be introduced to this woman. The world says, ‘Give to me first, and then maybe I’ll give something back to you.’
God's
However, the Lord says, ‘Give to Me first, whatever it is you have, however meager it might be, at least if it represents your best, and then I will give back to you.’”
The woman did as the prophet said, “And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah” (I Kings 17:16). The second widow, in II Kings 4, is found crying to Elisha. Creditors were after her, and if she didn’t pay up, they were going to take her sons away to be bondmen. My husband notes, “Many a Christian is like this widow. There is depression, poverty, and bondage in the life instead of joy, wealth, and liberty. The truth is, the plight of this home was not God’s will. It is God’s will that we be in health and prosper, even as our soul does prosper (III Jn., v. 2). Satan never ceases in his efforts to deprive the child of God of his rightful inheritance in Christ Jesus.” When Elisha asked this widow what she had in her house, she said nothing, except for a pot of oil. The prophet told her to borrow vessels from her neighbors and “borrow not a few.” Then she was to “pour out” into all those vessels. Afterward, she sold the oil and was able to pay off her debt.
Think about this: As the first widow reached her hand into the barrel for that last handful of meal to give to another, and the second “poured out” oil into vessels—both were exercising faith in God’s word to them, which resulted in His miraculous—and ongoing—provision.
Giving To God
Just as employment affects the U.S. economy, so does giving affect God’s economy. When a believer gives to God out of faith and love—especially to support His work—God’s return on that investment is blessing. And please understand that not all blessings are material; many are spiritual such as hope, joy, peace, and purpose—and these are invaluable.
Believers should want to give to the work of God and enable the gospel to reach others just as it once reached them. Yet many people struggle over the issue of tithing. People will ask, “Should I tithe or buy groceries?” My husband and I always say such decisions are between you and the Lord because it is a matter of faith. We’ve had to believe God every step of the financial way for this ministry, but He has always made a way. And that’s what you have to understand—God is able to make a way for you—create a way—even if it’s pulling the amount needed from the mouth of a fish.
Seek First The Kingdom
Consider, if you will, one more widow: “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had” (Lk. 21:1-4).
Whether we’re reaching in for that last handful of meal, pouring out, or casting in all that we have, God sees. And He knows, Jesus said, exactly what it is we need. He said, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Mat. 6:31-32).
And then He tells us how to get those needs met: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Are you a full time Christian? It is funny that that question would even come to mind. In today's postmodern world, I am fearful that many who call themselves Christians are only part-time believers. It is not that a person has to walk around quoting Scripture all day or even that they have to share their faith with every single person they see. But give some honest thought to the amount of time that you spend thinking about or focusing upon something other than those things which are attached to your relationship with God. Do you find yourself leaving God out of a great portion of your thought life each day? Have you compartmentalized your relationship with Him? Is your heart dominated by the purpose of God in your life or the sanctification process that God is working in you? Do you focus upon the performance of some aspect of ministry? Or, have we relegated God's input and influence in our life to limited times in the day? Or even just a part of one day each week? If this is so, we need to repent of the mindset of being a “part-time” Christian. God is not a part-time God and He does not deserve or desire a part-time people!
Romans 14:12 - So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Proverbs 27:1
Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
We need not boast of tomorrow because we don’t even know if it will show up. We could die today, the rapture could take place today, but if tomorrow does come about, we surely don’t have a clue what will be in it. Oh we think we do, but we only think according to the past while attempting to look forward. We are only to boast in the work of Christ on the cross and that alone (Galatians 6:14), and if we speak of tomorrow, we must say, “If it be the Lord’s will.” (James 4:14-16)
God is the only one who knows if tomorrow will come and what it will have in it for us. We have had many days in our lives that terrible things happened, and the day before we had no idea, but He did! We can trust Him in all things because He already knows all things, even all things about our tomorrow. We should remember that He is the One who gives us each day that we have, and He gave it to us to be able to rejoice and to be glad (Psalm 118:24)! This can only happen in the faith of Christ Jesus!!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
"But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (I Cor. 2:14).
The true Christian life is unintelligible to human wisdom, just as God’s Mind and Ways are beyond natural wisdom.
The Scripture declares that all unsaved individuals are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). And “dead” is “dead”! This means that the unconverted individual is totally depraved, has no true knowledge of God, has no true understanding of God, has no true understanding of the things of God, etc. The unconverted man is dead to God in every respect.
That’s why it is foolishness to appeal to the lost by the means of intellectualism. No matter how much one tries to explain something to a dead person, such explanation obviously is lost. How can a dead person understand anything concerning that to which he or she is dead?
For a person to be saved, the Word of God must be ministered in some way to such a heart and life. It may be in the form of preaching, or the words which are Scriptural in a song brought to the heart of the person, or even a Scripture learned as a child brought to the heart of the individual. The point I am making is that, in some way, the Word of God must be tendered toward the lost soul, that is, if the individual is to be saved.
While the unredeemed person doesn’t understand the Word, and cannot understand the Word, still, the Word forms a basis on which the Holy Spirit works, without which He will not work. As the Word in some way goes forth, and as the Holy Spirit quickens it to the heart, the person is brought under conviction, and the one thing they do then know is that they are lost. In other words, they are convicted of their lost condition.
There is a pull generated then by the Holy Spirit to bring that person to an acceptance of Christ, Who Alone can meet and change the condition of the heart. If such a person then believes in their heart on Christ, that person is then Born-Again — instantly Born-Again, we might quickly add.
So, understanding the condition of the lost soul and how the Holy Spirit works, Preachers should realize that if they fail to preach Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, if they fail to make that the foundation of the presented Gospel, there will be no spiritual results.
The Word is clear. The Message is clear. There is no reason that Preachers of the Gospel should take any other tack than that laid down by the Apostle Paul. “Excellency of speech or of wisdom” will serve little purpose. The Message must be “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.”'
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
What did Paul mean when he stated that “He that is dead is freed from sin?” First, it is vital that we grasp the truth that the word sin in this context is not speaking of acts of sin, but rather, the sin nature. The sin nature is the corrupting force inside every human being that bends the heart towards sin and selfishness. The sin nature is still resident within the heart of every believer. Paul is not speaking of a natural death but rather the victory over the sin nature that occurs when we are united with Christ by faith. Literally, we are baptized into Christ, and then, in the mind of God, we are crucified with Him. God does not rehabilitate us, He eliminates us and then builds us spiritually from scratch, producing a new creation. So the sin factory is shut down as a result of my simple child-like faith in Jesus and what He did for me at Calvary. Can the sin nature revive? Yes it can! But today I begin my journey in Christ, secure in the knowledge that Jesus’ death on the Cross has provided me with freedom from the influence and the dominion of the sin nature. Let us always and forever begin there!
"Know ye not that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (I Cor. 3:16).
It is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, Who has always carried out the Work of God on Earth. In fact, the Word of God begins by telling us that “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). As someone has well said, “The Moving of the Spirit is the beginning of life, and without a Moving of the Spirit, there is no life.”
Regarding the Godhead, the only thing the Spirit of God didn’t do on this Earth was the great Redemption process of Christ in coming to this world and dying on a Cross. But yet, the Holy Spirit most definitely superintended that great Work, the greatest Work of the ages, from beginning to end. The Holy Spirit even told Jesus when He could die.
Paul wrote, “How much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?” (Heb. 9:14).
It is the Holy Spirit Who makes Christianity different than any religion in the world. Nothing can compare with Bible Christianity.
Once I asked a Muslim why my Telecast was not allowed to air in Muslim countries, adding that Muslims could be on Radio or Television all over the United States if they wanted to be. He passed it off as just being their law, etc. But the real reason is that Islam cannot compete with Bible Christianity, and neither can any other religion.
Tragically, however, much of modern Christianity is corrupt, which means there is no Moving or Operation of the Holy Spirit. As such, the Church becomes ineffective. For the Church to be effective, for our lives to be effective, there must be a Moving and Operation of the Holy Spirit in the Church. This is absolutely indispensable!
When the Tabernacle was constructed, almost immediately after the Law was given by God, the Lord took up residence in the Tabernacle, actually residing between the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim (Num. 7:8-9; I Sam. 4:4). When Christ came, the Holy Spirit dwelt in Christ to a degree unknown by others (Lk. 3:22; 4:18-19; Ps. 45:7).
But the advent of the Cross, which atoned for all sin, satisfied the sin debt owed by all people. So now, upon confession of Faith in Christ, i.e., trusting in what He did for us at the Cross, the Holy Spirit comes into the heart and life of the Believer to abide permanently, as Paul records here.
Jesus actually had said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (‘parakletos,’ which means ‘one called to the side of another to help’), that He may abide with you forever (before the Cross, the Holy Spirit could only help a few individuals, and then only for a period of time; since the Cross, He lives in the hearts and lives of all Believers, and does so forever);
“Even the Spirit of Truth (the Greek says, ‘The Spirit of The Truth,’ which refers to the Word of God; actually He does far more than merely superintend the attribute of Truth, as Christ ‘is Truth’ [I Jn. 5:6]); Whom the world cannot receive (the Holy Spirit cannot come into the heart of the unbeliever until that person makes Christ his or her Saviour; then He comes in), because it sees Him not, neither knows Him (refers to the fact that only Born-Again Believers can understand the Holy Spirit and know Him): but you know Him (would have been better translated, ‘but you shall get to know Him’); for He dwells with you (before the Cross), and shall be in you” (which would take place on the Day of Pentecost and thereafter, because the sin debt has been forever paid by Christ on the Cross, changing the disposition of everything) (Jn. 14:16-17).
However, it’s not finished yet!
The ultimate desire, that, in fact, which will be the ultimate conclusion, is when God changes His Headquarters from planet Heaven to planet Earth, which the last two Chapters of Revelation proclaim. Then everything will be as it ought to be.
John said, “And I heard a great Voice out of Heaven saying (according to the best manuscripts, the Voice now heard was heard “out of the Throne”), Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God (finally proclaims that which God intended from the beginning).
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (actually says “every teardrop” in the Greek, referring to tears of sorrow); and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain (addresses sin and all its results): for the former things are passed away” (refers to the entire effect of the Fall) (Rev. 21:3-4)."
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Proverbs 27:2
Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
We are not to praise ourselves, as it is the result of a prideful heart and a forgetfulness of God, who is worthy alone of ALL praise. The road of praising ourselves always ends very short and always in death. We are never all that we think we are. When the Lord’s hand is upon His people and He is using them in a great way, obviously others will notice and praise them, but all praise is to be heavenward to the Lamb of God. From Him, for Him, through Him, by Him and to Him are ALL things. Everything really is all about Jesus Christ and His great atoning work at Calvary, and all the benefits provided to us through that avenue alone!
The heavenly congregation is presently praising the Lamb, and if our heart is truly for God’s kingdom to come, and His will on earth to be done as it is in heaven, then we need to never stop praising our great Lamb of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
The only entity greater than sin is the grace of God! One aspect of the grace of God is the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart and life of the believer. The Holy Spirit has the ability to overwhelm, overcome, and remove the very roots of sin whose tentacles have invaded and laid claim to the human heart. These tentacles are so deeply rooted within the framework and nature of man that it is impossible for man to extradite them from their present location. Religious works or any other effort of man is useless against the presence of indwelling sin. If we could labor or earn God’s goodness in our lives then in essence God would owe man freedom from sin due to his efforts. But God never gives us what we deserve. For this we should be eternally grateful! He freely gives us Grace to overcome sin when we depend wholly upon His redemption plan. His one and only redemption plan requires that our faith be consistently placed in Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished for us on Calvary. Therefore, the only Biblical way to overcome sin is to learn how to freely receive grace through faith which alone can overpower sin.
Romans 5:20b " ... But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
Proverbs 27:3
A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
The weight and heaviness of a stone and sand is related to a fools wrath, but we are told that a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. The fool has said in his heart there is no God (Psalm 53:1), but at the same time we as the children of God are told not to walk as fools (Ephesians 5:15), therefore it is possible to live as though there is no God, and we have done it on many occasions if we are honest with ourselves.
We deliver the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the fool, and that is the end of the story. We better not find ourselves yoked with a fool in any way, because his flesh rules and he sows without end to corruption and destruction, and if we move our faith from Christ and His atoning work on the cross, we then fall from grace and no longer can be profited and affected by Christ (Galatians 5:1-4). Cling to that nail scarred hand through faith in the death of Christ and the Holy Spirit will give you discernment, and strength.
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
"For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is My Body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in My Blood: this do ye, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of Me (I Cor. 11:23-25).
In brief, this which Paul here gives us is a description of the New Covenant. It is what we refer to as “The Lord’s Supper.”
Within itself, it has no Salvation, as should be obvious; however, that which it represents, the Atoning Work of Christ carried out on the Cross, when coupled with Faith properly registered in Christ, definitely does bring Salvation (Rom. 10:8-9, 13).
There are many who claim that Salvation is in the Resurrection, etc. That is decidedly incorrect. Of course, the Resurrection is of immense significance, but the emphasis must always be placed on the Cross. Every part of the Lord’s Supper directs one to the Cross, and the Cross alone!
The “Body” of Christ, which was prepared especially for Him, was done so for one purpose. The Scripture says, “Wherefore when He (the Lord Jesus Christ) comes into the world (presents Christ coming as the Saviour, Who undertakes in Grace to meet every claim the Throne of God has against penitent sinners), He said (Ps. 40:6), Sacrifice and Offering You would not (refers to the fact that He would pay for sin, but not with animal sacrifices), but a Body have You prepared Me” (God became Man with the full intention that His Perfect Physical Body was to be offered up in Sacrifice on the Cross, which it was; the Cross was ever His destination) (Heb. 10:5).
The “cup” represented His shed Blood, testifying to the fact that the “New Testament” (New Covenant) is in the giving of His Life, which spoke of His shed Blood. His Blood was pure, untainted, unsullied, unspoiled by sin in any way, for He never sinned. Satan had no claim on Him whatsoever; therefore, when He went to the Cross, He did so with a Perfect Body, and He gave that Perfect Body in Sacrifice, and did so by the pouring out of His Blood, which poured out His Life.
Both cases, the broken bread, which symbolized His broken Body, and the shed Blood, which symbolized His poured out Life, are ever to be held in remembrance. That’s the reason that Paul said, “We preach Christ Crucified” (I Cor. 1:23). The Lord’s Supper is a symbolism of the New Covenant, meant to represent that Finished Work, which means that every time we partake of the “Supper,” it is once again to make afresh the great price paid by the Lord Jesus for our Salvation.
The Lord’s Supper, in other words, proclaims the fact that the Cross is the centerpiece, the very foundation, of Salvation."
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Just because God is silent today doesn't mean He's not moving. Just because God seems quiet today doesn't mean He has forgotten. Just because there is no inward response to your outward cry, doesn't indicate that God has not heard. It is hard to believe God for a miracle when darkness overwhelms our lives and hopelessness dominates our hearts. From the blackness of our midnight we lift our voices to God as tears course down our cheeks. We plead with Him to intervene on our behalf. At times it seems as though God has not heard us. It is easy to grow confused and doubtful when the difficulty does not cease to exist. We wonder why He doesn't remove the opposition that is bringing such misery to our lives. We have all found ourselves in this position at one time or another. Let me encourage you! Be assured that God is moving on your behalf, quietly, silently, arranging the pieces of the puzzle exactly to His specifications. And someday soon, in a "suddenly" of God, all that you've asked Him to attend to will be resolved in a manner that amazes you. He is able to do more for us than we are even able to ask or think. For His children, He does the impossible!
Acts 16:26 - And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
Proverbs 27:4
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
This is a powerful scripture based on what God has told us concerning envy. Envy and strife are what opens the door to confusion (James 3:16), but it is confusion that opens the door to EVERY EVIL WORK. Inside this trap not one man can stand, but will remain in chains of great deception until they are found trusting in Christ and what He did at the cross to be able to deliver them.
It was at the cross that Christ made an open show of all principalities and powers, triumphing over all of them, and only there (Colossians 2:14-16), through faith can one find salvation and deliverance! This is why the preaching of the cross is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Mat. 6:31-32).