JNM <*> Daily devotional

[pttwr]

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]     Daily devotional Morning and Evening Morning ... Micah 2:13 The breaker is come up before them. Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had He never passed that way. He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way. Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior. Not only has Christ travelled the road, but He has slain thine enemies. Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to His cross. Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death. Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of His children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition. Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire. The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil. You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design. Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count. "Proclaim aloud the Saviour's fame, Who bears the Breaker's wond'rous name; Sweet name; and it becomes him well, Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell." John 3:10 (10) Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?" ( John 3:10). Should Nicodemus have known of this teaching? Yes! What had he neglected? The Scriptures! He was a teacher of the Old Testament. Does the Old Testament say anything about the resurrection from the dead? Yes, indeed! Here at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus emphasizes the hope of mankind, the resurrection from the dead, changing from flesh to spirit, only he calls it becoming " born again." Like any good teacher, He used different metaphors to explain the same process so that greater numbers of people can grasp the concept. So now He tells Nicodemus that he should have recognized and understood it from the teachings of the Old Testament. Job knew about the resurrection. He says to God: Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes. ( Job 14:13-14) Job, although he does not call it being born again, knew he would be changed from physical to spiritual. Nicodemus, a master of the law, apparently never understood Job's words, so Jesus was opening his understanding. "You shall call [the last trumpet], and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands" ( Job 14:15). Our God will desire to fellowship again with the wonderful attitude, the beautiful heart, the sterling character that He created in us through our experiences in the flesh. Just like a father desires to see his child finally born after waiting so long during his wife's pregnancy, God wants to see us born into His Kingdom. Later, Job returns to this theme: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that [out of, free from, without] my flesh I shall see God. ( Job 19:25-26) He knew that when he rose from the grave, he would not be flesh, although Nicodemus apparently did not. Others in the Old Testament, like Daniel, also understood a spiritual resurrection: And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteous like the stars forever and ever. ( Daniel 12:2-3) Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:40, "There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." As a star is brighter than a light on earth, so shall we be after the resurrection compared to now. Paul found this idea—that people will be resurrected and glorified—in the Old Testament. Isaiah also writes of the resurrection: Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth [tribulation and the Day of the Lord], and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. ( Isaiah 60:1-3) Paul uses this same imagery in II Corinthians 3:18: "But we all . . . are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory," meaning from the glory of man to the glory of God. Isaiah writes about it later in his book: Before she travailed, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? ( Isaiah 66:7-8) A nation is a family grown large, but Isaiah speaks of such a nation coming into existence "at once," in a moment (see I Corinthians 15:51-52). Here is the God Family, the Kingdom of God, born (again!) all at the same time, except Christ, the Firstborn, who has already gone through the process. "Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery," says the LORD. "Shall I, who cause delivery shut up the womb?" says your God. "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; that you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom [also part of the birth analogy], that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory." ( Isaiah 66:9-11) Jerusalem, a type of the church, is resurrected, born again, and glorified. John W. Ritenbaugh From   You Must Be Born Again! ==================================================== From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]     daily devotional Morning and Evening Evening ... Ephesians 3:8 The unsearchable riches of Christ. My Master has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Saviour than you think Him to be when your thoughts are at the greatest. My Lord is more ready to pardon than you to sin, more able to forgive than you to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your wants than you are to confess them. Never tolerate low thoughts of my Lord Jesus. When you put the crown on His head, you will only crown Him with silver when He deserves gold. My Master has riches of happiness to bestow upon you now. He can make you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still waters. There is no music like the music of His pipe, when He is the Shepherd and you are the sheep, and you lie down at His feet. There is no love like His, neither earth nor heaven can match it. To know Christ and to be found in Him-oh! this is life, this is joy, this is marrow and fatness, wine on the lees well refined. My Master does not treat His servants churlishly; He gives to them as a king giveth to a king; He gives them two heavens-a heaven below in serving Him here, and a heaven above in delighting in Him for ever. His unsearchable riches will be best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven all you need; your place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, your bread shall be given you, and your waters shall be sure; but it is there, THERE, where you shall hear the song of them that triumph, the shout of them that feast, and shall have a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One. The unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the minstrels of earth, and the song for the harpers of heaven. Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell out the good news to others. Deuteronomy 18:15-18 (15) The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; (16) According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. (17) And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. (18) I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. All of us desire to know the future so we can be prepared for it. We want to be in control of our destinies and not at the mercy of events. However, some have this desire so strongly that they set themselves up as channels through which the future is revealed. Such people have misled many. Deuteronomy 18, along with chapter 13, warns against such people. Whether they are called diviners, charmers, spiritists, or channelers, using methods like reading tea leaves, casting lots, or conducting séances, they are to be seriously and carefully avoided because there is no godly reality to their prognostications. Those seeking to know are being misguided, putting themselves at the mercy of lying demons, or at the very least, imaginative men and women. At other times, simply following a church tradition regarding a prophecy can also mislead a person. This occurs because someone in the past, sincerely believing he understood a particular prophecy, began preaching his belief, and many in his audience then believed without the resources to prove the interpretation wrong. Due to frequent repetition, it came to be accepted as truth. It is important for us to understand that prophets were not merely temporary and occasional expedients God would turn to. They played a vital and continuing role in Israel, especially in those times before the Word of God was widely distributed. This is why God makes provision for them within the law. He shows in many places that those He appoints to the prophetic office will always preach the keeping of the commandments of God as evidence of the Source of their inspiration. They will teach the conservation of past truths even as they break new doctrinal ground. They both forth-tell—that is, proclaim a message truthfully, clearly, and authoritatively to those for whom it is intended—and they will on occasion, but not always, foretell—that is, predict events before they take place. It is misleading to believe these verses in Deuteronomy 18 apply only to Christ. His is undoubtedly their ultimate application, but the promise and description applies to all true, God-ordained prophets. Notice some of the identifiers in these verses: 1. God established the foundational pattern for the prophetic office in Moses ("like me"). 2. God will raise a prophet up from among the Israelitish people. Later biblical sources show he might be drawn and appointed from any of the tribes and from any occupation. In other words, he did not have to be a Levite. 3. He will perform the function of a mediator between God and men (verses 16-18). 4. He will stand apart from the system already installed. He will not be antagonistic to the system, but he may be very antagonistic to the sins of those within the system, especially the leadership. 5. God will directly appoint and separate him for his office. Thus, the thrust of his service as God's representative is direct and authoritative. By contrast, the priest's function flowed from man to God by means of sacrifice—far less direct and more appealing and pleading than demanding. The New Testament ministry combines elements of both, but parallels the prophet's function more than the priest's. Simply and broadly, a prophet is one who is given a message by another of greater authority and speaks for him to those for whom the message is intended. Thus, Moses was God's prophet, but Aaron was Moses' prophet. Without a doubt, when we hear the word "prophet," we immediately think of the Old Testament. This is a natural reaction because that is where most of them appear in the Bible. Our memory instantaneously brings forth names like Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and David—all great men. However, without a doubt, the two greatest prophets of all time appear in the New Testament: John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. John the Baptist is the last and greatest under the Old Covenant, and Jesus Christ is the first and greatest of the New. John W. Ritenbaugh From   Elijah and John the Baptist __._,_.___ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-      Mailing List Jesus-Net Ministry Indonesia - JNM - Daftar : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keluar : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Posting: jesus-net@yahoogroups.com If you have any comment or suggestion about this mailing list, to : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bagi Saudara yang berdomisili di Amerika, saudara dapat bergabung dengan mailing list Keluarga Kristen USA (KK-USA) dengan mengirimkan email kosong ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] dan ikuti instruksi yang ada. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- SPONSORED LINKS Arizona regional mls Regional truck driving jobs Anda networks YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS  Visit your group "jesus-net" on the web.    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. __,_._,___