From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Acts 16:14
Whose heart the Lord opened.
In Lydia's conversion there are many points of interest. It was brought about
by providential circumstances. She was a seller of purple, of the city of
Thyatira, but just at the right time for hearing Paul we find her at Philippi;
providence, which is the handmaid of grace, led her to the right spot. Again,
grace was preparing her soul for the blessing-grace preparing for grace. She
did not know the Saviour, but as a Jewess, she knew many truths which were
excellent stepping-stones to a knowledge of Jesus. Her conversion took place in
the use of the means. On the Sabbath she went when prayer was wont to be made,
and there prayer was heard. Never neglect the means of grace; God may bless us
when we are not in His house, but we have the greater reason to hope that He
will when we are in communion with His saints. Observe the words, "Whose heart
the Lord opened." She did not open her own heart. Her prayers did not do it;
Paul did not do it. The Lord Himself must open the heart, to receive the things
which make for our peace. He alone can put the key into the hole of the door
and open it, and get admittance for Himself. He is the heart's master as He is
the heart's maker. The first outward evidence of the opened heart was
obedience. As soon as Lydia had believed in Jesus, she was baptized. It is a
sweet sign of a humble and broken heart, when the child of God is willing to
obey a command which is not essential to his salvation, which is not forced
upon him by a selfish fear of condemnation, but is a simple act of obedience
and of communion with his Master. The next evidence was love, manifesting
itself in acts of grateful kindness to the apostles. Love to the saints has
ever been a mark of the true convert. Those who do nothing for Christ or His
church, give but sorry evidence of an "opened" heart. Lord, evermore give me an
opened heart.
Revelation 3:17-19
(17) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have
need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked: (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the
fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with
eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore, and repent.
God is willing to go to great lengths to get our attention and get us to
turn so that we will buy gold refined in the fire, get proper white garments,
and anoint our eyes with eye salve. He is trying to get us to repent, which is
what chastening is all about.
The Laodicean has the same problem. He is blind to God at work in his
life and in the lives of others. Why? Because he is busy doing something else.
The Laodicean is not lazy; he is instead distracted with busyness, with this
world, with getting ahead in life, with everything else rather than what he
should be involved in—the things of God.
God wants him to be zealous, but not at making money, not at building his
house, not at flitting off to various vacations, not at filling his social
calendar. No, God wants him to be zealous for Him!
However, a Laodicean pretends to be righteous. Like Balaam, he has built
a façade. Externally, he looks like a good guy, and righteous too, but all the
while, inside he is something else: He is totally hypocritical. This is one of
the Laodicean's problems. He is so focused on other things—usually his own
well-being—that he cannot see God. Since he has everything all figured out, and
all his needs and many of his desires are met, he in his heart of hearts
believes that he really does not need God!
Christ's advice to the Laodicean is to get eye salve so he can see. It is
not so that he can see other people or other things, but so he can specifically
see God! He also wants him to produce righteousness, so he can put on that
white clothing representing pure character—so he can "purchase" the spiritual
riches that actually mean something, the heavenly treasure Jesus speaks about
in Matthew 6:20.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From Balaam and the End-Time Church (Part 2)
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daily devotional
Evening...
Colossians 3:24
Ye serve the Lord Christ.
To what choice order of officials was this word spoken? To kings who proudly
boast a right divine? Ah, no! too often do they serve themselves or Satan, and
forget the God whose sufferance permits them to wear their mimic majesty for
their little hour. Speaks then the apostle to those so-called "right reverend
fathers in God," the bishops, or "the venerable the archdeacons"? No, indeed,
Paul knew nothing of these mere inventions of man. Not even to pastors and
teachers, or to the wealthy and esteemed among believers, was this word spoken,
but to servants, ay, and to slaves. Among the toiling multitudes, the
journeymen, the day labourers, the domestic servants, the drudges of the
kitchen, the apostle found, as we find still, some of the Lord's chosen, and to
them he says, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto
men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:
for ye serve the Lord Christ." This saying ennobles the weary routine of
earthly employments, and she ds a halo around the most humble occupations. To
wash feet may be servile, but to wash His feet is royal work. To unloose the
shoe-latchet is poor employ, but to unloose the great Master's shoe is a
princely privilege. The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy become
temples when men and women do all to the glory of God! Then "divine service" is
not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all life becomes holiness unto
the Lord, and every place and thing, as consecrated as the tabernacle and its
golden candlestick.
"Teach me, my God and King, in all things
Thee to see; And what I do in anything to do it as to Thee.
All may of Thee partake, nothing can be so mean,
Which with this tincture, for Thy sake, will not grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, makes that and the action fine."
James 1:1
(1) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve
tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2 Peter 1:2
(2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God,
and of Jesus our Lord,
1 John 1:3
(3) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also
may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:7
(7) To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to
you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:3
(3) Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:2
(2) Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Galatians 1:3
(3) Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus
Christ,
Ephesians 1:2
(2) Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:2
(2) Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:2
(2) To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:1
(1) Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the
Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be
unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 1:2
(2) Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
1 Timothy 1:1-2
(1) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our
Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; (2) Unto Timothy, my own son
in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Titus 1:4
(4) To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and
peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Philemon 1:3
(3) Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Adherents of the Trinity doctrine assert that the Holy Spirit is a
personality alongside the Father and the Son. Yet, when the apostles—especially
Paul—referred to the Godhead in their epistles, why is mention of the Holy
Spirit almost totally absent ( James 1:1; II Peter 1:2; I John 1:3; Romans 1:7;
I Corinthians 1:3; II Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2;
Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; I Thessalonians 1:1; II Thessalonians 1:2; I
Timothy 1:1-2; II Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; Philemon 1:3)?
Where is the Holy Spirit? Is James not a servant of the Holy Spirit (
James 1:1)? Is he a servant only of God and of Jesus Christ? What about
"knowledge of the Holy Spirit" in II Peter 1:2? Is there no "fellowship with
the Holy Spirit" in I John 1:3? Why do the apostles ignore it?
They include a greeting from the Father and the Son in each of these
letters, but there is no greeting from the Holy Spirit. This was inspired by
God! Is it possible that this is evidence that there is no other personality?
Little by little, it keeps adding up. We need to see this with our own eyes—the
Holy Spirit is ignored every time the Godhead is mentioned. Father and Son—yes.
Holy Spirit—no.
With a few variations in words, every apostle ignores the Holy Spirit.
Would it not be gross insubordination for them to recognize two in the highest
offices in the universe and totally ignore the third? They did this because
they did not know the Holy Spirit as a personality within the Godhead because
Jesus taught them no such thing. The Holy Spirit is the power God uses to
direct and carry out His purposes within His creation.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Holy Spirit
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