“For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
Paul went through much of living in a culture that was antagonistic toward Christ. So many problems came and went against him, trouble on every side of him, problems that pressed hard against him, and yet he learned the secret of contentment.
Look at yourself in the mirror. Tell me what you see? I see in the mirror a man who is aging and breaking down externally. But, again, take a look in the mirror of the Word. What do you see? Do you see the eternal springing up within you, the everlasting joy that comes from looking away from the obvious to the real?
Paul did not faint because he kept his eyes on the eternal and the internal. His daily focus was disciplined upon Christ and His Word. He learned that the outward things were temporal and could be discouraging. The things not seen were eternal and were an eternal weight of glory. What is discouragement? It is a temporary loss of perspective.
Focus on that which is unseen, the truths you know in your heart, for it is that truth that is a reality. We need to focus on the inner man. Life is passing us by. We have the opportunity to focus on the eternal and internal daily for the next 364 days of the year.
“So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him…Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left. Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company…” (Genesis 13:1; 9-10).
Abraham and Lot were men who both acquired wealth from God. Abraham developed his wealth to do the work of God, while Lot used his wealth to build his own empire, pleasure, and building.
At the end of life we find Abraham won more, for his inheritance was of the Lord. Lot lost it all, even his own family. His resources were depleted and he ended up in heaven with his soul but lost his life and all things he lived for.
Lot depended on Abram early on. He had a second-hand faith, a faith that was dependent on another, even though he had a genuine faith. But a Lot cannot live like that forever. It will show up eventually. His dependence was with Abraham as long as the heat was on. But one thing that Lot could not handle was his prosperity.
There is one type of test that a carnal Christian cannot handle or stand – it is the test of prosperity. And it will show up eventually. When all is going well then a Christian will let go of his dependence, a strong Abraham, and will find himself dependent in his prosperity. He has moved on
May we realize that if our faith is lived by the presence of another, that eventually we will fall to the test of prosperity, and most of the time prosperity and materialism will win. There are too many Lots in our midst who have lost their way to glory. May we learn from the lesson of Lot!
“Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established” (Proverbs 16:3).
When we do the right things we will experience God working in and through us that will change our minds and attitudes as well. We usually take the opposite approach. We try to change our thinking before changing or reforming our actions. Obedience and doing are the best ways to get your thinking in line with God’s ways.
As we personalize God’s truths we will experience God working through us in touching others for Christ. Instead of evangelism being “something we do” it will become that which is natural. Why? Because it is of the outflow of the Holy Spirit working through us. It is the practicing of the truth we know. What power and freedom!
“When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor or given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25).
There is no human marriage after death. The shadow of the covenant made before God turns into reality in the moment of death. It is the reality of marriage to Christ–the marriage of His glorified Church. Nothing is lost. The music of marriage is transposed into something much higher.
Those who have departed this world are closer to each other in love than they were on earth. They “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). They are perfect which points to the glory of Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was engaged to Maria von Wedemeyer before he was hanged at dawn on April 9, 1945. He was a young pastor in Germany. He opposed Hitler and Nazism, and because of this he was arrested and assassinated. While in prison he wrote these words from the military section of the prison at Tegel, Berlin. He called it “A Wedding Sermon from a Prison Cell.”
Marriage is more than your love for each other…in your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal–it is status, and office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sights of God and man.
Marriage is more than your love for each other. Much more! The meaning of marriage is the display of the convent-keeping love between Christ and those who have been born from above. Romance, sex, and childbearing are temporary gifts of God. They are not part of the next life. And they are not even guaranteed for this life. May marriage be recognized “for the praise of his glory.” May we realize that marriage is more than about us but about Him. Amen.
Mary Ida Stephens will be spoken of today in our church where she attended faithfully and participated beautifully. As her pastor, there is an emptiness that has affected me since her sickness and Home-Going. It was the last few weeks of her life that really concerned me, that drew my heart to the God of heaven for her and the family she loved. Early on Sunday morning she passed into glory; that still leaves a void in the heart.
I am so grateful for God’s good work in her and God’s good work through her. She brightened our lives and others. Her fingerprints will continue to be seen and missed. Mary Ida touched a lot of lives. She is indelibly etched upon our hearts and minds.
At this time we are reminded of God’s gift He gave to us here at Kinnett. Lots of good things happened when Ron and Mary Ida made their way to Morehead Street in Burlington. They were such a blessing!
We love her family. They have been supportive of Ida and have been very kind to her. We have seen the grace of our great and wonderful God to her children and her family. It is hard to replace a lady like unto her. But who wants to replace her? She was unique, loving, talented, and gracious.
I pray that when God takes us home that it will be said of each that we have effected change. May it be said, “We loved God more than anything or anyone.”
Give God all of yourself; don’t hold anything back – for only what’s done for Christ will last. We think if we hold on to this or hold on to that tightly that all be good. No, my friend, what we give up and give over and lose will be that which we will hold in eternity.
We look forward to the day when we will see, again, Mary Ida Stephens. Her body will be laid to rest today awaiting resurrection. She is not here. She is with her Lord and all of the saints of glory! What a reunion it will be when we will see Mary Ida in the light of Christ’s glory.
“And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity” (Leviticus 7:16).
God commanded the people of Israel not to eat of the flesh of the sacrifice after three days. For if the offering is given to God it will not be accepted. The Bible tells us that it is “an abomination.” For whosoever eats of the sacrifice on the third day will bear his own perverseness in penalty.
When you and I are not enjoying the presence of Christ daily then we begin to stale-out and contaminate those around us. Our families are affected, our coworkers are contaminated, and all around us are brought down lower than where they were before.
The church suffers and the glory of Christ becomes a non-reality in the life. What an abomination before God and among others. God brought us out of the bondage of sin, given us newness of life, and supplies us the opportunity for nobility of life.
The sacrifice of the peace offering was meant for identification with Christ and with others. It was a meal shared together as well. He has become our peace and since we have the peace of God then we are to be at peace with one another. But the person who is compromised, the person who is play-acting, the one who is not in God’s Word failing to read, study, and feed off of Christ, will fail others and will fail to glorify God in the only life they have to offer to God.
“And they shall scourge him, and put him to death. And the third day he shall rise again” (Luke 18:33).
Three pronouns, one scourging, one death, and One to rise again. Who is this person? Who is Dr. Luke describing? Or better yet, Who is this who is describing himself?
It is none other than the Son of man. He came to save and to seek those who are lost. What does it mean to be lost? It means to understand that God loved you, satisfied His own righteousness by judging His own Son to death upon a rugged tree for you and for me. He went to the desk of Calvary and paid the bill for you with His own blood, the payment of sin which leads to death.
To be found means to know that God’s love (His Son) was given to die as you. His mercy will forgive you if you recognize that you are THE Sinner and ask Him. It is His mercy you and I need today. Are you willing to understand that Jesus was scourged in your place, put to death in your place, and rising again proving He died for all your sin and mine.
