Thankfully Yours

“So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half of it in height; for the people had a mind to work.”  (Nehemiah 4:6)

The people in Nehemiah’s day worked hard at that wall — almost as if they were going to finish it in one day.  It took them fifty-two days, which was quick work at that, but they labored at it so desperately that it looked as if they were trying to do it in a day.  It was that spirit that was with them which roused the attack of the enemy.

Satan never bothers half-hearted Christian people, but once you are desperate for God and become burdened for the salvation of men, then all hell will oppose you.  Sanballat and Tobias were both the agents of Satan.  Their scorn was a cloak for something else, they were angry that the work was progressing.  If the people jeer at our Christian testimony today, it is because they have no argument against the gospel.  The world will always be angry at any message which exposes sin.

Watch what happens when you get up with others and try to rebuild the walls that have fallen down.  See if all hell will not come against you when you rise up to build.  The enemy of God will try to ridicule and loathe the work you are trying to complete.  But if we stay away from the rubbish of the wall that has fallen, and refuse the activity of action, then you will find your own life surrounded by passivity and selfishness.  Satan has no reason to disturb you for he has you in his catch and he knows the work will not be approached.

If we are not building then we are tearing down.  If we are not with Christ then we are against Him.  Either we will love Him or hate Him, there is no middle ground.  Thank God for Nehemiah and the people who had a mind to work, a heart to pray, and an eye to watch.  The apostle Paul said, “…I labored more abundantly then they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Corinthians 15:10).

“Let Down. Look Up.”

“Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket” (Acts 9:25).

The greatest day of Paul’s life, beside his salvation, was the day he realized that God’s plan for him was far better than his plan for his own life.

The chance of being let down by someone or something is 1 in 1.

Paul wanted to preach to his own people, the Jews, and went to them but they rejected him because of his new found message of grace in Christ Jesus. He had to be let down in a basket through a window over a wall to escape the bounty which was upon his head.

Paul wanted to go to the Jews but God said, “My plan is for you to go to the Gentiles, Paul.”

‘But my heart–‘protested Paul.

‘To the Gentiles, Paul,’ answered the Lord.

‘But my background—‘
‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

‘But my training–‘
‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

‘But, Lord–‘
‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

‘But–‘
‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

‘OK, Lord.’

Some of you will make this decision today. You’ll finally choose to say, ‘OK, Lord.’ And when you do, you’ll at last will find rest in your soul.

“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver” (Proverbs 16:16).

Wisdom and understanding are worth more than gold and silver. God created the gold and God made the silver. We can find it in the earth and look for it in the ocean basins of the world, yet, wisdom and understanding come from above. God’s wisdom and understanding will make you rich in faith and wealthy in hope.

We do so much that rides against us when we do not seek the Father above. God has given us His mind and that mind is the mind of Christ. Instead of running off with our own religious thoughts God will give us His thoughts if we desire them more than all.

Dr. R.G. Lee was one of God’s prince preachers. One time Dr. Adrain Rogers asked Dr. Lee, “When God calls you on, is there some way we could put your brain in my head?” He replied, with a twinkle in his eyes, “That would be like putting a grand piano in a closet!” Better than having someone’s brain in your head is to have the mind of Christ in you by the Holy Spirit.

Don’t go out looking for something that is right under your nose. When we become impatient with people or disappointed in life we turn too often to our own ways. Turn to the Word of God and train yourself to depend upon the Spirit of God at every turn. If the Holy Spirit is not our Guide and we depend upon our own thoughts then we are doing even religious things that are empty of the power of Christ.

Father please teach us with the mind of Christ. We are a new creation in Christ. Your heart is to lead us and teach us. Therefore You died to live in us. Thank you for keeping us safe from our own thoughts. Your wisdom and understanding affords to us your direction and leadership. Thank you for giving us truth below the surface of our own understanding. Amen

“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.

What a joy to study God, not just about God, but God. What a privilege to get outside of the world and come back to the center where we meet God who creates new things. What joy there is to know that God has revealed himself in the pages of his Word. We know Him, we embrace Him, and then we reveal Him as we obey Him. I am amazed at the Scripture. I’m amazed and stand in awe of God’s Word. It speaks. It is living, and this breathing Scripture gives breath and life. It transcends sin and death. It conquers all. God is in control and He is winning and has won. “Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; Give ear; all you far countries; Strap on your armor and be shattered; Strap on your armor and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; Speak a word, but it will not stand, For God is with us.” (Isaiah 8:9, 10).   There will never come one moment when we will say, “I’ve seen it all.” As you know and trust God through His Son by the power of His Spirit, you and I will not be bored.

“But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 61:1). It is an amazing feat to see a child of God go backward and downward away from the Father’s love and care. And yet each has the potential to back up and back down from the amazing grace and capture of our Father in heaven. With all that is before us, the bema seat of judgment by Christ, heaven’s reward or heaven’s rebuke, with the presence of the King– it would seem, rather, that we would not turn away and spoil our soul. But it happens too often to so many. We can sit and church and backslide on God. We can sing songs of thanksgiving and songs of Christmas and yet be in a state of lukewarmness. But it shouldn’t be nor should our lives become a disgrace to God’s grace. God the Father has given the resources we need to live above this world and with the ability to resist its undertow. Yes it takes discipline and devotion but it is doable through faith in the indwelling Christ. God has brought us back from the depths of despair and from the loss of wasting time. If the Word of God is not changing us into the very image of Christ, then the Word of God is not functioning as it ought. And that is not because of the seed of the Word, for it is not bad, but it is because of the receiver of the Word. We can tell if we are beholding God or allowing the world to mold us into something we don’t want to become. Again, God has given us all we need that pertains to life and godliness. But we have to avail ourselves of its power. He is looking for those who are poor in spirit and who trembles at His Word.