The Glory of God

[Sean James]

Only Jesus can satisfy us. Only He, the Truth, is the way of salvation. And in Him we can experience life and life more abundantly! As we surrender fully to Him, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in our characters. Christ, abiding in us, makes it possible to truly obey God from the heart!

He who seeks to quench his thirst at the fountains of this world will drink only to thirst again. Everywhere men are unsatisfied. They long for something to supply the need of the soul. Only One can meet that want. The need of the world, “The Desire of all nations,” is Christ. The divine grace which He alone can impart, is as living water, purifying, refreshing, and invigorating the soul.

Praise God for what His divine grace can do in our souls! With Jesus, all things are possible for this life and the life to come!

[Sean James]

Let God bless you in His way, in His timing, and for His glory!

He who blessed the nobleman at Capernaum is just as desirous of blessing us. But like the afflicted father, we are often led to seek Jesus by the desire for some earthly good; and upon the granting of our request we rest our confidence in His love. The Saviour longs to give us a greater blessing than we ask; and He delays the answer to our request that He may show us the evil of our own hearts, and our deep need of His grace. He desires us to renounce the selfishness that leads us to seek Him. Confessing our helplessness and bitter need, we are to trust ourselves wholly to His love.

We can trust God's love. If God sent His Son to die in our place and offer us eternal life, will He not also freely give us all things needful for this life and the life to come? When we live by faith on Christ as a personal Savior in complete surrender of our hearts to Him, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in our lives. With Christ abiding in us, we are empowered to obey the law of God up to the light of His truth that He has revealed! He can cleanse us from all sin and make us like Him in mind and character!

[Sean James]

What's going on? Have you ever wondered why some people seem to almost unreasonably resist truth? We see it happened to Jesus with how many of the Jews rejected Him, and we know that it is happening also in our day with many turning aside from Bible truth. But we need to look to the real source of the issue--the spiritual warfare Satan is seeking to wage against Christ. All that happens in the play and counterplay of nations, of people, and even in our own character has to do with the great controversy. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).

But the plans which these rabbis were working so zealously to fulfill originated in another council than that of the Sanhedrin. After Satan had failed to overcome Christ in the wilderness, he combined his forces to oppose Him in His ministry, and if possible to thwart His work. What he could not accomplish by direct, personal effort, he determined to effect by strategy. No sooner had he withdrawn from the conflict in the wilderness than in council with his confederate angels he matured his plans for still further blinding the minds of the Jewish people, that they might not recognize their Redeemer. He planned to work through his human agencies in the religious world, by imbuing them with his own enmity against the champion of truth. He would lead them to reject Christ and to make His life as bitter as possible, hoping to discourage Him in His mission. And the leaders in Israel became instruments of Satan in warring against the Saviour.

But Jesus would not be discouraged. He kept on faithfully presenting the character of God in its exhaustless fulness, revealing how we are to live and work in harmony with heaven. As Jesus walked, so we may do as we abide in Him. All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in our lives as long as we are fully surrendered to Jesus and abiding in Him. True obedience will be the fruit of loving and knowing One who first loved us and endured all the trials of this life without a murmur and without sin. Praise God we have a Savior who can help us face trying moments--from whatever direction they come to us!

[Sean James]

Trust God even when life doesn’t make sense—and look to Jesus to see that He suffered to save us, so we can also suffer and be strong as we abide in His eternal kingdom! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in our lives—even in severe trial—as long as we abide in Jesus! Let’s choose to be happy, peaceful and obedient by His grace!

To many minds a deep mystery surrounds the fate of John the Baptist. They question why he should have been left to languish and die in prison. The mystery of this dark providence our human vision cannot penetrate; but it can never shake our confidence in God when we remember that John was but a sharer in the sufferings of Christ. All who follow Christ will wear the crown of sacrifice. They will surely be misunderstood by selfish men, and will be made a mark for the fierce assaults of Satan. It is this principle of self-sacrifice that his kingdom is established to destroy, and he will war against it wherever manifested.

[Sean James]

The Lord Jesus was right on prophetic time when He came at His first advent, and He has given us the Three Angels' Messages of Revelation 14:6-12 to help prepare the world for His glorious second advent! Let us be spiritually wide awake to duty and the love of Christ that constrains us forward in His service in seeking to save souls! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the truly converted life of each of His followers who are fully surrendered to Him! Praise God that we can help hasten Jesus' second coming by faithfulness to what He has called us to do!

As the message of Christ’s first advent announced the kingdom of His grace, so the message of His second advent announces the kingdom of His glory. And the second message, like the first, is based on the prophecies. The words of the angel to Daniel relating to the last days were to be understood in the time of the end. At that time, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” “The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:4, 10. The Saviour Himself has given signs of His coming, and He says, “When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:31, 34, 36.

Let us stand faithful in whatever path God's providence designs for us! Praise the Lord for His grace and strength that He offers us by the Holy Spirit so we can be affectionately obedient to all the light shining upon our pathway of life!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!

Let us open our hearts to all of the light of God’s truth as given in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, being willing to walk in it as we choose to surrender fully to Jesus! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the life that is truly converted and abiding in Him! We can learn from the experience of the people at Nazareth that it is dangerous to reject the light of God’s truth!

Our standing before God depends, not upon the amount of light we have received, but upon the use we make of what we have. Thus even the heathen who choose the right as far as they can distinguish it are in a more favorable condition than are those who have had great light, and profess to serve God, but who disregard the light, and by their daily life contradict their profession.

The words of Jesus to His hearers in the synagogue struck at the root of their self-righteousness, pressing home upon them the bitter truth that they had departed from God and forfeited their claim to be His people. Every word cut like a knife as their real condition was set before them. They now scorned the faith with which Jesus had at first inspired them. They would not admit that He who had sprung from poverty and lowliness was other than a common man.

Even though in His human birth and life He came from poverty and lowliness, Jesus was the embodiment of the truth of heaven, and had come down from heaven to uplift all who would open their hearts to the salvation He graciously offered. When we see Him, we see our heavenly Father! Let us open our hearts to Him fully today so the Holy Spirit can make us like Jesus!

[Sean James]

What is Jesus' goal for you? He desires for you to become like Him in mind and character. While He gave you a unique individuality and personality, He yearns for you to experience the living connection He has with the Father so you also can reveal the grace of unselfish courtesy to all, inviting others into His heavenly kingdom whereby all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will flow through your life in true obedience to God's law of love! Will you let Him do that? He asks for a full surrender--all you have and are from the heart--so that His atoning blood will remove your sins and the Holy Spirit will transform you in mind and character from glory to glory!

Jesus chose unlearned fishermen because they had not been schooled in the traditions and erroneous customs of their time. They were men of native ability, and they were humble and teachable,—men whom He could educate for His work. In the common walks of life there is many a man patiently treading the round of daily toil, unconscious that he possesses powers which, if called into action, would raise him to an equality with the world's most honored men. The touch of a skillful hand is needed to arouse those dormant faculties. It was such men that Jesus called to be His colaborers; and He gave them the advantage of association with Himself. Never had the world's great men such a teacher. When the disciples came forth from the Saviour's training, they were no longer ignorant and uncultured. They had become like Him in mind and character, and men took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

May it be said of each of us that we have been with Jesus!!

[Sean James]

Let us follow Jesus and remember why He came to this earth! He did a lot of ministry in Capernaum, but He yearned to turn people's attention to what was spiritual and eternal, away from the sensational and popular errors of his time. So it is today. Rather than getting caught up in the confusion of society, let us seek to implant eternal principles by sharing the word of God that helps people to see God's love and trust Him no matter what their circumstances may be. When we fully surrender to Jesus, because of His sacrifice of Himself on the cross in shedding His blood to save and cleanse us, we can experience a new heart and mind imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Christ living in the soul, the hope of glory, makes true obedience to God's commandments a joyful reality!

In the excitement which then pervaded Capernaum, there was danger that the object of His mission would be lost sight of. Jesus was not satisfied to attract attention to Himself merely as a wonder worker or a healer of physical diseases. He was seeking to draw men to Him as their Saviour. While the people were eager to believe that He had come as a king, to establish an earthly reign, He desired to turn their minds away from the earthly to the spiritual. Mere worldly success would interfere with His work.

Praise God that Jesus came in the manner that He did to help guide our priorities and focus if we will but trust and follow Him based on His word. Each day presents new opportunities for implanting truth in the minds of those around us. May we do so because we rely on Jesus working in and through us by the Holy Spirit to the glory of our Father in heaven!

[Sean James]

Do you realize that when God forgives your sin, He is essentially resurrecting you from spiritual death? We learn this POWERFUL lesson from the way Jesus forgave and healed the paralytic! Praise God, He is still able to do this today for YOU--to resurrect you from a living death in the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) to newness of life in Christ with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in your heart and life (Galatians 5:22-23)! Then the walk of living, loving obedience becomes the true joy of life abiding in Christ!

It required nothing less than creative power to restore health to that decaying body. The same voice that spoke life to man created from the dust of the earth had spoken life to the dying paralytic. And the same power that gave life to the body had renewed the heart. He who at the creation “spake, and it was,” who “commanded, and it stood fast,” (Psalm 33:9), had spoken life to the soul dead in trespasses and sins. The healing of the body was an evidence of the power that had renewed the heart. Christ bade the paralytic arise and walk, “that ye may know,” He said, “that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”

Whatever the sin, if you repent and believe, the guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ! Let's be so happy in Jesus that people are attracted to the Savior who loves us, is interceding for us now as our High Priest, and is SO SOON to return as our King! As it is 4th of July, remember that the HIGHEST FREEDOM we can experience is FREEDOM IN CHRIST TO OBEY HIM OUT OF LOVE!!! Hallelujah!

[Sean James]

To know and love God is so valuable that all other things are but loss. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to realign our values with heaven! In turning from sin, surrendering the heart fully to Jesus, and becoming a partaker of the divine nature, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be reflected in the life that stays connected to Christ! Let us choose moment-by-moment to walk in harmony with heaven's principles.

Principle is always exacting. No man can succeed in the service of God unless his whole heart is in the work and he counts all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. No man who makes any reserve can be the disciple of Christ, much less can he be His colaborer. When men appreciate the great salvation, the self-sacrifice seen in Christ's life will be seen in theirs. Wherever He leads the way, they will rejoice to follow.

Rejoicing in the Lord as we go forward in faith brings true satisfaction in the life that is surrendered to God's holy will as revealed in His word, His law, and the life of Christ!

[Sean James]

Praise God for the gift of Sabbath rest each seventh day which we can truly experience as we surrender to Christ's power to make us holy! When the whole heart is yielded to Jesus, He comes to abide in us by the Holy Spirit, filling the life with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, empowering the soul to live in affectionate obedience to all of God's commandments!

And the Lord says, “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; ... then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” Isaiah 58:13, 14. To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ's creative and redeeming power, it will be a delight. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in Him. The Sabbath points them to the works of creation as an evidence of His mighty power in redemption. While it calls to mind the lost peace of Eden, it tells of peace restored through the Saviour. And every object in nature repeats His invitation, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.

Heaven begins in the soul that is truly converted. We can have a foretaste of heaven each Sabbath as we anticipate the second coming and remember that Christ is WELL ABLE to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him!

[Sean James]

While the gospel is not about you (though you are infinitely loved by God!), as Jesus is revealed THROUGH you by the Holy Spirit, the power of the gospel is made manifest and souls are encouraged to believe that what God can do IN YOU He can also do IN THEM!! God loves ALL of us, and the emphasis ever needs to be put on finding our unity and truth in Christ and His word in harmony with the law of God! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the life surrendered fully to Christ as He leads the soul in true obedience to all of the commandments of God, as perfectly seen in the life of Jesus who kept the Ten Commandments!

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.” 2 Corinthians 4:7, R. V. This is why the preaching of the gospel was committed to erring men rather than to the angels. It is manifest that the power which works through the weakness of humanity is the power of God; and thus we are encouraged to believe that the power which can help others as weak as ourselves can help us. And those who are themselves “compassed with infirmity” should be able to “have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.” Hebrews 5:2. Having been in peril themselves, they are acquainted with the dangers and difficulties of the way, and for this reason are called to reach out for others in like peril. There are souls perplexed with doubt, burdened with infirmities, weak in faith, and unable to grasp the Unseen; but a friend whom they can see, coming to them in Christ's stead, can be a connecting link to fasten their trembling faith upon Christ.

Be the link to reach others with the love of Christ. Let Him work in and through you His character miracle of grace!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!

Try to imagine what it would have been like to hear Jesus preach the "Sermon on the Mount" nearly 2,000 years ago. Praise God that it is recorded for our learning and instruction in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 (and you also see elements of it in the book of Luke). What a joy it is to let Christ into the heart so His kingdom begins in the soul!

Christ's first words to the people on the mount were words of blessing. Happy are they, He said, who recognize their spiritual poverty, and feel their need of redemption. The gospel is to be preached to the poor. Not to the spiritually proud, those who claim to be rich and in need of nothing, is it revealed, but to those who are humble and contrite. One fountain only has been opened for sin, a fountain for the poor in spirit.

As we receive Christ into the soul in complete surrender, truly repenting of our sin, confessing and forsaking it, and abiding in Him, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will flow in our lives as we are empowered to walk in true obedience to all of God's commandments! We need Jesus continually to do any good thing, and with Him all things are possible!

[Sean James]

He got it. Let's face it. It's NOT that complicated. We DO NOT DESERVE salvation. Even the Roman centurion could understand the simplicity and power of the gospel!! AND SO CAN YOU!!!!

The Jewish elders who recommended the centurion to Christ had shown how far they were from possessing the spirit of the gospel. They did not recognize that our great need is our only claim on God's mercy. In their self-righteousness they commended the centurion because of the favor he had shown to “our nation.” But the centurion said of himself, “I am not worthy.” His heart had been touched by the grace of Christ. He saw his own unworthiness; yet he feared not to ask help. He trusted not to his own goodness; his argument was his great need. His faith took hold upon Christ in His true character. He did not believe in Him merely as a worker of miracles, but as the friend and Saviour of mankind.

Our sins merit us one thing--death--but the Father SO LOVED US that He sent Jesus to step in, take our guilt and death (which He fully did), and then by the power of His resurrection, He offers us His selfless, endless life as we repent and forsake our sins! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will come into the life of the one who surrenders unreservedly to God and lets Christ give the new heart that is intimately united with the divine nature! The Holy Spirit LOVES to show us the things of Christ as we partake of the spirit of the gospel--selfless service to bless others and trusting God's character as to the reason why He blesses us, and not depending on any "goodness" in ourselves (for we have none apart from God)! Yet God desires us to build character by cooperation with Christ, and thankfully, the more we behold Jesus and assimilate into the image of His character, for by beholding we become changed, the stronger will be our experience of always abiding in Jesus so that self, Satan and the world are not able to pull us away from Jesus! Praise God that the character GETS STRONGER each day that we are on our knees in prayer, surrendering to Him fully, beholding Christ's loveliness in His word, and then praying EARNESTLY for our own character and that of others to become like Jesus! Let's choose Jesus continually and praise Him all the way to heaven!!!!!

[Sean James]

You're warmly invited into the family. Really? Yes! God's family is made up of those who are willing to do His will, and let Jesus become their personal Lord and Savior! Because our first parents sinned, we are by nature alienated from God and slaves of Satan, but PRAISE GOD, Jesus was willing to come into our little world, clothe His divinity with humanity, and reveal a life of constant union and communion with our Heavenly Father without sin, "for sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). Knowing that it would be hard for us at times to REALLY BELIEVE that God loves us and is offering us adoption into His family because of all the trials and tribulations we face in a fallen world, Jesus consented to bear ALL OUR SIN, suffer OUR DEATH, and yet, even in His final moments, still reveal trust in the Father's love (though on account of our sin He FELT forsaken), for He said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit" (Luke 23:46). Do you feel lonely or like no one understands you? Well, the good news is that JESUS UNDERSTANDS, HE LOVES YOU, and He is even now inviting you to cast all your cares upon Him, surrender fully to Him, repent and confess all your sins to Him, and let Him live out His sinless life of holiness in you by the Holy Spirit! When you let Him into your heart in complete surrender, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in your life, and by abiding in Christ you will be enabled to walk even as He walked, in true affectionate obedience to all of God's commandments! Then, having such a miraculous experience, you will find other souls who need to know this GOOD NEWS, and invite them also to share in what it means to be adopted into God's family by becoming a partaker of the divine nature through receiving the word of God! Those who do respond in love to God and do His will are the members of His family, and will fit into heaven when Jesus comes to take us home there, because we already have heaven in our hearts!

Those who accept Christ as their personal Saviour are not left as orphans, to bear the trials of life alone. He receives them as members of the heavenly family; He bids them call His Father their Father. They are His %u201Clittle ones,%u201D dear to the heart of God, bound to Him by the most tender and abiding ties. He has toward them an exceeding tenderness, as far surpassing what our father or mother has felt toward us in our helplessness as the divine is above the human.

Even if you lost both of your earthly parents, you are NOT an orphan in God's family by accepting Jesus!! He loves you even more than your earthly parents ever could, because He knew you before you were born (Jeremiah 1:5) and has plans for you that span the eternal ages!!

The work of redemption involves consequences of which  it is difficult for man to have any conception. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." 1 Cor. 2:9. As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require. God Himself is "the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Rom. 3:26. And "whom He justified, them He also glorified." Rom. 8:30. Great as is the shame and degradation through sin, even greater will be the honor and exaltation through redeeming love. To human beings striving for conformity to the divine image there is imparted an outlay of heaven's treasure, an excellency of power, that will place them higher than even the angels who have never fallen.

Now that's GOOD NEWS!!!!!