The Glory of God

[Sean James]

Character--who you are--and the souls influenced by you through Christ ultimately saved--these are the only treasures we get to take into heaven and the new earth. How can we have a godly character and win souls? Let us build upon Christ!!

To those who believe, Christ is the sure foundation. These are they who fall upon the Rock and are broken. Submission to Christ and faith in Him are here represented. To fall upon the Rock and be broken is to give up our self-righteousness and to go to Christ with the humility of a child, repenting of our transgressions, and believing in His forgiving love. And so also it is by faith and obedience that we build on Christ as our foundation.

"At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:1-3).

Through true conversion as we surrender fully to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the life that is empowered to obedience up to the light Christ has revealed to us! Let us abide in Jesus and do His will cheerfully and faithfully!

[Sean James]

What a blessing it is to see in Jesus a life of supernatural power that is now accessible to us by the same grace He received in relying upon the word of God to lead and guide by the Holy Spirit! As we surrender fully to Christ as a personal Savior, living by faith on Him means that we partake of the divine nature that brings the continual witness of all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as long as the soul remains in continual union and communion with God in the path of true obedience up to the light of truth God has revealed!

By His words and His works, Christ testified to a divine power that produces supernatural results, to a future life beyond the present, to God as a Father of the children of men, ever watchful of their true interests. He revealed the working of divine power in benevolence and compassion that rebuked the selfish exclusiveness of the Sadducees. He taught that both for man's temporal and for his eternal good, God moves upon the heart by the Holy Spirit. He showed the error of trusting to human power for that transformation of character which can be wrought only by the Spirit of God.

"I can of Mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me" (John 5:30). Just as surely as Jesus depended upon the Father, we are to depend on Jesus to do any good thing by receiving the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives! What a blessing it is to go forth in His service to win souls because we are vitally connected to Christ!

[Sean James]

Jesus' words were not in vain. He spoke with deep love and power to the Jews in that last day He taught in the earthly temple, and many would respond to the truth He shared. Though as a nation the Jews rejected Christ, He gave them every opportunity to accept Him as Messiah and to experience the transformation of life that always comes from true conversion.

The gems of truth that fell from Christ's lips on that eventful day were treasured in many hearts. For them new thoughts started into life, new aspirations were awakened, and a new history began. After the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, these persons came to the front, and fulfilled their divine commission with a wisdom and zeal corresponding to the greatness of the work. They bore a message that appealed to the hearts of men, weakening the old superstitions that had long dwarfed the lives of thousands. Before their testimony human theories and philosophies became as idle fables. Mighty were the results flowing from the words of the Saviour to that wondering, awestruck crowd in the temple at Jerusalem.

When we let the words of Christ transform us, partaking of the divine nature, letting the Holy Spirit manifest Himself fully in our lives with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, we not only are empowered to true obedience up to the light He has revealed, but we are sent forth on God's mission to seek and save souls. May we treasure the words of Christ so much that we seek to impart them to others!

[Sean James]

Praise God that Jesus is willing and able to make us like Him in character! There is no greater joy than becoming like Christ and winning souls to Him!

“If any man serve Me,” said Jesus, “let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.” All who have borne with Jesus the cross of sacrifice will be sharers with Him of His glory. It was the joy of Christ in His humiliation and pain that His disciples should be glorified with Him. They are the fruit of His self-sacrifice. The outworking in them of His own character and spirit is His reward, and will be His joy throughout eternity. This joy they share with Him as the fruit of their labor and sacrifice is seen in other hearts and lives. They are workers together with Christ, and the Father will honor them as He honors His Son.

[Sean James]

Praise God that Jesus is coming again soon! We can help hasten that day by giving the gospel to the world! When we surrender fully to Christ, He forgives our sins, transforms our characters, and fills us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we are empowered to obey God up to the light of the truth He has revealed to us!

In the prophecy of Jerusalem's destruction Christ said, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” This prophecy will again be fulfilled. The abounding iniquity of that day finds its counterpart in this generation. So with the prediction in regard to the preaching of the gospel. Before the fall of Jerusalem, Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, declared that the gospel was preached to “every creature which is under heaven.” Colossians 1:23. So now, before the coming of the Son of man, the everlasting gospel is to be preached “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Revelation 14:6, 14. God “hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world.” Acts 17:31. Christ tells us when that day shall be ushered in. He does not say that all the world will be converted, but that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” By giving the gospel to the world it is in our power to hasten our Lord's return. We are not only to look for but to hasten the coming of the day of God. 2 Peter 3:12, margin. Had the church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in power and great glory.

Oh, how Jesus longs to have the whole world receive the opportunity to hear the gospel message, the present truth in the context of the Three Angels' Messages of Revelation 14:6-14! Let us herald His return!!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! Are you getting ready for heaven? Then let the love of Christ constrain you to live as He lived, and minister as He ministered! He is willing to live out His unselfish, holy life through you as you surrender the WHOLE heart to Him and let Him guide you in the path of true obedience connected with active service to bless others!

Love to man is the earthward manifestation of the love of God. It was to implant this love, to make us children of one family, that the King of glory became one with us. And when His parting words are fulfilled, “Love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12); when we love the world as He has loved it, then for us His mission is accomplished. We are fitted for heaven; for we have heaven in our hearts.

Jesus is coming soon! What a joy it will be to be with Him in-person with all the souls that we have been used by God to help reach for His kingdom. The things of this world are passing away, but Jesus and the souls saved will last forever! Praise God! Let us value what REALLY matters!!!

[Sean James]

Christ did more than say the truth. He lived it. So can we as we abide in Him. By a complete surrender of the heart, mind and will to Jesus, we can enter into the true joy of unselfish service to do God's will as He leads us. In the last supper Jesus had with His disciples, He yearned for them to experience His character.

How was Christ to bring these poor souls where Satan would not gain over them a decided victory? How could He show that a mere profession of discipleship did not make them disciples, or insure them a place in His kingdom? How could He show that it is loving service, true humility, which constitutes real greatness? How was He to kindle love in their hearts, and enable them to comprehend what He longed to tell them?

Jesus washed the disciples' feet, thus setting the example of unselfish service. When we have completely surrendered to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be manifest in our lives and characters in true obedience to all of His commandments. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus!

[Sean James]

Keep looking. Continue to spend time daily with Jesus and let His love transform your heart! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the life that is completely surrendered to Christ! He is able to empower us to true obedience to all of His commandments as the outflow of a loving relationship with Him!

Looking upon the crucified Redeemer, we more fully comprehend the magnitude and meaning of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven. The plan of salvation is glorified before us, and the thought of Calvary awakens living and sacred emotions in our hearts. Praise to God and the Lamb will be in our hearts and on our lips; for pride and self-worship cannot flourish in the soul that keeps fresh in memory the scenes of Calvary.

The cross of Christ draws us. Jesus Himself said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto Me." The original language does not have "men" in it, as Christ's sacrifice not only draws us, but the angels and all the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds!

[Sean James]

Praise the Lord that we can be fruitful in Christ! Living by faith means a life of abundant fruitfulness in having Christ's character revealed in and through us! We need not fear the future as we trust in Him completely and rely on His word, learning of Christ day by day!

The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. “He that abideth in Me,” said Jesus, “and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.

[Sean James]

In contemplating what Jesus endured in Gethsemane, seeing His incredible agony and struggle in the decision He did make to bear all our sin, we can better understand the depth of God's love for us and how horrible sin is. The heart that beholds Jesus afresh can be motivated to do God's will and resist sin.

Again the Son of God was seized with superhuman agony, and fainting and exhausted, He staggered back to the place of His former struggle. His suffering was even greater than before. As the agony of soul came upon Him, “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The cypress and palm trees were the silent witnesses of His anguish. From their leafy branches dropped heavy dew upon His stricken form, as if nature wept over its Author wrestling alone with the powers of darkness.

Jesus loves us so much that He would go through all this. May we cheerfully endure whatever trials we face with a deep realization of the love of God for us in Christ, turning from sin, and allowing the Holy Spirit to abide in us as He manifests all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing through our lives that are fully and continually surrendered to Him in true obedience to God's commandments. Sin becomes hateful to us as we experience communion with God and appreciate the character of Christ.

[Sean James]

In the final crisis over the Sabbath versus the mark of the beast--the global enforcement of Sunday (see Revelation 13 and 14)--our experience may be like that of Christ in His trial that led up to His crucifixion. Christ will have a true remnant of followers in the last days who experience genuine conversion manifest in all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in true obedience to God's commandments. Such living witnesses who have spoken and taught the truth about the character and law of God, who have uplifted "the everlasting gospel" (Revelation 14:6), will be falsely condemned as was Christ. Holding fast to the plain teachings of Scripture by having a living experience of "the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12) that works by love and leads to affectionate obedience to all of God's commandments, including the fourth commandments to hallow the seventh day Sabbath. God will have a people who, purified from sin by Christ's efficacy, can answer all their persecutors with calmness and moral fidelity to principle, for Christ abides in them, "the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

Christ calmly replied, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?” He spoke no burning words of retaliation. His calm answer came from a heart sinless, patient, and gentle, that would not be provoked.

Those who ever keep fresh in memory before them the scenes of Jesus' life and ministry, especially the closing ones, are not only strengthened with greater confidence in God for the day at hand by a deeper experience in the Holy Spirit with quickened love, but are being systematically prepared to face the great test that is soon to break upon the world when the United States repudiates the principles of its Constitution. When the United States goes so far as violating the principle that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," by acceding to the demands for a law enforcing Sunday, literally fulfilling this prophecy: "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:15-17). That image will be the union of church and state, similar to what happened in the Dark Ages under the Papal power, in connection with the enforcement of Sunday laws. May we do all we can by the missionary efforts intended to enlighten minds to the necessity of true repentance towards God in the experience of salvation in connection with helping souls to become enlightened on the principles of religious liberty that are foundational to the teachings of Scripture. We can praise God that religious liberty at this moment still exists in America, and that there remains a separation of church and state, but with so many confusing influences in the world that are antithetical to the gospel and to such religious liberty, well would it be to do all we possibly can to spread the Three Angels' Messages while freedom readily allows its global spread. A great book to distribute to do that very thing is The Great Controversy! (You can listen here to it for free: https://whiteestate.org/audio/132/the-great-controversy/) We can help hasten Christ's return by cooperating with Him in the spread of the gospel!

[Sean James]

What are you looking for in life? The worldly goods around us are passing away, while the things of the spiritual kingdom will endure forever. As we look carefully at the life history of Judas, we see that his desires were not in harmony with what Christ was offering those who follow Him.

Christ's discourse in the synagogue concerning the bread of life was the turning point in the history of Judas. He heard the words, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53. He saw that Christ was offering spiritual rather than worldly good. He regarded himself as farsighted, and thought he could see that Jesus would have no honor, and that He could bestow no high position upon His followers. He determined not to unite himself so closely to Christ but that he could draw away. He would watch. And he did watch.

Sadly, Judas walked in Satan's deceptions rather than the truth Jesus plainly spoke with love. Christ offers us spiritual good because that is what our character need to be prepared to dwell in His presence in heaven itself with all the holy angels, the redeemed, and all holy created beings in the universe. While it is true that in heaven God's people will be blessed with heavenly mansions, a home in the new earth, and the eternal riches of the universe, that experience will come at a point when all who are there most highly value God Himself, His word and His character over all the other blessings. Satan has sought to lead the universe to want the position, power and blessings of God without His character. And that inevitably leads to death. So let us take warning from Judas' experience and choose to most highly value the spiritual rather than the temporal things, recognizing that God does provide for our needs, but that we are not to make worldly good a higher priority than the spiritual kingdom that endures forever.

All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the lives of those who are fully converted in complete surrender to Jesus, empowered by Him to walk in affectionate obedience to all of God's commandments. That experience is one in which spiritual good is paramount, and the worldly goods we have around us for a season are properly managed with an eye single to the glory of God and the furthering of His mission.

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! It is so simple, yet so deep. It is infinite. It is the word of God. When Christ was facing the farce of a trial before Pilate, Christ yearned for Pilate and all who heard Him to receive the word of God, for only by receiving the word of God into the soul could Pilate or anyone be set free from the tyrannical insanity, ruin and degradation to character caused by sin.

Christ affirmed that His word was in itself a key which would unlock the mystery to those who were prepared to receive it. It had a self-commending power, and this was the secret of the spread of His kingdom of truth. He desired Pilate to understand that only by receiving and appropriating truth could his ruined nature be reconstructed.

Our natures, like Pilate's, are fallen. We need reconstruction, or, in other words, "revival and reformation." But how can we have this? We need to come daily in surrender to Jesus and let His word enter into our hearts to change the current of our thoughts, feelings, motives and purposes. By the word of God we partake of the divine nature, and by the word are produced in the life all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as long as there is a continual surrender to Christ in faith, renouncing all known sin and living up to the light of truth God has revealed. We need a daily experience of beholding Christ, for by beholding we become changed. Instead of letting the mind be filled with the suggestions and deceptions of the world, the flesh and the devil, let us all be so filled with the word of God that it not only revives and reforms us into the image of Christ, but empowers us to be missionaries like Christ. Even in the most trying experiences, we can still be patient, calm and self-possessed, ever seeking to implant truth in the hearts and minds of those around us.

[Sean James]

Jesus suffered selflessly, as One who was innocent. Even in His agony upon the cross, He was thinking of others. He yearned for all to come unto Him in complete surrender so that His sacrifice for sin would be received as the effectual cure for the sinning soul to be brought to repentance, faith, and true conversion. He knew that if sinners did not repent, agony and death would await them with no hope of life, though not one need perish! "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

From the fall of Jerusalem the thoughts of Jesus passed to a wider judgment. In the destruction of the impenitent city He saw a symbol of the final destruction to come upon the world. He said, “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” By the green tree, Jesus represented Himself, the innocent Redeemer. God suffered His wrath against transgression to fall on His beloved Son. Jesus was to be crucified for the sins of men. What suffering, then, would the sinner bear who continued in sin? All the impenitent and unbelieving would know a sorrow and misery that language would fail to express.

While the sinful and impenitent will ultimately perish, they do it at the cost of having rejected the salvation Christ so freely offered to all. As we contemplate the infinite love of God for us in Christ, we are motivated to become transformed in character. Yielding the whole heart to Jesus, His grace is sufficient to cleanse us from sin, empower us to overcome, and be kept from sinning. All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in the life that is fully surrendered to God in true obedience prepares the true disciple to be an active, earnest missionary to seek and save souls! May we fully realize how much Jesus suffered for us and understand that we are in debt to those who do not know the good news that they can be FULLY PARDONED and SET FREE from the slavery of sin! "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise" (Romans 1:14). Let us do all we can to spread the "everlasting gospel" (Revelation 14:6) as the only hope to a dying world that needs Jesus and the present truth of the Three Angel's messages that help people understand God's love, God's call, and God's warning so they can be ready to meet Jesus on the glorious day! We will either meet Him in peace or in terror. The choice is ours.

[Sean James]

It will all come out clearly in the end!

God could have destroyed Satan and his sympathizers as easily as one can cast a pebble to the earth; but He did not do this. Rebellion was not to be overcome by force. Compelling power is found only under Satan's government. The Lord's principles are not of this order. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy, and love; and the presentation of these principles is the means to be used. God's government is moral, and truth and love are to be the prevailing power.

As God wins hearts by His love and truth, the lies that Satan pawns off are seen to be such. As we come to know and experience Christ as the way, the truth and the life in complete surrender to Him, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing flow forth from a life that abides and obeys God up to the light of His law revealed and understood. God is gracious to finish the great controversy in such a way that it wil never happen again. "What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time" (Nahum 1:9).