The Glory of God

[Sean James]

Implicit belief in Christ's word is true humility, true self-surrender.   

Let us just do what God says because we love Him who first loved us!

[Sean James]

Why was the resurrection of Lazarus so significant in Jesus' ministry?

It was a demonstration of divine power sufficient to convince every mind that was under the control of reason and enlightened conscience.

We can see clearly that the Bible is true and that what it said would happen in the last days IS HAPPENING NOW! We are nearing the VERY SOON coming of Jesus, and we also may see the evidence that God is trying to get our attention, that all may come to a thorough repentance and allow Jesus to live in us, the hope of glory, so all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing! Then we will affectionately obey all the Ten Commandments as a delight because we see Christ in the law, the Giver of life!

[Sean James]

We are daily invited to experience new victories in the Christian life--to walk by faith and not by sight or feeling as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil by keeping our eyes steadfastly fixed upon Jesus! Then the self-conquest experienced will be like what we see in the life of Christ--a life that revealed the Father's will!

"But to sit on My right hand, and on My left," He continued, "is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father." In the kingdom of God, position is not gained through favoritism. It is not earned, nor is it received through an arbitrary bestowal. It is the result of character. The crown and the throne are the tokens of a condition attained; they are the tokens of self-conquest through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

May we allow the Savior to lead us in true humility and growth of character, becoming more like Christ as, through abiding in Him by a living faith surrender, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing!

[Sean James]

Let us point people to Jesus and our true need of true conversion--which Zacchaeus experienced!

It is when Christ is received as a personal Saviour that salvation comes to the soul.

Let us look away from self to the Savior and abide in His love today by a continual surrender of our will to Him. Then the fruit of such a union and communion with Him will be evidenced by all of the fruits of the Spirit in the life without one missing!

[Sean James]

We may be lifted above the strife that is so prevalent by letting God's estimate of us be our focus. Mary Magdalene was transformed by grace, and we also may abide in Christ as did she. Let us allow all of the fruits of the Spirit to abide in our hearts by a living faith surrender to Christ!

The souls that turn to Him for refuge, Jesus lifts above the accusing and the strife of tongues. No man or evil angel can impeach these souls. Christ unites them to His own divine-human nature. They stand beside the great Sin Bearer, in the light proceeding from the throne of God. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Romans 8:33, 34.

Christ desires ALL of us to be in heaven. Let us look upon each soul as of infinite value--as they truly are in Christ!

[Sean James]

Let us realize what Jesus did for us, and how He desires all to behold His infinite sacrifice!

Never before in His earthly life had Jesus permitted such a demonstration. He clearly foresaw the result. It would bring Him to the cross. But it was His purpose thus publicly to present Himself as the Redeemer. He desired to call attention to the sacrifice that was to crown His mission to a fallen world. While the people were assembling at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, He, the antitypical Lamb, by a voluntary act set Himself apart as an oblation. It would be needful for His church in all succeeding ages to make His death for the sins of the world a subject of deep thought and study. Every fact connected with it should be verified beyond a doubt. It was necessary, then, that the eyes of all people should now be directed to Him; the events which preceded His great sacrifice must be such as to call attention to the sacrifice itself. After such a demonstration as that attending His entry into Jerusalem, all eyes would follow His rapid progress to the final scene.

Looking upon Jesus, we see the Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world! Now the world is on the verge of Jesus' second coming, and we are to point people to the events that come just before He returns so all may be prepared to have that living heart surrender of affectionate obedience to the will of God manifest in a life imbued with all of the fruits of the Sprit without one missing!

[Sean James]

In every age there is given to men their day of light and privilege, a probationary time in which they may become reconciled to God. But there is a limit to this grace. Mercy may plead for years and be slighted and rejected; but there comes a time when mercy makes her last plea. The heart becomes so hardened that it ceases to respond to the Spirit of God. Then the sweet, winning voice entreats the sinner no longer, and reproofs and warnings cease.   

Let us yield fully to Christ and utilize every moment for God's glory! By yielding continually fully to Jesus, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be manifest in our lives without one missing as we gladly, affectionately obey the law of God even under the most exciting and trying circumstances!

[Sean James]

Every foundation except Christ must fail. Let us put Christ's word as our foundation of true character building, and we may overcome as Christ as called us to do by His grace!

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. 

Looking unto Jesus we see a victorious experience offered us in which we may be truly converted by surrendering fully to Christ and have Christ in us, the hope of glory!

[Sean James]

Christ declared to His hearers that if there were no resurrection of the dead, the Scriptures which they professed to believe would be of no avail. He said, "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." God counts the things that are not as though they were. He sees the end from the beginning, and beholds the result of His work as though it were now accomplished. The precious dead, from Adam down to the last saint who dies, will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will come forth from the grave to immortal life. God will be their God, and they shall be His people. There will be a close and tender relationship between God and the risen saints. This condition, which is anticipated in His purpose, He beholds as if it were already existing. The dead live unto Him.

God bless you all as we are rise from the dead by living the gospel in Christ, for abiding in Him continuously we allow Him to manifest through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

"And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). As Jesus takes ALL our sin, we live by faith--even the life of God in us by the miracle of conversion!

[Sean James]

He is looking upon us now. Jesus years for us and desires our entire heart to be melted and subdued by His divine grace. As surely as He yearned over the people of Jerusalem in 31 AD, so surely does He now yearn over the plight of His church today--and His desire for true revival and reformation WILL BEAR FRUIT!

Divine pity marked the countenance of the Son of God as He cast one lingering look upon the temple and then upon His hearers. In a voice choked by deep anguish of heart and bitter tears He exclaimed, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" This is the separation struggle. In the lamentation of Christ the very heart of God is pouring itself forth. It is the mysterious farewell of the long-suffering love of the Deity. 

Yet Jesus does not say farewell to us, for mercy still lingers at present. Today He invites all who will come to surrender unreservedly to Him so that by the miracle of His grace He may imbue us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Only as we abide in Christ is there eternal life! When Christ finishes His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, the close of probation comes, so now He invites us to do all we can by union and communion with Him to go forth to seek and to save the lost before what happened to Jerusalem becomes the plight of the lost of this world. Lift up the trumpet! Jesus is coming again!

[Sean James]

It's harvest time! Jesus sowed His life in this world in dying for us, so He could reap a rich harvest of souls who partake of His Spirit and character! As Jesus finishes His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary very soon, those who have continued to walk by faith in Him are made fully ripe by beholding Him and letting Him work in and through them to seek and save the lost!

The seed buried in the ground produces fruit, and in turn this is planted. Thus the harvest is multiplied. So the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary will bear fruit unto eternal life. The contemplation of this sacrifice will be the glory of those who, as the fruit of it, will live through the eternal ages. 

As we approach the transition from ministry in this world to the experience of ministry with Jesus after His second coming, let us realize our continual need of Jesus to do any good thing so that He may manifest through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing--the inevitable effect of living by faith on the Son of God!

[Sean James]

In this world of chaos, what will endure? "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away" (Luke 21:33), is what Jesus said. Let us realize our continual need to abide in Jesus so we can realize the times we are living in and not only live ready, but help others to be living in readiness for Jesus' coming SO SOON!

Everything in the world is in agitation. The signs of the times are ominous. Coming events cast their shadows before. The Spirit of God is withdrawing from the earth, and calamity follows calamity by sea and by land. There are tempests, earthquakes, fires, floods, murders of every grade. Who can read the future? Where is security? There is assurance in nothing that is human or earthly. Rapidly are men ranging themselves under the banner they have chosen. Restlessly are they waiting and watching the movements of their leaders. There are those who are waiting and watching and working for our Lord's appearing. Another class are falling into line under the generalship of the first great apostate. Few believe with heart and soul that we have a hell to shun and a heaven to win. 

Let us choose this day to serve Christ, and continue to walk with Him by grace through faith! Then the result of having received a new heart and a new mind is that all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing! Gladly will we affectionately obey God's law of love--the definition of freedom!

[Sean James]

Let us allow the love of Christ to flow through us. His perfect love casts our fear, but that same love abiding in the soul leads us to fear God and give glory to Him for we are in the time of the judgment, and all decisions of character pend on how we treat others--a revelation of how we treat God in the person of "the least of these." Each soul is worth an infinite price, for Jesus paid for us with an infinite sacrifice on Calvary. Now, abiding in Jesus, we are constrained to forward to reveal the light of His love manifest in all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as Christ abides in our souls, the hope of glory!

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.

Only in Christ can we live out His unselfish life. In Christ there is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit and lives a life completely consecrated to God! May we allow heaven to truly begin in the soul as we choose Jesus continually!

[Sean James]

What a joy it is to let Christ live out His life in us. Only as we behold Him and yield continually to Him will all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing be manifest in our lives. The new heart and new mind given us in conversion are really the outflow of the new will--the power of decision that we have allowed God to cleanse by His blood and sanctify by His divine Spirit so we may continually choose and DO the will of God even as Jesus did in His sphere of service, as we serve God in the unique sphere where He has placed us!

In His life and lessons, Christ has given a perfect exemplification of the unselfish ministry which has its origin in God. God does not live for Himself. By creating the world, and by upholding all things, He is constantly ministering for others. "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matthew 5:45. This ideal of ministry God has committed to His Son. Jesus was given to stand at the head of humanity, that by His example He might teach what it means to minister. His whole life was under a law of service. He served all, ministered to all. Thus He lived the law of God, and by His example showed how we are to obey it.   

Continual communion with God establishes so close a relation between Jesus and His disciple that we become like Him whom we adore. The world needs now a living revelation of the loveliness of Jesus, that all may see His grace is powerful enough to keep repentant sinners transformed into saints upheld from the pull of sin by living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!

[Sean James]

What are we looking for?

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." John 14:27. 

The greatest longing of the soul is for true peace. The only true peace we can have comes from abiding in Jesus, believing that His blood has power to cleanse us from every stain of sin, and allowing the Holy Spirit to renew and transform our hearts and minds to be imbued with the personal presence of Jesus, whereby not only peace, but all of the fruits of the Spirit (without one missing) will be manifest in our lives truly converted!