The Glory of God

[Sean]

Love heals hearts that are wounded by selfishness. Only Jesus abiding in the heart gives true conversion, true rest and strength to resist evil and ever go forth to bless others in His appointed way! Let us allow Jesus to be all to us and to see each of the people around us as those whom He loves with infinite compassion and pity.

The way to dispel darkness is to admit light. The best way to deal with error is to present truth. It is the revelation of God's love that makes manifest the deformity and sin of the heart centered in self.   

When we turn our minds off of self onto Christ, we experience supernatural healing; grace changes us and heals our souls so we can go forth to bless others wherein we have been comforted of God.

[Sean]

Why did Jesus not try to overthrow the government? The cure needs to reach the heart. Only Christ can change the heart from sin to selflessness, and bring lasting change to lives that will manifest all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing and obey God affectionately, keeping all of the Ten Commandments!

    The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,--extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart. 

The new heart is the miracle Christ offers us, and that enables us to be the change in the world that is so needed now as Jesus is coming soon, so others' hearts can be reached! "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Are you willing to open the whole heart to Christ so His kingdom can be established in your life?

[Sean]

Let us make Jesus look as good as possible! He is wonderful to all of us and has grace to guide us in winning children and youth to Him! After all, we all are children of God and He loves to have us come to Him in whole-heart surrender to be ready for heaven! Such a true conversion experience brings all of the fruits of the Spirit into the life without one missing as we gladly obey God from a new heart and live to bless others!

As you win their confidence in you as followers of Christ, it will be easy to teach them of the great love wherewith He has loved us. As you try to make plain the truths of salvation, and point the children to Christ as a personal Saviour, angels will be by your side. The Lord will give to fathers and mothers grace to interest their little ones in the precious story of the Babe of Bethlehem, who is indeed the hope of the world.   

Only Jesus can make us happy, and He loves to create happy marriages and happy children who compose happy homes that are getting ready to be in the happiness of heaven! Let us look away from the sinful allurements of this life and look to the enduring joy that Jesus offers us when He comes again!

[Sean]

Why did Jesus weep at the grave of Lazarus? "Jesus wept" (John 11:35), and yet His grief was not for the man He was about to resurrect, but for something much deeper. There may be times in our lives when our sorrow and tears go far beyond the present circumstances, and Jesus understands all this.

It was not only because of the scene before Him that Christ wept. The weight of the grief of ages was upon Him. He saw the terrible effects of the transgression of God's law. He saw that in the history of the world, beginning with the death of Abel, the conflict between good and evil had been unceasing. Looking down the years to come, He saw the suffering and sorrow, tears and death, that were to be the lot of men. His heart was pierced with the pain of the human family of all ages and in all lands. The woes of the sinful race were heavy upon His soul, and the fountain of His tears was broken up as He longed to relieve all their distress. 

Christ longs to convert every heart and make us new in Him so all of the fruits of the Spirit will be manifest in our lives without one missing as we gladly obey God from the new heart offered us by grace through faith so we can develop a character after the divine similitude.

[Sean]

How long will the world be able to endure the character of Christ reproduced in humanity? We have a parallel in the earthly life of Jesus to what is taking place in our world today and among God's people. When Christ's character is perfectly reproduced, not only will persecution be stirred up against them in a final death decree in the enforcement of Sunday laws, but God will intervene to deliver His people who will live through the time of trouble without a mediator because they have become complete in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Such a ripening, maturing experience of the character the universe is waiting to see, and God yearns to bring it about in us. Christ's perfect character was opposed because His sinless life condemned the selfish, sinful course of those who were going their own way against the clear evidence of the word of God and the life of Jesus. Praise God for His grace to save us and to restore us into Him image, so we are NEW creatures in Christ when the whole heart is yielded to Him as He supernaturally produces in us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we are enabled to endure whatever trials God allows us to face in preparation for Christ's glorious second coming.
 
Jesus had now given three years of public labor to the world. His example of self-denial and disinterested benevolence was before them. His life of purity, of suffering and devotion, was known to all. Yet this short period of three years was as long as the world could endure the presence of its Redeemer.

Jesus is coming again, and He is preparing us for His coming! Even as He prepares a place for us in heaven, so He is also bringing us as a loving Shepherd through what is needful to strengthen us to face what is coming on our world. We are His witnesses of His loveliness as we grow in His grace and love!

[Sean]

When you are making big decisions, it is important to know that God gives you freedom to think and act in harmony with His law of love. True freedom is always found in obedience to God out of love for the One who first loved us. How we develop character and grow in His grace is a unique unfolding of life principles in day to day application similar to the development of a tree that will bear fruit--even the fruit of the Spirit without one missing! Affectionately obeying God in the way He leads brings true happiness!

In matters of conscience the soul must be left untrammeled. No one is to control another's mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty. God gives to every soul freedom to think, and to follow his own convictions. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." No one has a right to merge his own individuality in that of another. In all matters where principle is involved, "let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Romans 14:12, 5. In Christ's kingdom there is no lordly oppression, no compulsion of manner. The angels of heaven do not come to the earth to rule, and to exact homage, but as messengers of mercy, to co-operate with men in uplifting humanity.   

God does not force, but He helps us understand that to resist His love and to choose the way of sin only leads to death, for He alone is the source of life. Once we choose to fully surrender to Christ, the new heart He gives us is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and He loves to guide us in the path of true happiness where the unique talents and abilities He has given us can be the greatest blessing!

[Sean]

Praise the Lord for genuine repentance that comes from Jesus! Living by faith on Christ as a personal Savior, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be manifest in our lives without one missing as we are empowered to obey God from the new heart of faith working by love!

It is when Christ is received as a personal Saviour that salvation comes to the soul. Zacchaeus had received Jesus, not merely as a passing guest in his home, but as One to abide in the soul temple. The scribes and Pharisees accused him as a sinner, they murmured against Christ for becoming his guest, but the Lord recognized him as a son of Abraham. For "they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Galatians 3:7. 

Let us look continually upon Christ and walk in the present truth for this time--the proclamation of the Three Angels' messages of Revelation 14 to prepare the world for the close of probation, the seven last plagues, and Jesus' glorious second coming to take those who are truly converted and walking in truth home to heaven with Him to enjoy the bliss of eternal fellowship with God and all who love Him!

[Sean James]

You don't know. When you look at others, you do not know the circumstances that shaped their experience, and in Christ's dealing with Mary and Simon we see a profound lesson of compassion, pity and longsuffering love that has the power to lead even the most hardened sinner to repentance and transformation. Let us choose to love people the way Christ did--always manifesting mercy without sacrificing justice, for He Himself became our Sin-Bearer and offers us His grace to overcome. When we yield the whole heart to His miraculous, converting grace, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be manifest in our lives, for Christ abides in us, the hope of glory, as He empowers us to obey His commandments from the heart!

Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. You may say, I am sinful, very sinful. You may be; but the worse you are, the more you need Jesus. He turns no weeping, contrite one away. He does not tell to any all that He might reveal, but He bids every trembling soul take courage. Freely will He pardon all who come to Him for forgiveness and restoration. 
 
Let us come to Christ, just as we are, and invite all others to do the same. Only in Him and through Him and by Him is there power and pardon to find victory over sin in a moment-by-moment union and communion of our souls with Christ that enables us to do His will, no matter how far we fell into sin! Let us really believe God loves us and means to do us good, and go forth on missions of mercy to bless others, even as Jesus did!

[Sean]

Why did Jesus allow the crowd to hail Him as King and proclaim "Hosanna" as He rode into Jerusalem?

Christ knew the triumphal entry would lead the minds of those who would behold it then and in future time to the sacrifice He was to make at Calvary to save the world from sin. And He longed for all to come to Him and experience His salvation so freely offered!

Never before had the world seen such a triumphal procession. It was not like that of the earth's famous conquerors. No train of mourning captives, as trophies of kingly valor, made a feature of that scene. But about the Saviour were the glorious trophies of His labors of love for sinful man. There were the captives whom He had rescued from Satan's power, praising God for their deliverance. The blind whom He had restored to sight were leading the way. The dumb whose tongues He had loosed shouted the loudest hosannas. The cripples whom He had healed bounded with joy, and were the most active in breaking the palm branches and waving them before the Saviour. Widows and orphans were exalting the name of Jesus for His works of mercy to them. The lepers whom He had cleansed spread their untainted garments in His path, and hailed Him as the King of glory. Those whom His voice had awakened from the sleep of death were in that throng. Lazarus, whose body had seen corruption in the grave, but who now rejoiced in the strength of glorious manhood, led the beast on which the Saviour rode. 

When Christ offers us a gift--an experience of beholding Him--He has good things in store for us. He knows how to grow us in His grace and restore us into His image; when the whole heart is surrendered to Christ and all of the fruits of the Spirit come into the life without one missing, Christ empowers us to affectionately obey Him from the new heart He gives us! What a joy it is to live in harmony with Him, not only thankful for His deliverance from sin in our lives but deeply appreciating His death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, for He is there our High Priest ministering in the heavenly sanctuary and is soon to return to take all who abide in Him in truth home to heaven!

[Sean]

When we realize how sinful and helpless we really are, we come to trust in Christ who can create in us a clean heart and keep us from falling into sin. Only He can imbue us with the unselfish character of heaven in which all of the fruits of the Spirit are manifest without one missing! We are then embowered to gladly obey God in ministering to Him and others because it is our highest delight to do God's service! 

The warning is for all time. Christ's act in cursing the tree which His own power had created stands as a warning to all churches and to all Christians. No one can live the law of God without ministering to others. But there are many who do not live out Christ's merciful, unselfish life. Some who think themselves excellent Christians do not understand what constitutes service for God. They plan and study to please themselves. They act only in reference to self. Time is of value to them only as they can gather for themselves. In all the affairs of life this is their object. Not for others but for themselves do they minister. God created them to live in a world where unselfish service must be performed. He designed them to help their fellow men in every possible way. But self is so large that they cannot see anything else. They are not in touch with humanity. Those who thus live for self are like the fig tree, which made every pretension but was fruitless. They observe the forms of worship, but without repentance or faith. In profession they honor the law of God, but obedience is lacking. They say, but do not. In the sentence pronounced on the fig tree Christ demonstrates how hateful in His eyes is this vain pretense. He declares that the open sinner is less guilty than is he who professes to serve God, but who bears no fruit to His glory. 

The only way to bear fruit is to be connected to the One who gives us His all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we abide in Him and grow in grace and strength!

[Sean]

Who is leading? And who is building a temple that will never be destroyed?

  In infinite wisdom, God chose the foundation stone, and laid it Himself. He called it "a sure foundation." The entire world may lay upon it their burdens and griefs; it can endure them all. With perfect safety they may build upon it. Christ is a "tried stone." Those who trust in Him, He never disappoints. He has borne every test. He has endured the pressure of Adam's guilt, and the guilt of his posterity, and has come off more than conqueror of the powers of evil. He has borne the burdens cast upon Him by every repenting sinner. In Christ the guilty heart has found relief. He is the sure foundation. All who make Him their dependence rest in perfect security.

God laid upon Jesus all our iniquities; now we can yield the whole heart to Him to cleanse and purify, so all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing may be manifest in our lives as we are empowered to affectionately obey God from the new heart! Then each of us get to be living stones as part of His temple that will endure throughout eternity--a living building of souls who uniquely reflect the loveliness of Jesus because we have Him in our hearts and build upon Him as our sure foundation! Would you like Jesus to be your sure foundation? Surrender all you have and are to Him and let Him lead you in building a character in union and communion with the Holy Spirit that will endure by His grace forever!

[Sean]

Happy Sabbath! Let’s cooperate with Jesus in His miraculous plan for our lives! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be manifest in our lives as we live up to every known statute His word reveals because we love Hin who first loved us!! Praise the Lord for His grace and patience with us as He grows that experience in our lives by the Holy Spirit! “God is love” (1 John 4:16).

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.

God desires to bless you beyond what you can ask or think! Yield the whole heart to Him, commune with Him in His word, and walk by faith in His perfect will! 😊

[Sean]

Love wins!! Jesus’ love in the heart is so powerful that we can have His motives, thoughts, feelings, impulses and actions propelling us and as many others as possible to heaven! That’s the love that moved the widow to give her all to God’s service!!

It is the motive that gives character to our acts, stamping them with ignominy or with high moral worth. Not the great things which every eye sees and every tongue praises does God account most precious. The little duties cheerfully done, the little gifts which make no show, and which to human eyes may appear worthless, often stand highest in His sight. A heart of faith and love is dearer to God than the most costly gift. The poor widow gave her living to do the little that she did. She deprived herself of food in order to give those two mites to the cause she loved. And she did it in faith, believing that her heavenly Father would not overlook her great need. It was this unselfish spirit and childlike faith that won the Saviour’s commendation.

Let’s invite Jesus into our hearts to recreate them into the image of His selflessness—all the fruits of the Spirit without one missing—as He empowers us to obey God’s law of love continually!

[Sean]

Praise the Lord, for the goodness of God leads us to repentance and also helps protect the universe from sin ever arising again! Look upon Jesus at Calvary and experience the power of His grace to transform a sinner into a saint and keep such a one from falling by the power of the Holy Spirit! Such a divine miracle brings with it all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in the life that God leads in true obedience in the commandments of God!

But the work of human redemption is not all that is accomplished by the cross. The love of God is manifested to the universe. The prince of this world is cast out. The accusations which Satan has brought against God are refuted. The reproach which he has cast upon heaven is forever removed. Angels as well as men are drawn to the Redeemer. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth," He said, "will draw all unto Me." 

God is drawing all--let's all yield the whole heart to Christ so He can do more than we can ask or think in and through us for His glory!

[Sean]

Where can we find peace in this turbulent world? Only in Christ, and only in complete surrender of all we have and are to Him!

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 look away from self to Jesus, by beholding to become changed into Christ's image and overcome with all of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives without one missing as we affectionately obey God from the new heart offered us in Christ!