The Glory of God

[Sean James]

What was the foundation of Christ's kingdom? Loving service that flows from God's heart to all! He invites us to yield fully to Him so that the Holy Spirit can manifest through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Then we can gladly serve others because we trust God who provides for our needs!

Christ was establishing a kingdom on different principles. He called men, not to authority, but to service, the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed their possessor under the greater obligation to serve his fellows. To even the lowliest of Christ's disciples it is said, "All things are for your sakes." 2 Corinthians 4:15.

Let us allow Christ to establish His kingdom in our hearts and then we can be truly happy as we go forth to bless others!

[Sean James]

What is a great miracle? The true, thorough conversion of a soul! What seems impossible to us, God makes possible! True conversion brings all of the fruits of the Spirit into the life without one missing as the truly repentant soul gladly obeys God's law of love up to the light revealed in His word and the gracious counsel the Holy Spirit sends!

When the rich young ruler had turned away from Jesus, the disciples had marveled at their Master's saying, "How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" They had exclaimed one to another, "Who then can be saved?" Now they had a demonstration of the truth of Christ's words, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." Mark 10:24, 26; Luke 18:27. They saw how, through the grace of God, a rich man could enter into the kingdom.

If grace can change a sinner into a saint, then it means God's grace can change each of us! Let us allow the grace of God to work in us as we behold the loveliness of Jesus and trust His power to fully make us like Him so we can stand faithful now and each day in preparation for His soon return. Nothing is too hard for God--oh, let us yield up the full heart to Him and become like Jesus by spending time with Jesus!

[Sean James]

Are you too sinful be saved?

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. 
   
No one is too sinful to be saved--come to Christ just as you are, and let Him transform your heart and mind as you yield your will to Him by choosing Christ as your personal Lord and Savior! He will fill you with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as you abide in His infinite love, moving you in deep ardent affectionate love to obey Him who first loved you! What a miracle the experience of salvation is from Jesus!

[Sean James]

How does Jesus feel about this precious world that He created, so soon to face the seven last plagues? We can gain insight into how Jesus feels about this world by understanding His feelings about Jerusalem that would be destroyed. Jesus years over the lost....He hungers to save all, but His love will never force an entrance. He calls and woos us so we can come to Him and be saved.

Jerusalem had been the child of His care, and as a tender father mourns over a wayward son, so Jesus wept over the beloved city. How can I give thee up? How can I see thee devoted to destruction? Must I let thee go to fill up the cup of thine iniquity? One soul is of such value that, in comparison with it, worlds sink into insignificance; but here was a whole nation to be lost. When the fast westering sun should pass from sight in the heavens, Jerusalem's day of grace would be ended. While the procession was halting on the brow of Olivet, it was not yet too late for Jerusalem to repent. The angel of mercy was then folding her wings to step down from the golden throne to give place to justice and swift-coming judgment. But Christ's great heart of love still pleaded for Jerusalem, that had scorned His mercies, despised His warnings, and was about to imbrue her hands in His blood. If Jerusalem would but repent, it was not yet too late. While the last rays of the setting sun were lingering on temple, tower, and pinnacle, would not some good angel lead her to the Saviour's love, and avert her doom? Beautiful and unholy city, that had stoned the prophets, that had rejected the Son of God, that was locking herself by her impenitence in fetters of bondage,--her day of mercy was almost spent!

So it is in our world. The day of mercy is almost spent. Souls are still making decisions for Christ as probationary time still lingers, but we do not know how much longer the Lord will tarry before He comes in power and great glory at the apex of the seven last plagues (see Revelation 16). We can praise God that He will help us appreciate His unselfish character and walk by grace through faith in true salvation from sin and self to abide in Christ so He can manifest through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Gladly Christ will save us by empowering us to obey Him from the new heart He gives us in true conversion! Then the sorrow He feels over the impenitence and sin in the world is lightened one soul at a time as He feels joy over one sinner who repents!

[Sean James]

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. 

[Sean James]

Let us allow Jesus to give us true conversion!!

The first four of the Ten Commandments are summed up in the one great precept, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." The last six are included in the other, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Both these commandments are an expression of the principle of love. The first cannot be kept and the second broken, nor can the second be kept while the first is broken. When God has His rightful place on the throne of the heart, the right place will be given to our neighbor. We shall love him as ourselves. And only as we love God supremely is it possible to love our neighbor impartially.

God is faithful to save us in His love!

[Sean James]

Do you need pure motives? Jesus offers us His motives--love for God, zeal for His glory and love for people who need salvation so that the lives we live will reflect His true character. Only as we come to Christ in simple faith like a little child are we enabled to become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust so we can gladly be filled with all of the fruit of the Spirit without one missing! Jesus lives in the converted heart and empowers us to obey Him in self-sacrificing love!

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. 

When we have Jesus' selflessness at work in us, there is no limit to what He can do with our lives! Let us be joyful in His will for us to be a blessing to others and further the work of God, just like how the widow gave her all!

[Sean James]

Let us behold Jesus and abide in His love continually! His death on Calvary is the very center of our hope and the ground of our salvation! We can rejoice now as if we were already in heaven, for Satan is defeated and Christ is soon to return! Even the trials God allows in this life and all that Satan intends for evil God overrules for good because He so loves us, and we thus enabled to love Him who first loved us! What a joy to surrender the whole heart to Christ and have the miracle of conversion bring love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance in all righteousness, goodness and truth--without one trait of the divine nature missing from our experience of abiding in Christ! When we abide in Christ true obedience from the heart up to all the light shining upon us is our highest delight because we have a loving Savior who leads the way to heaven!

"Now is the judgment of this world," Christ continued; "now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die." This is the crisis of the world. If I become the propitiation for the sins of men, the world will be lighted up. Satan's hold upon the souls of men will be broken. The defaced image of God will be restored in humanity, and a family of believing saints will finally inherit the heavenly home. This is the result of Christ's death. The Saviour is lost in contemplation of the scene of triumph called up before Him. He sees the cross, the cruel, ignominious cross, with all its attending horrors, blazing with glory.

As we learn to "glory in the cross" in this life, we are preparing for the better world, where the cross of Christ will be our science and our song. The song of Moses and the Lamb begins here as we worship God in Spirit and in truth and learn an experience that even angels cannot fully know, but the experience that begins here spans eternity! Will you learn to sing it?

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!! Jesus is coming soon! The simple and yet profound reality is that we are almost home to heaven! All that the word of God prophesies to take place preceding Christ's return is LITERALLY happening, and now is the time to be WIDE AWAKE to present the present truth for this time in a true conversion experience with Christ whereby all of the fruits the Spirit are manifest in our lives without one missing as we gladly obey God's law of love from the heart!

Solemnly there come to us down through the centuries the warning words of our Lord from the Mount of Olives: "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."

When Christ returns we will be so thankful for how He led us by His word and helped us to navigate away from the pitfalls that Satan intended to use to snare us away from the eternal world that is assured in Christ to all who allow the Holy Spirit to transform the character into the image of His purity!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!! God's love will flow in our hearts as we abide in Jesus, and in turn this will flow to others in selflessness! Let us rejoice in the Lord and walk by grace through

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.
     
As we abide in Jesus, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing. No good thing will Jesus withhold from them that walk uprightly! As we gladly obey Christ up to the light that He has revealed to us, we can walk in the path that will best bless others!

[Sean James]

Where does true happiness come from? It is the result of holiness experienced by doing what Jesus says!

As they come to this ordinance, the children of God should bring to remembrance the words of the Lord of life and glory: "Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." There is in man a disposition to esteem himself more highly than his brother, to work for self, to seek the highest place; and often this results in evil surmisings and bitterness of spirit. The ordinance preceding the Lord's Supper is to clear away these misunderstandings, to bring man out of his selfishness, down from his stilts of self-exaltation, to the humility of heart that will lead him to serve his brother.

As we gladly serve one another by inviting Jesus into our hearts by a complete surrender, we grow in the spirit of selfless love whereby all of the fruits of the Spirit are in the character in true conversion! Thus we can rejoice in the Lord always and walk by grace through faith in His promises because He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him! May you gladly obey God's law of love from the heart today because Christ lives in you, the hope of glory!

[Sean James]

What is important to remember? The expiatory sufferings of Christ and His love for us. That is why a realization of His grace has the power to change a sinner into a saint so we can overcome in Him with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as long as we are abiding in Jesus! Then we are empowered to obey God from the heart up the light He has revealed on our path!

These are the things we are never to forget. The love of Jesus, with its constraining power, is to be kept fresh in our memory. Christ has instituted this service that it may speak to our senses of the love of God that has been expressed in our behalf. There can be no union between our souls and God except through Christ. The union and love between brother and brother must be cemented and rendered eternal by the love of Jesus. And nothing less than the death of Christ could make His love efficacious for us. It is only because of His death that we can look with joy to His second coming. His sacrifice is the center of our hope. Upon this we must fix our faith. 

As our faith is fixed on Jesus, anchored in His character, we are empowered to do His will and reflect His loveliness to those who need to see a living Savior at work in and through us!

[Sean James]

Where is Jesus lifting our focus? He points us to the enduring realities of heaven! No matter how trying life is here, and no matter what trials we are called to endure, we have an eternal home in the heavens and the promise of Jesus' presence with us through all our experience. What a song that will give us--the song of Moses and the Lamb as our experience on the way to heaven! What a blessing it is to anchor in His word and praise God CONSTANTLY NO MATTER WHAT!!!

But the Saviour's words to them were full of hope. He knew that they were to be assailed by the enemy, and that Satan's craft is most successful against those who are depressed by difficulties. Therefore He pointed them away from "the things which are seen," to "the things which are not seen." 2 Corinthians 4:18. From earthly exile He turned their thoughts to the heavenly home.

Jesus is coming again, and He offers us the promises we need to encourage us to look up to Him incessantly! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives as long as we are abiding in Christ in complete surrender to Him! Gladly we are empowered to obey Him from the heart renewed by divine grace!

[Sean James]

Let us look upon our Heavenly Father who suffered with Jesus in Gethsemane as His Son contemplated the enormity of the sacrifice to save us from eternal ruin. Only as we reflect more on the great love wherewith He has loved us can we find true motivation to overcome sin as we recognize how horrible an experience it was for Jesus to die for our sins and be separated from the Father on account of it. As our whole heart is yielded to Jesus, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing as we gladly learn to obey God from the heart!

But God suffered with His Son. Angels beheld the Saviour's agony. They saw their Lord enclosed by legions of satanic forces, His nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread. There was silence in heaven. No harp was touched. Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin. 

Jesus has the power to give us victory, and contemplating His immense struggle is so helpful when we are feeling the effects of the great struggle we all go through in the great controversy between Christ and Satan. We need to look and live, and in abiding in Jesus, walk in the victory He paid so much for in order for us to have it! Let us value the infinite love of Jesus and walk in true obedience from the heart!

[Sean James]

We need to keep looking to Jesus and the long-range reality of His victory over Satan by living a victorious experience in the trials he faced leading up to His crucifixion.

The angels of God faithfully recorded every insulting look, word, and act against their beloved Commander. One day the base men who scorned and spat upon the calm, pale face of Christ will look upon it in its glory, shining brighter than the sun.

When we look upon Christ and His grace upholds us to walk in His victory, there is joy in His presence because we are walking in harmony with His word! Christ's sacrifice of patience under the unjust farce of a trial is a powerful witness to us to walk in Christ's character amid the greatest trials He allows us to face! Look on Jesus constantly and let Him guide us! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives as we are in constant surrender to Christ as our Lord and Savior! Affectionately obeying God is the reality of experience all can have in constant union and communion with Jesus!