Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Paul, The Master-builder - By Pastor C. R. Stam


 In I Corinthians 3:10, the Apostle Paul declares by divine inspiration:

    “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise [instructed] master-builder, I have laid the foundation,and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”

In what sense was Paul the master-builder of the Church, and what “foundation” did he lay? Did he not himself say that “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ”? Yes, he did — and in this very passage! He sought to lay no other foundation than Christ, but God had chosen him to proclaim Christ in a new way.

Some years previous our Lord had asked His disciples: “Whom say ye that I am”, and Peter had instantly replied: “Thou art the Christ [Messiah], the Son of the living God” (Matt.16:16). This is how believers in general had recognized Him at that time (John 1:49; 6:69; 11:27; 20:31). Indeed, the Messianic kingdom was to be established upon Christ as God’s anointed Son (Messiah means “anointed”).

But with the raising up of Paul, God began to form “the Church which is Christ’s body” (Eph.1:22,23; Col. 1:24,25). This is the Church of today, and it is founded, not on Christ as King, but as the exalted Lord and Head of the “one body” (ICor.12:13).

Paul does not present Christ as Messiah, but as Lord. In Romans 10:9 he declares:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as LORD, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Again in I Corinthians 12:3: “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit”. And again in Philippians 2:9-11, he declares that God has highly exalted Christ and given Him a name above every name, “that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

Have you confessed Him as your Lord and Saviour?


Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Monday, May 25, 2015

Quietness and Assurance - By Ike T. Sidebottom



The world is in chaos and disturbance. Doubt and anxiety is manifested among the multitudes. Even the seasoned saints are not always confident and quiet before the Lord.

How can the human heart have "quietness and assurance" in the midst of worldwide disorder? God answers our question in the language of our text.

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever" (Isaiah 32:17).

Such righteousness must be imparted to us from God through His Son, Jesus Christ. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6), but His righteousness is perfect, and brings to the trusting soul peace, quietness and assurance.

 
The heavenly Father wants us to have His peace and glorify His name through a quiet and confident life of faith.
Our Gentile Fathers

had their opportunity to know God and to glorify His name, but they refused to do so; and "their foolish heart was darkened" (Romans 1:18-23). Wherefore:

"God gave them up to uncleanness" (Romans 1:24).

"God gave them up to vile affections" (Romans 1:26).

"God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Romans 1:28).

The moral and spiritual apostasy into which they drifted is pictured in Romans 1, verses 29 to 32, Read these verses and see the Gentile world "guilty before God." What About the Jew?

He is no better. The Jews had the advantage in every way: "Chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles, of God" (Romans 3:l-2). However, "We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, they are all under sin" (Romans 3:9).

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19).

The Gentile's mouth having been "stopped" by his guilt as revealed in Romans 1:18-32, and God's perfect law having "stopped" the mouth of the Jew, who was under the law, "every mouth" was stopped and "all the world" became "guilty before God."

"What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit" (Romans 8:3-4).

The law was never given that men should be made righteous by their own good works; on the other hand, God gave the law that man might have a scriptural "knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

"As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." Why is this true? Because "It is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:21-22).

God's perfect law demanded more than fallen man could deliver. That is why the "righteousness of God without the law is manifested, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (Romans 3:21-22).

This very righteousness of God is imparted to every one who is really trusting in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. God the Father "made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

O blessed truth! Marvelous grace.
God's dear Son has taken my place.
In His own body He bore all my sin.
Now I am infinitely righteous in Him.
"Full Assurance"

 is used three times over in the Word:

"The full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22).

"The full assurance of understanding" (Colossians 2:2).

"The full assurance of hope" (Hebrews 6:11).

"Full assurance of faith" was exercised by Paul when he said, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). We cannot exercise faith without knowing it. If we have faith in the soundness of the bank in which we deposit our money, that faith gives us confidence concerning the safety of our deposit and we feel at ease about it.

The one reason why so many believers lack the "full assurance of faith" is due to their lack of knowledge and understanding of the scriptures. Once the believer thoroughly understands the revealed facts upon which his safety in Christ is resting, he becomes quiet and confident about his soul's salvation.

"The full assurance of understanding" means a spiritual understanding of at least
Seven Outstanding Facts

upon which the believer's safety and security rests.

1.   The finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary for our sins. He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). On the day of His resurrection, "By His own blood He entered in once into the Holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews 9:12). See 1 John 5:11-13.

2.   The present work of Christ at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He is the believer's "Advocate with the Father" (1 John 2:1). When we sin He represents us, pleading His own blood for our forgiveness.

3.   The Father's faithfulness to His Son in answer to His prayer. The Son prayed, "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me" (John 17:11). We know that the Father heard this prayer (John 11:42); therefore, we know He must grant the petition (1 John 5:14-15).

4.   The specific promises of God have been made and He cannot lie. He has spoken concerning His own, saying, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish" (John 10:27-28). See also Philippians 1:6 and Romans 8:31-39.

5.   The choice of God the Father could not have been a blunder on his part. We are told that all the saved people of this age were "chosen" in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-4). We were chosen to fit into that "holy temple" of Ephesians 2:19-22. Do you think He would build us into the structure and then have to tear us out?

6.   The sealing of the Holy Spirit was "until" a specified time; namely, the "redemption of the purchased possession" (Ephesians 1:13-14). The saint, or saved person, is sealed by the Holy Spirit the moment he is saved. That moment he becomes the purchased property of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The seal of the Spirit is God's mark of ownership upon the saint until he is redeemed or taken in body and soul into God's glory.

7.   The believer's union with Christ is such that could never be broken. God, Himself, adds each believer to the Lord (Acts 5:14 with I Cor. 12:13 and 27), and "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it, or anything taken from it" (Ecclesiastes 3:14)."The church, which is the body of Christ," is an organism, like a human body; and not an organization, like a legislative body (1 Corinthians 12:12). Each saved person has been baptized, by the Holy Spirit, into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13) and is an essential member of that organism (Ephesians 5:29-30).

God tells us how He adds His blood bought children to the church of the one body; but He doesn't say anything about taking a disobedient child out of that body. Just one missing member, in the day of our glorification, would violate the truth set forth in Ephesians 5:25-27.

"The full assurance of hope" can never be realized apart from faith and understanding. Hope has to do with the unseen future (Romans 8:24-25).

In Hebrews 6:10-12, the believer is admonished to minister diligently "unto the end," and follow "them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

In Colossians 1:24-27 the believers are reminded of Paul's "sufferings" for them and for "His body's sake, which is the church." He declared this dispensation to be a mystery, which had been "hid from ages and from generations." Then He makes it clear that God, who gave him the mystery was through him, making it "manifest to His saints." God wants the saints to know the "glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which, is Christ in you, the hope of glory." This hope will be realized when our Lord calls for the "church which is His body."

Let us not get our "hope" mixed with that of Israel or that of the Bride. Our hope is not resting upon the "promises made unto the fathers;" because this dispensation was hid from past ages and generations. We are not holding out to "the end." We are waiting for the glory. Keep looking up! He may come for us any moment.

Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for righteousness, the work of which is peace, and the effect of which is "quietness and assurance for ever."

How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
ead Acts 16L31 Romans 1:16, and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Sunday, May 24, 2015

JUDGMENT IN THE KINGDOM CHURCH - By the late Pastor Bob Hanna




Scripture Reading: Acts 5: I-II

We who are saved and are living in the age of the dispensation of the grace of God---we who are sons and heirs of God, secure and heaven-bound---can hardly conceive the magnitude of our liberty and blessings. As members of the Church which is the Body of Christ we will never experience those things identified with the kingdom church. But we are shown a foretaste of the form of judgment to be rendered in the Messianic kingdom---swift and sure, irreversible and final.

Ananias and Sapphira desired the best of two worlds, to "have their cake and eat it." Peter's declaration that, "Thou conceived this thing in thine heart" leaves no doubt that the offense was a deliberately planned plot to become respected and admired for their philanthropy while partaking of the apparently idyllic way of life enjoyed by the communal church.

The temptation of material gain is the undoing of many a mortal soul. But in the case of these two deceivers it brought on a dramatic demonstration of kingdom judgment, which deals neither with hesitation or indecision. Ananias and Sapphira were guilty of sin and were therefore immediately punished for commission of that sin.

You and I, as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, are not under this economy of kingdom judgment but under grace. Kingdom judgment is according to prophecy: "And He shall rule them with a rod of iron ..." (Revelation 19:15.) But our church "was kept secret since the world began" (Romans 16:25).


Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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REST, AND REJOICE! - By Miles Stanford


 "Rejoice in the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4).

 Exhaustive effort brings home the necessity of strengthening rest. The believer will not be ready to enter into his spiritual rest until he is utterly worn out by his unsuccessful efforts to conquer sin and the old man. There is no rest for the "wretched man" of Romans 7--that struggle must lead to the rest of Romans 8.

"Grace is sufficient for favorable circumstances, but they are by far the most trying (spiritually) to the believer. There is an easy way of going on in worldliness, and there is nothing more sad than the quiet comfortable Christian going on day by day, apart from dependence upon the Lord.



How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Saturday, May 23, 2015

The Riches Of God - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam



The Riches Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam 
 
Some years ago there came to this country a very poor young man. He found a job in the timber lands of Wisconsin. Being industrious he gradually accumulated some timber acreage of his own. Soon be began to prosper, and after a few years he invested in a lumber milling industry. It was not long after that until he owned more than one mill. This led him to expand into northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Before long he was very rich, investing in timber acreage in the far northwest and eventually owning valuable land by the thousands of acres, the very finest timber in the country. At the time of his death neither he nor his relatives nor friends knew what he was worth financially, so wealthy had he become.

When the time came for him to die, however, he could not take one cent of his riches with him, for as I Timothy 6:7 says: “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”

It seems difficult for most men to learn that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). They close their ears to the words of wisdom spoken by our Lord:
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal” (Matthew 6:19, 20).
The truest, most lasting riches of all are referred to in II Corinthians 8:9 where the Apostle Paul says:
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.”
And these riches may be had by faith — by accepting them as a gift, for “the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Video Archive - Les Feldick Bible Study


How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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FULNESS OF JOY - by C. R. Stam


    About 3,000 years ago David wrote in Psalm 16:11: "...In Thy presence is fulness of joy...."  He was right, for there is no greater joy than personal fellowship with God.  Yet David could not know the fulness of joy now spoken of in Paul's epistles, for he did not know Christ, who later came into the world as God, manifested in the flesh, to die for our sins.  He did not know that Christ would make full satisfaction for sin and be raised from the dead to confirm our justification. Nor did David know that believers would be given Christ's resurrection life, and a position, and "all spiritual blessings IN THE HEAVENLIES in Christ" (Ephesians 2:4-6; 1:3).

When Paul wrote that God has called believers "unto the fellowship of His Son", he referred to a spiritual, heavenly fellowship, far more intimate and precious than any previously enjoyed by mortal man. This fellowship is to be enjoyed by faith, but it is faith based on fact, the fact that Christ indeed died our death and rose again from the dead that we might partake of His life and enjoy a position at God's right hand in Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul urges believers of this dispensation of grace to "seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).

Peter and John both came to know much of this fellowship through Paul, who was sent to Jerusalem "by revelation" to make known to the leaders there "THAT GOSPEL WHICH I PREACH AMONG THE GENTILES" (See Galatians 2:2-9; II Peter 3:15-18). This is why John writes in I John 1:3,4: "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL". 


Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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The Power Of The Gospel Of Grace - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam



   “…The gospel… is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth” (Colothians 1:5,6).

How wonderful to see the gospel of the grace of God do its work! Paul had never even seen the Colossians. He had only sent missionaries to them from Ephesus with the good news of the grace of God, but this had produced amazing results.

Wherever the gospel of the grace of God is preached in its purity it produces results. No one hearing that message can go away the same. Either he will consider it utter foolishness and be hardened by it, or he will see its vital importance and be softened by it. Ultimately he will either be eternally condemned, or eternally saved and justified by his response to that message.

    “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18).

     “Christ crucified… unto them which are called… the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:23,24).

    “The power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Romans 1:16).

Mark well: it is “the gospel of the grace of God,” the “preaching of the cross,” that produces such results. The law of Moses never did, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,” God sent His Son to accomplish for us (Romans 8:3,4). This is why Paul proclaimed, at Antioch of Pisidia:

    “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38,39).

God’s message to us is a message of love, proclaiming to even the vilest sinner that he may be “justified freely by [God’s] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).




How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


(A 10 Minute Video)


 Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
cspivey1953@gmail.com


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