"...let the one who has my word speak it faithfully" - Jeremiah 23:28

The prophet Jeremiah was called to speak messages for God at an early age.  His task was not easy as much of what he had to say was about the destruction of Judah.  But he was faithful and he grieved terribly over pride and disobedience.  God spoke to him over and over again, encouraging him to speak only what He gives him  This was one of His messages for Jeremiah...stating and restating the power of His word:  "...like a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces".  Listen to the Layman's Commentary on this verse:

"The divine word is able to cope with all that thwarts its

way, to consume and pulverize the obstructions of evil,

the false strongholds of entrenched evil, the

pseudogospel of the false prophets."

 

There is much evil in the world today...but we have hope...His divine word has been given to us for direction and strength - much as it had been given to Jeremiah in his day.  We must know it and speak it!  The time has come when we can no longer sit back and hope someone else will speak for righteousness...that task has been given to us who believe!  The issues that are facing us in the church today demand that we "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).  We can do that and hold high the standards that His word give us by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 

Dudley Tyng was a pastor in Philadelphia in the 1800s and had a tremendous burden for husbands and fathers to know Christ and follow him.  Thousands of men were converted under his teaching.  At his funeral, a young pastor was deeply moved by this pastor's commitment to preaching the gospel.  He read a poem - which was later written as a hymn and we still sing it today:

 

Stand up stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross

Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.

 

You are I must lift His banner high...I believe it is why we are here today.  My question to myself is:  are you standing up for Jesus wherever you are?  I was proud of Amanda Thatcher last week...at her grandmother's funeral in England, she read Ephesians 6:10-18 on putting on the armor of God.  May we all be public proclaimers of His precious word.

 

For further study:  Psalm 40:9-11, Psalm 119:9,160, Isaiah 45:19, Isaiah 59:21, Matthew 10;27, Romans 1:25, John 17:17, John 18:38, Eph. 4:15, Col. 4:5-6, 2 Tim 2:15

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

Do not worry about tomorrow - Matthew 6:34

My pillow for today might better read "Do not worry about yesterday"...the Boston tragedy has us all alarmed and praying to our God, who is not surprised by the tragedy...He grieves over the sin and wickedness.  He wants us to turn to Him in the good days and the not so good.  He is still a sovereign and omnipotent God who remains on the throne.  He still holds the stars in place and knows the plans He has for us...and they are good.

We have concerns about our world...but His word still tells us not to worry.  I heard something on KLove last week:  "Worry never makes the future easier; it only makes the present harder."  Jesus, speaking in the Sermon on the Mount, exhorts us not to worry and then proceeds to give us promises of why we shouldn't waste our time worrying. In reading David Powlison's booklet on Worry, he listed those promises in a slightly different way as told in Luke 12:22-34.  Simply put, they are:

1.  Your life is so much more than food or clothing. (v. 22)
2.  Jesus tells people to look around at the world and what he provides. (v. 24)
3.  Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (v. 25)
4.  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. (v. 27-28)
5.  Your Father will give you what you need. (v. 30)
6.  God promises you Himself. (v. 31-32)
7.  Your Father calls you to the radical freedom of giving your life away. (v. 33)

Sanctus Real sings in PROMISES:

 

"Sometimes it's hard to keep believing in what you can't see

That everything happens for a reason...even the worst life brings.

If you're reaching for an answer and you don't know what to pray

Just open up the pages; let His word be your strength

Hold on to the promises

Jesus is alive, so hold on to the promises"

 

For further study: Joshua 21:45,  Psalm 33:11, Jer. 29:11, Acts 2:39, Romans 4:20-21, Galatians 3:14, Hebrews 10:23, 2 Peter 1,4; 2 Peter 3:9

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly



How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us - 1 John 3:1

Matthew West has a song out "Hello, My name is..." and it begins by describing how we can be identified by the regrets in our lives, or the defeats, or the lies.  We allow hard times and mistakes to define us, but we don't have to let the "wreckage behind" stay with us when His word calls us "children of God".  Listen to what he says:

 

Hello, my name is child of the one true King

I've been saved, I've been changed,and I have been set free.

"Amazing Grace" is the song I sing.

Hello, my name is child of the one true King.

What love the Father has lavished upon us

That we should be called His children.

I am a child of the one true King.

 

Have you ever lavished whipped cream on an ice cream sundae?  The love the Father has lavished upon us is better than a million helpings of whipped cream.  This isn't the kind of love you can make up...this is agape love.  Vine's concordance says "...this is an exercise of the Divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself."  We are loved not because of anything we are or do...we are loved because "God is love" (1 John 4:16).

 

Mark Driscoll tells a story in WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? about the German theologican, Karl Barth.  He was visiting the United States on a lecture tour and at one point was asked what was the single most important theological discovery he had made.  Driscoll says: "after stopping to consider his answer carefully, Barth said "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so".  So profound and so simple...a child's song speaking this transforming truth.

 

You are loved by the Creator of the world...the next time you are tempted to define yourself in a negative sense, remember this:  "You are a child of the one true King"!

 

For further study:  Exodus 20:4-6, Psalm 32:10, Psalm 36:5, Psalm 103:11, Psalm 107, Jeremiah 31:3, John 1:12, John 15:9-17, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, 1 John 4:16-21

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly