God’s Protection from our Adversaries

Psalm 27: 5 (KJV)
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

What we have here is a dual comparison of the King’s table, spread in His pavilion, and the protection of the sanctuary which was absolute. The one who was in the King’s pavilion was safe from plotting and deceitful tongues, especially when his presence there was unknown (Psalms 31:20). In the same way Isaiah also pictures the glorious future of God’s true people in terms of a pavilion where the glory of YHWH is manifested (Isaiah 4:5-6), and of a strong city where none can harm them (Isaiah 26:1-4), protected by the walls of salvation and praise (Isaiah 61:1-8). And one day, ‘a Man will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land’ (Isaiah 32:2) and will be manifested by the opening of ears and eyes, and the giving of knowledge and the releasing of tongues (Isaiah 32:3). And it is to Him that we must look constantly.

The Psalmist promises himself that his prayer would not be in vain. Although he is deprived of the visible sanctuary for a time, he doubts not that, wherever he may be, he shall experience the protecting power of God. And he alludes to the temple, because it was a symbol to the faithful of the divine presence; as if he had said, that in making the request which he mentioned he by no means lost his labor; for everyone who shall seek God sincerely, and with a pure heart, shall be safely concealed under the wings of his protection. The figure of the temple, he therefore affirms, was not an unmeaning one, for there God, so to speak, spread forth his wings to gather true believers under his protection. From this he concludes, that as he had no greater desire than to flee for refuge under these wings, there would be a shelter ready for him in times of adversity, under the divine protection, which, under the figure of a rock, he tells us, would be impregnable like towers, which, for the sake of strength, were wont to be built, in ancient times, in lofty places. Although he was, therefore, at this time, environed by enemies on every side, yet he boasts that he shall overcome them. It is, indeed, a common form of speech in the Scriptures to say, that those who are oppressed with grief walk with a bowed down back and dejected countenance, while, on the other hand, they lift up their heads when their joyfulness is restored.

This is a reminder for us that there is no safety or security on earth that can be compared with the confident stability of the soul that is truly anchored `in the Lord.’ If a government forbids Christians, they may reply with Peter, “We must obey God rather than men.” If obstacles are multiplied, we may say with Paul, “None of these things move me.” If our lives are threatened, we may remember the words of the Christ who said, “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

All Supplying God

2 Corinthians 9: 8 (KJV)
8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

It has been pointed out, “we should not suppose that by giving liberally we will be impoverished and reduced to want. We should rather confide in God, who is able to furnish us abundantly with what is needful for the supply of your necessities. It has also neem noted that few individuals have ever been reduced to poverty by liberality. Perhaps in the whole circle of his acquaintance it would be difficult for an individual to point out one who has been impoverished or made the poorer in this way.”

It is also noted our selfishness is generally a sufficient guard against this; but it is also to be added, that the divine blessing rests upon the liberal man, and that God keeps him from want. But in the meantime, there are multitudes who are made poor by the lack of liberality. They are parsimonious in giving but they are extravagant in dress, and luxury, and in expenses for amusement or vice, and the consequence is poverty and want. “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty;” Proverbs 11:24. The divine blessing rests upon the liberal: and while every person should make a proper provision for his family, everyone should give liberally, confiding in God that he will furnish the supplies for our future needs. Let this maxim be borne in mind, that no one is usually made the poorer by being liberal.

Friends, if God is able to make all grace abound, then surely, He is able to rule the world He has created and still creates. He is the God of creation, and not its servant. He can get behind all the points that are visible to us, and without altering the order of nature. He can produce what change He desires. We may therefore ask Him to give us what we think would be good for us. This will be one of the practical results of the full belief in the all-ability of God. If I may not ask my daily bread from God, if I may not tell Him what I wish about the weather and what the country needs, then what may I speak to Him about? “About spiritual blessings,” does anyone say? Then are they not also given according to law? If God is bound to act invariably in the material sphere, He is equally and even more bound to act invariably in the spiritual sphere; and if we may not reasonably pray to Him as to the one, still less may we reasonably pray to Him about the other. It is God or no God. God is able to make all grace abound, to give blessing in every sphere, and will answer in some way every sincere prayer that is offered to Him.

Let us always remember and never forget that the Christian life in all its aspects and experiences is an outflow from the ‘the Fountain of Life,’ the Living and Giving God.

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

Staying Strong in the Midst of Opposition

Nehemiah 4: 1 (KJV)
1But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain…and most of them do.” —Dale Carnegie

It is noted that the Samaritan faction showed their bitter animosity to the Jews on discovering the systematic design of refortifying Jerusalem. Their opposition was confined at first to scoffs and insults, in heaping which the governors made themselves conspicuous, and circulated all sorts of disparaging reflections that might increase the feelings of hatred and contempt for them in their own party. The weakness of the Jews in respect of wealth and numbers, the absurdity of their purpose apparently to reconstruct the walls and celebrate the feast of dedication in one day, the idea of raising the walls on their old foundations, as well as using the charred and moldering debris of the ruins as the materials for the restored buildings, and the hope of such a parapet as they could raise being capable of serving as a fortress of defense – these all afforded fertile subjects of hostile ridicule.

It is important for us to understand as was noted that “the devil and his imps have ever been utter enemies to true reformation. So do savage beasts bristle up themselves, and make the most fierce assaults, when they are in danger of losing the prey which they had once seized on. Jabesh gilead would send in none to help the Lord against the mighty, Jud.21:9. No more would Meroz, Jud.5:23. Josiah met with much opposition; so did Paul wherever he came, to set up evangelical and spiritual worship; which is called a reformation, Hebrews 9:10. All the world was against Athanasius in his generation, and Luther in his; rejecting what they attempted, with scorn and slander. Here it is quarrel enough to Nehemiah and his Jews, that they would be no longer miserable. They were not more busy in building than the enemies active in deriding, conspiring, practicing to hinder and overthrow them. A double derision is here recorded; and both as full of mischief as profane wit or rancured malice could make them.”

Friends, be aware that just as the enemies of Israel mocked and ridiculed the work they were attempting to do, you will too. We have to face the reality that anytime you are determined to do something for God, there will always be those ready to criticize what you do. They would do it differently, better or not at all. Friend, don’t let that crowd get to you, just go on for God! Some of the Lord’s best workers, including the likes of Jesus and Paul were criticized. So, when you are criticized, praise the Lord, for you are in good company!

Let us also remember that those who live near and like the wicked are always among those who try to discourage the work and workers of God. It rarely shocks us when trouble comes from without, but when it arises within, it often leaves us devastated! Whether it takes the form of deception, with someone living a hidden life of sin, or the form of discouragement, when someone questions the motives and goals of the church, it hurts deeply and can cause us to deviate from the course.

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

Be Strong not Discourage

Joshua 1: 7 (KJV)
7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.

Be strong therefore, and play the man to the uttermost. Here we see that though God had promised him that no man should be able to stand before him, yet it was on condition that he should use all his military skill, and avail himself to the uttermost of all the means, natural and providential, which God should place within his reach. God will not have them who refuse to help themselves.

As we remember that though Joshua was a man of valor and courage, as we saw by his war with Amalek, yet there was need of this exhortation, and of repeating it, since he was to engage with a people more and mightier than those with him, and who dwelt in strong and fortified places, and had been preparing for some time, having had notice, and were in expectation of the Israelites’ attempt upon them.

Here we see that the strength and courage is related to the keeping of God’s Instruction, ‘the Law’. He was not only to be strong and courageous in battle but also in life. He was strictly to observe God’s moral law. Obedience was more important than physical strength and physical courage, although it would enable him in both. But failure in obedience would mean that it did not matter whether he was strong in any other way or not.

God requires of Joshua fortitude and courage; which, indeed, ought necessarily to adorn the character of every person raised to the government of a nation; that so, being always faithful in the cause of religion, he may enforce its duties on his subjects, both by his injunctions and his example. Jehovah requires his observance of no other rule for his conduct, than that law which had been deposited with him. He forbids him in anything to deviate from that law; and, on this condition, assures to him the most happy success.

In this he is an example worthy of the imitation, as of all professors of Christianity in general, so of all Christian magistrates and generals, in particular, who are under equal obligations to make God’s laws or revealed will the rule of their conduct, in all affairs, public and private. For no man’s dignity or dominion, how great so ever, sets him above the law of God.
There is just as great a need for people to stand for the Lord now as there was in the days Joshua! All around us, Christians are falling by the wayside. What we need is for God’s children to be moved in the depths of their souls to stand up, renew their commitments to the Lord and say, “By God’s help, I’ll stand and not fall all the days of my life!” We need people today who will take the lead in the churches and make their stand for the Lord.

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

Only God can Deliver US

Joshua 8: 1 (KJV)
1And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed:

In this chapter we have an account of the renewal of Israel’s victories. The Lord encouraged Joshua, and the holy army conquered Ai: the king of Ai is taken and hanged: Joshua erects an altar to the Lord: writes the law on stones; caused the repeating of the blessings, and cursings, and of the law to be read in the ears of the people.

The iniquity being now purged away, because of which God had turned his hand against Israel, there was now no cause to dread any other disaster, and therefore Joshua is ordered to take courage. God rouses Joshua from his dejection Joshua 7:6, and bids him march against Ai with the main body. Though Ai was but a small city (Joshua 8:25 and Joshua 7:3), yet the discouragement of the people rendered it inexpedient to send a second time a mere detachment against it; and the people of Ai had, as appears from Joshua 8:17, help from Bethel, and possibly from other places also. It was fitting too that all the people should witness with their own eyes the happy consequences of having faithfully put away the sin which had separated them from God.

I want you to observe, the renewal of the friendly communication between God and his people, which begins on God’s part. If we love him, it is because He first loved us. Probably Joshua paused on the further prosecution of war, after what had happened, of Israel being chased by the men of Ai. The Lord therefore encouraged him. Friends, it is sweet amidst all our doubts and fears in our spiritual warfare, to hear the voice of Jesus calling us to come on. Song of Solomon 5:2.

Please let me say to those of you who have fallen and have lost a battle or two to the flesh, God says, “Fear not! I am do above all that you can ask or think!” God has made some great and special promises to His children. We do not have to live in defeat! If you are not sure or you have forgotten, the Bible tell us We are no longer slaves to sin, the flesh and the devil. God is on our side and greater is He that is in us than he that in the world.

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

Our God Strengthens Us

Joshua 1: 9 (KJV)
9Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Here, the command is given to Joshua “be not afraid, nor be thou dismayed”; at his enemies (however numerous and powerful), nor discouraged at anything in himself (failure or failing), or for any unfitness for such service, as he might think, or at any difficulties he might fear from the people he had the government of, and was to lead on; it was enough that the divine Presence was promised him, and which is repeated: for the Lord thy God is with thee whither soever thou goest.

God bids him be of good courage, repeats it again and again, and urges it with renewed assurances that he would be with him: and need there was of such encouragement, though his valor had been tried and known, for his difficulties were now greater than ever. His own insufficiency for such an enterprise, the people’s well-known rebellious spirit, his enemies’ power and numbers, might shake the most confirmed constancy; but fear is banished, whilst he who supremely commands inspires him with strength and courage irresistible.

Although in Hebrew a simple affirmation is often made in the form of a question, and this phraseology is of very frequent occurrence, here, however, the question is emphatic, to give an attestation to what had previously been taught, while the Lord, by bringing his own authority distinctly forward, relieves his servant from care and hesitancy. He asks, “Is it not I who have commanded thee?” I too will be present with thee. We are told to observe the emphasis: inasmuch as it is not lawful to resist his command. This passage also teaches that nothing is more effectual to produce confidence than when trusting to the call and the command of God, and feeling fully assured of it in our own conscience, we follow whither soever he is pleased to lead.

As is noted, we all have some power; the question is, how much and what? In essence, that is the question we should ask ourselves every day; it is the great question of our early life especially, for on the right answering of it all our success depends. Our weaknesses guarded against often become our strength; and our best lessons, if we heed them, are our mistakes. Joshua’s strength was a knowledge of his weakness. Let us beware of thinking we have no strength because we are not omnipotent. God says to us all, whatever worthy work we are entering upon, ‘Be of good courage; be strong!’

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

A Holy Calling

1 Thessalonians 2: 12 (KJV)
12That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

We are told in our text to ‘walk worthy of God.’ Then again, we are enjoined, in other places, to ‘walk worthy of the Lord,’ who is Christ; or ‘of the Gospel of Christ;’ or ‘of the calling wherewith we were called.’ Or of the name of ‘saints.’ And if you put all these together, you will get many sides of one thought, the rule of Christian life as gathered into a single expression–correspondence with, and conformity to, a certain standard.

While the Old Testament says: ‘Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’ We find that the New Testament says: ‘Be ye imitators of God, and walk in love.’ So then, whatever of flashing brightness and infinite profundity in that divine nature is far beyond our apprehension and grasp, there are in that divine nature elements–and those the best and divinest in it–which it is perfectly within the power of every man to copy.

This was the object of Paul’s exhortations. He found that men could profess to accept God’s calling and yet live very much as they had done before; that they needed to be told to walk worthy of God. And it is a consideration which helps those who are seeking holiness, that God has associated them with Himself; as men are helped by their position to live up to it, and as children naturally strive to be worthy of their parents, so those who know God and are connected with Him are stimulated to higher efforts. This stimulus is imparted by the character in which God appears as calling men to His own kingdom and glory. This exhibits the ungrudging nature of His kindness, the intimacy with Himself to which we are united, and the dignity that is put upon those who respond to His invitations.

That we should, in every respect, act up to our high calling, that it would not be a reproach to the God of holiness to acknowledge us as his sons and daughters. So, here we have the whole law of Christian conduct in a nutshell. We should live in such a manner as would honor God, who has chosen us to be His friends; as Ephesians 4:1. A child “walks worthy of a parent” when he lives in such way as to reflect honor on that parent for the method in which he has trained him; when he so lives as to bring no disgrace on him, so as not to pain his heart by misconduct, or so as to give no occasion to any to speak reproachfully of him.

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

Confidence in the work of Christ

Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ

“Show me for once a world abandoned and thrown aside half formed; show me a universe east off from the Great Potter’s wheel, with the design in outline, the clay half hardened, and the form unshapely from incompleteness. Direct me, I pray you, to a star, a sun, a satellite–nay, I will challenge you on lower ground: point me out a plant, an emmet, a grain of dust that hath about it any semblance of incompleteness. All that man completes, let him polish as he may, when it is put under the microscope, is but roughly finished, because man has only reached a certain stage, and cannot get beyond it; it is perfection to his feeble optics, but it is not absolute perfection. But all God’s works are finished with wondrous care; He as accurately fashions the dust of a butterfly’s wing, as those mighty orbs that gladden the silent night.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)

M. Boice flatly declared that this verse is one “of the three greatest in the Bible,” teaching the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints. This student, however, fails to find any suggestion of such a doctrine in this passage. It should be noted here that Paul’s confidence was not in the Philippians but in God. It was the conduct of those Philippians up to that point which inspired Paul with confidence concerning their ultimate destiny.

There is one condition for this confidence, a condition on which St. Paul was always insisting, and that absolute trust in the love, the power, and the faithfulness of God. This is strong language. It means to be fully and firmly persuaded or convinced. It means here that Paul was entirely convinced of the truth of what he said. It is the language of a man who had no doubt on the subject.

“That he which hath begun a good work in you.” The “good work” here referred to, can be no other than religion, or true piety. This is called the work of God; the work of the Lord; or the work of Christ; John 6:29; compare 1 Corinthians 15:58; 16:10; Philippians 2:30. Paul affirms here that that work was begun by God. It was not by their own agency or will; compare the notes on John 1:13. It was on the fact that it was begun by God, that he based his firm conviction that it would be permanent. Had it been the agency of man, he would have had no such conviction, for nothing that man does today can lay the foundation of a certain conviction that he will do the same thing tomorrow. If the perseverance of the Christian depended wholly on himself, therefore, there could be no sure evidence that he would ever reach heaven.

Let us always remember that so long as we are in this world the work is incomplete. For the development of a soul in Christ’s likeness time is necessary. “First the blade,” etc. Some are discouraged because they cannot see the full corn at once. If it is time for the full corn, however, do not be satisfied with the ear or blade. It is the indolent man who thinks he has only to believe once for all. We must concur in God’s work as it advances from stage to stage until it is completed in the day of Jesus Christ. Growth proceeds slowly if it is to endure. Mushrooms spring up in the night but they soon decay. So, let us not be weary in doing good for in due season all will be rewarded.

Have a great and God filled day!

Pastor C

Watch your Walk

Colossians 4: 5—KJV
5Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

He makes mention of those that are without, in contrast with those that are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10.) For the Church is like a city of which all believers are the inhabitants, connected with each other by a mutual relationship, while unbelievers are strangers. The phrase of our text may sound harsh, and might be used, as it was by the Jews, from whom it was borrowed, in a very narrow and bitter spirit. Close corporations of any sort are apt to generate, not only a wholesome esprit de corps, but a hostile contempt for outsiders, and Christianity has too often been misrepresented by its professors, who have looked down upon those that are without with supercilious and unchristian self-complacency.

Having in the former part of the verse, directed the Colossians to walk wisely before the unconverted Gentiles that were among them, in this latter part of the verse, he advises them to redeem every opportunity, for gaining over those infidels to the Christian religion. A Christian that knows the worth of time, will redeem it, will improve it for the soul, for the benefit of his own soul, and for the advantage of other. Christians, in all their interactions with men, especially with irreligious men, should be open, frank, honest, and sincere; kind, amiable, benevolent, serious, and cheerful; showing by example the supreme excellence and loveliness of true religion.

The “wisdom” here enforced is more than mere prudence. [Ephesians 5:15.] It means that while Christians are to abstain from such sins as disgrace their profession, and are to preserve a holy consistency, adorning the doctrine of God their Savior; they are also to exhibit, at the same time, not only the purity of the gospel, but its amiability, its strictness of principle in union with its loveliness of temper, its generosity as well as its rectitude, and its charity no less than its devoutness and zeal. We must be careful to let “those without” not be told of Christian self-possession in a tone of irritation, or of Christian happiness while uneasiness sits on the brow of the speaker. We are to guard with precision and let no one wrangle about the duty of peacemaking, or bow his face to the earth as he tries to expatiate on the hope of the gospel. We must take note and remember that the world’s Bible is the daily life of the church, every page of which its quick eye minutely scans, and every blot on which it detects with gleeful and malicious exactness. We must also note that the same wisdom will assume the form of discretion in reference to time and place. As was said, “Unwise efforts at proselytism defeat their own purpose; zeal without knowledge is as the thunder shower that drenches and injures, not the rain that with noiseless and gentle descent softens and fertilizes.” If we remember, it was Christ who said, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Matthew 7:6.

Have a great and godly day!

Pastor C

A Person of Truth

Psalm 120: 2—KJV
2Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

It has been noted that in some parts of India, if any person is proved to be a liar, he receives the penalty of the law, which requires that his mouth be sewed up. The offender has his hands tied behind him. He is led out to a post in a public place, to which he is tied, and one of the officers of the government, appointed for that purpose, sews up his lips with a needle and thread. Then he is allowed to go. And every one who sees his closed lips, and the blood flowing from them, can say to himself, “There goes a liar!” What a disgrace that sewed-up mouth would be to a man!

Here we find that David points out the kind of his affliction, declaring that he was loaded with false accusations. In charging his enemies with lying and falsehood, he asserts his own innocence of the crimes which they slanderously imputed to him. His complaint therefore amounts to this, that as he was conscious of having committed no fault, he was assaulted by the wicked contrary to all law, human and divine, and that they brought him into hatred without his having given them any occasion for such injurious treatment. Deceitful tongues assault good and simple people in two ways’ they either circumvent them by wiles and snares, or wound their reputation by calumnies. It is of the second way that he here complains. Now if David, who was endued with such eminent virtue, and free from every mark of disgrace, and far removed from every wicked action, was yet assailed with contumely, is it to be wondered at if the children of God in the present day labor under false accusations, and that when they have endeavored to conduct themselves uprightly they are yet in reported of? As they have the devil for their enemy, it is indeed impossible for them to escape being loaded with his lies. We see that slanderous tongues did not spare even the Son of God; a consideration which should induce us to bear the more patiently our condition, when the wicked traduce us undeservedly; since it is certain that we have here described the common lot of the whole Church. David says that “lying lips shall be put to silence” (Ps.31:18). He also tell us that “the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped” (Ps.63:11); Solomon tells us that “a lying tongue is but for a moment” (Proverbs 12:19). We are not told how God will do this; but we may be very sure it will be in some way that will fasten shame and disgrace on those who have not prayed earnestly, as David did, in the language of our text, “Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips.”

A wise man once said, “a watch that cannot be depended upon is of very little use. It may have a beautiful gold case, it may be sparkling with jewels, but yet it will be of no service to me as a watch unless I can depend on what it tells me about the time.” It is obvious that one of the things by which we judge of the real value and worth of men or women, of boys or girls, or any individual for that matter is this–Are they truthful? Do they mean what they say? Are they really what they seem to be? If so, then they are like a watch that keeps good time. But one of the effects of sin on our hearts has been to take away from them the love of the truth, and to incline them to lying.

It is always disgraceful to follow the example of a very wicked person. But we know that Satan is the most wicked person in this world, or in any other. He is “the father of lies” (John 8:44). When we tell lies, we prove ourselves to be the children of Satan. And there cannot be a greater disgrace in the world than to be closely related to such a person, and to have it proved that he is our father. But liars are not only the children of Satan; they are his servants also (Acts 5:8). Lying is Satan’s work. And when we engage in lying, we let our hearts become Satan’s workshop.

Have a great and godly day!

Pastor C