Sorrow and pain will not be a part of heaven, but it was certainly a part of the lives of the Israelites in the land of Egypt. As we read of a period of time shortly thereafter, of their salvation and redemption as they were at the mercies of the LORD and Moses the law giver as they made for they had done evil and committed a great sin making for themselves a god of gold. Therefore the stones of the law were broken, and Moses was given instructions by the LORD.
“You shall make no molded gods for yourselves. ” (Exodus 34:17)
it is amazing that these words were pend by the apostle who all throughout his ministry suffered at the hands of the Jews. Yes, indeed it was our beloved Paul in the midst of persistent strong persecutions and at the same time was inspired to write the book of Philippians.
As Paul records it he suffered oppression from civil government, interference from his own countrymen, and jealousy from some of his own brethren.
How did this beat up, tired and rejected saint ever find reason to rejoice while under such hardship?
The answer in not in the question how, but in whom. Paul’s answer is found in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Paul understood where joy comes from as he spoke to the saints in Thessalonica saying, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.” (1Thess. 2:19:20).
Joy is directly a result of serving God in spirit and truth and knowing that we are in Him, and always in His presence. Happiness, peacefulness, and contentment are conditions that come from knowing and serving God.
Today we all have the one same Master, our great God in heaven, and to Him we must be walking worthy which means as employees we work worthy as if we are working for the Lord, because we are. As owners, managers you too must oversee in a worthy manner, as to the Lord, because you are.
You never know if that someone you met yesterday, or today is someone that needs to hear that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. You’ll never know if that someone has a heart to receive God’s word. Maybe later I’ll start talking to them. But is it certain that if you never talk about your Savior it will be later than you think. To tell someone about sin, and the cure, to be able to live in eternity with God is a wonderful thing, but it you wait, you may learn it is later than you think.
THE HEBREW WRITER WROTE, “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME— IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME— TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’ ”” (HEBREWS 10:7).
Luke records Jesus saying, “…that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:24-25). Everything that happen on that day of Christ, was a fulfillment of all of the old testament scriptures that was leading us and telling us of that moment when Christ had given His life, and when He had rose from the dead.
Who do you say that I am is the infamous question that Jesus poses, not only to His disciples at that time, but for all time. This question is posed to every man, woman and child who has ever graced God’s green earth today.
In this lesson we will be examining three aspects of the life of Christ. First, the life that He lived. Secondly, the death that He died and third, the grace that He offers.
Most people I meet on a daily basis I talk to about the God of the Bible. It is astonishing how many don’t know God, yet profess to believe in Him, and proclaim loudly of their own, “personal” salvation experience.
Fact is that few religious, “Christian” people know much of anything about the word of the Lord. But, what amazes me all the time, are the people I meet who don’t believe the Bible is inspired at all. Don’t believe the Bible is true and valuable. What is astounding is that of the overwhelming majority who take an “atheistic”, or “agnostic” stance on the subject of faith, and the Bible, most are totally or nearly totally ignorant concerning the Bible, what is actually says, and proofs of its authenticity, and accuracy that are found within its pages. Proofs also external to the Bible are never examined by these hard core “anti religious” people. How can a reasonable person say they don’t believe in something of which they have never studied? The answer is simple, they have been taught not to believe it.
That is why I would give them a little sympathy on one point, because they have been raised to say no to faith, and to believe that Bible teaching is just myth and foolishness and to be disregarded, replaced of course by factual science. And before you make the argument that, “Well, the same is true about religious people, they were all raised to believe the Bible is true and science must have second place to faith”. know this, I was raised to believe the latter that the Bible is the one book man should destroy.
There are many reasons that I don’t think that way any more. I’d like to share just a few with you here…
“The Family Walk” Paul focuses on how children are to walk as members of the family. Remember Christ set before our eyes the beauty of submission. We saw in Jesus the incredible glory of self-sacrifice in John 12:12-26. Paul teaches us in theses 4 verses how submission works with children and their fathers. Paul begins at verse 1 with “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Eph. 6:1).
First, let me point out why this lesson is universally important to all of us—and the reason is that for certain we all are children—we all have or had parents. Secondly, as mentioned in our last lesson, this too is clear evidence that God cares a lot about what goes on in our homes. This first verse plainly teaches all children in order to walk worth of your calling you must obey your parents…
The works of the LORD are great: From the sunrise to the sunset. The beauty of the flower to the glory of the farmlands to the majesty of the mountains and plans. And of course the beginning of all things, when God said.
Man creates things from things, God creates things from nothing. His, glory, handiwork, power and deity (Genesis 1:1).
Psalms 19:1-2 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament[a] shows [b]His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.” Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and [a]Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” When I consider… “Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” (Eph. 5:22). Paul begins with the wives. Walking worthy of the calling in marriage means that wives will submit to their husbands. First, note that the world, our current society has perverted the idea of submission. Submission has become such an ugly word today. Therefore, I want to further help our understanding by denoting what it does not mean. It does not mean wives must allow themselves to be dominated, overpowered, or oppressed by her husband. This is absolutely alien to the meaning of the word and the idea behind what Paul is teaching…
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25). Guess what husbands? Walking worthy of your calling means that you will love your wives. And Paul is not painting a picture of having a warm fuzzy feeling toward her. The Lord our God paints a deep sacrificial love here with, “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her”…
That paints the glorious picture of just how much Christ loved us—the church. There is more of course, listen in and see the beauty of the marriage walk painted by the hand of God through the inspired apostle. . .
There’s Joy in them there Christians
The constitution of the United States was framed and adopted in 1787. In it is the right of every man for the pursuit of happiness. The quest to obtain happiness has led men in many different directions without achieving that goal. Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter two, tells of his quest to find the secret of “I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. ” (Eccl. 2:3). Solomon had had it all, fame and fortune and speaks to this in Ecclesiastes 2:10 “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor”.
Anything my eyes desire, every pleasure! You would think that would make a man happy, and joyful? But if we continue reading we will see that this is just not so. Let’s look at verse 11, ” Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” At the end of the book, Solomon tells us the secret to a true and lasting happiness. Ecclesiastes 12:13: ” Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”
We must learn from Solomon who realized, that the God who created man knows best what will and will not make man happy…