"Your Love, Your Compassion"

       "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed not 

          only in my presence, but now much more in my absence

            continue to work out your salvation with fear trembling."

                                        Philippians 2 : 12

        This awesome reality 

        this is the moment for me to obey 

        trembling and fear to you Lord. . . 

        Knowing you I'm save 

        Knowing you I'm healed

        Knowing you, you set me free

        This is awesome reality

        Your love, your compassion

        I draw near to you

        This little faith

        Made me whole...

        There is always someone asking The grace of God "Doesn't the Bible tell us that we have to work out our own salvation?"

        Here is what Paul said: "Work out own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). But we need to look at the context of that statement. 

        But that is not the end of the story. It is not our work but the Lord's that make it possible. The next verse says, "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil.2:13). So the Christian life is really working out or exercising the salvation that God has provided and he gives us  both desire and strength to do what pleases Him.

        Here is the amazing thing: when we let God do the work in us, then He enables us to work out His salvation.

        

        For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10).

       He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. (Eph. 1:4).

        Good works will be a by-product of those who knows God's unmerited favor. And the Lord gives us the will to love Him, obey Him and Serve Him. We can't follow the Lord without His first touching us. Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44). We can't love Him without the Holy Spirit's giving us the love with which to love Him.

        Now hope does not disappiont, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Roman. 5:5).

        When you experience God's love, you will love. When you find His acceptance, you will accept others. When you experience giving, you will give. It all comes down to one simple thing: God work in it, and we work it out.

        We let Him pour in that we may pour out. First, we cooperate; then we respond. But the Bible makes it clear that we can't work to earn our salvation. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (Rom. 4:4-5).

        The Lord does not owe us something because we do good works. He will never put Himself in debt to anyone. We don't say, "I did it Lord. Here's my bill." If we work for something, it is not grace.

        There is nothing in us that even desires God without His putting the desire within us (John 6:44). God won't honor a person who says, "I'm going to pray, and I'm going to make it." God says, "that is the flesh, and I don't want it." God won't accept works or prayers that come from flesh."

THE CORRIDOR STREET LINE: Returning to your Failures

THE CORRIDOR STREET LINE: Returning to your Failures:       But simon answered and said to him

"Identifying the Dragon"

        " So then brothers stand firm and hold to the teachings we

           passed on to you whether by word of mouth or by letter."

                                         2 Thess. 2 : 15

          Traditions, in and of themselves, are not bad. In fact, the right kind of tradition are good and healthy, tradition with a solid network of reliable truth that put us in touch with our roots. Paul exhorts us to "stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught" (2 Thess. 2:15). Conversely he commands us to "keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us" (3:6).

           However, a great deal of difference exist between tradition and traditionalism. Jaroslav Pelikan put his finger on the distinction when he observed:

                   Tradition is the living of the dead, traditionalism is the 

                    dead Faith of the living.

          By traditionalism we mean an attitude that resists change, adaptation, or alteration. It clutches tradition so tightly that the blood supply to our spiritual brain is cut off, distorting vision and blurring the distinction between custom and commandment. Traditionalism is suspicious and censorious of the new, the innovative, the different. It substitutes a stuffy, legalistic system for the Spirit freed'om and freshness, las for liberty, rules for renovation, regulation for renewal. In Mark 7, Jesus rebukes the Pharises for confusing human customeith divine command.

                  And the Pharises and some of the scribes gathered 

                  together around Him they had come from Jerusalem,

                  and had seen that some of His disciples were eating 

                  their bread with impure hands, that is  unwashed. 

                  ( For the pharises and all the Jews do  not eat unless 

                  they carefully wash their hands thus observing the

                  traditions of the elders; and when they come from the

                  market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse 

                  Themselves; and there are many other thing which 

                  They have received in order to observe, such as the 

                  washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) and

                  The Pharises and the scribes asked Him, "why do Your

                   Disciple not walk according to the tradition of the elder, 

                   But eat their bread with impure hands? " and He said 

                   To them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites,

                   As it is written,

                 'This people honors Me with their lips,

                  But their heart is far away from Me.

                  But in vain do they worship Me,

                  Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'

Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." (vv. 1-8)

"WRITE IT DOWN"

 "Everything But The One Thing

Revelation 2 : 1-7

Do you love me?"

In the wonderful musical fiddler on the Roof, a Russian peasant named Tevye ask his wife this simple question.

  Love him? Golde had never even met Tevye until the day of their arranged wedding. Now after twenty-five years of marriage, he wants to talk of love? It sound so, so. . . Ridiculous, so foreign to her that she thinks he has indigestion and should lie down.

   Tevye repeats the question, in earnest.

    Golden wonders at his thinking, then explains how hard she has worked as his wife--cooking his meals washing his clothes, having his children. Still, it doesn't satisfy Tevye, So he asks again.

   This time, Golden falls back on the obvious: she's his wife!

    Even so, Tevye persist--does she love him!

    After some reflection, she answer that she does indeed love him realizing that her life hasn't been just  meaningless busywork.

She has worked so hard because of her love for Tevye.

  It's possible, though, Tevye realized and feared, for activity to replace love.

       Another peasant, a first-century capenter from Galilee, ask His bride the  same question Tevye asked his "Do you love Me?" Does our full plate activity show our fervent love for our Lord? Or are we so busy simply doing-- Bible studies, evangelism, defending the faith. Service speaking-- that our love for us Savior has grown cool?

   That was the problem with the church in Ephesus. Their religious busyness (a status symbol in many churches today), rather than springing from a deep and joyful love for Christ, had effectively replaced their love for the Savior with an icy estrangement. So Jesus told the apostle John. "Write this down"-- then He dictated a letter of generous praise but also of stringing rebuke. Let's read the book of ephesian of His letter and, at same time, allow the spirit to read the content, of our lives to see if we are doing everything but one thing---- loving Him.

"Modern Engineering in the Bible"

                "How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and

                 the man who gains understanding. For its profit

                 is better than the profit of silver, and its grain than

                 fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; and

                 And nothing you desire compares with her.        

                                         Proverb 3 : 13-15

          Imagine some time ago a man was invited to address the gathering of the Engineer's club, and they assigned him this odd the title was "Modern Engineering in the Bible." He accepted the invitation with the understanding that there would be an open discussion following his lecture. In the course of address he reminded the engineers of the difficulty of setting a permanent or stable structure on a sand foundation.

         The archeologist face this problem when they make a camp in the desert. Our tents have floors sewed into them-partly because it is annoying to get up in morning and discover that a snake has shared your sleeping bag or scorpion have set up housekeeping in your boits. So when they make a camp in the desert. Our tent havefloors sewed into them-partly because it is annoying to get up in the morning and discover that a snake has sharedyour sleeping bag or scorpions have set up housekeeping in your boots. So when we make a "permanent" camp, we know that it will be as transient as a permanent camp, we know that it will be as transient as a "permanent wave" on a woman. The wind gets under the floor and moves the sand grain, and in a few days the tents are sagging and have to be reset.

           Moses faced this problem and overcome it. When the famous tabernacle was erected in the wilderness, it was a masterpiece of engineering ingenuity. The secret of its stability was in the walls which were made of boards tha came in pairs. The Hebrew text calls them "twinned boards." Two of them were set together like a giant letter "V" inverted, like an "A." A metal becker fitted down over the top and clasped the two boards together; the bottom rested i. Metal troughs called "oches."

An eye bolt came from each board, and when the two eyes crossed in the center, a long metal rod was thrust down the length of the wall, locking all of the "twinned" unit together. The  no matter how the wind blew, regardless of its velocity,  when these gour walks were set in place, they were unmovable!

         When they had finished my address and the meeting was open For discussion, an engineer arose and said, "I want to comment on what the speaker has said about the tabernacle. I can agree with that part of his lecture, particularly because of an experience I've just had a friend of mine devised a type of bunkhouse for construction crews who have work in the desert, and he used this very idea of  twin wall, boards.locked with a rod and eye-bolts. He applied for a patent, which the office refused to grand. He sued in Federal courts force the Patent office to grant his claim and lost his case. The judged ruled that since Moses used this idea 3500 years ago, it's too late to patent it now!""

         The engineer sat down amid the delighted laughter and applause of his fellows having unconsciously illustrated the modernity of the ancient Book! This oldest volume in human keeping is as modern as twentieh-century engineering practices.

          

"Forever means forever"

        "The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. 

          And when i see the blood i will past over you. And no plague will 

        befall you and will destroyed you. When i will strike the land of egypt.

                                               EX. 12:13 ESV

         Do you want to live in victory and be free. From bondage? The key is to obey's God's word. Remember, prior to the first Passover, the Lord said: " The blood shall be to you for token upon the houses where you are" the above verse (Ex 12:13 ESV). The word token means an "evidence, or a "sign" in the Hebrew. God protected the households that had the sign. Imagine something that you are there. And when He sees the sign, He will protect you.

Now people have asked, "Why should we ask God to cover us with the blood every day? Isn't this vain repetition? Aren't we being superstitious? Aren't we acting out of bondage?" Asking the Lord to cover me with the blood continually is not because of bondage...but because of fellowship.

         As Kathryn Kulhlman once said, "we don't live on yesterday's glories, nor on tommorrow hopes, but on today's experiences.

         You may ask, what do you mean by being covered with the blood? It means we are appropriating all of benefit of the cross of Jesus Christ: protection, access, forgiveness, security in God's grace, redemption, reconciliation, cleansing, sanctification, dwelling in God's presence and victory.

         The word of God is indispensable to our knowledge and faith in God. And we need to gain the greatest knowledge of the word that is possible. The word and the blood work together. The word say says, and the blood does. The evil one may fight you at every turn, but when you apply the blood, God's power comes alive.

          But God specifically instructed the isrselites to observe the passover "as an ordinance for you and your sons forever" (Ex 12:24).

          Remember, forever means forever!

          Think about his Love the Lord has never changed the mind about His blood covenant with His people. It was not limited to the forty years that the children of israel journeyed to the promised land. The command was in effect even after they reached their destination.

         Think about his goodness, it will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. (Ex. 12:25).

"God's Provision bring Glory"

                 "And call upon me in the day of troubled i will deliver

                                  You, and you will honor Me"         

                                             Psalm 50:15

If  you are in distress you can't remember all. Put a Psalm 50:15 and call upon me in the days of trouble i will deliver you, and you will honor Me.

        Did you know that you bring glory to God by calling upon Him when you are in distress? God promise He would deliver you if you turned to Him. You deny the Lord honor, that is rightfully His every time you find yourselves in difficulty and you fail to call upon Him for help? 

         There many times when God allow you to reach a points of need so that you can call Him and thus let Him demonstrate to a watching world the differrence He makes in the lives of his children if God never allowed you to experience needs people around you might never have the opportunity to witness God's Provisionin the life of a christian. If you never faced a short fall you might be tempted to feel self-sufficient and without any need of God in your daily life. Pride will tempt you to think that you do not need to seek God's assistance self-regard will seek to convince you that you can handle your dilema through your own wisdom. Resources and hard work pride will also rob glory from God and seek to give it to you. Don't allow pride to take what rightfully belong to the Lord. Self-sufficiency can greatly hinder your ability to experience God and bring Him honor.

        In view of God's mercy, i offer my body as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God this is my spiritual act of worship. It is (not my own strength); for it is You, Lord.