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Table of Contents:
Thanksgiving: Not Just for the Good Things
Gratitude for the Gift of God’s Love
The Pastor and the Church Staff
Exegetically Speaking
Following God
Words to Stand You on Your Feet
Jewels from Past Giants
Marks of the Master
Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel
Book Reviews
News Update
Sermon Helps
Puzzles and ‘Toons
___________________________________
Thanksgiving: Not Just for the
Good Things
By Justin Lonas
When the last Thursday in November
rolls around each year, we in America try
our level best to push aside our self-focused
and fast-paced lives in order to express a
little gratitude to each other and celebrate
the gifts we’ve been given.
That this annual ritual of
Thanksgiving Day is a very Christian holiday
(to whom but God would we give thanks for
things that, from a purely temporal
perspective, we earned by the sweat of our
brow?) seems to be lost on most people in
our culture, and even on many in the
Church. Even when we do recognize God as
the source of all our good gifts, we struggle
to bring the tenor of the celebration up past
the saccharine, often settling for a moment
before the turkey-carving to thank Him for
the things we enjoy about His gifts and to
bask in the glow of everything good and
wonderful we have known.
When was the last time, however, we
stopped to meditate on the awful, painful
things in our lives and to give God the full
measure of gratitude for bringing those to
us? It is certainly not as natural a response;
it requires a level of brokenness and
maturity that does not come easily, and
often requires time and distance to gain a
grateful perspective. But we see repeatedly
throughout Scripture that God is blessed
and thanked by His faithful servants for far
more than just the patently good things He
gives to them.
We see this in Joseph’s words in
Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil
against me, but God meant it for good in
order to bring about this present result, to
preserve many people alive.” His attitude
reflects gratitude toward God cultivated
through the years of ups and downs he
endured after being sold to Egypt by his
brothers. Joseph’s example is one of
learning to see God’s hand in the
circumstances of life, even when great evil is
done to us by others.
We see it in the words of Job: “As for
me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at
the last He will take His stand on the earth.
Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my
flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26). Even
in the midst of horrible affliction (which, we
know from the context, was brought about
by Satan to try to wrest Job from his faith in
God), Job is comforted in the certain hope of
being with God in eternity. When life throws
its worst at us, we can either sink into
despair or be strengthened in our trust in
God’s ultimate victory over sin and death.
From the depths of despair, Jeremiah
awakens to God’s mercy and proclaims
stirring praises to Him: “Surely my soul
remembers and is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind, therefore I have
hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed
never cease, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is Your
faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says
my soul, ‘therefore I have hope in Him.’…Is
it not from the mouth of the Most High that
both good and ill go forth?” (Lam. 3:20-24,
38). The tribulations described in
Lamentations were the just punishment of
God on Israel for their collective sins, not a
random calamity. Jeremiah chooses to
praise the Lord for His justice and mercy
even when his people are suffering by God’s
own hand.
In the New Testament, Paul thanks
God for, among other things, his life of sin
prior to conversion: “I thank Christ Jesus our
Lord, who has strengthened me, because
He considered me faithful, putting me into
service, even though I was formerly a
blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent
aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because
I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace
of our Lord was more than abundant, with
the faith and love which are found in Christ
Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement,
deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, among
whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this
reason I found mercy, so that in me as the
foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate
His perfect patience as an example for those
who would believe in Him for eternal life” (1
Tim. 1:12-16). Paul’s perspective on God’s
glory allowed him to see how even the
reprehensible life he had before meeting
Christ was part of God’s bigger plan for the
world and that the scope of his sin made his
testimony that much more of a witness to
the power of Christ to save.
At various points, the apostles remind
us to thank God for the persecutions we
endure as believers. James tells us to
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you
encounter various trials, knowing that the
testing of your faith produces endurance”
(James 1:2-3). Peter writes, “Beloved, do
not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among
you, which comes upon you for your testing,
as though some strange thing were
happening to you; but to the degree that you
share the sufferings of Christ, keep on
rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His
glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Pet.
4:12-13). To rejoice in persecution flies in
the face of our desire for peace and comfort,
yet the apostles knew firsthand that such
suffering was a means of tremendous
spiritual growth.
Ultimate gratitude is due God for His
ultimate suffering on the cross. It is only
through the blood of Christ that we can even
approach God to offer our thanksgiving for
any other of His gifts. The spectacle of the
mangled body of the Savior hung high for all
to see is not in any earthly sense “good”, but
in the magnificent plan of God, it is the best
and highest thing in all of eternity. We thank
God daily for the suffering and death of His
Son because we know the end of the story;
we know of His resurrection and exaltation
and the salvation that His work secured.
How is it that we can thank and
praise God for all things (as we are
commanded to do in Eph. 5:20, 1 Thess.
5:18, and elsewhere), for the good, the bad,
and the ugly? It is because God does not
work in the same ways as the world does.
God’s plans and power are based in
eternity, not in the present reality; thus our
circumstances are not the final arbiter of our
joy, and even the worst things that come to
us can move us to gratitude when we see
things from His perspective. Theologian Carl
Trueman writes, “God achieves his intended
purposes by doing the exact opposite of that
which humans might expect. The supreme
example of this is the cross itself: God
triumphs over sin and evil by allowing sin
and evil to triumph (apparently) over him.
His real strength is demonstrated through
apparent weakness.”
It is through this “upside down”
theology (exemplified in 1 Cor. 1:18-2:5) that
we can begin to recognize God’s good gifts
even in things our humanity sees as
hopeless, worthless, painful, and evil.
Perhaps the best example I’ve heard
in recent years of this attitude comes from
author and artist Joni Eareckson Tada. As a
teenager, she was paralyzed from the
shoulders down in a diving accident. After a
period of depression and intense frustration,
she began to recognize that God had given
her a testimony to those with disabilities—a
realization which has driven her ministry for
decades. In 2010, Tada was diagnosed with
cancer, and reportedly responded to an
inquiry as to her spiritual state by saying,
“Now God has given me a ministry to people
who have cancer that I never could’ve had
before.”
This Thanksgiving, meditate on God’s
gifts—all of them. It may be that the things
with which we struggle the most are part of
the work of God to sharpen us, purify us,
and give us a voice to reach a suffering
world. To let those things pass by us without
acknowledging them is to miss an
opportunity to worship the Lord and draw
closer to Him.
Justin Lonas is editor of Disciple Magazine
for AMG International in Chattanooga, Tenn.
___________________________________
Gratitude for the Gift of God’s Love
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
I. The Wonder of Christ
“Enter into His gates with
thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise:
be thankful unto Him, and bless His name”
(Ps. 100:4).
Our Lord would have all His people
rich in high and happy thoughts concerning
His blessed person. Jesus is not content
that His brethren should think meanly of
Him; it is His pleasure that His espoused
ones should be delighted with His beauty.
We are not to regard Him as a bare
necessary, like to bread and water, but as a
luxurious delicacy, as a rare and ravishing
delight.
To this end He has revealed Himself
as the “pearl of great price” in its peerless
beauty, as the “bundle of myrrh” in its
refreshing fragrance, as the “rose of Sharon”
in its lasting perfume, as the “lily” in its
spotless purity. As a help to high thoughts of
Christ, remember the estimation that Christ
is held in beyond the skies, where things are
measured by the right standard.
Think how God esteems the Only
Begotten, His unspeakable gift to us.
Consider what the angels think of Him, as
they count it their highest honor to veil their
faces at His feet. Consider what the bloodwashed think of Him, as day without night
they sing His well deserved praises. High
thoughts of Christ will enable us to act
consistently with our relations towards Him.
The more loftily we see Christ
enthroned, and the lowlier we are when
bowing before the foot of the throne, the
more truly shall we be prepared to act our
part towards Him. Our Lord Jesus desires us
to think well of Him, that we may submit
cheerfully to His authority. High thoughts of
Him increase our love. Love and esteem go
together.
Therefore, believer, think much of
your Master’s excellencies. Study Him in His
primeval glory, before He took upon Himself
your nature! Think of the mighty love which
drew Him from His throne to die upon the
cross! Admire Him as He conquers all the
powers of hell! See Him risen, crowned,
glorified! Bow before Him as the Wonderful,
the Counselor, the mighty God, for only thus
will your love to Him be what it should.
II. The Steadfastness of God
“Can a woman forget her sucking
child, that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, they may
forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I
have graven thee upon the palms of my
hands; thy walls are continually before me”
(Isa. 49:15-16).
No doubt a part of the wonder which
is concentrated in the word “Behold” is
excited by the unbelieving lamentation of the
preceding sentence. Zion said, “The Lord
hath forsaken me, and my God hath
forgotten me.” How amazed the divine mind
seems to be at this wicked unbelief! What
can be more astounding than the unfounded
doubts and fears of God’s favored people?
The Lord’s loving word of rebuke should
make us blush; He cries, “How can I have
forgotten you, when I have graven you upon
the palms of my hands? How dare you
doubt my constant remembrance, when the
memorial is set upon my very flesh?”
O unbelief, how strange a marvel
thou art! We know not which most to wonder
at, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of
His people. He keeps His promise a
thousand times, and yet the next trial makes
us doubt Him. He never fails; He is never a
dry well; He is never as a setting sun, a
passing meteor, or a melting vapor; and yet
we are as continually vexed with anxieties,
molested with suspicions, and disturbed with
fears, as if our God were the mirage of the
desert.
“Behold” is a word intended to excite
admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme
for marveling. Heaven and earth may well
be astonished that rebels should obtain so
great a nearness to the heart of infinite love
as to be written upon the palms of His
hands. “I have graven thee. “It does not say,
“Thy name.” The name is there, but that is
not all: “I have graven thee.”
See the fullness of this! I have graven
your person, your image, your case, your
circumstances, your sins, your temptations,
your weaknesses, your wants, your works; I
have graven you, everything about you, all
that concerns you; I have put you altogether
there. Will you ever say again that your God
has forsaken you when He has graven you
upon His own palms?
III. The Joy of Salvation
“As ye have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted
and built up in Him, and stablished in the
faith, as ye have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7).
The life of faith is represented as
receiving—an act which implies the very
opposite of anything like merit. It is simply
the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks
in the rain, as the sea receives the streams,
as night accepts light from the stars, so we,
giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of
God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or
streams, they are but cisterns into which the
living water flows; they are empty vessels
into which God pours His salvation.
The idea of receiving implies a sense
of realization, making the matter a reality.
One cannot very well receive a shadow; we
receive that which is substantial: so is it in
the life of faith, Christ becomes real to us.
While we are without faith, Jesus is a mere
name to us—a person who lived a long
while ago, so long ago that His life is only a
history to us now! By an act of faith Jesus
becomes a real person in the consciousness
of our heart.
But receiving also means grasping or
getting possession of something. The thing
which I receive becomes my own: I
appropriate to myself that which is given.
When I receive Jesus, He becomes my
Savior, so much mine that neither life nor
death shall be able to rob me of Him. All this
is to receive Christ—to take Him as God’s
free gift; to realize Him in my heart, and to
appropriate Him as mine.
Salvation may be described as the
blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving
hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have
not only received these blessings, we have
received Christ Jesus Himself. It is true that
He gave us life from the dead. He gave us
pardon of sin; He gave us imputed
righteousness. These are all precious
things, but we are not content with them; we
have received Christ Himself. The Son of
God has been poured into us, and we have
received Him, and appropriated Him. What a
heartful Jesus must be, for heaven itself
cannot contain Him!
“Thanks be unto God for his
unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).
Three selections from Morning and Evening
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892),
“the Prince of Preachers,” was a renowned
pastor and author who served as pastor of
London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle for 38
years. His works are still widely read today.
___________________________________
The Pastor and the Church Staff:
Rules to Live By
By Joe McKeever
Recently I requested of some minister
friends their advice and lessons learned
concerning church staff relationships. What
follows are some of the best of the
responses, in no particular order.
I. “Be very careful whom you trust
completely” - Jim
In over three decades of ministry, Jim
says he has been brutally betrayed at least
3 times. It has made him wary about trusting
anyone with anything confidential.
I’m recalling a time two churches ago
when the personnel committee and I were
dealing with a sensitive issue, long since
forgotten. I said, “Can I say something in
here and it not go any further?” The
chairman said, “Pastor, I wouldn’t say
anything in here you do not want to get out.”
That was a courageous thing for him to do.
As subtly as he knew how, the chairman
was warning me off from trusting some of
the people in that room. In time, I learned he
knew whereof he was speaking.
II. “First, pastor the staff. Be their
shepherd” – Andy
Something inside us wants to protest,
that, well, the staff are all ministers and they
don’t need pastoring. They do. In fact,
preacher, so do you. I have heard that the
typical ministerial staff wants the pastor to
be their friend and the congregation’s
pastor; the congregation, however, wants
him to be their friend and the staff’s pastor.
My answer is: be both. You can
pastor friends.
III. “You will never have a ministry like
Jesus’ until you’ve had a Judas at your
table” – Chris
Pastors should accept the reality that
sooner or later one of their dearest friends
and associates will turn out to be the biggest
troublemaker in the church.
IV. “Staff members should stand up for
their pastor” – John
One of the most devastating
assessments of a certain minister says that
he “tends to agree with whoever he’s talking
with at the moment.” I suspect that in his
mind this makes him a good guy and a
friend to everyone. It also means he has no
convictions, no courage, and no backbone.
Sometimes, to be true to Christ and
to one’s calling, each of us will have to say
to the fellow across the table something like
this: “I beg to differ with you. The pastor’s
not that way at all. He’s actually one of the
godliest men I know.” Amazing how those
short sentences can stop a critic in his
tracks.
V. “And that knife cuts both ways. The
pastor should stand up for his staff” –
Joe
The rule is: defend him in public, but
criticize him in private, person to person.
VI. “You can delegate tasks, but not
responsibility” – Mel
Even when I, as the pastor, ask you
to perform a task, it’s still on my desk, on my
plate, on my mind. I’m still accountable to
the church to see that this gets done. The
pastor cannot stand before the deacons or
some other heavyweight team of leaders
and excuse himself for malfeasance
because “I asked Tom to do that and he
failed.”
VII. “Guard your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus” – Michelle
Keep yourself close to the Lord—
whether you are the lead pastor or the
lowliest staffer—and keep the heart pure by
constant prayer, daily repentance, and
faithful service.
VIII. “The best leaders lead by serving” –
Linda
A pastor friend tells me he’s about to
lose a church family because the annual
Thanksgiving dinner in which members of
the congregation gorge themselves on
turkey and dressing and all the trimmings
has been turned into a community dinner,
where the members serve the neighbors
and unchurched who attend.
How strange is that, the idea that the
church should actually “serve!” Pastors and
staffers will always want to set the example
by their willingness to get dirty and do the
lowliest tasks. Nothing endears a leader to
his people than seeing him lay aside his
theological degrees and clerical persona,
gird himself with a towel and wash their feet.
IX. “Keep your friends close and your
enemies closer” – Linda (again)
She did not elaborate on that old
maxim from political life. I’ve known of
governors and presidents who appointed an
outspoken critic to a job in the administration
in order to shut them up, but also so they
could watch them closely. There are limits
on that. I’ve also known of churches in which
leaders wanted to appoint the pastor’s
severest critic to a key committee thinking
that would shut him up. All it tends to do is
give him a platform and a bullhorn. Not a
good idea.
X. “A few key rules to live by” – Rocky
1) Do not ask anyone to do what you
are unwilling to do.
2) Express appreciation regularly and
publicly, but criticize privately.
3) Overlook mistakes. We all make
them.
4) Free staffers to use their gifts.
5) Pray for one another.
6) Choose your staff carefully; they
can make you or break you.
XI. “Everyone needs a Barnabas [an
encourager]” – Monte
The other ministers on the staff are in
the best position to encourage one another,
because they know what you are going
through. Monte says, “There are times when
an ‘attaboy or attagirl’ is the balm that is
needed to make it through a particularly
rough situation.”
XII. “Be sensitive to staffers who are
unmarried – Monte (again)
These ministerial staff members do
not have someone waiting at home to
bounce ideas off or get comfort from. She
says, “It can be a lonely place.” So, what
can a pastor do? “Maybe occasionally
checking in with the single staffer to see how
he or she is coping with their ministry would
be helpful and healthy.”
XIII. “The matter of coming in as pastor
and giving leadership to a staff put in
place by your predecessor has its own
challenges” – Sam
No question about that. I’ve known it
to go both ways, for the new pastor to be
given carte blanche to wipe the slate clean
and bring in his own team, and for pastors to
be told that “the staff are all loved by this
church and we expect the new pastor will
work with them.” I suspect this deserves its
own article, rather than just a couple of lines
here.
In the meantime, we send this forth in
the hope that something above will be of
help to a staffer or the pastor who seeks to
lead a staff.
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern
Baptist pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana.
He blogs regularly at
www.joemckeever.com.
___________________________________
Exegetically Speaking
by Spiros Zodhiates
The Return of the Son of Man—Part 1 of 3
Matthew 24:27-30
From Exegetical Commentary on Matthew,
2006, AMG Publishers
[27] “For as” introduces the reason
why the local appearances of prophets, socalled christs, signs, and wonders do not
constitute valid testimony of the appearance
(parousía [3952]) of “the Son of man…in his
glory” (Matt. 25:31). Christ’s return will not
be secretive at all but “like (hōsper [5618]
from hōs [5613], as; and the emphatic
enclitic particle per [4007], wholly, very
much; ‘exactly like’) the lightning (astrapē
[796]) coming out of the east and shining
even to the west” (a.t.).
This verse stresses the dramatic
universal display of Christ’s coming against
the localizations picked up by news
reporters that happen to be in the area.
“Coming” is actually parousía (presence).
Jesus’ visible presence is also referred to as
an epipháneia ([2015], a manifestation), a
visible revelation (apokálupsis [602], an
uncovering). It is associated with the verb
used here of the lightning that “shineth”
(from phaínō [5316]), especially in Paul’s
epistles (2 Thess. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:14).
Everyone who is living will see this event
that ushers in the eternal reign of Jesus
Christ with believers of all ages (Rev. 1:7).
[28] Jesus will return in judgment:
“For wheresoever the carcass (ptōma
[4430], corpse; Luke’s Synoptic text uses
sōma [4983], body) is, there the eagles
(from aetós [105], an eagle or vulture, a
species of rapacious birds that prey on dead
bodies) will be gathered together
(sunachthēsontai, the future passive tense
of sunágō [4863], to lead together)” (a.t.).
The picture is clearly one of
judgment, a scenario of predatory birds
perched on a dead body (sōma), intent on
feeding. What eagles or vultures feed on is
worthless apart from its value as fodder. A
similar picture is painted in the book of
Revelation: “And I saw an angel standing in
the sun; and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of
heaven, Come and gather yourselves
together unto the supper of the great God;
that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the
flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty
men, and the flesh of horses, and of them
that sit on them, and the flesh of all men,
both free and bond, both small and great”
(Rev. 19:17-18).
The context in Revelation is
Armageddon, thus the reference to the flesh
of captains, mighty men, and horses (Rev.
19:18, 21). Jesus never answered His
disciples’ question concerning the when of
His coming; it is a divine secret (Matt. 24:36;
Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7). But Revelation 22:2021 reveal that the series of events leading
up to the physical return of Jesus Christ will
take place in rapid succession (tachú [5035],
quickly and suddenly; used as an adverb, it
means speedily; Rev. 3:11; 11:14; 22:7;
etc.). Living believers will be transformed “in
an instant (from átomos [823], an indivisible
unit of time), in the twinkling of an eye”
(1 Cor. 15:52; a.t.). Divine chronology does
not always fit human speculations (2 Pet.
3:7–15). In general, the events will catch
unbelievers by surprise, like a “thief in the
night” (1 Thess. 5:2).
[29] The events described in this
verse occur “immediately (euthéōs [2112])
after (metá [3326], succession, sequence)
the tribulation of those days.” This refers to
the troubles described in verse 21 (without
the definite article as here), the Great
Tribulation, in the last three-and-a-half years
of the seventieth week. This is the period of
the worst activity of the Antichrist who
wages war against “the saints” (Dan. 7:25;
Rev. 13:5–8).
The events of “those days” are similar
to those on the day the Lord Jesus was
crucified, especially during the last three
hours He hung on the cross. We read in
Matthew 27:45, “Now from the sixth hour
there was darkness over all the land (gē
[1093], earth) unto the ninth hour,” a time
when the sun should have been the
brightest. Yet darkness (skótos [4655], a
word symbolic of spiritual darkness, i.e., sin)
prevailed over the whole earth where
people, separated from God because of sin,
were doing their worst. Jesus’ tribulation on
the cross was a prophetic type of the Great
Tribulation.
Jesus added, “The sun shall be
darkened (from skotízō [4654], a verb
associated with the noun skótos [4655],
darkness), and the moon shall not give her
light (phéggos [5338])” (a.t.). Phéggos refers
to the light (phōs [5457]) of the sun reflected
by the moon, which is analogous to the
church’s reflection of the glory of Christ. This
culminating darkness will end when He who
is the “bright and morning star” dispels it
once and for all (Rev. 22:16).
[30] In verse 3, the disciples asked,
“When will all these things be, and what is
the [single] sign of your coming (parousía
[3952]) and the consummation of the age?”
(a.t.). Jesus now spoke of the sign. “And
then shall appear (from phaínō [5316], to
shine, to give light; from phōs [5457], light)
the sign of the Son of man in heaven (from
ouranós [3772], heaven, sky): and then shall
all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great
glory.”
The disciples asked about a variety of
events that are designated by “these things”
to which they expected Jesus to give a
specific time. Jesus, however, described
different events that will not take place
simultaneously but at different times
connected with the total process. We must,
therefore, study these events from God’s
revelation in the totality of Scripture.
Jesus told His disciples that He was
going to heaven to prepare a place for them
(John 14:3-4). Just after His ascension into
heaven, angels told His followers that He
would descend from heaven at some future
date to take them to Himself (Acts 1:11). He
has not yet fulfilled that promise, which the
apostle Paul also gives in 1 Thessalonians
4:13–18. We must, therefore, understand
this event as the resurrection of dead
believers and the transformation of living
believers (1 Cor. 15:51–53), called “the
rapture of the church” by some, the next
event to take place. The Scriptures delineate
the role of angels as ministering spirits in
heaven at the service of Christ in all His
appearances, beginning with the incarnation
(Matt. 1:20, 21; Luke 1:28–33) and ending
with the final establishment of His kingdom
(Matt. 25:31).
This “sign” of the “Son of man in
heaven,” however, is at the end of the
Tribulation period, when Christ comes back
to earth to defeat His enemies and set up
His kingdom for a thousand years (see Rev.
19:11-20:4). The appearance of the visible
“sign” implies that the heavenly
perturbations referred to in verse 29 will be
temporary. Neither the sun nor the moon will
stop shining permanently, although these
disturbances will impact everyone on earth.
The sign appears “in heaven,” in this
case, visible to all humanity. The Jesus has
already used the verb phaínō (5316) in the
immediate context (verse 27) to liken His
return to wild streaking (from phaínō) of
lightning towards the west, vividly contrasted
to the claims of false prophets that He is “in”
their tamed, esoteric environments, the
“desert” and the “secret chambers” (verse
26).
It is most natural, then, to take the
genitival expression, “of the Son of man in
heaven,” appositionally—“of” meaning
“which is,” that is, the sign which is the
physical appearance of Christ in the sky.
Corroborative evidence for this is that Jesus
cited Zechariah’s prophecy, “They shall look
upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him” (Zech. 12:10), a clear
prediction of the conversion of Jews who
personally witness Christ’s physical return.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every
eye shall see him, and they also which
pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him” (Rev. 1:7; cf.
Rom. 11:26).
This sign is similar to the sign Jesus
gave during His first coming to that
“generation” (Mark 8:12). When the
Pharisees demanded proof of His authority,
Jesus characterized their generation—and
every generation that seeks signs—as
wicked and adulterous, adding that no sign
would be given other than His resurrection
typified by Jonah’s supernatural rescue from
the body of the great fish (from kētos [2785];
Matt. 12:39, 40; see Jon. 1:17) after three
days.
Christ’s resurrection became the
basis for all future resurrections, according
to the apostle Paul: “But now is Christ risen
from the dead, and become the firstfruits
(aparchē [536]) of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at
his coming. Then cometh the end, when he
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God,
even the Father; when he shall have put
down all rule and all authority and power”
(1 Cor. 15:20–24).
As the firstfruits, Christ secured the
resurrection of all those who believe. As
Paul says in verse 23, “every man in his own
order.” Christ was clearly the firstfruits. After
the temple veil was rent in two parts during
the crucifixion, “the graves were opened;
and many bodies of the saints which slept
arose, and came out of the graves after his
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and
appeared unto many” (Matt. 27:52–53). If
this represents their permanent resurrection
and not a temporary resurrection similar to
what Lazarus experienced in John 11, these
saints would be the first order. The
resurrection accompanying the rapture will
be the next order (1 Thess. 4:13–18).
We are not told of any resurrection
taking place during the Tribulation period,
but we assume that all the Tribulation-period
saints will be resurrected before the
millennium begins. We gather this from
Revelation 20:4-5 that says that the
Tribulation-period saints have already been
resurrected and will live and reign with
Christ for a thousand years during the
millennium. We also assume that no
believers will die during the millennium and
that only those unbelievers who deliberately
rebel will die (see Isa. 65:20) as well as
those who follow the released dragon into
the Battle of Armageddon after the
millennium (Rev. 20:8). These will be
resurrected with unbelievers of all ages in
the second resurrection, as implied in
Revelation 20:5-6, to face the great white
throne judgment of Revelation 20:11–15.
At the sign of the Son of man in
heaven, the “tribes (from phulē [5443], tribe,
nation; Rev. 1:7) of the earth (gē) shall
mourn (kópsontai, the future middle of kóptō
[2875], to cut down to size, cf. Zech. 12:10–
14).” The Lord works in two arenas: heaven,
the dwelling place of God, angels, and
departed saints; and earth (Matt. 5:18, 35;
6:10, 19; etc.). What takes place in heaven
affects those living on earth.
Those on earth “will see (from horáō
[3708], to see and perceive; or óptomai
[3700], to see) the Son of man coming.”
Hioráō contrasts with bléipō ([991], to see
physically, gaze, look at). The fact that they
will see and understand the significance of
what is happening will cause many to
lament.
Note that erchómenon, “coming,” is
the present participle of érchomai, I come, or
I am coming. If a single coming had been
intended, another tense would have been
selected, like eleusómenon, the future
participle. The present participle of érchomai
is used frequently to describe Jesus’ return
to earth (cf. Mark 11:9; Luke 21:27; John
1:15, 27; 3:31; etc.). The whole future is a
series of comings of the Lord Jesus in
salvation and judgment.
Two Greek words are translated
“cloud.” One is néphos ([3509], a cloudy,
shapeless mass covering the sky), used
metaphorically for a crowd or throng (Heb.
12:1). The other is nephélē (3507), a
feminine diminutive, meaning a small,
formed cloud, such as the pillar that guided
the Israelites in the desert during the day
(1 Cor. 10:1-2). This latter word is used in
connection with the transfiguration of Christ
(Matt. 17:5; Luke 9:34-35); His ascension
(Acts 1:9); and His coming again (Matt.
24:30; 26:64; Luke 21:27; 1 Thess. 4:17;
Rev. 1:7; etc.).
Jesus will come in a final sense
(élthē, the aorist subjunctive of érchomai, I
come) in clouds of glory as in Matthew
25:31: “When the Son of man shall come
(élthē) in his glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory.” At this time, the Lord, the
victorious Lamb, will defeat the Antichrist
and come to earth not only with angels, but
with the called, chosen, and faithful (Rev.
17:14). The defeat of Antichrist will manifest
Christ’s “power” (from dúnamis [1411],
accomplishing power) and “glory” (from
dóixa [1391], glory, derived from the verb
dokéō [1380], to think or recognize,
therefore His recognition). This power and
glory is qualified as “great” (from polús
[4183], much), issuing from the victorious
“Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5). Christ
will be properly recognized as the One who
was eternally with the Father (John 1:1-2;
17:5; 1 John 1:1-2) and became flesh (John
1:14), without sin (Heb. 4:15), so that He
might be the sacrificial lamb (amnós [286];
John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:19, in
contrast to arníon [721], a living lamb).
Spiros Zodhiates (1922-2009) served as
president of AMG International for over 40
years, was the founding editor of Pulpit
Helps Magazine (Disciple’s predecessor),
and authored dozens of exegetical books.
___________________________________
Following God
by Wayne Barber
Grace Living Is Grace Giving
We are coming into the season of the
year when believers particularly have giving
on our minds. Why? Because, as believers,
Christ lives in us, and His very nature is to
give. He gave His life for us on the cross so
that we might have an eternal relationship
with God the Father through Him. John 3:16
says it all: “For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but
have eternal life.”
True, grace-induced giving is not
some worldly investment program or a guilt
trip to a believer, but it is the evidence that a
believer is walking yielded to Christ. It bears
witness to the One who lives in and through
us. In fact, there is no way that a person can
say he is allowing Christ to live through him
and be stingy at the same time. Living
grace, which is Christ living in and through
us, is giving grace!
In 2 Corinthians 8 Paul gives us a
beautiful picture of the heart of a believer to
give. The context is a one-time offering that
Paul was collecting for the poor in Judea,
but I want you to look at the heart of those
that he uses as an example to the stingy
and rich church of Corinth. He begins by
saying, “Now, brethren, we wish to make
known to you the grace of God which has
been given in the churches of Macedonia,
that in a great ordeal of affliction their
abundance of joy and their deep poverty
overflowed in the wealth of their liberality” (2
Cor. 8:1-2).
What a picture Paul paints for the
wealthy believers of Corinth. He uses the
word for “known”, gnorizo, which means
something like, “if we didn’t tell you, you
wouldn’t have a clue!” Paul wants them to
see what the heart of true giving is really all
about. He wants them to realize that giving
is a consequence of Christ living in and
through a believer’s life. When Paul
mentions the churches of Macedonia, there
were three that were started by him that we
know of—the Church at Philippi, The Church
at Thessalonica, and the church at Berea.
God had done a real work in these
churches which was evidenced by their
generous giving. Paul points to the “grace of
God which has been given to the churches
of Macedonia.” Now, how was the grace of
God manifested in these churches? “that in
a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of
joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the
wealth of their liberality.” It wasn’t just their
giving but their giving was in the midst of the
worst of circumstances.
Now, our fleshly minds tell us that
people don’t give when times are hard! Well,
sadly that’s true unless they are allowing
Christ to live through their lives. I’m told that
during the Great Depression that the
churches continued to maintain their
ministries and missions because the
believers were faithful to give.
The word “great” here is polus, which
refers to something way beyond the
ordinary. The word for “ordeal” is dokime
which refers to a severe test in which
someone passes and proves himself to be
genuine. The word translated “affliction” is a
familiar word in 2 Corinthians, thilipsis,
which refers to the deep stress that one
goes through as a result of what someone
does to them. So, it was in the midst of
terrible times when the believers of
Macedonia were suffering that they gave to
the needs of others. Their giving stood in
contrast to the fleshly minded Church of
Corinth who got all they could get; canned
all they got; and then sat on the can and
poisoned the rest.
Paul says that the Macedonians’
“abundance of joy and their deep poverty
overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.”
They overflowed with joy in the midst of
these terrible times, times that had brought
them to the point of destitute poverty!
Probably these tough times were because of
their Christianity and they lost their jobs or
were denied the right to buy food for their
families. The word “poverty” here is
ptocheia, which means total destitution! It is
a point where a man cannot dig himself out
of his dilemma.
In the midst of this, they gave out of
the abundance of God’s goodness in their
hearts. The word “overflowed” comes from
perisseuo, which means to be in excess, to
exceed what is needed. “Wealth” here is not
the Greek word for riches in the sense of
monetary wealth, but the term means the
abundance of something. Contextually, this
is the abundance of God’s goodness in their
hearts! His goodness which produced such
joy caused them to think of others instead of
themselves.
The word “liberality” translates
haplotes, which means without a double
motive! The believers in Macedonia didn’t
give as a tool to manipulate others because
they had no double motive. Paul is
overwhelmed at the generosity of these
impoverished believers in Macedonia. Their
giving was such that it was beyond what
was needed, and they gave with no strings
attached! Paul wanted the Church at Corinth
to see what grace giving really was—part of
the stewardship of one’s life under the
Lordship of Christ. Grace giving is a product
of God’s Grace working in the hearts of His
people.
I was in Austria years ago preaching
with the International Congress on Revival.
It was at the time of the war in Kosovo and
there were so many believers there who
were in need. We had several language
groups attending the conference and one
was a group from Romania, where I have
had the privilege to minister every year since
1987. The Romanians were the poorest
people in our conference but they were the
ones who came to us and wanted to take an
offering for their brothers and sisters in
Christ who lived in Kosovo. As we took the
offering, I watched in utter amazement as
they were the ones who gave so totally and
enthusiastically it brought tears to my eyes.
The men literally took everything out of their
pockets and their pockets hung outside of
their trousers empty. Wow! I began to
understand how Paul was so blessed by the
giving of the poor Macedonian believers and
it so convicted me of how greedy we are as
believers in America.
If you want to be blessed, keep
reading in chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians and
see what God might say to you. There are
so many needs around us. This
Thanksgiving and Christmas season, ask
God how you can join Him in giving this
year. You will be amazed at what He will tell
you and you will be overwhelmingly blessed
when you yield to Him. Remember though,
the Macedonians first gave of themselves to
the Lord, as verse 5 says, before they ever
thought about giving their money. It is Christ
in you that will give you not only the burden
to give but the direction and balance He has
for you.
Wayne Barber is senior pastor of Woodland
Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga,
Tennessee.
___________________________________
Words to Stand You on Your Feet
by Joe McKeever
The Fruit of the Spirit Is: Longsuffering
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against
such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22).
John Cameron Swayze crowned a
long career in news and television work with
a series of commercials he did for Timex
watches. After subjecting a wristwatch to
brutal treatment, he would retrieve it (from
the hole in which it had been buried, the
building they had just blown up, whatever),
hold it up to the camera, and observe,
“Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”
That’s you. That’s me. That’s the
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we
do it right. The Lord told His followers that as
a result of their identification with Him they
were most definitely going to “take a licking.”
In one passage, for instance, where we are
commanded to love our enemies, Jesus said
we can expect to be hated, cursed,
threatened, and spitefully used. If we are
struck on the cheek—that sounds like a
licking to me!—we are to turn the other to
our assailant. If someone steals our cloak,
we are to offer our tunic also (Luke 6:27-30).
In order to love the person who hits
me, hates me, curses me, and forcibly takes
what is mine, I am going to be needing one
resource that does not come as standard
equipment with the human animal: restraint.
The Greek word makrothumia is
literally “long-tempered.” Various
translations call it longsuffering, as well as
forbearance and patience. Let’s stick with
“longsuffering.” That word says it as well as
any. Longsuffering is self-restraint. When
being provoked, one does not lose control
and dish out the same kind of treatment he
or she has received. Perhaps a good way to
emphasize what the word means is by
thinking of its opposites. Here is my short list
of the reverse image of longsuffering.
I. The Opposite of Longsuffering Is
Losing One’s Temper
We were in seminary, in the third year
of our marriage. I have no idea what we
were discussing or arguing about, only that
tempers were flaring. In a rage, I put my fist
through the wall. The fact that we were living
in seminary housing brought me to my
senses quickly. We would have to report the
(ahem) accident in order for someone to
repair it. We did, they did, and nothing was
ever said. Later, I wondered if this sort of
thing happened with enough regularity that
the maintenance office had learned not to
inquire further.
That was a wakeup call for me.
Suddenly I became fully aware of the danger
of my uncontrolled temper. In praying about
this, the Lord impressed on me that the
remedy is the fruit of the Spirit. To get
control of one’s temper, it is not necessary
to take courses in self-control, only to grow
in the Lord and let His Spirit bear His fruit in
my life.
II. The Opposite of Longsuffering Is
Retaliation
The driver on the interstate treated
you like you were invisible. He pulled right in
front of you, then slowed down. Then, if that
wasn’t enough, when you changed lanes, he
changed too. You can’t get rid of this guy.
Boy, would you like to give him a piece of
your mind! Don’t. He’s not a good candidate
for a brain transplant, you’re no surgeon,
and the highway is no operating room.
Another time, the driver in front of you
stops at the red light. You seriously think
about getting out and walking up and
informing her that she just breezed through
a school zone at 35 mph. Or, that the speed
limit in your neighborhood—where she just
emerged from—is 20 mph and she was
doing twice that.
Longsuffering means a lot of things,
including not trying to teach foolish drivers
lessons in law. They need to be taught, it’s
true. But you are not the one to do it. We all
get angry at wrong-doers. What we do with
our anger says volumes about us. “Repay
no one evil for evil…. Do not avenge
yourselves…. Vengeance is mine, I will
repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:17-19).
III. The Opposite of Longsuffering Is
Impatience under Hardship
You have an irritating mother-in-law?
A next-door neighbor who is driving you
nuts? A church member who is constantly
making demands upon you? Welcome to the
human race. Everyone has someone who
does that. It’s life. If you resolve everything
with one trouble-maker in your life, turn
around and you’ll find another one. It’s better
to learn how to deal with them all—dealing
with troublesome situations and people is
the essence of longsuffering.
1) Welcome the troublemaker. You
might as well; they’re coming on in, whether
you let them or not. So, change your
attitude. See them as potential blessings
God sends your way. Jesus said, “Blessed
are you when they revile and persecute you,
and say all kinds of evil against you falsely
for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly
glad…” (Matt. 5:11-12).
2) Offer it to the Lord. See what He
can make of it. In the rest of the passage
cited just above, Jesus said, “...for great is
your reward in Heaven.” Any temporary
difficulty we can endure here that will result
in eternal reward there must be considered
a blessing. Remember the promise: “For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, is
working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). No
wonder we read about the early disciples:
“So [the apostles] departed from the
presence of the council, rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His
name” (Acts 5:41).
3) Endure. Stay on the job. Do not
quit. Twice in 2 Corinthians 4, the Apostle
Paul gives us reasons for not quitting. In
verse 1, “Therefore, since we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we do
not lose heart.” Here are two great
motivations for hanging tough: ministry (we
have a great work to do) and mercy (we
have been forgiven and dealt with in a
merciful way).
In verse 16: “Therefore, we do not
lose heart. Even though our outward man is
perishing, yet the inward man is being
renewed day by day.” We do not walk away
from the place where the Lord has assigned
us because He is at work within us, making
us stronger and stronger on the inside.
4) Learn to wait quietly. No one
likes to hear a whiner, particularly in the
Kingdom of God. Anyone who has served
the Lord for a generation or longer has
heard his full quota of church members who
call attention to how faithfully they served
the Lord under adverse conditions and how
the Lord did nothing to alleviate things and
how they know their reward in heaven will
be something special.
I have long enjoyed David’s
testimony: “I waited patiently for the Lord
and He…heard my cry. He brought me up
out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and
set my feet upon a rock, and established my
steps” (Ps. 40:1-2) David was waiting, he
says, but he was crying at the same time.
Okay, we understand it. Sometimes we wait
and cry. No one who endured Hitler’s or
Stalin’s concentration camps for years on
end can be faulted for crying to the Lord
during their long wait. But don’t brag about
it. And don’t complain to others about the
long wait and your wonderful record of
persevering. The Lord sees. He will reward.
And that will be enough for you.
Let us not leave this subject without
reminding ourselves that God Himself is
longsuffering. According to Exodus 34:6, it’s
His nature to be that way. We can give
thanks. 1 Peter 3:20 speaks of His
longsuffering in the days of Noah. Best of all
is 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish but that all
should come to repentance.”
John MacArthur writes on this
passage: “God has an immense capacity for
patience before He breaks forth in judgment
(cf. v.15; Joel 2:13; Luke 15:20; Rom. 9:22;
1 Pet. 3:15). God endures endless
blasphemies against His name, along with
rebellion, murders, and the ongoing
breaking of His law, waiting patiently while
He is calling and redeeming His own. It is
not impotence or slackness that delays final
judgment; it is patience.” No wonder Peter
writes that we should consider the
longsuffering of the Lord as our salvation (2
Pet. 3:15).
To summarize, then, the longsuffering
disciple simply believes in Jesus Christ and
is willing to leave ultimate matters to God.
What could be simpler? Oh, that it were
easy.
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist
pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He
blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com.
___________________________________
Jewels from Past Giants
Sin—Part 3 of 3
By Charles Hodge
Originally published in 1841 as a chapter in
The Way of Life. Edited slightly for modern
spellings.
The Grace of God toward Sinners, and
Our Guilt in Rejecting It
It is the doctrine of the Bible that the
infinite and eternal Son of God assumed our
nature, that He might redeem us from the
curse of the law by being made a curse for
us. It is obvious that no severity of mere
human suffering, no destroying deluge, no
final conflagration, not hell itself can present
such a manifestation of the evil of sin and of
the justice of God as the cross of His
incarnate Son. It declares in language which
is heard by the whole intelligent universe,
that sin deserves God’s wrath and curse,
and that none who refuse submission to the
appointed method of pardon can escape its
condemnation.
The penalty then which God has
attached to the violation of His law, the
certainty with which that penalty is inflicted,
the doom of the fallen angels, the
consequences of Adam’s sin, and above all,
the death of Christ are manifestations of the
evil of sin in the estimation of God, which it
is the highest infatuation for us to disregard.
However obdurate our hearts may be
in reference to this subject, our reason is not
so blind as not to see that our guilt must be
exceedingly great. We cannot deny that all
the circumstances which aggravate the
heinousness of sin concur in our case. The
law which we transgress is perfectly good. It
is the law of God, the law of right and
reason. It is the expression of the highest
excellence; it is suited to our nature,
necessary to our perfection and happiness.
Opposition to such a law must be in the
highest degree unreasonable and wicked.
This law is enforced not only by its
own excellence but by the authority of God.
Disregard of this authority is the greatest
crime of which a creature is capable. It is
rebellion against a being whose right to
command is founded on His infinite
superiority, His infinite goodness, and His
absolute propriety in us as His creatures. It
is apostasy from the kingdom of God to the
kingdom of Satan. There is no middle
ground between the two. Everyone is either
the servant of God or the servant of the
devil. Holiness is the evidence of our
allegiance to our Maker; sin is the service of
Satan.
Could we form any adequate
conception of these two kingdoms, of the
intrinsic excellence of the one and the
absolute evil of the other, of the blessedness
attendant on the one and the misery
connected with the other; could we, in short,
bring heaven and hell in immediate contrast,
we might have some proper view of the guilt
of this apostasy from God. It is the natural
tendency of our conduct to degrade
ourselves and others, to make Eden like
Sodom, and to kindle everywhere the fire
that never shall be quenched. He therefore
who sins is not only a rebel against God, but
a malefactor, an enemy to the highest good
of his fellow creatures.
Again, our guilt is great because our
sins are exceedingly numerous. It is not
merely outward acts of unkindness and
dishonesty with which we are chargeable;
our habitual and characteristic state of mind
is evil in the sight of God. Our pride, vanity,
indifference to His will and to the welfare of
others, our selfishness, our loving the
creature more than the Creator, are
continuous violations of His law. We have
never, in any one moment of our lives, been
or done what that law requires us to be and
to do. We have never had that delight in the
divine perfections, that sense of
dependence and obligation, that fixed
purpose to do the will and promote the glory
of God, which constitute the love which is
our first and highest duty.
It is in this sense that men are said to
be totally depraved; they are entirely
destitute of supreme love to God. Whatever
else they may have is as nothing while this
is wanting. They may be affectionate fathers
or kind masters, or dutiful sons and
daughters, but they are not obedient
children of God; they have not those feelings
toward God which constitute their first and
greatest duty, and without which they are
always transgressors. The man who is a
rebel against his righteous sovereign, and
whose heart is full of enmity to His person
and government, may be faithful to his
associates and kind to his dependants, but
he is always and increasingly guilty as it
regards his ruler.
Thus we are always sinners; we are
at all times and under all circumstances in
opposition to God, because we are never
what His law requires us to be. If we have
never loved Him supremely; if we have
never made it our governing purpose to do
His will; if we have never been properly
grateful for all His mercies; if we have never
made His glory, but some other and lower
object, the end of our actions; then our lives
have been an unbroken series of
transgressions. Our sins are not to be
numbered by the conscious violations of
duty; they are as numerous as the moments
of our existence.
If the permanent moral dispositions of
man are evil, it must follow that his acts of
transgression will be past counting up. Every
hour there is some work of evil, some wrong
thought, some bad feeling, some improper
word, or some wicked act, to add to the
number of his offenses. The evil exercise of
an evil heart is like the ceaseless swinging
of the pendulum. The slightest review of life
therefore is sufficient to overwhelm us with
the conviction of the countless multitude of
our transgressions. It is this which
constitutes our exceeding sinfulness in the
sight of God.
While our conscience sleeps, or our
attention is directed to other subjects, the
number of our transgressions grows like the
unnoticed pulsations of our heart. It is not
until we pause and call ourselves to account
that we see how many feelings have been
wrong; how great is the distance at which
we habitually live from God, and how
constant is our want of conformity to His will.
It was this that forced the Psalmist to cry,
“Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so
that I am not able to look up, they are more
than the hairs of my head, therefore my
heart faileth me” (Ps. 40:12).
Again, we may judge of the greatness
of our guilt before God by considering the
numerous restraints of His truth, providence,
and spirit which we habitually disregard. The
simple fact that sin is wrong, that conscience
condemns it, is a constant and powerful
restraint. We cannot avail ourselves of the
plea of ignorance, as we have a perfect
standard of duty in the law of God. We
cannot resist the conviction that His
commands are righteous; yet, despite this,
we live in constant disobedience.
We are, moreover, fully aware of the
consequences of sin. We know the
judgment of God that those who do such
things are worthy of death, and yet continue
our transgressions. We are surprised at the
drunkard who indulges his fatal passion in
the very presence of ruin; yet we are blind to
our own infatuation in continuing to disobey
God despite threatened death. We stupidly
disregard the certain consequences of our
conduct, and awake only in time to see that
madness is in our hearts. This insensibility,
notwithstanding the constant warnings of the
Word of God, constitutes a peculiar
aggravation of our guilt.
Nor are we more mindful of the
restraining influence of the love of God. We
disregard the fact that the Being against
whom we sin is He to whom we owe our
existence and all our enjoyments; who has
carried us in His arms, and crowned us with
lovingkindness and tender mercies; who is
merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
plenteous in mercy; who has not dealt with
us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities, but has borne with our
provocations, waiting that His goodness
might lead us to repentance.
We have despised His forbearance,
deriving from it a motive to sin, as though He
were slack concerning His promises, and
would not accomplish His threatening; thus
treasuring up for ourselves wrath against the
day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God. Besides all this, we
disregard the love of Christ. There stands
His cross, mutely eloquent; at once an
invitation and a warning. It tells us both of
the love and justice of God. It assures us
that He who spared not His own Son is
ready to be gracious.
All this we disregard. We count the
blood of the covenant an unholy thing; we
act as if it were not the blood of the Son of
God, shed for us for the remission of sins.
Or, it may be, we turn the grace of God into
licentiousness and draw encouragement
from the death of Christ to continue in sin.
This unbelieving rejection of the
Savior involves guilt so peculiarly great that
it is often spoken of as the special
condemnation of the world. “He that
believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed on the only
begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). “When
He, the Spirit of truth is come, He shall
convince the world of sin, because they
believe not in Me” (John 16:8-9). “If he that
despised Moses’ law died without mercy,
under two or three witnesses, of how much
sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God” (Heb. 10:28-29).
The great sin of rejecting Jesus Christ
as Savior, it must be remembered, is an
often repeated and long continued sin. It is
also one which is chargeable not only on the
openly wicked only, but upon those whom
the world calls moral. They too resist the
claims of the Son of God; they too refuse
His love and reject His offers. It was when
all other messengers had failed, the Lord of
the vineyard sent His Son to His disobedient
servants, saying, “They will reverence my
Son.” The guilt of thus rejecting Christ will
never be fully appreciated until the day when
He shall sit on the throne and from His face
the earth and heaven shall flee away and no
place be found for them.
Besides these restraints from without,
we resist the still more effectual influence of
the Spirit of God. That Spirit strives with all
men; suggesting truth and exciting
conscience, expostulating and warning, and
drawing men from sin to God. It is from Him
that all good thoughts and right purposes do
proceed. This spirit we quench; we resist His
gracious influences, not once or twice, but a
thousand times. Though He will not always
strive with men, He strives long, and returns
after many insulting rejections, repeating the
warnings and invitations of mercy.
All men are sensible of this divine
influence, though they may not be aware of
its origin. They know not whence proceed
the serious thoughts, the anxious
forebodings, the convictions of truth, the
sense of the emptiness of the world, the
longing after security and peace of which
they are conscious. God sends these
admonitions even to those who are most
contented with the world and most happy in
their estrangement from Himself. He leaves
no man without a witness and a warning.
These strivings of the Spirit are not
only frequent, but often urgent. Almost every
man can look back and see many instances
in which an unseen hand was upon him,
when a voice, not from man, has sounded in
his ears, when feelings to which he was
before a stranger were awakened in his
breast, and when he felt the power of the
world to come. The shadow of the Almighty
has passed over him and produced the
conviction that God is, and that He is an
avenger.
From a review of what has been said,
it is plain that the Scriptures teach not only
that all men are sinners, but that their
corruption is radical, seated in their hearts,
and that it is exceedingly great. The severity
of the penalty which God has attached to
transgression, the certainty of its infliction,
the costliness of the sacrifice by which alone
its pardon could be obtained, are all proofs
of the evil of sin in the sight of God. The
greatness of our personal guilt is plain from
the excellence of the law which we have
violated; from the authority and goodness of
the Being whom we have offended, from the
number of our sins, and from the powerful
restraints which we have disregarded.
Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was
Presbyterian theologian and leading
proponent of historical Calvinism in America
during the 19th Century. He taught for most
of his career at Princeton Theological
Seminary, serving as its principal from 18511878. He was the founder and first editor of
The Biblical Repertory and Princeton
Review, using the publication as a platform
to address many controversial issues in his
day. Among his best known books are
numerous commentaries on New Testament
books, his Systematic Theology, The Way of
Life, and What Is Darwinism. He is
remembered as a great defender of the faith
who articulated the ageless doctrines of
Christianity in an age when they were being
called into question from many quarters. He
argued strongly that the authority of the
Bible as the Word of God had to be
understood literally. His teaching and
writings continue to be a significant influence
on today’s evangelical believers.
___________________________________
Marks of the Master
by The Old Scot
Many Needs, One Provision
Originally published in Pulpit Helps,
February 2006.
Take a breath, and let it out. Now,
think of yourself doing this minute after
minute, hour after hour, year after year.
Every breath you inhale contains
approximately 21 percent oxygen. Every
stale breath you exhale contains only 16
percent oxygen. You use up a lot of precious
oxygen—you and the billions of other people
on this earth, and all the billions of airbreathing animals. In fact, someone
estimated that all of the animal life on Earth
consumes about 10,000 tons of oxygen with
every tick of the second hand on your watch!
This has been going on for thousands
of years, yet still there is sufficient oxygen.
How can that be? Why aren’t we gasping for
every breath, straining after an increasingly
short supply of oxygen? Defer that question
for a moment, and think about this puzzler:
every exhalation adds carbon dioxide to our
atmosphere, for carbon dioxide is a byproduct of the living process. Why hasn’t our
atmosphere overloaded with carbon
dioxide—and put another huge strain on our
breathing?
And still another question: Why hasn’t
the world run out of food long ago? We
know that all animal life ultimately depends
on plant life for food—but what do plants
eat? We see plants constantly growing, but
what is their food?
All these questions are related, and
there is one answer to them all: The world’s
supply of oxygen is renewed, and the
surplus of carbon dioxide is removed, and
abundant plant growth is provided by one
amazingly intricate process, called
photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is the process by
which all green plants convert energy from
sunlight into food energy. The raw materials
for this process are carbon dioxide, water,
and sunlight. Working with these, in the
presence of chlorophyll (which gives plants
their green color), the plants produce
oxygen and food.
Let it sink in: we have not run out of
oxygen, because photosynthesis produces
oxygen in plants. We have not smothered in
too much carbon dioxide, because
photosynthesis takes it back out of the air.
We have not starved, because plants
continuously produce food (for themselves,
and in turn for us) from sunlight, water, and
carbon dioxide. This wonderful process is an
endlessly repeating cycle—we may well ask:
What would we do without it?
If we examined a single cell in a
green leaf, we would discover tiny granules
called mitochondria. These tiny bits of
matter are actually busy factories, which turn
glucose (a basic sugar) and oxygen into
energy for the plant, with a by-product of
carbon dioxide. This is very similar to our
own production of energy—but this is only
the consuming half of the plant’s living cycle.
The creative half of each plant’s cycle
centers on miniature factories called
chloroplasts, where carbon dioxide, water,
and energy are converted into food and free
oxygen. Fortunately for us, plants produce
far more oxygen than they consume.
Scientists and scholars have been
probing the secrets of photosynthesis for
centuries, but they are only beginning to
comprehend all that goes on inside a leaf.
They have learned that chlorophyll is a
tremendously complicated substance,
containing many different enzymes
(facilitators) which initiate or speed up the
many chemical changes involved in
photosynthesis. The more closely the
process is examined, the more complex it is
revealed to be.
And here, perhaps, is the greatest
wonder of all: this hugely complex process,
which humans are still laboring to
understand, had to be in place and fully
functioning from the very beginning of life—
or so soon after as to make no real
difference. It takes a stiff neck indeed not to
see what God hath wrought! Truly, the lifebalancing, world-balancing photosynthesis
cycle is a mark of the Master!
The Old Scot (Ted Kyle) lives in Newberg,
Oregon, with his wife, Marga.
References:
Photosynthesis, by Isaac Asimov, Basic
Books, Inc., 1968.
“Photosynthesis,” by R. Govindjee, in
Encyclopedia of Science and Technology,
Vol. 10, pp. 200-210, McGraw-Hill, 1977.
___________________________________
Advancing the Ministries
of the Gospel
Helping In Haiti: Watching as God Puts
People Together
By AMG International Staff
This column highlights the ministries
of Disciple’s parent organization, Advancing
the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG)
International, a non-denominational
missions agency.
In May 2011, we shared a story in our
monthly ministry newsletter, AMG News,
about a young lady named Jean-Louis
Alaine. She survived the January 2010
earthquake that collapsed her school around
her, killing most of her classmates and the
family she was living with in Port-au-Prince.
Many readers responded with prayers and
financial gifts to help her continue her
education back in her hometown,
impoverished Grand-Bassín.
Today, Alaine has a big smile and a
big “Thank You” for all those who helped
her.
“I feel so happy today to thank you for
your help that is so good to me,” she wrote
to us. “I want to thank you with all my heart
for your financial support during my time
back in Grand-Bassín after the earthquake.
Without your help, I wouldn’t be able to go to
school, as the people who used to help me
died [in the earthquake]. I am at the point of
finishing high school soon, and I praise God
that He gave you a helping heart. Your help
permits me also to have food, school
supplies, and other expenses related to my
education, as I lost everything during the
earthquake. Thank you so much. I will
always be grateful to you and most of all to
God who is giving you the opportunity to
share with others.”
Jim is a volunteer at the AMG
International offices in Chattanooga, Tenn.
He saw the AMG News article about JeanLouis Alaine, and told Roger Thomas,
AMG’s Associate Vice President for
International Ministries, he wanted to help.
But by that time, more than enough financial
support had come in for Alaine. So Roger
suggested that there were more Haitian
children in dire circumstances whom Jim
could help, and he asked Pastor Rodné
Romeus for suggestions.
Pastor Rodné presented the needs of
three young people. The needs of the first
boy totaled $420—$20 for a school uniform,
shoes, school fees, food for three months,
and $200 to help his mother start a little
business. The needs of the second child, a
little girl, totaled $440 for a school uniform,
shoes, church clothes, school fees, books
and school supplies, and food for three
months. The needs of the third child, a boy,
were not yet quantified in dollars. Jim gave
$1,500.
The third boy’s name is Pierre Louis
Wisly. He is a believer and a member of the
Baptist Church of Grand-Bassín. His father
is the president of the church board, and the
whole family attends regularly. He has just
graduated from high school. Like most
young people in Haiti, he has graduated
high school with no prospect of getting a job,
and no opportunity to go on to university.
But that has not deterred Pierre Louis
in the least. He has seen the tremendous
help and blessing that the AMG Bethesda
Medical Center has been to his town. Many
people were dying because there was no
available medical care of any kind. But the
Bethesda center has changed all that. Over
400 lives were saved at Bethesda during the
cholera epidemic this year, and now
mothers are safely delivering babies at
Bethesda, where in many cases previously
either mother or baby, or both, would not
survive childbirth.
Pierre Louis wants to be the x-ray
technician at the Bethesda center. There is
no x-ray machine at Bethesda—yet (at
present, there is presently only one x-ray
machine in all of Northeast Haiti!). But never
mind that. His training to become an x-ray
technician will take three years, and surely
by then, his faith tells him, Bethesda will
have an x-ray machine.
There is also no place in Haiti where
Pierre Louis can be trained to become an xray technician. He has just enough money
saved to get to Santo Domingo, the capital
and largest city in the Dominican Republic,
and friends who are helping him get a
passport and visa. He has no money for
books, tuition, food, or a place to live. But he
has his eyes fixed on the goal, and faith that
God will enable him to become that x-ray
technician, making a huge difference for the
poor people in his hometown of GrandBassín. “I press on toward the goal, for the
prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).
Roger was recently in Haiti and met
this young man. Pierre Louis did not know
how much his x-ray training would cost, but
he would travel to Santo Domingo to begin
that training (by faith) in one week. Roger
told Pastor Rodné to let him know as soon
as Pierre Louis found out the cost. In a few
days, the answer came. Pierre Louis would
be required to first study Spanish at the
university, and then be admitted to regular
classes for x-ray training in January. The
cost to be registered and participate in the
Spanish classes—$640.
Now let’s see—Jim’s gift of $1,500,
less $420 for the first boy, less $440 for the
little girl, leaves… exactly $640!
At AMG, our staff smiles, because
they are privileged to be in a place where
they see God doing things like this all the
time. We are so grateful to see how God
uses AMG’s supporters to advance His
kingdom.
Please pray for Pierre Louis as he
faithfully pursues his goal and for all the
children under AMG’s care in Haiti.
Advancing the Ministries of the
Gospel (AMG) International is a nondenominational, international missions
agency based in Chattanooga, Tenn. AMG’s
distinctive has always been its reliance on
national workers to carry the Gospel in their
own cultures. Today, they operate ministries
in over 40 countries around the world
through partnership with national believers.
___________________________________
Book Review—11/14/2011
Gospel Wakefulness, Jared C. Wilson,
2011, Crossway, Wheaton, Ill., ISBN
9781433526367, 224 pages, $15.99,
softcover.
Through the pages of Gospel
Wakefulness, Vermont pastor and blogger
Jared C. Wilson asks the Church two
fundamental (and nagging) questions: “Does
anything capture your imagination, energy,
and activity more so than the Gospel of
Jesus Christ? If so, why?” The concept of
Gospel-centrality is a growing movement in
evangelical and reformed circles in recent
years, and Wilson taps into this vein with an
engaging description of just what it means to
be apprehended by the message of
salvation through grace alone by faith alone.
To this discussion, Wilson adds the
idea of “Gospel wakefulness”, which he
defines as “treasuring Christ more greatly
and savoring His power more sweetly.”
What he means by this is not some sort of
“second blessing” after salvation, but a
growing realization by the Christian of the
sheer magnitude of the forgiveness of sins
and the glory of God.
Within that framework, Wilson shares
insights and stories (some his, some from
friends and associates) of how the power of
the Gospel fully realized impacts every
aspect of a Christian’s life, from worship to
good works to spiritual disciplines and
spiritual growth. He shows how the Gospel
message necessitates the destruction of our
idols, changes how we view the people and
things God places in our lives, and casts out
fear.
Wilson is particularly prescient in his
discussion of Gospel-driven sanctification,
reminding us that the work of Christ does
not end with conversion and that our growth
in holiness is not primarily our task but His.
He writes at the end of his chapter on
sanctification, “Don’t…pursue righteousness
by pursuing righteousness, per se, but by
pursuing Christ. Seek first His
righteousness. It is the only way to get
yours.”
Wilson also offers a challenge to
pastors to allow the Gospel to drive not just
their personal lives but to lead their whole
churches to a greater appreciation and
application of the completed work of Christ.
He argues passionately and persuasively
that any other motivation for ministry will
ultimately fail.
This is not an “innovative” book—
Wilson is not selling something new here.
Rather, he urges readers to return to their
first love and to find within the wondrous
work of Christ the source of their life and
strength. His witty style and compelling
testimonies bring a personal touch that
helps his message resonate with Christians
of all stripes, particularly those of the
younger generation.
Justin Lonas
Target: All
Type: Christian Life
Take: Recommended
___________________________________
News Update—11/14/2011
Sudan’s Islamist Regime Renewing
Attacks on Refugees, South
Armed forces of Sudan’s Islamist
regime crossed international borders and
dropped bombs on two states in the new
nation of South Sudan for two consecutive
days last week, including a camp of northern
Sudanese refugees, according to the
Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD).
Twelve people were killed and 20
injured in the attack on South Sudan’s Unity
State’s Yida refugee camp, populated by
both Muslims and Christians persecuted by
Sudan’s regime, and seven were killed in
the bombing of Upper Nile State.
Attacks by the Islamist regime began
in June, and South Sudan president Salva
Kiir warns that Sudan may be preparing to
invade South Sudan soon,
possibly attempting to provoke South Sudan
into restarting a war. The IRD’s Church
Alliance for a New Sudan, along with dozens
of other advocates, is working to strengthen
U.S. policy to stop Khartoum’s genocidal
war, in a new alliance called “Act for Sudan.”
Religion Today Summaries
U.S. Commission: Pakistani Schools
Teaching Religious Intolerance
The U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
released a study showing that textbooks
in Pakistani schools foster prejudice and
intolerance of religious minorities and that
most teachers view non-Muslims as
“enemies of Islam,” the Washington Post
reports.
The study reviewed more than 100
textbooks from grades 1-10 in Pakistan’s
four provinces, and researchers visited more
than 50 schools and interviewed nearly 500
students. Researchers found systematic
negative portrayals of religious minorities,
specifically Hindus and Christians (which
make up 1 and 2 percent, respectively, of
the population), as “inferior or second-class
citizens,” as well as instances of historic
revisionism designed to denigrate nonMuslims and foster the sense that
Pakistan’s Islamic identity was under threat.
Leonard Leo, chairman of USCIRF,
said: “Teaching discrimination increases
the likelihood that violent religious
extremism in Pakistan will continue to grow,
weakening religious freedom, national and
regional stability and global security.”
Religion Today Summaries
Police Detain, Beat Converts from Islam
in India
Police in India’s Kashmir Valley
detained and beat seven converts from
Islam and were expected to arrest
Christian workers after Muslim leaders
alleged that Muslim youth were being “lured”
to Christianity, Compass Direct
News reports.
Police got the names of the converts,
as well as the names of their pastors, from a
video recording of their baptisms that was
posted on YouTube, and, in addition to
beating them, asked them if Christians had
given them money for their conversion. One
of the pastors, Chander Mani Khanna, has
been summoned by the mufti, the head of
the sharia (Islamic law) court, to appear in
court next week, and the converts have all
agreed to sign affidavits saying there was no
duress or allurement to convert.
Khanna said the Muslims had been
coming to the church on their own initiative:
“I can’t convert anyone; it’s the work of the
Holy Spirit,” he said. India’s constitution
provides for religious freedom, including the
right to propagate and the right to change
one’s religion. Christians have generally had
good relations with the Muslims in the
region, but recent tensions have been
brewing as a result of thousands of young
Muslims converting to Christianity.
Religion Today Summaries
Faith-Based Organization to Help
Veterans, Families Cope with PTSD
Base Camp Hope, a new nonprofit,
Christ-centered organization in Minnesota, is
being developed to help veterans and their
families address the growing problem of
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
ASSIST News Service reports.
The organization, which will provide
centers in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St.
Paul and in St. Cloud, Minn., is currently in
the process of fundraising and searching for
two counseling directors, and it is
being supported by several local groups.
“Base Camp Hope will be a unique
response to PTSD because we will
integrate spiritual healing along with mental
and physical therapies, plus we will be one
of the few facilities that addresses the needs
of the families of the traumatized veterans,”
said founder and executive director
Diane Kinney, who served in the U.S. Army
in the 1970s. “I have seen too many
veterans with PTSD whose needs are
not being met.”
The goal is to provide comprehensive
treatment for PTSD and enable troubled
veterans to readjust to home, Kinney said.
The facilities will be open 24/7 and provide a
safe place for any veteran or family member.
Religion Today Summaries
Police-Sponsored Gang Attacks Church
in Central Vietnam
A gang said to be following police
orders attacked a Central Vietnam pastor’s
family with iron bars and wooden clubs,
seriously injuring some, Compass Direct
News reports.
On the same Sunday that local
authorities disrupted pastor Thien An’s
house church service, a gang of about 20
men attacked his family—who locked Pastor
Thien away in a secure room because they
believed the gang wanted to kill him—twice,
at 1:00 p.m. and then again at 8:30 p.m.
During both attacks, Pastor Thien
called four levels of police and security
officials for help, but his calls
went unanswered; church members said
“even a child” could figure out the
connection between the public security
police and the gang who attacked them.
Police had visited his home the week before
to “investigate” his house church, whose
application for registration had been denied
twice by authorities.
Religion Today Summaries
Faith is Number One Reason for Teens’
Abstinence
A recent study released by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
shows the most frequent reason
teenagers give for abstaining from sex is
that the behavior goes against their religion
or morals, Baptist Press reports.
Among the 57 percent of girls and 58
percent of boys ages 15-19 who said they
had never had sex, 41 percent of girls and
31 percent of boys chose “against religion or
morals” as their main reason for not being
sexually active. The least-chosen option was
“don’t want to get a sexually transmitted
disease.”
Researchers also found that the rate
of teenagers having sex has declined
slightly from the last report, which was
released in 2002; however, the percent of
sexually active teen females has decreased
dramatically since 1988—down from 51
percent to 43 percent.
Valerie Huber, executive director of
the National Abstinence Education
Association, said the study showed the
abstinence movement and message were
“not only resonating, but also making a
difference in the lives of youth.”
Religion Today Summaries
___________________________________
Sermon Helps
From SermonHall.com
Sermon Outlines
Lessons Learned From the Leper
Luke 17: 15-19
Intro.: Why we should be thankful (cf. Ps.
100:1-5)?
A. The Father devised salvation’s
plan (Eph. 1-2).
B. The Son enacted salvation.
C. The Spirit applies salvation.
I. The Love Behind Thanksgiving
A. God’s creation (James 1:17-18).
B. God’s creatures (1 Tim. 4:4).
C. Our confusion (Rom. 8:22).
D. Our call to faith (Rom. 8:28ff).
1. Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
2. Paul’s “light afflictions” (2
Cor. 4:7-18).
3. Paul’s summary of
sufferings (2 Cor. 11:22-33).
II. The Labor of Thanksgiving
A. Thanksgiving is good, thanks living
is better!
B. Our labor of thanksgiving should
include:
1. Immediate expression (v.
15).
2. Extemporaneous
expression.
3. Humility.
4. Heartfelt sincerity.
5. Obedience.
6. Focus on God, not on our
expression.
III. The Lesson of Thanksgiving
A. God gives greater blessings to
those that are obedient to express gratitude.
B. We should thank Him for all things.
IV. Liberality of Thanksgiving
A. Much giving of thanks.
B. Much offering of praise.
V. Lyrics of Thanksgiving
A. Turn our thanksgiving into songs of
praise.
B. Thank God for His specific gifts.
VI. Lasting Thanksgiving
A. It’s not just one day a year.
B. His praise is a constant blessing.
Application: Do you praise God, or just tell
Him what you want?
Dan Hill
Much Obliged, Lord!
1 Chronicles 16:8-36
Intro.: When Fulton Oursler was a young
boy, he learned a lesson from an old lady
who baby-sat him. Every time she ate, she
bowed her head and said, “Much obliged,
Lord.” The boy asked her, “Why? The food
is already on the table, you get to eat
whether you give thanks or not.” She said,
“Sure, but everything tastes much better
when we’re grateful.”
Years later, as her pastor, Oursler
ministered by that woman’s deathbed. He
wondered to himself if in her pain she could
still be grateful. She opened her eyes,
looked around at her family and friends, and
said softly, “Much obliged, Lord, for these
fine folks” (from Proclaim,
October/November/December, 1996, p.20).
As Christians, what must we remember
about thanksgiving?
I. We Must Remember Thanksgiving Is an
Attitude.
A. An attitude is an action.
B. Look at the verbs in this passage.
II. We Must Remember Thanksgiving Is a
Requirement
A. It is commanded (verses 31, 34).
B. It flows from God’s peace (Col.
3:15).
III. We Must Remember Thanksgiving Is a
Delight!
A. Joy gives God glory (verse 10).
B. Thanksgiving helps us be joyful
(Jer. 33:10-11).
Application: If at our church’s Thanksgiving
dinner the ladies who prepared the food
decided to take all the best home and only
serve us the leftovers, how would we feel?
But in many ways, isn’t that what we do with
God? Don’t we set aside for ourselves what
we covet and give God the leftovers?
Remember that what we sow we reap.
Sermon-Outline-a-Week
Illustrations
A Thanksgiving Prayer
We thank Thee Lord, for all the good
That we have had this year:
For raiment, shelter and for food,
For all the friends so dear.
We praise Thee for thine Only Son
Who died to set us free:
We praise Thee for the victories
And for the light we see.
We thank Thee for Thy keeping
power
And for Thy saving grace;
For blessing us each day and hour,
With Thy sweet smiling face.
We praise Thee for Thy blessed truth
And for Thy Love divine,
That leads us from our very youth
Until our years decline.
We thank Thee for Thy guiding hand.
And for the way of life,
That guides us safely through this
land
Of darkness and of strife.
We praise Thee Lord for peace and
rest
That fills our very hearts;
For blessing us with all the best
That heaven can impart.
We thank Thee for Thy precious
Word.
That feeds our hungry souls:
We thank and praise Thee, blessed
Lord,
Who keeps us well and whole.
Life Lines
Why Only One Day for Thanksgiving?
Charles Dickens once said that we
are somewhat mixed up in America. He told
an audience that instead of having one
Thanksgiving Day each year we should
have 364. “Use that one day just for
complaining and griping,” he said. “Use the
other 364 days to thank God each day for
the many blessings He has showered upon
you.”
Anonymous
Savor the Morsel
Are you so blessed that small gifts
are inconsequential to you? Well, it’s
another fourth Thursday in November. How
many does that make for you? Today if you
asked the person on the street what one
word comes to mind when Thanksgiving
Day is mentioned, you would probably hear
words like: football, turkey, sales, holiday,
and fall. Like most holidays, the initial
reason for the celebration has been brushed
aside or totally forgotten.
The problem is that most of us have
more than we need. We have overlooked
our need to be grateful for everything both
great and small. Think of a time in your life
when a single letter or gift was very precious
to you. Can you remember a happier, lesswell-off time in your life when a single
morsel of food seemed like an entire
smorgasbord? A
n ancient prophet asked the question:
“Who despises the day of small things?”
(Zech. 4:10). If the answer is “you,” apply
this inspiration from your gracious Creator:
“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is
God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess.
5:18). Pray this Thanksgiving Day for a
continuous and all-encompassing thankful
spirit. Remember: No blessing is too small
not to merit a big thanks to God.
Via Reflections
Bulletin Inserts
On Thankfulness
The greatest possession for which to be
thankful is a thankful heart.
True thanksgiving is a cultivated habit rather
than a yearly ritual.
No one really gives thanks unless he is
willing to give more thanks.
If you will learn to appreciate the good things
you have, you won’t miss the good things
you don’t have.
A thankful heart doubles our blessings,
causing us to enjoy them twice—when we
receive them and when we remember them.
Giving thanks means little unless you are
living thanks.
If we pause to think, we’ll have cause to
thank.
Gratitude takes three forms: a feeling in the
heart, an expression in words, and giving in
return.
These eight via the Old Union Reminder
Critical words that come from the mouth
originate in an unthankful heart.
Those that blame God for the bad times are
likely to be those who do not thank Him for
the good times.
These two from Wayne Nix
___________________________________
Puzzles and ‘Toons
Church ’Toons by Joe McKeever
Father Abraham and Hidden Wisdom
By Mark Oshman
Originally published in Pulpit Helps,
September 1994
Hidden Wisdom on next page
Answers to last issue’s puzzles: