VIDEO Let Us Keep to the Point – Just a closer walk with thee

Let Us Keep to the Point

“…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” —Philippians 1:20

My Utmost for His Highest. “…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed….” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

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Just a closer walk with thee – Patsy Cline And Willie Nelson

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A “Yes” of Love

Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

On August 21, 2016, Carissa posted photos on social media of a devastating flood in Louisiana. The next morning she included a note from someone in the flooded area pleading for help. Five hours after that, she and her husband, Bobby, sent out a call for others to join them on their 1,000-mile trip to provide help. Less than twenty-four hours later, thirteen people were on their way to serve those whose homes had been severely damaged.

What motivates people to drop everything and drive seventeen hours to move appliances, do demolition work, and provide hope in a place they’ve never been before? It’s love.

We show God’s love when we are willing to help others.

Think about this verse, which she posted along with her call for help: “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this” (Psalm 37:5). This is especially true when we follow God’s call to help. The apostle John said, “If anyone . . . sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17). It may be a daunting task—but we have God’s promise of help when we “do what pleases him” (v. 22).

When a need arises, we can honor God by being willing to offer a “yes” of love to what we sense He is asking us to do for others.

Lord, please open our eyes to the needs of others, open our hearts to those people, and open our hands so we can provide help in the time of need.

We show God’s love when we are willing to help others; we show His strength when we take on the task He gives us to do.

By Dave Branon 

INSIGHT

Like John in today’s passage, James calls us to action, saying our desire to help others arises out of faith: “What good is it . . . if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?” (James 2:14). If we tell those in need, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed” without first meeting their physical needs, what does that accomplish? He urges, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (vv. 15–17). John echoes, “How can the love of God be in that person” who “sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them?” (1 John 3:17). Our loving actions flow out of our faith and the empowering love of God inside us.

How might God be calling you to help someone?

Alyson Kieda

Right Relationships

Proverbs 27:17

To become the people God wants us to be, it’s essential that we choose the right relationships. They are extremely important because without them, we will be unable to accomplish much in life. We should pursue relationships with people who:

• Build our confidence in God as well as in ourselves.
• Encourage us when we are troubled and despondent.
• Stimulate us to reach our potential. 
• Energize us when we are weary.
• Comfort us when we are hurting.
• Defend us when we are attacked.
• Forgive us when we make mistakes. 
• Love us unconditionally.
• Confront us when we go astray.
• Serve us when we are overextended.

It is good to ask ourselves if we have anyone in our life who fills the needs mentioned on this list. It is also important to discover which relationships may be deflecting us from the path of godliness. When this happens, we may have to separate from certain individuals in order to maintain our standards. But when separation is not an option—as when the unhealthy relationship involves a family member—we can still persevere and walk with God.

Now, let’s look at the same list from a different angle: Do you do those things for others? We can determine to provide those qualities to people around us. Such relationships are among life’s greatest treasures.

Loquacity

“He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.” (Proverbs 17:27)

The sin of loquacity (that is, talkativeness or chattering) is one of those “little foxes” that can “spoil the vines” of an otherwise godly lifestyle (Song of Solomon 2:15), and the Scriptures frequently caution us against it. For example, Solomon in his God-given wisdom warned as follows: “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). In fact, Solomon frequently returns to this theme. “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2).

The apostles in the New Testament also stress how important it is for Christians to control their tongues. Too much talk can easily lead to gossiping or criticizing or even coarseness in speech. James reminds us to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath,” for he says, “The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity . . . set on fire of hell” (James 1:19; 3:6).

“Study [that is, diligently strive] to be quiet,” Paul says (1 Thessalonians 4:11), and avoid “foolish talking” (Ephesians 5:4). When we do speak, our words should center on “that which is good to the use of edifying,” “always with grace, seasoned with salt” (Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6). The Lord Jesus Christ Himself warned against this sin of talkativeness. “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). Such standards may seem impossible to meet, but we should always strive to meet them, for Christ is our example, and “hereunto were ye called . . . that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). HMM

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.”

Isaiah 61

Isaiah 61:3

The opening words of this chapter were quoted by our Lord Jesus as his credentials, when he stood up to read in the synagogue of Nazareth. The description which is here given is applicable to none but Jesus, and in him every word is verified. Note also how the whole Trinity unite in the work of grace. Jehovah the Father—the Lord God, anoints his Son to his glad office; the Spirit rests upon him; and the Son himself performs divine acts. This glorious gospel of the sacred Trinity is not for the proud and boastful, but for mourners and those who are in heaviness for sin. If we belong to that class, Jesus has come to bless us.

Isaiah 61:5

Set free from care, we let the dead bury their dead, and those who are of the earth, mind earthly things; as for us, our business is in another world.

Isaiah 61:6

It is our highest honour to be servants of God, and priests devoted to his honour, sacrificing prayer and praise.

Isaiah 61:7

Every sorrow of the Lord’s own people shall blossom into a double joy. The winter of grief will soon be over, and the eternal summer of bliss will be all the brighter.

Isaiah 61:8

Once let a people become sincere in heart, spiritual in worship, and upright before the Lord, and he will cause infinite blessings to be their portion, world without end.

Isaiah 61:9

Believers who walk with God shall be noted and noticed as being truly what they profess to be. It is a sad thing when men of the world do not know what to call us: it is to be feared that hundreds of professors are so inconsistent, that they will never be recognised by the world as being the blessed of the Lord, if indeed they be such.

Isaiah 61:10

How happy the church is as she surveys the righteousness in which she is clothed. She is overjoyed, and well she may be, for when the Lord covers our nakedness with his perfections, it is enough to make the stones sing.

Isaiah 61:11

We are God’s husbandry, and he will take care that the fair fruit of righteousness and peace shall be produced in us. So let it be, good Lord.

 

Where’er the sun begins its race,

Or ends its swift career,

Both east and west shall own his grace

And Christ be honoured there.

 

Ten thousand crowns upon his brow,

Declare his victories won:

O may his conquests ever grow,

While time its course shall run.

 

It Is His Majesty and Meekness

I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. (Psalm 145:5)

When the prophets try to describe for me the attributes, the graces, the worthiness of the God who appeared to them and dealt with them, I feel that I can kneel down and follow their admonition: “He is thy Lord—worship thou Him!”

They described Him as radiantly beautiful and fair. They said that He was royal and that He was gracious. They described Him as a mysterious being, and yet they noted His meekness.

The meekness was His humanity. The majesty was His deity. You find them everlastingly united in Him. So meek that He nursed at His mother’s breast, cried like any baby and needed all the human care that every child needs.

But He was also God, and in His majesty He stood before Herod and before Pilate. When He returns, coming down from the sky, it will be in His majesty, the majesty of God; yet it will be in the majesty of the Man who is God!

This is our Lord Jesus Christ. Before His foes He stands in majesty. Before His friends, He stands in meekness!

 

A Completed Sacrifice

“And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” Lev. 1:4

If by that laying on of his hand the bullock became the offerer’s sacrifice, how much more shall Jesus become ours by the laying on of the hand of faith?

 

“My faith doth lay her hand

On that dear head of Thine,

While like a penitent I stand,

And there confess my sin.”

 

If a bullock could be accepted for him to make atonement for him, how much more shall the Lord Jesus be our full and all-sufficient propitiation? Some quarrel with the great truth of substitution; but as for us, it is our hope, our joy, our boast, our all. Jesus is accepted for us to make atonement for us, and we are “accepted in the Beloved.”

Let the reader take care at once to lay his hand on the Lord’s completed sacrifice, that by accepting it he may obtain the benefit of it. If he has done so once, let him do it again. If he has never done so, let him put out his hand without a moment’s delay. Jesus is yours now if you will have Him. Lean on Him; lean hard on Him; and He is yours beyond all question; you are reconciled to God, your sins are blotted out, and you are the Lord’s.