Mortality

In plant, animal, and spiritual life, mortality is greatest in infancy. The plant in the first few days of its existence is very tender and delicate. It will succumb to the winds if they be slightly too cool, or to the sun’s rays if they be too warm. The smallest insect feeding upon one of its tiny roots will cause it to die. After it has formed more roots and they have gone deeper into the earth and the plant becomes stronger and coarser it is far less liable to destruction. The chilly winds may blow or the sun’s rays may pour upon it; it now has the power of resistance, and so lives on.

The same is true of animal life. Mortality is far greatest among children in the first few hours of life, and lessens as they grow older. Only a slight current of cold air upon the newly born infant is likely to cause its death. The new life is not yet able to resist opposing elements, so it must be carefully guarded. As it grows stronger and becomes capable of adapting itself to the elements of the outside world it can with comparative safety be brought into contact with them.

What is true in the plant and the animal world is also true in the spiritual world. You who have but recently been born of the Spirit are not as able to resist the cold winds of persecution or the heat of fiery trials as those who have been deepening and widening in the grace of God. Guard carefully the new-born life of Christ in your soul. Seek an establishing grace in sanctification, and you will be strong in the Lord and fully able to cope with the dark powers of sin, Satan, and the world, and triumph over all in Jesus’ name. In the days of your infancy we offer you our help, and assure you a frequent remembrànce in fervent prayer.

Feeding the Lambs

Some years ago when attending to the work to which the Lord had called me, in one of the sunny Southern States, it was my happy privilege to enjoy for a few days the kind hospitality of a generous Christian farmer.

One balmy afternoon while walking over the pleasant fields of his large farm, with my heart in sweet communion with God, I came upon the most beautiful flock of sheep it had ever been my privilege to behold. They were quietly grazing in a rich green pasture, near by which silently flowed a deep, broad river. To me it was a fair reminder of the "still waters" the Good Shepherd gave promise to lead his sheep beside, and the "green pastures" he promised to make them to "lie down in."

From beholding this beautiful fleecy flock I learned a lesson which I hope never to forget. The principal cause of their well-developed frame and handsome appearance was, they were well cared for when they were lambs. Since then I have often remembered, and felt the import of, the command the Savior so tenderly gave his shepherds..."Feed my lambs." Over and over has it in all its strength and beauty been breathed anew by the Spirit in my soul, animating me to greater assiduity in caring for the precious lambs of his fold. And, thus, I shall prove my love to him by doing all I can in caring for his lambs.

Lambs need something more than feed; they must be sheltered from the cold wind and cruel storm. Feed them ever so well, but if you expose them to the wintry storm, they will die. In John 21:15 the word feed is translated from the same Greek term as is the word feed in the 17th verse; but in the 16th verse the word feed is translated from an entirely different Greek term. In this verse the Greek does not mean simply to feed, but to protect, to shelter, to tend. The shepherd’s duty is not only to feed the lambs, but also to guard them from the wolves that are seeking to devour them.

Who Are Christ's Lambs?

It is those who are young in Christian experience whom the Savior calls lambs. The shepherds that are to feed them are his ministers. A lamb is one of the most meek, tender, and tractable of all the young animals, and very fittingly represents one who has received the meek and tender spirit of Christ. Christianity in its nature is meek and mild. It converts the wolf into a lamb and the leopard into a kid. Young Christians are, therefore, beautifully spoken of as lambs, whose nature is mild and gentle. Christ’s lambs are those who have received into their hearts his lamb-like spirit. They are those whose hearts and souls have been touched and thrilled with the mildness and tenderness of divine life; those in whom the "hidden man of the heart" is robed in righteousness and adorned with "a meek and quiet spirit," which is precious before God.

You might robe a wolf with a lamb’s skin, but it would still be a wolf. A person may profess to be a Christian: but unless he has a change of heart and affection; unless he has been made meek and gentle by the Spirit of the Lord coming into his heart, he is only a wolf, after all, and not of the Savior’s fold. Jesus speaks of some who put on "sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." By "wolves" he means men and women with wicked hearts. They profess to be Christians; but in their hearts are envy, pride, hatred, jealonsy, love of self, and love of the world. They may appear quite lamb-like in public life, but in their hearts no change has been wrought by the transforming power of God’s grace. To be "Jesus’ little lamb" is not only to have a profession of Christianity, but to have the heart cleansed by the blood of Jesus from envy, pride, malice, love of the world, etc., and filled with meekness, gentleness, and love.

A good old prophet in olden time, looking forward to when Jesus should come to save people from their sins and speak peace to troubled hearts, said, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom." When you were wandering in the deserts and mountains of sin, Jesus, the true shepherd, came seeking for you, and now that you have given yourself to his loving care, always confide in him and yield to his guidance. Ever keep your hand in his and follow where he leads, and your life will be full of joy and terminates at last where there will be pleasures forevermore.

Food For The Lambs

Of course, it is very important to know what foods are most conducive to the growth of lambs. The apostle to whom Jesus gave the command "Feed my lambs" has said to those lambs, "As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby." 1 Pet. 2: 2. Milk is the aliment which the nature of the newiy born infant demands. The infant instinctively receives it with a readiness. It is the natural and most proper food. It is the food above all others for the sustaining of life and the promotion of growth. So the glorious doctrines of the gospel are the natural and most proper food for the Christian. The newly created life in the regenerated soul instinctively turns to the word of God for nourishment. It is the natural food for the new life. Nothing else can be substituted for it and growth go on unhindered. Without this food the Christian will die. "Man shall not live by bread alone," says the Great Shepherd, "but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

The Christian has a twofold life: he has both physical life and spiritual life. As bread sustains physical life, so the word of God sustains spiritual life. I beseech you most earnestly, my dear young Christian reader, to ever remember that you can no more live a spiritual life independently of the word of God than you can live a physical life independently of bread. If growth in grace is worth anything to you, and eternal blessedness in the sweet fields of heaven of any value, keep this ever in mind and act accordingly. As with the physical being, so it is with the spiritual. There must be appetite, eating, digestion, and assimilation, that the word of God may impart life.

Remember, it is the sincere milk of the Word that you need that you may grow thereby. Sincere is from the Latin since rus, which is derived from sine, meaning without, and cera, meaning wax; honey separated from the wax. Milk to which has been added chalked water may yet have much the appearance of milk, but it has lost its nourishment. So the word of God with the slightest adulteration will not meet the demands for spiritual growth. The word of God, without modification or exaggeration, without taking from or adding to, is the only wholesome food for your soul, and may you "eat in plenty" and "grow up as calves of the stall."

Blamelessness

LUKE 1:6, And they were both righteous before God, walking blameless in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
Php. 2:15, That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;

What an idea to consider in this day of such loose morals and ethics! It has an offensive air about it, as if to suggest we are to not be human, but angelic or some kind of deity. Why, it even has the sound of perfection about it, right, and evertbody knows nobody is perfect?

After all, don't most churches teach we sin every day in thought, word, and deed?

So, how could Zacharias, let alone Elizabeth and we have been or become blameless before the the Lord?

Yet, we have this admonition from the Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul also said, as if to clear up any doubt about his instructions to the churches, these words in I Cor. 14:37, "If anyone thinks themselves a prophet, or a spiritual one, let him recognize the things I write to you are the command of the Lord."

So we find the admonition is really a command of the Lord and shows whom the "sons of God" are. But notice please in Luke 1:17, that Zacharias sinned by his unbelief: "And behold, you shall be silent and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season."

However, up to that point in Zacharias' life we only have the testimony of verse six, that he was blameless. And, we have the instruction of the Apostle to obey his command in order to be the "sons of God." And so, you and I will be those "shining lights" spoken of in Php. 2:15.

Let us therefore, "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Let us not be unbelieving, as Zacharias became, rather, let us believe unto obedience. Grace to you.

The Power of godliness, WHAT IS IT?

Rom. 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone believing... II Tim. 3:5, having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; turn away from such as these.

God, being the ultimate power in the universe, and godliness being a mirror in the believer of that power, we will see from the Timothy passage that holiness is that "form" which men in these later days deny! Here is how I got there:

Verses 1-4 of the above passage reads like this, "But understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to thier parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, haters of the good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conciet, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

Assuming we are in the last days (and they have been here since Jesus, Heb. 1:2), the above behavior traits are apparent all around us. As a matter of fact, U.S. Government Stats show gross immorality to be equal among the churched as in the unchurched. This is a fair indicator that "times of difficulty" are certainly upon us just on the basis of the godlessness mentioned above.

May I suggest that today's gospel is a faulty gospel (in that it often leaves its recipiants in their sin), which means they "deny its power." This indicates it is no gospel at all, how can it be? The Gov. Stats more than suggest this by the things noted above!

The "power of godliness" being denied by those who do such things requires an action on the part of those who "do not do such things." Otherwise, we become partakers of their evil deeds! This is the tenure of the instructions in verse five. But not only there, for it is found in the words: "Don't you know a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" Also, in Titus 3:10-11 and other places in the Word.

This is a hard teaching I know, yet is it not true, "all scripture is God breathed and useful for reproof, rebuke, and instruction in righteousness?" Are we up to the task of "purging out the old leaven?" In ourselves first (1 Pt. 4:18).

Keys Of The Kingdom Of Heaven

Matthew 16:19 reads in full, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Such a glorious and awesome truth is expressed here! Let's examine it a little. "Keys" would be an instrument by which an entrance would be unlocked and opened into the kingdom of heaven. This is evidently and obviously(?) the WORD and the SPIRIT of God. Jesus said in John 3:7, "...Ye must be born again" and in John 3:5, "...Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." How is a person born again? I Peter 1:23 says, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the WORD OF GOD, which liveth and abideth for ever." James 1:18 says, "Of his own will begat he us with the WORD OF TRUTH, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." In I Corinthians 4:15 we read, "...For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." John 1:13 declares that those who receive Christ are born of God. In Romans 1:16 Paul says that the GOSPEL OF CHRIST is the power of God unto salvation. All the above scriptures make it clear that access into salvation or the kingdom of God is through the gospel. But the gospel is "a two-pronged thing". In Zechariah 4:6, we read concerning the two olive trees in Zecharaiah's vision "...This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." So the Gospel of Christ must be composed of both the WORD and the SPIRIT the Word anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. In John 6:63, Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Paul said in I Corinthians 2:4-5, "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." God help us all at this point. II Corinthians 3:6 says, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." So we see the Word alone is not sufficient but it must be accompanied by the Spirit and backed by Holy Spirit anointing.

Therefore, we conclude that God's Word and His Spirit are the keys to the kingdom of heaven and open an access into Christ and salvation. Hebrews 5:9 says that Christ "...became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." So we see that as one obeys God's Word and meets the conditions laid down therein for being saved...confession of sin (I John 1:9), repentance (II Corinthians 7:10-11; Acts 3:19; Luke 24:47; Mark 1:14-15), restitution (II Corinthians 7:10; Luke 19:8; Ezekiel 33:15), and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the merits of His shed blood, the door swings wide open to him and he is accepted into the kingdom of God.

This is exactly what Jesus gave to Peter in this text and also to all the apostles, and further to their successors throughout this gospel age of time; even NOW to the holy, God-called, God-qualified, Holy Spirit filled ministry which God has in the Church and in the world at this present time. They also possess these keys to the kingdom of heaven.

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus said to His disciples, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." It is evident here that Jesus ordained and commissioned a perpetual ministry who would have the same power and authority (the same keys of the kingdom--- God's Word and Spirit) as those early ones had. This was to last unto the end of the world and just as God encouraged Joshua by telling him, "...As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee," (Joshua 3:7) he says the same to His true ministers today, "As I was with Peter, James and John and their immediate brethren, so am I with you." His promise was, "...I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20.) That reaches to us down here in this end of the gospel age the same as it applied to those disciples in the early beginning of this gospel age.

The Basis Of Our Determination

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. Philippians 4: 8 -9

As we make our plans for the coming year and some of us make resolutions for changes in our life, let's remember that the only way to achieve anything is to set our minds to it and control our thoughts. Paul gave the Philippians this outline for achieving success in God.

If we focus our minds on the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report, we will crowd out the temptations of the Devil that come to pull us astray. It is only through giving place to the errant lustful, fleshly thoughts that we can be drawn away from following Christ "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death James 1 :14 - 15.

When we are concentrating on the things of God, the scriptures ( those things honest true, etc) that we know will take us home to heaven, we will find much less time to be preoccupied with the things of earth that draw us away.

When we think on these things we find a two fold blessing. Not only is our mind and direction kept focused on the Lord to maintain our life under His control, but we also will find ourselves growing in grace and understanding of the Word.

What is more true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report that the unadulterated Word of God. By the Word worlds were formed and by the Word we grow in the grace of God. It is our sustenance and our strength. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: I Peter 2:2

So let us think on these things and Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16.

This will be the basis of our determination to serve the Lord!

Victory - Determination's Promised Result

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13

Many times as we pursue our Christian life, Satan would like us to be discouraged. He would like us to feel ourselves so worthless before God that we are incapabale of doing anything for God, that we cannot lead a holy life, we must struggle constantly against the flesh or just give up and say that we just have to sin. This is a false humility that robs us of our strength.

We surely can do nothing through our own strength, but Satan would like for us to be so burdened down with that concept that we fail to connect with the Powerline that leads straight from heaven to us. If we connect to that line we can walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Colossians 1:11-12

This can be the source of our Joy. We need not be burdened down with our own inability to live as God wants us. We CAN live that way through His strength, all pleasing to Him when we are strengthened by His might and glorious Power.

We can live a life of rejoicing in the life that God enables us to live. And when we rejoice that we are without sin, we can do so because He makes us able. Through Him we can live a life overcoming sin and Satan. We can gladly proclaim our righteousness in Christ . . . Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:57

Courage

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
(Romans 15:30-33)

Faith must always face its times of testing. Paul was headed for Jerusalem and was well aware of the danger that lurked there. In Jerusalem were enemies who would be glad to see him die. But to Jerusalem he would go.

Christian courage advances even in the face of fear. Perfect love casts out fear and increases our courage. Paul made it safely to Jerusalem but afterward spent two years in a jail at Caesarea. Then, undaunted, on to Rome he would go.

As he started toward Jerusalem he requested the church at Rome to pray for him. He had his commission and would be true to his Lord at any cost. What a valiant soldier of the cross he was. Oh, that we were more like him!

How do we face oppostition? What are we willing to face for the sake of the gospel?

Pasture In The Flint Hills

My childhood was spent in Kansas, which, for the most part, is as flat as the bottom of a box. In our newspaper, The Topeka Capital, was a weekly column called "Peggy of the Flint Hills." I had no idea where the flint hills were, but I imagined they must have been somewhere in Colorado. It was not until I was grown that I had a chance to drive by the flint hills. They are between Topeka and Wichita, Kansas, along highway 35. As I drove by them, I discovered that they have a gigantic corral there. The flint hills are ranch country.

Ranching in drought-stricken Kansas? I couldn't believe it. And on hills of flint? Impossible. But there it was. Not until I read the book The Natural Wonders of America did I discover the reason for this unusual place. A particular kind of grass flourishes on these flint hills. The roots go down through the tiny crevasses and cracks in the rock to seek moisture. Roots may be as long as fifty-nine feet. Even though the earth may be as dry as last year's bird nest, there is water under the surface. The sun may be blistering, but the grass is nourished from the depths.

This is a parable of the church. Paul, (though in prison), was nourished by his roots in the historic faith. We will see this as a theme throughout the book of Ephesians.

If we break our linkage with God's eternal plan, we die. If we maintain connections, we live. Even in the flinty hills of trouble, the Church has flourished. And it will.

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