Posts

CLEANING THE CUPS

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." (Matthew 23:25,26).   Years ago, when my children were very young, I began using flannel-graph figures to illustrate Bible stories and lessons for them.   It wasn’t long before other parents in our fellowship asked if they could bring their children to sit in on our lessons once a week.   Word got out in our neighborhood, also, and a dear friend of ours began picking up kids and bringing them to our house for "kids' meeting" every week.   We often had 20-30 children of various ages crowding our living room to hear about the miracles of the Bible and the principles of godliness.   One lesson in particular involved white porcelain mugs and mud.   I took two white mug...
Post a Comment
Read more

BE YE HOLY

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy ." (1 Peter 1:13-16).   We often interpret this call to holiness as a commandment:"You must be holy because I am!"   I see it as more of an invitation to excellence, however.   "Come, you are now able to be holy, because I am holy!"   It is because Christ has overcome that we can be overcomers.   It is because Christ has risen from the dead that we can know resurrection life.   He is the reason that we can be loving, patient, joyful, peaceful, gentle, wise, virtuous, kind, or temperate.   None of these things grow naturally in us.   We must attached to the Vine, Je...
Post a Comment
Read more

A LADDER TO HEAVEN

After Jesus called Phillip to follow Him, Phillip was excited to share his newfound faith and discovery of the Messiah with his friend Nathaniel.   Phillip went to his friend and told him, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,” (John 1:45).     It’s perfectly natural for us, when we have discovered something extraordinary, to want to share what we have found with those we love.   Nathaniel, however, was skeptical.   After all, the prophecies were very clear about where the Messiah was to be born.   It was Bethlehem, not Nazareth, that the Prophet Micah spoke of when he prophesied about the Lord's birth and said, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,” (Micah 5:2).   Nathaniel, not knowing that J...
Post a Comment
Read more