Have You Vowed to Serve the Lord?

Have you vowed to serve the Lord,
'Neath His banner ever fighting?
Flee the evil of this world,
Satan and his power smiting;
Till the victor there shall be,
Waving palms of victory,
Waving palms of victory.

Thus our duty is made plain,
Trusting and in God abiding.
Faithful to thy Lord remain;
Till your eyes in light beholding,
See prepared there for the blest
Shining crowns of righteousness,
Shining crowns of righteousness.
--Zion's Harp #105 vs. 4-5

We Owe Our Entire Lives

My beloved hearers, salvation is so simple. Isn't it true, when we stop and consider it? Still, it is a serious matter and it's something that we should give our entire heart, our mind, our thinking, our whole life and our being into the hands of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Then we can come to the full realization of the poverty of man who lives in sin. We can realize how fortunate we are that we have a living hope; that we can now set our affection and our aim upon things that are eternal, no longer to be so much concerned with the material things. For after all, brethren, I often think, "if we seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and its righteousness, all of these things will be added." ...

It often comes to my mind, brethren, we cannot appreciate enough the Love of God. We owe our all to our blessed Lord, our entire lives without any reservation. There should never be anything too much for a Child of God to offer up and to sacrifice for our Lord, for He has done so much for us.
--Sermon Excerpt: Elder Bro. S.A.

Unfolding the Rosebud

It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
God opens this flower so sweetly,
When in my hands they fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day.
I will look to him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.

The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.
--Author Unknown

Be Unafraid

O, be glad, my brothers;
Brave the hate of others;
And be not dismayed.
Though vain men assail you,
Let your faith not fail you;
Still be unafraid.
God hath shown
More power alone
Than great hosts in armor trusting,
For your downfall lusting.
--Zion's Harp #96 vs. 9

Two Tricks

The devil has two master tricks.

One is to get us discouraged; then, for a time at least, we can be of no service to others, and so are defeated.

The other is to make us doubt, thus breaking the faith link by which we are bound to our Father.

Look out! Do not be tricked either way.
--Excerpt: Streams in the Desert (G.E.M.)

Refuse to Doubt

"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." -Heb. 12:1

There are weights which are not sins themseles, but which become distractions and stumbling blocks in our Christian progress. One of the worst of these is despondency. The heavy heart is indeed a weight that will surely drag us down in our holiness and usefulness.

The failure of Israel to enter the land of promise began in murmuring, or, as the text in Numbers literally puts it, "as it were murmured." Just a faint desire to complain and be discontented. This led on until it blossomed and ripened into rebellion and ruin. Let us give ourselves no liberty ever to doubt God or His love and faithfulness to us in everything and forever.

We can set our will against doubt just as we do against any other sin; and as we stand firm and refuse to doubt, the Holy Spirit will come to our aid and give us the faith of God and crown us with victory.

It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, fretting and wondering if God has forsaken us and if, after all, our hopes are to end in failure. Let us refuse to be discouraged. Let us refuse to be unhappy. Let us "count it all joy" when we cannot feel one emotion of happiness. Let us rejoice by faith, by resolution, by reckoning, and we shall surely find that God will make the reckoning real.
--Excerpt: Streams in the Desert

Deception

Deception … To mislead by falsehood – lead into error.
Author of deception, Satan … Revelation 12:9, 19:20, 20:10
How Satan works … II Corinthians 4:3-4 … 11:13-15.
Watching and Praying (our responsibility) … Mark 13:33-37.

TEN WAYS OF BEING DECEIVED:
1. Matthew 24:4, 5, 24, II Peter 2:1 … Deception by false Christs and false prophets … cults of today.
2. James 1:22 … Deception by hearing the Word, but not obeying.
3. Galatians 6:3 … Deceived by thinking ourselves to be something (pride).
4. I John 1:8 … Deceived by saying we have no fault or sin.
5. I Corinthians 3:18, 19 … Deceived by trusting the wisdom of this world (education)
6. James 1:26 … Deceived by an unbridled tongue.
7. I Corinthians 15:33 … Deceived by bad friends who ruin good character.
8. I Corinthians 6:9, 10 … Deceived by covering sin, unconfessed and unforgiven by Christ.
9. Ephesians 5:6, Romans 16: 18 … Deceived by fancy, smooth speech, enticing words.
10. Galatians 6:7-10 … Deceived by not realizing our actions and conduct today will determine our happiness and peace tomorrow.

Please read II Peter 1:2-11 … The divine nature in verse 1 is the divine nature of Jesus Christ, which is possible for every soul after a true conversion.
Remember we have the promise in verse 10 – If ye do these things, ye shall never fall.
--Excerpt: April 1975 Silver Lining

Submission

Do I seem forsaken?
Is my spirit shaken,
Knowing not God's will?
Yet in all affliction
I'll accept correction
In submission still.
He'll provide what's good and right;
All my earthly tribulation
Serves to my salvation.
--Zion's Harp #196 vs. 5

Our Blessed Hope

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
–-I Thessalonians 4:13-18

Giants

“There we saw the giants…” –Numbers 13:33

Yes, they saw the giants, but Caleb and Joshua saw God! Those who doubt say, “We be not able to go up.” Those who believe say, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able.”

Giants stand for great difficulties; and giants are stalking everywhere. They are in our families, in our churches, in our social life, in our own hearts; and we must overcome them or they will eat us up, as these men of old said of the giants of Canaan.

The men of faith said, “They are bread for us; we will eat them up.” In other words, “We will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to overcome.”

Now the fact is, unless we have the overcoming faith, we shall be eaten up, consumed by the giants in our path. Let us have the spirit of faith that these men of faith had, and see God, and He will take care of the difficulties.
–-Excerpt: Streams in the Desert

"And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." –Numbers 13:30

Suffering Is A Favor

Brethren, suffering is a favor
Which, in various ways, the Saviour
To His own elect has shown.
Often racked by pain and sighing,
Often felt the throes of dying,
When through sleepless nights they groan.
--Zion's Harp #245 vs. 8

Are our hearts and minds so full of God's Spirit that we can think of our suffering as a favor?

Trusting Our Own Opinions

Humanism leads to the belief that the teachings of the Bible can be disobeyed without penalty.

You know, we read this morning, or this afternoon, in the Old Testament reading there, of the man who was penalized almost immediately for his transgression. I think that's what happens to us today - we get a bit lulled, because we don't see God's immediate judgment today as we did in the times of the Old Testament.

In the times of the Old Testament, when sin was committed, it was judged. Today, we don't see that. And it leads us to fall asleep spiritually. We begin to think God doesn't care. But the Bible tells us our God is a consuming fire.

Humanistic thinking leads us to trusting our own opinions and feelings, rather than God's teachings as revealed in the Word and by His Holy Spirit.

Sometimes you hear people say when you bring to their attention a direct Scriptural teaching -- something that is not even a tradition, but something that's a direct doctrine of the Bible -- "Well, I'll pray about it."

Dear ones, we shouldn't pray about something that's in the Bible. If the Bible says it, we don't go home and pray about it and ask ourselves, "Is this really necessary?" Or, "Does it really matter?"
--Sermon Excerpt: Elder Bro. S.R.

Faith in God

God's grace may seem from us hidden,
Fearful thoughts arise unbidden,
Yet we know His help is near,
He'll not leave His children dear.

God, at times, His face is hiding;
So we'll crave His grace abiding.
Wait on Him though He delays
Strength He'll send our hearts to raise.

Earthly fathers likewise proving,
May deny their children's longings;
God thus shows He's sovereign still;
He gives gifts to whom He will.

When the tempter comes to try us,
God's good grace shall e'er supply us.
Though the cross may press us down,
Yet this cross gains us the crown.
--Zion's Melodies #32

Make Us Truly Humble

Make us truly humble,
From the world retired,
Gentle, mild, with peace inspired!
As the tender flower
Wilingly unfoldeth,
to the sunlight gently yieldeth,
May we be Glad and free,
Heav'nly light receiving,
Thou Thy work achieving.
--Zion's Harp #68 vs. 4