ISAIAH 55
Invitation to a feast verse 1- 2
Lo – every one that thirsts – come you to the waters
and he that has no money come you – buy – and eat
yea come – buy wine and milk
without money and without price
Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread?
and your labor for that which satisfies not?
hearken diligently to ME
eat you that which is good
and let your soul delight
itself in fatness
Invitation to unfailing love verse 3- 5
Incline your ear – come to ME – hear – and your soul shall live
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you
even the sure mercies of David
BEHOLD – I have given him for a witness to the people
a leader and commander to the people
BEHOLD – you shall call a nation that you know not
and nations that knew not you
shall run to thee BECAUSE of the LORD your God
and for the Holy One of Israel
for HE has glorified you
Invitation to repentance verse 6- 7
SEEK you the LORD while HE may be found
CALL you upon HIM while HE is near
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts
and let him return unto the LORD
and HE will have mercy upon him
and to our God for HE will be abundantly pardon
Introductions to thoughts of the LORD verse 8- 9
For MY thoughts are not your thoughts
neither are your ways MY ways – says the LORD
For as the heavens are higher than the earth
SO are MY ways higher than your ways
and MY thoughts than your thoughts
Accomplishments of the Word of God verse 10- 11
For as the rain comes down – and the snow from heaven
and return not thither
BUT waters the earth – and makes it bring forth and bud
that it may give seed to the sower – and bread to the eater
SO shall MY word be that goes forth out of MY mouth
it shall not return to ME void
BUT it shall accomplish that which I please
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it
Fruitfulness of the Word of God verse 12- 13
FOR you shall go out with joy – and be led forth with peace
the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree
and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree
and it shall be to the LORD for a name
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). 5186 נָטָה, מָנׄול [natah /naw·taw/]- to turn, incline, influence, bend down, hold out, extend, thrust aside, thrust away.)
DEVOTION: How well do you hear? Currently we have workers outside of our church working on the street. The noise is deafening as you open the door and you have to yell to make yourself heard to those who are trying to talk with you. The pounding of jackhammers and pneumatic drills drowns out all other noises. Where we can normally hear traffic or bird singing all we hear is construction sounds. The noise of people and activities can also be so loud that we may not hear the voice of the Lord as He seeks to speak to us! Elijah was running from Jezebel in 1 Kings 19 when he came to Mount Horeb. There he spent the night and the Lord spoke to Him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9) God tells him to “Go out, and stand on the mountain, before the Lord.” A great wind passed by, then an earthquake and finally a fire but the Lord was not in them. After that a still small voice spoke and Elijah stood in the mouth of the cave. 1 Kings 19:13. Are we listening for the still small voice of the Lord or the powerful voices that will hurt or destroy us? As Elijah waited He heard and as Isaiah inclined his ear he too heard. Eternal life comes not from the powerful and emotional strains noise and activities but from the still voice of the Spirit as He speaks to you. His covenant will become real to us as we listen and wait upon the Lord!
CHALLENGE: Do not let the noise of activity and confusion of emotion keep you from hearing the voice of the Lord! It may require you getting into a cave by yourself and letting the forces beat on the mountain until you hear that still small voice of the Lord’s. Open the Word of God and confirm the message you are hearing as it must always line up with the written word of God. (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 6 Seek you the LORD while HE may be found, call you on HIM while HE is near. (1875 “seek” [darash] means to try to get or reach something one desires, to seek with care, enquire about, to be intent on, to consult, or to ask for)
DEVOTION: The LORD can be consulted from the time we are able to comprehend HIM until we die. HE can be found by anyone who is willing to seek HIM with their whole heart.
The children of Israel were instructed in the ways of the LORD from a very early age. There were time periods in their history where there were prophets who would roam the country teaching the truth about the LORD. There were time periods when the Temple was built that they could come to HIM on special occasions in Jerusalem to worship HIM.
There was always a time those who were followers of HIM could pray to HIM from anywhere and HE would listen to them and give them what HE wanted them to have.
We live in a time period when we can go to HIM at anytime and ask HIM to forgive our sins and grant us blessings that HE thinks we need. Our prayers need to be ones that start with asking for forgiveness for sin and for an establishment of fellowship with HIM.
Once our fellowship with HIM is established because we have asked HIM to have a proper relationship with us and we have confessed our sins on a daily basis while studying HIS Word, the Bible, for our personal growth, then our desires will be to please HIM and not ourselves.
HE is still near to those who are willing to come to HIM with a proper heart and ask HIM for forgiveness and blessing.
CHALLENGE: We have to ask ourselves about our relationship with the LORD. Is it one that is close or just one that happens when we are in trouble? A proper relationship is one that confesses sin and asks for HIS guidance each day of our life until we meet HIM in heaven.
____________________________________________________________________
: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (7235 “abundantly” [rabah] means much, many, more, be numerous, frequently, copiously, continually, keep on, or freely.)
DEVOTION: There is a way that seems right to someone outside of Christ that leads to a place in the lake of fire instead of heaven. Those who are outside of Christ think wrong thoughts on a regular basis. They do this because they are ignorant and blind to the truth of the Word of God.
Isaiah is asking those who are part of the tribes of Israel to rethink what they are doing. They have been brought up with the knowledge of the Word of God through their parents and their priest who taught them. Even if they didn’t learn from these two sources, they could have learned by the actions of those who were true followers around them.
So Isaiah invites them to “return” to their roots in a belief in Jehovah. They have the Ten Commandments to show them that they are sinners and need repentance.
Once they are willing to repent and return to the LORD HE can show them mercy. That means that they can receive something they really don’t deserve.
They are also promised copious forgiveness for their sins. God realizes that they would continue to sin but they wouldn’t be living in their trespasses and sins. There is a difference in the eyes of the LORD. Those who are outside of a personal relationship with HIM are living in sin. Those who are repentant are committing sin but are not living in sin. It is sometimes hard to understand the difference but the LORD knows the difference because HE knows our heart and its desire to please HIM.
CHALLENGE: Does the LORD know that your heart’s desire is to please HIM? Do you realize that once you became a believer that should be your thought process?
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. (1870 “ways” [derek] means a road, route, bend, course of life, mode of action, conversation, custom, or journey.)
DEVOTION: The LORD promises a future with hope. HE planned the course of our world before HE created it. HE knew those who would become HIS followers before HE laid the foundation of the earth. HIS plan is the only plan.
HE is working HIS plan. HIS design is not the way we would design our world. HE wants us to listen to HIS word. IF we listen to HIS word we will realize that HIS plan is going to happen. There is coming a time of joy, peace and singing. The course of life that God is talking about is too far above our course, that HE can say that we are not even to compare ourselves with HIM. HE is ineffable.
We think that we can think the way God thinks but we are never going to completely understand how or why God does things in our lives. HE does lead HIS followers in a path that seems to be hard and full of trials. HE knows what is best for HIS followers. HE promises to provide for HIS followers. HE wants HIS followers to SEEK HIM. HE wants HIS followers to CALL upon HIM. HE reveals to Isaiah that HIS word will not return void.
We need to spread HIS word to everyone we know. There is absolute truth in our world and it comes from the WORD of GOD, the Bible. HE has given us some of HIS thoughts in HIS Bible. It is not a full revelation of HIM but enough to let us know that HE can do all HE promises.
We should never ask a person who is trying to learn the ways of the LORD: “What do you think?” We should always ask: “What does the Bible say on that issue?” Too often we have too many human thoughts that are not Biblical enter our minds. And once they enter our mind we think they are God’s thoughts.
CHALLENGE: Always check your thoughts with the Word of God. Always check out those you are listening to with the Word of God.
_____________________________________________________
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Seek the LORD verse 6
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Call upon the LORD verse 6
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Joy verse 12
Peace verse 12
Singing verse 12
Trees of the field shall clap their hands verse 12
______________________________________________________________
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Word of the LORD verse 11
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 5- 8, 13
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 5, 7
LORD your God verse 5
Holy One of Israel verse 5
HE has glorified Israel verse 5
Mercy verse 7
Abundantly pardon verse 7
God’s thoughts verse 8, 9
God’s ways verse 8, 9
Heavens higher than the earth verse 9
God’s words go out of HIS mouth verse 11
God’s words will not return void verse 11
Accomplishes what HE pleases verse 11
HIS words prosper verse 11
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Man’s thought not the same as God’s thoughts verse 8
Man’s ways are not God’s ways verse 8
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Spending money for things not needed verse 2
Labor for what is not needed verse 2
Wicked verse 7
Unrighteous verse 7
Words return void verse 11
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Invitation to come to the LORD verse 1
Money is no object in coming to HIM verse 1
Hearken diligently to the LORD verse 2, 3
Eat that which is good verse 2
Soul delights itself verse 2
Incline ear to hear the LORD verse 3
Everlasting covenant verse 3
Mercy verse 3, 7
Glorified verse 5
Seek the LORD verse 6
Call upon the LORD verse 6
Wicked forsake their way verse 7
Unrighteous forsakes his thoughts verse 7
Return to the LORD verse 7
Abundantly pardon verse 7
Joy verse 12
Peace verse 12
Singing verse 12
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Everlasting covenant verse 3
David verse 3, 4
Witness
Leader
Commander
Israel verse 5
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Everlasting covenant verse 3
Everlasting sign verse 13
__________________________________________________________
DONATIONS:
Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org. Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method. Thank You.
____________________________________________________________
QUOTES regarding passage
12. It is typical of the Bible to represent responding to the Lord as coming to a party (1–2), and this is now expressed in the joy (12) in the Lord into which his people enter and the peace he gives (53:5; 54:10). Go out, as at the exodus, from bondage into liberty, from alienation back, through the Servant’s work (49:5–6), to God. Led forth, i.e. by the Lord himself (42:16; 52:12; Exod. 13:21–22). The personal transformation—new emotions (joy), new relationships and expectations (peace), new guardianship (led)—are matched by a new environment. This is immediately true in that ‘Heaven above is softer blue,/Earth around is sweeter green;/Something lives in every hue,/Christless eyes have never seen’. But the ultimate reality is the new earth, creation released from the bondage of corruption to share the liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:19–21). The curse has been removed and all creation explodes in fresh joy (burst into song) and praise (clap). (Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 391). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
___________________________________________________________
With God’s conditions of repentance having been fulfilled and the people’s return to the Lord having made possible a return to the land (see comment at 7:3), the prophet can speak of their joyous and peaceful journey (v.12). He moves from the literal joy and peace to the metaphorical mountains and hills and then back again to the literal; for v.13 probably refers to the regeneration of the land, though this in turn may symbolize spiritual fruitfulness. All this will serve to bring glory to God, pointing beyond itself to his eternal grace and power. (Grogan, G. W. (1986). Isaiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 313). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
____________________________________________________________
55:12–13. Because of salvation the effects of sin will be reversed in the Millennium, including the provision of inner joy and peace (see comments on 54:10) and changes in the physical creation. After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden thorns and thistles began to choke out the good vegetation and Adam’s work to grow good crops was increased (Gen. 3:17–19). But in the future even nature will be joyful (Isa. 55:12b). The trees personified as clapping with hands (branches moving in the wind) suggests the joy people will have because of the changes in nature. Various kinds of trees will grow instead of the thornbush and briers. Fertility on the earth will be a sign that God is in control. Many interpreters say this imagery (v. 13a) symbolizes what God does in a person’s heart at salvation. True, God does change individuals. But the earth will indeed be unusually fertile during the whole Millennium (cf. 35:1–2, 41:18–19; 44:3a). (Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1111). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
_________________________________________________________
Isaiah 55:12–13 describes both the joy of the exiles on their release from Captivity and the joy of Israel when they share in that “glorious exodus” in the end of the age and return to their land. When the kingdom is established, all of nature will sing to the Lord (32:13; 35:1–2; 44:23; 52:8–9). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Comforted (p. 147). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
_________________________________________________________
For; or, Therefore; because God hath promised it, and therefore will effect it. Ye shall go out; ye shall be released from the place and state of your bondage. He alludes to their going out of Egypt, which was a type of their succeeding deliverances, and especially of their redemption by Christ from the power of sin and of the devil. Be led forth; or, be led along; be conducted by the gracious and powerful presence of God, as you were in the wilderness. With peace; safely and triumphantly, without fear of being retaken and brought back into slavery by your enemies. And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands; there shall be a great and general rejoicing at your deliverance, so that even the senseless creatures shall seem to rejoice with you and for you. (Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 2, p. 454). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.)
___________________________________________________________
Ver. 12. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace, &c.] Though these words may literally respect the Jews’ return from captivity to their own land, attended with joy and peace; as the preceding verse may respect the word of promise concerning it; as it is interpreted by the Targum, “for with joy shall ye go out from among the people, and with peace shall ye be brought to your own land;” yet they may be spiritually applied to the conversion of men, in consequence of the word being made effectual, of which the deliverance from the Babylonish thraldom was a type; when men go out of a state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law; out of a state of darkness and ignorance; out of the pit of nature’s misery and distress; out of themselves and their own righteousness; out of their own sinful ways, and from among the men of the world: and though here is a divine power exerted in all this, yet they go out freely, being led by the Spirit of God; who takes them by the hand as it were, and leads them in ways before unknown to them; he leads them to Christ, his person, fulness, blood, and righteousness; to the house of God, and to the ordinances of it; and from one degree of grace to another, till he brings them to glory: all which is attended with joy and peace to themselves; finding themselves released from bondage, in a state of light and comfort, out of the horrible pit, and on a rock; brought to Christ, and clothed with his righteousness; to the angels in heaven, who rejoice over every sinner that repenteth; to the ministers of the Gospel, who are the instruments of their conversion; and to all the saints into whose fellowship they are brought; which joy is further illustrated by the following strong figures: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; or the people that dwell upon them: and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands; or clap with their branches; as the Targum, the tops of them, being moved with gentle breezes of wind, bow themselves, and the branches intertwining and clasping each other like hands and arms. Kimchi observes, that mountains and hills may signify the kings of the nations; and the trees of the field the people rejoicing at the deliverance of the Jews, as they pass along: it may be as well applied to the ministers of the word, and common believers rejoicing at the conversion of sinners, in whom as wonderful a change is wrought, as in the following cases. Vitringa interprets this of the apostles and ministers of the word going forth into the Gentile world, attended with joy in themselves, and among the converts there. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 5, p. 328). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
________________________________________________________
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
__________________________________________________________
Deuteronomy 2
The Israelites wander in the desert.
INSIGHT
David writes that God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly. But we see that it is possible, through rebellion,
to miss something good that God wants to give us.
God wants to give the Israelites the Promised Land. But when they refuse to enter it, they wander through the wilderness until the rebellious generation dies. Then that which God had wanted to give to them, He gives to someone else-the next generation.
When we walk in rebellion, we pay a price. God’s blessings often include a test. Do we turn back? Or trust Him? (Daily Walk)
_________________________________________________________
THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES US HIS POWER
My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 1 Corinthians 2:4
The Holy Spirit gives us His power, and, thank God, He not only gave it to the first apostles, He has also given it to quite unknown people throughout the centuries. He has enabled some simple people to speak just the right word at the right moment. John Bunyan tells us in his autobiography, Grace Abounding, that one of the greatest blessings and helps he ever had was one afternoon listening to three uneducated women who were doing some knitting together in the sunshine, outside a house, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He got more from them than from anybody else. And you find that is what happens. God gives this power to the simplest, humblest Christian to testify to the Lord Jesus Christ, sharing what He has done and the difference He has made to human life. This is how the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son. When He works in us, what He does is to make us glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. The man in whom the Spirit dwells does not talk about himself; whether he is a preacher or whatever he may be, you do not come away talking about him.
You and I have the inestimable privilege of being men and women who in this life and in our daily work and vocation can be glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, God grant that we all may be filled with this Spirit, the Holy Spirit, of God, that we may “know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10); that we may know what He has done for us; that we may know we are the children of God and joint heirs with Christ; that we may have glimpses of the glory that awaits us and that we may find our lives transformed and filled with His power, so that we may say with Paul, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”(Galatians 2:20).
A Thought to Ponder: You and I have the inestimable privilege of being men and women who in our daily work can glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. (From Saved in Eternity, p. 94, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
______________________________________________________
The Saints
“Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.” (Philippians 4:21-22)
The apostle Paul typically began and ended most of his church epistles with greetings to and from “the saints.” The context in each case shows that this term was applied to all those who were “in Christ Jesus”—that is, all true Christians. The Greek word hagios meant essentially those people or things that are set aside or consecrated to the Lord. It is frequently translated “holy” and can be applied to objects dedicated to the Lord, as in Hebrews 9:24 (“holy places made with hands”).
The term is applied also to Old Testament believers. At the time of Christ’s resurrection, we are told that “many bodies of the saints which slept arose” (Matthew 27:52).
Although “saints” should be altogether godly and righteous as well as set aside to the Lord, that is not necessarily always how they act. Thus, special men have been called by God (i.e., pastors, teachers, etc.) “for the perfecting of the saints” (Ephesians 4:12).
Some of these latter have been given the supposedly exclusive right to be called saints by the Catholic church. Other than “St. Mary” and “St. Peter,” the best known of these may be “St. Patrick,” the so-called “patron saint” of Ireland. Patrick was certainly a very zealous missionary, largely responsible for the conversion of the Irish from paganism back in the early fifth century, and all we know about him would confirm that he was indeed a “saint” in the true biblical sense.
Since the sole biblical criterion to be classed as “His saints” is “them that believe,” that includes us! That being the case, should we not be zealous to see that our lives are such as “becometh saints” (Ephesians 5:3)? (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
_______________________________________________________
Up Close and Personal
Each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself. Ephesians 5:33
Someone has said, “Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.” How true. You start marriage from a distance. Your honeymoon view is soft and fuzzy, filtered through a fine mist of warm feelings. Goose bumps. Everything appears to be perfectly put together. But the closer you get to one another, the more flaws you see.
If you were looking at me from across the room, there are some things you couldn’t tell about me from that vantage point. You wouldn’t be able to see that a childhood case of chicken pox left a noticeable scar on my forehead. You wouldn’t notice the little nick I got right above my eyebrow from sledding into a fence when I was five years old.
Marriage is much like that, isn’t it? The longer you are together, the more things you learn about this man or woman—this person you once kissed at a candlelit altar—that are not very pleasant, not too pretty. Marriage truly is the process of two selfish people learning to love one another in the midst of their imperfections.
For some, that’s where divorce is born . . . if not actual legal divorce, then emotional divorce. But for you, it can be where love and commitment grow, as you draw closer and closer without rejecting the other or fearing rejection yourself.
That’s what Jesus did when He saw you. Love motivated Him to move toward people who were unlovable. And in the ongoing experience of marriage, He gives you the opportunity to embody His kind of love each day, getting up close and personal, forgiving, persevering, growing in Christ by refusing to grow apart. In marriage, life is lived in very close proximity. You need Christ to love your spouse through you, despite your spouse’s flaws, disappointments and weaknesses.
DISCUSS
Admit two unlovable traits you know about yourself. Then thank your spouse for loving you anyway—for being patient as you fight to overcome them. (Moments with You Couples by Dennis and Barbara Rainey)
______________________________________________________
Have you stopped and considered that the real purpose of your struggles, at a given moment, might be the heart of compassion that God is building within you? Smooth sailing doesn’t develop such a thing, you know. Trials develop our humility, and humility opens our eyes to the needs of others. (p. 27)
_____________________________________
We need devoted followers of Christ who are at their best when the clouds come out. (p. 28)
___________________________________
The Spirit encourages us to go outward and become all the more loving and forgiving – including forgiving oneself. (p. 29)
___________________________________
What would happen if we replaced the here-today-gone-tomorrow love of contemporary marriage with the ironclad, unconditional love of I Corinthians 13?
Just as we wouldn’t be angry with a blind man for stepping on our toes, we should be nothing but compassionate to people who don’t know Christ. (p. 30)
______________________________________
People are watching, and they watch more closely when they know we are people of faith. It has been said that we are the only Bible some people will ever study. (p. 32)
_______________________________________
Loving our loved ones is a good start. If we can’t do that, we definitely have a problem. The higher standard, on the other hand, sends a strong, clear message that we, the people of Christ, are not your average, everyday human beings. Those who are watching us don’t weigh the size of the Bible we carry. They don’t keep a calendar for totaling the number of Bible study meetings we attend, nor do they give us a test on mastery of biblical trivia. But they watch with intense interest to see how we treat others: first, those close to us and then – the championship round – everyone else. Paul writes, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all” (I Thessalonians 3: 12). Those final three words are the tricky part. (p. 33) (Living with confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr. David Jeremiah)
________________________________________________________
We now have a Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.