There is an important lesson here and in other places of God's Word, namely that humility and gladness go together. What do the humble and the joyous have in common? They both look up. The humble are those who don't look down on anyone. The truly humble look up all the time. They have to look up, because their eyes are on God, and He's above them. The joyous are always looking up as well, otherwise they wouldn't be rejoicing. The joyous are believing the Good News, so they rejoice!
Roughly 3000 years ago during this month, King Solomon dedicated the Temple he had built for the Lord. So it was in the Hebrew month of Tishrei, the month of the fall feasts of Israel, that the presence of the Lord fell and the glory of God was displayed in the Temple.
An ancient story in Church history tells of the apostle John. He would constantly repeat the words, "Little children, love one another." And his disciples became weary of the phrase. Finally, in his old age, as John was being carried to their assembly, the disciples asked him, "Why do you always repeat these same words?" "Because friends," John replied, "it is the Lord's commandment — and if only this one were fulfilled, it would be enough."
Recently, I've been studying the Jewish roots of many of Yeshua's (Jesus') parables, and I came across an interesting saying from a Jewish Rabbi that I believe has something to teach us.
I've heard so many Christians ask, "How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?" As if the Holy Spirit is some kind of power or force that we can control or weild. What we should really be asking is, "How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?"
Hudson Taylor was scheduled to speak at a Large Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced him in the most eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as “our illustrious guest.” Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, “Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master.”
Yeshua (Jesus) began His earthly ministry by being baptized in the Jordan river. The word Jordan in Hebrew is "Yarden" and its root is "yarad". It literally means to descend, which would make sense being that the Jordan descends more than any river on earth.
In today's society fast food is making billions. It's slogans are "have it your way" and "have it hot and and have it now". How easy it is for us to fall into this "fast food mentality". It has almost become who we are. But in God's kingdom there's no fast food. We can't always have it our way and now. When we are caught up in this fast food mentality, we lose the true meaning of patience. True patience is the ability to wait on the Lord through trials without complaining and worrying; it is to be tested and persevere through trial.
If you were to visit Paris, you could see the statues of two men, both named Louis.
The first is of Louis XIV, France's absolute monarch. He represents one of the supreme achievements of greatness through power. His philosophy of life was that the whole nation and the world, should serve him.
A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody's Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.
Revelation 7:11-12 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. I've [...]
Jeremiah 45:5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. J. Oswald Sanders, a Godly man and former director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship, once [...]
Matthew 7:9-11 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is [...]
James 4:6b Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Corrie Ten Boom tells this story in her book, Each New Day. "When I saw Sadhu Sundar Singh in Europe, he had completed a tour around the world. People asked him, Doesn't it do harm, your getting so much honor?" [...]
You know we love D.L. Moody around here. Well, I'll tell you why. Simply because God used this man with only an 8th grade education to change the world for the better. Thousands have come to the Lord through his ministry and the fruit has remained much after his passing. Some of you have heard [...]
Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Robert A.Cook, president of The King's College in New York, was speaking at the Moody Bible Institute some [...]
Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Some time ago, a friend was helping us do a couple of things around the house. When I asked him if he would mind doing one additional thing before he left, he jokingly responded, "and would you like fries with [...]
Psalms 36:5 Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Our most fervent prayer for Elianna, our sweet two year old girl, is that Jesus would reveal Himself and His salvation to her in a way she can understand. Today, just before her nap, Elianna said to my [...]
Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It never ceases to amaze me how our little girl, Elianna is growing and developing. I remember when she first came into this world, she was so helpless and frail — she couldn't even move [...]
