SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : Devotional Thoughts : On the Plains of Shinar

Print Thread (PDF)

Goto page ( Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Next Page )
PosterThread
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Re:

Very good distinction, Appolus.

Man wants the benefits without the cost. Jesus says "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." Luke 16:13

When one wants the benefits of God's blessings but despises the cross one holds to a form of godliness denying the power (of the cross) thereof.

No cross, no Christ, just a false security based on one's own "offerings" rather than the one and final offering of all. (Heb 10:12)

When God calls one out of the world unto Himself, the way out is by the cross otherwise one is not leaving anything.

The "way of Cain" is all around us today.

 2013/5/27 0:48Profile
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Re: Experience - 1

A glaring necessity (obviously missing today) is EXPERIENCE.

As the Lord gives and increases our vision, He desires to turn it into experience. It was important for Moses to ascend the mountain and behold the heavenly pattern of God's building. But it was for the purpose of coming back down and bringing something into existence on earth...the house of God. Each time the Israelites moved their camp during the forty year sojourn in the wilderness, the Levites who had charge of erecting the tabernacle had two things to guide them, the vision of the tabernacle they had received from Moses, and their EXPERIENCE with the tabernacle itself.

The book of Exodus contains a rather lengthy instruction of just how to build the tabernacle. But in order to erect the tabernacle the first time, it took Moses, who saw the vision, and others who were given special wisdom. However, after that, when the Israelites moved their camp, the Levites who had seen the tabernacle, care for it and disassembled it (experience it, if you will) could easily build it again for they had not only the vision but also their hands-on experience which made the vision practical.

All vision is ethereal until it is turned into experience. You may have received a real revelation of the love of the brethren, but until that revelation is experienced with real love by flesh and blood brethren, you don't really know what you are talking about.

 2013/5/27 9:54Profile









 Re:

“Jesus has many who love His kingdom in heaven, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of the bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many admire the miracles, but few follow Him to the humiliation of the cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.”-Thomas A Kempis ..........bro Frank

 2013/5/27 10:42
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Re:

The Lord tests everything that He creates. Even the begotten Son of God was tested. Adam was tested and he failed. The second Adam was tested and He was victorious.

The Children of Israel were tested in the wilderness...
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. (Deut 8:2)

Testing is for our benefit that we would grow from faith to faith.
Deu_8:16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

...and you also will be tested in the wilderness (this world).

1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

The highway to Zion is a road of suffering.
Isa 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

2Ti_3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

1/3 of the New Testament is about suffering. If we reject the way of the cross because of the suffering that accompanies it then we will suffer great loss as did the children of Israel who longed for the leeks and garlic of Egypt.

Do not let the testings of your faith harden your heart, but entrust yourself to your Faithful Creator Who is able to make you stand and to gloriously save you.

The Lord is testing our hearts, purging them of dross, and conforming us to His image.

2Th 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
2Th 2:17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

Let us yield to the Spirit of God and bring our wills into harmony with His will.


 2013/5/27 20:58Profile
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Experience - 2

The tabernacle had gold covered acacia wood boards that stood upright and formed the walls. These boards had golden rings through which gold covered wooden poles were inserted. Now consider this question: Were the rings on the outside of the boards or on the inside of the boards? The greatest Bible scholar could not tell you, but the least of the Levites who had experience of the tabernacle could easily give us the answer. It may seem like a small matter as to whether the rings were on the inside or the outside, but without the experience of the Levites, one might erect the tabernacle inside out.

The apostle Paul was saved on the road to Damascus. There the Lord showed him some wonderful things. The revelation did not stop with his experience and the Lord continued to show Paul a wonderful and heavenly vision. He spent some time in the Arabian wilderness, and I imagine that his vision was greatly increased during that time. But with all this wonderful vision and his high calling as "Apostle to the Gentiles," Paul was not sent out by the Holy Spirit until after he had spent some years as a brother in the church at Antioch learning by experience what he had seen by revelation.

Today a man may be gifted of God, and he may have a burning vision in his heart for the Lord's house, but without the experience of having been built up together with others in a practical expression of the Body of Christ, he is unqualified to have a hand in building that which is only ethereal in his own life.

 2013/5/30 22:52Profile
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Re: Time

For the Lord to give us a vision of His house and work these things into us experientially, it will take some TIME in our lives.

God does not have any shortcuts to spiritual maturity. There are not "three easy steps" or "five practical methods." There is no seminary degree or certificate of achievement for "spiritual maturity" that will make you qualified. It will take the work of God in your life over a long period of time - years. And God is not in a hurry. He is much more interested in WHAT YOU BECOME IN HIM than WHAT YOU DO FOR HIM.

His work in your life will be thorough and complete...IF YOU WILL ALLOW IT.

Consider the apostle Paul. He was well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures at the time of his conversion. Paul was called to be an apostle on the day that he was saved. According to the standards of the 21st century, western Christianity, Paul was ready for the ministry. But not according to the standards of God. It took fifteen years of preparation before Paul was ready to be sent to the work to which he had been called.

These years were spent receiving a vision of the Church of Jesus Christ and having that vision expanded. Some of these years were spent as a brother in the church in Antioch, learning the Life of the church first-hand so that later there would be no danger of an inexperienced Christian worker building the house of God inside out. During these years of preparation Paul began to know the death of the old life through great suffering and the work of the cross. There were floggings from the Jews and beatings from the Romans. There was his lost reputation which during his lifetime, was never restored. Three was the experience of one who had been rising without peer in the religious and political world of Israel learning to become a NOBODY. Oh yes, and these were the years when Paul learned to love his Lord with a passionate, white hot, first quality love.

Do you think this preparation in Paul's life was a fluke?

Were these years an isolated accident, or is this pattern in harmony with the ways of God?

Consider David who spent perhaps a decade living in caves and being hunted like an animal. And this took place during the time between his anointing (his calling) and his coming to the throne (his sending). Or consider Moses, who spent forty years following sheep in preparation for being the shepherd of Israel.

How old are you? Are you 40, 50, 60 or even 70 and still waiting to be sent out? Consider Jesus who lived for 33 years but ministered for 3.

If we truly love the Lord, let us lay aside all spiritual ambition and all desire to serve the Lord and let us lay our lives before Him and humbly ask Him to prepare us according to His ways and His standards. Are you looking for significance in Jesus Christ, or what you do for Him? Or maybe, you are looking for significance from people who will affirm your spirituality. Did you know that only the Lord can affirm your spirituality and it is only to Him that we should look?

The work God eventually does through your life may be small, but the gold, silver and precious stone that can be hidden in a man's pocket is worth infinitely more than a mountain of wood, hay and stubble.

The face of the earth is covered with vast religious works that are a testimony of man's Adamic nature building for God. There is a place reserved in the man-made Christian religious system for ANYONE who wants to become a slave to it.

On the other hand, our Lord desires to restore the tabernacle of David in order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord and in order that His throne might be established there.

Some can go no other way than to seek the headship of Jesus Christ and to give their lives that His eternal purpose might be accomplished.

Act 15:16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
Act 15:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

 2013/6/4 13:49Profile
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Re: OBEDIENCE

Jude 1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, AFTERWARD DESTROYED THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT.

Is this not a warning to NT Believers who have been saved "out of the land of Egypt" that they will be destroyed if they "believe not"?

Num 14:22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and HAVE NOT HEARKENED TO MY VOICE;
Num 14:23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

Psa 106:24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, THEY BELIEVED NOT HIS WORD:
Psa 106:25 But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD.
Psa 106:26 Therefore HE LIFTED UP HIS HAND AGAINST THEM (destroyed them in the wilderness), to overthrow them in the wilderness:

Psa 106:28 They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. (they joined themselves to idols).
Psa 106:29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

Psa 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
Psa 95:8 HARDEN NOT YOUR HEART, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Psa 95:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
Psa 95:10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
Psa 95:11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

What is this "special status" that we think we have that we do not have to walk in obedience to the Spirit of God? Because the "church in the wilderness" enjoyed no such "special status". God is no respecter of persons!

He said, "No flowers, but a crown."
I said, "But the skies are black,
There is nothing but noise and din."
And He wept as He sent me back.
"There is more," He said; "there is sin."
I said, "But the air is thick
And fogs are veiling the sun."
He answered, "Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone."
I said, "I shall miss the light,
And friends shall miss me, they say."
He answered, "Choose tonight
If I am to miss you or they."
I pleaded for time to be given.
He said, "Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide."
I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town.
He said, "My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?"
Then into His hand went mine;
And into my heart came He;
And I walk in a light divine,
The path I had feared to see.

George MacDonald

Do not shrink back or fear to obey the Lord.

Num 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

 2013/6/9 19:43Profile
Elibeth
Member



Joined: 2011/8/14
Posts: 1148


 Re:

Dear Pilgrim,

We are in need of some GREAT TRUTH,...and you are speaking it.

I do thank The Lord,...for it is His,..and He has allowed you to share.

Be blessed,

Thanking Him,
elizabeth

 2013/6/9 20:21Profile
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Re:

Yes, sister. Truth belongs to Jesus because He is the Truth.

Truth is a Person!

He does not ask us to produce results but only to be faithful to Him and with the word that He gives us. He will take care of the results.

All glory and honor to Jesus Christ.

 2013/6/9 20:52Profile









 Re:

I see that you are quoting a Scotsman? :) .........bro Frank

 2013/6/10 0:16





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy