Grace & Peace
An e-periodical for spiritual enlightenment,
edification and encouragement
Issue No.021 June 30, 2006
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In this issue:-
Perspective:- Unpleasant Unbelief
Study note:- The gate of the court.
Sermon outline:- A sevenfold use of the word
Anecdote:- Girl Raised By Pigs
News & Views:- Pastor and son sentenced for cyber crime
Net Resources: 2 E-Sword Bible Software
Worthy quotes:-
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Perspective:- Unpleasant Unbelief
"He'll never get better" helplessly yelled the father. Considering the frequent failure of his son, desperate father concludes that there is no more hope for this boy. How often we hear such comments even if in a mild manner. Family members, church members and society at large look at each other and say that there is no more chance for improvement and betterment.
We judge people and circumstances with such melancholic attitude and conclude hopelessly that there is only a doomsday remains! But we do not realize that such prejudice and pessimistic, depressed attitude is unbelief in the sight of God. Israel's story portraits this fact very clearly. Even after seeing the mighty hand of God in their deliverance, dividing of the red sea and in their daily provision, they failed to take God's word as true. They easily forgot His wonderful works and began to complain, murmur and even fight.
The Lord was so angry with them that He said it was unbelief, rebellion, disobedience and sin. Such distrust was departure from the true and living God. It was an explicit denial of His power and faithfulness. They considered God as a fraud and feeble to protect, provide and lead them till the end. The Lord took it so seriously. What was the result? It was costly for Israel. None of them, except Joshua and Caleb of those twenty years of age and above reached Canaan. Till all of them-around six lakh- perished in the desert they had to wander through the wilderness. The Lord did not allow any of those unbelieving rebellious ones to cross the Jordan and posses the Land.
Later David cited this incident and warned his generation to flee unbelief, then in the New Testament Hebrew writer also took it up and cautioned the first century enlightened Jewish believers. Ps. 95:7—11; Heb.3:7—15. Even today it should serve as a word of warning for all of us. "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
Murmuring, grumbling, doubting etc are unbelief and it is sin and rebellion. God takes it seriously and the consequences will be costly. Never underestimate the wisdom and power of God. He knows everything well in advance and does every thing well in time for His glory. He is able to do any thing with any body at any time and stage. Nothing is too hard for Him, no condition is too worse for Him.
When we shall acknowledge and accept the sovereignty and supremacy of God over us, what more can we say. We only need to yield to His will and purpose. Yes harden not our hearts, when we hear His voice, today, even now.
NTK
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Study note:- The gate of the court.
The gate (as indicated earlier), clearly typifies the person of Christ, and the different aspects of His glorious character. He said "I am the door, by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved, John 10;9. It is also borne out by the statement of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, "I am the way, and the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me", John 14; 6. Peter also stresses this when he said, "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved", Acts 4;12.
The colours of the gate:
The gate was a curtain, which was made of fine twined linen, on which were embroidered the colours of blue, purple, and scarlet. These colours represent different aspects of the various glories of Christ, as set out for us in the four gospels.
BLUE:- the colour of heaven, and represents the heavenly glory of Christ as the SON OF GOD. It is John's Gospel that emphasizes the glory of the Son of God. He first tells us of His Deity, His Eternal nature, His glory as the Creator, and then tells that "The Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us, and we have contemplated His glory, the Glory as of an only-begotten with the Father, full of grace and truth",
ch.1;14, (J.N.D. Trans). He stresses His heavenly character in chapter 3, 13, and 31. The miracles of John's Gospel are called signs, a sign points to something, and these signs point to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
PURPLE:- the royal colour, the colour worn by Kings and the richest of the nobility, thus it represents the Royal Glory of Christ as the SON OF DAVID; It is Mathew who presents the Lord Jesus to us as the Son of David. Right from chapter one, where in the genealogy he traces the line back to David, to the last chapter, where we hear the Lord Jesus say, "All power is given unto Me, in heaven and in earth".ch.28;18, these are the words of the King. In chapter 2; 2, we hear the wise men ask, "Where is he that is Born King of the Jews? The honour of being born king, is unique in human history, no other person was ever born king. In chapter 9; 27, we hear the blind men cry, "thou Son of David have mercy on us". In chapter 12; 23, the people ask, "Is not this the Son of David". In chapter 22; 42, the Lord Jesus asks the Pharisees, "What think ye of Christ, whose son is he?, and they reply, The Son of David", the Lord Jesus then goes on to point out that He is not only David's son, but David's
Lord.Many other passages could be cited, but for the purpose of these 'Brief Notes' these will suffice.
SCARLET:- the distinctive colour, it stands out, it catches the eye. The children of the virtuous woman are said to be clothed in scarlet (Prov. 31.). It is interesting to note that the scarlet dye is made from the crushed bodies of the worm Coccus Illicus, the female of this creature attaches its body firmly to a tree, spreads scarlet dye around itself, and gives birth to its eggs, then dies, its dead body remaining as a protection for the eggs until they hatch, and begin their new life.
How suggestive this is of our Lord Jesus, who in life and in death, was absolutely distinctive. Denying Himself constantly, living for others, and finally dying for others on the tree, for you and for me! Shedding His precious blood so that we might have life, "Hallelujah what a Savoir!" We see the scarlet of Christ's distinctive and unique humanity in the Gospel of Luke, who presents the Lord Jesus to us as the SON OF MAN. Luke gives us details of Christ's humanity that are not given by any other of the other Gospel writers. He alone tells of His conception, birth and boyhood.
The miracles of Luke's Gospel emphasize the perfection and beauty of Christ's humanity, His perfect compassion, as well as His deity. Let us take two examples, the first being the healing of the man full of leprosy in chapter 5. There in verse 13 we are told that the Lord Jesus put forth His hand and touched the leper. The word translated touch, means to handle freely: we might ask why He did this, when the power of His divine word was sufficient to heal the man completely? It was because of His perfect human compassion, that poor man had not felt a human touch for many years. He was cut off from his family, feared and shunned by all, and had to cry out "Unclean, Unclean", wherever he went.
How it must have moved his heart, when he felt the warm hands of our blessed Lord pass over his diseased body! Here was One who understood how he felt, and felt for him and with him. He was perfectly human, yet absolutely divine. The second example is in chapter 7 ; 12-15, where the Lord Jesus first healed the broken heart of the grieving widow, with His words, "Weep not," then with the word of His divine power, called the young man back from the dead. But then it adds in verse 15, "He gave him back to his mother." Here is the expression once again, of His perfect human feelings and understanding. He not only called the young man back from the dead, but put him back into his mother's arms.
Thus we see the glory of the Son of Man.As the dying thief witnessed the calm and graceful way in which the Lord Jesus bore the sufferings of the cross, he was led to exclaim, "This man has done nothing amiss". The centurion cries, "Certainly this was a righteous man," whereas both Matthew and Mark tell us that he said that He was truly the Son of God. Luke closes his gospel by showing us the Lord Jesus as man, being carried up into heaven, while in the act of blessing His
disciples.The perfect manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ was an absolute necessity for Him to be our Savoir. No angel could accomplish our redemption, it was man who had sinned, it was man who must pay the price of our redemption. It was also necessary to enable Him to be our Great High Priest. Thus we see the meaning of the colour scarlet.
Charles E.Wigg
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Sermon outline:- A sevenfold use of the word
1. Born again by the word. 1 Pet. 1:23 Jam.1:18
2. Cleansed by the word. Eph 5:26; Psal.119:9
3. Saved by the word. 1 Tim.4:16; Jam.1:21
4. Growing by the word. 1 Pet.2:2; Jer.15:16
5. Sanctified by the word.
John.17:17; 1 Tim.4:5
6. Enlightened by the word. Psalm. 19:8; 119:105
7. Kept by the word. Psalm. 17:4; Rev. 3:01
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Anecdote:- Girl Raised By Pigs
According to the United Press International, a 9 year old girl was raised by barnyard pigs in the Chinese province of Liaoning. The girl had been suckled and raised from infancy by a peasant family's pigs because her disabled parents could not care for her.
Like a Chinese version of "Believe It or Not", the report indicated that the severely deprived child is now being taught to abandon pig like behavior in favour of acting human. Her counselors said that the child had learned to crawl like a pig and imitate other piggish actions. She displayed fluctuating emotions and tended to want to live in solitude.
There is something worse that a 9 – year old child who behaves like a pig. It is a child of God who thinks and acts like a pagan!
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News & Views:- Pastor and son sentenced for cyber crime
One pastor and his son were found guilty in the first cyber crime convicted the state of Kerala. According to the prosecution the duo morphed the pictures of another senior pastor and family who head one of the largest Pentecostal churches in India, with nude pictures and sent all over world through internet using fake email ids.
With the help of computer experts and a live internet connection and computer in the court the prosecution proved their crime beyond any doubt. The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Pathanamthitta sentenced the pastor and son for seven year imprisonment and a penalty of Rupees 35000/-
How sad to notice that a historical judgment has to do with a Lord's servant and his son. Judgment begins in the house of God. 1 Pet.4:17. " Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
1Cor.10:12
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Net Resources: 2 E-Sword Bible Software
'Books worth of one lakh rupees just for Rs.450/-in one CD' brought music in the ears of this writer as he just began his experiments with the digital world. Only after he procured it he realized it was a free copy. Later on he was stunned to see the vast resources available in the digital world to study the word of God.
As in the case of print world many found a better business in providing bible study software but one man of God- Rick Mayers- committed himself to provide free bible software.As a Bible student, teacher as well as a software expert the Lord used him mightily to write one of the best bible software available today called e-sword. It is fast, feature rich and user-friendly. Any body can use it easily and effectively.
The best feature this writer noticed is the embedded strong concordance with the King James Version text. Also Biblical text, commentaries and dictionaries are present together simultaneously in different windows.
Visit today and download the latest versions absolutely free. Rick is very particular that no body should make money of it in any way. If any body finds it difficult to down the software feel free to request the help of 'grace & peace'.
www.e-sword.net NTK________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Worthy quotes:-
"God does not want His people to be either weak-kneed, weak-handed, weak-hearted or
least of all, weak-headed!"
Alfred P. Gibbs
"Many of God's promises do not depend on our character but on His faithfulness." Warren Wiersbee
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