“He is with us now. George Muller had on his desk a motto of two words, AND TODAY, from the great verse, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). Most of us believe in Christ come and in Christ coming, but we are weak on the middle span of that all-encompassing verse, Christ contemporary. “…lo, I am with you always” is not a promise, it is a fact – not “I will be with you” but “I am with you all the days, including today.”

~Vance Havner

The daily devotions quotes are from “Pepper ‘n Salt” by Vance Havner. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1966.

Prison in Rome from Biblical times

“Paul was often in chains, a minister in manacles, a prophet in prison. The only stocks and bonds he knew were stocks for his feet and bonds for his wrists. But…

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage.

Though often chained in prisons dark, he was in heart and conscience free.  He was an ambassador in bonds not of his own making.  Alas! we languish today in fetters of our own forging.”

~Vance Havner

Believe Your Beliefs

By Vance Havner

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye shall receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mark 11:24

Believer that you have and you shall have – that is the grammar of faith! We are to ask for wisdom but we must ask in faith, nothing wavering (James 1:6). The believer already has all things in Christ, and by faith he lays hold of what is already his.

We must not only believe that we receive, we must believe that we believe. We must believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts. Alas, we doubt our beliefs and believe our doubts! To be always examining our faith is to destroy it. There is a strange twist of mind that afflicts some harassed souls who can never be sure of anything. These are ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

We must give ourselves credit for such faith as we can muster. The father of the demonized boy said to our Lord, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” His faith was weak and mixed with unbelief and he knew it, but he knew that he had at least a little faith and that faith he asserted. Of course, our faith, like every other good and perfect gift, is of God, but God expects us to use it, affirm it, not doubt it. “If thou canst believe” implies that we can if we will. God would not ask us to believe if we could not.

Facts about the Bible

Now Where or Now Here

By Vance Havner

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Psalm 14:1

Emmanuel…God with us.
Matthew 1:23

He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:17

An atheist had a sign on the wall of his office that read, “God Is Nowhere.” A little girl saw it and exclaimed, “Look! It says, ‘God Is Now Here!’”

Today godless and lawless millions deny God’s very existence. But there are still many who have not bowed to this Baal, who know that the Word became flesh and that in the Holy Spirit God is not only with us but in us.

The struggle is between the “Nowheres” and the “Now Heres.” “is the Lord among us, or not?” (Ex. 17:7) – that is the issue. The fool hath said in his heart, “There isnot God,” because God is not in his heart. The Christian says there is a God, because God is in his heart. He means more than merely that God is or that God is somewhere. He says God is now here, because God is a present, living reality.

Faith

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Faith is one of the most precious treasures a man can possibly possess. It is a pity that so few understand what the Bible teaches about it.

Faith is often confused with presumption, optimism, determination, superstition and imagination. Actually it is simply believing. This is why we read in Romans 4:5:

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

Obviously, faith honors God, while doubting His Word must insult and displease Him. The Apostle John wrote:

“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater…. He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.

“And this is the record: that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (I John 5:9-11).

Little wonder that we read in Hebrews 11:6:

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

But why did God give the law, if salvation can be obtained by simple faith? The Apostle Paul answers:

“The law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law”
(Romans 3:31).

How grateful we all should be that God, in the Bible, has told us about redemption through Christ and how we may be saved by faith in Him!

“[Christ] was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 4:25; 5:1).

The Importance of Etiquette

February 24, 2015

“The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and when he comes out, so that he will not die.” — Exodus 28:34–35

The Torah portion for this week is Tetzaveh, which means “contributions,” from Exodus 27:20–30:10, and the Haftorah is from Ezekiel 43:10–27.

Some people say that folks aren’t as polite as they used to be. Some blame it on the Internet; it’s so easy to hide behind a computer screen and say things that one would never say to someone face to face. Others place the blame on our fast-paced society – who has time to be polite? However, as this week’s Torah portion teaches us, etiquette is imperative. No matter the circumstances, we need to be refined, dignified, and polite.

In describing the clothing that the priests were to wear while carrying out their duties, we aren’t told about their particular purposes or symbolic meanings. However, there is one notable exception. When it came to the High Priest’s robe, we are told that the bottom of the garment was required to contain a row of woven pomegranates interspersed with bells. The purpose, Scripture tells us, was so that the bells would signal when the priest entered the Holy of Holies.

The purpose of the bells on the priest’s robe is equivalent to knocking on a door before entering a house or a room. In fact, based on this verse, the Jewish sages teach that one must knock even before entering one’s own home so that the other people present will know that someone is about to enter. This is a lesson in etiquette. We’ve become a very comfortable and informal society – sometimes too comfortable. At times, it is important to be formal in order to preserve the privacy and dignity of others.

However, if God wants to teach us about interpersonal relationships, why here, where the discussion is mainly about our relationship with God? Moreover, surely God would know when the priest was entering the Holy of Holies – He certainly didn’t need any warning!

The sages explain that God chose this particular portion to teach us about the importance of politeness so that we might understand that there is no situation where politeness is not required. Sometimes, we might think that our mission is so important, it’s OK to cut some corners. We try to justify driving aggressively through traffic or elbowing our way through a crowd thinking that the ends justify the means. However, there is nothing more important than communing with God as the High Priest did in the Holy of Holies – and even there, precisely at that moment, etiquette was necessary.

This week, let’s take the time to be polite. It’s the little things, like opening the door for another person or giving up your seat on public transportation to an older person, that make our character all the more refined. As part of our service to God, let’s remember that while it’s nice to be important, it’s more important to be nice.

With prayers for shalom, peace,

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

The Beatitude of the “And Yets”

By Vance Havner

Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
John 20:29

Thomas could have made a great story of his experience, for few ever had such a privilege as he. But our Lord did not magnify it: rather He magnified the commoner experience of believing without seeing. All of us can claim that beatitude! It is not so glamorous and it does not make a sensational story, but precious in the sight of the Lord are His saints who can relate no amazing experiences but who believe, anyway.

Peter sensed the importance of walking by faith instead of sight when he wrote, ‘Whom having not seen ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

And yet have believed…yet believing. There was only one Thomas who could put his finger in the nailprints of the Saviour but their number is legion who have believed without seeing. For reasons best known to Himself our Lord sometimes gives extra tokens to one now and then, but it is very evident that He values highly those who get along without them. Ours is the beatitude of the and yets, and it its blessing we carry on until we see Him as He is.

Administrator’s Note:

To anyone unaware Pastor Cornelius R. Stam left this fleshly realm in March of 2003, at the age of 94.

Pastor Stam at age 80

The First Book To Read

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

In years gone by, when life was simpler, men had more time to ponder over the really important questions: What will become of me when I die? Is there a heaven — and a hell? Can I know God? Will He forgive my sins? If so, on what basis? What must I do to be saved?

The materialism, commercialism and technology of our day, however, have so complicated life that secondary problems hinder many people from even considering at leisure that which is most important.

Yet, despite all the hurry and anxiety, all the noise and distraction, there are troubled souls, hungering and thirsting for true satisfaction, for hearts cleansed from sin, for deliverance from the awful burden of a guilty conscience.

Such people should read Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and meditate on its great message of salvation. In fact, this is the first book they ought to read.

In Romans the inspired Apostle declares that “all have sinned” (3:23) and that “the wages of sin is death” (6:23). But this is not all. Romans also proclaims the good news that the Lord Jesus Christ “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” and that therefore we may have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (4:25; 5:1).

More than this, Romans offers abundant grace to all who trust in Christ. “The law entered that the offence might abound, but where sin abounded grace did much more abound” (5:20,21). Thus believers are “justified freely by [God’s] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:24) and “the [free] gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:23).

We urge those who are not sure of salvation to read carefully and prayerfully this great Epistle to the Romans. You may be thanking God for the rest of your earthly life — and forever — that you did.

20 Bible Verses about Coveting

Exodus 20:17 ESV

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”