SCRIPTURE MEDITATIONS- W.F. BELL

Acts 4:31-33; 5:41-42; 16:25; I Corinthians 2:6-16

GREENER GRASS?

This is a sad “Meditation” to write, as it involves my original home church (which in kindness I will not name). My precious mother took me to this once-good church from the time I was a baby. Through the years as I grew up, I was faithful to attend its various activities, and truly enjoyed being with many friends and families of this church. To this day I have fond memories of how the Lord often spoke to me there through God-fearing men and wise Bible teachers. Through this local church I first learned of the Lord Jesus Christ, was baptized in His precious Name, and began to seriously study the Scriptures when just a teenager.

However, the Lord led me away from this assembly to other churches and other ministries. I speak here not as a judge or a know-it-all. With Jacob of old, I can truly say that “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth” (Genesis 32:10) which the Lord has been pleased to show me. I speak only out of a burdened and concerned heart for this church.

A recent, large flyer was mailed out from this church with these words on it: “Is the grass really greener?” This was on one side, with a background of colorful, green grass. On the other side were these words, “It sure is. Discover where the grass is greener. You are invited to join us at FBC for a morning of worship and celebration.” Then, a misquote of John 10:10 is given, but with no reference. When you saw this flyer, your first reaction was that it was from a lawn service company, not a church. Why have we come to this kind of advertising? It is sad beyond words to think that this once-spiritual church (where I encountered the holiness of God in power) has sunk to worldly promotions, falling in with “the emergent church” syndrome. “How are the mighty fallen.”

The grass is not greener at this assembly, I can assure you. The grass is a dead brown, because so many “things” go on at this church, it does not even resemble the assembly I once knew. They have moved from their old location (like other “emerging” churches) to a totally different location, with a very modern looking building (looks like a country lodge or hotel). But, remember now, “the grass is greener” here.

Looking at Scripture, what can we say about this? What we do not find in Acts, for example, is as important as what we do find. Note, church buildings are missing in Acts. Educated ministers are missing. Compromising, worldly programs are missing. But, persecution was not missing, nor was “fear of God.” Bold proclamation of Christ’s gospel was not missing; there was true love and reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ; there was much joy, praying, and singing (Acts 5:41-42; 16:25). “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). The true “greener grass” is being “spiritually minded,” yet is “not the wisdom of this age;” but it is having “the mind of Christ” (I Corinthians 2:6-16). How we need today a true revival of New Testament Christianity!

THE MAGNITUDE OF GRACE- C.H. SPURGEON

Faith's Checkbook for November 8

"My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Our weakness should be prized as making room for divine strength. We might never have known the power of grace if we had not felt the weakness of nature. Blessed be the LORD for the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan, when they drive us to the strength of God. This is a precious word from our LORD's own lip. It has made the writer laugh for joy. God's grace enough for me! I should think it is. Is not the sky enough for the bird and the ocean enough for the fish? The All-Sufficient is sufficient for my largest want. He who is sufficient for earth and heaven is certainly able to meet the case of one poor worm like me. Let us, then, fall back upon our God and His grace. If He does not remove our grief, He will enable us to bear it. His strength shall be poured into us till the worm shall thresh the mountains, and a nothing shall be victor over all the high and mighty ones. It is better for us to have God's strength than our own; for if we were a thousand times as strong as we are, it would amount to nothing in the face of the enemy; and if we could be weaker than we are, which is scarcely possible, yet we could do all things through Christ.

SHORT PRAYERS- AMY CARMICHAEL

"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief."
(Mark 9:24)
Sometimes we are very much disappointed with ourselves because we cannot pray proper prayers, only little ones that hardly seem to be prayers at all. I have been finding much comfort in the little prayers of the Gospels. They could not be more little.

There was Peter's, "Lord save me." (Matthew 14:30) The poor mother's, "Lord help me." (Matthew 15:25) Sometimes even less, no prayer at all but only the briefest telling of the trouble, "My servant lieth at home sick." (Matthew 8:6) And less than that, a thought, and a touch, "She said within herself, If I may but touch."

Again we hear of just a feeling, "They were troubled." (Matthew 14:26) and a cry, "They cried out for fear" - that was all, but it was enough.

Often in the throng of the day's work and warfare, there will not be time for more than a very little prayer - a thought, a touch, a feeling, a cry - but it is enough; so tender, so near, is the love of our Lord. -- from- Edges of His Ways by Amy Carmichael

TRUTH TO PONDER FROM TWO

"If Church history teaches us anything, it is that we cannot afford to be a vacillating Church.We minister to a people who are in great need of hearing truth,we dare not make any attempt to soft pedal that glorious truth."- Martin Luther

"The truth is as old as the everlasting hills. Therefore, dear friends, be not touched with that Athenian madness of always seeking after some new thing. Did you ever hear of new gold? To all intents and purposes, all gold that is worth having is old". - Charles Spurgeon

GLORY IN THE CROSS---Charles Woodruff

Perhaps you need this verse today: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” Galatians 6:14). To “glory” is “to boast”. Paul here says we can boast in nothing except the cross of the Lord Jesus. All of our prosperity, all of our fame (even if yours is more than 15 minutes!), all of our accomplishments, all of our power (even if you are a senator, or president or even a king), all of our doctrinal understanding, and even all the accumulated knowledge over our lifetime is nothing to glory about. We can boast only in the cross of Christ! Glory to His name!

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

-Isaac Watts -1707

(Charles Wesley reportedly said he would give up all his other hymns to have writ­ten this one).

“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen” (Ephesians 6:24).

THE MINISTRY NEEDED- C.H. SPURGEON

The Sword and the Trowel, 1871

"Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not" (2 Corinthians 4:1). "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" (2 Corinthians 3:5).

While we recognize that every believer has a ministry committed to him, we also see that certain individuals are more richly endowed with gifts and grace that they may be the instructors and helpers of others. No one can doubt that the spiritual condition of the Christian church is very much affected by the character of its ministry. For good or for evil, the leaders do actually lead to a very large extent. Under a drowsy preacher the spirit of the people becomes lethargic; a minister absorbed in politics leads his hearers into party strifes; and an unsound thinker and uncertain talker promotes heresy in his congregation. Satan knows full well the power of the ministry, and therefore he labors abundantly to pervert the minds of the Lord's servants, and also to raise up false teachers who may do his evil cause great service.

What sort of men do the churches need? The men whom God will honor must be gracious men, full of the Holy Ghost, called of God to their work, anointed, qualified, and divinely sustained. We cannot hope to see God glorified by men of doubtful piety or questionable experience.

We have remarked that great revivals of religion have been connected always with a revival of sound doctrine. Anything which we, as believers in Christ, would call a genuine revival of religion, has always been attended with clear, evangelical instruction upon cardinal points of truth. Justification by faith, starting like a giant from its sleep, called to its slumbering fellows -- that old truth was brought to the front, and to the poor the gospel was preached. Ruin, Redemption, Regeneration rung out with no uncertain sound. Man described as a sinner, fallen and ruined, Christ alone lifted up as the Saviour, and the need of the Holy Spirit's work insisted upon in plain, unmistakable language. "Ye must be born again" was thundered over the land. If we wish to promote the good of the churches, we must pray for ministers who are well instructed in the doctrines of the gospel and firmly established in the belief of them. We require preachers whose whole business here below shall be to promulgate a gospel dear to them as their lives, because they have experienced its saving power in their own souls.

The next thing we need in the ministry, now and in all time, is men of plain speech. "I use market language," said Whitefield, and we know the result. Anglo-Saxon speech, homely, plain, bold, nervous, forcible, never fails to move the English heart. The gospel's apples of gold are worthy to be carried in baskets of silver. Language should be fitted to the dignity of the subject. The most truly dignified language is, however, the simplest; simplicity and sublimity are next of kin. We need men who not only speak so that they can be understood, but so that they cannot be misunderstood. I speak for English people, and demand English preaching. If there be mystery, let it be in the truth itself, not in the obscurity of the preacher. We must have plain preachers.

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Adapted by W.F. Bell, October 4, 2007

May God be pleased to raise up men of this caliber! We need preachers of God's grace!

THE MIGHTY MAGNET- C.H. SPURGEON

Faith's Checkbook for October 4

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”
John 12:32
Come, ye workers, be encouraged. You fear that you cannot draw a congregation. Try the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Savior; for this is the greatest “draw” that was ever yet manifested among men.What drew you to Christ but Christ? What draws you to Him now but His own blessed self? If you have been drawn to religion by anything else, you will soon be drawn away from it; but Jesus has held you, and will hold you even to the end. Why, then, doubt His power to draw others? Go with the name of Jesus to those who have hitherto been stubborn, and see if it does not draw them.

No sort of man is beyond this drawing power. Old and young, rich and poor, ignorant and learned, depraved or amiable — all men shall feel the attractive force. Jesus is the one magnet. Let us not think of any other. Music will not draw to Jesus, neither will eloquence, logic, ceremonial, or noise. Jesus Himself must draw men to Himself; and Jesus is quite equal to the work in every case. Be not tempted by the quackeries of the day; but as workers for the Lord work in His own way, and draw with the Lord’s own cords. Draw to Christ, and draw by Christ, for then Christ will draw by you.