HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY

HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY

Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the LORD, Psa 104:34.   "My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, Outstanding among ten thousand, Son 5:10.

For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.", 1Pe 2:6.

You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.  For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,  obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls, Psa 45:2, Php 2:9, Col 1:19, 1Pe 1:8-9.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, Php 3:8-9

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O' LORD -- DO YOU HEAR ME?

Are You Listening?

He said, "What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you." 1Sa 3:17. Eli was speaking to young Samuel, the child. The Lord was calling to him and the child thought it might be his senior priest Eli's voice but Eli had long since put away the child-like belief that he once had. Samuel believed, Samuel heard. Eli was spiritually deaf.

God speaks to us in all manner of His creation.  He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? Mic 6:8 -- and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Deu 10:13

Gal 3:10, 11, 19  For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM."  (11)  Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." (19) Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. The SEED did come, born of a virgin in Bethlehem.

With Christ Jesus, in whom we would believe, the Mosaic Laws have been fulfilled; we are no longer bound but to that which God has given us through His only begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,  (2)  in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. Heb 1:1-2

We today are saved by GRACE only, through FAITH only, in CHRIST only, according to HOLY SCRIPTURE only, in GLORY TO GOD only. Love your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your might and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Trust and obey, that is truly the way!

  ....Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening....

1Sa 3:9

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DO WHAT YOU DO --DO WELL!

In HIS Glory, Do What You Do - Do Well!

Rom 12:11-13  not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;  (12)  rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,  (13)  contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. This quote from Paul in Romans is the tail end of an extensive list of Saintly characteristics we all should embrace and practice.

King Solomon, "The Preacher" extensively studied, tried, tested, and evaluated these tenants, boiling it down to a very short but sobering conclusion:   Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol [the grave] where you are going. Ecc 9:10.

Thus the TITLE of this submisson, "Do What You Do - Do Well".   Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,  (24)  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Col 3:23-24. The imperative in the title is, of course, "In HIS Glory".

It is not necessarily what specifically you do but that you do what ever that thing is to the best of your ability and do it to bring glory to Your Creator.

Knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. Eph 6:8. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. Joh 9:4. It is Jesus who should be in the foreground of your mind in all the things that you do, what ever that might be.

Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;  (11)  for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. 2Pe 1:10-11. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,  (12)  so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Heb 6:11-12.

In 1 Corinthians 9,  Paul refers to The Race that we, who believe in and have been baptized through the Holy Spirit, must run. Running with all diligence with one goal in mind. To maintain that pace, make our bodies submit to the demands set forward and cross the finish line. The prize is Eternal Life in LIGHT and not DARKNESS and anguish. This prize is FOREVER!

Finish well my beloved, cross the finish line into Glory!

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HE SET MY FEET UPON A ROCK

He Set My Feet Upon A Rock

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. -Psa 40:2- This Rock was not a little stone. This rock was substantial, immense, massive and stable. All those who were being led by the hand out of Egypt all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. - 1Co 10:4-

Jesus gathered His disciples together and asked them..."who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."   And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  "I also say to you that you are Peter, and UPON THIS ROCKI will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. -Mat 16:15-18-

This ROCK to which Jesus refers is Himself, The Christ!  "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." - Act 4:12-

Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; -Heb 10:22-23-; but he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. -Jas 1:6-

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Rom 8:35, 37-39-

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O' HOW I LOVE THEE

O' LORD, MY GOD, HOW I LOVE THEE

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

[Psa 23:2]

But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud.  "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked." [Isa 57:20-21]

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.- Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.- For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. [Mat 11:28, Psa 37:7, Heb 4:10]

Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.- As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. [Heb 13:9, Eph 4:14-15]

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, So is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, And his fruit was sweet to my taste.  He has brought me to his banquet hall, And his banner over me is love. [Son 2:3-4]

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TO HIM I PLEDGE MY LOVE FOREVER

To Him I Pledge My Love Forever

"Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, So is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, And his fruit was sweet to my taste. [Son 2:3] As I sat, under the cool canopy, my eyes fixed on the heavens and its blueness;  For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD, "My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, Outstanding among ten thousand,and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. [ Psa 89:6 Son 5:10 Mat 13:46]

Oh, I am weary at times. Especially when I see all the sin, the hate, the vulgarity all around me. Shrill voices with an emptiness in their dark lifeless eyes. Shouting at me to give way to their disease and terminal illness of lust. Only through strong faith and the armor of God do I see the path of escape; a cloak of peace and of strength; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood. [Rev 1:5],

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church; He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. [Eph 1:22, Col 1:18]

This is inclusive as He occupies First Place in my heart, O divine Master, promised Husband to His Bride; of which we wait in unbridled giddy anticipation for the arrival of the Wedding Feast. I can almost hear His voice in the distance making His way closer and closer to my arms, "His cheeks are like a bed of balsam, Banks of sweet-scented herbs; His lips are lilies Dripping with liquid myrrh. [ Son 5:13] Do you hear the sound of His voice, He is near;  The officers answered, "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks." [ Joh 7:46]

Make Your face to shine upon Your servant; Save me in Your lovingkindness.

[Psa 31:16] Grant me my place in the Body of the Bride, in the Body of Your Church, Lord Jesus, let me serve You forever!

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QUESTION OF THE SABBATH

Question of the Sabbath

20190922su-SERMON- Question of the Sabbath Ge 2:1-3 / Mk 2:23

SERMON SYNOPSIS

The Sabbath. The day of rest and reflection. God created, God sanctified, God Commanded. The penalty was death for those who ignored or violated this hallowed day. How is the Lord's 7th day Sabbath related to the Sunday we call the Lord's Day? WHY? That is what we will investigate today.

OPENING PRAYER

Father of LIGHT and of LIFE, we gather this morning on this LORD'S Day with open hearts and eager ears. We pray LORD, that You will teach us Your Will through Your WORD as it pertains to the SABBATH, and to the New Beginning. Paint for us, O Lord, a picture that we can comprehend. That we may understand the great value and Holy worth in the sanctification and blessing in the day of rest, and prayerfully, see the beautiful transition and seamless blending of the OLD and the NEW. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are ALWAYS welcomed in our midst, we Worship and Revere You, Amen.

SERMON

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.  (2)  By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.  (3)  Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Gen 2:1-3

The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew Shabbath, and its direct meaning is to "desist". God made Holy the 7th day and the value and importance can be weighed by witnessing where it appears in Scripture. Immediatelyupon finishing the creation of all that is in six literal days, God commanded a mandatory day of rest, a day of reflection. A day of worship and adoration to the Potter from the clay formed of His hand. The Sabbath is a wonderful gift from the Creator, extending not just to mankind but to beasts and animals of burden was well. The command is that you should not do work, but that you should not force others to work on your behalf, affording time to contemplate the Awe in His creation. Beautiful in it's simplicity.

Since we do not have a reliable time stamp of the SIX DAYS OF CREATION, we can reliably pick up the historic time markers at about 2400 BC. at the tail-end of the BRONZE age. The Great Flood took place in about 2304 BC, leaving the world void of all living things except for those who were aboard the Ark. Biblical silence with regard to honoring the command of God to keep the Sabbath Holy extends at least from what we know to be as accurate as possible, from 2400 BC to 1447 BC and the Israelites being fed with Manna from God as Moses led them through the wilderness FOR FORTY YEARS! This silence does not, however, point to or indicate non-attention to the Lord's Sabbath. We can safely deduce that among all the SINS of mankind that led to the Great flood and capture by the Egyptians with the subsequent Exodus and the giving of the LAW, mankind ignoring the Sabbath was one of many heart breaking issues that Man became very good at!

Exo 16:22-24  Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread,[Manna] two omers [ about two quarts] for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,  (23)  then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."  (24)  So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it.

As God continued to teach and test those of Israel. The Manna would appear on the ground in the morning and would have to be collected and consumed that day. Only the authorized amount was to be harvested and eaten. Any extra would spoil quickly overnight and have worms in it by sunrise. Lessons learned in this process taught good Stewardship, work ethic, ability to follow instructions and realization of penalty when the rules were not followed. Only on the SIXTH day could the people collect extra Manna and hold it over for use on the 7th Day, the day of rest.

Exo 16:22-30  Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,   then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."   So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it.   Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.   "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none."   It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.   Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?   "See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."    So the people rested on the seventh day.

The Fourth Commandment to Honor and keep the Sabbath under the penalty of death was and is an eternal beacon to every created being for the glory to the Creator.

Exo 23:12  "Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.

The beauty and majesty of God's gift to all through the Sabbath has often been overlooked. Throughout the Old Testament, the strict adherence to the Sabbath waxed and waned a great deal. More and more, as biblical history marched forward to the commencement of the Maccabaean revolt, during the so called silent years leading to the New Testament, three significant sins were at the very top of the SIN laden hit-parade; COVETOUSNESS, ADULTRY / FORNICATION, and Blasphemy of the SABBATH.

J. Skinner comments in the HASTINGS Bible Dictionary that:

"Accordingly the Sabbath law was (next to His own Messianic claims) the chief subject of contention between our Lord and the Pharisees. As regards our Lord’s own attitude, it is enough to say that it combined reverence for the ordinance, in so far as it served religious ends (Luk_4:16), with a resolute vindication of the principle that ‘the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath’ (Mar_2:27). Similarly, in the Pauline Epistles the Sabbath is relegated, either inferentially (Rom_14:5f., Gal_4:9ff.) or expressly (Col_2:16f.), to the category of things morally indifferent, with regard to which each man must follow the dictates of his conscience. It is significant also that the decree of the Council of Jerusalem does not impose the observance of the Sabbath on the Gentile Churches (Act_15:29).

The Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ DOES NOT take away value or importance regarding God's Gift, the SABBATH on the 7th day: Mar 2:27-28  Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Jesus demonstrated this time and time again in His actions that even healing on the SABBATH was a Glory producing accolade to the Father, thus honoring the santification of the day, and God's command to Honor the day. What ever we do, on ANY day, we should do it to bring Glory to God!

NOW. Here, in the New Testament, is where we witness the new Church of Jesus Christ and its relationship to what would become the LORD's DAY;

Mat 28:1  Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. SUNDAY WAS THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK!

And HERE in John; Joh 20:19  So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, "Peace be with you."

The relation of the Lord’s Day [SUNDAY] to the Sabbath [SATURDAY] can be best defined as one of close affinity rather than of identity. Certainly one does NOT replace the other. The SABBATH will always be the SABBATH. It sprang from the love of God for man, providing by religious sanction for the definite setting apart of the seventh day as a time for rest from labour and for communion with God.

Follow along as I read: Act 2:1  When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. This was on a SUNDAY! The FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. The promised HOLY SPIRIT had arrived!

And this: Act 20:7  On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. [it is here that a young man named Eutychus fell out of a 2nd story window, broke his neck and Paul healed him. 1Co 16:2  On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. This day...SUNDAY, the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, became a time of gathering for the New Church, a day of breaking bread, of fellowship, of common support and of love. It did not run afoul of the SABBATH. It complimented the SABBATH. Separately, SUNDAY became the Lord's Day.

SUMMARY

When God Blessed and Sanctified the 7th day as a SABBATH day of rest, it was a gift to His creation who toil and sweat and do all manner of labor six days in the week. On the 7th day, the Lord gave us a day of rest and reflection, of refreshment. We are expected to honor this gift in extension to those who work for us, including our animals. This is what God Blessed and Sanctified the morning of the 7th day. God's later COMMANDENT to honor the SABBATH as being mandatory resulted from man's abuses of God's gift.

Our Lord's Day activities on Sunday, attending church, worship, and in some cases an extension of the tenants of the SABBATH on the Saturday, coincide with the Resurrection of Christ Jesus [ON A SUNDAY] and the subsequent day of Pentecost [ON A SUNDAY] and the day those followers of Jesus would come together to break bread and hear the teachings directly from the Master, The Son of God, Jesus the CHRIST. Sunday, The LORD's DAY.

CLOSING PRAYER

O Lord God, how very blessed we are to gather in Your name, to reflect, study, learn Your Word and Your ways. We are like baby birds chirping in the nest, always hungry for Your Word, always thirsty for Your Love and Peace. I pray that we never, ever become satisfied, that we never are fully filled, that our hunger for Your truth will always press us forward into Your mighty arms. In the precious name of Jesus of Nazareth, Amen.

BENEDICTION AND CLOSE

1Th 5:23-24  Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE

Gen 2:1-3, Exo 16:22-24, 22-30, 23:12, Luk 4:16, Mar 2:27-28, Rom 14:5,

Gal 4:9, Col 2:16, Act 2:1, 15:29, 20:7, Mat 28:1, Joh 28:19, 1 Cor 16:2, 1Ths 5:23-24