7 Eternal Things

 ~ 7 Interrelated Factors Which Affect Everyone! ~

Eternal God (the source of all)  ~  “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds.  The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’” (Deuteronomy 33:26-27). 

Eternal Redemption (the source of all salvation)  ~  “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.  Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12). 

Eternal Salvation (God’s greatest work)  ~  “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9). 

Eternal Life (God’s greatest gift)  ~  “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

Eternal Inheritance (the repentant sinner’s possession)  ~  “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15). 

Eternal Fire (the unrepentant sinner’s destination)  ~  “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.  And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 5-7). 

Eternal Glory (the believer’s destiny)  ~  “May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.  Amen” (1 Peter 5:10-11).

Comment   ~  These seven eternal things are interconnected.  If the one is eternal, enduring forever, so are the others.  To limit one is weaken all.  Where do you fit in regard to these seven realities?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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Psalmist Cries, 5of5

 ~ Lament With Confidence In God ~

Introduction  ~  Throughout the Book of Psalms we find a Psalmist crying out to God – lamenting the circumstances surrounding him.  In this series we look at five types of laments found in the Psalms – it is by no means an exhaustive list of the types of laments or the number of psalms in each of the types we look at.  Also, a particular psalm can be labeled in more than one way. 

Example Psalms  ~  “Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me.  Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help.  Also draw out the spear, and stop those who pursue me.  Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation’.  …  And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation.  All my bones shall say, ‘Lord, who is like You, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?’ …  Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who rejoice at my hurt; let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who exalt themselves against me.  …  Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, ‘Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.’  And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long” (Psalm 35:1-3, 9-10, 26-28).

“I said, ‘I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me.’  I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up.  My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned.  Then I spoke with my tongue: ‘Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.  Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.  …  Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.  Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, before I go away and am no more" (Psalm 39:1-5, 12-13).

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?  My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’  …  Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 42:1-3, 11).

“Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!  For You are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off?  Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?  …  Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 43:1-2,5).

 

“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.  …  Return, O Lord!  How long?  And have compassion on Your servants.  Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy.  That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!  Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil.  Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children.  And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:1-2, 13-17).

 

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You.  Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; incline Your ear to me; in the day that I call, answer me speedily. …  But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of Your name to all generations.  You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come.  For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, and show favor to her dust.  So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory.  For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory.  He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer.  …  But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.  The children of Your servants will continue” (Psalm 102:1-2, 12-17, 27-28).

Comment  ~  Have you ever cried out to God while in great distress but maintaining complete confidence in His plan and timing?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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Spiritual Gifts, 9

 ~ The Spiritual Gift of Love ~

Opening Comment  ~  “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:16-18). 

Foundational Gifts  ~  Life is the foundational for natural abilities.  Jesus Christ is the author of life (see Acts 3:15 niv).  “The gracious gift of life (1 Peter 3:7 niv).

Love is the foundational spiritual gift.  “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).  Love is the greatest for many reasons.  First “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16).  Nowhere does the Bible say that God is faith or hope.  Second, in heaven the object of our faith will be accomplished, and we will have no more need for faith and all our hopes will be realized so hope will disappear, but love will remain throughout eternity.  Third, love requires someone else whereas you can have faith or hope by yourself.  Faith and hope are but undercurrents of love. 

Source Gifts  ~  The first of the Construction Sector gifts is Love!  Love is the foundation of all our building.  It is the root of all genuine Christian growth. 

Scripture  ~  “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

“Be imitators of God as dear children.  And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’” (1 Peter 4:8). 

Working Definition of Biblical Love  ~  Love takes the initiative and acts sacrificially to meet the needs of others. 

Closing Comments  ~  “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:12-16).

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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