-------------------------<BrethrenVoice>------------------------- [which seeks to be guided solely by the NT Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian info. To God be the glory!] [eMail Moderator: brethrenvoice-owner@...] [<GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> archives/read online: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ezmlm.cgi] <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <14 November 2002> Contents: ---------- 1) <Devotional> "Is technology the Answer?" - Ravi Zacharias 2) <Bible-Study> "The sons of the prophet" (Pt-7)- Charles Wigg 3) <Prophecy> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-79)- A.W.Pink 1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> IS TECHNOLOGY THE ANSWER? Ravi Zacharias I recall attending a heavily advertised lecture by Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University. A topic of enormous implications lay before us: Is man determined or free? The best of minds have tackled this question, and the stranglehold of determinism seems to get tighter for a life lived without God. When Stephen Hawking speaks, everyone listens. Severely impaired by Lou Gehrig’s disease, Hawking spoke through a speech synthesizer. Developing his carefully measured argument, he finally yielded to science as the consummate discipline, and concluded: “Is man determined? Yes! But since we do not know what is determined, he may as well not be.” There was pin-drop silence. The audience clearly felt let down, for no one was left any wiser than before Hawking had spoken. Then he added this troubling postscript: Hawking feared that since the evolutionary process had worked through the dialectic of determinism and aggression, the long-term survival of our species was in question. “However,” he added, “if we can keep from destroying each other for the next one hundred years, sufficient technology will have been developed to distribute humanity to various planets, and then no one tragedy will eradicate us all at the same time.” Hawking was unavoidably caught on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, if there is no God he could feel the hold of determinism from which evolutionary theory could not escape—out of flux, nothing but flux. What followed from that deduction was even more troubling. For on the other hand, if evolution held true, he could not further ignore the aggression and violence through which man has evolved. Therefore, Hawking offered mankind’s only hope—that the savior of technology would come riding on the wings of science to rescue us from the clasping teeth of determinism. Is technology the answer to the human struggle? In the twenty-first century, will it prove to be our savior? I am afraid not, my friend. Our problems run much deeper than to be solved by microchips and movable parts. The problem is that of the heart and until that heart gets right with God, we will only have improved means for deteriorated ends. That is why Jesus Christ calls for your heart—that spiritual center of you that submits to the grace of God and seeks to live for the things that are eternal, not temporal. We are free to choose and only when we are determined to live by God’s will can the will be harnessed for eternity’s purpose. --- Copyright (p)(c) 2001 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. _______________________________________________________________________ 2) <BIBLE-STUDY> "THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS" (PART-79) Charles E. Wigg .... Different Bible teachers regard these men differently. Many of these regard them as students who were attending a kind of Bible School, where they were training to be prophets. I consider that this view is not supported by the context. The fact that they are called ‘the sons of the prophets,’ seems to indicate that they were the sons of those prophets that were slain by the wicked Jezebel. However it seems that they were not prophets themselves, but were living on their father’s reputation. They were the children of faithful men, but were not renowned for their discernment, or (what would be called today), spirituality. It seems that they had knowledge but not discernment. Here they were living at Gilgal, & knew that Elijah was about to be taken away, but it did not affect them in the least. They seemed to pride themselves in their knowledge, and almost taunted Elisha with that knowledge. But though Elisha knew what they were boasting in, yet it was breaking his heart. He roughly told them to be silent. Elijah was his master, but not theirs, and the thought of losing him brought great grief to his heart. BETHEL. Bethel was the next stage in that final journey, so we must learn its significance. Its name means ‘The house of God’. If we would serve God, then we too must learn the importance of the House of God, in all our labours. For us the ‘House of God’ is the local Church, or Assembly. Not the building, but the people that gather to the Lord’s name there. 1Tim. 3:15, and Heb. 3:6. It forms the centre of all God’s activities today. We learn this from its mentions in Genesis. It was the highest point of Abraham’s pilgrimage in the land that God gave to his descendants. When he left that place, it was only to go down. His foray into Egypt was an example. He got into trouble there, and when restored, found the way difficult, it was upward all the way, until he reached Bethel again. There Lot separated from him, and after that God told him to look northward, southward, eastward and westward, promising to give all the land that he saw to him and his seed forever. This means that Bethel was the very centre of God’s thoughts and plans for Abraham. Gen. 13:14-17. He also said something similar to Jacob when he was at that same place, Gen.28:`12-17, which compels us to the same conclusion. The place where Jacob lay was Bethel, the place of contact between earth and heaven. A dreadful place, a place of holiness, and where God communicates with His servants. It was from that position that Jacob was to spread abroad to the west the east, and to the north and the south, (verse 14). Thus the true servant of God is to learn the importance of the local Church the house of God. They are to make it the priority centre of all their activities. The sons of the prophets were there also, and brought the same grief to Elisha’s heart.[To be concluded] --- [Reproduced with permission] _____________________________________________________________________ 3) <PROPHECY> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-79) THE MANIFESTATION OF THE CHURCH WITH CHRIST Arthur W. Pink .... The last time the world saw the Lord Jesus He was alone--all alone in death. But when He returns to this earth He will not be alone. His saints will accompany Him. He is the "Firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29), and when He appears again they will be with Him. "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again, bringing His sheaves with Him" (Ps. 126:6). Yes, that blessed One who humbled Himself to become the Sower shall return with "His sheaves"--"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints" (Jude 1:14). "The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:16-18). Observe that "the glory" here mentioned is to be revealed, and revealed in us; and further, that it is a glory which we shall share with Christ 'glorified together." When will this glory be "revealed in us" together with Christ? The answer is at the time of His return to this earth, for "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4)--"in glory" for before this, our present bodies will have Been "fashioned like unto His glorious body." It is in connection with this appearing of Christ with His saints in glory that we read, "For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God" (Rom. 8:10). In that day the sons of God--whose life is now "hid with Christ in God"--will be manifested manifested with Christ in glory. Then will our Lord's prayer be fully answered--"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, are in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou has sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:20-22). "Soon shall come that glorious day When, seated on Thy throne, Thou shalt to wondering world's display That Thou with us art One." These are the Results of the Redeemer's Return as they affect the Church--results in part for the half hath not been told. The Lord Himself descends from Heaven with a shout, awakening the sleeping saints and translating them together with living believers, to meet Him in the air. Then, all are conformed to the image of God's Son and made "like Him." Next, the saints appear before the Bema that their works may be examined and their service rewarded. Finally, as Christ prepares to return to the earth, He sets the Church, now glorious within and without, alongside of Himself, and as He appears before the eyes of the world the Church appears with Him, to be the object of never-ending wonderment and admiration as it is seen what great things the Lord hath wrought for those who were by nature children of wrath and deserving of nought but eternal condemnation. In view of such a prospect must we not long for God to hasten the glad day of our Lord's return, and are we not compelled to cry "Even so, Come, Lord Jesus"! [To be concluded] -----------------------------<BrethrenVoice>----------------------------- Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ <eFellowship> Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5 "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32 _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail