-------------------------<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> <27 November 2002> Contents: ---------- 1) <Devotional> "Boiling the ocean" - Ravi Zacharias 2) <Devotional> "The Lord is my portion" - C.H Spurgeon 3) <Bible-Study> "The widows pot of oil" (Pt-19)-Charles Wigg 4) <Prophecy> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-90)- A.W.Pink 1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> "BOILING THE OCEAN" Ravi Zacharias I listened on one occasion to an informative talk on the conditions of our large cities around the world. As the speaker recounted epidemic after epidemic, statistic after statistic, I felt myself grow weary of the questions and long for an answer. The conclusion has since provided me with a unit of measurement for an anticlimax. The speaker related that during the Second World War the British Navy was desperate to find a way to spot Germany's elusive submarines. A visionary finally offered a plan. He suggested that all they needed to do was to "boil the ocean." "Then," he explained, "the submarines will be forced to the surface. We can knock 'em off, one after the other." "But how does one boil the ocean?" shouted an irritated questioner. "I don't know," came the reply. "I have just given you the idea; now it is up to you to implement it." With that quip and a broad smile on his face, the conference speaker sat down. He wanted us to reflect on the magnitude of the problem he had presented. More often than not, cynical solutions are commonplace with monumental problems. One such malady is the problem of evil that confronts humanity. The challenge lies in finding the solution. In this, we have a limitless capacity to raise the question of evil as we see it outside ourselves, and an equal unwillingness to address the evil within us. I once sat on the top floor of a huge corporate building owned by a very successful businessman. Our entire conversation revolved around his reason for unbelief—that there was so much evil in this world and a seemingly silent God. Suddenly interrupting the dialogue, a friend of mine said to him, "Since evil troubles you so much, I would be curious to know what you have done with the evil you see within you." There was red-faced silence. The Scriptures give us extraordinary insight into this subject of our soul-struggle. God deals with the heart of the issue one-life-at-a time. In the book of Isaiah He says, "Come now, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." God holds the solution. Yet there is a condition. The people must be "willing and obedient," ready to "come and wash." So come, friend, willingly and obediently, and find the answer to the evil without as well as the evil within. --- 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) <DEVOTIONAL> "THE LORD IS MY PORTION, SAITH MY SOUL." LAM 3:24 C.H. Spurgeon It is not "The Lord is partly my portion," nor "The Lord is in my portion"; but He Himself makes up the sum total of my soul's inheritance. Within the circumference of that circle lies all that we possess or desire. The Lord is my portion. Not His grace merely, nor His love, nor His covenant, but Jehovah Himself. He has chosen us for His portion, and we have chosen Him for ours. It is true that the Lord must first choose our inheritance for us, or else we shall never choose it for ourselves; but if we are really called according to the purpose of electing love, we can sing-- "Lov'd of my God for Him again With love intense I burn; Chosen of Him ere time began, I choose Him in return." The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us. It is not easy to satisfy man's desires. When he dreams that he is satisfied, anon he wakes to the perception that there is somewhat yet beyond, and straightway the horse-leech in his heart cries, "Give, give." But all that we can wish for is to be found in our divine portion, so that we ask, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Well may we "delight ourselves in the Lord" who makes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. Our faith stretches her wings and mounts like an eagle into the heaven of divine love as to her proper dwelling-place. "The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage." Let us rejoice in the Lord always; let us show to the world that we are a happy and a blessed people, and thus induce them to exclaim, "We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." _______________________________________________________________________ 3) <BIBLE-STUDY> "THE WIDOW'S POT OF OIL" (PART-19) Charles E. Wigg .... In chapter four of 2Kings, we are introduced to two women and the first is a widow. She is in a pitiable condition, and is bankrupt. Her husband had been one of the ‘Sons of the Prophets’, and according to his widow was one that ‘feared the Lord’, (Jehovah). Her husband had left her with two sons, who had grown to be young men, and old enough to work, and should have been an asset to their widowed mother. Instead they had proved to be a liability, and instead of being a help to their mother, were running her into debt. She had borrowed until she could borrow no more, and the crisis had arrived, the creditor was coming to take her two sons to be slaves. If the Law of Jehovah had been followed, this would mean that they would be forced to work. Whether they liked it or not, they would be deprived of their liberty, and have to work for seven years for nothing. She was thus faced with humiliation, sorrow, and disaster, and in her dilemma turned to Elisha to seek his help. I think that this woman is like many Churches today. There is deadness amongst those that should really provide spiritual food for the Church Family. The result is that the Church is reduced to a state of widowhood, has been borrowing from the world for years, but now is in a situation of emergency, and the young people, who should normally take up their father’s responsibility, and carry on the ministry of the Church, are threatened with slavery by the very world from whom the Church has been borrowing for so long. If we borrow from the world, borrow its entertainment, its organization,its sports etc, its way of doing things, then the day of reckoning will surely come, sooner or later. The great threat today is that our young people will be carried away by the world, and into slavery to the world and its master, the ‘wicked one’. 1John. But if there is a right spiritual state, our young men will be strong, and will overcome the wicked one. 1John, 2:14-17. [To be concluded] --- [Reproduced with permission] _____________________________________________________________________ 4) <PROPHECY> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-90) THE REVELATION AND CAREER OF THE ANTI-CHRIST 6/9 WHO IS ANTI-CHRIST? Arthur W. Pink .... In Daniel 8 the "little horn" is mentioned again. Many regard this "little horn" as symbolizing a different personage from the one brought before us in the previous chapter, and this, because here he is said to arise out of the third kingdom (Greece), whereas in chapter 7 he is seen coming up out of the fourth (the Roman Empire). But this we regard as a mistake. To us, this method of interpretation appears very much like the reasoning of the Jews who of old denied that their Messiah could come out of Nazareth because it was written that He should be born in Bethlehem. Or, to make these two "little horns" separate characters seems to us like the device of the ancient Rabbis who taught there would be two Messiahs, the one suffering Messiah and the other a triumphant Messiah. No; rather do we regard each of the "little horns" as representing the same person, but viewing him in different connections and relationships. That each of the "little horns" do point to the Anti-christ seems clear from a comparison of what is predicted of them with what is said of the Anti-christ in other places. To quote now from Daniel 8: "And out of one of them came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land (Palestine). And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them (probably a symbolical reference to his deposing of certain rulers, corresponding with the plucking up of the "three kings" in the previous chapter). Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away (which action clearly identifies him with the Anti-christ), and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced and prospered" (vss 9-12). Here again the Anti-christ is seen subduing governmental powers and enlarging his own kingdom. Here again we see him inflated with egotism--"magnifying himself," which is a characteristic mark of all the prophecies which describe the Anti-christ, a mark by which we are enabled to identify him. And here again we see him opposing the Jews, and destroying that which bears witness to God--"taking away the daily sacrifice." In Dan. 11:36-45 we have another prophetic picture of the character and career of the Anti-christ. We do not quote the whole of this passage but merely the first two and last verses of it. "And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself (the last two words showing that he is the same character as symbolized by the "little horn"--compare 8:11) above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods (cf. 7:25). and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him." Here we are told the Anti-christ will be a "king." He will be king of the Jews and king over the restored Roman Empire in its ten-kingdomed form. He will be a king of kings. His blatant impiety is pointed out in the words "he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself against every god." The words "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers" call attention to his Jewish nationality. "Nor the Desire of women" (cf. Haggai 2:7) is a Hebraism for the Messiah. The birth of the Messiah was the great hope of Israel and every Jewish maiden desired above everything else to have the honor of being the mother of the promised One. The Anti-christ then will deny both the Father and the Son (see 1 John 2:22). The closing verse refers to his destruction. [To be concluded] ---------------------------<BrethrenVoice>--------------------------- Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: www.brethrenvoice.com <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." 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