-------------------------<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> <28 November 2002> Contents: ---------- 1) <Devotional> "Lost souls and suitcases (S.Pt-1)" - Ravi Zacharias 2) <Devotional> "Election and soverign grace" -Le Lien Fraternel 3) <Bible-Study> "Elisha's dilemma" (Pt-20)-Charles Wigg 4) <Prophecy> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-91)- A.W.Pink 1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> "LOST SOULS AND SUITCASES (SEMI-PART-1)" Ravi Zacharias Many years ago in Lebanon I was introduced to a family that was still reeling from the shock of recovered wealth when all seemed hopeless. The way it had come about brought tears and laughter as I heard the story. Allow me to share it with you. Sami, a dear friend of mine, played the hero's role in this story. One day he and his wife were driving along a highway on the outskirts of Beirut when he suddenly saw a large suitcase lying on the side of the road. Most people in that part of the world would not only have driven past it, they would probably have picked up speed, almost certain that it was booby-trapped. But not Sami. One of Sami's great characteristics was fearlessness. G.K. Chesterton has defined it as getting away from death by continually coming within an inch of it. That is a perfect description of Sami. Much against his wife's pleas and to her utter anguish, he stopped the car and picked up the suitcase. When they got home and he opened it, he found every square inch crammed with money. It was certainly not the kind of experience that would cause one to moan in despair, "Why me, Lord?" Some might have found it unfortunate, but fortunately for Sami there was also an address and telephone number inside, and after repeated attempts at phoning, someone finally answered. Sami asked for the person by name, and when, in a doleful voice, the man identified himself, Sami asked him, "Sir, have you lost something?" Taken aback, the man paused and then said, "Have you found it?" The rest of the story was basically that of a frenzied effort on the part of the man to make arrangements to retrieve his suitcase, which he had lost en route to the boat he was to catch as he was attempting to leave the country. I was in Sami's home when the owner of the suitcase brought his family to meet, in flesh and blood, a man with a soul in a disintegrating society. You see, Beirut was once called the pearl of the Middle East. Yet in the tangled web of ideological struggle, it is a city where piles of rubble have replaced majestic buildings and ancient artifices. In this war-torn suburb a family was dumbfounded to see a life that had not been destroyed by the evil around it. There is more to the story of my friend, Sami, which I don't have time for today. Please join me tomorrow, for that fascinating conclusion. --- 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> "ELECTION AND SOEVERIGN GRACE" Le Lien Fraternel - The sovereign God does not have to give account of any of His actions. In Romans 9, the Spirit reminds us that God chose Isaac, the son of promise, before his conception (v.9); then for Jacob, he was called while still in his mother's womb (v.11) with his brother Esau; and finally He exercised His mercy towards Moses during his life (v.15). The counsels of God are wonderful and surpass our understanding. We are however called to recognize His sovereign grace toward us and to be thankful that He has called us to the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ. Notice the parallel: we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world; Paul was set apart for Him from his mother's womb (Ga.1:15), and we have been called while living to turn to the Lord Jesus. The ways of God in grace towards men follow the pattern of his delight in His Son; He was with Him His delight before his birth in the world (Prov. 8), the eye of God rested on Him while in his mother's womb (Ps. 139) and He found all His delight in Him during all his life here below. The Lord Jesus has made possible the accomplishment of all of Gods counsels of divine grace by His death and resurrection. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Ro. 11:29); all the promises of God in connection with His calling and election in grace are based on the work and person of Christ, the eternal Son of God. The objects of this sovereign grace are often unworthy of it, but, praise the Lord! His grace abides! --- [Reproduced with permission of Le Lien Fraternel - Meditation 78] _______________________________________________________________________ 3) <BIBLE-STUDY> "ELISHA’S DILLEMMA" (PART-20) Charles E. Wigg .... What was the Prophet to do? If he put his hand in his pocket, and gave the money necessary to pay the widow’s debt, (if he had the money), then he would have made her dependant on him for life. She would have always been after him for more money. There is an important lesson for us to learn here. We should never make people to depend upon us, as if we are the answer to their problem, but rather teach them to depend upon the Lord, and to discover the resources that He has endowed them with. This is what the Prophet did. He asks “what shall I do for thee? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” To which the widow replied that she had nothing in the house, but then almost as an afterthought, she said, “except a pot of oil”. Elisha saw this to be the answer to her need. In that pot of oil, she possessed an inexhaustible resource. Elijah had perhaps told him about his experience with another widow and her cruse of oil, and barrel of meal, at another time, and in another place. But that experience could be no help in this situation, as this widow was in debt. If the oil in the pot did not fail, then she and her sons could eat day by day, but that would not pay her debt, and her sons would still be taken into slavery. So this situation called for another solution, and that solution was to be found in the pot of oil that the widow had ignored. Elisha told her to put those lazy boys to work. Send them out to gather vessels, empty vessels, and they were not to be few in number. Because the size of the blessing would depend on the number of vessels gathered. She was then to go inside, and shut the door upon herself and her sons. That means that this was to be a secret experience, there was to be no publicity, no noise, no boasting or shouting to the neighbours, a salient lesson for us in this day of exaggerated claims, and outward show! Then she was to pour out the golden oil from that little pot, into the empty vessels they had borrowed. It required faith to do this, as we would assume that the pot was small, and the vessels were large. However she did not question, she simply obeyed. The sons brought her the vessels that they had borrowed, and she began to pour out into the formerly empty vessels. It must have filled them all with wonder, as the golden oil poured from that small pot. Perhaps she felt a sense of shame that she had borrowed from outside, while she had such a resource in the house, yet ignored it, left it sitting on the shelf. Those lazy boys were now useful to her, it was them who brought the vessels to her, and set aside the full vessels, which must have been quite heavy. At last she requested them to bring another vessel, but there were no more remaining, all were full, then the oil stayed. It ceased to flow, if it had not done so, then it would have poured on to the floor, and been wasted. What lessons there are for us in this! [To be concluded] --- [Reproduced with permission] _____________________________________________________________________ 4) <PROPHECY> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-91) THE REVELATION AND CAREER OF THE ANTI-CHRIST 7/9 WHO IS ANTI-CHRIST? Arthur W. Pink .... In 2 Thess. 2 we also read, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the day of Christ--the Millennium) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ** For the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth (restraineth) will let (restrain), until He (the Holy Spirit) be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked One be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming (to the earth itself) even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and will all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, they that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the Lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (vss. 3, 4, 7-12). Incredible as it may seem, Satan will be permitted to travesty the miracle of Bethlehem. Observe that the incarnation of the Son of God is termed "the mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16) while, above, the incarnation of the Son of Perdition is styled "the mystery of iniquity." Satan is going to send forth his own son into this world, born under supernatural circumstances and combining in his person the human and Satanic natures. The daring blasphemy of the coming Anti-christ is also mentioned again. He will "sit in the Temple" a re-built Temple in Jerusalem "shewing himself that he is God." He will assume the place and prerogatives of the true Christ, will in fact claim to be Christ Himself. His audacious claim will be supported by imposing credentials, for he will work miracles by which he will deceive the whole world, Apostate Christendom, previously "spued out" by Christ (Rev. 3:16) will be given over by God to believe the Lie, that is, they will be completely deceived and will readily accept the Anti-christ as the Lord Jesus. But his end is sure. The Lord shall "consume him with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of His coming." One other Scripture must suffice. In Rev. 13 we read, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the Dragon (the Devil) gave him (the Anti-christ) his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the Beast. And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the Beast: and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (vss. 1-8). [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." Jn 8:32 _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus