-------------------------<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: ben@...] [<GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> archives/read online: http://associate.com/groups/brethrenvoice/ezmlm.cgi] <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <7 January 2002> Contents: ------------ 1) <Devotional> "The comfort zone" - Ravi Zacharias 2) <Bible-Study> ""Ruth the Moabitess" (Pt-5/10)-Charles Wigg 3) <Prophecy> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-117)- A.W.Pink 1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> "THE COMFORT ZONE" Ravi Zacharias In the life of the prophet Jonah, we can see that he was out of touch with the people's need, and he was out of touch with the message that he had to give. The only thing that Jonah was in touch with was his own comfort. The story is told of how he fell asleep under the shade of a vine, but then when the vine withered, he got angry with God. He suddenly erupted with displeasure and said to God, "How is it that you planted this vine and in a few short hours let it die?" God was waiting for Jonah to raise the question and said, "Jonah, you have become concerned about this vine but did not understand my concern for the whole city of Ninevah?" Is it not amazing how our priorities get warped or how our emotions betray our priorities? Jonah was angry with God over a little plant, but could not see that God cared for a dying city. He wanted God to ignore that city. Here is the painful truth. We often move in the direction of our comfort and resist anything that threatens our personal luxuries. The truth is that some of the greatest needs in the world have been met because someone was willing to sacrifice their own comfort to take the love of Christ to someone else. I think, for example, of David Livingston of Blantyre, Scotland and his mission to Africa. He paid with his life and indeed the lives of his family members. The same was true of William Carey in his mission to India. You can read biography after biography and find such stories told. We live in a day where it is easy to see all that is wrong with some in ministry. When ministers go wrong, with glee the critic goes after them. We forget that there are large numbers who have forfeited the fame and accolades of humanity. I remember during the days of the Vietnam war, speaking through the length and breadth of the country. I stayed in many missionaries' homes. At night they would put bars across the doors, not knowing what lurked in the darkness. Why? For the cause of the Gospel. God has many such heroes. One of my classmates in seminary was martyred for the Gospel. But of all the sacrifice, none is greater than the one Jesus offers to you. He came and laid down His life that You and I might live. He forewent His own comfort so that you and I might find our comfort in Him. Have you thanked Him lately for what He has done for you? Or are you lost in your comfort forgetting His sacrifice for you, indeed, for the whole world? He calls to you today to find your greatest comfort in Him. --- 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> "RUTH THE MOABITESS - THE BARLEY HARVEST" (PART-5/10) Charles E. Wigg .... The time of their return is important to note. Barley is the first of the grains to be harvested, and it represents the principle of resurrection. 1Cor 15:20 & 23. A moral and spiritual resurrection was about to take place in the life of Naomi. She had tasted death and the bitterness and sorrow that it brought; now she was to taste the wonder and thrill of a new life. She had made a mess of her own life, but now she had given up all to Jehovah. Now she would witness the wonder and miracle of His arrangements, and their timing. First there was the house to be put in order. It had been empty for more than ten years, except for spiders and other insects. She was faced with the result of years of neglect, but she had a willing helper in her sweet daughter in law. It is always so, when restoration takes place in any life, after a period of backsliding. True restoration requires that we get rid of all those things in our lives, that years of neglect have allowed to enter and to take up residence. Things that are grieving to the Holy Spirit, and are contrary to the word of God. These things we must judge, confess, and get rid of them from our lives. After this work of cleansing their residence, then Ruth became aware of the provision that God had made for such as herself and Naomi. She was not content to remain at home, and in laziness to be a burden on her mother in law. It was through that dear lady that she had come into such blessing thus far, and she was quite willing to do something in return for the kindness that had been shown to her. We are not told that she prayed, and sought the guidance of God as she went out to glean in the fields. She had not heard of such a thing in her former land, nor had she been taught as we are, to seek the face of the Lord in everything. Nevertheless God had His eye on her for blessing, and He had a plan for her life. Such a wonderful plan! Likewise He also has a plan for our lives. We are His workmanship, and have been created in Christ Jesus for good works. God himself has prepared those works beforehand for us to walk in them. Eph. 2:10. Let us then yield our lives to His control each day. Let us seek his will, that He may lead us in the right path, so that those good works may be accomplished for His glory. Though there is no evidence that Ruth had sought the guidance of God as to where she was to glean; yet He had his hand over her life and guided her to the portion of the field that belonged to Boaz. The AV. says that her hap was to light on that portion of the field that belonged to Boaz. Another translation says, "She chanced to light upon the allotment of Boaz". But we know that there was no 'chance' in it, God had ordained this to take place. Some would say, "How lucky she was", but there is no such thing a luck or chance in the ways of God. The name Boaz, means 'In him is strength', and we are told that he was a 'mighty man of wealth'. He represents the Lord Jesus, and as the story unfolds he was the one through whom Ruth was to become personally related to 'Great David's Greater Son'. It is said of our Lord Jesus that His riches are unsearchable. Eph. 3:8. Thus the God under whose wings she had come to trust, guided her to the one that in type represents our Lord Jesus. [To be concluded] --- [Reproduced by permission] _______________________________________________________________________ 3) <PROPHECY> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-117) THE MILLENNIUM IN RELATION TO CREATION" Arthur W. Pink …. The blessings which will be brought to the world upon the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom will not be confined to the human family but will be extended to all creation. As we have shown in earlier chapters, the Curse which was pronounced by God upon the ground in the day of Adam's fall, and which resulted in a creation that has groaned and travailed ever since, is yet to be revoked. Creation is not to remain in bondage for ever. God has set a hope before it, a hope, which like ours, centers in the personal return of Christ. "For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope; that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8:19-21 R.V.). A passage closely connected with the one just quoted is found in the ninety-sixth Psalm--"Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. Before the Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth" (vss. 11-13). These verses picture the joy of all Nature consequent upon the advent of its Creator to the earth. One striking effect of Creation's deliverance from its present bondage is described in Is. 30:26--"Moreover the light of the moon shall be (in the Millennium) as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." An illustration of the Curse being removed from the "ground" is found in Is. 35:1. When the Times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord then shall "the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose." This is further amplified in Isaiah 41:17-20--"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." Not the least of the beneficent changes introduced during the Millennium will be the restoration of the animal kingdom to its Edenic state. The present ferocity of the wild beast is abnormal and due to the fall of man. It is very clear from Genesis 2 that, originally, man had full dominion over all the animal kingdom, but this was forfeited when he rebelled against his Maker. In the kingdom age--the Times of the Restitution of all things spoken of by the prophets--the fierce nature of the beasts will be subdued, for in that day, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw as the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of an asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Is. 11:6-9). By comparing Scripture with Scripture it would appear that, during the Millennium, there will be no earthquakes, no tornadoes, no storms at sea, but all Nature will be at rest and share in the general blessing which the personal presence of Christ shall bring. And yet, there will be droughts and plagues upon the rebellious and disobedient (see Zech. 14:18, 19), which leads us to consider, [To be concluded] ---------------------------<BrethrenVoice>--------------------------- Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: www.brethrenvoice.net <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