The Desire of Ages--41--The Crisis in Galilee

[Pastor Sean Brizendine]

Amen, Brother Beacon!!

The timing of when you go through a trial is just as important as the trial itself. Jesus knew that by making plain that He was offering a spiritual rather than a temporal kingdom that it would result in many turning away from Him who were not desirous of the eternal realities His kingdom was based upon. The profound statement, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35), revealed He was offering the world character transformation, not merely limitless supplies of temporal bread. But He allowed that trial of faith to transpire when He could help His sincere followers through that season by His personal presence. Thank God for His timing!!

"When Jesus presented the testing truth that caused so many of His disciples to turn back, He knew what would be the result of His words; but He had a purpose of mercy to fulfill. He foresaw that in the hour of temptation every one of His beloved disciples would be severely tested. His agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal and crucifixion, would be to them a most trying ordeal. Had no previous test been given, many who were actuated by merely selfish motives would have been connected with them. When their Lord was condemned in the judgment hall; when the multitude who had hailed Him as their king hissed at Him and reviled Him; when the jeering crowd cried, 'Crucify Him!'—when their worldly ambitions were disappointed, these self-seeking ones would, by renouncing their allegiance to Jesus, have brought upon the disciples a bitter, heart-burdening sorrow, in addition to their grief and disappointment in the ruin of their fondest hopes. In that hour of darkness, the example of those who turned from Him might have carried others with them. But Jesus brought about this crisis while by His personal presence He could still strengthen the faith of His true followers." {The Desire of Ages, page 394, paragraph 2} 

The true faith of Jesus is selfless. It is not based on what we can get in this world, but is rooted in love and trust by an intelligent appreciation of the infinite excellence and matchless loveliness of His divine character. When we see Jesus for who He REALLY IS, we can find our walk with God only growing more deeply from some of the deepest trials of our lives. When we live by faith on Jesus as a personal Lord and Savior, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing. But those fruits of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance are to grow in a character that like a tree needs to be pruned. The desire of the disciples to see Jesus coronated as an earthly king with earthly glory was a branch that had to be pruned off. So our earthly desires and expectations that are not rooted in God's will for us in light of His kingdom, though it may be painful to have them pruned off, will in the end prove to bring about even greater fruitfulness and a more joyful, affectionate obedience to God's holy law of love. We need to trust God's love even in the seasons of pruning and trial. God is still good even when things do not feel good. His love is measureless and eternal. Rest in Him and walk by faith in the path He guides you to travel. He will never fail you.

[Dorine]

"Are you a follower of Christ? Then all that is written concerning the spiritual life is written for you, and may be attained through uniting yourself to Jesus. Is your zeal languishing? has your first love grown cold? Accept again of the proffered love of Christ. Eat of His flesh, drink of His blood, and you will become one with the Father and with the Son."

Amen.  To be one with the Father and the Son is the most precious gift to receive. But it happens only when the heart is open to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Old cherished habits will willingly be laid aside. Through the working of the Holy Spirit new habits will be cultivated that reflect the character traits of God and we experience a joy and peace never known before. It's so simple. Let's not complicate it by trying to enjoy this world and gain heaven too. When Jesus has our whole hearts we make Him first in all our hopes and plans. We hunger for His word and yearn to know Him more.

[Philip T]

    As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of God. And every soul is to receive life from God's word for himself. As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the word for ourselves. We are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another's mind. We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His word. We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us. We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own, and we know "what saith the Lord."


Here is a truth we should put deep into our hearts. We need to study God's words with carefulness, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, going at a pace we need to go, comprehending and putting His word into our hearts as wisdom, before moving on to the verse. In other wards like physical food, we need to chew it, taste it, digest it. before moving on for more. Then God's words can change us into living stones in God's kingdom.

[Beacon]

"As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of God , and every soul is to receive life from God's word for himself."

"As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the word for ourselves."

"We are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another's mind."

"We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His word."

"We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us."

"We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own, and we know "what saith the Lord."

Are "Our" lives so "BUSY" that we have no time Study and Pray?? Someone once said that the word "BUSY" could be an acronym that looks like this..."Busy Under Satan's Yoke Are the things of this world keeping us away from having time to spend with Jesus??
==========================
1
Beneath the cross of Jesus
  I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock
  Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
  A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
  And the burden of the day.
2
Oh, safe and happy shelter!
  Oh, refuge tried and sweet!
Oh, trysting place where heaven’s love
  And heaven’s justice meet.
As to the holy patriarch
  That wondrous dream was given,
So is my Savior by the cross
  A ladder up to heaven.
3
There lies beneath its shadow,
  But on the farther side,
The darkness of an awful grave
  That gapes both deep and wide;
And there between us stands the cross,
  Two arms outstretched to save,
Like a watchman set to guard the way
  From that eternal grave.
4
Upon that cross of Jesus
  Mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One,
  Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart, with tears,
  Two wonders I confess,
The wonders of His glorious love,
  And my own worthlessness.
5
I take, O cross, thy shadow
  For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
  The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
  To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
  My glory all the cross.

Lyrics:Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane (1830-1869)
Music:Frederick Charles Maker (1844-1927)

[Richard Myers]

Amen Brother Beacon!  We are transformed into His image by beholding His glory!

To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated. 

[Dorine]

"Jesus told them plainly, "There are some of you that believe not;" adding, "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father." He wished them to understand that if they were not drawn to Him it was because their hearts were not open to the Holy Spirit. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14. It is by faith that the soul beholds the glory of Jesus. This glory is hidden, until, through the Holy Spirit, faith is kindled in the soul."

We must accept the Holy Spirit into our hearts by faith. As we do our faith will grow and our hearts will be filled with love to God and love for lost souls. The attractions of the world will grow dim and we will bear the heavenly fruit of Gal. 5:22,23. We will have a song upon our lips and ready with a word of praise for the mercy and grace of God. It will flow naturally because it is who we have become through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[Pastor Sean Brizendine]

Amen, Brother Beacon, Brother Richard and Sister Dorine!

As we behold the loveliness of Jesus in His word, yield our whole heart to Him, and allow Him to take every thought captive to His promises, we become partakers of the divine nature, which destroys the natural, earthly nature and gives us a character after the similitude of Jesus. What an INCREDIBLE GIFT!!!

"By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live 'by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven." {The Desire of Ages, page 391, paragraph 1}

Christ desires to restore our human nature to reflect His character, for though He was fully God, He also became fully human. Our fallen nature, though retained until the second coming, need not rule our lives, for the divine nature will guide in rewiring our inmost motives relating to how we think, feel and act in harmony with God's unselfish character. Oh, how God longs to bring His kingdom into our lives--all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing is evidence that His kingdom of grace has begun in our hearts. Supernatural obedience to God's law is the fruit of knowing and loving Him who is life and life more abundantly incarnate!

"The kingdom of God comes not with outward show. It comes through the gentleness of the inspiration of His word, through the inward working of His Spirit, the fellowship of the soul with Him who is its life. The greatest manifestation of its power is seen in human nature brought to the perfection of the character of Christ." {The Ministry of Healing, page 36, paragraph 2}

If we do not resist, if we are willing to be made willing, and if we will keep our eyes of faith steadfastly fixed on Christ, we shall become changed into His image more fully each day. That is why spending a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of His life is so valuable to our character building. The world is inundated with movies, music and allurements to keep the mind far away from God and holy things; the mind that is stayed on the closing scenes of Jesus' life begins to find the world's clamor, sin and confusion revolting, and turns away from it with compassion and pity for those who are still held captive to its bewitching spell. May we realize how much we need Jesus moment by moment, lest we allow our minds to wander from the One who alone can keep us from sinning, walking in humility in the narrow path of eternal life that safely leads to heaven.