Praying Pint

 

Act 11:19-26  Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

In Acts 11, the number of Gentile believers in Antioch was growing. When the believers in Jerusalem heard about it, “they sent Barnabas off to Antioch” (v. 22). Remember Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement? We met him in Acts 4 when he gave a gift to the church and inspired other members to give. Then we saw him again in Acts 9 when he stood up for the newly converted apostle Paul. So when the church wanted to send somebody to encourage the new Christians in Antioch, of course they sent Barnabas.   Verse 23 says, “When he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.” Barnabas understood something that is still true today: New Christians are in danger of falling away from the faith because they haven’t yet developed the spiritual roots they need to stay strong. It’s important to encourage and nurture new believers so they don’t become discouraged when problems arise.   After Barnabas’s arrival, “considerable numbers were brought to the Lord” (v. 24). Barnabas realized he could not handle this exponential growth on his own, so he colored outside the lines of tradition by hiring the first church staff member in history. Barnabas brought Paul to Antioch, “and for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers” (v. 26).   Notice the primary activity of Barnabas and Paul: They “taught considerable numbers.” The church at Antioch got together to hear the Word of God taught. Barnabas and Paul understood that the only way these new Christians were going to survive in a spiritual cesspool like Antioch was to be taught God’s Word.   That’s true today as well. Being grounded in God’s Word is the only way we will survive in our culture. If we don’t know the Bible, then we will be susceptible to discouragement and temptation and swayed more easily by unbiblical ideas. God’s plan is for us to grow strong through the teaching of His Word. (Jeffress)

 

Acts 10:34-35  So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,  but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

The story of Peter and Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, teaches us that no one is saved without a personal faith in Christ. What does this mean for you and me today?   First of all, like Peter, we must be available to proclaim the gospel. When God told Peter to meet with Cornelius’s men, he went. And when Cornelius asked him to speak about God, he was ready to share the gospel.   It is no accident that God has placed you in the family and the community you’re in. You may be the mouthpiece God uses to introduce somebody to Christ. You need to be available and ready to share the gospel when the opportunity comes.   Second, like Peter, we must want to proclaim the gospel to others. Before Peter was used by God, he had to be changed by God. Peter had prejudice in his own heart. There were certain people he didn’t want to see in heaven. Is there anyone you don’t want to see in heaven? Is there anyone you’re more inclined to resent than to witness to? If so, ask God to change your heart.   I have a friend who was the pastor of a church in Mississippi. He told me about his first Sunday at the church many years ago. He closed his first sermon by saying, “Anybody and everybody is welcome to join our church.” He told me that afterward, a group of church leaders met with him and explained why certain people were not welcome in their church. My friend said to them, “I grew up in a three-room shack. I was the eighth child, and the next youngest child was twelve years older than me. My family didn’t have room for me, and I’m sure my brothers resented me. What if my brothers had gone to my father and said, ‘We don’t want him in our house any longer’? My father would have said, ‘Forget it. He is my son, and this is my house. He stays.’ I don’t believe we have the right to say who is and is not welcome in our Father’s house.”   It doesn’t matter what they look like, who they voted for, or what they’ve done–everyone who trusts in Christ is welcome in the Father’s house. We must welcome them too. (Jeffress)

 

John 8:12  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The happiest man in the world,” said a well-known preacher some time ago, “is the new convert before he has met too many Bible teachers and seen too many church members.”

Even after we have made what allowance we must for the obvious irony in these words, there still remains in them sufficient truth to perturb the honest Christian soul more than a little.

Surely one of the happiest persons in the world should be the new convert. Has he not found Him of whom Moses and all the prophets did write” The spontaneous song that bursts from his lips is likely to be: “Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings; Through His blood I now am saved.”

Old things pass away and all things become new. So brilliant is the contrast between the dark despair of but a few short hours ago and the new, bright world into which he has been thrust by the miracle of faith that every nerve and cell in his complex personality vibrates joyously. The testimony of many persons known for their poise and self-restraint has been that at the time of their first satisfying encounter with Christ the whole world took on a new luster. It is not unusual to hear people say that on the night of their conversion, the air smelled sweeter, the stars shone more brightly and all the common familiar objects of nature appeared to glow with a subdued light. And that these men and women were not the victims of a hallucination is proved triumphantly by the stability of their subsequent lives and the salty good sense manifest in all their religious attitudes. (Tozer)

 

R – Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

S – Seek and you will find.

T – The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

U – Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord

V – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me has everlasting life.

W – What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

X – Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Y – You are not your own…….For you were bought with a price

Z – Zealous for good works.

 

J – Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent

K – Knock and it will be opened to you

L – Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth

M – My grace is sufficient for you

N – Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation

O – Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law

P – Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.

Q – Quicken me according to thy word

 

A – All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

B – Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

C –  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

D – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

E – Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

F – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

G – God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

H – He comes to me I will never cast out.

I – I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

 

 

 

 

Matthew 7:13-29   “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

We are given one life with the choice of two paths and two gates – one narrow and one wide – and how we respond has eternal consequences. There is a way that seems right in the eyes of every person. There is a broad path of indulgence and worldly and fleshly pleasure yielding selfishness, hate, anger, fear, pride, arrogance, greed, and the like.  There is a narrow path of belief, faith, trust, reliance, hope, and patient obedience yielding self-denial, self-control, self-discipline, patience, love, generosity, kindness, peace, and joy.

There are many people on the broad path that leads to eternal torment in hell. In fact, every single person is born on this path and equipped to follow it.

The narrow path that leads to eternal life has fewer people on it. Though people are born with desire for the broad path the Gospel of Jesus Christ explains the need to follow the narrow path to eternal life. Without Jesus there would be no path and no gate to eternal life.

The truth of the difficulty of entrance into the kingdom – There are two roads through this world and two gates into the eternal world. One of these roads is broad and easy, with a descending grade, leading to a wide gate. It requires no exertion, no struggle, and no sacrifice to go this way. The other road is narrow and difficult – and leads to a narrow gate. To go this way one has to leave the crowd and walk almost alone – leave the broad, plain, easy road – and go on a hard, rugged road that often gets difficult and steep, entering by a gate too small to admit any bundles of worldliness or self-righteousness, or any of the trappings of the old life. If we get to heaven, we must make up our minds that it can be only by this narrow way of self – denial. There is a gate – but it is narrow and hard to pass through if we are trying to bring any worldly baggage along, or trying to buy our way in, or trying to be good enough to earn our way through.

There is much in this world to poison the mind and fill people with doubt and need of response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do well to live in such a way that our life is a living road map of the narrow path to eternal life.

 

Matthew 16:24.   “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” 

 

One of Satan’s greatest triumphs was persuading people, for reasons unsupported by Scripture and within a system foreign to true Christianity, to establish religious orders devoted to poverty and outward humiliation. Yet in rejecting that error, Protestantism may also have rejected the truth it distorted. Christianity teaches that believers may voluntarily surrender status, wealth, or comfort so that their sincerity, faith, contentment, hope, and love can be clearly displayed. Although this teaching rests on as broad and firm a foundation in Christ’s words as almost any other doctrine, it is now often dismissed as foolishness, if not heresy. Anyone who teaches and practices it must show exceptional wisdom in other matters merely to be tolerated. Few obligations are more sacred for Christians than demonstrating the divine origin of their faith through lives that offer compelling evidence to the world. God loves his people and does not oppose their comfort, but he also loves his truth and seeks to remove obstacles from the paths that lead to Christ. When he says, “Sell all that you have, give to the poor, and follow me,” he does not speak from harshness or indifference. He knows that even amid poverty and lowly circumstances, he can give peace and joy that riches can never provide. “But,” you may ask, “what can one person do? If someone resolves to follow the Lord’s command exactly, will that person’s conduct not seem eccentric and accomplish little? What value can one example have?” Yet the earlier question remains: Must Christ’s words be adjusted to the Church’s unbelief? Are all his demands relaxed simply because Christians everywhere choose to ignore them? (Bowen)

 

Colossians 1:10-12   so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Luke 11:2  And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

 

 

Psalms 37:1   Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

Psalms 37:40  The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.  The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever; they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN Psalms 37 admonishes us to beware of irritation in our religious lives:

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”

The word “fret” comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon and carries with it such a variety of meanings as bring a rather pained smile to our faces. Notice how they expose us and locate us behind our disguises. The primary meaning of the word is to eat, and from there it has been extended with rare honesty to cover most of the manifestations of an irritable disposition. “To eat away; to gnaw; to chafe; to gall; to vex; to worry; to agitate; to wear away”; so says Webster, and all who have felt the exhausting, corrosive effects of fretfulness know how accurately the description fits the facts.

Now, the grace of God in the human heart works to calm the agitation that normally accompanies life in such a world as ours. The Holy Spirit acts as a lubricant to reduce the friction to a minimum and to stop the fretting and chafing in their grosser phases. But for most of us the problem is not as simple as that.

Fretfulness may be trimmed down to the ground and its roots remain alive deep within the soul, there growing and extending themselves all unsuspected, sending up their old poisonous shoots under other names and other appearances.

It was not to the unregenerate that the words “Fret not” were spoken, but to God-fearing persons capable of understanding spiritual things. We Christians need to watch and pray lest we fall into this temptation and spoil our Christian testimony by an irritable spirit under the stress and strain of life.

It requires great care and a true knowledge of ourselves to distinguish a spiritual burden from religious irritation. We cannot close our minds to everything that is happening around us. We dare not rest at ease in Zion when the church is so desperately in need of spiritually sensitive men and women who can see her faults and try to call her back to the path of righteousness. The prophets and apostles of Bible times carried in their hearts such crushing burdens for God’s wayward people that they could say, “Tears have been my meat day and night,” and “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain. of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain daughter of my people!” These men were heavy with a true burden. What they felt was not vexation but acute concern for the honor of God and the souls of men.

By nature some persons fret easily. They have difficulty separating their personal antipathies from the burden of the Spirit. When they are grieved they can hardly say whether it is a pure and charitable thing or merely irritation set up by other Christians having opinions different from their own.

Of one thing we may be sure, we can never escape the external stimuli that cause vexation. The world is full of them and though we were to retreat to a cave and live the remainder of our days alone we still could not lose them. The rough floor of our cave would chafe us, the weather would irritate us and the very silence would cause us to fret.

Deliverance from a fretting spirit may be by blood and fire, by humility, self-abnegation and a patient carrying of the cross. There will always be “evildoers” and “workers of iniquity,” and for the most part they will appear to succeed while the forces of righteousness will seem to fail. The wicked will always have the money and the talent and the publicity and the numbers, while the righteous will be few and poor and unknown. The prayerless Christian will surely misread the signs and fret against the circumstances. That is what the Spirit warns us against.

Let us look out calmly upon the world; or better yet, let us look down upon it from above where Christ is seated and we are seated in Him. Though the wicked spread himself like “a green bay tree” it is only for a moment. Soon he passes away and is not. “But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble.” This knowledge should cure the fretting spirit. (Tozer)