Two Minutes Daily for December 2024

Short Devotions-Quotes-Inspiration

​It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lam 3:22-23
God's Mercy-Each Day

​Psa 90:11  Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 
Psa 90:12  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

​The same Divine power that called us into being is exerted every moment to sustain that being. The enemies of our life threaten us every moment. We walk in the midst of secret and unsuspected dangers. A whiff of subtle and mysterious vapour, and the throb of life is for ever stilled; the crumbling of a few inches of shale beneath our feet, and we are precipitated into the abyss of death; the slightest overbalance on the slippery deck, and we are immersed in a watery grave; the accidental divergence of the knife or firing of the rifle, and we receive our death-wound; the horse stumbles, and the rider lies dead at its feet; the lightning flashes, and the unsuspecting passer-by is stricken into a livid corpse; the careering locomotive leaves the metals, and many homes are darkened with desolation and sorrow; the volcano opens its treacherous side, and thousands are swallowed into the depths of its burning lava. How unfathomable is the mercy and how undeviating the faithfulness that have spared us to this hour! “One shall be taken and another left;” but how is it that others are taken and we are left? How is it that we have been to so many funerals, and no one has yet been to ours?

"These words seem to speak of the inexhaustible wealth of God’s forgiveness. But for the daily renewal of God’s mercy to His people they would have been utterly cut off. His faithfulness to the covenant was great beyond all human parallel. No new day would ever brighten and glow over the cowed, comfortless, half-relenting remnant of the holy seed, but for God’s readiness to forgive. They had sinned away their covenant birthright, but God’s compassion hovered near to restore it again. And is it not ever so with God’s people? In times of chastisement and in times of prosperity alike they need to be ever encircled by God’s forgiving grace." (Preacher's Homelitical)

12/30/2024
​Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Joh 14:5-6
Jesus is the Narrow Way​​

Christ supplies man’s need of a leader. He is a person. His teaching is unique, because of the personal authority which He claims for Himself. Other teachers have been content to obliterate themselves that they may magnify the truths they come to teach, but Jesus speaks of Himself. He tells us who He is and why He is come. He puts Himself before His teaching. He did not only preach the gospel; He was the gospel. In this thing Jesus sets His religion over against all other religions. Buddhism, as has often been pointed out, is the religion of a method; Mohammedanism is the religion of a book; Christianity is the religion of a person. It is Jesus. Whosoever enters it, enters Him; whosoever would learn its lessons, learns Him; whosoever would feed upon its nourishment, eats His body and drinks His blood. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
Plato is not Platonism; Platonism might have been taught though its author had never lived. Mohammed is not Islam; the Koran itself would warn us against any Buch confusion between the teacher of its doctrine and the substance of the doctrine itself. But Christ Himself is Christianity; His teaching is inextricably bound up with His Person; and it is not merely because He taught what He did, but because He is what He is, that through Him we can come to the Father.
(Canon Liddon)

Jesus didn’t say that He would show us a way; He said that He is the way. He didn’t promise to teach us a truth; He said that He is the truth. Jesus didn’t offer us the secrets to life; He said that He is the life.
​If there are many roads to God, then Jesus is not one of them, because He absolutely claimed there was only one road to God, and He Himself was that road.

"But is Christianity bigoted? Certainly, there are some who claim to be Christians who are in fact bigots. But Biblical Christianity is the most pluralistic, tolerant, embracing of other cultures religion on earth. Christianity is the one religion to embrace other cultures, and has the most urgency to translate the Scriptures into other languages. A Christian can keep their native language and culture, and follow Jesus in the midst of it. An early criticism of Christianity was the observation that they would take anybody! Slave or free; rich or poor; man or woman; Greek or Barbarian. All were accepted, but on the common ground of the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ. To leave this common ground in Jesus is spiritual suicide, for both now and eternity.
“If this seems offensively exclusive, let it be borne in mind that the one who makes this claim is the incarnate Word, the revealer of the Father.” (Bruce)

12/29/2024
​Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Joh 6:21  Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately
​the ship was at the land whither they went. Joh 6:14-21
Wisdom from Solitude

The most conclusive proof that our Lord was no weak fanatic or enthusiast is afforded by the calm temper which refused the eager impulse of the crowds to make Him king. Here the temptation of the wilderness was repeated; and only one who was filled with the unwavering determination to do God’s will, could have refused this short cut to Messianic empire. Notice these withdrawals of our Lord to the calm of nature’s stillness and the bosom of God. If he needed such spaces of undisturbed meditation and communion, surely we do.
He knew when he pressed the disciples into the boat, that the night would be full of storm, but He did not hesitate to expose them to its peril; he was conscious of His ability to turn that storm to the highest use by coming to their help. His advent is often delayed, but he always comes. Delays are not denials. He is as near in the storm as though already in the boat. The storm-waves are His pathway. Be not afraid! The people hurried across the Lake in the early morning, conveyed in the boats which had come to take them off; but as Jesus sorrowfully perceived, their object was to receive His gifts and not Himself.
​(F.B. Meyer)

12/28/2024
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ,
​and him crucified. 1Cor 2:1-2
GOD’S GLORY IN MEN’S WEAKNESS

​Like the sons of Jesse before Samuel, so do the successive regiments on which the world relies pass before Christ. The wise, the mighty, the noble, the great, the things that are! And the King says, I have not chosen these. The warriors with whom He will win the world to Himself are the nobodies, the ciphers, the people who in the world’s estimate do not count. Do not depreciate yourself, but give yourself to Him; He will find a niche for you and make your life worth living. Notice that God has put you into union with Christ Jesus. Everything we need for life and godliness is in Him; only let us make all that we can of our wonderful position and possessions.

Paul came to Corinth from Athens, where he had sought to win his hearers by a studied and philosophical discourse as best adapted to their needs. But as he entered Corinth, he appears to have deliberately determined that his theme would be the crucified Lord, and expressed in the simplest phrases. When we speak the truth as it is in Jesus, the Spirit is ever at hand to enforce our testimony by His demonstration and power.
(F.B. Meyer)
"I determined not to know anything - To wave all my other knowledge, and not to preach anything, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified - That is, what he did, suffered, taught. A part is put for the whole." (John Wesley)

12/27/2024
​And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. Mat 21-12-14
A Den of Thieves

"This seems distinct from the cleansing of the temple courts mentioned in Joh_2:13-22, which happened towards the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Yet the purpose was the same; to drive out the merchants, who in cooperation with the priests cheated visitors to Jerusalem by forcing them to purchase approved sacrificial animals and currencies at high prices.
Barclay notes, “A pair of doves could cost as little as 4p outside the Temple and as much as 75p inside the Temple.” This is almost 20 times more expensive.
Yet Jesus’ anger was against all those who bought as well as those who sold. “Sellers and buyers viewed as one company – kindred in spirit, to be cleared out wholesale…The traffic was necessary, and might have been innocent; but the trading spirit soon develops abuses which were doubtless rampant at that period.” (Bruce)

"The Lord is represented here as purifying his temple; and this we may judge he did in reference to his true temple, the Church, to show that nothing that was worldly or unholy should have any place among his followers, or in that heart in which he should condescend to dwell. It is marvellous that these interested, vile men did not raise a mob against him: but it is probable they were overawed by the Divine power, or, seeing the multitudes on the side of Christ, they were afraid to molest him." (Adam Clarke)

As I've observed the same corruption in many ministries and churches in my years as a believer in Christ, I've come away after watching the despicable behavior of so many of them, and have had to pray and ask the Lord that I would never step over into this crowd of deceived, blind, self-seeking, self- promoting, and self-profiting wolves in sheeps clothing-who stand on their platforms, and teach false doctrines, and another Jesus-who is not Jesus Christ the Lord.
​I'd ask these pick-pockets a few questions:
1. How many empty rooms in your mansions do you need, and want to pay taxes on?
2. Do you ever ask yourself, how many people could be fed, how many homeless could get off the streets, and have a roof over their heads, how many kids that are trafficked every day would be taken to a safe place, or back to their homes, and cared for instead of being used as sex toys for the wicked elites' and those who can afford to obtain them, and destroy them? Does any of your extravagent toys ever bother your conscience?
3. Who are you going to give all your expensive toys, mansions and merchandise to, when your gone?...your not going to take any of it with you, when you die. 
I'll leave with this-Take note that the blind came to Jesus after the Temple was cleansed-and he healed them. selah
(Lorna Couillard)

12/26/2024
So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise
​to all generations. Psa 79:13
​The Sheep of His Pasture

​Who were the people of God, not by creation and providence only, as all men are, being his creatures, and provided for by him; but by special choice, and by covenant grace: and "the sheep of his pasture"; whom he feeds as a shepherd does his flock, provides good pasture for them, and leads them into it:
Will give thee thanks for ever, we will show forth thy praise to all generations: the above petitions being answered and fulfilled; the work of praise is acceptable unto God, what he is well pleased with, being glorified thereby; and is what becomes his people to do, and which they are formed for, and that for evermore, as long as they live in this world, and to all eternity in another; and who will and do take care that the wonders of divine grace and providence be transmitted and told to their posterity in succeeding ages, that so thanks may be given him, and his praise shown forth in one generation after another. (John Gill)

12/25/2024
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph,
and the babe lying in a manger. Luk 2:15-16
Josh Groban - O Holy Night 
https://youtu.be/17kiIIxSdC0?si=2XMpdn-U7q0DnStl​
​Bethlehem’s Wonder

From April till the autumn the flocks pastured at night in the open fields, from which it seems probable that our Lord must have been born earlier or later than December. No doubt these shepherds were, like Simeon, “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” and their purity of life and simplicity of soul well qualified them to receive the blessed tidings of the angels. First simplicity and afterward science, Mat_2:1-23, found their way into the presence of Jesus.
In the act of circumcision, our Lord admitted His obligation to fulfill the whole Law, Gal_5:3. He was “made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,” Gal_4:4-5. Mary could afford only the gift of the poor, Lev_12:6-8; Lev_5:7-11; 2Co_8:9. The precious name of Jesus-Savior-is the name above every name, Act_4:10-12.
(F.B. Meyer)
​Every year the Christian heart takes, in thought, the shepherd’s pilgrimage to Bethlehem.

12/24/2024
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 
Mat 2:2  Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east,
and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  Mat 2:1-3
​And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Mat 2:11
​​Gifts of Adoration

​​Herod had obtained the kingdom by great crimes, and by shedding much blood. He was therefore easily alarmed by any remarkable appearances; and the fact that this star appeared, and that it was regarded as proof that a King of the Jews was born, alarmed him. Besides, it was a common expectation that the Messiah was about to appear, and he feared that his reign was about to come to an end. He therefore began to inquire in what way he might secure his own safety and the permanency of his government.

​Herod’s trouble we can so readily understand that we need not spend time over it, or over what he did to get rid of it, so thoroughly in keeping as it was with all that history tells us of his character and conduct. No wonder that the one thought in his mind was "Away with Him!"
But who are these truly dignified men, who are now turning their backs on rich and gay Jerusalem, and setting their faces to the obscurity and poverty of the village of Bethlehem? They are men of rank and wealth and learning from the far East-representatives of all that is best in the old civilisations of the world. They had only the scantiest opportunities of learning what was the Hope of Israel, and how it should be realised; but they were earnest men; their minds were not taken up with gaiety and frivolity; they had studied the works of nature till their souls were full of the thought of God in His glory and majesty; but their hearts still yearned to know if He, Whose glory was in the heavens, could stoop to cure the ills that flesh is heir to. They had heard of Israel’s hope, the hope of a child to be born of David’s race, who should bring divine mercy near to human need; they had a vague idea that the time for the fulfilment of that hope was drawing near; and, as they mused, behold a marvellous appearance in the heavens, which seemed to call them away to seek Him whom their souls desired! Hence their long journey to Jerusalem and their eager entrance into Bethlehem. Had their dignity been the kind of ​​dignity which was boasted of in Jerusalem, they would no doubt have been offended by the poverty of the surroundings, the poor house with its scanty furniture and its humble inmates. But theirs was the dignity of mind and soul, so they were not offended by the poor surroundings; they recognised in the humble Child the object of their search; they bowed before Him, doing Him homage, and presented to Him gifts as a tribute from the East to the coming King of righteousness and love. (Expositor's Bible)

​​We Three Kings of Orient Are - The Robert Shaw Chorale
https://youtu.be/j1ZOGTPsxng?si=ta-ctJs8u2WtlK8s

​O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Traditional Choir
https://youtu.be/7xtpJ4Q_Q-4?si=zeXo16XizQobikRb

​"It matters not how poor the offering be, if it is the best you can give. A legend tells us how once u little boy in church had no money to place among the offerings on the altar, so he gave a rosy apple, the only gift he had to offer. Presently, when the priest removed the alms from the altar, he found there an apple of pure gold. The simplest gift is in the eyes of God as pure gold." (H. J. Wilmt Buxton.)​

12/23/2024
​For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth. Lu 22:27
A Servant-Though He was a King

But ye shall not be so - Christ here takes occasion to explain the nature of his kingdom. He assures them that it is established on different principles from those of the world; that his subjects were not to expect titles, and power, and offices of pomp in his kingdom. He that would be most advanced in “his” kingdom would be he that was most humble; and in order to show them this, he took a towel and girded himself after the manner of a servant, and washed their feet, to show them what ought to be their feelings toward each other. See Joh_13:4-17.
He that sitteth at meat - The master of the feast, or one of his guests.
But I am among you ... - This was said in connection with his washing their feet. He “showed” them how they ought to feel and act toward each other. “They” ought, therefore, not to aim at office and power, but to be humble, and serve and aid one another. (Albert Barnes)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Ecc 1-8
The Ebbs and Tides of Life

Firm yet Gentle
+++
Firm yet Gentle
Please deal firmly with me, Lord,
So I dare not go astray;
Yet, lead me gently and adored
As You reveal the narrow way.

Put me behind a shield of glass,
Protecting me when I need be.
Still, lead me to a field of grass
And let me rejoice there safely

Lord show me the ways which are right
On the routes You take me by,
So that even You may in me delight
In my willful following tie.
By Ted Bates

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD,
​she shall be praised. Pro 31:29

Favour, grace of manner may be deceitful, many a fair appearance of this kind is put on, assumed for certain secular or more unworthy purposes; it is learned by painful drilling in polished seminaries, and, being the effect of mere physical discipline, it continues while the restraint lasts; but it is, a mere semblance, an outward varnish. It is not the effect of internal moral regulation; it is an outside, at which the inside murmurs; and which, because not ingenuous, is a burden to itself.
Beauty, elegance of shape, symmetry of features, dignity of mien, and beauty of countenance, are all  vanity; sickness impairs them, suffering deranges them, and death destroys them.
“But a woman that feareth the Lord,” that possesses true faith in God, has that grace that harmonizes the soul, that purifies and refines all the tempers and passions, and that ornament of beauty, a meek and quiet mind, which in the sight of God is of great price. This is the lasting grace, the unfading beauty.
​(Adam Clarke)

12/20/2024
​Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. Joh 16:32
​He trod the wine-press alone. Are we prepared for a "splendid isolation" rather than fail Him?
The Flight of the Solitary

​It need not be said that to carry out conviction into action is a costly sacrifice. It may make necessary renunciations and separations which leave one to feel a strange sense both of deprivation and loneliness. But he who will fly, as an eagle does, into the higher levels where cloudless day abides, and live in the sunshine of God, must be content to live a comparatively lonely life.
No bird is so solitary as the eagle. Eagles never fly in flocks; one, or at most two, ever being seen at once. But the life that is lived unto God, however it forfeits human companionships, knows Divine fellowship.
God seeks eagle-men. No one ever comes to a realization of the best things of God, who does not learn to walk alone with God. We find Abraham alone in Horeb upon the heights, but Lot, dwelling in Sodom. Moses, skilled in all the wisdom of Egypt must go forty years into the desert alone with God. 

​Paul, who was filled with Greek learning and had also sat at the feet of Gamaliel, must go into Arabia and learn the desert life with God. Let God isolate us. I do not mean the isolation of a monastery. In this isolating experience He develops an independence of faith and life so that the soul needs no longer the constant help, prayer, faith or attention of his neighbor. Such assistance and inspiration from the other members are necessary and have their place in the Christian’s development, but there comes a time when they act as a direct hindrance to the individual’s faith and welfare. God knows how to change the circumstances in order to give us an isolating experience. We yield to God and He takes us through something, and when it is over, those about us, who are no less loved than before, are no longer depended upon. We realize that He has wrought some things in us, and that the wings of our souls have learned to beat the upper air.
We must dare to be alone. Jacob must be left alone if the Angel of God is to whisper in his ear the mystic name of Shiloh; Daniel must be left alone if he is to see celestial visions; John must be banished to Patmos if he is deeply to take and firmly to keep "the print of heaven."​ (Streams in the Desert)

12/19/2024
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly host praising God, and saying,
​Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luk 2:8-14
​THE SAVIOR OF MANKIND IS BORN

The manger bed and its precious occupant are among the most cherished memories of our childhood; but as we come there in later life, the wonder ever grows. “Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh,” 1Ti_3:16.
What company we meet there! Shepherds with their naive wonder; angels from the realms of glory; wise men with their gifts; aged saints like Simeon and Anna, Surely the desire of all nations is here! Let us ask that the Lord of glory will condescend to be born in the mean stable of our heart, transforming it into a palace!
Notice how, to bring Mary to Bethlehem, the Master of all emperors sets on foot the machinery of providence and history. What can He not do for us and His Body of Believer's. (F.B. Meyer)

Note: If you research the pattern of care of shepherds in Israel at that time, there would not have been any shepherds out with their sheep in cold, winter nights in snow. The times they cared for their flocks in the fields by night were during the best harvest seasons, in the fall, around September-October. Whenever Christ was born, it's always right and good to give Him praise and glory and recognize this time of His birth. He came into a dark world deep in sin-that needs a Savior, if we would but reach out, and receive the free gift of His salvation. He came for every one of us. May His love reach your heart this season of time, and bring you peace, and light.

​Angels We Have Heard On High
https://youtu.be/WHWqj6gKS9g?si=ImtR5NnNqqwERQKW

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
https://youtu.be/xa5O6EnJtLk?si=lwndD-5nPCS8NE_i
​
O Come All Ye Faithful
https://youtu.be/60JFEsqruEY?si=5mNDodOqpgubwiZT

12/18/2024
​And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Joh 11:43-44
​Jesus Did This by His Own Power

He uttered a distinct, audible voice, that there might be no suspicion of charm or incantation. The ancient magicians and jugglers performed their wonders by whispering and muttering.
​The power of raising the dead is the highest of which we can conceive. The ancient pagan declared it to be even beyond the power of God. It implies not merely giving life to the deceased body, but the power of entering the world of spirits, of recalling the departed soul, and of reuniting it with the body. He that could do this must be omniscient as well as omnipotent; and if Jesus did it by his own power, it proves that he was divine.
This is a striking illustration of the general resurrection. In the same manner Jesus will raise all the dead. This miracle shows that it is possible; shows the way in which it will be done by the voice of the Son of God; and demonstrates the certainty that he will do it. Oh how important it is that we be prepared for that moment when his voice shall be heard in our silent tombs, and he shall call us forth again to life!
​(Albert Barnes)

12/17/2024
​The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and
​righteous altogether. Psa 19:9
God's Fatherhood

"The fear - The law and word of God, because it is both the object and the rule, and the cause of holy fear. Clean - Sincere, not adulterated with any mixture. Constant and unchangeable, the same for substance in all ages. Judgments - God's laws are frequently called his judgments, because they are the declarations of his righteous will, and as it were his judicial sentence by which he expects that men should govern themselves, and by which he will judge them at the last day." (John Wesley)
“The judgements of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.” Law and love are not opposed to one another. One of the sure tokens of God’s Fatherhood is the inflexibility of His moral administration, by which alone we are turned to the right and kept in the right. The retributions of the world to come are the merciful discipline of Him who wills not that any should perish." (excerpt from Great Texts)

​I asked the earth, and it answered me, “I am not He”; and all the things that are in it confessed the same. I asked the sea and the depths, and the moving creatures, and they answered, “We are not thy God; seek above us.” I asked the air, and the whole air, with the inhabitants thereof, answered, “Anaximenes was wrong; I am not thy God.” I asked the heavens, sun, moon, and stars. “Nor,” say they, “are we the God whom thou seekest.” And I replied unto all the things around, “Ye have told me of my God, that ye are not He: tell me something of Him.” And they cried out with a loud voice, “He made us.” [Note: Augustine, Confessions, x. 9.]

12/16/2024
​Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. Psa 52:2
​The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost
​parts of the belly. Pro 18:8
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Pro 18:21

​Pro 12:18  There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. 

The bite of a viper is not so deadly as the wound of these “talebearers’ ” stories and insinuations. The truth is they contrive to infuse their poison without a bite. If they would but appear in their true character;—would they but show their fangs, and make us feel them, we should be put upon our guard. We know the viper. We shun it. And when it has unhappily succeeded in wounding us, we instantly have recourse to means for preventing the poison from getting into the mass of the blood, and pervading the system. But these human vipers infuse their poison in the language of kindness and love. “Their words are smoother than oil; yet are they drawn swords;”—envenomed fangs, of which the virus gets into our system ere we are aware, works its mischievous and morally deadly effects, and becomes incapable of extraction. Every attempt at its removal still leaves some portion of it behind. There is, in the original word, an implication of softness, simplicity, and subtilty, which only gives the secret weapon with which the wound is inflicted the greater keenness.—Wardlaw.

12/15/2024
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. ​Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would
​send forth labourers into his harvest. Lu 10:1-2
​​​THE FORERUNNERS OF THE LORD

They are to be a band of that vast army of unknown Christian workers whose names, though written in heaven, have been scarcely known and never preserved on earth.
Instructions for Christian workers.—1. They were to go “two and two.” A hint that Christian workers should work in sympathy and harmony. 2. “Before His face.” All true Christian work is that of preparing the way for Christ. He must follow, or our work is vain. 3. Prayer for the work itself, especially for “laborers.” Do we thus pray daily? Or are we merely content with working ourselves, as though we could accomplish all? 4. Courage—still needed, for some will mock, others will misrepresent our aim, and question our sincerity and zeal. 5. Simplicity of aim. Christian workers have not to study their own pleasure or convenience or profit, but to work with a single eye to God’s glory in the salvation of souls.
(Preacher's Homiletical)

12/14/2024
​And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. Gen 1:14-16
​The Heavenly Luminaries

In the opening scene of the fourth day we have a fine image of the advent of the Redeemer of men. On that morning the sun burst forth in its unveiled glories, irradiating the new-made earth, and revealing upon its face scenes of loveliness and grandeur which could neither be seen nor known before. So arose the Sun of Righteousness upon the world of mankind, an object as wonderful and as new in His person, and character, and office, as the great orb of day when it first came forth to run the circuit of the heavens—pouring a flood of light from above upon benighted humanity, and opening up to them views of truth, happiness, and immortality, such as the world had never known or heard before; and, like the solar light, while revealing all else, remaining Himself a glorious mystery.
​As the natural sun is the center of the system of creation, so the Sun of Righteousness is the vital center of revealed truth and faith.

As the sun shines by his own light, so the Son of God poured the light of truth upon men from the fountain of His own mind. The instructions He imparted were neither derived from tradition nor borrowed from philosophy. He was a self-luminous and Divine Orb, rising upon the darkness of the world, shedding new light, and revealing new truths to bewildered humanity.
As in the pure sunbeam we have combined all the colors of the rainbow in their due proportions, so in Christ we find all virtues and graces harmoniously blended in one perfect character. In Him we behold every principle, every affection, every impulse, in perfect equipoise.  (H. W. Morris, D. D.)
Cross reference: These verses reveal that it was Christ who was commissioned to Create the world, and the universe with it's planets, stars and the heavens. ​
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 

12/13/2024
​God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Jon 4:24
True Worship

​The conversation between Christ and the woman of Samaria began on common topics. By and by it became more deep and interesting. He to whom all things here were types could not converse without a Divine meaning in all He said. A draught of water connected itself with the mystery of life.
As soon as she discovered His spiritual character she put the question of her day about “the place where men ought to worship.” Christ took the opportunity of defining spiritual worship. He spoke of a new worship essentially different from the old. He made religion spiritual, He pointed out the difference between religion and theology, and He revealed the foundation on which true worship must rest. A new time was coming for a new worship: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Notice what kind of person Jesus sought out, to speak of these great truths.

​It was to a very lowly soul that Jesus thus revealed Himself. She was a poor and unenlightened peasant, a woman, a Samaritan. It had been, too, a frail and erring life, that must have fallen into many mistakes, known many contumelies, endured slights and disheartenments untold. “Thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly.” How chequered and spotted an experience is there disclosed, one full of tragedies and unstanched wounds! But just to such an one Jesus Christ elects to make the revelation that the true tie between God and man lies deeper than externals, that it is an interior life which transcends all accidental differences of birth and nationality, of station and sex, even of creed and worship; that alike to Jew and to Samaritan, man and woman, saint or sinner, worshipper on Mount Zion or worshipper on Mount Gerizim, it is “a gift,” a gift of God, a personal relation established between the individual soul and the Divine life-giving source of all. It is a secret between ourselves and God. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  (Guyse--Great Texts)
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12/12/2024
​Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17
​The Father of Lights

God is unchangeable, always the same, nor does he cast a shadow of turning like the sun. The allusion is to the constantly changing shadows of objects in the sunlight caused by the movement, not of the sun, but of the earth.
Of his own will begat he us. Not in caprice, but our birth as children of God was due to his eternal will.
Kind of first fruits. The early converts are often called first fruits of the gospel. (B.W. Johnson)

12/11/2024
​The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life
​ for the sheep. Joh 10:10-11
The Good Shepherd

​He who came in by the door which John the Baptist opened has become the door. It stands open to all comers-if any man. The salvation here mentioned refers to the entire process of soul-health: go in for fellowship; go out for service.
Wherever destruction is uppermost in speech or act, you may detect the presence of the great enemy of souls. Christ is ever constructive, saving, life-giving. Let us not be content until our life has become abundant life. Our life cost the Shepherd’s life. He did not hesitate to interpose Himself between the sheep and the wolf of hell. There is possible between our Lord and ourselves an intimacy of knowledge which can be compared to nothing less than that which subsists between the Father and Himself.
Note how our Lord looked beyond the hurdles of the Jewish fold and thought tenderly of the Gentile sheep that were far away. In the revelation committed to the Apostle Paul He gave vent to His love, and through the succeeding centuries He has ever sought them. There may be many folds, but there can be only one flock. Men die because they cannot help it; Christ was born that He might die; He died because He would.  (F.B. Meyer)

12/10/2024
​But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, Php 3:7-8
​Losing All to Gain Christ

​"Yea, I still account both all these and all things else to be mere loss, compared to the inward, experimental knowledge of Christ, as my Lord, as my prophet, priest, and king, as teaching me wisdom, atoning for my sins, and reigning in my heart. To refer this to justification only, is miserably to pervert the whole scope of the words. They manifestly relate to sanctification also; yea, to that chiefly. For whom I have actually suffered the loss of all things - Which the world loves, esteems, or admires; of which I am so far from repenting, that I still account them but dung - The discourse rises. Loss is sustained with patience, but dung is cast away with abhorrence. The Greek word signifies any, the vilest refuse of things, the dross of metals, the dregs of liquors, the excrements of animals, the most worthless scraps of meat, the basest offals, fit only for dogs. That I may gain Christ - He that loses all things, not excepting himself, gains Christ, and is gained by Christ. And still there is more; which even St. Paul speaks of his having not yet gained."  (John Wesley)

In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found) - Adrienne Liesching | LYRIC VIDEO
https://youtu.be/rn9-UNer6MQ?si=9eiVsFsskvGw_zfN

Paul, when he became a Christian, gave up his brilliant prospects in regard to this life, and everything indeed on which his heart had been placed. He abandoned the hope of honor and distinction; he sacrificed every prospect of gain or ease; and he gave up his dearest friends and separated himself from those whom he tenderly loved. He might have risen to the highest posts of honor in his native land, and the path which an ambitious young man desires was fully open before him. But all this had been cheerfully sacrificed in order that he might obtain an interest in the Savior, and partake of the blessings of his religion. He has not, indeed, informed us of the exact extent of his loss in becoming a Christian. It is by no means improbable that he had been excommunicated by the Jews; and that he had been disowned by his own family.
​(Albert Barnes)

12/9/2024
​Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Mat 11:28-29
Come-And Rest

Look at the twofold invitation that is here. "Come unto Me"—"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me." In these words, which come so familiarly to most of our memories that they have almost ceased to present sharp meanings, there is not only the merciful summons to the initial act, but the description of the continual life of which that act is the introduction.
Look, lastly, at the twofold promise which is here. "I will give you rest"—"Ye shall find rest." There is rest in coming to Christ; the rest of a quiet conscience, which gnaws no more; the rest of a conscious friendship and union with God, in whom alone is our soul’s home, harbor, and repose; the rest of fears dispelled; the rest of forgiveness received into the heart. There is rest in faith. The very act of confidence is repose. There is a further rest in obedience, and emphatically and most blessedly there is a rest in Christlikeness.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, April 1st, 1886.

12/8/2024
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Rev 20:12
The Book of Life

Inspiration
We Choose The Fear Of The Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9fThnGNYBA

​“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” and there is no one who is brave enough to draw aside the covering and reveal all that is in it. We are glad that there is not, for the story of the man who did that would not make pleasant reading. The jealousies, the spites, the uncharities, to say nothing of other and darker things, would shock and appal us. But in the book of character the record is complete. Nothing is withheld, nothing misrepresented. Everything done is set down there in naked truth, and the story in its totality is to be thoroughly relied on.
We are all writing our life-histories here, as if with one of those “manifold writers,” a black, blank page beneath the flimsy sheet on which we write; but presently the black page will be taken away, and the writing will stand out plain on the page behind, that we did not see. Life is the unsubstantial page on which our pen rests; the black page is death; and the page beneath is that indelible transcript of our earthly actions, which we shall find waiting for us to read with shame and confusion of face or with humble joy in another world.1 [Note: A. Maclaren, in Christian Endeavour World, May 12, 1910, p. 644.]

12/7/2024
​Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1Pe 5:7
A Cure for Care

​In human life, we cast our cares on anybody when we confidently rely on him. We can illustrate that by the captain of a ship. When a wild storm falls upon a vessel, the passengers are naturally anxious. Children cry; women begin to tremble; men look grave and often become silent. And then they see the captain on the bridge relaxed, smiling as he talks to his officer, and they remember he never lost a ship and is reputed the finest captain in the service. The moment they see that their anxieties begin to vanish. Trusting the captain when the storm is raging, they find that they have cast their cares on him. And whenever anyone trusts God and quietly puts his confidence in God, he awakens to the same discovery. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee," and then the prophet adds, "because he trusteth in Thee." Trust is the great antidote to care. It is by simple, quiet, unswerving confidence that we cast our cares on anybody, and just so do we cast our cares on God. (Devotional Sermons)

12/6/2024
​Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
​and shall call his name Immanuel. Isa 7:14
IMMANUEL GOD WITH US

​This title may be considered under a double reference, either, To the constitution of His person; or, to His office and acting's as mediator.
1. It is one of the great mysteries of the Christian revelation that “God was manifest in the flesh.” The eternal Son of God became man, and was both God and man in His own person. In a matter of pure revelation, and of so sublime a nature, it is certainly the wisest and safest course to keep close to the revelation, and make it the standard and measure of all our conceptions about it.
2. As mediator, He is Immanuel in this sense, that in Him the presence and favor of God with His people are most eminent and conspicuous. This has always been true, is true now, and always will be true. (Preacher's Homiletical)

Immanuel--Michael Card
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sriugl-nO38&pp=ygUVaW1tYW51ZWwgbWljaGFlbCBjYXJk​

12/5/2024
​​Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19
True Repentance is Practical

​"Repentance and conversion are the work of the Holy Spirit.  The power lies not in the sinner, not in the preacher, but in the Holy Spirit.
​Without repentance and conversion sin cannot be pardoned. Many Oriental merchants kept their accounts on little tablets of wax. On these tablets they indented marks which recorded the debts, and when these debts were paid, they took the blunt end of the stylus or pencil, and just flattened down the wax, and the account entirely disappeared. Now, he that repents and is pardoned is, through the precious blood of Christ, so entirely forgiven that there is no record of his sin left. If we blot out an account from our books, the record is gone, but there is the blot; but on the wax tablet there was no blot. But sin cannot be removed except there be repentance and conversion. If you want to be converted, and want to repent, I will tell you what you should do. Just get out of Satan’s service, and get into the Lord’s. Leave your old friends, and unite yourself with God’s people." (Excerpt from Biblical Illustrator)

12/4/2024
​For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
​The Prince of Peace. Isa 9:6
​​THE PRINCE OF PEACE

​When men cease to trust in God and rely on the help of man, they often turn to necromancy and spirit-rapping. The medium takes the place of the Mediator. The séance is sought after instead of the Law and the Testimony. What have God’s children to do with back-stair gossip, when their Father’s presence-chamber is open to them? What He does not tell us is not worth our knowing.
The land of Galilee was destined to suffer sorely, but better days would dawn on its mountains and lakes. The joy that was in store is compared to the daybreak, Isa_8:2; to the joy of harvest, Isa_8:3; and to the gladness of the harried tribes when Gideon broke the power of Midian, Isa_8:4. The implements of battle would become fuel for the peasants’ cottage-fires. What titles are these for our Lord! They befit no human babe! Let us place the government of our lives on His shoulders; and as it extends so shall our peace. Ask God’s zeal to do this for thee! In the power of His grace, put the government of all on the wonderful Son of God. (F.B. Meyer)

O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Traditional Choir
https://youtu.be/7xtpJ4Q_Q-4?si=1MTkGGyH0qFDkePk