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| Be Doers of His Word Not Hearers Only |
Time with Jesus - Friday, 07 June 2013
Hi all,
In the early 1970’s, Thames Television
in the UK decided to produce a program dealing with WWII. It was a huge success
and was screened in South Africa in 1976/7. It was a documentary focussing on
what had taken place round the world from the mid 1930’s to 1945.
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| Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin |
The program
was carefully thought out and well presented. At the time there was a need to “get
on” with the program before the combatants had died. Today most of the men and
women from that era have passed on. I was born in 1942 more or less in the
middle of that terrible struggle. In that sense, it is proper that I should
have some idea of what had taken place. Those historic days are ±70 years ago and will soon
be beyond living memory. It will come as
no surprise to readers to know, Phyllida and I have bought a set of the DVD’s.
We have watched the war unfold as if it were “before our very eyes”.
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| Do as Commanded |
Why do, “old timers” remember
things like this? One reason is survival. The older we get, the more precious
the memories, particular of things from our distant past. Sadly, these memories
tend to become distorted as the years go by. So we buy things that give us a
more accurate account of what took place. Don’t knock it. We all do it.
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| Write it Down and Do it! |
This desire to have an accurate
account of what took place is one of the reasons why we have the Gospels and to
a lesser extent, the book of Acts. We know that the Holy Spirit is the Divine
Author”. But the Gospels were written down by men and perhaps women. There was
not much choice back then. Those who had walked and talked with Jesus during
His incarnation were beginning to “die off”. There was no Thames TV in those
days. The only means of having an accurate account of what Jesus said and did
was to write them down.
Few of us appreciate the
difficulty back then of writing anything presented. Illiteracy was widespread. The
majority of Jesus’ followers were illiterate slaves. Furthermore, writing
materials were expensive. Since there were no printing presses or photocopy
machines, Scribes were needed to write down the original story and to copy what
had been written by others. 
Their services were not cheap. Few men could afford
to buy a copy of any of the Gospels. To have a copy of the entire New Testament
was impossible. Much of the New Testament cannon had not been written! However,
when that had been settled, prices were not much cheaper. In some respects it
was like it was until fairly recently in many parts of the world. You might
have one page of Scripture. It was memorised and passed onto someone else. |
| South Africa's WWII Leader |
Putting this into present day Christianity we should say, “Christian
hear, Christian do”. If we don’t we are fooling ourselves.
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Saturday, 08 June 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These devotionals are the intellectual property of
Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute
them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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LISTEN
AND THEN DO
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From
round about 1960 and going backwards in time, People had signature tunes.
Those who remember Bing Crosby may remember his signature tune was, “When The
Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day”. Vera Lynne sang her way through
WW2 with, “We’ll Meet Again” “Flannigan and Allen sang, “Underneath The Arches”.
Acker Bilk – “MY OLD MAN’S A DUSTMAN”. Dean Martin – “Memories are Made of
This”. Today they seem to have gone out of fashion. Springbok Radio had several.
e.g. “Consider Your Verdict”. Some were used to advertise their product. Do
you remember, “Brush Your Teeth With Colgate”? How about the Jungle Oats
advert? And of course K. T. A. T. (Kelly Tyres are Tough) and “Ramble Round
Rand Radio”? Wonderful memories.
Mine
is called, “Set My Spirit Free That, I Might
Worship Thee”. It was in my head continually when I was going through
divorce. About a year later, while driving alone in my car I’m sure I heard
the Lord say, “I did!”
I
suspect that for some strange reason, I’ve heard Satan’s signature tune. It’s
called, “It’s all about me!” Jesus taught
us the Angel’s tune. It called, “It’s all about you!”
The difference between them approaches infinity. I would have said “infinite”;
but only God is infinite.
Did Jesus
have a signature tune? The nearest I can suggest is, “Whosoever Will May
Come” It sounds good, but that isn’t the one; as we will shortly see.
Please
don’t think I’m being irreverent when I say there are times when I feel
“sorry” for Jesus! What do you do when you know you are the Son of God and
nobody knows except a few close “family” members? Of course I’m looking at
this from the perspective of the sin nature. I’ve sometimes wondered what I
would do, if I was in His position. The first person I would have appeared to
would have been Caiaphas. I would have done it just to say, “Hi guy!”
In
Mark 2 we have recorded the miracle of Jesus healing the paralysed man. He
was let down through the roof so that Jesus could see him. It’s an amazing
story. The man’s four friends tore open the roof to get him to Jesus. He saw
their faith and told the man his sins were forgiven. The teachers of the law
started singing their signature tune under their breath. “Who does He think He is? Only God can forgive sins”!
Jesus knew it without hearing them. It was time to reveal His true identity.
So He asked a question. “Is it easier (for God) to forgive
sins or heal?” Of course for God, both are just as easy. To make the
point, Jesus showed them His true nature. (A bit like Clark Kent showing he
was Superman) In this instance He was showing that the “Son of Man” was God
Himself!
He
told the man to stand, pick up His mat and go home. The man did exactly that.
Thereby Jesus demonstrated that He was able to do both. Jesus’ command was
such that the man “jumped” to his feet. Being Who He is Jesus’ command was
irresistible. Similar to commanding Lazarus to “Come
forth!” Nothing in all creation can resist His command. When He said, “stand up, take up you mat and go home”, Lucifer and
all his gang together is unable to prevent it happening. Even if the man
didn’t want to get up, it would be impossible for him to stay on his mat. Could
it be that the man jumped to his feet involuntarily? The Son of Man; the Son
of God had spoken. It was “game over” Jesus’ signature tune is surely, “This Is The Voice Of God; Do It!”
Jim &
Phyllida
Strickland
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8
Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so He asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts?
Mark 2:8 NLT
19 And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though, at
about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead--and so was
Sarah's womb. 20 Abraham never
wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in
this he brought glory to God.
Romans 4:19-20 NLT
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins
are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk'?
Mark 2:9 ESV
23
"What do you mean, 'If I can'?" Jesus
asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes."
Mark 9:23 NLT
18 Then
Jesus came to them. He said, "All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Matthew 28:18 NIrV
40 He
said to his disciples, "Why are you so
afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
Mark 4:40 TNIV
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or
reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they?
Matthew 6:26 TNIV
8 But
Jesus, aware of this, said, "O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that
you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand,
and how many baskets you gathered?
Matthew 16:8-9 ESV
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all
your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ
Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 NLT
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“Why do you question in your heart”? He knew the things they thought.
Forgiveness comes from God alone, is what they had been taught.
“What right had He to do this? On whose authority,
Was he allowed to do so? He thinks He’s Deity!”
Christ was smiling gently. The time had come to show,
That He was God in overalls. He wanted them to know,
That only God forgives our sin; and God alone can do,
Miracles of healing for the likes of me and you.
Anyone who does them both is surely God Most High.
A fact that even Jewish Priests can’t truthfully deny.
For God, both things were easy; not difficult to
prove.
And if He could do either, for he who couldn't move,
Then surely they’d acknowledge that He was from
above;
The Most High God incarnate, Who’d come to them in love.
They really couldn’t answer, for what He said was
fact.
Their intellect said “Blasphemy!” but they did not react.
“All right then I will prove it. I’ll show the Son
of Man,
Is able to do both of them and certainly I can.”
Then turning to the person, who still was lying
prone;
“Arise”, He said, “pick up your mat and you can take it home”.
The man was surely startled. He jumped up on his
feet.
Picked up his mat and walked away. His healing was complete.
There really wasn’t anything that anyone could do.
They’d all observed a miracle directly in their view.
The onlookers were gob-smacked. How could they take
it in?
This wasn’t just a healer. He could forgive man’s sin!
I’m not sure what this says to you; but what it says
to me,
Is Jesus Christ of Nazareth was Who He claimed to be.
And yet in spite of everything, He didn’t act alone.
He only ever did the things which Father God had shown.
His power He had limited. The Spirit did the work.
This wasn’t just an oddity, to talk of in the Kirk.
With faith we can move mountains. That’s what He
said for sure.
It is the Holy Spirit Who brings to men a cure.
And if we will believe it, then even you and me,
Can do the things the Master did. And greater things we’ll see,
Because we do not do them. The Spirit is the One.
The miracles we read about, each one of them was done,
By God the Holy Spirit, when God the Father said.
If only we could get this truth deep down into the head,
Then we would see the same results. Just listen and
then do,
The very things the Father says to folk like me and you.
If we will shift the focus, from our ability,
And getting all excited about our ministry.
Once more the Holy Spirit, the Father AND the Son,
Will do the works which They regard as needing to be done.
Jim Strickland
Written 8th June 2012
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