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Morning Devotional...






Although it occurred about thirty-six years ago, not long after I first arrived from Ireland, I remember the conversation as if it happened yesterday. I had been "volunteered" to be a part of an evangelistic team whose task it was to visit every home in Toronto with the message of the Gospel. We were representing first and foremost the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, and secondly Jarvis Street Baptist Church, a well known historic evangelical church near the city centre.

I had made several calls that evening but only one stands out in my memory. The house was an older well kept, ivy covered brick home in a respectable and affluent area of the city.

The man who opened the door in response to my knock was well groomed and very polite. He had the kind of confidence which is born of success. I introduced myself and explained the purpose of my visit. He smiled indulgently,

"My dear fellow", he said, "This is a respectable neighbourhood. We are all good people around here."

He paused for a moment and then went on. "I'm quite religious and I'm not really a great sinner. The message you have is for great sinners."

For a second or two, I prayed quietly. "How shall I answer this man?" I felt a little intimidated for a moment, but I composed myself quickly.

"Sir," I said, "If a man broke the greatest of all of God's commandments, would that make him a great sinner?"

He looked a little puzzled and then the air of confidence returned. "Yes, I'd say so." He replied. "But I'd never do anything like that."

I quickly opened my New Testament at Matthew 22 and requested him to read aloud verses 35 to 40 inclusive.

He took my New Testament and began reading with a look that said, "Oh, I'll indulge him for a few minutes."

He read the words clearly...at first:

"Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

By the time he got to verse thirty-eight, his look of confidence had begun to ebb and so had the colour in his cheeks.

When he finished reading, his eyes were toward the paved door step.

"No one keeps those commandments", he almost whispered.

"That is true." I replied. I then went on to quote Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God."

The man nodded his agreement. The Holy Spirit was working through the Word of God convicting him of sin. He listened receptively as I related to him the story of redeeming Grace and of the Saviour who bore the penalty of sin on Calvary. I rejoiced that the good news is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

R. A. Torrey, a famous American preacher of a bygone era, when he was in Australia, was approached by a man who looked like a boxer. He said to Torrey, "I am not a Christian, but I am moral, upright, honorable and blameless, and I'd like to know what you have against me."

Mr. Torrey looked the man straight in the eye and replied, "I charge you, sir, with high treason against Heaven's King!"

God's great commandment is that we love Him with all our heart with all our soul and with all our mind. To disobey this great commandment is indeed high treason against the King Eternal. Since Adam transgressed in the garden of Eden no one except the Man Christ Jesus, who is God manifest in the flesh, has kept this the greatest of all commandments. Since we have broken such a weighty commandment as this we have absolutely no hope of earning salvation by our good works.

As we read in Titus 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." And in Romans 3:20, "Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the Law is the knowledge of sin."

No, there is no justification by good works or keeping the law, but there is justification through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 5:1, we read these tremendous words, "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

My wife sometimes sings an old hymn which declares the divine principle of salvation by grace alone. Do you agree in your heart with the words it proclaims?



When we have entered into a living union with Christ, through faith in His precious blood, the shackles of sin are broken and we are enabled to do the works which please God, not in order to earn eternal live but because we now have it abundantly.

The Apostle John in his first epistle explained, "These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." (I John 5:13).

The Lord Jesus Christ himself said: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: and the good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep." (John 10:10 & 11).

Are you working for that which you can never earn, or are you trusting in what Christ has accomplished for sinners?

Hi Jane!

[size=+2]Hey there, PAT![/size] [/b]boy yuh can't get away with anything around here...

LOL  

PAT that's a powerful message by Jack.  I really enjoyed reading it, and agree with all he has written.  I also love that hymn.  God bless you on this new day of the rest of your life!  

Duh, it just occurred to me that though I had been in here several times, I never did post!  

What a goober.

Anyway, I hope everyone had an awesome weekend, and is going to have a great Monday.  I will be back later, but right now, I gotta go to sleep.

love youns
karmat

Hi Karma...

I guess it IS time for us to go to sleep.  I just saw at the bottom of the page that Iain is already up!  And we haven't been to bed!    And my pain meds are starting to work, so nighty night everyone!

Talk to you all tomorrow.

G'Night, PAT ... I pray you will have a restful and pain free night's sleep ... see you in the morning.

Not sure whether to say Good Morning or Goodnight to you Pat!!

Jack had real wisdom when he witnessed. Many a poor Christian would have been gobsmacked and struck dumb facing a man like that.
No doubt I would have been spitting feathers.

You woman can fairly blether!!

I'm up early this morning 4.00am for the sunrise. Chris reminded me alst week that I had a lot os sunsets on my site and not many sunrises! True, yawn - wonder why?

I promised you on Saturday that I would post a message taken from Streams in the Desert. I doubt if I have ever read anything as encouring to my own soul while being at the end of my tether. I pray that it will find a lodging place in someone else's heart today.

'Condiser the work of God; for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? (Eccles 7:13)

Often God seems to place His children in positions of profound difficulty, leading them into a wedge from which there is no escape; contriving a situation which no human judgement would have permitted, had it been previously consulted.

The very cloud conducts them thither. You may be thus involved at this very hour.

It does seem perplexing and very serious to that degree, but it is perfectly right. The issue will more than justify Him who has brought you hither. It is a platform for the display of His almighty grace and power.

He will not only deliver you; but in doing so, He will give you a lesson that you will never forget, and to which, in many a psalm and song, in after days, you will revert. You will, never be able to thank God enough for having done just as He has.

Hello to all...This mornings message from Jack is powferful.  He was used mightlly by God.
My oldest son (45-yrs this week) got married here at home Saturday.  I thought for sure he would always be a bachelor.  I told his bride she was an answer to prayer.  Now, my prayer is for both of them to turn to God for their new life together.  
The weekend before we had another wedding reception here and I have been bogged down in
preparations for yard and home.  Next weekend I am looking for a quiet time.  

May God bless all of you throughout the day.  I hope to get back to read some of the posts.

My granddaughter keeps this computer hot because hers is down.  Therefore, I don't get to use it much.

Good Morning:

Pat and Iian  thanks for the words of wisdom to carry
with me as I head out for work.

 It is the normal school trip this morning but when that is done I will be taking the children at Calvary Christian School in Woodbridge to spend the day at Puck's Farm.

Blessings
Ruth

Hi everyone.  The sun is just coming up and I think it will be a warm and sunny day.

Pat, I remember reading this very powerful devotional before and it is great.  Iain, I will be looking forward some sunrise photos and thanks for the devotional thoughts this morning.

Ruth, what do you teach at Calvary Christian School or do you work in some other capacity there.  When will your school be out for the summer?  

Kathy, you must be exhausted with both a wedding and and earlier reception at your home.  I am sure you are very happy that your son has married.

Good morning to Jane, Karmat and Pat.  I was surprised there were so many postings this early but see they were from last evening.  I look forward to hearing from all of our CP friends today and hope we can make some new CP friends this week.

My good friend, Tom,  went home to the Lord yesterday afternoon.  He was in his early 80s and had been bedfast for about 2 months.  He was a wonderful Christian man, a person who always wanted to be doing something for others, and he and his wife remained very active until the last few months when he was not able to get out.  He was one of my coffee drinking buddies for the last 7 years, loved to laugh and never had a harsh word for anyone.  He and his wife, who is also in her 80s, went once a week to work in the prison library here in our county for about 15 years and only stopped in the last year or so due to Tom's poor health.  Pat and I will be going to the visitation tonight and the funeral service tomorrow.

Good morning, friends,

It's a cool, refreshing morning here in Nashville. Y'all have a good day today.

I learned of a distant relative whose family circumstances keep her from going to worship. Let's pray that she'll find a way to be able to participate here.

Ruth Ann

It has the promise of being a busy day on CP today, and that is good.  Nice to see so many of you here already, even if some posts are from last night.  We're happy to see you whenever you pop in!

Larry, it's sad to lose a friend, but you didn't "lose" him, he just got promoted, and you will be seeing him again!  I'm sure his dear wife will miss him so much, and long for the day they are reunited in heaven.  We will be thinking of you tonight and tomorrow as you say your goodbyes to him.  God bless you.

Beth has gone to pick up John, and they will come by when they get back to town and take me to breakfast.  I finally decided they should have the moment of their first meeting to themselves, even though she asked me to go with her to take photos.  We will take plenty during the course of his visit, though.  so, Judy, I haven't seen him yet--but soon!

Jeff, Diane and Abby came for a very short while yesterday, always good to see them and collect hugs and kisses from Abby!  Jeff borrowed our scaffolding for some work he is doing on his carwash.  He is adding an automatic bay to it.  I will go get Abby on Wednesday, because she says "I'm going to the family reunion, even if the rest of my family isn't!  I will go with Grandma and Poppa!"  I'm glad she enjoys it so much.  We will leave on Thursday for that.

I will go have a look at the new photos, and come back later!

Pat:  Thanks for the devotion today.  I didn't realize that it was Jack's touch until someone mentioned it.  How he could challenge the soul!  His writings are so powerful that they still stir the heart.  Thank you for your generous sharings.  

We are back home after spending several days in the mountains.   Yesterday was the first realy sunshine day and the road we drove was clear.  Picture this - son in pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer loaded with our furniture and we followed with our little wagon full of more furniture, fishing equipment and boxes all from our storage unit.  The road makes me stay alert - it is over 2 miles higher than sea level with snow still piled about 12 feet high - no guardrails.  There are several spots where I just hold my breath and pray - I tried to visualize an angel helping steer our son's truck and keep him on the road.  The view is awesome and it looks like you are at the top of the world but I wish that I could enjoy it more - it is a shortcut in the summer for us and not the winding canyon road that we felt would be more difficult for a trailer.  Well, we made it!  My fear of height is not conquered but it is so nice to put the problem onto the Lord and Don drives - of course.  

Another fine morning here and I see that there is enough water this year for the sprinklers to be working - another great blessing.

Carol

This scripture really jumped out at me this morning, it is from my daily devotional calendar, I'd like to share it here as it goes along with Jack's message this morning.

"...And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live
because you belong to Christ". 1 Peter 2:15b-16 NLT

Well my dogs woke me up at 4:45 to go outside, when they came back in I tried to go back to bed, but Happydog would not let me go back to sleep. He kept "talking " to me telling me to get up and fix their breakfast. So I did, then I sat down to spend my quiet time with our Lord. I will be starting Isaiah tomorrow.

The Song of Solomon is so tender and beautiful, when we put in in the proper perspective of Jesus speaking of His love for His bride. (the church).

I'm off to cruise around here and get caught up on yesterday's posts.  

We have some important things to remember tomorrow,1}to pray for Heather and her husband as the make their appearence in court tomorrow for their children. 2} check the calendar and see whose birthday is tomorrow. ;D

Good morning.  Good to see so many from last night and today.

I have a lot of things to do today according to Cornelia who always has a list for me.

Our VBS went well last night with around 500 children.  I am now looking forward to tonight.

Thanks for Jack's article Pat.  I always enjoy his thoughts.

I am preparing the devotional for Thursday morning worship at the nursing home where we volunteer.  I plan to talk about how God knows us by name etc..

Dan 12:1  "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people-- everyone whose name is found written in the book-- will be delivered.  (NIV)

Luke 10:17  The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."  Luke 10:20  . . . . do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."  (NIV)

--- Papa John              <)))><<

 

Soon I will be off to work, I was sitting in my chair watching the today show and decided to come back here to the computer befroe I started dozing off.

PapaJohn Thank you for your scriptures on God knowing our name. I can't put my finger on the location of  "No one can take us from His hand." Or somethng like that.

Pat do you know if Heather got letters to take with her tomorrow?

Be back later.

Hello everyone!!  The headache I had last night is still lingering around.  I hate it when this happens.  They also make me crave salty kinds of food, and stay hungry.  Ugh.  Anyway.

It is a beautiful day today in Western NC.  It is warm (prolly around 75) with a gentle wind blowing.  I am at work, and it is slow again today.  So, here I am with you!

I enjoyed "both" of the devotions today.  Funny how God can use things you've heard before in a new and wonderful way.  Of course, God is is just wonderful, so that might explain it.  

Papa John -- 500 kids!  Awesome.  That is our total attendance for an entire month at my little church  We are hoping to have 30 or so kids later in July.  I am doing the music for them.

Larry, I am sorry about your loss, but it definitely his gain!

Sorry I didn't "speak" to everybody, but I am trying ot work as much as possible.  I hope everyone has a wonderful, awesome, Christ filled day!

karmat

Hi Everyone...

Nice to read the conversation in here already today.  

Thanks so much, Iain, for that Streams in the Desert devotional.  It sure meant a lot to me today.  Thanks!

Karma, great to see you popping in.  Work hard there girl!  It's a pretty nice day here today too.  Not too hot and a light breeze.

I have no idea, Marilyn, about Heather's case.  She'll have to come in and let us know.  How's that landlord today?  

Thanks Papa John for the further reminders from God's Word.  It's so good to have these each day.  Thanks so much.  I can't imagine 500 children at your DVBS!!!

I'm so sorry to read of your distant relative, Ruth Ann.  Yes, we'll add her to our prayer lists.  Thanks for telling us.

Carol...

QuotePicture this - son in pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer loaded with our furniture and we followed with our little wagon full of more furniture, fishing equipment and boxes all from our storage unit.  

That's quite a picture.  I guess the most important stuff was the fishing equipment!  

I'm so sorry to read your news, Larry, about Tom's passing.  Seems at our ages in here (at least some of us) that these "farewells" are getting more frequent.  I'm so thankful that he was a believer.  

Janet, do you have any photos yet?  

For whoever asked about our Ruth...  She's not a teacher but the important bus driver driving these kids to Puck's Farm.  I always enjoyed that trip, Ruth.

Kathy, my goodness, you've been busy!  So you are forgiven for not frequenting our forum over the past week or so!  But hopefully, we'll see more of you now.  You tell your granddaughter that you want more time on YOUR computer!  


It's been so nice reading all of your posts about how you appreciated Jack's devotional today.  Each time I read them, I receive a blessing from the Lord and it's so nice.

Pat: My landlords were pulling out of the driveway as I was coming in from church yesterday. So I had a very peaceful Sunday. They had however been in my house fater I locked it up. I am at work now so must get off the computer for awhile and do something around here.

Hello everyone.  I have really enjoyed reading the devotions and prayers and everyone's posts.  Larry, sorry about your friend Tom but someday you will meet again.  

I am late today.  My sister, Ivalou, had a Senior Moment that lasted about 4 hours.  See, she said she had an eye doctor appointment at Wal-Mart at 9am this morning.  Lydia wanted to go so I went with them to Wal-Mart.  We got there at about 8:40am.  We went in and the eye department is being remodeled.  Ivalou looked at the man and said, 'I have an appointment this morning at 9am to see the doctor.'  He said, 'Are you sure?  The doctor doesn't come in until 11am.  What is your name?'  She told him and he looked at his paper...Ivalou's appointment wasn't until 11:45am.  SOOOOO, we shopped a little.  Went to a restaurant for breakfast, then to the Christian Book Store for a book that I ordered and back to Wal-Mart.  Ivalou said, 'Well, it shouldn't take much longer now.'  I looked at my watch and I had 10:20am.  I said, 'What do you mean?  It is still over an hour until your appointment.'  She thought it was 11:20am!!!!!  I sure hopes her new eyeglasses helps her mind!!!    

Anyway, Lydia and I sat on a bench at one of the entrances and counted how many babies we saw!!!  She is really a very good little girl.

»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«,¸¸,»ïÏï«
"The only way to look younger is to not be born so soon."

Marilyn, I do not understand why it is necessary for your landlords to ever come into your house when you are not there and why so often. Do they have some of their things stored there?  I would find that very unacceptable and I have to feel it is far exceeds the rights they have as the landlord.  I sure don't blame you for being upset.

Pat, I was the one asking about Ruth being a teacher.  I had probably read that she was the bus driver and just had forgotten.  Thanks for the info.

Papa John, that is a large number attending your Bible School.  The energy level must have been very high!  

Karmat, sure hope that headache soon leaves.  I know from many years of experience with them that headaches are miserable.  I very seldom ever have a headache anymore, except for an occasional sinus headache at the time I arise in the morning and a tylenol ususally takes care of it.  It is hard to concentrate at work with a headache.

Carol, that sounds like some kind of drive.  Glad you are home safely with your things.

Janet, I think we are all awaiting the report on the visit of Beth's friend.  I know you must be excited.  It sounds like Abby must have the type of relationship with you that my sister and I always had with our grandmother.  I loved every minute I was able to be with her.

Ruth Ann, I sure hope you distant relative will be able to join with us here.

I can't believe I forgot this --

Congrats on your ribbon at DPC, Ursula!!!

Oh, you must all go and see the wonderful photos that Iain took this morning of the sunrise!

I wasn't in bed yet when I saw Iain up here at CP!!!  Well, now we can see his work!

Sunrise at Tong Beach, Isle of Lewis[/b].

What does "I am a llama" mean?  Anything?  

Iains sunrise photos are beautiful - I like the second one from the bottom in particular.  The colours are great.

Ursula

Ursula, you can change that "I'm a llama".  The software that these forums uses puts that there automatically for all new folk but just click on your Profile and add anything you want.  You could put your city (Ottawa) there if you like.  How about a photo of yourself too?

Still at work not lurking.
Hello here I am.

Hi Marilyn!  I hope that you never have landlords like these again!  How rude of them and surely illegal.  

Karmat:  Sorry about your headache.  

Pat:  Oh, yes - the fishing equipment would be the most valuable (not monetary value) in the move.  It just takes so many years to find certain things.  I like to fish also.  

Etta Sue:  What fun to have a sister to tease.  

Larry:  How are the new treatments?  When will you be assessed as to whether they are working well or not?  Do wish that we could meet for coffee - I send my best wishes to you and prayers for healing.  Carol

OK, I have the "I am a llama" changed to "Ottawa", but I still haven't figured out how to get pictures posted.  Not right now, though, it's supper time!

Karma, you have a lot of headaches?  I hope you get better soon.  Headaches are such a pain.

Ursula