Saturday, April 1, 2017

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THE IMPREGNABLE ROCK

Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 28-29

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

Masada is an ancient fortification on top of an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod the Great built a palace for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BC. According to Josephus, the siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire ended in the mass suicide of the 960 Jewish rebels and their families holed up there (approximately 73 AD).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verse: 1 Samuel 28:6

And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.

Our key verse underlines the fact that God does speak to people. In Saul’s case, God chose not to speak to him in a dream (we can mess it up because we must decide what it means, if anything). The Urim was a method, not unlike flipping a coin and believing that God would choose heads or tails. The prophets, both true and false, were silent. The medium, often called the witch of Endor, was dumbfounded that Saul would appear. Obviously she faked it at other times, as I believe is the case with mediums today. God had a purpose here. If we look to someone claiming to be a prophet, we must recognize that their words are often unreliable because of the human element, and even if the prophet is a man or woman of God, we still must interpret for our needs what he or she has said. This is why God gave us the Holy Scriptures and the historical understanding of their meanings. We can have confidence that the Holy Spirit gave oversight to what was written down in our Bibles, and also gave oversight to the Rabbis and early church leaders as to what writings were to be included in our Bibles. The Apostle John, who loved Jesus with all his heart, and who, I’m sure, would record Jesus’ words accurately, quotes Jesus in John 16:13, “When He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth.” The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, was given on the birthday of the Church (Acts 2:1-13). The Apostle Paul was not present at the initial coming of God’s Spirit upon the 120, but be assured that when Paul became a believer and received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, as Jesus said, guided him into all Truth. He had the finest education available in the Hebrew Scriptures. His writings are filled with quotes from his Bible, what we call now the Old Testament, and with understanding of the correct revelation of God in the Living Word, our Lord Jesus. Hebrews 1:1-3 sums up the absolute truth that we love and serve a God who is communicating with us.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord, I am totally confident that You do speak to me through Your Word and by Your Spirit. Holy Spirit, please continue to guide me into all Truth as Jesus promised You would. Help me to know when You speak metaphorically and when You speak literally. I choose to believe with all my heart that the Bible is Your Word. You have expressed Your thoughts, and because You are God, You have given oversight to the content of Your book. As David prayed so I pray, “Teach me Thy Word, O God.” In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I’m deeply concerned that we all get it right when it comes to God speaking to us. The Apostle Peter had this same concern (I’ve just taken the time to read all of Peter’s second and last recorded teaching). Peter, to whom Jesus gave instructions to “feed my sheep,” does just that. In 1 Peter 1:15-21, we read that we “have the prophetic word made more sure,” and that, “no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.” Over the centuries, the private interpretation of Scripture has resulted in all kinds of cults, in self-deceived people who lead others astray. The opposite to “private” is “public.” Publicly throughout the centuries, the doctrines of our faith have been defined and published. The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the writings of the early Church teachers, such as Augustine and others, the writings of the reformers, and yes, dare I say it, the teachings of hundreds of men and women of God who have appeared on the 100 Huntley Street and Crossroads telecasts over the past 50 plus years, who are as Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:14-19…”Rightly dividing the word of truth.” He even names two men who were at that very time perverting the truth because of their vanity. I’ve just read once again Paul’s warnings. He recognized that false teachings “spread like cancer.”

Yours for being careful — very, very careful — to stick close to the historical understanding of God’s Word, the Bible (I’ve also just read 2 Timothy 3:1-5),

David

P.S. Perhaps you can tell that I’m deeply concerned about a drift, sometimes without our knowing, away from the “faith once delivered” (Jude, verses 3-4). Please look up these words and remain faithful to and “contend (do battle) for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Please forgive me for being very much over my “100 Words” goal. The reason for more words is my deep concern that God’s children may be deceived in a major way as seems to happen at least once each century. Prime Minister Gladstone of Britain, when Canada negotiated its separation from direct British rule without war, wrote a book called, The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture. I believe this very wise man, with whom our Canadian representatives negotiated, got it right. Amen!!!!!

In front of the Crossroads Centre, which houses the ministry of Crossroads and the TV station, CTS, we placed a large Rock, symbolizing the Solid Rock of Christ and His Word.

18 thoughts on “Saturday, April 1, 2017”

  1. Interesting blog today. I do wonder what Samuel would have been doing when he was called. He said that Saul had disturbed him. AND he was in the same old body. I am looking forward to a new body. I tell my sister that there will be no physical challenges in heaven. She has been so challenged here on earth. Praise God! We are looking forward to that.

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  2. Thank you, Pastor David, for such an excellent challenge of staying in the Word both written and in the person of our Saviour, Jesus! Our loving Father has blessed us by His Spirit with your daily teaching once again!! (Please never mind the 100 word limitation). Your sister in Christ, Jean

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  3. Good to see you are back doing the vlog Pastor David. You are looking as handsome as usual and well rested.
    May The Lord continue to Bless you and your Family.
    Today’s reading was very interesting. I wonder if Saul had any regrets after hearing what Samuel said and he reflected on what he was doing.
    Thanks for the blog daily Pastor David it has really taught and explained a lot to me, I am now understanding and seeing how the Bible relates to what is happening in the world today.
    Do not worry about going over your100 words limit, if you write 1000 I will still be here with you.

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  4. Thank you Pastor David for our blog and the fresh manna we receive each day. The bible verse links add so much to our understanding. I love the stories of Samuel, Saul and David and feel so sad as Thr Spirit if God was removed from him. What a troubled soul he was.
    Heeding your challenge to stay in the Word so as not to be swayed by false teachers.

    Praying for your continued good health as well for the requests of Ruth:Sah:Mary Stewart and others of our blog saints thanking everyone for their contributions and links to verses and songs. God Bless

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    • Thank you for all your prayers, I still have nerve pain since my surgery, but I think either I am getting used to it or it is a little better.
      Yesterday was a tearful day but I have great friends to support me and my family are here for the weekend. God richly bless you all. Mary.

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  5. Thank you again,David,you are an echo of God’s word.Watching(‘Observing’ is a better word.) the big name,very rich preachers of prosperity,I get a sickening feeling of revulsion in my stomach,even before I became a Christian in 2011:
    ” Lord you found me and gave me hope
    With new strength that I might cope,
    And now I have surrendered to you,
    Body and soul to be made anew.

    You lifted me up so I could see,
    That you were always beside me,
    Now I feel grief for the lost years,
    But I shall not cry any wasted tears.”

    I’m so grateful for my salvation and it’s pointless to sorrow for ‘the lost years’ because what is ahead is the ‘real world’…of eternity.This world is just a school.Below is the whole poem,written over a year after my ‘surrender’ in my livingroom,on my knees.Blessings

    Surrender

    I lay them down in front of you,
    For Jesus,that is what I must do
    When my burdens become too much,
    I surrender them to your gentle touch.

    Lord,I give all my troubles to you,
    They are yours when my day is through,
    Please make them smaller for me
    So I am unencumbered and free.

    Lord you found me and gave me hope
    With new strength that I might cope,
    And now I have surrendered to you,
    Body and soul to be made anew.

    You lifted me up so I could see,
    That you were always beside me,
    Now I feel grief for the lost years,
    But I shall not cry any wasted tears.

    So I will lay them at Your holy feet,
    For You have made me more complete,
    I am yours through the fires of Hell,
    With love that Satan’s hordes can’t quell.
    G W(Bill) Marshall/2012

    Reply ↓

    • Amen, Bill. Thanks.

      I was young, at a Christian camp, when a speaker said, “If you don’t know Jesus, you can.” God spoke to me, deep inside, and said, “You can accept Me if you want; it’s up to you.”
      Right then, I knew God was real, Jesus was alive, all the stories in the Bible of God speaking to people were true, so I threw my hands up in the air and said to God, “Of course I accept!”
      I think of that often, and I’m so glad Jesus is alive, that He went to the cross to pay the price for sinners like me, that He sent His Holy Spirit to teach us the Truth, that He gave us His Word, that He has given us teachers, pastors, evangelists and faithful men and women to show us how to follow Christ.

      Lord God, please help us, all your people, to be faithful to You, to the people You’ve brought into our lives, and to the work You’ve given us to do. In Jesus’s always faithful name, amen

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      • Thanks,Rob,right after surrendering,I started writing poems,right out of the blue.They just came to me preceded by(I did not know anything about the holy Spirit then) a touch from the holy Spirit.Other things began to happen and I was terrified for my sanity for a few days until my deacon friend and my pastor explained it to me.He led me to a ministry of poems for grieving mothers,pretty much nightly for about 1 1/2 yr,where He gave me poems of comfort.I have often repeated there that I was “just His pen” and to give thanks to Him.
        This is the source of my faith: Everytime I was writing ‘His’ poems and was on the verge of tears (He shared their sorrow with me) He would lift me so I could still write….for about 1 1/2 yr.A lot of those women are Facebook friends now and still get comfort from ‘my’ poems.That’s the short story.Thanks for your encouraging words.God bless

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  6. Yes, Amen, “Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove,rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”(2 Timothy 4:2). Where there is a vacuum of the Word and Christian witness the enemy will come in and fill it as we see happening now as I have been viewing on this media of mine. The enemy is trying to move into our schools and captivate the minds of our youth. We need to hear a strong message of salvation daily to counteract this as the light will overcome the darkness. Amen? Thanks Pastor David for your message and links and giving us warning. God bless you and all who follow this blog.

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  8. Just a BIG thank you for today’s well needed message reminding us to stick close to Gods word! It’s the only ” non fake news” we can rely on!! Bless you ,

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  9. Its amazing how sometimes the scripture message and the comments and links that you present to us, Pastor David, dove-tail.

    This morning the scriptures I read were from James 1:1-27; dealing with temptation, and how our own desires, lead us away from the truth.
    The importance of not only listening, but doing what the Word Says.

    Not to be deceived!!

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  11. Oh, amen! Such an important message and wonderful reading by both you and your son, dear David! So very happy to see you on the vlog. Wishing all saints a blessed day in the Lord! Amen!

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  12. Thank you Pastor David and Pastor Ron,so good to see and hear you again David.
    Love your teaching on the word, I am learning so much from you.
    God bless you and all the bloggers, and all the Saints today!
    ❤❤❤

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