FWD: Morning Manna (Aug. 13); BP: Jer. 10; RBTTY: Rom. 13; Ps. 87-88

 
Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:54:57 -0500
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (Aug. 13); BP: Jer. 10; RBTTY: Rom. 13; Ps. 87-88
 

DEAR FELLOW PILGRIM:

   For the next week or so I'll be out-of-pocket and possibly without e-mail accessibility, so once again I've asked my brother, Lynn, to send out the "Morning Manna" for me.  I've sent them to him and hope you'll send him a word of thanks for doing this for me.

   Also, let me ask you to pray for Margaret and me as we move to a different location.  Since July 20 I've not been pastor at First Baptist Church in Coushatta, LA, but will be seeking to start a new work in the area.  The group I'm working with has chosen to call themselves "Open Door Fellowship" and I hope you'll pray for us as we seek to impact this city and parish with Christ's love.

   As always, I pray the Holy Spirit will continue to use the MM to minister to you each day.  God bless you.

   In Jesus' Abiding and Sustaining Love,

   Bro. Tom

 

 

August 13                                                                                                                         “No One Standing”

 

“But the Lord is the true God.  He is the living God and Everlasting King.  At His wrath the earth shall tremble and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. . .The Lord of Hosts is His Name.”

                                                                                                                                                 Jeremiah 10:10

     When it’s all said and done, “Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Ps. 22:29; 72:9; Is. 45:23; 49:23; 60:14; Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:11).

     A large part of Judah’s problem, other than pride and a hardened heart, was her idolatry.   She’d “played the harlot with many lovers and had a whore’s forehead, refusing to be ashamed” (Jer. 3:1-3).  And, like a wayward child, she’d refused to say “My Father, You are the guide of my youth” (3:4).

 

    Yes, Judah was “foolish and didn’t know the God of Abraham.  Thy were like stupid sheep that’d gone astray and didn’t have a clue as to why.  They were much more adept at doing evil instead of good; in fact, they really didn’t even know the difference” (Jer. 4:22).  And, by the time Jeremiah prophesied, they’d refused the overtures of “the true God—the living God and Everlasting King—by hardening their heart and refused to obey Him or receive correction at His Hand” (Jer. 7:26-28). 

 

     Is it any wonder, then that “the Lord had rejected and forsaken them in His wrath” (Jer. 7:28-29)?

     No, it’s no wonder at all—for the same thing happens nowadays, even inside the four walls of a church building.  They may have been circumcised in the flesh, but they certainly weren’t in heart (Jer. 9:26).

 

     That’s why today’s Manna should be a wake-up call to everyone who professes that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” but feels no compunction to obey Him and no conviction when they don’t.  Such is the nature of the “hardened heart.”

 

     Oh, dear Pilgrim, could it be we fear “thieves in the night”. . .terrorists’ bombs and bullets. . .others’ sharp tongues, threats and malicious deeds more than we do “God, the true and living God, the Everlasting King”?  How dangerous this is—for the Psalmist David said, “The transgression of the wicked says within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes” (Ps. 36:1).  The Apostle Paul, in concluding that we’re all guilty before God, said “There’s none righteous—no, not one. . .There’s none that understands or seeks after God. . .There’s none that does good. . .Their feet are swift to shed blood. . . The way of peace they have not known. . .There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:10-18).

 

     Why, then, do these words not make us tremble and repent?

     Again, because of the hardness of the heart (Heb. 3:7-19).

     May the Holy Spirit help us today to get alone with Him and reflect anew upon how great God is (Jer. 10:12-13)—for the time is coming when “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord”... either by compulsion or consent. 

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