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15 Minutes The Sabbath is the holy day that God set aside for His recognition. It’s a perpetual sign of God’s relationship with His creation. And we are invited to share in its commemoration. Sabbath rest is a summons to practice holiness for eternity in God's presence. It is an act of intentional trust of God's sovereignty over all things. Since God is not bound by time and there will be no night in heaven, how is it that we hear John referring to months...a period of time measured. Let us reason that we not struggle with acceptance of the power of God. In our sphere of existence there can be no event occuring without time. But God is before even eternity and time and He brought both forth for His most distinct purpose...God will have a people who will master His plan. They will come to know “the Word”. Their teaching will be absolutely astonishing. No other generation of people ever had the mind that God’s word will produce in these. No other people ever knew truth the way these know truth and no other people ever understood God’s way the way these understand. No other people ever understood the scripture the way these understand the scripture. No other people ever had greater facility with verbal and written communication, and it will be literally astonishing to hear them witness the word of God. God created events without time, and eternity rolled unmeasured until God’s love was tested. Was the Determinate Counsel an event? Jeremiah 17:12 “From the beginning”...an event in eternity where time was not. Angels are created beings before time was determined “in the beginning”. And there was war in heaven before the time of the creation of “the world”. Revelation 12: 7-9 Satan’s fall must have occurred somewhere after the angels were created and before earth was formed where he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God the Son was himself the witness of the event before time. Luke 10:18 Here again must we reason. Why didn’t God say it “was good” the second day of creation? Because it was then that God separated the firmament and the waters. The waters consisting of an ejaculate of sort, urine and semen was the place where the rebellious angels had been cast after the war in heaven. It was part of the providence of God in creation that Satan would be allowed to behold the most crowning act of God...the creation of the earth for Man. These same castaways recognized the One who expelled them from heaven before ever there was “time” and they begged to not again be cast into the deep. Luke 8:26-31 Matthew 8:28-31 Mark 1:23-27 Luke 4:41 Genesis 1:1 Please see darkness and waters in the concordance – H2822 and H4325. Job 38:4, 7 Sons of God are beings existing before ever the earth was formed. And these morning stars are brothers. These were attendees to special meetings at the dawn of existence before time. And in God’s providence there is still this distinct purpose. I John 3:1, 2 What situations and events will occupy our experience in heaven in an essentially timeless existence, where the categories of past, present and future just do not apply? There will be succession, duration, and sequence because from one new moon to another and from one sabbath to another we will come before God. This “all thing new” that God will bring forth is amost wonderful envisioning and inspirational mystery. It is impressive. We know that we will have a pure language, new names, bestowed immortality with phasing bodies with the ability to pass through solid objects not being bound by nature laws. God is going to dwell with us, not among...with. He will touch us. We will have a constant consciousness of the highest understanding of all things. If we could only know of the objective reality of what is coming for us in the eternalage our questions and responses today would be filled with reverent expansion acclaiming the wonderment of God. The invincible purpose of God for His new creation and for His people will be complete when all things are made new and all new things are filled with the glory of the Lord. And as the body of His glory is, so will ours be. This is certain. God is going to make us spiritually and morally new and glorious. And knowing that nothing related to selfishness will exist, what manner of creativity is in the inmost self of God that will be brought forth without comparison to any other thought made audible, made visible. Something so immense and noble and boundlessly powerful is coming for all of us in our relationship with God.

20 Minutes As God is the ultimate source of all being, He is also the ultimate source of all truth. And as He is the infinite and perfect Being, He is also the highest, the most beautiful and lovable truth, because things have in truth, in goodness and in beauty, the same rank as in being. And truth is the being of Christ. Truth is a presence. It is a living reality. Truth is the presence that the mind seeks to understand. Let there be no distance between your mind and truth. If the mind is to know, then let it know the truth. And if truth is reality, then let it realize the truth. Participation in truth opens the mystery to the mind of reason. And reasoning and mystery must participate by faith in exploring unutterable truth that no formula can exhaust, by bringing its depth of mystery more fully to light. Reason is that power like a flower to burst open from cold ground. Reasoning to truth illuminates the infiniteness of the incomprehensible truth of God. Reason and truth are a pilgrimage taken by the soul journeying into God, walking by the power of the mind, sustained by the power and grace of God endowing it at every moment with the power of the Holy Spirit. Each truth gained gives reason to search for that which is comprehensible of the divine. And the unsearchable mystery will become a mystery searched. Mystery is just what we don’t know now. It is now that the heart of the mind is afflicted; for ignorance is to be abandoned. Mystery vanishes where truth is reasoned to an explanation. How did Jesus convert water to wine...he is God. How can light come from darkness and be divided into light and darkness...by the word of God. Why does prayer work...because of relationship with God. Why does the moon cause tides...God said so. How can a holy spirit become sinful flesh yet do no sin...when it is God. What counts as a legitimate explanation...TRUTH. Mysteries solved! The mystery of reasoning to truth is solved in our commitment to the word of God. It is the evidence of our faith. It is the existence and quality of our faith that guides us to truth. But do not let the mystique of the working of the Holy Spirit rob the mystery that is of God, for by it the limits of our understanding are unexplainably brought to wisdom. This is the determined intent spoken by God to come now. Not to ask questions out of curiousity, but in awe of the contemplation of the revealing of the mysteries of eternity, of life, of God’s marvelous structure of reality. Our coming to God to reason for truth is that behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable whereas no word manipulation can affect its revelation. II Corinthians 13:8 To that extent, true veneration of God is mystery accepted. We come now and find that the mystery of the word, is found in the construction of the word, as it is by the love of God that He desires to speak revelations into our heart through the Holy Spirit. Our real revelation is understanding the depth of God’s love. And to receive of this revelation we must "know," "understand," "recognize," "be conscious of," "experience," "believe," "adhere to," "put faith in," and "rely on" God's love, God’s word. Truth is the essence that we subsist in and the presence we experience as our own awareness. Truth not only is the objective of the mind, it finds a subjective path through the heart. This requires devotion and love, not speculation or theory. And unless we find love for the truth we will be confined within our own deception, our own delusion and low consciousness. Because the Word says God is love, spiritual pursuit to know the truth comes through love. It is the love of truth that opens the mind to spiritual heights of understanding whereby one comes to deeper revelation in the word of God. It is by our spiritual experience that we come to the knowledge of ultimate truth. Ephesians 4:15 Truth gives definition and direction to love. Love gives compassion and kindness to truth. Love rejoices in the truth. Love is glad when truth is spoken. Therefore, love aims at truth. It supports truth. Truth’s manifestation is eternal. Acts 4:32-35 I Corinthians 13:6 Ultimate truth is the final path of our relational positioning with Christ to come to reason with Supreme truth. The limit of knowing is ultimate truth. It is truth at all times, in all places and has relevance for our lives. And final truth is reality. The final truth is that we are all of God, we are all One and our greatest gift to each other is love and compassion and truth. And in Christ the final truth is without conclusion. In truth, we can be more than what we are, for only God can conclude all that there is. Here is a truth to find essence in the wisdom of knowledge...the universe has more spirit than matter. Think on it, no, rather reason with it. God is Spirit. The spiritual quality of our life is consciousness based on truth. And the consciousness of our mind involves more things than we are currently aware of. Consider the emptiness of a human being seeking truth. This emptiness is expressed character with the highest consciousness to be filled with a God-like spirit. It is perfect emptiness. The spirit guided mind, the spirit taught mind is an awareness of unique thoughts without feelings, memories of promise, contemplative prayer, inspired speech, and moral reasoning that are beyond internalized experiences. It is when the power of the mind is distinct from feelings that physical response is individuated in every experience. The presence of the Holy Spirit renders both a hierarchical and a chronological sense to reasoning. And rather than being reactive to knowledge not yet understood, we have a more perceptual approach to conform to truth as revealed. Where reasoning power is present, the mind comprehends, proves, and embraces truth. Truth can be defined as “conformity with fact or reality.” Jesus says God's Word is truth. And it sanctifies us by setting us apart to be holy and live with purpose – God's purpose. The truth can be known. Jesus says he is the truth, so when we follow him, we are living truth. Our choice is to love the truth, hate the truth, ignore the truth, or run from it. Proverbs 23:23 There is already a verdict fated for those who receive not the truth. Choose to be courageous. John 3:19-21 Don’t just listen to the word of truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let his word become like the written fulfillment of your life. If you listen to the word and don’t live out the message you hear, you become like the person who looks in the mirror of the word to discover the reflection of his face in the beginning. You perceive how God sees you in the mirror of the word, but then you go out and forget your divine origin. But those who set their gaze deeply into the perfecting law of liberty are fascinated by and respond to the truth they hear and are strengthened by it—they experience what God requires of all. Deuteronomy 10:12 Micah 6:8 It is by the Spirit that truth is discerned as that evidence that proves faith. And faith is that substance that elevates truth to a higher dimension where the invisible Presences are nurturant to our minds. For it is by God that we are given faith and in Christ where we are made to possess faith and through the Holy Spirit that we do faith. Faith is what brings about our salvation. Romans 10:9, 10 Ephesians 2:8 This is the ultimate truth...faith leads to eternal life. Both are gifts of God. Both are the word of God. Believing the word with the heart can only come about when we are persuaded of the truth in the mind. Ephesians 1:13 Psalms 119:41, 81 If the heart is not opened to every word of God, every word, then you lack the faith to respond to the persuasion of God by the truth that He has given. Self-persuasion is frustrating. I and II Corinthians 4:6 Many confuse faith with knowledge, when these are not the same. Knowledge is attainable by being disciplined enough to pursue it. We can choose to learn and fill our mind with all manner of biblical facts, but this will not produce faith. Anyone can believe the truth intellectually, but this is not the same as having heartminded belief. Heartminded faith is the seat of the soul, the embodiment of spirit. It is the order of the Divine. Intellectual knowledge of the truth will not bring about the transformation that God desires for us. One of the primary functions of the Spirit is to lead us into all truth. And this is done when we have a change of thinking. And this strengthens awareness of ultimate truth which is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come. Nothing in the word of God is to be neglected. Every word of God is causally efficient. Not imaginative, not opinionative. Each word, every text is intrinsically or objectively real, existing in and of itself as a “unique particular”. Every word is “life of life”. It is what makes us what we are according to our conditional choices. It is the ultimate truth of reasoning by faith that gives us eyes to see the depth of wisdom. Let us retain the word of God and wisely comment that God is not to be believed blindly but to be understood to the best of reasons. Our understanding is the key to open the heart of truth. Ours is a God of ultimate truth, Jesus is the ultimate truth, the bible contains the ultimate truth, the Holy Spirit reveals the ultimate truth. Deuteronomy 32:4 I Corinthians 10:4 John 17:17 John 16:8

14 Minutes God is transcendent; He is above all. God is also immanent; He is near. Very near. It is in Him we have confidence. Whatever charge God gives His angels to keep His people, He does not thereby discharge Himself. Think of this. It is so that, whether every particular one of us has an angel as our guardian or no, we are sure that we have God Himself for our God parent. It is His infinite wisdom that contrives, and His infinite power that works for our welfare. We must need to be well kept for the Lord to be our keeper. Even when in affliction He is our keeper. This same God is He who is engaged for the preservation of every particular believer, in the same wisdom, the same power, with the same promises.God keeps His Israel. This God is our Jesus. And the shepherd of the flock is the shepherd of every sheep, and will take care that not one of us, even of the little ones, shall perish. He is a wakeful watchful keeper. Our God has never slept. He never did, nor ever will, for He is never weary. He not only does not sleep, but He does not so much as slumber. Our God has not the least inclination to sleep, for He cares for us. Psalms 121:5 God refreshes them that are His: He is our shade. The comparison of every thing to God’s loving concern for us has in this showing a great deal of gracious condescension in it. He is the eternal Being who is infinite substance in what He is, in order that He may speak sensible comfort to His people. He promises to be our shadow, to keep as close to us as the shadow does to the body, and to shelter us from the scorching heat, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Under this shadow we sit with delight and assurance. Oh, this is our God and He is always near to His people. He is never ever at a distance. He is never far to seek. His hand is the working for us whereby we turn ourselves dexterously to our duty, and we always find God ready for us, to assist us and give us realization of our being to Him. When is He not with us. He will have an eye upon us in our every motion: for in Him we are immovable. God will provide that His people shall not be tempted above what they are able, shall not fall into sin, though they may be very near it. Shall not fall into trouble, though there be many endeavoring to undermine us by fraud or overthrow us by force. He will keep us from being frightened, that we neither slip, nor stumble, nor fall. God will protect us from all the malignant influences of the enemy. Though the sad changes that sin has made to creation, God’s favor will interpose for us that even the sun and moon, though worshipped by a great part of mankind, and are often instruments of hurt and distemper to human bodies will be a blessing of warmth and comfort; God by them will show His favor to keep us safe in every respect. We will know His creation and keep from the evil of sin and the evil of trouble. God will so watch over us that whatever affliction happens to us there shall be no evil in it for we shall see His working for our good. Even that which kills shall not hurt. It is the spiritual life, especially, that God will take under His protection, and He will preserve our soul. He, with a peculiar care, will preserve us from perishing eternally. His Spirit, who is our preserver and comforter, shall abide with us forever. It is by His Spirit that we know how deeply God cares about our being converted. It’s a turning, a spiritual turning away from sin in repentance and to Christ in faith. If we are not converted we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is a dramatic change that completely alters one’s life. It is not a rearranging of things, and it is not as gradual a change like sanctification. It is a dimension of justification. It is a power that occurs much deeper within the soul of a person. It is a decisive break with old patterns of sin and the world and the embracing of new life in Christ by faith. It is so profound that it involves a change of mind, and a change of view, a new recognition of God, self, sin, and Christ. It involves a change of affections, a change of feeling, a sorrow for sin committed against a holy and just God. It involves a change of will, an intentional turning away from sin and a turning to God through Christ to seek forgiveness. The entire person; mind, soul, and body, is radically, completely, and fully changed in this transformation. Listen and hear...being converted moves you out of the realm of that non- saving faith - not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. When there is true love for God being converted is the crying need of the soul. Until one’s life is turned from sin to Christ, nothing else matters. God cares. God cares so dearly as to bear our anxieties and to replace them with His peace and assurance. When we give God our concerns, we in turn, receive His calming presence. God's system of care is countercultural. His system’s values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of human beings. His is a movement that expresses the ethos and aspirations of a specific divineness in this well-defined era. A span of time defined for the purposes of chronology to draw attention to the prominence of His people to characterize a definable determination to show in every detail of our lives that God is sovereign. He is working to make us more like Him, and in turn accomplishing His will for us and His kingdom. God transforms our cares into what He cares about; and so we cast our cares on Christ. Our story demonstrates the comprehensiveness of God’s care in the lives of His children. God’s interaction in our lives is one of the greatest blessings of life. If we stay close and attuned to Him through obedience and communion and faithfulness, we can see His working in our lives quite clearly. When we do, we see for ourselves just how magnificently comprehensive His love and care for us truly is. We must never forget, never stop praying that God is ordering our steps in His word, especially even in the most challenging of personal, societal, and spiritual of circumstances. Of a great wonder is knowing how God cares for us through relationships. Think of the profound impact of our witness when we have devout love toward others. When our witness brings forth this powerful acknowledgment...thy God is my God. We are given brothers and sisters in Christ who will be there with and for us in times of adversity. In Christ our lives become an important blessing to them as theirs is to us. We influence one another with word of truth. We are in the timed criticalness of God’s plan and purpose. The beginning of harvest. We are now to be His kingdom community on earth. Our God is our God all of the time, in all places, and among all situations. The true believer’s life is a transformative life. We are no longer our own. We have a Savior who has taken our life and completely made every part of it new from our relationships, to our beliefs, to our perfecting of character, it is all His. In all extents of life, God cares for us, He is accomplishing His will and His pleasure. God’s care for us is so filled with righteousness until He gives to all the measure of faith. The measure of faith is that capacity given that you may have a complete reliance upon God’s grace for every encounter in life...spiritual or otherwise. But there is also a power that strengthens this measure. It is hearing the word of God and sharing what we have learned from Him with others. This is because God knows that there will be some who may never hear the name Jesus. The complexity of the world around us tells us that there is a God (even though people can suppress that knowledge in their heart). Even those who haven’t heard of Jesus are accountable for knowing that God is. These have the word of God in all of nature. All our faith is to be in His promises, in His all-sufficient grace. Consider how God equips us spiritually to fit perfectly in His determination. We ask without doubting. We receive instruction in confidence. Our testimony of Jesus is beyond expectation. We have every way to escape from temptation. He gives His angels charge over us. The Holy Spirit is there for us. God takes account of all our tribulation by putting our tears in a special bottle. How precious is that. God so cares about our sadness that He bottles up the reasons and turns them into our joys. And Jesus... Romans 8:34 Hebrews 7:25 We can boldly say God cares for us. He reveals it in His words, His life, and His love. We must be so comforted by this revelation that we never battle wisdom against our feelings. Nothing, no hurt, no confusion, no deep insecurity, no disillusionment, no circumstance is to threaten our trust in God’s love. We must rest in the knowledge that His thoughts are toward us. Jesus is our greatest comfort during the darkness of our struggles where faith may be tested. Experiencing his presence draws us closer to God, especially during difficult circumstances that may extend for long periods of time. God loves us in a life changing way...He loves us extravagantly. In God’s care we grow more confident in our identity in Christ and form a deep abiding relationship with the One who formed us, who knows us, and cares infinitely about every aspect of our being. God is giving us such a self in Jesus that we find identity in being totally loved by God in the ordinariness of doing life. The true self is grateful for spiritual highs without craving them, and...without making too much of them when they occur. Recount how our God has brought us to learn to reason with Him in His word for the discovery of the depth of His truth. This knowing God is possible through spiritual growth and by weaving our testimonies and experiences as reminders of Jesus’ faithfulness through answered prayer, encouragement, and grace overflowing as we are transformed in how we think, we love, and we live...how we see ourselves and how we relate to others. God gives us rest on every side. He is not blind to our circumstances or our choices to confide in Him, entrusting our every breath to Him. Because of God’s care we have a confident certainty in Jesus Christ. We are confident and certain of his very near return. We are confident and certain that it is impossible to be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are confident and certain that in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are confident and certain those whom he predestined he also called, those whom he called he also justified, those whom he justified, he also glorified. Because God cares, we are certain. Certainty is rest, peace, blessedness. God cares for us in His hereness, in His nearness, and that presence is punctuated in Jesus Christ. Psalms 139:7-10 God is not a being that can be moved away from. His people have a constant awareness of His presence and the attentive acknowledgment of His workings. Please do not confuse feeling close to God and being intimate spiritually with God are the same. What is it when you ignore Him, or when your humanness falters? How good it is to know that every moment of our living is filled with His meaningful care. God has deep affection for us. There is no care of ours that He does not care about. And He so loves us that He wants our cares to align with what He cares about the most. God cares most for His people and whether we love Christ and whether that love is expressed in our love for others. That is the beauty of the circle of care. Pause for a moment. Consider the God who upholds and guides the stars, the planets, the worlds unseen. Who controls the winds, the rains. This God cares about you. In your consideration, consider first the person Jesus Christ. Then consider how God cared so much that He sent His only begotten Son into this world in the form of a man to die because He so loved the world. Now consider the love, the forgiveness, the compassion, the mercy, the justice and so on...God cares. God cares because He wants to be in an eternal relationship with His children. He cares because He wants His children to love each other. Jesus showed us the way. God is watching the misery of His creation. When we love as He cares or when we care as He loves, we too will reflect on such suffering. Why does He care? The pain and fallenness of humanity have entered into His own heart. Scripture confirms this incredible truth...Jesus wept. His caring is so much experienced with us until he allows evil to exhaust itself that the power of sin is so completely drained that there cannot even be, there cannot be even a thought of it. It cannot be a thought, a word, a choice. God will finish His plan in today’s age and save the people He knows wants to be saved. He cares for those who follow Him, the ones of His salvation, the ones who have been made complete by Him in Jesus. He cares so much that He will wait for us as long as He possibly can as He has determined. God’s care is so abundant, it is so essential that it will be for the full salvation of His people. God cares...

15 Minutes The experience of the sweetness of Sabbath is coming to be tempered by awareness of the sorrow to surround this holy of days. Soon we will be deep into the brokenness of the day that God sanctified, made holy. In this most uplifting of times there will be a descent for the sake of ascent. We experience others detaching from God as we are to draw closer. These fall rather than choosing to rise. I am not talking about the fall of man. I am talking about a falling away. Most who hold the Sabbath in holiness will have to “go down” in the days to come. But this will be their “going up” to the promised land. We will fall from favor of friends, of family, but ascend to be more like Jesus. We will bear hardship and cry out to God because of those things to be done to God’s people on His day of rest. But God hears our cries and remembers us and brings us forth with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Because we are low and we cry out, God hears us and lifts us out of sorrow: descent for the sake of ascent. Entering into covenant with God, was the event that formed us as a peculiar people. It is in the peoplehood that God prepares us for an incomprehensibly awful litany of tragedies that will be brought upon us. Our thoughts dive deep into the world's sorrow and suffering and brokenness of the day. But our hopes, our prayers launch us toward the Day of Awe. Out of our deepest grief the light of truth brightens the soon return of our Redeemer. Authentic spiritual life demands that we sit both with life's brokenness and life's wholeness. A spirituality that's only "positive," only “feel good”, isn't real and isn't whole. When we sit with what hurts, that's what enables us to rise. Descent for the sake of ascent. Looking at the world around us, it's easy to feel that everything is falling apart. Migrant children torn from the arms of their parents and imprisoned in cages. Hate crimes on the rise. People of color killed by police who are supposed to be sworn to protect. Incidents of prejudice increasing: against religious minorities, and against people of color. Our political system is broken. International relations seem to be broken. There is brokenness everywhere we look. Our work, the spiritual work of this moment in time, is twofold. One: we have to resist the temptation to paper over the brokenness with platitudes and pretty words. God has a greater plan we have to try to understand. And two: we have to face the brokenness, even embrace the brokenness, and let it fuel us to adjust our path, to correct our missteps. We feel what's lacking, we ache to fill that void. In our sorrow there is to be no distance from the divine Beloved. We are to draw nearer. Our distance is to be from the world. Difficult days will be sown in tears, but the joy of reaping souls returns the gladness of the spirit. We have a higher purpose. To heighten the hope of experiencing the divine Presence. To balance the sorrow with that which is affirmed in our hearts. We are going to struggle with sorrow. But as we cultivate compassion for others we access the gratitude and joy of showing Jesus in the life. Jesus will not ask us why weren’t we as faithful as Abraham. Why didn’t we wrestle like Jacob. Or why didn’t we serve like Joseph. He will ask why weren’t we striving to be the best we could be...even in sorrow and joy. The world today is a “black hole”. Black holes are powerful, but they pull energy into themselves. God needs some suns. By contrast, suns are unique in giving light...that give of themselves. The sorrows of today cannot be our black holes of despair. We are called to radiate light, to reach out in closeness for others even as we know that God gives days of adversity. We are for God in this world to confront and overcome challenges; to choose, when we are tested, to remain firm in our belief and trust in Him, in every situation. Because we have a “why” to live for, we can bear any “how”. In all our learning God teaches us that sorrow and joy, grief and rejoicing, mourning and comfort, life and death, destruction and rebuilding are intertwined. Our purpose is to endure. To believe in God and to trust that every aspect of life has meaning and takes the course He has determined. Remember, the greatest Sabbath of sorrow ended with the most blessed expression of joy. Our faith is going to be stretched to the limit, when we are asked to overcome the greatest of limitations, that is when we must remember to praise God for the Sabbath. We may want to understand that this is the time of the fulfillment of God’s promises. The rhythms we have developed give stability amid the chaos: we observe the Sabbath. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world. God finished His work. And for us who keep the Sabbath, God has an even greater and better plan. We will experience grief raw and overpowering. But we will cope and reflect. The time is coming when we will keep the Sabbath in the midst of pain, in the midst of sorrow, when the soul is seared, and throats are tightened. This is when our faith moves us to the beginning of an awareness of what eternity means. God has promised a greater reality beyond what we are currently experiencing. Our sorrow in the Sabbath is that which we share with our God. God has great sorrow for the effect of sin on His people. His sorrow swells in our unrighteousness. It is simply not in us—not in any of us—to have genuine, authentic, righteousness without first having God’s nature within us. God alone is without darkness, or impurity, or flaw. The pause that God wove into the seven days is intentional. In observing it we are thankful even in sorrow because it will forever prove that God is right...we can obey. The Sabbath is the ever-mindful way of understanding the awfulness of sin. What if our every thought were recorded on the Sabbath...oh the sorrow. The Sabbath is truth. And truth divides. Nothing divides like truth. Nothing divides like Jesus. Not all search for the depth of truth in the word of God and the deeper the truth, the deeper and wider the division. Wherein then is the sorrow? In the slow drift of compromise of the truth. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is truth. Any drift from the word is drift from the Sabbath...it is drift from Jesus. People decide what truth fits them best. Real truth requires a standard, a baseline to rest firmly upon so all know where truth stands. Truth is not a series of shades of gray or just situations where we decide what’s right based on how we feel. It is a black or white, life-dividing, all or nothing issue. You either fall on the side of error or rise to the truth of God. Jesus wept. Because of our unbelief Jesus groaned in the spirit and was troubled. We sorrow that we have no power but to give God’s word, to speak of His amazing love to us. All that we can do is to plant the seed and trust God to harvest that seed. It is difficult to trust in something that we cannot see, but this is faith. We want so much for souls to be safe, for eyes to be opened, for others to see their need for a savior in Jesus Christ who paid for every sin. We sorrow because Jesus had to be our sin even as we refuse to be his righteousness. It grieves God. Let no sorrow cause us to question our faith.

15 Minutes When we know Christ, we get wisdom. Compare wisdom with anything else we can get, and wisdom is better because wisdom helps us know what to do with what we get. And wisdom tells us of our greatest need...divine guidance. And without this guidance we are not to even trust in our wisdom. We must be inclined toward godliness. And so, God gives us wisdom that we might primarily discern when divine guidance is leading us. This wisdom is one of God’s means of discerning the will of God. And wisdom and divine guidance must be based upon divine revelation. And divine revelation is given through the word of God. And it is the authoritative word from God which serves as a measure of our thoughts and deeds.And every word of God is tested, every word is pure. Divine revelation is formed in precepts, principles, and patterns. Precepts are the commands of God, specific and straightforward. Principles are set down for those who ask to know God’s will and to do it. Patterns are those truths of scripture which have great relevance in showing us the ways of God, His character and conduct, in determined situations. It is with this wisdom that divine guidance seeks the will of God rather than self-sufficiency and self-trust, natural reasoning. Divine guidance rests upon the promises of God, on those “things which are not seen” yet having faith in the Determinate Counsel which declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. And by this faith we know that the counsel of God will stand. These are God breathed words. It’s called wisdom. I Corinthians 1:30 Righteousness for our past whereby we have been justified by God that we might be born again. Sanctification for our present by which we are being made perfect, transformed in our mind, our will, God’s expression permeated to a divine life. Redemption for our future by which we will be like him, glorified. Though he grew in wisdom and stature the perfection of truth rested in him. The purpose of wisdom and love triumphed in him. Wisdom does not regard the past as the exclusive source of truth. Truth is relative and expanding; it lives always in the present, achieving new expression in each generation. Wisdom, like reason, is allied to faith. Reason, wisdom, and faith are our highest human attainments. Reason introduces us to the realm of particulars, to things; wisdom introduces us to a world of truth, to relationships; faith initiates us into the path of divinity, a spiritual experience. Faith most willingly carries reason along as far as reason can go and then goes on with wisdom to full enlightenment; and then it dares to launch out upon the limitless and never-ending journey in the sole company of TRUTH. When reason once recognizes right and wrong, it exhibits wisdom; when wisdom chooses between right and wrong, truth and error, it demonstrates the leading of the Spirit. And so are the functions of mind, soul, and spirit ever closely united in proportion to the spiritual love and perfection with Jesus. Our devotion to truth is unquestioning. God will have His elect function with the power of choice through the wisdom bestowed until the last earth struggle is over. When we truly worship God in spirit, that worship will lead to wisdom, and wisdom eventuates in the finality of thought in the mind fully contemplating Christ. Wisdom embraces discretion as well as courage in that we submit our lives to knowing God and believing in the Son. It’s called wisdom. Wisdom does not come without great effort. Wisdom is only for those who will diligently seek it. Remember what we were taught in Proverbs 2:1-11. Doing wisdom will not be without sacrifice and commitment. We must do what we know to be right. Jeremiah 42:1-6 Jeremiah brought the word of God as it is by God. Without wisdom divinely guided the people considered it as being false. They chose natural reasoning opposing to conform to God’s way. Too many want the word of God to agree with their estimation of what they think rather than precept to principle to pattern. God is doing for the good of our character. The wise is slow to speak and weighs the spoken words. The wise gives thought to the consequences of the actions to be taken. The wise are counseled not to teach or correct the fool. A fool does not want direction. This is why and how character is so crucial in matters of divine guidance. Nothing that we have heard here is new. But nevertheless, needs to be said by way of reminder that we hear again the reasoning of God. Our character is, perhaps, the determinant factor in responding to divine guidance. Too many neglect the paths which the word of God so clearly defines. God said go to Nineveh, but you want to go to Tarshish. For the time we ought to be teachers...what does our doing say of our character. Wisdom and divine guidance overcome every deception. The wisdom afforded the first pair was ordered in harmony as they stood in innocence. Adam bore a mental likeness to his Maker. When presented with controversy Adam knew the right but abandoned divine guidance for selfishness concerning the woman given him. What felt safe to his feelings deceived his flesh thinking he was doing right. The only power that satan has is the power of deception, and the thing about deception is that you don’t know you are being deceived. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be deception. But, once the truth is revealed and received, deceit loses all its power. The devil never changes his tactics. Wisdom and divine guidance filled with faith is the potent antidote. Religious services will be satan’s deception in these final days. He uses it to attempt to replace the power of the Holy Spirit. He mimics the Holy Spirit that many sincere believers think is leading them when in fact it is a religious spirit. You do religious services thinking you have some control. Therefore, it feels safe to your flesh because it tells you what to do externally and when you do it, your conscience is deceived by feelings of doing right. This replaces the inner peace of the Holy Spirit that comes from being in right relationship with the Lord. You become focused on doing good works for God and outward appearances instead of being Spirit led. The ultimate goal of religion is to cut you off from a vital relationship with the Lord Himself. Religion allures you with the false promise that you can be spiritual. In the end, you are left without. Don’t limit God with small thinking. The surety of our inheritance is wisdom under divine guidance. It is the mind of Christ. Most fail to deepen their faith in the word of God because they seek to find fault with things they do not understand. So rather than ask an innocent question, they oppose reasoning. Coming to God with humility and sincerity would give them divine wisdom. Whenever we come face-to-face with the profound wisdom of God, we will experience awe and holy amazement at the depth of truth found in His word. It is with divine guidance that wisdom silences and reveals the hidden malice of all opposition to truth. When you live your faith openly and with confidence as in Christ, you will be attacked. Your understanding will be called into question. Divine guidance has you turn to God and in your reasoning with God for truth you are careful for nothing. The sacredness of your study opens the mind to the clear voice of God Who speaks pure truth, pure wisdom. And under divine guidance you are prepared for every encounter. It’s called wisdom. Brothers and sisters, please heed this warning...if you are not seeking wisdom under the guidance of God you are on the path to spiritual failure. You are being hardened. When you think you are wise enough to judge God’s word you are becoming spiritually insensitive. When what hurts the heart of God doesn’t hurt you the way it used to you’re in a dangerous condition. We little consider how threatened each of us is by being willingly ignorant of all that the word of God offers. That in itself is deceptive in its very character. Like climbers rope together on a steep mountain, like soldiers team together on a battlefield and keep track of one another. One of the essential means by which Christ guides, protects, and perfects his people is through reasoning with his Father and the active participation of other believers in their lives. The day of Christ's return is fast approaching, and it will be a day of judgment for all who fall away. Remembering this, we ought to have sober reflection to the spiritual concerns of our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is not a difficult thing to believe when you reason by wisdom under divine guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is by faith, through faith that we can become like the word of God. For the elect are brought by calling into the fold of Christ, not from the very womb, nor all at the same time, but according as God sees it meet to dispense His grace. Before they(we) are gathered to the Most High, they(we) wander dispersed in a common desert, and in no respect differ from others, except that by the special mercy of God they(we) are kept. This does not mean that before they(we) were enlightened they(we) were aliens of scripture, they(we) just had not clear revelation. So, we ask this question... I Corinthians 4:7 Acts 13:48 Intimation that some excel others, not by their own virtue, but by the mere favor of God. Our wisdom is to be defined according to the mind of Christ. Wisdom is not knowing good and evil. Wisdom is knowing good from evil. Reasoning with God means we are not tempted to be wise above what is needed. I ask for wisdom. I bow my head, close my eyes, and prepare to hear His answer as the Holy Spirit assumes the role of guiding into truth studied. However, if unable clearly to ascertain the truth, let us not decline to be somewhat in ignorance in regard to the depths of the divine wisdom. There is a view above to explain His way, in His truth. All truth is God’s truth, that is true. But the only “truth” we know to be truth is the “truth” which is in Christ, the truth revealed in God’s Word. These are necessary for life and godliness. We transcend our senses until such time as it shall be given us to know how He mysteriously wills in us to know and to do. God is taking His time in revealing and bringing to completion His marvelous plan decreed in eternity past in the Determinate Counsel, which in its culmination discloses His infinite wisdom. And there are no rewrites. God determined that we be purposed in this lengthy drama to display His wisdom. It is shown to us as we are privileged to become wise. God selected a people for Himself and became their Father, and why, from that one people, He plucked only a small number as if they are His remnant? We can only stand in awe of the wisdom of God to determine such a thing and to bring it about. It’s called wisdom.

25 Minutes It is with much textual warrant that God gives us inescapable understanding. And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Literal, or was this to help Cain to understand the nature of sin. Revelation 6:9, 10 God’s exact word must be reasoned with wisdom to understand God’s exact meaning. Is blood articulate, and capable of speech? The woman is from the man as the man is from the woman and brings forth the true life’s purpose of fulfilling in him what all are to become in Christ. Galatians 4:22-31 Knowledge is the accumulation of facts, whereas wisdom is the ability to use those facts in a responsible manner. Wisdom is the skill to live in a way that is pleasing to God and knowing how to and when to apply our intelligence to our surrounding environment in a way that results in the desired purpose for our calling. We are called out to raise our voices for wisdom. In raising the voice there is an urgency, there is a longing, and there is a passion. Searching for wisdom requires intensity. True wisdom is God centered. True wisdom means we know God and that means we know Christ for he is the only way we can come to God. True wisdom means that we have an awe, respect, and even a holy reverence before God. This isn’t a fear that paralyzes us, for perfect love casts out all fear. But it is a fear that reminds us that we are creatures and that God is the Creator. If thought is the sixth sense, then wisdom is the seventh. Because wisdom produces the thought that is wise that we understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path. We cry out for wisdom to indwell us. A major problem in today’s society is that man’s knowledge has surpassed his wisdom. Remember the “eyes” of Genesis chapter 3. God tells us how this plays in the sifting of the people in both the everyday and the mystical awareness. II Chronicles 16:9 Amos 8:12 Daniel 12:4 The first step in becoming wise is to listen to wisdom. And wisdom is listening for truth and when heard it is confirmed by the Holy Spirit. Listen to how God’s word opens up with a big “if” and follows up with commanding us to hear. Proverbs 2:1-11 Proverbs 1:1-7 Receiving, treasuring, attending, inclining, calling out, raising your voice, seeking, and searching all boil down to one weighty concept: hearing the word of God. It is by the marvelous grace of God through the teaching of the Determinate Counsel that we submissively receive His counsel and vigorously seek out its hidden and intense wisdom. We are to listen for powerful statements, kind reminders, insightful thinking, good counsel, unbiased judgment, compassion, balance, inner discernment, belief challenges, contemplative reasoning, open mindedness, experience, spirituality, and prayerful consideration of love for the hearer. The central focus of wisdom is how truth is obtained, revealed, and understood. As we are learning we listen to the inner voice, we hear with the ear, we live in a relationship with Jesus in our suffering and liberation, finding providential help as the word speaks to the depth and breadth of our spiritual search. There is the need to incline our hearts, our minds to be open and receptive to truth when it appears. Hearing the word of God is an active process to be prized above all other things. Our passion in this life is to seek wisdom from God that we might be of the same mind as is Christ in obedience, in judgment, in prayer, in witnessing. Wisdom will furnish us with the strength to overcome when exposed to temptation. Wisdom will cause us to hate sin and lament our transgressions. Wisdom will cause us to cry to God for His deep and complete searching to know our hearts, to try us that we may be led in His way. Wisdom will purpose the convictions of our consciences, which is our spiritual essence, to unite our behavior to the law of God through meditation, contemplation, so that it focuses on the oneness, the transcendent situations, and ultimate concern for the awareness of God’s presence always in our life. Wisdom will enhance our will to believe and accept all that is truth so that our pure potentiality characterizes the kind of love that is of the “so” nature that grows stronger over time and eternity. Wisdom will take us to such a high consciousness that we will be conscious of a consciousness higher than our own. And we will be conscious of how that consciousness is conscious of us. It’s called wisdom. Man’s desire will be to search back and forth from one bible verse to another, and from one bible chapter to another, as they compare scripture with scripture in reading the words of the Lord that had previously been sealed. Something wonderful happens. Knowledge shall increase. The reason knowledge increases is because in “the time of the end” increasing numbers of humans will have the unprecedented opportunity to read for themselves and to understand the words of God. Those three words, knowledge shall increase, begins an amazing journey considering that this does not only apply to the Holy scriptures. There is a knowledge tsunami in the world today. But God’s intent was for biblical knowledge specifically. However, this additional knowledge does not necessarily mean we are becoming wiser.We need humble hearts, a sincere desire for truth, a willingness to turn from sin, and an openness to the deep moving of “the Spirit of truth”. So God gives us additional insight. Daniel 12:9, 10 God’s purposed plan is that in the time of the end, when a knowledge of His words shall increase, such knowledge shall draw, impress, convict, cleanse, and purify human hearts from sin, selfishness, and falsehood. Open the eyes of your heart. The evidence is overwhelming of a most fearsome event getting closer. Too many people are reluctant to study the bible and find out what it really says. They might find some things in their lives that need to be changed or conflict with what they thought they knew. And they don’t want to change because they feel comfortable, so it’s easiest just not to learn what the word of God truly means. A wise person continues his search for truth. The combination of knowing and doing makes for true wisdom. A wise man is humble enough to hear and so he’s able to increase his knowledge. He’s constantly seeking truth everywhere. He realizes that we never get to point that we know it all, we never exhaust our potential to learn. If you try to teach a wise man, he’ll become even wiser because he has a desire to learn. He’s also open to the corrections of others. He takes criticism well. On the other hand, the foolish man has a closed mind. He gets upset if anyone tries to correct him or show him that he may need to consider more evidence. You’ve probably known someone like this – someone who just says no to something they don’t know and they stop looking for truth. The open mind sifts what it hears to discover what comes from God and what doesn’t. Test the spirits, whether they are of God. The open mind will always examine the evidence to be sure that his conclusions are justified. It’s called wisdom. I Corinthians 2:6, 7 Jeremiah 8:9 When you reject the word of the Lord, what wisdom do you have? And the answer is, none at all. And being chosen is not the same as election unto salvation. Make distinguish between the following passages. We know what we are today, yet we know not what we are to be. There will be Ishmaelites mingled among the called. John 6:70, 71 John 13:18-28 II Thessalonians 2:13-17 Herein we fail not in our consideration of all the truth of God...every word, even that spoken by God of God Himself. In that His word reveals to us of the beginning, our understanding predestination duly considered does not shake our faith, but rather affords the best confirmation of it. The word of God is given for us to have the understanding, the wisdom to enter into right choices, right decisions. Wisdom is not smooth words, neither does it embrace or endorse self. Wisdom recognizes what is covenantal. God talked with Cain. He counseled him to do well, to be accepted. This allowed Cain to make his own decision. The same opportunity God gives us to make choices regarding what we will do. It’s called wisdom. God in His foreknowledge already knows what choices we would make. It is the truth in His word that gives encouragement to know that it is God who is performing our growth into godliness from His calling. The genuineness of this calling is for us to determine that for to us to live is Christ. We know that we belong to God...it’s called wisdom. Brothers...sisters...friends...strangers, pray that the Holy Spirit will accommodate his language to our feeble capacity. There are words of truth that simply indicate the abandonment of those who seemed to have a chief place among the elect. How do some choose not to hear His word? As the Lord by the effectiveness of His calling accomplishes towards His elect the salvation to which He had by His eternal counsel destined them, so He has judgments against the reprobate, by which He executes His counsel concerning them. Those, therefore, whom He has created for dishonor during life and destruction at death, that they may be vessels of wrath and examples of severity, in bringing to their doom, He at one time deprives of the means of hearing His word, at another by the teaching of it blinds and stupefies them the more. Ezekiel 13:9 May we consider the following truth. Ecclesiastes 1:18 Now let’s consider the man of grief and sorrows...Jesus Christ. And while we be found in him and he in us, we too will suffer like grief, like sorrow for those we know who avoid reasoning to come to truth. If sorrow and grief is the result of true wisdom and knowledge, what was the wisdom and knowledge Jesus had that resulted in His sorrow and grief"? The same must be for us. It is the knowledge that people were rejecting Jesus, rejecting truth. The king of heaven gave his life to save people from death, and the vast majority are choosing to die. Yes, die within the reach of help. This knowledge, this understanding, this reality brought great grief and sorrow to the heart of the Son of God. Does your heart go out for those who may be just one reach from grasping hold to Christ. When your wisdom gained is divinely given you too will be touched with sorrow. But because of the wisdom given by God this sorrow and grief does not overwhelm our spirit and turn us into disheartened people. Rather it drives us, with a powerful motivation, to minister to the hearts of friends, to share the truth of salvation to souls. This wisdom means that we will be serious and sober, with a deep inner-peace having no jesting of any sorts about the plan of salvation. This wisdom is a treasure that we are to share. The infallible scriptures provide teaching and grace and power in order to experience wisdom, perpetual not periodic. Wisdom prevents us from judging the bible, instead is allows the bible to judge us. How readest thou? For the bible says he is made unto us wisdom. And God’s wisdom is Christ himself. Do we with wisdom know Christ? Luke 11:28-31

20 Minutes To gain the wisdom of the word we are to have faith in the remotest eternity, the Determinate Counsel of the Triune God. This in order that we may understand what final determination God has made with regard to His elect in Christ. All by whom Christ is received in faith will be regarded by our heavenly Father as sons and daughters. If we long to be regarded as sons and daughters of God and heirs, we must ascend unto Christ. And if this is our final goal, how infatuated is it to seek out of him what we have already obtained in him, and can only find in him? Besides, as he is the Eternal Wisdom, the Immutable Truth, the Determinate Counsel of the Father, there is no room for fear that anything which he tells us will vary in the minutest degree from that will of the Father after which we inquire. It’s called wisdom. God’s foreordained plan was mysteriously hidden, because humans almost always go against God’s plainly revealed word. God knew if we knew His ordained plan, we would interfere. We can reject God’s word. We do this all the time: sin is doing the opposite of God’s will. I say again, how can God use me to spiritually impress upon your mind and your heart that there is no room for fear that anything which He reveals to us will vary in the minutest degree from that will of the Father after which we inquire. No, rather God, who calls us to reason, faithfully discloses to us what is from the beginning, and always will be. The practical influence of this doctrine of the Determinate Counsel ought also to be exhibited in our prayers. For though a belief of our election animates us to involve God, yet when we frame our prayers, it were preposterous to obtrude it upon God, or to stipulate in this way, “O Lord, if I am elected, hear me.” He would have us to rest satisfied with His promises, and not to inquire elsewhere whether or not He is disposed to hear us. We shall so be disentangled from many devices of the enemy, if we know how to make a right use of what is rightly written; but let us not inconsiderately take it to purposes different from that to which it ought to be confined. God will not change toward us with His promises. This establishes our confidence that our election is connected with our calling. But that calling and faith are of little value without perseverance. There are two aspects of calling. There is a universal call, by which God, through the external preaching of the word, invites all alike, even those for whom He designs the call to be a savor of death, and the ground of a severer condemnation. Besides this there is a special call which, for the most part, God bestows on believers only, when by the internal illumination of the Spirit He causes the word taught to take deep root in their hearts. There is however the situation where He communicates it also to those whom He enlightens for a time, and whom afterwards, in just punishment for their ingratitude, their unwillingness to reason with His word, He abandons and smites with greater blindness. God has committed His chosen called to Christ. We must not fail to understand His condescension in the ways of God as pertains to the ways of man. God condescends to our comprehension. Jeremiah 18:1-10 Isaiah 64:8 Psalms 15 Let this truth be set down as the anchor to God’s every word. The Determinate Counsel is just that...it is every aspect of God’s character. It horizons everything under the foreknowledge and foreordaining of God. Foreknowledge and foreordination are God's will, counsel, purpose, resolve, plan that associates every happening together. God both sets-up the way and knows exactly how all things were, are, and will be. God is sovereign. He directs our paths. He has written His story of mankind in order to bring to pass His will and plans. Why? To receive glory. We are His vessels, made for life or damnation according to the choice we make concerning His will. There are two standpoints by which the distinct wisdom of God is viewed. From the historical standpoint we are morally responsible for our every choice, our every deed. From the standpoint of Divine teleology, it was part of an eternal plan that explains consequences in terms of the purpose they serve rather than of the cause by which they arise. Luke 24:26 Two aspects of the same truth; our choices have consequences that are foreknown of God. Reasonable consistency of two developed experiences; our will aligned with God’s foreordain plan. God planned and ordained that Jesus should be lifted up and crucified for us who would be chosen for salvation. Jesus Christ, according to scripture sustains the entire universe and controls its comings and goings. Every heartbeat, every breath, every life and every death is in His hands. Please do not harden your heart against the scriptures simply because you cannot logically digest what is written. What is biblically truth is not always apparent truth to the mind of man. We must come to reason with the evidence of God’s election. For it is His choice. We’re talking about One who can whisper untold numbers of galaxies into existence before a moment. It is inaccurate to build divine truth on just what you think you know. We must take into account the whole of scripture. Does not the Spirit expressly teach us that the way of God is revealed in comparing spiritual with spiritual, and that is meant to say, scripture with scripture? This is the way of the Holy Ghost, “which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual”. All of God’s will is determinate and is either responsive to the responses of men or contrary. The determinate will of God turns men’s hearts and determines their response; the contrariness of God is changeable, resistible, and interactive to the responses of men. God’s resistible will was His desire that Pharaoh would let the people go, that Pharaoh would not sin, and that Pharaoh would not be hardened through pride. God was using Pharaoh as an instrument of His wrath and hatred, and He hardened him through an eternal, predestinated plan and purpose which was for His own glory – this was His eternal, irresistible, unchanging will. God hated Pharaoh from eternity past, and at present that eternal hatred hardened his heart; simultaneously, God loved Pharaoh and did not want him to sin, so much so that He was grieved over his continuance to sin. The character of God is devoted to determination, which is accomplished by His irresistible will, as God in the ways of God, as God is who He is in any given situation. They are holy ways, separate ways, and they are not even comprehensible to the ways of man except the Holy Spirit reveals them through reasoning.And it is in this way that we may accumulate the scriptural truth of every word of God. God’s mind is unchanging in every way that it is virtuous to be unchanging but open to change in every way that it is virtuous to be open to the genuineness of our relationship. When a person is in a genuine relationship with another, willingness to adjust to them is always considered a virtue. When should this apply to people and not to God? Since God is the epitome of all that is praiseworthy, and since we ordinarily consider responsiveness to be praiseworthy, should we not be inclined to view God as the most responsive Sovereign Being conceivable? He never changes His perfect character, of course, for this would not be praiseworthy. But He is willing and able to adjust His plans and emotions as His relationship with us calls for it. This adjustment was foreknown and foreordainly determined from the beginning. God changes to every one who is of faith. Though He is all holiness, all loveliness, all truthfulness, all overwhelming, all infiniteness, all wisdom, all All, He becomes more even beyond what He is to us as He is transcendent sovereignty past measurable determinatives. As we will grow in wisdom in the faith of His changes, we will give Him all the magnificence of incomparable glories that are distant after our praise. God has predetermined by appointment every tiny detail in the universe, such as the path of the dust mote in the air and all of our besetting sins. Proverbs 16:33 But the randomness of casting lots is not random to God. God is not the least taxed by keeping every sub-nuclear particle in its place. The only way to understand the truth of change as related to God is to attain the understanding from reasoning with God to know of the ultimate governing of God. This centers us in wisdom. Acts 4:27, 28 Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jews were all gathered together to do what God's foreknowledge knew and God's plan had predestined to take place in the killing of Jesus. We have God's plan and hand predestining the most horrible sins ever committed. Pilate's choices, the soldiers' cruel mockery, the piercing of his side, the cries, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"...these few hours in history were the climax of the worst wickedness that has ever been performed on the planet or ever will be. And God planned it so that we might be saved from those sins. In other words, what the devil did in unleashing all of that was commit suicide. And I pray that when we contemplate our faith in a sovereign God who governs the dust motes, when we contemplate believing in a totally sovereign God, I pray that we center our faith right on the cross and every truth brought forth by it. Some think it pathetic. Some think it most powerful. One thought is toward perishing, the other toward salvation. Faith begins and ends at the cross...for by one man...God gave us His Son. Take away the cross, you forfeit eternity. You see, brothers and sisters, when we work out in our minds to stay in the revealing of the Determinate Counsel, if we stay right there and then just work out from there as far as our mind can handle, then we'll be in safe hands. Our minds will be safe, and our hearts will be safe, because we'll be kept humble. The reason most cannot understand the determinate wisdom of God is because they fail to enter His counsel. The worst sin that was ever to be committed was foreknown and ordained by God the Father and God the Son. Wisdom is personified as a woman who has much to offer to any who may heed her words. Proverbs 1:20-33; 8:1

25 Minutes There is no place in the plan of God for human viewpoint thinking. Disunity among God’s people stem from the mindset of the natural person. So, what God allows me to write is for the few (faithful in every way). The word of God must be the source of learning. Human viewpoint makes societal norms standard against what the bible teaches. Homosexuality was once sinful, distasteful, abnormal. Today, most think it is simply how a person is born...that’s not biblical truth. There is an eternal distinction between human thinking and divine reasoning. Human centered thinking rejects those parts of the bible which they find above their ability to understand. Divine reasoning embraces the wisdom of the gospel. Human thinking operates according to a human-centered mindset, but the spiritual person operates according to a divine reasoning centered mindset. This is a life transition. This is a transition due to a strengthened faith in Christ that powers the response to truth. If you seek spiritual understanding from God through the Holy Spirit, you will come to recognize that human thinking is directly associated with attachments. To reason divinely we must discard our attachments from our humanness. Human attachments spring up from a universal human sea of self-interest. And self-interest is a great deceiver. And though the Holy Spirit is available, human attachments will seal you off from an awareness of the higher realms. You have a vague belief that your thinking is in line with what is truth. This does not mean we lose the reality of our interconnectedness with every living being around us. Goodness and integrity are continued exchanges with others. Now, this is not criticizing human thinking. It is in our suffering, our sacrificing that we hold these two qualities together. We are to know the greatness of God in human terms, but we are not to lack the divine vision offered through the Holy Spirit. In this we recognize that we must re- orient our focus to the path that the Spirit directs. We are to return to that divine image where our thoughts reflected what God thought. Genesis 2:19 This is why we are given a heavenly standard to guide us – the Word. Now we come to see how our truth clarifying efforts are principled to more efficiently spread the truth to reach minds and hearts that judge the word of God not as being suggestive but rather divinely inspired. And now, both the message and those who choose to hear are uppermost in our minds. With divine reasoning there is an accompanying inner spiritual change – calmness, heavenward focus. And what comes naturally to the human mind will no longer stand in the way of God’s purpose. And divine reasoning will present us with power and authority to understand things from the perspective of the kingdom of heaven. Verbal communication will be by revelation making plain what previously only been suggested. We will savor the things that be of God, not those that be of men. Recall when Peter’s natural tendency was to see things in human terms and made him an adversary of Jesus...he contested the word. Matthew 16:22, 23 Divine reasoning is returning to what we learned long time ago...we go to the Determinate Counsel. We need to look up and see heavenly things, but there is more to it than that, in a strangely contradictory way. In one way it is the very greatness, even divinity of Jesus, which causes our limited understanding of the nature of God, to think in human terms. But to understand the nature of his divine sacrifice we need to see him as God. In the Determinate Counsel we can divinely reason how the great and holy one was to fulfill his mission of service to others and to enter into glory through humility. And as he emptied himself, our attachment is made so complete in him that his divineness is our consolation and with that the mind for divine reasoning is presented us. And it is in this reasoning that we are to leave ourselves behind, take up our cross, and follow him. Do not be deceived about how difficult that is. To lose oneself is directly opposed to human thinking when there is so much emphasis on self fulfilment. We are in the times when the values of society dominate all fields of human endeavor. Discussions of suffering, sacrificial service is likely to be greeted with deep suspicion if not divinely reasoned with. It is this human thinking that blocks the path in front of Jesus, rather than being his follower. The human conception of the mind leads to social inferencing. Divine reasoning embodies an extension of experience to interact with the unseen minds of God. This is termed “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. Human thinking is the generalization and indirect reflection of the essential attributes and interrelations between things, feelings and behaviors rooted in the brain, observable physical cues. But to reason with the word of God through the Holy Spirit is a broader process whereby relational character traits of the human and the divine starts from the premise that the mind is the origin of all behavior. If we be in the “our” image and the “our” likeness of the Godhead then reason says that the very core of God’s omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence must be His mind. And we are rendered candidates to have the mind of Christ. And for what reason. That we may have divine reasoning to be early arisers of understanding the intent of the purposes of God. By this is gained the capacity to view God not traditionally but intentionally. Human thinking details itself as God’s interpreters. Divine reasoning features its judgments on proof-texts, scripturally harmonious with the law and the testimony. If God can take a lowly rod and use it to open a pathway through the sea; if He can take a prophet's ass and use it to speak a message of rebuke to a wayward prophet, then what is to prevent Him from having determined to alter events presented in the gems of truth to show His entering into our realm for His people? If we say what God cannot do, when all that He does and will do, is already determined are we not limiting His omniscience and omnipotence? It is possible that originality is expressed in inspiration. Are the thoughts of God written by men? Can what is written in the spirit of prophecy be wisdom written or spoken in earlier times? Then can the method of God's providence as it has been written be more clearly and powerfully unfolded? Scripture is given by inspiration means God’s Spirit worked in men to write in their words. The words were penned, the men inspired. Now divinely reason the impact of God and Christ writing with “the finger”. Exodus 31:18 John 8:6 Human thinking does not resource spiritual awareness. Inspiration is not diminished by God using uninspired sources. The originality of truth is the weight given to every word of God as He determined it to be written. The Holy Spirit, He superintended the words and moved the men to produce the scriptures as well as the prophets to speak them. Learn to divinely reason with the word of God forsaking human thinking. You would be better attuned to the wisdom occasioned by the impact and the effectiveness of understanding the work of the Holy Spirit. Man’s intellect alone is not sufficient to discern the truths found in the word of God. The divine scheme of God’s word is to move us beyond our capacities that by His grace the redemption of the power of the mind may open our eyes to the all- encompassing reality of the boundless mystery and possibilities of God. The reality of human experience and spiritual reasoning will expose undeniable evidence that every word of God must converge into truth. Deviation from God’s truth is a reality of human thinking making one vulnerable to narrow- mindedness. Whenever we study the holy scriptures, we may be confronted with divine and human wisdom. Human thinking can be enlightened by divine grace through the gift of faith. There is a rich relationship between reason and revelation. They are positioned by conviction. The conviction that one must have an idea of God before one can have faith in God. These are compatible avenues to truth. Building the kingdom of God requires more than human thinking. Divine reasoning is our learning from a higher power. Human thinking works under the limitations of a finite mind and shares in the defects of a sinful nature. It is blinded by foregone conclusions, often dominated by pride. It misreads the facts or misapplies the logic. Note how God’s choice of reasoning is the mode of revelation. We find reasoning consistent with what is revealed in scriptural writings enhancing our relationship with God. We trust not the arm of flesh. Reason is a property of both humans and God. There we find humans reasoning with God and God reasoning with humans. And this event may be both a revelation and an exercise of reason. Divine reasoning is so spiritually insightful in that it understands that one thing is the case from the belief that one or more other things are the case. It may be deductive, inductive, or abductive. If “A” is truth and “B” is truth and “A” plus “B” equals “C”, then “C” is truth. If Ellen White is a messenger from God and God communicates with all His messengers, then we can know for truth that God communicates with Ellen White. In our seeking to learn by study, we use the method of reason. In our seeking to learn by faith, we rely on revelation. Being obedient to the heavenly decree, we seek learning by reason and by revelation. One may not understand the 4th commandment. But that one has faith in Jesus as revealed as the Son of God. And that one studies based upon what is revealed and reasons that living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God means obeying the 4th commandment with or without understanding is the truth to be obeyed. We reason out what to ask God. Yet we do not expect an answer unless we have studied the issue first. The answer will agree with the law and the testimony, the principles of the gospel. Reason prepares us for the revelation. There is no conflict. The truths of which we are aware are because God has revealed them to us and we hold these truths by faith. We know by divine reasoning that something is truth because God shows it to be truth; and we have faith that something is truth because God says it. Divine reasoning gives wisdom where God’s demonstrations are available. If God infers a thing in His reason and alters that thing as was in the counsel determined to change to influence our relationship with Him and with others it is by reason. It is implicit that God is a reasoning Being and that reasoning belongs both in human-human relations and in divine-human relations. With certainty, God’s understanding exceeds ours, but that does not prevent Him from reasoning with us in terms we understand. Now human thinking may conflict with divine reasoning when faith is not manifested. Was God willing to change based on Abraham’s cry for mercy for Sodom...did Abraham reason that the judge of all the earth is right? His divine reasoning was in defense of those who might not deserve the punishment that was due the rest. Thus, in the divine-human relation, reason may not only function as a mode of revealing God’s will, it may also serve to influence divine action in the interest of the right. Divine reasoning is a consciously deeper awakening into the wisdom from God. The perception of truth is more determined. The thinking, the reasoning process is attitudinally invested with the will of God. The expressions are continuing in the mentorship of the Holy Spirit. The approach to truth is holistic and absorbed in spirituality. The mind is powered with greater visioning purposing brilliant light from the scriptures. The abundance of understanding grows the love for the truth. Divine reasoning changes the way we think...we think with a spiritual mindset that is completely under God’s control. With that the output is as the input from the Spirit of God...divine. And having spiritual influence on those who choose to hear the word of God as though nothing could ever matter again but that which is of the Determinate Counsel in its eternal purposing. This renders our greatest source of wisdom showing in the bible’s solutions to all that challenges our searching. And we experience peace in unhindered likeness of mind with Christ. The word is brought to the graces whereby it is the book of our life. It’s the book we live with, the book we live by, the book we are willing to die for. When divine reasoning is sought in God our repentance is deep seated, our forgiveness passionate, our love dedicated, our faith is unfathomable. Difficult circumstances reveal our gratitude for God’s amazing grace. Divine reasoning becomes the relevancy to discern the essence of what is revealed in the word of God. The consistent message throughout the gospel is covenanted in the life and death of Christ. Divine reasoning accepts God’s appointed sufferings as disciplines to bring about greater spiritual mindedness. Divine reasoning is a gift. Human thinking is so limited in its reasoning, it fails to recognize how the Spirit of God is guiding us into spiritual wisdom. One aspect of the function of divine reasoning is acquiring divine image. And this derives divine character. Divine reasoning affects the whole personality. It produces peace, which is reconciliation with God and the tranquility that comes as a result. It is being in the will of God and knowing it. So, as we consider divine reasoning from the perspective of coming to understand the thought of God, we see the thinking of God as the word by God uttered that we might give place to all that is impossible to be inherently purposeful by the Determinate Counsel. We see this divine reasoning in the sacredness of human life as we encounter the Lord through his word. Faith and reason are considered to be sources of justification for conscientious belief. With divine reasoning we remove theorizing all the particulars of learned knowledge. We ascend from effects to a cause, and we descend from a cause to effects. We have an evidence altogether independent of our confidence in the veracity of human thinking. The scripture scheme of reasoning is true in the nature of things; and self-evident, so that it needs nothing besides its intrinsic verisimilitude to compel our assent to it. We are offered the view of God operating on our characters through a manifestation of His own character, in order that by leading us to participate in some measure of His moral likeness, we may also in some measure participate of His happiness. Come, let us reason together. The reasonableness consists in there being a direct and divine connection between believing every word which the bible inculcates, and a being formed by the principles, to the character, which the bible recommends. Divine reasoning removes assumptions and it harmonizes the end of ends, the arriving at the place, the situation, or the condition, as a result of a course of action of His providence, and subjects everything to it. It savors resolve through revelation rather than rejection by human thinking. Truth and right prevails while viewed in itself as it runs up to the mysteries of God. The mystery of the kingdom of God, the mystery of the wisdom of God, the mystery of His will, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the gospel, the mystery hidden for ages and now made manifest, the mystery of iniquity, the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. These measured by a divine reasoning through revelation, not by human standards. We arrange and contrast these to our understanding that we be made confidently dependent upon the Counsel’s purpose that God intends us to partake of. Without divine reasoning we are wholly ignorant of what degree of new knowledge it were to be expected God would give us by revelation, upon supposition of His affording, or how far, or in what way, He would interpose miraculously, to qualify us to whom He should originally make the revelation, for communicating the knowledge given by it; and to secure our doing it to the age in which we live, and to secure its being transmitted to posterity. It ain’t over, as divine reason enhances our belief in, and conformity to every comprehended precept. For the moral character of God is to be exhibited by impress and influence upon our minds. There is a great and important difference between human thinking and divine reasoning. Human thinking stands as an isolated, strange and unintelligible nature, and is apt even to suggest the idea, that the word holds out a premium for believing improbabilities. Divine reasoning stands indissolubly united with an act of Divine holiness and compassion, which radiates to the heart an appeal of tenderness most intelligible in its nature and object, and most compelling in its influence to reveal truth through the wisdom of God. Surely this speaks of the transcendent expediency of apprehending Christ.

20 Minutes John 14:26 This makes the Holy Spirit our living bible. He delivers the word of God to us directly at critical junctures in our lives as required. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, God has placed His word in our hearts and minds. This is the covenant, God’s promise. I John 2:20, 27 We are assigned to know the Word and how the bible is to be instrumented to introduce others to the Word. This is how God gives gifts to others through us. This is how we are assigned an ambassador for Christ. He wants us to use the bible in order to do our assignment, and to serve and benefit others. The movements, the events, the undertakings, the behaviors, the pursuits inside this book are invitations to explore our hearts and create a likeness of who we want our lives to be like. This is a profound, life changing principle that should direct every aspect of our relations with others. It is our assigned purpose, our appointed position, our ordained ministry. Our assignments are simply ways we express our love for God and serve Him. We do this not for reward. God is our reward. We wait for the full manifestation when Christ brings us home to our rightful inheritance. Numbers 18:20 The Lord fulfills our ultimate calling while we engage in our assignment. We are a witness to the entire nation that God called us to be a peculiar people whose inheritance is found in God Himself. Our focus is founded in Christ and him crucified. God gives us one word of instruction at a time. And it is not just instruction and the next step that we need, but the continuous, daily flow of instruction available to us while spending quality time in His presence. Remember how the Holy Spirit speaks to us the word of God. Acts 8:26-40 For Phillip to stay in tune with his assignment, he needed to hear the Spirit speak, and he had to diligently listen and be willing to take the next step. He was in a great revival where miracles were being performed; unclean spirits were coming out of the possessed, and the lame and the sick were being healed. The Spirit speaks and tells him he is to go to the desert. Phillip did not judge himself as any more important than God’s direction nor did he think that he was the “star” of the revival, so he was able to and chose to quickly obey. Where did Phillip find himself when he took one step forward in his assignment? No one knew where he was but God. We each have a unique assignment. We were not born to do what someone else is supposed to do and they were not born to do what we are supposed to do. We are all born with a purpose and our assignment is to follow and seek to finish that purpose before the Lord’s return. We are not a mistake. Though we are in the center of God’s will, we still face all sorts of challenges. Yet, we have divine grace to fulfill our assignment. Becoming who we were created to be is possible only through the grace, power and anointing of God. Our purpose has a heavenly origin, and therefore, it is beyond the perception of our natural senses. It transcends the boundaries of human reason and ability. We categorically need the Spirit of God to fulfill His unique assignment. We need to go through God’s process of transformation and maturation so we can be prepared to receive His anointing. To “anoint” means to endow someone with divine ability to do what they could not do according to their own nature and gifts. God purposes us to do His will. This divine anointing is not given to us arbitrarily. It is not given to us with an option to use it or not. And it is not given to us merely for our own purposes. It is granted exclusively for the fulfillment of a specific purpose, call or assignment. It is through the study of the word of God that we learn how to connect our anointing with our purpose. This is why some are more capable of reasoning the word of God for the deep revelations of truth. They do not frustrate their calling, their purpose, their assignment. It is impossible for the self to die without the anointing. It is the grace of the strength and wisdom of God. Acts 1:8 This anointing is the only place from which we can minister to others, to bless others. It is granted exclusively to fulfill the divine assignment that separates and consecrates us for a specific God-given mission in this life. Anointing is a sign of God’s equipping us to fulfill an assignment He’s given us. When God gives us an assignment, a plan, or a strategy, He is going to empower us. This unction is also proof that we are operating in the right calling. It comes to us in that place where we surrender our will, our full will, to the will of the Father. After our redemption experience, the unfolding of our divine assignment is the greatest undertaking of our lives.Our earthly influence and heavenly reward are tied to the deployment of our divine assignment. There is this certain thing we need to note about our divine assignment. It is the fact that our assignment was finished and perfected before we were created. It is now our task to find out and enter into what was finished before we were created. Bear in mind the determined assignment of Christ and how upon finding out and entering into that assignment he grew in wisdom and came to do His Father’s work. Psalms 139:15, 16 Luke 2:40, 49 Our assignment is why we are called. It is to bless the world with the worth and quality of our personhood and attract others to follow our inspiration and motivation to enter into the perfecting of the character that is Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that we are to become a better excellence of ourselves. Because we do not know how gifted and valuable we are to God until we allow God to introduce us to ourself as we can be in Jesus. May I say that our divine assignment is doing what God wants us to do; having what God wants us to have; going where God wants us to go and then becoming who God ultimately wants us to become, which is like Christ. In the journey of providence, God is calling us to love others as we go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.We must share the truth of Christ with people who don’t yet know him. In a world of people desperate for hope, we must be willing to share Jesus. God places a word in our spirit...He gives us a revelation. As our lives surround that revelation it comes to life within us. That revelation released into the world through our thoughts, our words, and our actions is our godly assignment. We listen to the Spirit of God. We make critical choices, hard decisions. We trust God to fill every void with His grace and provision as we walk in our godly assignment. God’s appointed assigment for us is exhaustive. It applies to everything under heaven. There is not a single thing that is random. All things are appointed. Further, every single thing under heaven has an appointed time. All things matter, and there is a difference in things under heaven and things under the sun. Under heaven is viewed from the divine perspective. It is God’s design. It is not vaporous. God will deploy angels on our behalf. They will be our resource for preparation, provision, and protection. Let this, I pray, be understood clearly...God has a very specific assigned task for us. We are to carry forth the proclaiming of the everlasting gospel. Please note that task is for “us”. We is “us,” and us is a group of people. But there is an even greater task at hand to which we’re assigned. Our major assignment is not to preach, to teach the gospel. This is not to say in any way that it is not important to God's work. We have to make sure that we give matters the right priorities. Proclaiming the gospel is certainly a huge and very vital part of the responsibility assigned the people of God. But God's major work is something far bigger and far more important than that. God is reproducing Himself in His called, chosen elect. Right from the beginning, God wanted to make sure that we understand where He is headed with His Word. And it took the assignment of the cross to get His people on track with His purpose. Our assignment in a broad generality is to gather His people, but it is spelled out more specifically for the individual as the mystical union with Christ...”I am crucified”. To outward appearance I live as other people do, my natural life is supported as others are; yet in Christ, there is a higher and nobler principle that supports and actuates me, that of faith in Christ, and especially as eyeing the wonders of his love in giving himself for me, giving me the assignment of transformation. II Corinthians 3:18 Philippians 1:6 We are, I am, recipient of the performance of God. Being brought back into the image of God. Not by chance, but assigned in the Determinate Counsel. This is God’s transcendent purpose. Our worth comes from a Creator who assigned a purpose to us before He created any of us. When we walk with God, it may not make things easy in our assignment, but it makes them possible. Walking with Him gives us assurance of His presence and power in our lives. Many times He will also lead us into new territory where we are surrounded by unfamiliar faces in order to teach us lessons that we couldn’t learn any other way. God’s assignments are blessings. True purpose can only be found by anchoring our lives in the character and call of God. It defines our life - not in terms of what we think but what God knows. And God knows exactly where we need to be and who we need to be with, in order to equip us for our life assignment. And He is working to get us exactly where we need to be. It's the place where our passion for our assignment meets God’s promises. What does it mean to be in alignment with God? It is when our hearts are right with God, where our spirits, souls, and bodies work together in peace and harmony. We are three- part beings; spirit, soul, and body. When we are aligned with God, the spirit rules the soul and body...our spirits are born-again. By His grace, He orchestrates every detail of our lives for the ultimate purpose of His glory. God is gathering His people and we have a significant role to fulfill in His working in us both to will and to do. We are to know our assignment in the body of Christ. Our assignment may be as simple as being kind to strangers, but it may also be serving as one sent from God to a hostile situation where we lose our life, or any number of assignments in between. Either way, God has equipped us with His spirit, He continually leads us and He will be our peace as we work out the details through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God didn’t create us to do a job for Him, He created us to be His child, plain and simple. We must step into every opportunity to love people. We must steward our love intentionally. We are to know acknowledgeably that God is our Father and Christ is our Savior and in them is our assigned purpose fulfilled.

20 Minutes Foremost in this last time God’s people who are assured of His word have purpose without apology. We are to have no diversion from the great work of preaching the word of God. God’s purpose in the world to come and His purpose in the present world are intricately intertwined. We must situate ourselves in the framework of confidence by reminding ourselves that the God of the bible is a God of purpose. And not just general purposes but specific ones. He is the supreme, strategic planner of the universe. He does nothing in a random or haphazard manner. And His purposes extend from eternity past to eternity future, encompassing not only the ultimate destiny of His creation, but our individual personal lives, as well. God called Abraham to assignment in establishing his people as the Hebrews. He later revealed Himself in a deeper way to Moses to bring His nation, Israel. God’s last day purpose is supremely set in Jesus who gave himself up that we may be commissioned to display His grace and glory in this present time. We are His workmanship, zealous for good works. We are called to the special assignment to primarily manifest the change of heart and character that comes from the new birth - the process of becoming holy in daily life through grateful, spirit-empowered obedience. We are coming to the occasion to employ all our thoughts, and cares, and time. There is the time coming where, not when, we will abandon all except what is assigned. Acts 6:2 We are assigned to glorify God. We are assigned to be like Christ. To exist to do good.To expand the kingdom of God. We must come to reason to know of the strong inner impulse toward our assigned course of action, especially as it is accompanied by conviction of divine influence. Our purpose is broad, collectively, our calling is specific, individually, because it lines up with the gifts given by God and our abilities. Calling is something more than a position. To be called is to accept and fulfill our God-given purpose.God calls us to become the persons He created us to be, and to do the things He designed us to do. He will partner with us as we prayerfully move forward. This process is a spiritual journey on an apostolic level in which we will learn new things about ourself and about our relationship with the Lord. We must realize that we are named in being called. God called the light and He named it day. He called the firmament and named it heaven. He called the dry land and named it earth. The beloved of God are called to be saints. And God says... II Chronicles 7:14 Acts 15:14 The truth is plain: God is pursuing with omnipotent delight a worldwide purpose of gathering a people for His name from every tribe and language and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the fame of His name among the nations. Do we understand what God’s word and God’s name is to do for us? Psalms 138:2 As this scripture is reasoned with, remember, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. This text is not speaking about the specific designation of God. It does not say “all thy names”. Its about the reputation of God. The word “all” makes sense. It is referring to all of God’s reputation and fame. Our assignment is “truth” and we must come to the truth in all things...all things, especially the word of God. Do you agree? Let us reason. Is “thy word” in this text referring to the bible as a whole, or is it referring to something specific that God says or promises? What is the name being praised for? Lovingkindness and truth. An unfailing loyal love, and a faithfulness, a trustworthiness and a reliability that is of God. We are learning of the promises of God...the covenant promises. God put His reputation on the line by making this astonishing, unprecedented and undeserved covenant with His people; and by keeping this covenant, He surpasses His own reputation in the world as God. God’s covenant promise is so vast that it exceeds how we have previously thought to worship Him. Please share these thoughts with me. God has put His name, His reputation on the line by giving out His Word, His promise. He has made a promise, a covenant in particular: if He were to fail to keep it, His character would be besmirched. In other words, His character is only as good as His Word. If God can’t keep His own promises, then His reputation as an omnipotent and truthful God suffers. It really is an incredible statement, and one that we frankly see worked out in our lives all the time. We know God is faithful, but the extent to which He actually keeps His promises in our lives is truly remarkable and far beyond what we could even know, let alone expect of a God with such an immutable faithfulness like His. Now I see why it is so very fundamental that verse 1 be our praise, our worship for God with all the sincerity and zeal that is within me, with uprightness of intention and fervency of affection, with all inward impressions agreeing with my outward expressions. Our assignment is to be this with all freedom and boldness in the presence of whomever, keeping always the eye of faith toward Jesus Christ, the holy temple of God. There is so much that God reveals to us by His word. God’s name...we are still in the discovery stage of who He is...but this truth is sure...God has made Himself known to us in many ways in creation and providence, but most clearly by His word. When we come to reason the revealed truth of this word, we become the chosen. Think about this...what came first, the word or the scripture? Genesis 15:1 John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the bible, and the bible was with God, and the bible was God. The bible was in the beginning with God. All things were made through the bible, and without the bible nothing was made that was made. In the beginning was Christ Jesus, and Jesus Christ was with God, and Jesus Christ was God. Christ was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Jesus Christ, and without Jesus Christ nothing was made that was made. His name is called The Word of God. His name is not called Bible. Understand wisely the power of the Word, and the assigned commission given us concerning the Word. Are we to be like the bible or are we to be like the Word? Hebrews 4:12 Certainly, this is not referring to the bible. The bible contains dead letters. It cannot discern the thoughts and intents of the readers. That is Jesus’ speciality. Jesus says: “I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.” It is Jesus, and not the bible, that is the Word of God. We are assigned to so know the word of God as to have spiritual discernment to identify Jesus in others. Too many are trying to live by the bible rather than by every word of God. Eternal life is not in the scripture. John 5:39, 40 John 6:63 But do not take exception with the bible, the written word of God. It is produced by the Holy Spirit, who works primarily, though not exclusively through holy scripture, which He uses to enlighten our minds and kindle faith in our hearts. Jesus is himself the eternal Word and could produce the mind of God without having recourse to the writings of the bible. But he puts honor upon the scripture, and, to set us an example, he appealed to what is written in the law; and he says this to Satan, taking it for granted that he knew well enough what was written. It is possible that those who are the devil's children may yet know very well what is written in God's book; the devils believe and tremble. This method we must take when at any time we are tempted to sin, or at any time we have the opportunity to witness. We rely upon the word...It is written. The full expression of the Word of God is that which we hear from God’s mouth, not read. That is why so many fail to come to the revealed truth of the word of God. The word is that which is said, is spoken. Inspiration is that which is given to the mind. Mark 14:30, 72 Jesus spoke the word. The Holy Spirit brought the word back to Peter’s mind. Romans 10:17 Faith is determined by what is revealed by hearing the word. That’s why two people may hear the same truth, but one comes away with a revelation and the other doesn’t. Who of the Godhead guides into all truth? John 16:13 The Word speaks the word. The Holy Spirit fulfills it. Isaiah 40:3 Luke 3:2-4 Matthew 3:1, 3, 13 Comfort(?) was sent to Isaiah to speak of Jesus’ coming to John. The Word came. There are some things in the scripture that God wants us to press for a revelation of His specific word. It is the Holy Spirit that gives a deep meaning to what is spoken. We are assigned to study to rightly divide the word.

7 Minutes Studying the bible matters because God matters. Studying the bible was never intended to be easy. And helping someone to learn how to determine the meaning of scripture is certainly a task that is more than often slow in its progress. God does not tell us that we must simply read the bible. We must study it and handle it correctly. Studying the scriptures is hard work. God wants you to understand what is written. Never pass over a word, or a verse without searching out what it is saying in the context of the situation. You may need to read the surrounding verses and chapters to discern the context. Try to gather the purpose for the writing of the text, and try to understand the specific issue being addressed.It’s helpful to know who wrote what is written, to whom it was written, when it was written, and why it was written. Also, take care to let the text speak for itself. Avoid assigning your own meanings to words in order to get the interpretation you desire. Find additional texts to support your understanding. It is always a good move to talk over your understanding with others who you know study scripture faithfully. God has given some the gift of teaching to help to correctly understand and obey scripture. It is always wise to study the bible with other believers, assisting each other in understanding and applying the truth of God’s Word. Let the bible explain itself; and respect the efforts of others to learn also. Most people will give up too soon when they discover that there is a struggle for certain in studying the word of God. You will struggle with what you believe. You will struggle with what you learn. You will struggle with what others try to share with you. You will struggle with what you think you know. If you do not think that understanding the word of God is important enough in your life to bring you to salvation then do not embark upon the road to learn what the bible teaches. It will prove to be too difficult for you. Time, much effort, and endurance are necessary. Ask yourself what are the things in life that are worth your time investment? How will bible study help you now and in the future? What are some things you’ve learned from bible study in the past? How has studying the bible changed and transformed your life? Learning to understand the bible through serious study is not like a fast food restaurant. If you want answers right now then you don’t want to spiritually grow in wisdom. There is no shortcut and you don’t finish the test early! Bible study is a life-long discipline. There will be seasons when you trudge along with consistency waiting for God to reveal something new that resonates with your circumstances. In those seasons remember that even a little bit of understanding and insight into scripture is better than nothing. Then there will be other times when you are like a person drinking from a waterfall. You may struggle to keep up with and remember all that you are understanding and taking in from scripture. Adjust how you take in the heaviness of the truth and open your ears and your mind, stepping out of the waterfall into the slow stream of reason and truth. Practice patience and faithfulness. With every text, every study ask yourself or permit someone else to ask you what are the little nuggets of wisdom and truth you gained from the study so far? If God is teaching you one thing from this study, what is it? What is something that you do not understand before from the bible that you would like to learn more about? Learn to taste the little bites of truth. It is okay if you need to go slower in the study or at a different pace, it is OK. If it takes a week to understand one verse it’s better than reading five chapters and understanding nothing. Reading, thinking, processing, and reflecting on what you learn and study takes time. A little at a time will help fill up your hungry soul. Don’t get discouraged. You are never behind in your understanding. You are simply allowing God to teach you at a different rhythm. A true and good bible study should always...always produce more questions than answers. Questions help you examine what you thought you knew in the past with what you are now learning as truth. And when you ask a question listen to hear what the word of God is saying to you. You are maturing. Review, reflect, and focus on the deeper knowledge, understanding, and relationship you are coming to with God in Christ. Bible study is absolutely hard! It requires time, effort, patience, the renewing of your mind, a heart to learn, and dependence on the Holy Spirit to be your counselor and guide. There is nothing the enemy would like more than to hinder your bible study through distraction, discouragement, and deceit. Remember, you are God’s and is there anything too hard for God?

20 Minutes This day we lay up treasure for ourselves in heaven, believing God's promises and identifying with God's people despite the sure affliction that will follow. God is faithful to His promises and what He promises His people; salvation, life and inheritance...eternal and incorruptible. We seek a higher excellence of worth, of a higher spiritual value than sacrifice, we seek the higher consciousness of wisdom and obedience. The more we place God's truth in our life, the more His Word works to make us more like Jesus. As we “treasure” or make God's Word a priority in our life, His Word renews our mind and keeps us. Hebrews 10:32-34 It is in this time that God is preparing us for an exceptionally exclusively uniquely superior individual piece of work to be undertaken. Our preparation must be with obedience by faith for both the transforming and the conforming of God’s process in this season of growth. Romans 8:29; 12:2 True transformation is not something that we accomplish by anything that we do. True transformation is solely a work of God brought about by Him renewing our minds with truth. This renewal goes far beyond just merely memorizing bible verses and bible knowledge. Bible study may increase our knowledge of the word, but knowledge alone will not transform us. We must have a wisdom-based spirituality into the likeness of Christ. Transformation is an inner work of the Spirit, revealing the truth of who and what we already are in Christ, resulting in the outflow of the fruit of His Spirit. Spiritual transformation refers primarily to a fundamental change in the character of the person seeking sacredness in the significance in life, and secondarily to a fundamental change in the pathways the individual takes to overcome fear. There is incredible power in a fear. It is always insidious, subtle. Fear is a spiritual influence that has a mission to deceive you by blocking the belief of God’s Word and promises from entering your mind. The spirit of fear opposes faith and robs you of joy and peace. It enslaves you with tormenting thoughts about...!! Fear comes from past experiences and false messages to deceive you, hoping you will come into agreement with what is opposed to truth. If you are operating in a spirit of fear, you have a fixed mindset that resists restoration and renewing. A fixed mindset pushes back on Spirit-led instructions to reason with what is revealed. Fear darkens our performing the right for God. When you waver in a point of choice between opinion and truth you will say not a word. You must allow the sword of God to cut to the heart to reveal His truth. God has not given us a spirit of fear! You must allow the Holy Spirit to wash over your mind, will, and emotions. Fear offers that defining moment for you to resist the wiles. Ask God what is this moment determined for. You will never rise above your fear until God becomes the strength in your life. You must know that the Spirit of God is always at work within you, restoring and renewing His Holy Temple—which is your body. When we know this truth in our hearts, we will transform accordingly. The Lamb was for the taking away of sins, the Lion is the conquering resurrected. Transformation brings about the effortless expression of Christ in us through the manifestation of the sacred character in this significant life lived in the perfect will of God. God desires that we move beyond the intellectual accumulation of truth to that which passes knowledge. I Timothy 2:4 This is a first-hand experience through relationship. When we encounter Christ through the Spirit and he grants us his truth, we will immediately, spontaneously, and experientially know this truth with our heart and be transformed by it. We’ve been in prayer. We’ve been listening to good teaching. We’ve learned more through reasoning with God than ever we thought we’d gain. God was growing our confidence. God has a unique design for each of our lives. And because He is a God of mystery, our time of preparation and our season of growth will be unlike that of anyone else. We may need more godly teaching and scriptural revelation. We may need to get in better physical shape. We may require spiritual growth and insight. We may need to mature emotionally. Whatever it is we need to do, some of it will be done with the help of others, but most of it will be done in private. For some of us solitude will not be our favorite pastime. But remember whose business it is that we do. We can rest in the knowledge that God is in control, His timing is perfect, and He doesn’t make mistakes. He is preparing us to handle valleys. When scripture after scripture begins ripping through your soul, know in the depths of your heart that the Lord is preparing you for something. Through you, God’s infinite power and worth will be made known so that He gets all the praise. God’s most used tool is trial. We know that the Triune minds of the Determinate Counsel have not announced a change in strategy. We’ve reasoned to such a heavenly height of understanding until we are wise to see the massive implications on our life because we desire to be used by God for His glory. We are recipients of the wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord confirmed by the Holy Spirit. Acts 14:22 It is so critical that we do not have a downward spiral in our spiritual walk. We will repeatedly face pressure to disregard our God-graced standards. To stand alone in an evil day we must walk with God. Standing alone is necessary because we will not bow down or give in or be persuaded to do anything contrary to God's will. We do this by filling our life with truthfulness, righteousness, peace and faith. The word of God is telling us that the world is corrupt, filled with violence. The people view themselves as progressive; but God views them as putrid. Saturate yourself with the word of God every way you can. God will have many to stand alone. Elijah felt like he stood totally alone when he confronted the eight hundred and fifty priests and prophets of Baal. He was not aware of the 7,000 who had not bowed their knee to Baal. What God asked Noah to do was incredible. But no matter how difficult, how illogical, how costly, you will need complete obedience to walk alone with God. If you find yourself alone for the sake of righteousness, whatever you do, don't give up. God is right there with you. In every generation, God is looking for Daniels, for Esthers, men and women who are not careful to answer in truth, who understand the truths of scripture and have purposed to uphold them, to obey them, regardless of the cost. These have courage and confidence in someone greater than the emotion of fear. When you choose to stand alone, you can greatly influence others and bring glory to God. Even a child can stand alone for truth, if he has this confidence in the Lord and His Word. Daniel 1:3-6, 17 All those who will stand alone will not experience miraculous interventions. You must count the cost when you choose to stand alone. When you choose to obey God regardless of the cost, the suffering, the sacrifice can be very great. We must turn to God for the grace and strength to face whatever may come. But to stand alone, you must know the truth, you must know God’s word. Reason is what we use to determine what God's revelation is. Once God's revelation is found, it becomes the authority. Reason is the faculty of the mind through which we can logically come to rational conclusions. Once this occurs, parts which previously could not be reached by knowledge alone can and should be accepted. God calls us to this place of isolation because He has something to teach us there. There are very important realities to be aware of in order to stand alone for the truth, the word of God. You will be brought to transparency. You must be divinely sanctioned. You will be in the consciousness of truth. There will be no worse place, no worse time ever before known. Utmost brutality will be the standard practice. Slaughter will be common, even for those who are promised their lives if they surrender. Religious hatred will make things even worse. Difficult times are before us. We will suffer financial loss, family loss, and physical suffering. The anonymity and animosity of once thought friends will be caused against us. Though right and reason will be on our side, unfair representations will be constant. I Samuel 17:29 God will have a people willing to stand alone for the sake of closing out the time, for His salvation is close at hand and His righteousness will soon be revealed. If not so,...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Making the choice to stand alone for God begins with your willingness and readiness to adjust your current mindset. You must be prepared to respond to problems, criticism, truth, exhaustion, excitement, expectations, disappointments, hunger, poverty, love, laughter, accusations, manipulation, sorrow, sin, tension, distrust, redemption, rejection, legalism, ritualism, religion, hypocrisy, happiness, joy, and you will learn love and servitude. To do this ask yourself today, am I in the best place to work out my own salvation? We must be learning now to stand alone. Galatians 6:4, 5 Here is the question you must ask of yourself when you see God’s principles being violated. Am I not taking a stand because I need the approval of others...because I fear being reprimanded...because I fear breaking rank...because I am afraid to take a stand for what is right in God’s eyes... Have you ever had the opportunity to take a stand for God’s word and didn’t...preferring to be silent? Daniel could have closed the windows to his chambers. Today may be the only opportunity to take a stand for God’s truth; you may never have another chance. Let’s think of standing alone in this manner...will we have to stand alone? Will the circumstances be such that we have no choice but to stand alone or lose our salvation? There be some who have already failed the test that God sent to them. If they would only repent now and cry out to God. Please do not seek to be independent because of a pride thing. Self-sufficient posture is not taking a stand for the truth of God. Standing alone means that we fully represent God’s way, especially when others fail to do so. From where does this strength and faith come? From where does this courage and determination to stand alone come? From a pure faith and trust in the plan of God. That God’s word will be fulfilled...it is being worked out in us. It is an outstanding privilege for God’s people to be able to fellowship in peace, unity and truth. However, God calls upon each one of us in times of crises, in times when a turning point for reasoning through truth must be taken, to stand up and be counted, even if we must stand alone! It’s by God’s designed determination. Sometimes opposition happens simply because there are unreasoning people in life. Sometimes resistance from another is a sign that the enemy’s toe has been stepped on. When your reasoning proves the truth of God use this as confirmation that you’re on the path God set for you. You may get weary because you have sincere concern for those who choose ignorance but don’t quit, stand strong. Ask God to take care of those who oppose learning. Many will not stand because of human nature. It is a survival instinct to avoid conflict. Faith must be based on truth, not emotion. Be even more intentional in your love for truth. Pray and post a guard at your heart that you not be woven in silken threads. Standing alone will at times mean setting up relational boundaries. Standing alone is better than changing who you are so you can please others. Standing alone means you may see friends become strangers. Watch your low walls, that no place of breaches be exposed. Remember, we will have tribulation in this world. But faith does not need support to stand alone. We stand by faith in God’s word, and it is designed to be a stand-alone faith. Faith in God is faith in God’s word, not faith in our faith. Our standing alone infers that our breath of prayer arises from our life of faith. One word is enough to cause us to endure hardship, stand in a storm, stay encouraged in a down time. It is God’s attention toward us. God is going to call for an accounting. If you fail to stand alone in obedience to the word of wisdom no amount of knowledge, no amount of testimony, will save you. It is as though you depart from the living God. Our righteousness is to surpass that of the scribes. Please let us not struggle to be authentic in our striving. Why pretend that there is an always happiness to the heart when underneath there is great compunction and sorrow for the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world. We must be real in our love for God, for others. We thank the Lord for the power that we have when we stand together. But we are going to have to stand alone because we’re twice- born people in a world of once-born people. You will experience a spiritual pain when you stand alone for God. It is putting God first in everything and that includes suffering for the sins against God for those who have no hope of ever having a relationship with God or of pleasing Him. We will stand alone for the consideration of bearing the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves, that these may be drawn to Christ. Our standing alone is for this prevailing reason...for Christ’s sake and the disgust and contempt for sin! We stand alone for God as the distinct transaction that has been completed in Christ. Christ paid our debt. If Christ served in that dread warfare for me as my substitute, how can it be that I should myself not be determined to the edge of the sword. And if we stand alone in Christ, for Christ, payment for God’s justice cannot be demanded of us; justice will not expect the same debt to be twice paid. We stand victoriously in life or in death, not to take the place of Christ, but because of Christ, we are acceptable to God. We stand alone by grace alone in faith alone. Grace alone means that God loves, forgives, and saves us not because of who we are or what we do, but because of Christ. Faith alone is that given by God to us that will enable us to stand alone, to suffer. The bible says we are to stand. We will have to stand alone for those who resist the wisdom of God. What a stand alone example was Stephen. This brother, speaking with wisdom and being full of faith and the Holy Ghost saw Jesus standing. He couldn’t help but stand before kneeling. Please reason with this truth...we want the Holy Spirit to do more than abide in us, we want the Holy Spirit to preside in us. Stephen reviewed bible history and it was not just in his knowledge, it was his wisdom why the church people stoned him. Would there have been a Saul/Paul had Stephen not stood alone? God has entrusted us with faculties that we may not faint in the hour of temptation, of trial, nor be overcome in the time of persecution. To stand alone is a revelation of your true spiritual condition. Your standing alone will place you under much provocation. We are to temper our speech and guard against the danger of misconstruction so as to never show any weakness in the purpose of the word of God. The biblical implication is that those who stand firm to the end despite incitements to do otherwise, are showing that they are genuine children of God who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. These will be the ones who will stand alone...they are the few. Let us study the word of God reasoning with every word, every verse, to glean the more relevant truths. We have to know what we believe and why we believe, so that when the challenges come, we will stand firm in our faith. We must be fully persuaded on every truth. The Sea of Galilee flows out into the river Jordan bringing life to the arid desert. Eventually, the river reaches its end as it flows into the Dead Sea, a place devoid of life. We can’t be content to just go with the flow if our life is hid with Christ in God. How important is the truth to us? To what height are we willing to stand alone to defend it? We are to appeal to God in a very solemn matter as to the truth of all that He has spoken. It ain’t over...we all will stand. What’s your account? Romans 14:7-10