Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

What did Jesus accomplish on His cross? The light that will yet “lighten the earth with glory” (cf. Rev. 18:1-4) will make it clear to every honest heart. It’s a self-humbling truth that is cataclysmic.

 

In John 12:47 He said He didn’t come to pronounce condemnation on the world, “but to save the world.” “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). So the Father sent Him to save the world; that was His allotted task.

 

In 17:4 He claims He accomplished the work the Father gave Him to do. He did not say, Father, I tried to save the world, I did the best I could do, but they wouldn’t let me do it! I gave everybody the offer of salvation, but the majority wouldn’t have it! Sorry!

 

No, He said, “Father,.... I have finished the work which You have given Me to do,” I brought it to completion. And in His last breath on His cross He said, “It is finished, ” the work is done, complete. To that last breath He had “condemned sin in the flesh,” said “No!” to self, as our “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45); He had reversed what the fallen “first Adam” did to the human race, and transformed his legal condemnation into a legal “verdict of acquittal” (cf. Rom. 5:15-18, NEB). Christ built a bridge over the chasm sin had made for the human race, and rejected the most awful temptation Satan could invent—the temptation to despair when He felt the curse of God to its uttermost, “My God,.... You have forsaken Me!” (read Psalm 22 all the way through—there’s the story!). For every human soul Jesus made despair unnecessary and obsolete.

 

He (a) “saved the world,” or (b) He only tried to? Let’s believe Him when He tells us what He did.

 

And if He did, then He saved you—five things, says Paul in Ephesians 1: “blessed” you, “chose” you, “predestinated” you, “adopted” you, “made [you] accepted in the Beloved” (vss. 3-6). The “us” means the whole world, you. When at the Jordan John baptized Jesus, the Father proclaimed Him “My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; fine). But you must believe that He also threw His arms around you! You can resist and reject all that He did for you through the awful sin of unbelief. Respond to Him, thank Him! Pray, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Something unusual has just been published in our small town local newspaper: a high schooler in English class wrote a piece about the love which is agape! It’s entitled, “Time to express some selfless love”:

 

“While sitting in English class.... we were discussing a recent boiler topic..... It seemed the whole class agreed that there really is no deed that is.... selfless..... No act done by man is ever unselfish..... [But] there are rare occasions where completely unselfish and self-sacrificing acts of kindness are performed.... agape..... It seems that people who donate to the Salvation Army their clothes do it more for the tax write-off rather than.... this selfless love [which] is extremely rare..... But that does not make it non-existent..... Acts of agape love do not have to be a big deed that is almost miraculous-like.” (This girl learned about agape from C. S. Lewis.) But she didn’t tell us where to learn agape!

 

John says that no one who has not learned to love with agape could be happy in heaven, because he doesn’t “know God” (cf. 1 John 4:7, 8, 17; at the gate of the New Jerusalem we’ll be asked one question—have you learned to love with agape?). Agape love has been revealed and demonstrated to the world in Jesus (vs. 9). Salvation does not depend on us loving God with agape, but on our receiving His agape into our empty hearts (vs. 10; Rom. 5:5). Peter wisely declined to claim that he loved Christ with agape (cf. John 21:15-17, Greek). What’s important in God’s sight is for us to love somebody else, not Him, with agape (1 John 4:11, 20)!

 

Paul prayed for us that we might “comprehend.... the width and length and depth and height [of] the agape of Christ” (Eph. 3:14-19). Those are the dimensions of Christ’s cross! Do the “comprehending” (one writer suggests it takes an hour a day to “behold”), and the agape love will “constrain” you to selfless living which brings honor to Jesus (2 Cor. 5:13-15). It doesn’t have to be so rare!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The story of Saul, the first king of Israel, next to that of Judas Iscariot, is the saddest in the Bible. The problem was initially the fault of the people. They had demanded of God that He give them a king like all the nations around them. God selected the best man available in the nation. The prophet Samuel anointed him, and all went well for a time. He proved to be politically and militarily a success.

 

When the Lord directed him to take a step that would establish Israel forever a secure nation, that is, to annihilate the Amalekites, King Saul disobeyed, and lied. Patiently, the Lord tried to help him, but he became stubbornly rebellious. Then the Lord did the most terrible thing He can do to any man or woman—backed off and left Saul to himself. Sent no lightning bolt from heaven to destroy him, just turned His back and walked away.

 

But God could not forsake Israel. They needed a king whom the Lord could be with, so He instructed Samuel to anoint young David.

 

Saul yielded his soul to become insanely jealous, and “the anointed of the Lord” persecuted young David. But he still respected Saul as such. (David believed what wise men say today, “if you can’t respect the man respect the office he holds.”) A few people believed in David and supported him; but the youth bore a heavy burden: Why was “the anointed of the Lord” against him? Could it be that the Lord also was against him? Had he misinterpreted Samuel’s very humble “anointing”? Could he trust the “Spirit of prophecy” of his day when absolutely everything was stacked against him?

 

David’s nadir came at Ziklag in a disaster that seemed to say he was totally forsaken of the Lord. His own few men talked of stoning him (see 1 Samuel 30). The Lord had to let David suffer being apparently forsaken, else he would never have been able to write Psalm 22! The Lord did appear to leave him; but in his anguish, David did the right thing—which you and I must do: “David encouraged himself in the Lord” (1 Sam. 30:6). In principle, it’s what the future “Lamb’s wife” will do when she “makes herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb.” It’s something the Lamb cannot do for her, and this was something the Lord could not do for David at Ziklag. There was a choice David himself had to make, something to do himself—believe!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

It’s one of those early mornings when I cannot sleep; wish I could. But the story (parable) of the Good Shepherd is on my empty heart (Luke 15:3-7). It’s raining and it’s cold, nice to snuggle up in a warm bed; the office is outdoors, but finally I get up and go out and pray, “Father in heaven, please fill my empty heart by ‘pouring in’ afresh the agape-love of Christ for I don’t have a drop left from yesterday (Rom. 5:5). Grant me a morsel of “the bread of life” that I can share with some unknown “friend of mine on his journey” (I don’t know who, far out there around the world) “is come to me..... and I have nothing to set before him” (Luke 11:6; it’s not literal “midnight,” but a little past). Let me be a lowly pipe through which a few drops of “the water of life” can flow to a thirsty heart (John 7:38).

 

The Good Shepherd keeps seeking for His lost sheep “until He finds it” (Luke 15:4). That’s up to when he/she takes that last breath; the lost one may be entangled in hopeless briars and underbrush and has long given up any thought of being “found.” The Shepherd braves the storm, the darkness, the precipices, Himself wounded in His searching; what the lost “sheep” needs to do is just cry in the darkness—He will and must hear. You can’t free yourself, you are hurt; but you must do the most difficult thing you’ve ever done in your whole life—you must believe (1) He loves you with a seeking, never-giving-up- love that is divine, (2) that “this man receives sinners”—you.

 

You must believe He actively forgives you; He was “made to be sin for you who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), He has “chosen” and “adopted” and actually “predestinated” you to be saved eternally (Eph. 1:4, 5). The thunder rolls through the mountains and the lightning flashes, but the Shepherd cannot go home to rest until He brings you with Him.

 

Think about Him instead of yourself; He needs a little joy—forget your own. Give Him the joy of “calling together His friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep that was lost.” Somehow in the process it will rub off on you, “Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matt. 25:21).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

We are soon to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The Smithsonian Magazine of course has run a special. An article tells about the heroic efforts of Frank Leach and his workers who had water and hoses and managed to save the U. S. Mint when vicious flames melted the window glasses and started eating on the woodwork inside. All the gold in the basement was saved, and the great building (the granite was popping due to the intense heat).

 

But that’s not the point of this little article. Yes, “a city of 400,000 was flattened by a wallop of nature,” the Katrina of that generation. “An estimated 3000 people died as a direct or indirect result of the quake and the fires that followed. More than half of San Francisco’s residents were left homeless.” The Smithsonian article also rivets home a gospel truth.

 

A tiny group of survivors plan to celebrate, come the centennial. Frances Duffy, 11 months old at the time, appreciates her good fortune. My belief system, she says, “is that if you can survive something like that, the rest of life is gravy.” That’s our point today.

 

The fact that you can read these words is evidence that you have survived something whereas others, just as worthy, did not. Every one of us is a survivor of the death that is “the wages of sin” (Rom. 6:23). If the Father had not loved “the world” and given His Son to take upon Himself its “wages” of death, we would all be in an eternal grave now.

 

Wise, thoughtful people, pause in life’s busy tempo and ponder that. For them, “the rest of life is gravy.” No matter what our pain or affliction might be, it takes on a meaning that invests life with heart-lifting joy. We are co-laborers with the Son of God, partakers with Him of His sufferings (1 Peter 4:13). The little group of centenarians who will celebrate April 18 at 5:12 a.m. can teach us all to celebrate the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by yielding our lives and all we have to Him who died for us. Living such a life “henceforth” is “gravy” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Bible is clear: there are three people from Old Testament times who are in heaven today: (1) Enoch, who “was translated that he should not see death” (Heb. 11:5) for he had “walked with God” (Gen. 5:24). (2) Moses, who was almost translated but who had to die on Mt. Nebo but was specially resurrected by “Michael, the archangel [Christ]” (Jude 9). (3) Elijah, who was also translated without seeing death (2 Kings 2:11). All the others in OT times who died are “asleep” in their graves awaiting the first or second resurrections. Some were resurrected when Christ was resurrected (Matt. 27:52, 53).

 

Moses and Elijah were sent on that special mission to converse with Jesus before His crucifixion (Matt. 17:1-5).

 

But why is Elijah, and not Moses or Enoch, sent to “us” before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5, 6)? Ancient Israel was the corporate “body” of Christ in Elijah’s day and they had fallen into a grievous apostasy without knowing it; the True Witness” says modern Laodicea (also the corporate “body of Christ”) has also unknowingly fallen into a serious state of “you know not” your true condition before God and before the universe—a condition of pitiable “nakedness” of soul (Rev. 3:14-21).

 

Elijah had had a unique experience of contending with the Baal worship of Ahab’s day; it seems obvious that the Lord has sent “the prophet Elijah” to lead out in our struggle today with modern Baal worship. This struggle is unmasked in the message of the three angels of Revelation 14:6-12 that prepare a people to meet the final test of the mark of the beast and the close of probation.

 

Whether Elijah will direct this struggle personally, we cannot say; the message of John the Baptist accomplished that same work just before the coming of Christ the first time. Now, just before His second coming, the same bold exposure of Baal worship must be proclaimed—“come out of [Babylon], My people,” God says. “Elijah” will be loyal to the church, but loyalty also requires fidelity to truth, humbling as it may be. Let’s be sure we know the Holy Spirit personally, how to recognize His presence, and how to tell when He is absent.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

 

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: <dailybread@1888message.org>

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The essence of that “most precious message” which “the Lord in His great mercy sent” to us at one time long ago was the New Covenant” (NC). And the idea which the “messengers” had was that the NC is the promises that God makes in transforming the Ten Commandments from stern commands and prohibitions written in stone into most precious promises of righteousness in Christ. Conversely, the Old Covenant (OC) is the promises that we make to God to keep those Ten Commandments, which promises we break.

 

The NC makes life to be a joyous walking on air; “delight thyself also in the Lord [believe His promises!], and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4, for example. Over night? You have enough God-given common sense to know how that may not be reality because you see that Abraham is “[your] father” in believing the NC, and how long did he wait before the Lord’s promise to him of Isaac, the child of promise, was fulfilled? Yes, many years—BUT the apparently impossible fulfillment came! The Lord gave him “the desires of [his] heart”! And the long wait was worth it because of the immensity of the promise—Abraham became “the father of the faithful” of all generations! Everyone who at last will walk through the gates of the New Jerusalem will do so as a “child of Abraham.”

 

God’s timing will be just right for you as it was just right for Abraham. It may be a dream from your youth; the holy desire of your heart is His desire for you! “Grow up” “into Christ.” Come into the sunshine of the NC.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The prophet Malachi was as much inspired by the Holy Spirit in his little four chapters as the prolific prophets, as Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. His burden was family “heart”—pure and holy love of one true man for one true woman. Twice in 2:2 he rebukes the priests for their hardness of heart, their resistance of holy love; they do not “lay it to heart.” In 2:14-16 he rebukes them for marital infidelity, the heart-corruption that underlies adultery: “The LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously. Yet she is your companion, and your wife by covenant..... Take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.”

 

He is not talking about multiple love affairs in youth, like bees sampling all the flowers. One torrid “relationship” after another is not the “love which we receive from Jesus.” The love of a pure man for one woman in youth is so intense that it is impossible for him to even think of adultery (or fornication!), or to be unfaithful; no other woman in all the world can entice him. The “love which we receive from Jesus” is so strong, says the Song of Solomon, that impurity or infidelity is impossible. “Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me” (8:6, GNB). For the one who appreciates the love of Christ, the seventh commandment has become a promise—your love is locked in by the much more abounding grace of Christ. You simply cannot crucify Christ afresh; His love (agape) has constrained you to live “henceforth” unto Him who died for you and rose again (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). If you walk with the Spirit, you cannot do the evil things that your sinful nature would prompt you to do (Gal. 5:15-17).

 

Malachi’s concern for “heart” purity is seen again in his idea of what “Elijah” will do—”turn the hearts” of fathers and children (4:5, 6). That never-ending blessing through the decades is wrapped up in the first, pure love of “youth”! Malachi says God intends it to last forever.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Will Elijah’s message when he comes bear any relation to the “mark of the beast” that is also yet to come? Yes! It will be the message of Elijah that will enrage those who want to enforce the “mark of the beast.”

 

Elijah will proclaim the message of the “seal of God,” the antidote to the “mark of the beast.” As we read in Revelation 14:1-15, it is the “seal of God,” “the Father’s name written in their foreheads,” that distinguishes the 144,000 who “follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes.” They are obviously those in the seventh church of Laodicea who have “overcome even as [Christ] overcame” and are seated with Him “in [His] throne” (3:21). They share with Him executive authority in bringing to a close the great controversy.

 

Elijah’s message will be controversial, not that he wants to stir up controversy, but the truth arouses opposition. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had sent emissaries all over their world asking each nation’s State Department to certify that Elijah was not hiding in their political domains. Baal worship was a highly sophisticated counterfeit of the true gospel that deceived Israel; but its true character was displayed in the persecuting spirit it produced.

 

Was Elijah intimidated by the bitter opposition he faced? Yes, and no; after Mt. Carmel, yes—Jezebel scared him into running for his life. At Mt. Carmel, no. He was a man of like passions as ourselves! Jesus has commanded us, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Over and over, God’s word has reiterated that message. In your human heart and in mine, the great controversy is being fought out, and we are all “of like passions” as was Elijah. There is one secret place where we overcome fear: kneeling ALONE with Jesus in Gethsemane, where we permit the Holy Spirit to “pour” into our selfish, worldly hearts the gift of love (agape; Rom. 5:5).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The very last words of the great Old Testament (944 pages in my Bible compared with only 285 in the New) give us hope. The LORD Jehovah (Yahweh, Yakweh—no one seems sure how to pronounce the sacred name) promises to send us “Elijah the prophet” on a blessed mission of reconciling hearts that are estranged. (We wish the people in Iraq would welcome Elijah; and our nation of 50 “united” states could also enjoy some welcome political reconciliations just now.)

 

But tucked in there as our very last Old Testament phrase is this ominous word from the LORD: “Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Mal 4:6). On the surface it appears to be a terrible threat of severe divine retribution if we treat the returning Elijah as Ahab’s and Jezebel’s Israel treated him long ago. The Lord appears to cap the Old Testament off with a final thunder appeal to raw fear—“straighten up or else!”

 

If we do a little research in the Old Testament about a “curse” and the suffering land, we come up with an interesting truth: whatever “curse” comes on the land is the direct result of the sin and rebellion of the people—not an arbitrary act of personal vengeance on the part of God. In a consistent pattern in the Bible, He takes the blame for evil that He does not (or cannot) prevent in this world of sin. He even takes the blame for the death of His Son, Jesus (see Isaiah 53:10, “yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief,” yet we know well that it was the scribes and Pharisees who tortured and murdered Him!).

 

There is an extended essay in 24:1-6ff about how to understand what appears to be a “curse [from the Lord that] has devoured the land.” The picture appears to be a dramatic divine temper tantrum of “scattering abroad the inhabitants of the land” and turning the poor earth upside down, etc., when in reality the truth is that “the earth is defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws,.... broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth....”

 

Stop and do a little thinking. “Elijah” is here; he wants to save us from destroying ourselves! Let’s listen. I remember a godly physician in my childhood telling us, “There are more blessings in God’s curses than in man’s benedictions.”

 

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The promise of God that millions are pondering this week is the coming of that same “Elijah the prophet” who once turned the nation of Israel upside down. He is nothing, unless he turns the world church upside down again! There will be no fence straddling when he comes, no procrastination; there will be final decisions made within the church for heaven or for hell. His challenge long ago will ring again: “If the LORD (Jehovah) is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow Him” (1 Kings 18:21).

 

God’s solemn promise says that Elijah will “turn the hearts” of His people; he will not scare them into a temporary emotional response before they partake of a lush Sabbath dinner; “he will turn.... hearts”! He will not keep saying over and over, “we must be more faithful, we must read our Bible more, we must pray more, we must do more missionary work, we should witness more, we should watch fewer soap operas, spend less time at sports, we should watch our diet more, etc., etc.” For the first time since Pentecost long ago, “Elijah” will make possible a full demonstration of what happened at Pentecost—only in even greater effectiveness. “Elijah’s” message will coincide with the “other angel’s” message that “lightens the earth with glory” (Rev. 18:1-4). He will “turn HEARTS”! Elijah’s message will not be an Old Covenant demand, but a New Covenant enabling. It will not be Mt. Sinai, but Mt. Carmel—a body of God’s people whose heart is “turned.”

 

Let us pray that the new series of Lessons that now begins, on the Holy Spirit, will be a significant step toward what will glorify the sacrifice of the Son of God for His people. We don’t want to say goodbye to you, Elijah; we want you to work!  It’s time.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

This week is special for millions of Christians around the world who as a corporate body are devoting personal study to the last promise God made in the Old Testament—to send “Elijah the prophet” just before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (the second coming of Christ, Mal. 4:5).

 

Elijah is one of a special club of three in which membership is unique: the first is Enoch, who “was translated that he should not see death.... because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). The second is Moses who had to come under the dominion of death, but was granted a special resurrection (Jude 9). And Elijah was the third—also translated without dying. So these three humans dwell somewhere in the vast universe as special guests of heaven. (The vast numbers of those who have “died in Christ” sleep until the resurrection.)

 

Elijah and Moses share the immense honor of being sent by the Father on a special mission for interview with the Lord Jesus shortly before He had to face the horror of His cross (Matt. 17:1-5). Moses and Elijah shared something in common with Jesus—both surrendered their souls to self being “crucified with Christ.” Moses loved backsliding Israel so intently that he asked (seriously!) to have his name blotted out of God’s Book of Life if God would not or could not save Israel (cf. Ex. 32:30-33).

 

Elijah knew the indescribable thrill of confronting apostate Israel on Mt. Carmel and praying for fire to fall and consume his sacrifice. From that stratospheric moment of exaltation, he descended to pray a prayer like that of Moses: “He prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!’” (1 Kings 19:4). Utter despair akin to that of Christ as He hung on His cross in darkness of soul! This was not Elijah’s selfish desire to sleep until the resurrection; as with Moses, it was love for sinful Israel that constrained him, like Jesus to “pour out his soul unto death” (Isa. 53:12) in prayer for God’s people—the real thing, the second death. The two alone could understandably encourage the Savior on the Mount of Transfiguration to face that same death in His sacrifice of Himself for us. We thank our Lord for His giving Himself for us; thank you, Moses and Elijah, for encouraging Him!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

It sounds impossible, but Jesus actually said it: the Father has hidden precious truth from “the wise and prudent” people! They may weary themselves in their search for it, to no avail. It’s a warning to us common, lowly people, not to let them do our thinking for us.

 

The context was Jesus “upbraiding the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.” Their refusal to repent gives us a clue to this apparently impossible prayer Jesus prayed: “I thank You, Father,.... because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes” (Matt. 11:20, 25). Wise and prudent people find it difficult to humble themselves. They gravitate toward becoming prophets of Baal. Heart-melted repentance is the only appropriate human response to Christ unveiling Himself in His revelations of truth. When the Holy Spirit meets the wall of arrogant human resistance, He humbly withdraws Himself and leaves the “wise and prudent” to patter on, unconsciously devoid of His presence.  The common people are bewildered, for they naturally detect that the Emperor has no clothes on. “The [vociferous] labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, for he knoweth not how to go to the [Holy?] city” (Eccl. 10:15, KJV).

 

Paul tells the lowly, humble people, “You see your calling,.... that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things.... to put to shame the wise,.... and the base things and.... despised God has chosen,.... that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor. 1:26-28). If you are one of the “common people” who hears Jesus “gladly” (Mark 12:37), don’t “glory” over the “wise” and “noble.” Be humble; the Father’s rejection of them is not total—just of “many.” They can repent if they will listen. If you were “wise” or “noble” you might be proud, too. Thank God we common people can welcome a mode of repentance always.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: <dailybread@1888message.org>

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There are some very bad people in the world, rulers who have done great evil to their people and have threatened the world. It is popular to hate them; and unless one does hate them it is possible that some will consider that he is not “patriotic.”

 

But we have a problem with the words of Jesus, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies,.... do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:43, 44).

 

Is that hopelessly wrong political and military wisdom?

 

Are we to say that there are some people so very bad that Christ did not die for them? That John 3:16 does not include them (“whosoever....”)? One of the world’s most autocratic and cruel rulers was Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; but because God had a few loyal and truly converted young people who had learned the gospel, God was able to convert that cruel, unfeeling ruler (Daniel 4). Something they did and said had touched his heart hard as granite and he was changed.

 

God told His people that “fear and dread” would “fall” on the unbelieving Egyptians (Ex. 15:16), and “I will send My fear before you.... among all the people” (23:27). God will send “four angels” to “hold” the terrible hatred of the enemies of God if His people will proclaim to the world His “sealing” message (cf. Rev. 7:1-4). It was surely God’s will that the new nation of America with their Constitution that guaranteed freedom and liberty of conscience should command something worldwide akin to that “fear of you and dread.” That does not mean that very bad people would necessarily be converted, but the Bible picture is clear that the demonstration of the truth of God can have a sobering effect on evil people in the world.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: <dailybread@1888message.org>

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The true gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thoroughly Good News this dark world has. Every human being is by nature a descendant of the fallen head of the human race—Adam; the Bible calls that fallen nature “the flesh.” The “works” or “fruit” of the flesh is an endless catalog of evil that always ends in misery.

 

But Paul dares to tell us in Galatians that if we have chosen to give ourselves to Christ and to “walk with the [Holy] Spirit,” He will hold us by the hand so we won’t stumble into those allurements of sin, even though our sinful nature would push us into it. “Ye cannot do the [evil] things that ye would” (5:16-18).

 

One of those alluring temptations is fornication or adultery. “The lips of another man’s wife may be as sweet as honey and her kisses as smooth as olive oil, but when it is all over, she leaves you nothing but bitterness and pain. She will take you down to the world of the dead” (Prov. 5:3-5).

 

BUT.... Proverbs gives you the same Good News that Galatians does (“wisdom” is Christ, cf. 1 Cor. 1:24): “Wisdom.... will provide you with life—a pleasant and happy life. You can go safely on your way and never even stumble..... The Lord will keep you safe [from sin!]. He will not let you fall into a trap” (3:21-26). “Your insight and understanding will protect you, and prevent you from doing the wrong thing” (2:11, 12, GNB). Same as Paul’s Good News!

 

When life is over, you will take not an iota of credit to yourself. You will gladly confess, “By grace [I] have been saved through faith, and that not of [myself]. IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD” (Eph. 2:8, 9). Isaiah reminds us, “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord” (54:17, KJV).

 

Believe that today, and your heart will overflow with gratitude. You’ll have heaven on earth.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: <dailybread@1888message.org>

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Galatians 5:16, 17 has spiritual nuclear energy within it. It says that if we have made the choice to walk with the Holy Spirit and let Him hold us by the hand (isn’t that what baptism is?), He strives night and day 24/7 against our fallen, sinful “flesh,” our sinful nature. Yes—personally, individually. The result? The text says we “cannot do the things that [we] would.”

 

There are two ways we can read that: (a) we cannot do the GOOD things the Holy Spirit prompts us to do. (Is that good news?) If the mighty power of the Holy Spirit is striving against our “flesh” and we still can’t do the good things we’d like to do, that looks like the worst BAD news we could imagine. That would mean that sin is stronger than God. In other words, He has lost the great controversy—in principle. That’s an Old Covenant way to read Galatians 5:16, 17, popular but questionable.

 

(b) The other possibility is: if we choose to let the Holy Spirit hold us by the hand we cannot do the EVIL things that “the flesh” would prompt us to do. Paul goes on to detail “the works of the flesh” that the Holy Spirit saves us from doing: “adultery, fornication,....” etc., etc. A good list of things to be delivered from! But too often we seem to get entangled in them. Why? Have we misunderstood the gospel?

 

Then the apostle details some of the good things that the Holy Spirit prompts us (and enables us) to do if we “walk” with Him: “Love [agape], joy, peace,....” etc., etc. (vss. 22-24). That’s the best GOOD news we could imagine; it’s New Covenant news.

 

The traditional way to understand Paul is that we can’t do the good things we’d like to do, so Jesus just has to “cover” for our continued sinning, which is nice of Him to do but leaves Him ashamed before the universe for the failure of His gospel to save FROM sin (cf. Rom. 1:16). (Incidentally, we may have thought that Romans 7:15 is parallel to our text in Galatians, but it doesn’t talk about a Spirit-consecrated life, but a pre-Romans 8:1-4 life).

 
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: <dailybread@1888message.org>

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

“Our beloved brother [the apostle] Paul” (2 Peter 3:15) writes something that seems strange—if you take it as it reads. It’s Galatians 5:16, 17 (KJV): “The flesh lusteth [strives] against the [Holy] Spirit, and the [Holy] Spirit against the flesh: and these [two] are contrary the one to the other [we’ve always known that, haven’t we?]: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” There are two ways to read that—”the things that ye would” are either good things or bad things; can’t be both. What Paul says doesn’t seem strange if we take it the popular way—the things you “cannot do” are the good things you’d like to do but can’t.

 

In other words, the popular idea is that it’s easy to sin while it’s uphill going to resist sin, to do good as we’d like to do. The allure of self and of the “flesh” and of the world is stronger than our desire to go to prayer meeting, for example. The idea long encouraged is that no matter how strongly you want to “overcome,” you should settle down to reality: as long as you have your bad equipment of a sinful nature inherited all the way from Adam, you’ll have to continue sinning until Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven and zaps you with new equipment—a sinless nature. Then it will be possible and even easy to do what’s right. For now, God doesn’t expect you not to sin. Jesus will “cover” your sinning with His white robe; the Father won’t even see your continued sinning, He’ll only see Jesus covering your sinning.

 

But that’s not what Paul actually says! In verse 16 we read, “Walk with the [Holy] Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,” in other words, you won’t fall into sin! “The things that ye would” that “ye cannot do,” according to what Paul says here, are the sinful things your fallen nature prompts you to do. And yes, this does sound strange! It sounds contrary to all we’ve learned since childhood at our mother’s knee. We’ve always understood it’s hard to be good and it’s easy to be bad.

 

The Ten Commandments read with Old Covenant eyes are stern, dark prohibitions; read with New Covenant eyes they are sunlit promises of victory in overcoming. Which are they?

 

What is the bottom line truth that the Bible teaches? Time’s up; but if the Lord gives us a tomorrow we’ll delve a bit deeper.

 

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: <dailybread@1888message.org>

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

When the Apostle Paul became zealous and wrote his “epistles” to the Romans, the Galatians, the Ephesians, Timothy, et al., was he slipping over the 50/50 line of “balance” between faith and works? Did God raise up the Apostle James to write his “epistle” in an effort to put the brakes on Paul?

 

It’s not difficult to understand this problem. If we let James have his say we see that he is in no way opposing Paul. He is simply saying that genuine faith produces works of obedience to God’s law (James 2:14). It’s not faith AND works. James is exactly in harmony with what Paul says when he writes that what’s important is “faith WHICH works” (Gal. 5:6).

 

Oh, may the dear Lord deliver us from our Old Covenant mindset of self: what’s important in these last days is not saving our own poor little souls and getting a crown to put on our own little heads, but crowning the Son of God to be King of kings and Lord of lords. We are not mere spectators sitting on the bleachers watching the great controversy being fought to a close; we are down in the arena fighting “with Him” (Rev. 17:14). Yes, we want to be saved, of course; but on this great Day of Atonement we have grown out of our childish concern for the ice cream and cake at the “marriage of the Lamb” and we have grown up to sense the concern of the Bride at the wedding. She is not thinking now of herself as she once did in her childhood, but of her Bridegroom. We can’t set the clock back nor can we hinder it telling the time of day.

 

Faith has come to be seen as a heart-appreciation of His love (agape); the egocentric kind of “faith” is transcended and that love of Christ constrains us “henceforth” to think and to live “unto Him who died for us and rose again,” and not unto ourselves (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). At last, self is crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20; 6:14), and He alone is honored.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: <dailybread@1888message.org>

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.