Daily Bread

Friday, January 04, 2008

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Sacramento Bee reports what the scientists at our California universities trumpet as a great discovery: “Happily married women recover faster from workday woes.”

Well, anyone who believes the Bible could have told them that long ago.

A loving Creator made woman to be loved in a forever fidelity, which the Bible says is marriage. Such love is a precious gift which we receive from Jesus; and gifts are to be appreciated and thanks to be said for them.

For example, our “daily bread,” our literal food, is to be appreciated with thanksgiving; never should we wolf it down without humbly thanking the Lord for it. And love of man and woman is to be celebrated in holy marriage as a gift from Himself to us. Sex is not to be wolfed down as animals do.

Love in marriage is a faint reflection of the love in the “marriage of the Lamb” when Heaven rejoices in Hallelujah choruses (Rev. 19:1-8). Christ marries one “wife,” not multiple ones; and His conjugal love singles “her” out as His one choice in love. In God’s delightful plan that our University professors have apparently just discovered, He plans for woman to be treasured in lifelong love by one man who sees in her his one dream of life companionship.

Of course “she manages stress well;” she comes home at day’s end to what is a relationship more solid than Gibraltar, for it is pure and holy love. A fornication-relationship is not our Creator/Savior’s plan; far too often the “love” is only temporary; it’s not dedicated to the Lord.

Purity in sexual relationship is built solidly on the truth that our physical organisms, our bodies, do not rightfully belong to us: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? ... Flee sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:15, 18). The reason why the apostle says this is because the Son of God purchased us with His eternal life that He gave up for us; His life is holy; therefore we have been bought with a holy, immeasurable price.

Temptations to indulge sex outside of holy marriage are bewildering and compulsive; young people are afraid of marriage because they are afraid of true love. But fornication is destructive of it. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (vss. 19, 20).

Does God forgive? Yes, but He saves one in the process.

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.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

What does the Bible say about addictions—whether to cigarettes or tobacco, or to liquor, or to drugs? Yes—let’s be faithful and thorough—including to coffee.

The Bible teaches liberty from them all! “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1). “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof” (Lev. 25:10).

The first of God’s Ten Commandments forbids addiction to anything evil or harmful: “You shall have no other gods before Me,” the Lord says. Addictions to habit-forming substances are idolatry and thus a violation of the first commandment.

They are loveless idolatries and for that reason are wrong. The truth says, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” Love can’t be forced by terror. All His commandments are love-awakening love. The agape of Christ “constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14, 16, KJV). The commandment to love the Lord with all our minds is in fact a divine promise: true worship rests in that love—and we are heart and soul devoted to Him because of His love for us.

When that kind of love has penetrated our souls, addictions fall off like dead leaves. Our idolatrous love for what is harmful to our souls (even coffee!) is transcended by a deep heartfelt reverence for the One who went to His cross to find and save us. In such worship is the purest liberty.

We can never know the joy of obedience to the first commandment unless we believe the Preamble to the Ten. Many helplessly break God’s holy law because they don’t know that Preamble where the Lord says He has “brought [us] out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Ex. 20:2). Yes! delivered us from all our evil addictions by His sacrifice on His cross.

He has reversed the “condemnation” Adam brought upon us, by giving us His “judicial verdict of acquittal” (Rom. 5:15-18, NEB). Therein is truth that the addict of whatever kind needs to understand; there is liberty in it!

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

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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Our American Hymn is seldom sung, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” The last stanza is arresting: “Our Fathers’ God, to Thee, Author of Liberty, To Thee we sing.”

Our heavenly Father says: “you shall proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants” (Lev. 25:10).

There was not to be an addict of alcohol, tobacco, or harmful drugs “throughout all the land” of Israel: everyone was to be free. Liberty was to be “proclaimed to” the addict!

And in the very proclamation of “liberty,” the freedom was to be realized.

This principle is expressed in Romans 1:16: in the “good news” itself of liberty is “the power of God unto salvation.” There is power in the proclamation!

A leper came to Jesus and said, “IF you are willing, You can make me clean!”

Giving evidence that He is the Son of the Father of liberty, Jesus responded immediately, “I am willing; be cleansed!” (Matt. 8:2, 3).

Matthew says, “Immediately, his leprosy was cleansed.”

The leper didn’t need to add that IF, for the Father is always willing! He always wants the addict to be set free from his/her captivity. That can be set down as solid fact: Jesus did not ask the leper any questions first to see if he was worthy to be cleansed; He accepted the poor man’s request as it was, gladly. And healed him, unworthy as he may have been.

And He will accept your request.

It may be that you are to blame entirely for your addiction; but the Lord is not adding up debits against you. Jesus still is doing what the scribes and Pharisees accused Him of doing: “This Man receives sinners” (Luke 15:2). The verb means He spreads out the red carpet for them, welcomes them like long-lost brothers.

Let yourself be welcomed and received! Believe that He is willing to set you free from your addiction; and believe that His word does it. Walk down the red carpet!

And thank Him for delivering you, thank Him now ahead of time. You may say, “But I am still a captive!” Time’s up; if the Lord gives us tomorrow, we’ll probe further.

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

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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Calling drug, tobacco, and alcohol addicts: come to the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Father sent Him to be the Savior of the world, He succeeded. The Samaritans said He is “the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42).

He has promised that “it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:32).

“Mt Zion” is another way of saying the Lord’s corporate “body” on earth, His church. (It will become the “Lamb’s wife.”)

The word “remnant” pinpoints His church as those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”(Rev. 12:17). The Lord, when He issues an invitation like this to addicts, is in dead earnest; He means every word He says. His business is “deliverance.”

The Savior has honored us by giving us permission to call His Father “Our Father.” If you cry out in your distress to the “Father,” not only does He hear you, but He also adopts you as His child! This is proven true here, “You have received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom. 8:15). Now you are walking with Him, and you are letting Him hold your right hand (Isa. 41:10, 13).

Now your heavenly Father is far stronger than your earthly parents were; all they could do was pass on to you the “judicial condemnation” that our first father Adam gave us; now your heavenly Father through Christ is pronouncing over you a “judicial verdict of acquittal” in Christ, and that has “much more power” than what Adam gave you (Rom. 5:17, 18).

The grace of Christ is “much more abounding” than all the sinful habits and addictions that Satan can invent ( 5:20). He has given all this to you already; now thank Him for it.

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

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Jesus Christ was emphatically clear about the future: this sinful, painful world is not to continue on and on ad infinitum for ages to come. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3, KJV).

Note: He receives His people unto Himself, not vice versa. He has taken the initiative all the way through: a conjugal love has motivated Him.

Love is always the desire to be one with the beloved. Jesus is no different!

The story of the second coming of Christ is a love story; there is a Bridegroom involved and a Bride. The drama is played out on planet earth in view of the vast universe of God, as though this planet were the stage. The second coming of Christ is the denouement of history, the one grand event toward which through the ages humanity has moved steadily.

The prophet Daniel describes the Last Generation as “the time of the end” ( 11:35; 12:4). Jesus told His disciples, speaking of specific events, “Then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). There will be a Last Generation! Six thousand plus years of history cannot be for nothing!

The apostles had a clear understanding: “This we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep [not everybody is going to pass through death!]. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

The joy that Jesus will know will be unbounded, for He has personally, individually loved each one of His saints. The Last Generation will be the reunion. The long delayed wedding of two who have dearly loved each other is an occasion of great joy here on earth; think of a cosmic wedding! Four grand Hallelujah choruses with heaven’s symphony orchestras accompanying the massed choirs. “The angel said to me, ‘Write this: Happy are those who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’ ... All those who hold to the truth that Jesus revealed” (Rev. 19:7-10, “the spirit of prophecy,” KJV).

You are invited; now “make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).

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

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Friday, December 28, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Who is stronger—Christ or the angel who fell from heaven—Satan?

Which is stronger, light or darkness?

Which is stronger, love (agape), or hatred? Which is stronger, that “much more abounding grace of the Lord Jesus” (Rom. 5:20, 21), or the power of our evil appetites and habits and obsessions and addictions?

Which is stronger: the power of death (that held Jesus Christ captive in Joseph’s tomb), or the resurrection power of the Father that raised Him up after three days?

We can’t say it often enough: that much more abounding grace is stronger than all the power of sin the devil can invent. In fact, there is in that grace “much more” power! “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Let’s not try to serve God with anything less than that full power of that much more abounding grace that is revealed in Christ. That grace of Christ is the enemy of sin; it condemns it, defeats it, conquers it, annihilates it, so that we might be free indeed.

Then the grace of God will be manifested in us in “newness of life” (6:4). That grace “reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Then we discover something precious: it is easy to be saved and it is hard to be lost, when we begin to appreciate that much more abounding grace! We must not conclude that the upward path is the “hard path” and the downward path is the “easy one;” it’s the opposite. All the way that leads to hell there are impediments and obstacles to hinder us in that way; God is constantly trying to tell us this. It’s like we are driving on the freeway, you’re at the wheel (because you are the boss), but the Holy Spirit is sitting beside you in the front seat. He is saying, Don’t stay on this freeway to hell; take this exit to the kingdom of God! That’s what Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would do when He gave Him the name “Parakletos,” the One called to sit down beside you and never leave you (John 16:7, 8; “para” = beside you; kletos = called).

Don’t misunderstand: you DO have something to do: it’s to make the constant choice to let the Spirit guide you. But please remember, you are not your Savior yourself: you let the Lord save you. It is you who turns the wheel on to the blessed Exit coming up that leads to eternal life. But He guided you to do it; and you praise the Lord for ever and ever.

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

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The song of the angel at Bethlehem is the best, grandest news the world has ever heard: We already have a Savior. We don’t have to make Him become our Savior. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,” says Isaiah (9:6). He is a member of our family, forever one with us.

The question we shall each one be asked in the final day of judgment is, What did you do with Him? He was already yours: He Himself was the Father’s gift to you. With the gift came the salvation that the Father has given you in Him. The gift includes eternal life; it was not merely offered to you; over and over the inspired word says that it was a gift freely given to “all men” (Luke 2:10, for example).

In other words, each one of us either receives Him as the holy gift He is, or we reject Him. In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will at last fully understand the meaning of his own history; he will be enabled to look back at his life, step by step, and see clearly where he has resisted and despised this ultra special “gift.”

It will be infinitely better if we can see and understand that right now!

That is exactly what the Holy Spirit is called to do for us, each one—“convict of sin” (John 16:8). Without Him, we go on in darkness, throwing away the eternal life that the Savior gives us; and of all the prayers that sinners can offer, that prayer for the Holy Spirit tops the list of requests that the Father is delighted to give.

Yes, it takes courage to pray that prayer! It seems your life will come to an end as He begins to probe into your soul and makes bare the moral deformity that is there that you had not seen. But it’s the beginning of eternal life!

Take King David as an example: never was he as close to the Lord as when he prayed, “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. ... The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:11-17).

Those were words from a heart that was indeed crushed by the conviction of deep, bloody sin; He realized he had come within a millimeter of eternal loss. The Holy Spirit in infinite mercy had revealed the truth to him. But it was the beginning of eternal life for him.

You can’t keep your promises, because you have no genuine righteousness within you. Instead of promising God that you will do better, beg for His mercy and thank Him for it. Cast your soul on Him; tell Him that you’re lost unless He reaches down and saves you. You are Peter trying to walk on the water but you took your eyes off the Savior and are sinking in the waves (Matt. 14:30, 31). Cry out, Lord, save me, or I perish! He will!

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

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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

A Reminder

To join us in a spiritual weekend to study

The 1888 Message

And the Last Generation

Weimar Institute, Weimar, California

(Off Interstate 80, exit 130, halfway between Sacramento and Reno)

DECEMBER 28–30, 2007

(Friday evening, 7:00 p.m.–Sunday noon)

Speakers & Bible Study Leaders

Pastor Paul Penno, Elder Robert J. Wieland

A few rooms are still available at the
beautiful Weimar Inn

For reservations call: (530) 637-4111 (ext. 7933)

(mention this weekend for group rate)

Lodging is also available in the nearby town of Auburn

http://www.auburnchamber.net/lodging/index.html

Meals will be served at the Weimar Cafeteria

Sabbath: Breakfast, Lunch, Supper

Sunday: Breakfast

IMPORTANT: FOR PLANNING PURPOSES

PLEASE let us know if you are not staying at the Inn
and would like to take meals at the cafeteria

E-mail: dailybread@1888message.org

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren

to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

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

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To un-subscribe click on this link: Unsubscribe me from this mailing list

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

At the moment it’s Christmas Eve and many millions are anticipating opening their gifts in the morning; but they are materialistic gifts, quite largely.

The Bible speaks of “spiritual gifts,” and they are the ones that are valuable beyond estimate. To covet such gifts is not being sinful, although it is sinful to “covet” material “gifts” selfishly (the last of the ten commandments says “Thou shalt not covet ...”).

There was a truth written once by E. J. Waggoner that is so obvious that I marvel that I never thought of it. I would like to preach many sermons about it: “The new birth completely supersedes the old. ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. ...’ He who takes God for the portion of his inheritance [there’s your coveting the best gifts!] has a power working in him for righteousness is much stronger than the power of inherited tendencies to evil, as our heavenly Father is greater than our earthly parents.”

Simple, but simply, profoundly true!

Rejoice in your new heavenly Father! He is infinitely more powerful in lifting you above sin than your earthly father was in passing on to you the condemnation he had received from the fallen Adam. In other words, the righteousness you now receive from your new heavenly Father (you have now chosen to believe in Him!), is stronger than your addiction to evil—of any kind.

When the angel sang his chorus over the hills of Bethlehem when Christ was born, that was his message: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10, KJV).

(1) It’s good news. (2) It brings “great joy.” Not a trace of sadness in it! (3) It’s for “all people,” a blessing universal. (4) It announces a gift that Christ gives to “all people.” (5) Paul explains it in Romans 5: he says five times that it is “a free gift” for the same “all who “sinned,” reversing that “condemnation” that the fallen Adam brought on the entire human race (vss. 15-18). Deliverance from all addictions!

The true story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is great good news! It will finally be told with “great power” to “lighten the earth with glory,” and it will prepare all who believe with all their hearts; it will prepare them for meeting Jesus when He returns (Rev. 14:1-5). That time is now.

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

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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Nearly 120 years ago the Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to the leadership of my church. It became known as “the message of Christ’s righteousness.”

Note: it was not the “message of Christ’s holiness.” There is a vast different between “righteousness” and “holiness.”

The Lord Jesus Christ was “holy” at His birth (cf. Luke 1:35); but He was “righteous” at His death (cf. Rom. 5:18). The glorious “plan of salvation” stretches between the “holiness” of Jesus at His birth and the “righteousness” of Jesus at His death on His cross.

For example, we read of the “holy angels,” but we never read of the “righteous” good angels who did not fall with Lucifer; they are always “the holy angels.”

The difference is spelled out clearly in Romans 8:3, 4, describing what happened in between Christ’s holy birth and His righteousness at His death on the cross: “God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

From His holiness at His birth, the Lord Jesus “took” upon His sinless nature (which He had brought from heaven) our fallen, sinful nature and “condemned sin” in that fallen, sinful nature; that’s how “holiness” was transformed into “righteousness.”

No angel ever performed that feat, because no angel ever took “sinful flesh” to contend with, as we must do and as Christ “took” upon Himself. The vaults of heaven rang with the praise of Jesus Christ who accomplished that mighty deed; He proved that One can take our fallen, sinful nature or flesh, live in it, and yet “overcome” sin, defeat it, condemn it, in that same fallen, sinful nature (cf. Rev. 3:21). Satan, the great Enemy of God’s universe, has been defeated forever!

Jesus Christ is an Evangelist: He wins souls. He is winning “144,000” who will “overcome” as He overcame (cf. Rev. 3:21). These people “follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes” (14:1-5). You and I are invited; let’s do something that wasn’t done 120 years ago—let’s wholeheartedly receive the most precious message.

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

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

This morning happened to be the beginning of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, loved by our pagan forbears in Europe, especially in Ireland and England. Now the dark winter days begin ever so little to lengthen; yes, there will be a spring! Time to celebrate!

By December 25 the lengthening of the day could be detected even without clocks or watches; hence it known as “the wild winter solstice.” Pagans in the Roman Empire frolicked without restraint. The celebration was taken over by the popular Church along with other pagan customs, the sincere idea being to make it easier for pagans to be “converted.” The result through the centuries: thoughtful observers have said the Church is “baptized paganism.”

But there’s some good news involved here that may encourage us in our “Global Warming” fears.

The precision and never failing repetition of the winter solstice remind us of the promise that the LORD God made after the Flood of Noah. All these thousands of years He has been faithful; His love for the human race has been revealed “in Christ.” He will not permit again any global disaster to repeat what happened in the Flood: “The LORD said in His heart I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, ... neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done” (Gen. 8:21).

No matter how severe to mankind are the results of Global Warming, there will be no more universal disaster. The Flood was permitted because “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence ... for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen. 6:12, 13). It was so bad that the Lord said “every imagination of the thoughts of [man ‘s] heart was only evil continually” (vs. 5).

As terrible as evil is today, Scripture does not repeat that analysis; Noah “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” and warned the world of the coming Flood (Heb. 11:7), but the Lord tells us in Revelation that there is now a world-wide potential for understanding and receiving the “Loud Cry” of purest gospel truth proclaimed by His repentant last-days “remnant” church (cf. Rev. 12:17; 14:12; 18:1-4). The Lord will not gloss over or despise this universal hunger in sincere hearts. “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing”(Psalm 145:14-16, KJV). Blessings are coming!

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

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Some thoughtful persons have written suggesting that we define more clearly what “unbelief” is.

Unbelief is the most awful sin there is; we say this because it is the root of all the sin and cruelties that sin has produced on the earth. It is the reverse, the opposite of what belief is; and belief is the heart-melted appreciation of the love (agape) of Christ.

Believing is not deciding that 2 + 2 = 4 theologically, something a cold and hard heart can do. Believing is something that the heart does—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:10).

There were two kinds of people who watched Jesus die on His cross: those whose hearts were like ice (and they were the church leaders who cried out “Crucify Him!”).

One of the leaders permitted his hard heart to be melted; and he took the Savior’s dead body down and buried it in his own new tomb (Matt. 27:57-60). The centurion who had given the order to his soldiers to “crucify this fanatic who claimed to be the Son of God,” could not watch Him die without repenting and believing (“Truly, this was the Son of God” vs. 54). These men’s humanity was touched; if you could have seen them, you would have seen tears in their eyes. Their hearts were melted.

I once knew a man who in his childhood enjoyed pulling wings off of flies; when he was a grown man I tried to interest him in the gospel story, but I could not.

I have had men tell me after I had preached about the cross that they wished they could feel something, that they wished they could shed a tear, but they can’t. If that’s where you are, don’t give up in despair: cry out to the Lord to give you the new birth, to be born again with that new heart; He will hear your prayer. What you want is not emotionalism (that is shallow). You want to be a member of the family of God with your heart reconciled to the Father (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19, 20).

Don’t worry; believe the dear Lord answers your prayers, and in His own time He will make the miracle of our changed, reconciled heart in helping others.

One of the greatest preachers of the early 19th century was first a “deist,” a cold-hearted 2 + 2 = 4 upright citizen. One Sunday the pastor was away and he had asked William Miller to read the sermon for him, in his absence.

Miller did so, but he broke down in tears as he was reading about Jesus; thank God!

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

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Friday, December 21, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

My wife and I have a dear friend in a distant city who is battling for her life with an enemy we all fear: cancer. She has a keen mind with rare abilities and also a warm heart that appreciates the love of Christ that constrains us to live for the One who died for us. There are thousands around the world who would lift up a prayer in her behalf, but the Great Physician does not depend on the length of the names on the petitions that are brought to Him in prayer. He loves this individual as much and more than all of us combined. Cancer is His enemy, too; He longs with all His heart to put an end to suffering on this earth. He has promised, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3, KJV). It’s the language of a long absent Bridegroom assuring His beloved of heart that He will come, and “the marriage of the Lamb” will be at last consummated.

We have another dear friend, someone from India, who has been telling us in our church fellowship of the cruel heart sufferings that women in India have to endure. And this goes on and on in Hinduism there. Pile on top of that all the agonies that people endure in Africa; and yes there are cries of agony that arise to God’s throne from the Western world, the so-called “First World.”

You and I can lay aside our burdens, go to bed at night, and sleep for a few hours; the Lord Jesus cannot enjoy that luxury (Psalm 121:3). He carries all this pain upon His heart (cf. Isa. 63:9). He longs to keep the promise He made to Caiaphas the high priest of the then-true church of that day, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64). But He has to wait until His people today long for His coming as much as He does—long for Him to come more than they long for the pleasures of this sinful world. The Lord Jesus is modest as well as Almighty: He will not enter anyone’s house unless invited (which is why daily “family worship” is so important! Husband and wife are invited to kneel together before Him in prayer).

Our dear friend’s battle reminds us all how mortal we are; if we have only a breath left to us, let us dedicate it to the One who died our second death. It rejoices the heart of the Savior of the world (John 4:42) to see people at least begin to appreciate the length, breadth, depth, and height of the love (agape) His sacrifice has demonstrated (cf. Eph. 3:14-18).

(Someone will ask, How could Christ be resurrected if He died the world’s “second death”? The answer is in Matt. 27:46 and Gal. 3:13).

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

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

We know that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (cf. John 3:16). But do you really and truly believe that Good News?

Or do you deep in your heart actually resist the goodness of the News and tend to believe the Bad News of a distorted “works gospel”? Do you unconsciously miss the joy of salvation “in Christ”?

Well, here’s a test that you can take on yourself. It’s in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, chapter 5, vss. 16, 17: “I say then, Walk in the [Holy] Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth [that means, strives] against the [Holy] Spirit, and the Spirit [strives] against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,” KJV).

Here’s the question:

What are those “things that you cannot do”?

Good things? Or bad things? Think.

I have asked many congregations, and the usual answer is, “Good things.” People think of Romans 7:15: “What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”

But they forget: here in Galatians Paul is saying, Go for a walk with the Holy Spirit and let Him hold you by the hand (cf. Isa. 41:10-13; yes, He has promised to hold your hand!), and this is the reason why you “cannot do the [evil] things that ye would.”

Those “things that ye cannot do” are not the good things! They are the bad things that your sinful nature is always trying to prompt you to do; once upon a time they were the easiest things you could do; but now that you walk with the Holy Spirit and He is holding you by your hand, you cannot do the evil things you once loved to “do.”

This “test” reveals that the true Gospel is great Good News. “The love [agape] of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14). The Lord does not force you, but His love (agape) motivates you; you discover that now your heart is changed so that what you once loved (that leads to death) you now hate, and what you once couldn’t stand, you now love!

If you will believe John 3:16!

Again we do what the distraught father did when he cried out, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24). And we can never perish while we pray that prayer.

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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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The story of the Virgin Mary is of intense interest to all who are longing for Jesus to come again, as He promised (John 14:1-3).

She had something in common with that special group, the “144,000” mentioned in Revelation 14:1-5. They “follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes.” They do not resist or seek to evade the call. She said “yes” to the angel sent from the Father to announce to her the decision to choose her to be the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:28-37). She did ask one question which was very appropriate and did not express any unbelief: “I do not know a man?” (vs. 34).

Otherwise, she offered no resistance or unbelief. Here was a call from heaven that totally would change the course of her life from now on; her sincere question answered, she readily agreed, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (vs. 38).

We search long to find a definition of what it means to “believe.” Well, here it is. The old lady Elizabeth used Mary’s ready submission as a definition of faith. She said of Mary, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (vs. 45; the word “blessed” means to be happy).

The “144,000” (obviously a symbolic number), have in the last days replicated Mary’s happy consecration of herself to the Lord; they have done what the angel of great power says to do, “Come out of [Babylon], My people” (Rev. 18:1-4). These people are convicted of truth from God’s word, truth that their family may not believe, nor their church, nor society in general. They are willing to step out for the sake of Christ and be considered “different”(cf. 1 Peter 2:9 for the word “peculiar”).

The “144,000” maybe for a long lifetime have endured opposition and even persecution from their family, their parents, or even their children. But just as the Virgin Mary was “blessed” (made happy), so this special group enjoy the gift of happiness in their submission of self to “the Lamb.”

When the Holy Spirit speaks to you through the Word, don’t hesitate to respond with an enthusiastic “Yes.” Here I am, the child of God!

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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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Bible reveals considerable about the Virgin Mary:

(1) She confesses her need of a Savior, and only people who are in what the Bible says “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23) can dare to say that. Therefore they have to include the Virgin Mary. She was a member of the human race, a descendant not only of Abraham but of our fallen father, Adam. The idea that she was an extra-terrestrial import with a sinless heredity is profound error. She was human!

(2) The Bible is totally silent about any special privilege given to her at her birth; the “Immaculate Conception” theory proposed by the Pope in 1854 is extra-biblical; his “christ” has to remain for all to see, an invention.

(3) Mary’s husband-to-be had at least six motherless children after his first wife either died or disappeared. We have the names of four: “James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas [not Iscariot]” (Matt. 13:55). Then there are “sisters,” at least two. So ...

(4) Joseph was therefore looking for some woman to be the stepmother to those at least six children of his. If any woman wants a stormy life, that’s where she’ll find it—be stepmother to such a brood. God doesn’t call a teen girl to such a task.

(5) It seems obvious that if Joseph were in his right mind he would not want to be betrothed to a teenager, no matter how Hollywood-like beautiful she was. The artists who have painted their ideas of the Virgin Mary needed some biblical research first. Joseph desperately needs a mature woman.

(6) Mary is more than that—she is a woman who in her way is like her divine Son: “despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3). No village swain had sought her hand; there must have been a reason why they passed her by.

(7) Mary tells us the reason in Luke 1:46-54: She had a TAIPAINOSIS (Gr.); a self-humiliating handicap, rendered “low estate” in the KJV. In Acts 8:33 the word means (of Christ) “in His humiliation.” Mary was mature enough to know the bitterness of humiliating rejection. In becoming the Mother of “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” she knew something of the painful experience.

In Jesus we have a Savior who is rooted and grounded in our human experience. The Father sent Him “in the likeness of sinful flesh” with the job description: condemn sin in that “sinful flesh,” outlaw it, conquer it, trample on it, and deliver from it every human soul who will choose to exercise His faith (Rom. 8:3, 4). You are included.

He will have a final generation who like us all have been born in sin, and have that same “sinful flesh,” but who “overcome even as I overcame” (says Jesus, in Rev. 3:21). They are symbolized as “144,000” who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:1-5). It’s a symbolic number—plenty of room for you. Say “Yes” to the call of the Holy Spirit, as Mary “believed” what the angel said to her. It’s the same faith!

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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