Daily Bread

Monday, September 26, 2011

Invitation to Subscribe

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Many of you are beginning the study on "The Gospel in Galatians," so we would like to invite you to subscribe to "Sabbath School Today," weekly essays on the lessons which may be received at no charge via e-mail. This topic includes many of the important concepts of what a wise author has called "a most precious message," and these concepts relative to the Book of Galatians will be discussed in the weekly essays.

Today's "Dial Daily Bread" is a short Bible study by the author, Robert J. Wieland, entitled, "What Paul Tells Us in Galatians," which we hope will assist you in your study.

To subscribe please send an e-mail to dailybread@1888message.org with the phrase "Subscribe to Sabbath School Today" in the body of the e-mail.

If you are already receiving "Sabbath School Today" you will continue to receive it; there is no need to re-subscribe.

The weekly essays may also be accessed on the Web at: http://www.1888mpm.org/

Sincerely,

The "Dial Daily Bread" Staff

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" messages are availalbe 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.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Understanding the "Everlasting Gospel"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Some day, somewhere, someone, will understand the "everlasting gospel" of Jesus Christ so clearly that "another angel" will come down from heaven "having great power" and will "lighten the earth" with the glory of that full-orbed truth. Multitudes who now sit in darkness will see a great light and will come to it (Rev. 18:1-4; Matt. 4:16).

And it won't be only "some one" who understands; there will be many who are in heartfelt union, around the world, of "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6). No more theological squabbles! That unity will be as much a miracle as the insight of that "some one" who will see crystal clear what the gospel is with no contradicting confusion. That unity will be in fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus in John 17, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I [am] in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (vss. 20, 21). "The world" will not believe until they see that "one-ness."

Those who will understand the gospel and be in union will receive "the seal of God in their foreheads" (Rev. 7:1-4), obviously a symbol of a heart understanding of truth that has also gripped the understanding of the mind; they will have pondered and studied; they will believe Jesus' promise, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:32).

They will graduate out of old covenant living into the bright sunlight of the new. The old covenant will no longer produce "bondage" in them, but they will "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free" (Gal. 5:1). They will overcome where ancient Israel stumbled and fell. Instead of "crucifying Christ afresh and bringing Him to an open shame" (Heb. 6:6), they will surrender self to be "crucified with Him" (Gal. 2:20).

As soon as they receive "the seal of God" and "follow the Lamb" [the crucified and risen "Savior of the world"] the enemy will launch against them his "mark of the beast" attempt to frighten them into submission (Rev. 13:16, 17); but "perfect love" [agape] has at last "cast out fear" (1 John 4:18) and they are seated with Christ on His throne to bring to a triumphant close "the great controversy" with Satan (Rev. 3:21).

But must this glorious triumph of the gospel await a future generation? Are there some out there who long to see the victory come now?

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 11, 2007.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Jesus Is Calling Us Today

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Almost a thousand times the Hebrew word shama occurs in the Old Testament--the word that means listen, hearken, hear. Many of these texts are appeals to us to listen to what the Lord is telling us. Satan wants us to think that God is indifferent toward us, that He is waiting for us to take the initiative, and if we don’t take the initiative, then too bad for us--God just stands back and leaves us alone.

That is not true. Heaven is calling you on the phone; your phone is ringing--God is calling you. In Isaiah 30:21 the Lord says, "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,'" and in Isaiah 55:2, 3: "Hearken diligently unto Me, … incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live."

And the New Testament has the same message--Jesus says that God is a heavenly Father who loves us more than any earthly father could love his children. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink'" (John 7:37). Jesus is calling us today--our job is to listen.

And if we will listen, then the Holy Spirit can energize us to do the right thing. Have you noticed when you kneel to pray to the Lord, and you wait before Him, that His Holy Spirit does convict you of what you ought to do? He has not forsaken you--He is calling to you. Listen! The Lord is giving you His full attention as if you were the only person in the world. Give Him a chance to speak to you through His word.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: 1994 Phone Message.

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Great Drama of the Ages

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Would you like to have a delightful experience? Better than watching any movie? Sit down, and read the Book of Revelation all the way through--no commentaries, no books to explain it; don't get bogged down in details--just go through it all like you'd watch a play on a stage.

You'll soon see that there is a special blessing pronounced on the one who will do so--it's in chapter 1, verse 3: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep [treasure] those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." That is the only book of the sixty-six in the Bible that has such a special blessing on the one who reads it, or just listens to it being read. Yet, strangely enough, it is the one book of the sixty-six that seems to be most often neglected by preachers.

You will find one word appearing over and over, 28 times, "the Lamb." In fact, it is the first symbol in the book, and it is the easiest to understand. It means the crucified Christ. The cross of Christ is therefore the most prominent subject in the Book of Revelation.

As you read, you will see the great drama of the ages played out as on a giant movie screen, and something will well up in your human heart to realize that the central Hero of this vast portrayal is your personal Savior, the One who knows you best, who loves you when you have even been at your worst, the one who went to hell to save you and died your second death. Then you will realize that you are an important participant in this vast drama, that you have an important contribution to make.

Oh, it's a thrilling experience to read the Book of Revelation all the way through to that glorious climax when you walk the street of the New Jerusalem and eat the fruit of the tree of life, and drink from that pure river of the water of life. Yes, God gave you that precious book!

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: 1994 Phone Message.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Is There "Medicine" for Us?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Why is it that when we pray and pray we find that sin still lingers in us? In fact, when we become aware of the great controversy raging between Christ and Satan, we see how its roots are entwined in every cell of our being, as the prophet says: "From head to foot there is not a healthy spot on your body. You are covered with bruises and sores and open wounds. ... No medicine has been put on them" (Isa. 1:6, GNB). Paul cries out, "O wretched man that I am!" "When I would do good, evil is present with me" (Rom. 7:24, 21). Each of us is a microcosm of that "controversy."

Human beings are universally caught in a maelstrom of irresistible seduction that began as "war in heaven" (Rev. 12:7). A third of the angels joined Lucifer in rebellion, and now he claims that it's impossible for humans to break free from the steel tether of his master-diabolical invention--sexual sin. Even a U. S. president was brought to the brink of ruin by it.

What has made the human race Lucifer's prime exhibit to justify his invention of sin is the God-given capacity for procreation that He has entrusted to us. Sin has turned it into a monster of ruin: infidelity, divorce, broken homes, adultery, fornication. The lure of sensuality seems irresistible; yes, deeper than even that--illicit love captures our fantasies into the slavery of this joint-rebellion against God, with Lucifer. The sexual gift of procreation that was intended for us to share the joy of our Lord has become an alienation from Him.

Is there "medicine" for us? asks Isaiah. Yes: LOVE. But wait, it's not the self-centered counterfeit--it's agape, what John says God IS (1 John 4:8). No one is born with it--it must be imported from an alien source and installed in the heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). It's the most glorious truth of divine revelation. And "Babylon" doesn't know it, for she is "fallen," seduced by the counterfeit.

Are you "hungry" for the genuine agape? If so, Jesus says you are "blessed" (Matt. 5:6). And that's Good News to START making you truly happy--you have an appetite.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 14, 1998.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Bride's Wedding Dress

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Sinful, pain-laden time will not go on and on for eternity. There will be an "end of the world" and a return of Jesus as He promised, "I will come again" (Matt. 24:3; John 14:1-3). It is commonly understood that the last "sign" of His coming will be the "gospel ... preached in all the world ... and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14). Is that a physical task completed--the printing press turning out a sufficient number of books or tracts, or electronic broadcasts reaching a sufficient concentration?

A parallel "sign" is when the Lamb's "wife hath made herself ready" for "the marriage of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7, 8). We've been through the childish stage of thinking that means a material city, the New Jerusalem, spontaneously erects itself; now it appears we understand that by "city" the Lord means its inhabitants.

An unusual word is used there--the "righteousness" that becomes the bride's wedding dress is "the righteousness of saints" (dikaiomata in the Greek instead of dikaiosune, Christ's righteousness!). For once in the history of the world, hallelujah choruses proclaim in heaven, "His wife has made herself ready." And we lay aside our joking and our levity and our self-righteousness. At last Christ's righteousness becomes more than merely legal, imputed objectively, and it becomes subjectively imparted. He will have a people who honor Him and glorify Him before the world and before the universe.

As Isaiah says, their "righteousness is of [Him]" (54:11-17), but now there is the intimacy of a wedding night; both the Bridegroom and the bride contribute to the union.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 23, 2005.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Does God Tell People Bad News?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

This is shocking to many people, but it is true: God never tells anybody Bad News, only Good News, or if He can't tell you Good News, He keeps still. You may object, "Well, didn't He tell King Saul Bad News just before his death?" (1 Samuel 28). No, the one who told Saul the Bad News that discouraged the apostate king and drove him to suicide, was Satan, not God. "Well, didn't God tell Bad News to the people destroyed in the Flood in the time of Noah? Or to King Pharaoh of Egypt? Or to Achan, who was stoned? Or to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram?" (Genesis 6; Exodus 4-14; Joshua 7, etc.).

I think if you will read the stories carefully you will see that in each instance, God gave those people opportunity to repent; He never wanted to discourage anyone, or drive anyone to suicide. Did Jesus drive Judas Iscariot to suicide? No, not at all; when Judas betrayed Him, He called him "Friend" (Matt. 26:50), but never said another word to him.

When we come to the New Testament, again an angel says to the world, "I bring you good tidings of great joy" (Luke 2:10), and Paul says for all the apostles, "We declare unto you glad tidings" (Acts 13:32), and the last message God will send to the world will be "the everlasting Good News" (Rev. 14:6-12).

Since sin came into the world, God has been in the business night and day, with never a holiday, of being a Savior. That is His relationship to you, as of this moment, even though you may have sinned grievously. He always has a message of hope for you, and as long as you have ears to hear it, He will declare it to you in some way, even if you are facing prison execution. Even if you must die, there is a whisper of Good News as you draw your last breath--please repent, He says; believe My love, appreciate My sacrifice for you, My gift of justification, receive My gift of forgiveness, My eternal life that I share with you. You only "sleep in Jesus" until the "morning" of the resurrection.

From where you stand at this moment, there is a path of hope, of Good News, for you. Respond to that Good News, believe it.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 3, 2003.

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Most Exquisite Joy Man Can Know

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The path to happiness and stability for any marriage lies via the cross of Christ. Even in the case of those who are not [yet] Christians, the happiness they have is the gift of Christ, for He is "the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world" (John 1:9).

Christ is the world's Creator, and He is also the world's Redeemer and Savior (4:42); it was He who said "'it is not good that man should be alone; I will make a helper comparable to him.' ... And He brought [the woman] to the man. ... Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they [two] shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:18-24).

But it was at the holy moment of the cross that the world caught a glimpse of what love (agape) means. That word includes love of man for woman and her response to his love—sexual love, for we read, "Husbands, love [with agape] your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. ... So ought husbands to love [with agape] their own wives" (Eph. 5:25, 28). The command of God to love becomes the most exquisite joy man can know.

Thus, says an insightful writer, "Love [between husband and wife] is a precious gift which we receive from Jesus." It's a miracle seen all over the world in all time, that the Lord Jesus gives that "precious gift" of true sexual love for one woman to one man; love is by its very nature "jealous" (S. of S. 8:6, 7). It would be cruel for the Lord God, our Creator and Savior, to give that true jealous love for one woman to two men, thus creating a lifelong pain for one. (There must be a distinction between sexual infatuation that dies overnight, with that "precious gift" which is "strong as death.")

The Lord Jesus has warned us that in the last days "because lawlessness shall abound, the love [agape] of many will grow cold" (Matt. 24:12). The "light" that is yet to "lighten the earth with glory" (Rev. 18:1-4) will include the light ofagape shining in the hearts of husbands and wives who have been awakened by the ministry of the last-days' "Elijah" (cf. Mal. 4:5, 6; 2:14-16).

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 14, 2007.