59.3 Happy The Man Who Perseveres

(James 1:2-4, 12)

My brothers, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.  Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Happy is the person who remain faithful under trials, because when he succeeds in passing such a test, he will receive as his reward the life which God has promised to those who love him.

59.2 If God Is With Us, Who Can Separate Us From His Love?

(Romans 8:31-39)

"In view of all this, what can we say?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all!  He gave us his Son--will he not also freely give us all things? Who will accuse God's chosen people?  God himself declares them not guilty!  Who, then, will condemn them?  Not Christ Jesus, who  died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us! Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ?  Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger of death?  As the scripture says,  "For your sake we are in danger of death at all times;  we are treated like sheep that are going to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!  For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below--there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our lord.

59.1 Brother Will Hand Over Brother

(Matthew 10:21-27)

"Men will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death.  Everyone will hate you because of me.  But whoever holds out to the end will be saved.  When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

"No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master.  So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master.  If the head of  the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!

So do not be afraid of people.  Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known.  What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops."

58.4 Complete Confidence In God

(Psalm 108)

I have completed confidence, O God!
I will sing and praise you!
Wake up, my soul! Wake up my harp and lyre!
I will wake up the sun
I will thank you, O Lord, among the nations.
I will praise you among the peoples.
Your constant love reaches above the heavens;
your faithfulness touches the skies.
Show your greatness in the sky, O God,
and your glory over all the earth.
Save us by your might; answer my prayer,so that the people you love may be rescued.

From his sanctuary God has said,
"In triumph I will divide Shechem and distribute Sukkoth Valley to my people.
Gilead is mine, and Manasseh too;
Ephraim is my helmet and Judah my royal scepter.
But I will use Moab as my washbowl,
and I will throw my sandals on Edom,
as a sign that I own it.
I will shout in triumph over the Philistines."

Who, O God, will take me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
Have you really rejected us?
Aren't you going to march out with our armies?
Help us against the enemy,
human help is worthless.
With God on our side we will win;
he will defeat our enemies.

58.3 Rejoicing In Trials

(2 Corinthians 6:4-10)

Instead, in everything we do we show that we are God's servants by patiently enduring troubles, hardships,and difficulties. We have been beaten , jailed, and mobbed; we have been overworked and have gone without sleep or food. By our purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness we have shown ourselves to be God's servants--by the Holy Spirit, by our true love, by our message of truth, and by the power of God . We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and defend ourselves.  We are honored and disgraced; we are insulted and praised.  We are treated as liars, yet we speak the truth; as unknown, yet we are known by all; as though we were dead, but as you see, we live on.  Although punished, we are not killed; although saddened, we are always glad; we seem poor, but we make many people rich; we seem to have nothing, yet we really possess everything.

58.2 Paul's Sufferings

(2 Corinthians 11:21b-29)

But if anyone dares to boast about something--I am talking like a fool--I will be just as daring. Are they Hebrews? So am I.  Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham descendants? So am I.  Are they Christ's servants?  I sound like a mad man-- but I am a better servant than they are!  I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often. Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews; three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks , and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water.  In my many travels I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, in danger from fellow Jews and from Gentiles; there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers from false friends. There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty; I have often been without enough food, shelter, or clothing.  And not to mention other things, every day I am under the pressure of my concern for all the churches.  When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when some is led into sin, I am filled with distress.

58.1 Lose One's Life For Christ's Sake

(Luke 9:22-26)

He also told them, "The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law.  He will be put to death, but three days later he will be raised to life."

And he said to them all, "If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, take up his cross every day, and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Will a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but is himself lost or defeated? Of course not! If a person is ashamed of me and of my teaching, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.  

57.5 God's Goodness Despite Our Ingratitude

(Psalm 78:1-8, 24-39)

Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.
I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past, things we have heard and known, things that our fathers told us.
We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the Lord's power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.

He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob.
He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to the children, so that that the next generation might learn them
and in turn should tell their children.
In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but  always obey his commandments.
They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.

He gave them grain from heaven,  by sending down manna for them to eat.
So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.
He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind: and to his people he sent down birds as many as the grains of sand on the shore they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.
So the people ate and were satisfied ; God gave them what they wanted.

But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating, when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.

In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.
Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.
But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.
They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

But God was merciful to his people.
He forgave their sin and did not destroy them.
Many time he held back his anger and restrained his fury.
He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.

57.4 Christ Is The Bread Of Life

(John 6:35-40)

"I am the bread of life," Jesus told them.  "He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never be thirsty.  Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe.  Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life.  And I will raise them to life on the last day."

57.3 Sharing

(Exodus 16:16-18)

"The Lord has commanded that each of you is to gather as much of it as he needs, two quart for each member of his household."

The Israelites did this, some gathering more, others less.  When they measured it, those ho had gathered more did not have too much, and those who had gathered less did not have too little.  Each had gathered just what he needed.

57.2 God's Reaction And Rain Of Manna

(Exodus 16:4-15)

The Lord said to Moses, "No I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you.  The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions.  On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it".

So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt.  In the morning you will see the dazzling light of Lord's presence.  He has heard your complaints against him - yes, against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions." Then Moses said, "It is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because he has heard how much you have complained against him.  When you complain against us, you are really complaining against the Lord".

Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole community to come and stand before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints." As Aaron spoke to the whole community, they turned toward the desert, and suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord appeared in a cloud.  The Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites.  Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want.  Then they will know that I, the Lord, am their God."

In the evening a large flock of quails flew in, enough to cover the camp, and in the morning there was dew all around the camp. When the dew evaporated, there was something thin and flaky on the surface of the desert.  It was as delicate as frost.  When the Israelites saw it, they didn't know what it was and asked each other. "What is it?"

Moses said to them, "This is the food that the Lord has given you to eat."

57.1 Forgetting God's Gift And Grumbling

(Exodus 16:1-3)

The whole Israelite community set out from Elim, and on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron and said to them, "We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt.  There we could at least sit down and eat meal and as much other food as we anted.But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death". 

56.5 Your Word Is A Lamp For My Feet

(Psalm 119:105-112)

Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path.
I will keep my solemn promise to obey your just instructions.
My sufferings, Lord, are terrible indeed; keep me alive, as you have promised.
Accept my prayer of thanks, O Lord, and teach me your commands.
I am always ready to risk my life; I have not forgotten your law.
Wicked men lay a trap for me, but I have not disobeyed your commands.
Your commandments are my eternal possession; they are the joy of my heart.
I have decided to obey your laws until the day I die.

56.4 Called In The Light

(1 Peter 2:9-10)

But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light. At one time you were not God's people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.

56.3 Walk In The Light

(1 John 1:5-7)

Now the message that we have heard from his Son and announce is this: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him.  If, then, we say that we have fellowship with him, yet at the same time live in the darkness, we are lying both in our words and in our actions.  But if we live in the light - just as he is in the light - then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.

56.2 You Are The Light Of The World

(Matthew 5:14-16)

"You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead he puts it on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house.  In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.