Encouragement to A Weary Soldier
By Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
During his ministry at Corinth, the strain of battle began telling on the Apostle Paul. He found himself haunted by fear and depression. Later he wrote of it.
“I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (ICor. 2:3).
It must not be supposed that fearlessness was characteristic of a nature so sensitive as Paul’s. On the contrary, he was often afraid. His, by the grace of God, was rather the courage that went on braving dangers in spite of his fears.
After having left the synagogue at Corinth, the strain of meeting, week after week, right next door, with all the embarrassing situations inevitably involved, may well have caused some of his followers, and possible himself, to question the wisdom and propriety of the step he had taken, adding to his mental depression (though this step, moving into the home of Justus, next door, was most appropriate under the circumstances). But the Lord was to endorse the act again in an unmistakable way.
It would appear from several passages in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (especially II Thessalonians 3:1,2), that this letter was written while Paul was becoming apprehensive about the work at Corinth and that it was after this that the Lord appeared to him in a vision to encourage him.
Let the reader try to place himself in Paul’s position while reading Verses 9,10 of Acts 18 so as to appreciate its force more fully:
“Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, BE NOT AFRAID,–BUT SPEAK,–AND HOLD NOT THY PEACE:–FOR I AM WITH THEE,–AND NO MAN SHALL SET ON THEE TO HURT THEE;–FOR I HAVE MUCH PEOPLE IN THIS CITY.”
Ah, tomorrow he could begin the work anew, assured in advance of the outcome! Whether he “continued” in Corinth (Verse 11) a year and six months longer or all together is perhaps impossible to ascertain, but we know that his ministry there was exceedingly fruitful.
Today's Devotional Sponsor:
By Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
Christian liberty is a priceless possession. It can be abused, of course, but legitimately used it is an overflowing source of spiritual joy and power.
God’s purpose with regard to the liberty of the believer in Christ is aptly summed up for us in one short verse in the Galatian letter:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).
As the cause of spiritual decline in Israel was always their departure from God’s Word to them through Moses, so the cause of spiritual decline among believers today is always their departure from God’s Word to us through Paul, and if anything is made unmistakably clear in the Epistles of Paul, it is the fact that believers in this present dispensation of grace have been delivered from the Law and, as God’s full-grown sons in Christ, have been “called unto liberty.” The failure of God’s people to appropriate and enjoy this liberty today results in spiritual decline as surely as did the failure of the people of Israel to observe the law of Moses in their day.
Could anything be plainer than those passages in this same Galatian epistle, where the Apostle says by the Spirit:
“CHRIST HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).
“But when the fulness of the time was come, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, made of a woman, made under the law,
“TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS” (Gal. 4:4,5).
Thus, to reject our blood-bought liberty and go back to the servitude of the Law is to repudiate not only the Word of God, but the Word of God to us, and this must necessarily result in spiritual decline.
THE BEST HOBO DINNER FOIL PACKET MEAL
Ingredients you need:
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1/2 onion sliced
• 1 can of green beans, drained (or frozen green)
• 1 can of corn, drained (or use frozen)
• 4 small potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• salt and pepper
• heavy duty foil
We love this simple Hobo Dinner Foil Packet Meal for the grill and campfires. It is the best hobo dinner recipe for Summer dinners and warm nights. Such an easy grilling recipe!
Product you need:
• heavy duty foil
• mandoline slicer for easy slicing of the onions and potatoes
How to make:
1. You will want to use heavy duty foil for a foil pack so it won’t break when you are grilling. You can use regular foil but I recommend you double wrap it to avoid it breaking oven.
2. Take a 4 slices of foil. Spray with non stick spray.
3. Place one potato (peeled and sliced) in the middle of each foil. I use a mandoline slicer to quickly slice my potatoes. I love it!
4. Place about 1/4 of the green beans and a 1/4 of the corn on each pile of potatoes.
5. Divide the ground beef into four patties and place the patties on the pile of the veggies.
6. We love this simple Hobo Dinner Foil Packet Meal for the grill and campfires. It is the best hobo dinner recipe for Summer dinners and warm nights. Such an easy grilling recipe!
7. Top each foil packet with the sliced onions, a tablespoon of butter, and season liberally with salt and pepper.
8. Fold up the sides of the foil. Then fold up the other sides to make a foil pack.
9. We love this simple Hobo Dinner Foil Packet Meal for the grill and campfires. It is the best hobo dinner recipe for Summer dinners and warm nights. Such an easy grilling recipe!
10. Place on the grill (or a campfire) for approximately 30 minutes or until the hamburger patties are cooked through.
11. Open the foil packets carefully and enjoy dinner!
How to make hobo dinners in the oven:
1. You can easily make this delicious hobo dinner foil packet meal in the oven. I would assemble the hobo dinners like normal but instead of placing them on the grill I would place on a cookie sheet and back at 375 degrees F for around 30-35 minutes.
DAILY SMILE AND A WORD...
Shouting back, the woman replies, "For crying out loud, Ed, I've been telling you for the last half hour that I'll be ready in a minute!"
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“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” - 2 Peter 3:8
This is the second consideration by which the apostle meets the objection of scoffers against the doctrine of the second coming of the Saviour. The objection was, that much time, and perhaps the time which had been supposed to be set for his coming, had passed away, and still all things remained as they were. The reply of the apostle is, that no argument could be drawn from this, for that which may seem to be a long time to us is a brief period with God. In the infinity of his own duration there is abundant time to accomplish his designs, and it can make no difference with him whether they are accomplished in one day or extended to one thousand years. Man has but a short time to live, and if he does not accomplish his purposes in a very brief period, he never will. But it is not so with God. He always lives; and we cannot therefore infer, because the execution of His purposes seems to be delayed, that they are abandoned. With Him who always lives it will be as easy to accomplish them at a far distant period as now. If it is His pleasure to accomplish them in a single day, He can do it, if He chooses that the execution shall be deferred to one thousand years, or that one thousand years shall be consumed in executing them, He has power to carry them onward through what seems, to us, to be so vast a duration. The wicked, therefore, cannot infer that they will escape because their punishment is delayed, nor should the righteous fear that the divine promises will fail because ages pass away before they are accomplished. The expression here used, that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, etc.,” A similar thought occurs in Psalm 90:4, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”
I'm glad you could join me for today's content, and I look forward to bringing you more next time!
Until then, bye-bye!
Joe Cosity
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