“GOD’S GREATNESS,HIS GREAT GIFTS TO MEN!”
BY:J.FARRELL FISHER,MAY 29-30,2019
IN ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING’S WRITING IN HER “RHYME OF THE DUCHESS MAY”, IN HER CONCLUSION (ST.11), SHE WROTE: “AND I SMILED TO THINK GOD’S GREATNESS FLOWED AROUND OUR INCOMPLETENESS, – ROUND OUR RESTLESSNESS, HIS REST.” THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS AN AWESOME DESCRIPTION OF GOD’S GREATNESS & HIS GRACIOUS GIFTS UNTO MEN!
BUT “FALLEN MEN, FAITHLESS WOMEN, & FALLING-AWAY-YOUTH &KIDS ”, WITHOUT GOD’S GREATNESS BESTOWED UPON THEM & HIS GIFTS EXPRESSED THROUGH THEM, “ALL” LIVE IN FALSE OR SUPERFICIAL APPEARANCES, AT LEAST HOPING TO ‘IMPRESS’ THOSE AROUND THEM WITH THEIR FAITHLESS FAÇADE OF HUMANITY’S PERSONAL EFFORT BUT WITHOUT GOD’S HELP! IT IS SO HEART & MIND TROUBLING TO LOOK UPON SOME OF A COUNTRY’S POPULATION WHO THINK ‘FAITH IN GOD’ IS FOR FOOLISH & CHILDISH MINDS THAT HAVE NOT MATURED & EVEN AS ADULTS IGNORE GOD’S COMPASSIONATE “KNOCKS” ON THEIR HEARTS’ DOORS!
GOD’S GREATNESS?HE’S THE “CREATOR” & NOTHING ANY MAN ATTEMPTS CAN EVER MEASURE UP TO “GOD’S GREATNESS”! HE’S THE “DESIGNER”, THE “FOUNDER”, THE “FINESSE” OR ‘DIVINE DELICACY’ OF ADDRESSING FALLEN MANKIND’S DILLEMA & MANKIND’S INABILITY TO ‘PERFORM’,ATTEMPTING ON HIS OR THEIR OWN FLESHLY EFFORT TO GAIN GOD’S APPROVAL, OR NOT EVEN A THOUGHT ABOUT GOD WHEN FOR THEM “YOUR HOLY GOD IS ONLY INTERESTED IN THE “NEW BIRTH” OF ANY SINFUL MAN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST” – SO THEY LAUGH, SHRUG THEIR SHOULDERS, & YES, WALK AWAY FROM THE KING OF GLORY!
IN HEBREWS 2:1-4 PAUL ILLUMINES GOD’S GREATNESS THROUGH THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST & HIS SUPREME SACRIFICE AT THE CROSS! “THEREFORE WE OUGHT (MUST! OF NECESSITY!) TO GIVE THE MORE EARNEST HEED TO THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE HEARD, LEST AT ANY TIME WE SHOULD LET THEM SLIP (OR, BY MOST UNBELIEVERS, JUST IGNORE ANYTHING RELATED TO GOD, HIS SON, HIS SPIRIT, ‘KNOCKING AT THEIR HEART’S DOOR’ – “JUST IGNORE HIM & HIS WAYS’!”).FOR IF THE WORD SPOKEN BY ANGELS WAS STEDFAST, & EVERY TRANSGRESSION & DISOBEDIENCE RECEIVED A JUST RECOMPENCE OF REWARD; HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION; WHICH AT THE FIRST BEGAN TO BE SPOKEN BY THE LORD, & WAS CONFIRMED UNTO US BY THEM THAT HEARD HIM; GOD ALSO BEARING THEM WITNESS, BOTH WITH SIGNS & WONDERS, & WITH DIVERS MIRACLES, & GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WILL?”
THE RADICAL ISRAELI, SAUL OF TARSUS, BEFORE BEING DRAWN TO CHRIST JESUS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, TIRELESSLY FOUGHT NEW, YOUNG FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, TORTURING SOME & KILLING OTHERS, BUT THEN HAD HIS “DAMASCUS ROAD” EXPERIENCE! IN ACTS 9:1-20, “THE GLORIFIED CHRIST” CONFRONTS HIS ENEMY, SAUL OF TARSUS! LET IT RING IN YOUR MIND & HEART, “THE LIBERTY BELLS OF SOVEREIGN BLESSING FOR TRUE,ETERNAL,SALVATION,THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF THE CRUCIFIED, BUT RESURRECTED CHRIST” REIGNING ON HIS THRONE OF GLORY!
ACTS 9:1-20!! AND SAUL, ( WHO BECAME PAUL!),YET BREATHING OUT THREATENINGS & SLAUGHTER AGAINST THE DISCIPLES OF THE LORD JESUS, WENT UNTO THE HIGH PRIEST, & DESIRED OF HIM LETTERS TO DAMASCUS TO THE SYNAGOGUES, THAT IF HE FOUND ANY OF ‘THIS WAY’, WHETHER THEY WERE MEN OR WOMEN, HE MIGHT BRING THEM BOUND UNTO JERUSALEM. AND AS HE JOURNEYED, HE CAME NEAR DAMASCUS; & SUDDENLY THERE SHINE ROUND ABOUT HIM A LIGHT FROM HEAVEN; & HE FELL TO THE EARTH, & HEARD A VOICE, SAYING UNTO HIM, “SAUL, SAUL, WHY DO YOU PERSECUTE ME?”
AND PAUL SAID, “WHO ARE YOU,LORD?” & THE LORD SAID, “I AM JESUS WHOM YOU PERSECUTE; IT IS HARD FOR YOU TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS.” & HE TREMBLING & ASTONISHED SAID, “LORD, WHAT WILL YOU HAVE ME TO DO?” & THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, “ARISE, & GO INTO THE CITY, & IT SHALL BE TOLD YOU WHAT YOU MUST DO.” & THE MEN WHICH JOURNEYED WITH HIM STOOD SPEECHLESS, HEARING A VOICE, BUT SEEING NO MAN. SAUL AROSE FROM THE EARTH; & WHEN HIS EYES WERE OPENED, HE SAW NO MAN; BUT THEY LED HIM BY THE HAND, & BROUGHT HIM TO DAMASCUS. & HE WAS THERE THREE DAYS WITHOUT SIGHT, & NEITHER DID EAT OR DRINK. & THERE WAS A CERTAIN DISCIPLE AT DAMASCUS, NAMED ANANIAS, & TO HIM SAID THE LORD IN A VISION, “ANANIAS”. & HE SAID, “ BEHOLD, I AM HERE, LORD.” & THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, “ARISE, & GO INTO THE STREET WHICH IS CALLED STRAIGHT, & ENQUIRE IN THE HOUSE OF JUDAS FOR ONE CALLED SAUL OF TARSUS; FOR, BEHOLD, HE’S PRAYING.AND HAS SEEN IN A VISION A MAN NAMED ANANIAS COMING IN, & PUTTING HIS HAND ON HIM, THAT HE MIGHT RECEIVE HIS SIGHT.
THEN ANANIAS ANSWERED, “LORD, I HAVE HEARD BY MANY OF THIS MAN, HOW MUCH EVIL HE HAS DONE TO YOUR SAINTS AT JERUSALEM. & HERE HE HAS AUTHORITY FROM THE CHIEF PRIESTS TO BIND ALL THAT CALL ON YOUR NAME. BUT THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, “GO YOUR WAY: FOR HE IS A CHOSEN VESSEL UNTO ME, TO BEAR MY NAME BEFORE THE GENTILES, & KINGS, & FROM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. FOR I WILL SHOW HIM HOW GREAT THINGS HE MUST SUFFER FOR “MY NAME’S SAKE.” & ANANIAS WENT HIS WAY, & ENTERED INTO HIS HOUSE; & PUTTING HIS HANDS ON HIM SAID, “BROTHER SAUL, THE LORD, EVEN JESUS, THAT APPEARED UNTO YOU IN THE WAY AS YOU CAME, HAS SENT ME, THAT YOU MAY RECEIVE YOUR SIGHT, & BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
AND IMMEDIATELY THERE FELL FROM HIS EYES AS IT HAD BEEN SCALES; & HE RECEIVED HIS SIGHT FORTHWITH, & AROSE, & WAS BAPTIZED. & WHEN HE HAD RECEIVED MEAT, HE WAS STRENGTHENED. THEN WAS SAUL CERTAIN DAYS WITH THE DISCIPLES WHICH WERE AT DAMASCUS. & STRAIGHTWAY HE PREACHED CHRIST IN THE SYNAGOGUES, THAT HE IS THE SON OF GOD.
“GOD’S GREATNESS”? IN ISAIAH 63:1 WE READ, “WHO IS THIS THAT COMES FROM EDOM, WITH DYED GARMENTS FROM BOZAH? THIS THAT IS GLORIOUS IN HIS APPAREL, TRAVELING IN THE GREATNESS OF HIS STRENGTH? I THAT SPEAKS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, MIGHTY TO SAVE.”
IT’S SO AMAZING TO ME TO READ IN PHILIPPIANS 2:5-13 OF THE GREATNESS OF OUR “REDEEMING GOD” IN & THROUGH CHRIST JESUS, GOD’S SON & OUR SAVIOR & LORD! PAUL SAID: “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU, WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS; WHO, BEING IN THE FORM OF A GOD, THOUGHT IT NOT ROBBERY TO BE EQUAL WITH GOD; BUT MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION, & TOOK UPON HIM THE FORM OF A SERVANT, & WAS MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN; & BEING FOUND IN FASHION AS A MAN, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF, & BECAME OBEDIENT, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS. WHEREFORE GOD ALSO HAS HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, & GIVEN HIM A NAME WHICH S ABOVE EVERY NAME: THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, OF THINGS IN HEAVEN, & THINGS IN EARTH, & THINGS UNDER THE EARTH; & THAT, EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.
WHEREFORE, MY BELOVED, AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS OBEYED, NOT AS IN MY PRESENCE ONLY, BUT NOW MUCH MORE IN MY ABSENCE,WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR & TREMBLING. FOR IT IS GOD WHICH WORKS IN YOU BOTH TO WILL & TO DO OF HIS GOOD PLEASURE.”
“GOD’S GREATNESS”? HE KNOWS WHAT IS NECESSARY IN YOUR EARTHLY LIFE – THE NEED OF A SAVIOR, BECAUSE WITHOUT “BEING SAVED”, YOU’RE LOST IN THE DARK FORESTS OF SELF-PLEASURE, SELF-WILL, SELF-FLESHLY SATISFACTION, SELF-INDULGENCE, SELF-WILL IN THE ‘LOW-LIFE’ WHICH IS WILLFUL SELF-DEATH THAT HAS NO ETERNAL HOPE APART FROM CHRIST JESUS & HIS “BLOOD ATONEMENT” WITH TRUE REPENTENCE & SELF-SURRENDER TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST, THE KEYS THAT UNLOCK THE “DOOR” TO HIS ETERNAL SALVATION!’
“GOD’S GREATNESS”? HOW ABOUT HIS “ASSURANCE”? IN ACTS 17:30-31 WE READ, AND THE TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE, GOD WINKED AT; BUT NOW COMMANDS ALL MEN EVERY WHERE TO REPENT:BECAUSE HE HAS APPOINTED A DAY, IN THE WHICH HE WILL JUDGE THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS BY THAT MAN WHOM HE HAS ORDAINED; WHEREOF HE HAS GIVEN ASSURANCE UNTO ALL MEN, IN THAT HE (GOD) RAISED HIM (JESUS) FROM THE DEAD.
“GOD’S GREATNESS”? IT’S A MATTER OF “RESTING IN”, “REACHING FOR”, & “RELAXING IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST”! IN ROMANS 10:8-13 PAUL SAID,”WHAT DOES THE HOLY WORD SAY? THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, EVEN IN YOUR MOUTH & IN YOUR HEART; THAT IS, THE WORD OF FAITH, WHICH WE PREACH: THAT,IF YOU, SHALL CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THE LORD JESUS, & SHALL BELIEVE IN THE HEART THAT GOD HAS RAISED THE DEAD, YOU SHALL BE SAVED. FOR WITH THE HEART MAN BELIEVES UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS; & WITH THE MOUTH CONFESSION IS MADE UNTO SALVATION. FOR THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, WHOSOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED. FOR THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE JEW & THE GREEK; FOR THE SAME LORD OVER ALL IS RICH UNTO ALL THAT CALL UPON HIM. FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.”
ARE “YOU” RECONCILED TO GOD’S “GREATNESS” BY REACHING OUT FROM, YES, A “NEEDY HEART & MIND & SOUL NEEDING TO BE RECONCILED TO GOD, & YOU’VE LEARNED THAT CHRIST JESUS “IS” ‘THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE, & THAT NO MAN COMES “TO” FATHER-GOD EXCEPT,ONLY, “THROUGH JESUS” WHOM GOD DESIGNATED AS THE “RECONCILER” BETWEEN GOD & MAN THROUGH CHRIST JESUS’S “SHED BLOOD ON THE CROSS & HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD”!! AFFIRMING GOD’S GREATNESS? HOW?
ROMANS 10:14-17 CLEARLY ANSWERS! “HOW THEN SHALL THEY CALL ON HIM IN WHOM THEY HAVE NOT BELIEVED? & HOW SHALL THEY BELIEVE IN HIM OF WHOM THEY HAVE NOT HEARD? & HOW SHALL THEY HEAR WITHOUT A PREACHER? & HOW SHALL THEY PREACH, EXCEPT THEY BE SENT? AS IT IS WRITTEN, HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THEM THAT PREACH THE GOSPEL OF PEACE, & BRING GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS!
BUT THEY HAVE NOT ALL OBEYED THE GOSPEL (OR HEARD!). FOR ISAIAH SAID, ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?’ SO THEN FAITH COMES BY HEARING, & HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD.” THE WISE MAN OF PROVERBS, KING SOLOMON, IN PROVERBS 24:1-14, WROTE, INSPIRED BY GOD, BE NOT ENVIOUS AGAINST EVIL MEN, NEITHER DESIRE TO BE WITH THEM. FOR THEIR HEART STUDIES DESTRUCTION, & THEIR LIPS TALK OF MISCHIEF. THROUGH WISDOM IS A HOUSE BUILT; & BY UNDERSTANDING IT IS ESTABLISHED.
AND BY KNOWLEDGE SHALL THE CHAMBERS BE FILLED WITH ALL PRECIOUS & PLEASANT RICHES. A WISE MAN IS STRONG;YES, A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE INCREASES STRENGTH. FOR BY WISE COUNSEL YOU SHALL MAKE YOUR WAR; & IN MULTITUDE OF COUNSELLORS THERE IS SAFETY.
WISDOM IS TOO HIGH FOR A FOOL; HE OPENS NOT HIS MOUTH IN THE GATE. HE THAT DEVISES TO DO EVIL SHALL BE CALLED A MISCHIEVOUS PERSON. THE THOUGHT OF FOOLISHNESS IS SIN; & THE SCORNER (OF TRUTH!) IS AN ABOMINATION TO MEN. IF YOU FAINT IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY, YOUR STRENGTH (IN YOURSELF!) IS SMALL. IF YOU FORBEAR TO THEM THAT ARE DRAWN UNTO DEATH, & THOSE THAT ARE READY TO BE SLAIN; IF YOU SAY, BEHOLD, WE KNEW IT NOT; DOES NOT HE THAT PONDERS THE HEART CONSIDER IT? & HE THAT KEEPS THE SOUL, DOES HE NOT KNOW IT? & SHALL HE NOT RENDER TO EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS?
MY SON, EAT YOU HONEY, BECAUSE IT IS GOOD; & THE HONEYCOMB, WHICH IS SWEET TO YOUR TASTE; SO SHALL KNOWLEDGE OF WISDOM BE UNTO YOUR SOUL; WHEN YOU HAVE FOUND IT, THEN THERE SHALL BE A REWARD, & YOUR EXPECTATION SHALL NOT BE CUT OFF.”
THE “WISE MAN” KEPT ON ‘MESSING AROUND’ & TROUBLING ‘SELF-SUFFICIENT MEN’ WHEN IN PROVERBS 25:28 HE WROTE: “HE THAT HAS NO RULE OVER HIS OWN SPIRIT IS LIKE A CITY THAT IS BROKEN DOWN, & WITHOUT WALLS.” DO “YOU” HAVE ‘WALLS’ ESTABLISHED AROUND YOUR HEART, YOUR MIND, YOUR SOUL, & YOUR WILL? IT’S SO HEART-BREAKING TO ME TO WITNESS OR HEAR OF MEN WHO HAVE NO DESIRE TO HEAR FROM HOLY GOD ABOUT THEMSELVES! IN ACTS 24:24-25 IS THE RULER, FELIX, SENDING FOR THE APOSTLE PAUL. “AND AFTER CERTAIN DAYS, WHEN FELIX CAME WITH HIS WIFE DRUSILLA,WHO WAS A JEWESS, HE SENT FOR PAUL, & HEARD HIM CONCERNING THE FAITH IN CHRIST. & AS PAUL REASONED HIM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, TEMPERANCE, & JUDGMENT TO COME, FELIX TREMBLED, & ANSWERED, GO YOUR WAY FOR THIS TIME; WHEN I HAVE A CONVENIENT SEASON, I WILL CALL FOR YOU.” IT NEVER HAPPENED!
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF “PROCRASTINATION” & EVEN WITNESSED THAT WILLFUL MOMENT FALLING ‘ASLEEP’ IN THE DARKNESS OF ONE’S SOUL? AND, SO, THEY JUST ‘FORGET’ GOD’S GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE? THAT’S THE STORY OF HUMAN TRAGEDY! “PROCRASTINATION”? DICTIONARY DEFINITION? “TO DEFER ACTION,DELAY,TO PUT OFF TO ANOTHER TIME…BUT, WHAT IF, ANOTHER TIME OF BEING RECONCILED TO HOLY GOD, DOESN’T COME BECAUSE ONE ‘DIES’ PREMATURELY, MAYBE, BLINDED TO THE VOICE OR DEAFENED TO HIS KNOCK ON THEIR HEARTS’ DOORS, SO THEY JUST ‘DIE’ & GO TO HELL?!? HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF “CURSED IN CHRISTLESSNESS”, OR “BLINDED IN ONE’S SIN-NATURE” NEVER REACHING OUT TO THE CHRIST & SAVIOR OF MEN WHO, YES, “OPENS BLIND EYES & GRACES ME WITH “NEW HEARTS”?
A VERY INTERESTING VERSE IN LUKE 23:43 WHEN ONE OF THE ‘MALEFACTORS’ CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST HAD SAID TO HIM, “LORD, REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM.” JESUS RESPONDED, “VERILY I SAY TO “YOU”, TODAY YOU SHALL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.” & FOR YOU: SATAN’S PERVERSE KINGDOM OR THE “PEARLY PARADISE OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS”? CHOOSE YOU, RIGHT NOW: “WHOM WILL YOU BE THE SERVANT OF”? SERVANT OF CHRIST OR A SLAVE OF SATAN?
FROM THE “BREAKPOINT DAILY” PUBLISHED BY THE COLSON CENTER A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, WAS AN ARTICLE COLSON ENTITLED “ACADEMIC & CORPORATE WOKENESS: THE REAL THREAT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.” (IT WAS RECORDED BY JOHN STONESTREET & ROBERTA RIVERA. IN IT THEY WROTE THE FOLLOWING:
“THE SOUND YOU HEAR IS DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS SLAMMING SHUT EVERYWHERE. BASICALLY, ANY ORGANIZATION THAT RUNS AFOUL OF THE NEW SEXUAL ORTHODOXY THAT’S DRIVING THIS NEW POLICY WILL FIND IT MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO RECRUIT YALE LAW SCHOOL G RADS, & THOSE GRADS WHOSE MOTIVATIONS RUN TOWARD NON-PROFIT OR PUBLIC SERVICE WILL FIND THEIR CHOICES SIGNIFICANTLY NARROWED.
YALE’S BLATENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE WITH TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IS AN IMPORTANT REMINDER OF WHERE THE GREATEST CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CURRENTLY LIES IN OUR CULTURE, & AS DAVID FRENCH WROTE AT NATIONAL REVIEW, ONE OF ‘THE PRIME SOURCES OF [CULTURE WAR] CONFLICT IS THE INCREASING TENDENCY TO USE THE FINANCIAL & CULTURAL POWER OF PROGRESSIVE INSTITUTIONS TO FORCE SOCIAL CHANGE REGARDLESS OF THE UNDERLYING MISSION OF THE INSTITUTION.” SO, HOW ABOUT ANOTHER “GREAT AWAKENING” FROM THE THRONE OF HOLY GOD?