Gems for the Week
July 14
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6)
I have heard finely educated men in prayer-meeting talk in sentences of Miltonic affluence, yet their words fell dead upon the meeting; but when some poor, uneducated man arose, and said, "I suppose you fellers think that because I don't know nothing, I haven't no right to speak. But Christ has converted my soul, and you know I was the miserablist chap in town; and if God will pardon me, He will pardon you. Come to Jesus! Come now!" - The prayer-meeting broke down with religious emotion. (T.De Witt Talmage)
NJ. Hiebert # 3400
July 15
"I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me
and the children be able to endure." (Genesis 33:14)
What a beautiful picture of Jacob's thoughtfulness for the cattle and the children! He would not allow them to be overdriven even for one day. He would not lead on according to what a strong man like Esau could do and expected them to do, but only according to what they were able to endure. He knew exactly how far they could go in a day; and he made that his only consideration in arranging the marches. He had gone the same wilderness journey years before, and knew all about its roughness and heat and length, by personal experience. And so he said, "I will lead on softly." "For ye have not passed this way heretofore." (Joshua 3:4) (Frances Ridley Havergal)
N.J. Hiebert # 3401
July 16
"I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you . . . by which also ye aresaved . . . Christ died for our sins . . . He rose again the third day . . . we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye . . . the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. . . ." (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 51-52)
- Nothing ever brought out the real state of man's heart toward God but the coming of Christ.
- Christ not merely "died for our sins, according to the scriptures," but He was "made sin for us." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
-There can be no such thing known as peace or joy, until we see all our trespasses forgiven and our sin judged at Calvary.
(Food for the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert # 3402
July 17
"Lo, I come (in the volume [roll] of the book it is written of Me,)
to do Thy will, O God." (Hebrews 10:7)
He came to finish the perfect eternal work of redemption. "Wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be made like to His brethren" (Hebrews 2:17), and to be a partaker of flesh and blood. (Hebrews 2:14) He "Made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant." (Philippians 2:7); yes, "in likeness of sinful flesh." (Romans 8:3)
Such was Thy grace, that for our sake
Thou didst from heaven come down;
With us of flesh and blood partake,
And make our guilt Thine own.
(Behold the Lamb of God - Fritz Von Kietzell)
N.J. Hiebert # 3403
