Bible Gems

December 7

"As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness."  (Psalm 17:17

 Dear friends of Gems,

    Richard (Dick) K. Gorgas, a man who loved his wife, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, but still had room in that large heart of his to love those of the family of God, has gone "home".  Those in his assembly, community, prisons and numerous others were touched by his love for his Lord and the desire that others would also get to know HIM.  Many did!  The Spanish community is feeling the loss intensely.  It was mentioned at the funeral, "who will come in to replace a fallen soldier?"  His work is finished and he is "With Christ which is far better.

    Many will remember his generosity.  The needy found a friend who provided practical help and sought to meet their spiritual needs as well.

    We will remember the many encouraging e-mail messages, including scriptural portions, poems and hymns.  He was known as the "SINGING PILGRIM."  His songs are now even sweeter but we no longer hear the voice.  The hands that once poured out messages, are no longer on the keyboard.  His memory will linger on in our hearts.

    I can still hear his voice teaching us the following song while at a hymn sing some years ago.  I believe it portrays one of the many admirable characteristics of a friend who "cared" and "shared". 

I'll Be a Friend to Jesus

They tried my Lord and Master,  With no one to defend;

Within the halls of Pilate  He stood without a friend

Refrain  I'll be a friend to Jesus,  My life for Him I'll spend;

I'll be a friend to Jesus,  Until my years shall end 

The world may turn against Him,  I'll love Him to the end;

And while on earth I'm living,  My Lord shall have a friend.

I'll do what He may bid me;  I'll go where He may send; 

I'll try each flying moment,  To prove that I'm His friend.

To all who need a Saviour,  My friend I recommend;

Because He brought salvation,  Is why I am His friend.   

N.J. Hiebert # 2091

December 8

"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee."  (Psalm 119:11)

     The word of God is sufficient for every possible condition.  Acquaintance with it is the one way of being fortified against every insidious effort of the enemy.

    May God in His mercy cause us to direct our attention to it more and more, with unceasing prayer.

    Let it be the subject of meditation day and night while, with unremitting desire and patience, we study and search the sacred page.  It is the diligent soul that is made fat.  (Christian Truth - Volume 21 - May 1968)

 N.J. Hiebert # 2092

December 9

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world...the world passes away."  (1 John 2:15,17)

 Forty years ago veteran missionary Mr. E.H. Sims said to me, "The stores today are full of so many things one can do without!"  A brother once heard him having a conversation in his tent and wondered who could be with him?  No one!  He was just talking with his Saviour!  "Uncle Bert's" life was so uncluttered with the things of this world that he was able to enjoy constant communion with his Lord.  Are the things which are "passing away" cluttering up my life and taking up my time and affection?  (David Croudace)

Vanity, then, of vanities, all things for which men grasp and grope!

The precious things in heavenly eyes -

Are LOVE, and TRUTH, and TRUST, and HOPE. 

N.J. Hiebert # 2093

December 10

"He made the stars also."  (Genesis 1:16)

 In Moses' Spirit-inspired account of the creation, he tells us that God made the sun and the moon.  Then it's as though he says, "Oh, incidentally, He made the stars also."  Earth's galaxy alone is computed to have some 100 billion stars.  Beyond our galaxy are at least several hundred thousand other galaxies, each doubtless containing billions of stars.  The psalmist tells us that God knows "the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names" (Psalm 147:4).  What an infinitely great God we have!  (W. Ross Rainey) 

O Lord, my God!  When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed. 

N.J. Hiebert # 2094 

December 11

"By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain."  (1 Corinthians 15:10)

 Commenting on this verse, the erstwhile slave runner John Newton exclaimed, "I am not what I ought to be!  Ah, how imperfect and deficient!  I am not what I wish to be!  I abhor that which is evil, and would cleave to that which is good.  I am not what I hope to be!  Soon, soon I shall put off mortality and with it all sin and imperfection.  Yet though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was!"

Then we shall be where we would be,

Then we shall be what we should be;

Things that are not now nor could be

Soon shall be our own.

(T.Kelly) 

N.J. Hiebert # 2095

December 12

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." (James 1:17)

 The grateful heart receives all as from God, knowing that every good and perfect gift (everything that He gives answers to this description) comes down from heaven, from the Father of lights.  He knows what is in the darkness, but the light dwells with Him (Daniel 2:22), with whom is neither changeableness not shadow cast by turning.  Every blessing for time and eternity we owe to the unfailing goodness and unalterable purpose of grace. (H.A. Ironside)  

 N.J. Hiebert # 2096