Gleanings

02/01/2025

There is nothing we do in life that is so small that it is unimportant: “a cup of cold water” given in the name of Christ will not lose its eternal reward (Mt. 10:42).

16/06/2023

The Lord knew that Peter's denial of Him before the rooster crowed, will be a major cause of the other disciples' letdown. He knew that them, feeling orphaned because of His death on the cross, will make them look for a leader and Peter being in the rut at that time, is virtually useless and himself has planned his exit and maybe his departure from them and to just go back to his trade - fishing.

You can read how the Lord predicted Peter's denial at the end of chapter 13. Immediately chapter 14 follows and begins with the words "Let not your heart be troubled...".

Have you ever felt betrayed by a brother's failure, a leader's missing the mark?
Perhaps you should be reminded that since we "believe in God, we should believe in Him! Not putting our faith on our leaders, on men, frails like ourselves.

The Lord Jesus, intimated this truth to His disciples. That there will be "letdowns" among them, failures on His men but everyone's focus and hope should only be on Him.
He is in control, nothing surprises Him and even Peter He immediately restored.

We should be thankful for all the 'Peters' of Christ but our faith and hope must be anchored only in Him who also said "if it were not so, I would have told you".
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John 13:37 - John 14:2
Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

11/10/2022

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

08/10/2022

Today, is the Lord's day October 9, 2022. Below is from The Good Seed Calendar article.

Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me.

John 8:43-45.

Is your experience similar to that of Jesus’ listeners? You read the Bible, the Word of God, without understanding what it is saying to you. The reason is not that the Bible is in another language, or belongs to another culture or was written in another age. The basic problem is, as with Jesus’ contemporaries, the wavelength is wrong.

We cannot grasp the Word of God merely with our intellect, we must believe it in our heart. Our will must resolve to be prepared to allow the Word of God to speak to our conscience. Whoever obstructs this requirement will sooner or later develop feelings and thoughts directed against God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Many believe that there is freedom of thought in every respect. That is not true. Whoever refuses to accept God’s truth, as preached and lived out by Jesus, is under the devil’s influence. This murderer has always targeted God’s creatures: since the Garden of Eden he has endeavoured to hunt them down and blind them with lies.

There is no variable in truth; it is a solid unit. It shows how God judges things. Let us not give way to untruth, however attractive it may appear.

(to be continued next Sunday)
Today’s reading: Isaiah 40:18-31 · Hebrews 6:1-9

07/10/2022

I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses, ” declares the Lord, “that I am God.

07/10/2022

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

05/10/2022

Because He is the only One who is immovable and never changes!

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

05/07/2022

It is clear that at the most, we have very little time left to us in which to truly serve the Lord and to be true witness for Him. We ought to know well the facts concerning which we witness.

31/03/2022

The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly. (15:14)

THE DISCERNING HEART.
Fools can be said to be all mouth, always spouting foolishness. The wise, however, are all heart—and every new experience is a way for their hearts to become more discerning. In a TV episode, based on an Agatha Christie story, a retired Scotland Yard inspector explains to an incredulous friend that Miss Marple is the greatest criminologist in England. “There she sits,” he says, “an elderly spinster. Sweet, placid, or so you’d think. Yet her mind has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it all in a day’s work. She has lived all her life in a little rural village of St. Mary Mead. It’s extraordinary! She knows the world only through the prism of that village and its daily life, but by knowing the village so thoroughly, she seems to know the world.” Like Jesus, the ultimate wise one, she loves people but she doesn’t trust human nature (John 2:23–25). The secrets of wisdom are locked in your ordinary experience if you know how to learn from it. Ask God to help you develop a discerning heart.
From God's Wisdom For Navigating Life by Timothy Keller, Kathy Keller

24/03/2022

God loves you!

23/03/2022

A question for the day.