DISCIPLE

Isaiah is referring rather to the fact that, when He came, Jesus possessed none of those outward characteristics for which Israel was looking. They expected the Messiah to come as a temporal conqueror and prince, appearing in great pomp and grandeur, to deliver them from the Roman yoke and restore their nation to its former splendour and glory. But what did they see?      They saw nothing in Jesus that corresponded to their expectations. They saw no royal robes, no diadems on His brow, no magnificent reninue in attendance, no men of earthly rank and status to support His cause. They saw only a Galilean tradesman, accompanied by a small band of untutored followers and supported by a group of pious women. In their eyes He therefore lacked both "form" (that which is fair and favoured) and "comleliness" (honor, majesty and excellency), for He offered them none of the eternal insignia of royalty which they associated with the coming Messiah.      Consider the r...

  What does this mean? Is it a new denomination? No, it’s a description of a certain group of Christians, very widespread today. It means Sunday Morning Only. “Sunday morning only” Christians attend a meeting only on Sunday mornings and are absent from the others: the gospel meeting, prayer meeting and Bible study. Numbers in attendance are high on Sunday morning, but sadly low at all the other meetings.     This is not biblical behavior, for Acts 2:42 describes the conduct of the early Christians: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Not occasionally, but rather, they “continued steadfastly.” The Common English Bible translates, “The believers devoted themselves.” In the Amplified Bible we read, “They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves.” No one meeting was considered more important than the others.      In our experience we have seen many Roman Catholic...

   by William MacDonald "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you .”" (Exodus 12:2) New Year’s resolutions are good but fragile, that is, easily broken. New Year’s prayers are better; they ascend to the throne of God and set answering wheels in motion. As we come to the beginning of another year, we would do well to make the following prayer requests our own: · Lord Jesus, I rededicate myself afresh to You today. I want you to take my life this coming year and use it for Your glory. “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” · I pray that You will keep me from sin, from anything that will bring dishonor to Your Name. · Keep me teachable by the Holy Spirit. I want to move forward for You. Don’t let me settle in a rut. · May my motto this year be, “He must increase; I must decrease.” The glory must all be Yours. Help me not to touch it. · Teach me to make every decision a matter of prayer...

J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) Let me show the peculiar marks by which love to Christ makes itself known. The point is one of vast importance. If there is no salvation without love to Christ, if he that does not love Christ is in peril of eternal condemnation, it becomes us all to find out very distinctly what we know about this matter. Christ is in heaven, and we are upon earth. In what way shall the man be discerned that loves Him? Happily, the point is one that it is not very hard to settle. How do we know whether we love any person here upon earth? In what way and manner does love show itself between people in this world—between husband and wife, between parent and child, between brother and sister, between friend and friend? Let these questions be answered by common sense and observation, and I ask no more. Let these questions be honestly answered, and the knot before us is untied. How does affection show itself among us? (a) If we love a person, we like to think about him . We do n...

  by Robert Gessner (1930-2014) The church is not ashamed to bear the reproach of Christ. "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews" (1 Thess. 2:14).      It is not the name of a local church that distinguishes it as being a pattern of the New Testament. The church may have a very unique title such as "The New Testament Church of Jesus Christ" and yet it may not follow the pattern displayed in the New Testament. It is not even the creed formulated by a local church that gives it the distinction of being patterned after the New Testament. The creed, as far as it goes, may be very true to New Testament theology, and yet the church may be far from meeting in a New Testament manner. Obviously, no church would meet New Testament credentials if it did not teach the basic truths of the New Testament; however, it is not just ...

In Mark 7:37 the multitude praised the Lord Jesus with these words: "He hath done all things well," and they were right. But I wonder if we spend much time thinking about what those words mean. Our Lord never did anything half-heartedly or halfway. He is the master worker, the heavenly artisan. If His works were on display at a great Fair, they would be covered in blue ribbons!     What the multitude said admiringly that day, we can say adoringly and gratefully every day. We who are saved ought to praise and worship our blessed Lord for the perfections of all His work as the Son of Man. "All things well." Did we ever know the Lord to do things any other way? Of course not!    Did He ever leave anyone half-way healed? We remember the man in Mark 8:24 who received his sight gradually, but he was completely healed – the Lord knew what He was doing and He did it well. Did He ever give the blind vision in one eye, restore only part of the hearing to the deaf, o...