1 Thessalonians 4:1 (KJV) More and More

1 Thessalonians 4:1 (KJV)
Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

Just a quick search through the New Testament reveals a number of things we Christians are exhorted to increase and abound in:

• Hope
• Giving 
• Love

The Bible says we ought to abound in these things. We are not to set a comfortable pace in them. We are not to find a cruising altitude for them. We are not to add them to our lives, get established in them and then maintain a healthy practice of them. We are to abound in them.

Here the Word of God goes a step further and tells us to abound in obeying its instructions on how to walk and please God. Not only ought we to abound but abound more and more. This implies a constant climb. The Christian life is one of continued growth. There are no landings on the stairway where we can park for a while; there are only steps up or else there is a slide down.

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1 Thessalonians 4:1 (KJV) More and More

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Job 16:22 (KJV) What Awaits You?

Job 16:22 (KJV)
When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

I take it that Job was not old for his day. Eliphaz claimed they had men with them who were many years senior to Job’s father. He is not a kid as his children, who had died, were adults. But he is far from reaching that age where death is imminent.

I see myself in about that spot. At almost 58 years old, I am by no means a kid but neither must I think of my life as nearing the end. Of course anything can happen but statistically I have many years ahead of me. Maybe a better example would be someone in their “forty-somethings”. Many women and most men could still bear children in their early forties, yet they could also have kids who are young adults and their parents could easily still be alive.

And yet Job called the remaining years of his life, “but a few years“.

I realize that Job was probably speaking from a depressed perspective, but he is also speaking as an example of us all. The wise person, regardless of age, sees the remaining years of his life as “but a few”. He isn’t necessarily depressed or melancholy about it, but he is aware of it.

The one over riding truth of every man is that he will one day die. When that day comes, no matter how long he has lived, he will certainly believe they passed too quickly. The important thing then is not just to make sure that his few years count. The most important thing is to make sure he is prepared for what awaits the other side of the grave.

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For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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Job 16:22 (KJV) What Awaits You?

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1 Thessalonians 2:5 (KJV) Careful for the Cloak

1 Thessalonians 2:5 (KJV)
For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:

I am interested in the phrase, “cloke of covetousness “.

A cloak is something that covers or hides a thing. It can be a:

• Cloth or fabric
• A wall or obstruction or 
• A tactic meant to distract the eye so that it does not see what is actually taking place (as an illusionist does).

Paul reminds the believers in the church at Thessalonica that he used no such cloak to hide a covetous motive. The implication is that there were others who did.

We live in a world filled with such spiritual illusionists. Whole religions are contrived with the purpose only to fleece people of what little they have thereby making themselves wealthy. Americans have too many examples of would-be men of God who live in embarrassing opulence at the expense of others who could barely afford to keep their families provided for.

• Multi-million dollar homes
• Vacation properties 
• Extravagant vehicles 
• Jet airplanes 

are just some of the over the top possessions of  famous charlatans who use a cloak of piety to mask their heart of materialism and covetousness.

Lest we judge them too harshly let us remember that any one of us is capable of using a similar cloak. Covetousness is a sin that the middle and lower incomes are as guilty of as those who have more of this world’s goods. It may very well be that our own cloak works so well it has hidden from us our own heart of covetousness.

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 1 Thessalonians 2:5 (KJV) Careful for the Cloak

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1 Thessalonians 1:6 (KJV) True Joy

1 Thessalonians 1:6 (KJV)
And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

Joy can be produced through many things:

• Some people tend to be naturally joyful
• Some people have a physiological feature called “dawn phenomenon” where their body produces an extra “shot” of blood glucose just before they wake up. It is havoc for the diabetic but I think it helps them wake up happy 
• Some people find joy in the presence of company. They are the life of the party. 
• Some people produce for themselves a false form of joy through drugs alcohol or adrenaline producing activities

Paul speaks of the joy of the Holy Ghost. This is the only joy that makes one happy in the midst of affliction. This is also the only joy that creates a testimony that can spread to others in far reaching places.

There is no way to work up the joy of the Holy Ghost. It comes through:

• Trusting Christ as Saviour 
• Following the example of the spiritual leader God places over you and
• Obedience to the teaching of the word of God

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1 Thessalonians 1:6 (KJV) True Joy

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Colossians 4:11 (KJV) A New Name and Testimony

Colossians 4:11 (KJV)
And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.

It appears that the name Jesus was common among the Jews in that first century. It likely reflected the desire of the Jews. Their longing for millennia had been for the coming of the Saviour.

Then He came.

The promise of God was fulfilled. The longing, at least in those who had received Him, had been satisfied. The Saviour had come and those who knew Him had their sins forgiven and were made righteous, justified in God’s sight.

Many people changed their names in those days. For example Saul of Tarsus became Paul. This man named Jesus was called Justus and the change became an eternal testimony of the work Christ does.

In Christ our longing for salvation is satisfied and we are made just before God.

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Colossians 4:11 (KJV) A New Name and Testimony

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Colossians 3:11 (KJV) A Utopian Place

Colossians 3:11 (KJV)
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

I am thinking right now of a place. It is a wonderful place where all prejudices and problems that arise from differences of

• Background, 
• Culture, 
• Class and 
• Education 

just do not exist. Here is a place where the thing that is common among us is so overwhelming that the things that are different pale into oblivion.

This utopian place is not I any map. You’ll not be able to track it on a gps. It is not found in any physical location, but in the heart.

It is more than a mere change of mind as the humanist would like us to believe.

This place only exists in the one who is a new creation. The place doesn’t exist because of a new acceptance of these varying cultures and classes either.

The unity works because the focus is on only one person; the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Colossians 3:11 (KJV) A Utopian Place

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Colossians 2:20 (KJV) Are You?

Colossians 2:20 (KJV)
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

There are two “ifs” in the book of Colossians that every serious believer ought to take very careful consideration of:

• “…if ye be dead with Christ…”
• “If ye then be risen with Christ…”

Both of these phrases can be viewed as statements rather than questions. It would sound something like,  “Since ye …” The context, some would insist, requires that they are statements of fact. I prefer to think that, since the Bible uses the word “if” there is at least some level of doubt and a wise believer asks himself whether these are true of him.

Are you dead with Christ?Paul said,
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
I am crucified with Christ: …. (I will get to the rest of the verse in a moment).

There are numerous other references to the fact that the Christian is dead in Christ. It is a positional fact. My question is this; is it a practical truth in your life? Death implies a number of things about the one who has died. Are they true of you?

Are you risen with Christ?Now we see the rest of,
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
… nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Can you say that this is your experience? Are you dead to your old self but alive to a new self? Has the death of Christ on the cross so smitten and slain you that you cannot ignore its reality? Are you drawn to the cross of Christ and to the consequences of it? And, having come to the cross, are you now compelled to make an about face in heart, mind and action?

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Colossians 2:20 (KJV)  Are You?

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Colossians 1:28 (KJV) Every Man, Really?

Colossians 1:28 (KJV)
Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

The work of the preacher is never ending because the work is to go to every man. If one of the earlier parts of the work were to ever go out to every man, we can be assured that the other two parts have not.

To warn every manThe lost man must be warned of impending judgment. He must be urged to repent and to trust Christ as his only source of forgiveness and salvation. His sin must be brought to light. He must come to see it as the reason he has no fellowship with God. Hell must become hot to him. The thought of forever being separated from God in torments must become a reality to him. He must be urged to fall upon the grace and mercy of God found in Christ.

To teach every manThe great commission requires that our work not be finished with a profession of faith. We are to teach those who are saved to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Paul wanted to see sinners turned from their sin and saints turned to Jesus Christ because his final goal was;

To perfect every manPaul saw himself as an ambassador reconciling souls to God through Christ. He saw himself as one day presenting each of those he had seen saved and instructed to the Lord. His goal was that, at the moment of presentation, those he brought would be perfect. Positionally every Christian is perfect at salvation but practically such perfection is attained only through discipline (and is never fully attained in this life).

Paul never could have believed himself out of work because he labored to see every man warned, taught and perfected.

• For every one he may have been successful in warning there were countless others yet to warn. 
• For every one instructed there were and innumerable mass still needing instruction. 
• For every one perfected there were-well, even Paul never attained perfection. 

He was never out of work.

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Colossians 1:28 (KJV) Every Man, Really?

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Job 12:3 (KJV) Knowing Right and Wrong

Job 12:3 (KJV)
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

Job acknowledged what was right in Zophar’s speech and proved what was wrong.

Zophar was right about the character of God“that there is a God that has made the world, and governs it; that he himself is unsearchable, infinite and incomprehensible; a sovereign Being that does according to his will and pleasure, and sees and knows all things, and does all things well and wisely, and according to the counsel of his will.”[1]

Zophar (and his friends) were wrong about the nature of sufferingIt does not always go well with the righteous, and evil men are not always immediately and obviously chastened.

One of the great problems of religion, especially Christian religion[2], is that there is enough right to fool the unsuspecting and careless hearer. They will say those spiritual things that may be agreed upon to give credence to those things less orthodox. Jesus did not commission churches to teach some things that are true but “all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” It becomes us to find the whole truth of the Bible and to obey and teach it.

I can only know the truth as I study the Bible and the Holy Spirit convinces me of it so I must be a personal student of the Bible.

[1] John Gill
[2] I use this term in contrast to a true and living relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Job 12:3 (KJV) Knowing Right and Wrong

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Philippians 3:8-9 Blending Righteousnesses

Philippians 3:8-9 (KJV)
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

If there was ever a man whose life, previous to salvation, would have been called righteous, it was the man we now call Paul, the penman of this epistle. Paul’s own testimony was that if anyone could be confident in the work of the flesh, he could have been more. But then he goes on to say that he counted all of that as loss. He didn’t want to have confidence in himself but only in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Many these days miss this point. They attempt a blending of personal righteousness with Christ’s righteousness. The Bible teaches us here that no such blend is possible. It is the righteousness of Christ that saves or there is no salvation at all. Good works for the Christian is not an effort to win the favor of God but a product of the life of Christ in us.

The question may then be asked, what motivates our good works?

• If it is an attempt to make God happy and win His favor then it is a sure sign of no salvation. 
• If it is an awareness of Christ in you and the desire to let Him live through you, then you can be sure of true salvation.

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Philippians 3:8-9 Blending Righteousnesses

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Philippians 1:1(KJV) The New Testament Church

Philippians 1:1 (KJV)
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

That Paul writes this letter to the local church in Philippi it is evident by the three groups he refers to:

• Saints
• Bishops and
• Deacons

These are the three groups that make up a local church:

The saintsThese are the saved and baptized members of the local church. In the Bible, the term Saint is used to speak of the saved. There is no special class of Christians as the Catholic Church maintains. There are only those who are saved, called to be saints or separated to God.

The bishopsWhich is one of the titles for the pastor. Bishops, elders and pastors (or shepherds) are the three Biblical titles for the pastor. The titles denote the responsibilities of the pastor to lead, feed and be an example to the flock. A church can only have one head. The plurality of bishops does not speak of shared authority as much as shared duties. The pastor may appoint others to pastor under him:

• To lighten the burden 
• To train up future pastors and 
• To provide for the church’s care in case of his demise or removal for other causes

The deaconsThese have the role of “waiting tables” or serving the church in more material or physical ways. They are to be spiritual people, wise and with a good reputation among the saints.

Paul will later refer to this church at Philippi but we know that it is a church simply by its components.

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Philippians 1:1(KJV) The New Testament Church

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Ephesians 6:24 (KJV) Do You Love the Lord?

Ephesians 6:24 (KJV)
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. To the Ephesians written from Rome, by Tychicus. 

What an interesting way to close this letter to the Ephesians. Albert Barnes says there could not have been a more appropriate way to close it.

The Word of God wishes grace upon those who not only claim to love Jesus but who love our Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity.

Two thousand years ago, just as today, there were those whose claim to love Christ was not

• Sincere
• Genuine and 
• From the heart

For whatever reason there has always been those who have another motive for their professed faith in Christ. They have a love that is

• Feigned
• Unreal and 
• Insincere

The importance of this is that the promise of grace from God only extends to those with sincere love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

It therefore behooves us to examine ourselves to be sure of that sincerity.

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Ephesians 6:24 (KJV) Do You Love the Lord?

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Job 7:17-18 (KJV) Job – A Picture Of Us All

Job 7:17-18 (KJV)
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?

King David expresses nearly the same sentiment but from a completely different perspective. David marveled that God cared. Job complained for the same reason.

It is the nature of the fallen man to desire to be left alone. He is happy to accept good things from God, of course, but he despises that which transforms and recreates him.

• He would rather eat and grow fat than suffer without and to put the body in stress. 
• He would rather accept the easy path than to work the mind to find a higher path. 
• He would rather believe a teacher that to do the research to prove the teacher right or wrong. 
• He would rather ease his way into heaven than to obey and receive an abundant entrance into the presence of God.

Job pictures each of us in that he would have preferred to not be perfected. His account teaches that God is not satisfied with non-growing Christians and that He will not suffer it to be so.

Growth can only happen through testing.

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Job 7:17-18 (KJV) Job – A Picture Of Us All

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Job 6:8-10 (KJV) Keep An Eye Out for the End

Job 6:8-10 (KJV)
Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

As I read these verses I cannot help but think of the final pages of the Book of Job.

• Here is a man who thought his life was over when in reality his best days were yet to come
• Here is a man who thought it would be a blessing to die but did not know God had greater blessings in store for him
• Here is a man who asked God to take his life when God’s plan was to grant him newness in life
• Here is a man whose testing was terrible but whose end was golden

and it reminds me that none of us know our end. We have no way to know what God’s eventual plan for us is. We cannot possibly know when we pray what will be the final answers to those prayers.

All of us are tested and we all dislike it. But everyone can be assured that our end, if we love God, will be a grand one.

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Job 6:8-10 (KJV) Keep An Eye Out for the End

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Ephesians 3:4 (KJV) Read it and Re-read It

Ephesians 3:4 (KJV)
Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

The way to understand the mysteries of God is through reading God’s Word.

Paul had spoken already in this letter of the marvelous truths that are impossible to comprehend without the help of the Holy Spirit

• How those who are dead in sin are quickened by the Spirit
• How we are not saved by good works but to good works
• How the prince of the power of the air induces disobedience but Christ creates newness of life
• How through salvation a new body is formed made of Jews and Gentiles and called a church

The way to get hold of the truths of God is through reading, re-reading and consistent instruction in God’s Word. It is this Word we must have. When we read it, we understand.

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Ephesians 3:4 (KJV) Read it and Re-read It

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Ephesians 2:2-3 (KJV) Not To Be Trusted

Ephesians 2:2-3 (KJV)
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Paul, Jew by birth, writing to a church made up of both Jews and Gentiles, said we all had our conversation among the children of disobedience and under the influence of the spirit of the prince of the power of the air.

It is foolish of any of us to believe that an unsaved person is influenced by anything but that spirit.

• People we love 
• Politicians we vote for
• Personalities who are popular 

Every one of them, if they are not washed through the blood of Christ, are children of disobedience and behave the way the prince of the power of the air leads them. They are not to be trusted.

Even believers wrestle with their old nature and sometimes fall in defeat. For the children of disobedience, there is no choice but to fall. Their character is always subject to that spirit of the devil.

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Ephesians 2:2-3 Not To Be Trusted

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