Great Essentials To Abide In Christ
What is it to abide in Christ, but living by faith, deriving one's life from the True Vine, Christ. The soul that knows his helplessness, and depends wholly upon Christ, is that one who will know the reality of being uplifted and strengthened by Him. He knows the reality of being a good receiver from Christ of all things good, and wholesome. Christ blesses the one who chooses daily to live by faith.
Christ The Burden Bearer
The call to follow Christ is one of surrendering all to Him. One aspect of that surrender is the carrying to Him, and leaving with Him, our burdens. These burdens may be very many, and of many types. The effect of them upon the soul is the same. They weigh the person down, hindering and demoralizing him. When Christ lifts the burdens, and the responsibility is placed upon His shoulders, then the soul knows freedom, relief, and peace. In truth, Christ alone can bear burdens, sheep are not meant to do so.
Thoroughly Equipped In Christ
It has been said that there is no need without, or within, which Christ is not able to meet in us today. Why is this so? It is true first because He is God, Almighty, perfectly good and faithful. Secondly, He has promised to be the sufficient God for every need. He will not fail or forsake the one who truly trusts in Him. Faith, however, is the means by which one receives from Him all that is necessary to meet one's needs, and the needs of others.
The Undeterred, Undistracted Disciple
The disciple of Christ is on a mission. If one would truly follow Christ, and believe Him for the full realization of His will, there can be no one before Christ as King and Lord. Secondly, the disciple is called to not look back, or to the side, only before, unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith. All streams of living water are in Christ, and only He is the light of the world who will surely guide and keep.
The High Calling Of God
What is that High Calling Of God but that blessed call of God for mortal man to know God in truth. The way to know Him is that path of salvation by which one begins at the moment of the new birth. From that point, the great pursuit is to know Christ, with the great, full realization of knowing Him occurring at that blessed meeting with Him. In that day, He shall be fully known in fullest measure.
The Call To Fear Not
Fear is an enemy, the very opposite of faith. To fear is to turn away from God, ceasing to first see Him as He is, and then, to neglect to believe Him to be to the soul what He has promised to be. Faith on the other hand is that act and attitude which believes whole-heartedly in God, knowing that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
God's Witness To The World
How does God reveal Himself to the world? Where is the witness in our day and time? When Christ ascended on high, He sent the Spirit of God to be poured out at Pentecost. On that day the world changed, for the Spirit of God brought into being the church of God, the body of Christ, His bride. The witness of the Spirit would thereafter indwell every believer, so that today, the witness of Christ is spreading throughout the world.
Christ The Great Original
Christ is the Great Original for He is the Beginning and the Ending, the Creator and Redeemer. He is original in His ways, His truth, and His purposes. He is the only One in heaven and earth who can truly make all things new, and this He does every time a lost sinner comes to Christ and is born again of the Spirit. This new creation if a God-made masterpiece, not a photocopy of existing things.
When God Speaks
Does God speak to us today? If we believe that the Bible is the word of God, and that Christ has sent His Spirit to dwell in our hearts to reveal the things of God to us, cannot we believe Him to make clear to us His will according to the Scriptures, convincing us of His voice speaking? Can we not trust Him to teach us how to hear, and how to respond in faith? God is faithful to respond to our earnest desire to know Him, and His will.
The Imperative Of Preaching The Gospel
Why is it imperative to proclaim the gospel? God works always according to truth, truth being His means of bringing men to faith. Idolatrous thoughts are those whose basis is not the truth, but imagination and error. God is a God of truth, so that if one would truly believe in Christ for the salvation of his soul, he must know the truth in Christ, how that He died for our sins, was raised from the dead to demonstration His power over sin and death, and now is waiting to be received by faith into the heart and life as Savior and Lord.