Struck Down, But Never Conquered

2 Corinthians 4:8,9

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we

are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but

not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed:"

        In many places, the pressure from ideologies has increased over the recent years.  And now in our communities where different faiths lived in harmony, are torn apart because some have begun to believe in other religions. It seems to me that Christ' Church is being 'prosecuted all over the world. If we want to be able to do and to endure all the trouble, distress, and prosecution  We must be as; Paul  "Faith in Christ above all."  My friend the way is this:  
        We must be well aware, that if a man would share the life of Christ he must share his risks, that if a man wished to live with Christ he must be ready to die with him. Paul knew and accepted the law of the Christian life "No Cross, No Crown."
        We must face everything in the memory of the power of God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. We must speak with such courage and such disregard of personal safety because we believe that even if death takes us, that God could and would also raise us up.  It is for certain that we could draw on a power which was sufficient for life and greater than death. We must bear everything in the conviction, that through our sufferings and trials others are being led into the light and love of God!
       Amen!

Reading: (2 Cor. 4;8-18)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

The Basis Of Love

Ephesians 5:32-33

"This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even

 as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."

        It must be a purifying love. Christ cleansed and consecrated the Church by the washing of water on the day when each member of the Church took his confession of faith. By the washing of baptism and by the confession of faith, Christ sought to make for himself a Church, cleansed and consecrated, until there was neither soiling spot nor disfiguring wrinkle upon it. Any love which drags a person down is false. Any love which coarsens instead of refining the character, which necessitates deceit, which weakens the moral fiber, is not love. Real love is the great purifier of life.
        It must be a caring love. A man must love his wife as he loves his own body. Real love does not  extract service, it cherishes the one it loves. There is something far wrong when a man regards his wife, consciously or unconsciously, as simply the one who cooks his meals and washes his clothes and cleans his house and trains his children.
      It is an unbreakable love. For the sake of this love a man leaves father and mother and cleaves to his wife. They become one flesh. He is as united to her as the members of the body are united to each other; and would no more think of separating from her than of tearing his own body apart. But Here indeed in this age, men and women changed partners with as little thought as changing clothes.
      The whole relationship is in the Lord. In the Christian home Jesus is an ever remembered, unseen, guest. In Christian marriage there are not two partners, but three and the third is Christ. 

        Amen!!

May God Bless You

 And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Anger In A Christians Life

Ephesians 4:26

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the

sun go down upon your wrath:"

        The anger which is selfish and uncontrolled is a sinful and hurtful thing, which must be banished from the Christian life. But the selfless anger which is disciplined into the service of Christ and of our fellow men is one of the great dynamic forces of the world.There must be anger in the Christian life, but it must be the right kind of anger. Bad temper and irritability are without defense. 
        There were times when Jesus was terribly and majestically angry. He was angry when the scribes and Pharisees were watching to see if He would heal the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath day (Mark 3:5). It was not their criticism of Himself at which He was angry; He was angry that their rigid orthodoxy desired to impose unnecessary suffering on a fellow man. He was angry when he made a whip and drove the changers of money and the sellers of victims from the Temple courts (John 2:13-17). My friends, our anger if, and when it occurs, must be selfless anger just as Christ displayed as an example for the word.
        Amen!

Reading: (Eph. 4:25-32)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

       

A Christ Filled World

Ephesians 4:10

"He that descended is the same also that

ascended up far above all heavens, 

that he might fill all things."

        Jesus descended into this world as a baby, and became a man; Jesus ascended from this world when He left it to return to His glory. Paul's great thought is that the Christ who ascended and the Christ who descended are one and the same person. What does that mean? It means that the Christ of Glory is the same as the Jesus who trod this earth; still He loves all men; still He seeks the sinner; still He heals the sufferer; still He comforts the sorrowing; still He is the friend of outcast men and women.  

        Jesus ascended up on high; but He did not ascend up on high to leave the world. He ascended up on high to fill the world with His presence. When Jesus was here in the flesh, He could only be in one place at one time. He was under all the limitations of the body; but when He laid this body aside and returned to glory, He was liberated from the limitations of the body and was able then to be everywhere in all the world through his Spirit. The ascension of Jesus did not mean a Christ deserted world, but a Christ filled world! 

        Amen!

Reading: (Eph. 4:8-10)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

 

The Marks We Bear

Galatians 6:17

"From henceforth let no man trouble me:

for I bear in my body the marks

of the Lord Jesus."

        What  Paul is saying here is; "I also suffer" This does not mean that he was suffering due to some sin in his own life. Why? It is an inevitable part of the life of a Christian, because he had the same mortal and corruptible body as unbelievers (Rom. 6:12; 8:11) and 1Cor. 15:53 ,54).

        My friends, Christians today are no different. Some act like they are smarter than God, and can defeat any thing God throws at them. Just look around, and you can see even those who say they are Believers are the same ones that are trying to take, and some  has already been taken out of the public eye. They are putting God, and The gospel Of Jesus Christ away like it never happened! You know, I would like to see some of their  Bibles, that is if they carry one? I would probably see a thin Bible; because they would have torn out the pages they did not like! 

        We know that the Word of God makes it clear, that upon receiving Christ, the physical body of the believer does not become exempt from mortality or corruptibility. We also know that suffering may also come as a result of persecution from the world because the Christian does not conform to this world. However; we know that Christ as overcome and will return to take rule. The fight is not ours. The Bible reads, " Vengeance is Mine," saith the Lord.

        Amen!!

Reading: (Gal. 6:12-18)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr. 

The Cross Life Ministry

                   

Earthly Riches Or Heavenly Wisdom

Proverbs 3:14

"For the merchandise of it is better than

the merchandise of silver, and the

gain thereof than fine gold."

         This system of high social value of material wealth in comparison with Wisdom, which is not even rational; but rests on the fear of the Lord, and is goodness as well as understanding, never needed preaching with more emphasis than right now today.  Everyday more and more of the commercial spirit invades in every region of our lives, and rich men are the envied types of success. When will  America's believe the religion which they profess, and adjust themselves accordingly? How many so called Christian parents would think their son was crazy if he said, "I do not care about getting rich; my goal is to be wise with God’s Wisdom." How few of us order our lives on the footing of this lesson, and act out the belief that Wisdom is more than wealth!
         The man who heaps millions together, and masses it, fails in life, however a vulgar world and a high class seeking church, may admire and glorify him. The man who wins Wisdom succeeds, however bare may be his cupboard, and however people may pity him for having failed in life, because he has not drawn prizes in the Devil’s lottery. His blank is a prize, and their prizes are blanks. 
         Amen!

Reading: (Prov. 3:11-24)

May God Bless You

And Your Families 

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

     

Our God Is Just And True!

Psalms 25:8

"Good and upright is the lord: therefore

will he teach sinners in the way." 

        His character is benevolent, and he is worthy of confidence. He is not merely "good," but he is equal and just in his dealings with people. h Our God is not merely benevolent and kind, but He is just and faithful; His administration is based on principles of trust and justice. Believers in God can have unlimited confidence in all of God's dealings. Because He is good and upright, we may approach Him with the assurance that He will guide in truth. His "goodness" may be relied on as true evidence that He will be "present" to do this; his "uprightness" as the promising assurance that the path in which He will lead us will be the best path. 
        We could not rely on mere benevolence, for it might lack wisdom and firmness, or might lack power to execute its own purposes; we can rely upon it when it is connected with a character that is infinitely upright, and an arm that is infinitely mighty. In the right way;  "the way in which they should go, the path of truth, of happiness, of salvation."
        Amen!

Reading: ( Ps. 25:1-22)

May God Bless You

And Your Families  

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr

The Cross Life Ministry

A Sacred Cry

Galatians 4:6

"And because ye are sons, God hath sent

forth the Spirit of his Son into your

hearts, crying, Abba, Father."

        The proof that we are sons comes from the instinctive cry of the heart. In man's deepest need he cries, "Father!" to God. Paul uses the phrase, "Abba! Father!" Abba is the Aramaic word for Father. It must have been often on Jesus' lips, and its sound was so sacred it was kept in the original tongue. This instinctive cry of man's heart Paul believes to be the work of the Holy Spirit. For Paul, he who governed his life by slavery to the law, he was still a child; then he who had learned the way of grace, had become a mature man in the Christian faith.

       My friends, when we cry to God, from our heart it is sacred. Some may cry Abba! Father! and some may cry Almighty God!, or My Lord! My God! In fact we all address God in different ways at different times. With no doubt, if our hearts so cry, we know that we are sons, and all the inheritance of grace is ours.
Amen!!

Reading: (Gal. 4:1-6)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry 

I Trust It Is Not In Vain

Galatians 3:4

"Have ye suffered so many things in

vain? if it be yet in vain."

        Have ye suffered so many things in vain? Paul reminds them of what they had, because of their attachment to Christianity. He assures them, that if the opinions on that which they had suffered were false, then their sufferings had been in vain. They were of no use to them. For what advantage was it to suffer for a false opinion? The opinions for which they had suffered, had not been these which they now embraced. They were not those connected with the observance of the Jewish rites. They had suffered because of having embraced the gospel, the system of justification by a crucified Redeemer; and now, if those sentiments were wrong, why, their sufferings had been wholly in vain.  This argument is pursued at much greater length in (1 Co 15:18-19), (1 Co 15:29-32).

        If it be yet in vain. That is, "I trust it is not in vain."  I hope you have not abandoned the gospel, because the sufferings in its behalf have been of no avail. I believe the Gospel to be true, and if you are sincere Christians, if in vain you have suffered, and may have gone astray. I trust, that although your principles have been shaken, yet they have not been wholly overthrown, that you will continue to believe in the truth, and that truth is "The Gospel Of Jesus Christ."

        Amen!!

Reading: ( Gal. 3:1-18)

May God Bless You

And Your Families  

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Let Your Midnight Frustrations Become The Sunshine Of Grace

Galatians 2:18

"For if I build again the which I destroy,

I make myself a transgressor."

        Paul speaks out of the depths of personal experience. For him to re-erect the whole fabric of the law would have been spiritual suicide. He says that through the law he died, to the law that he might live to God. What he means is this: He had tried the way of law, he had tried with all the terrible intensity of his hot heart to put himself right with God by a life that sought to obey every single item of that law. He had found that such an attempt produced nothing but a deeper and deeper sense that all he could do could never put him right with God. Have you ever felt that way? Do you feel that way now?
        If so; Think as Paul thought! If I can put myself to rights with God by meticulously obeying the law, then what is the need of grace? If I can win my own salvation, then why did Christ need to die? The just shall live by faith. The life at peace with God was not to be attained by this futile, never ending, ever defeated effort; it could be had only by casting himself on the love and mercy of God as Jesus Christ revealed them to men. When Paul took God at his word, the midnight of law's frustration became the sunshine of grace. My Friend, turn your midnight frustrations into the sunshine of grace, by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour Today!
        Amen!

Reading: ( Gal. 2:17-21)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

    

Masquerading As Christians

2 Corinthians 11:13

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,

transforming themselves into the

apostles of Christ." 

         Paul accused them of masquerading as apostles of Christ. The Jewish legend was that Satan had once masqueraded as one of the angels who sang praises to God and that it was then that Eve had seen him and been seduced.
        It is still true that many masquerade as Christians, some consciously but still more unconsciously. Their Christianity is a superficial dress in which there is no reality. Here are four questions, by which a man may examine himself and test the reality of his Christianity.
        Do you know salvation through the Cross of Christ? Are you growing in the power of the Holy Spirit, in  prayer, meditation and the knowledge of God? Is there a great desire to spread the Kingdom of God by example, and by preaching and teaching? Are you bringing others to Christ by individual searching, by visiting, and by public witness? With the conscience of others we have nothing to do, but we can test our own Christianity lest our faith also should be not a reality but a masquerade. As Christians we should test our Christianity by answering the question above.

        Amen!!

Reading: ( 2 Cor. 11:10-15)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr. 

The Cross Life Ministry 

 

 

Generosity Is Putting Feeling Into Action

2 Corinthians 8:12

"For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted

according to that a man hath, and not

according to that he hath not." 

       
         Paul's heart was toward organizing the Church of Jerusalem. This was the Mother Church but she was poor, and it was Paul's desire that all the Gentiles' Churches should remember and help that Church which was their mother in the faith. So he reminds the Corinthians of their duty and urges them to generosity. 
        He tells them how generous the Macedonian Churches had been. They were poor and in trouble but they gave all they had, far more than anyone could have expected. At the Jewish Feast of Purim there is a regulation which says that, however poor a man is, he must find someone poorer than himself and give him a gift. It is not always those who are most wealthy who are most generous; often those who have least to give are the most ready to give. As the common saying has it, "It is the poor who help the poor," because they know what poverty is like.
        The sacrifice of Jesus did not begin on the Cross. It did not even begin with his birth. It began in heaven, when he laid his glory to the side and consented to come to earth. The challenge to the Christian is, "With that tremendous example of generosity before you, how can you hold back?"    
        My Friends, we must put fine feeling into fine action. But a feeling which remains only a feeling, a pity which remains a pity, remains only of the heart, a fine desire that never turns into a fine deed, is a sad and frustrated thing. The tragedy of life so often is, not that we have no high impulses, but that we fail to turn them into actions. Life has a strange way of evening things up. Far more often than not we find that it is measured to us with the same measure as we measure to others. Life has a way of repaying bounty with bounty, and the sparing spirit with the sparing spirit. If men were only true to their own highest standards, if we all lived always at our best, what a difference it would make! 
        Amen!!

Reading: ( 2 Cor. 8:1-15)

May God Bless You 

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Motive Of The Whole Christian Life

2 Corinthians 5:15

"And that he died for all, that they which live should

not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto

him which died for them, and rose again."

    
         Paul says, this is the motive of the whole Christian life. Christ died for all! A Christian is, in Christ, and therefore the old self of the Christian died in that death, and he arose a new man, as new as if he had been freshly created by the hands of God. In this newness of life he has acquired a new set of standards. He no longer judges things by the standards the world uses. There was a time when Paul had judged Christ by human standards and had set out to eliminate the Christian faith from the world. But not now. Now his standards are different. Now the man whose name he had sought to obliterate is to him the most wonderful person in the world, because he had given to him that friendship of God which he had longed for all his life. 
        My friends, the motive of the Christian life will never change. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things become new (2 Cor. 5:17). No matter how much you may have pushed God to the side, and may have made fun of others that said they "Believe In Jesus Christ," and they have accepted Him into their hearts, and Love Him! There is still a place for you in God's Kingdom. For Christ died for all!
        Amen!!

Reading: (2 Cor. 5:11-19)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr

The Cross Life Ministry

              
 

Never Give Up

2 Corinthians 4:1

"Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as

we have received mercy, we faint not"

        By God's Grace, and if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour; "You have your own ministry within you. With the manifestation of the truth inside you, and I; and through "The Holy Spirit," you and I must not hide the Gospel of Jesus Christ from "The Lost" 

        We are His earthly vessels that holds the treasures of Jesus Christ. But one must remember that the excellency of the power is of God and not of us. Now understand this! You as a believer have power in the sight of God, and that power is ''Faith."   Yes, "Faith!"  Remember, through Faith you were saved, through Faith you pray, through Faith you have Hope, and through Hope you believe in the Gospel.

        So as a servant of Jesus Christ, we must let our light in our heart shine out into the darkness of this world. Let the world know the Glory of God and the Death And Resurrection of Jesus Christ, where by we are saved. I say to all; "Put Your Ministries to work!"

        Amen!!

Reading: ( 2 Cor. 4:1-18)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry 

       

In God's Service

2 Corinthians 3:17

"Now the Lord is the Spirit: and

where the the Spirit of the 

Lord is there is liberty."

        Where the Spirit is, says Paul, there is liberty. He means that so long as man's obedience to God is conditioned by obedience to a code of laws he is in the position of an unwilling slave. But when it comes from the operation of the Spirit in his heart, the very center of his being has no other desire than to serve God, for then it is not law but love which binds him. Many things which we would resent doing under compulsion for some stranger are a privilege to do for someone we love. Love clothes the humblest and the most smallest tasks with glory. "In God's service we find our perfect freedom."
        Amen!!

Reading: (2 Cor. 3:12-18)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Prayer Of A Cupbearer

Nehemiah 1:11b

"I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant

him mercy in the sight of  this man.

For I was the King's cupbearer."

        If our morning supplication is; "Prosper Thy servant this day," and our purposes are for God’s glory, we need not fear facing anyone. No matter how powerful they may be, they are not but, "this man," not God. "To fear thy name and prosper" (Neh. 11a). The phrase does not indicate contempt or undervaluing of the reality of his power over Nehemiah, but simply expresses the conviction that the king, too, was a subject of God’ and that his heart was in the hand of God, to mold as He would. The consciousness of dependence on God and the habit of communion with Him gives a man a clear sight of the limitations of earthly dignities.
         Prayed up and prepared for whatever might be the issue of that eventful day, the young cup bearer rose from his knees, drew a long breath, and went to his work. If we start our day and go to work, whether it be a day of crisis or a day of ease, "In Prayer!" Then we shall have like defense and like calmness of heart. We may not be a cupbearer for a Human King here on this earth. But we are our own cupbearer for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
        Amen!! 

 Reading: (Neh. 1;5-11)

May God Bless You  

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Be Watchful And Not Over Confident

1 Corinthians 10:12

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he

standeth take heed lest he fall."  

  

           Paul insists on the need of vigilance. "Let him who thinks he stands secure take care lest he fall." Again and again a fortress has been stormed because its defenders thought that it could not be over taken. In Rev 3:3 the risen Christ warns the Church of Sardis to be on the watch. The fortified height of Sardis was built on a jutting spur of rock that was thought to be a hard point of entry for their enemies. When Cyrus was besieging it, he offered a special reward to any who could find a way in. A certain soldier, Hyeroeades by name, was watching one day and saw a soldier in the Sardian garrison drop his helmet accidentally over the wall and down the rugged cliffs below.  He saw him climb down after it and marked his path. That night he led a band up the cliffs by that very path and when they reached the top they found it quite unguarded; so they entered in and captured the citadel, which had been counted too safe. Life is a chancy business; we must be ever on the watch.
        With the temptation there is always a way of escape. The word (ekbasis), in the Greek language It means a way out of a defile, a mountain pass. The idea is of an army apparently surrounded and then suddenly seeing an escape route to safety.  My Friends, in our walk with Christ there is no difference. No man needs to fall to any temptation, for with the temptation there is the way out, and the way out is not the way of surrender nor of retreat, but the way of conquest in the power of the grace of God. 
        Amen!

Reading: (1 Cor. 10:1-13)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Consider Your Temple

Haggai 2:15

"And now, I pray you, consider from this

day and upward, from before a stone

was laid upon a stone in the

temple of the Lord:" 

        This is a message of encouragement. Personal holiness comes only by conscious effort, and sinfulness spreads and increases in one's life unless it is effectively combated as well. This was evident in the lives of the Israelites. Their sinfulness in certain areas had effected all of their activities (Hag. 2:14). However, since they had now repented and laid the foundation for the temple in obedience to the message Haggai had delivered previously. God asked them if they were ready for a harvest, because he was going to bless their fields and orchards (Hag. 2:19)

        This message of encouragement has not changed. Personal holiness comes only and I stress only by conscious effort. Why Is it So important?  There are many Temples in which the Holy Spirit dwells; The Pastor, The Deacon's, You, Me, and others in the Church. We must keep in mind the motive for our labor. We can not be slothful in our service to God! We must have vigor to accomplish the task that God calls us to do. We must maintain our temple, and in the service for God we should remember to perform every task, keeping in mind that God desires diligence and integrity (Eph. 6:5, 6). God Blesses Everyday. So, Consider Your Temple,  And Look For Your Blessing Today!! 

        Amen!! 

Reading: ( Hag. 2:10-19)
               ( Eph. 6:5, 6

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail

The Cross Life Ministry

 

     

Our Glory Is God

1 Corinthians 3:21

"Therefore let no men glory in men,

for all things are yours"

         The Church is the very temple of God, because it is the society in which the Spirit of God dwells.  "We are God's temple when we prepare ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit." But, if men introduce dissension and division into the fellowship of the Church, they destroy the temple of God. 
        They make it impossible for the Spirit to operate, and immediately bitterness enters the church, and love goes from it. The truth can neither be spoken nor heard rightly in that atmosphere. "Where love is, God is," but, where hatred and strife are, God stands at the door and knocks and receives no entry. The very badge of the Church is love for the brethren. He who destroys that love destroys the Church and thereby destroys the temple of God.
        The Church will be reduced to a series of disconnected ruins. No building can stand firm on it's foundation if sections of it are removed. The Church's greatest strength is it's temple, where The Holy Spirit dwells. My friends, let us not glory in men; "Our Glory Is God!!"

        Amen!!

Reading: (1 Cor. 3:16-21)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

A Promise Of No Value

Mark 14:27

And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be

offended because of me this night; for it

is written, I will smite the shepherd,

and the sheep shall be scattered." 

         Promises! How easy they are to make; how hard to keep? We all know the outcome of Peter's broken Promise. However; Let's not condemn Peter for his weakness until we ask our self; "Have I ever broken a promise made to God? The first promise that probably comes to mind is the one when you got saved. We all as Christian's have made that promise when we accepted Christ into our life. Remember That Promise! Have you ever broke that promise?

        I am sure you promised that your lips would bear witness to His saving Grace. Did They? You Promised you heart was totally His. Is It! Now think back to Peter's weakness; was it not when Peter was separated from Christ right after the Lord's Supper? That was a time of darkness for Peter ,he was separated from Christ.

        My Friends, think back to when you broke a promise to God. Was it not when you were under pressure from darkness of this world where the name of Christ held no reverence.  No matter who you are or how strong you believe your faith is, there is one promise we all must keep! Jesus Christ is Lord, no matter what may come before us.

        Amen!!

Reading: (Mark 14:27-31)

May God Bless You

And Your Families 

Minister Robert A. Lail

The Cross Life Ministry

     

LimitsTo Christian Freedom

Romans 14:21

"It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine,

nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth,

or is offended or is made weak." 

            A man may come to the conclusion that his Christian freedom gives him a perfect right to make a reasonable use of alcohol; and, as far as he is concerned, it may be a perfectly safe pleasure, from which he runs no danger. But it may be that a younger man who admires him is watching him and taking him as an example. And it may also be that this younger man is one of these people to whom alcohol is a fatal thing. Is the older man to use his Christian freedom to go on setting an example which may well be the ruin of his young admirer? Or is he to limit himself, not for his own sake, but for the sake of the one who looks up to him? Or is he to limit himself, not for his own sake, but for the sake of the one who follows in his footsteps? 
         Surely conscious limitation for the sake of others is the Christian thing. If a man does not exercise it, he may well find that something he genuinely thought to be permissible, has brought ruin to someone else! It is better to make this limitation than to have the remorse of knowing that what one demanded as a pleasure has become death to someone else. Again and again, in every sphere of life, the Christian is confronted with the fact that he must examine things, not only as they affect himself, but also as they affect other people. A man is always in some sense his brother's keeper, responsible, not only for himself, but for everyone who comes into contact with him.
        A man who is strong in the faith. That man knows that food and drink makes no difference. He has grasped the principle of Christian freedom. Well, then, let that freedom be something between him and God. He has reached this stage of faith; and God knows that he has reached it. But that is no reason why he should flaunt his freedom in the face of the man who has not yet reached his. Many a man has insisted on the rights of their freedom, and have come to regret they ever did, when they see the consequences.
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rom:14:13-23)

May God Bless You

And Your Families 

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

In Believing What's Right, Do That Which Is Good!

 Romans 13:3

"For rulers are not a terror to good works,

but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be 

afraid of the power? do that which

is good and thou shalt have

praise of the same:"

        At first reading this is an extremely surprising passage, for it seems to counsel absolute obedience on the part of the Christian to the civil power. But, in point of fact, this is a commandment which runs through the whole New Testament. 1 Tim 2:1-2, we read: "I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life,  in all godliness and honesty."   
        This is not a Christian's submission to higher powers. It is reminding us of a common fact. People normally object to those whose rule is tyrannical, oppressive, and ungodly. However; The Bible tells us God does not condone tyranny or oppression, but teaches that believers should respect the established authorities.  
        My friends, our country today seems to be under rule of tyranny, oppression and ungodliness.   You May ask, "Do we just stand by, and watch the Heathens try to destroy our freedom of Religion our Churches, and our Spirit to fight for Christ, and what we Believe!"  NO! In this we have someone to turn to, "We Have God."  What we must do is spread The Gospel of Jesus Christ and stand by it! Never answer anger with anger, destruction with destruction or killing with killing. I will say pray continually and keep your eyes to the sky, for the return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!  
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rom. 3:1-5)
                (Tim 2:1-2)
               (Titus 3:1-6)
               (1 Pet. 2:17)

May God Bless You 

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Living Peaceably Is Possible!

Romans 12:18

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in

you, live peaceably with all men." 

         The Christian must meet persecution with a prayer for those who persecute him. A good man will choose rather to suffer evil than to do evil; and it is always evil that hates. When the Christian is hurt, and insulted, and mistreated, he has the example of Christ before him, for Christ, upon his Cross, prayed for forgiveness for those who were killing him.
        There has been no greater force to move men into Christianity than this serene forgiveness which the martyrs in every age have showed. Stephen died praying for forgiveness for those who stoned him to death (Act 7:60). Among those who killed him was a young man named Saul, who afterwards became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles and the slave of Christ. There can be no doubt that the death scene of Stephen was one of the things that turned Paul to Christ. Many a persecutor has become a follower of the faith he once sought to destroy, because he has seen how a Christian can forgive."
         Leighton once wrote: "The mode of Church government is unconstrained; but peace and concord, kindness and good will are indispensable." When strife enters into any Christian society, the hope of doing any good work is gone.  Paul was well aware that Christian conduct must not only be good; it must also look good. So called Christianity can be presented in the hardest and most unlovely way; but real Christianity is something which is fair for all to see.
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rom. 12:9-21)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

   

Warning To The Wild Olive

Romans 11:18

"Boast not against the branches. But if 

thou boast, thou bearest not the 

root, but the root thee."

        "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches (Rom. 11:16). If some of these branches have been cut off, and you being a wild olive have been grafted in among them, and you have become a sharer in the richness of the root of the olive, "You do not look down boastfully upon the other branches. If you are tempted to act like that, remember you do not bare the root, "the root bears you."

        You may say: Branches have been broken off that I may be grafted in. I would say your right but; they have been broken off because of their lack of faith. You and I my friend stand because of faith. We must remember that God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare us. we must not become proudly contemptuous, but keep ourselves in godly fear.

        Can you see the severity of God. For those who fell comes the severity, on the one's that don't fall comes the kindness of God. Therefore one must not boast but continue in faith, and you will not be cut away.

        Amen!

Reading: (Rom. 11:13-24)

May God Bless You

And Your Families 

Minister Robert A. Lail

The Cross Life Ministry

Our Time Is In God's Hands

Romans 9:28

"For he will finish the work, and cut it short

 in righteous; because a short work will

 the Lord make upon the earth."

        WOW! Where is God's mercy? My friend, Here is God's mercy!  "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will hardeneth. Thou will say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? (Rom. 9:18-19)

        One might say, "How can God show mercy to one person and not the same to another?" That is not what the Scripture intends. The Scriptures simply show us that we can lead our self to our own demise. Your life, my life, every one's life, is ours to choose how we live it; However, our time is in God's Hands.
        Jesus is a stone of stumbling to the blind, but all who confide in Him and rest on Him shall not be put to shame. God has laid the foundation of our salvation deep in the waters of death and judgment. In the death of Christ He condemned sin in the flesh, and now we who are built into Him, as a stone is secure to the foundation, shall rest secure when the last great storms sweep over land and sea.  
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rom. 9:15-29)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry 

    

The Choice Is Yours

Romans 8:33

"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of

God's elect? It is God that justifieth." 

          God has acquitted us. Who then can condemn us? The answer is that the Judge of all men is Jesus Christ. He is the one who has the right to condemn, but so far from condemning, he is at God's right hand interceding for us, and therefore we are safe. 

     In Rom 8:34, Paul is saying four things about Jesus. "He died"  "He rose again"  "He is at the right hand of God" and "He makes intercession for us there. Now the earliest creed of the Church, which is still the essence of all Christian creeds,  reads like this: "He was crucified dead and buried; the third day he rose again from the dead; and sitteth at the right hand of God from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead."  Three items in Paul's statement and in the early creed are the same, that Jesus died, rose again, and is at the right hand of God. But the fourth is different. In the creed the fourth is that Jesus will come to be the judge of the quick and the dead. In Paul the fourth is that Jesus is at God's right hand to plead our case. It is as if Paul said: "You think of Jesus as the Judge who is there to condemn; well he can and will for he died for that right. But it is your choice he is not there to be our prosecuting counsel but to be the advocate to plead our cause."

        Amen!!

Reading: (Rom. 8:31-39)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry