Holy Spirit, Brings God's Truth

2 Peter 1:21  

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: 

but holy men of God spake as they were 

moved by the Holy Ghost."

    In prophecy we have a guarantee, "that is, of The Second Coming." The words of the prophets are even a surer guarantee of the reality of The Second Coming. When Peter was writing, there was a tremendous interest, in the words of prophecy, whose fulfillment in Christianity was seen to prove its truth. There is case after case of people converted in the days of the early church, by reading the Old Testament books and seeing their prophecies fulfilled in Jesus. It would be quite in line with that, to declare that the strongest argument for The Second Coming, is that the prophets foretold it. 

    However we take it, the meaning is that the glory of Jesus on the mountain top and the visions of the prophets combine to make it certain that The Second Coming is a living reality which all men must expect and for which all men must prepare.   

    No man has the right to interpret Scripture, to use his own word, privately. How then must it be interpreted? To answer that question we must ask another. How did the prophets receive their message? They received it from the Spirit. It was sometimes even said that the Spirit of God used the prophets as a writer uses a pen or as a musician uses a musical instrument. In any event the Spirit gave the prophet his message. The obvious conclusion is that it is only through the help of that same Spirit that the prophetic message can be understood. As Paul had already said, spiritual things are spiritually discerned. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," (1 Cor. 2:14). 
    My Friends, The Holy Spirit, brings God's truth to men, and he enables men to understand that truth. Scripture is not to be interpreted by private cleverness or private prejudice; it is to be interpreted by the help of the Holy Spirit by whom it was first given.
Amen!

Reading: 2 Peter 1:16-21
Ref: HG SB

God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

   The Cross Life Ministry    

  

"That Means Me"

2 Peter 1:4-5  

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these 

ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption

that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, 

add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;" 

    He is the Christ of power. In him there is the divine power which cannot be defeated or frustrated. In this world one of the tragedies of life is that love is so often frustrated, because it cannot give what it wants to give, cannot do what it wants to do and must so often stand helpless while the loved one meets disaster. But always Christ's love is backed by his power and is, always an victorious love.

    Christ by whom we escape the world's corruption, by His death on The Cross;  However Peter had to meet the antinomians, the people who used the grace of God as an excuse for sin, just the same as some still do today. They declared that grace was wide enough to cover every sin; therefore, sin does not matter any more, the grace of Christ will win forgiveness for it. For any man to speak like that is simply to show that he wants to sin. But Jesus Christ is the person who can help us overcome the fascination of the world's lust and cleanse us by his presence and his power. So long as we live in this world sin will never completely lose its fascination for us; but in the presence of Christ we have our defense against that fascination
    My Friends, He is the Christ of the precious and great promises. Paul put the same thing in a different way when he said that all the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ. "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us," (2 Cor. 1:20). That is to say Christ says, "Yes. So let it be," to these promises; he confirms and guarantees them. It has been put this way--once we know Jesus Christ, every time we meet a promise in Scripture which begins with the word "Whosoever," we can immediately say to ourselves, "That means me." 
Amen!

Reading: 2 Peter 1:1-7
Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Gird Up, Be Sober, And Hope

1 Peter 1:13  

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope 

to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto 

you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;" 

    Peter had talked about the greatness and the glory that the Christian can look forward; but the Christian should never be lost in dreams of the future; he must always be virile in the battle of the present. So Peter gives us three challenges here. He tells us to gird up the loins of our mind: Peter is telling us to roll up our sleeves and be ready for a strenuous mental fight against evil.

    He tells us to be sober:  Let's look at this two ways. This could mean, we must refrain from drunkenness in the literal sense of the term; and it can also mean that we must be steady in our minds. In others words we must not become intoxicated with liquor nor with intoxicating thoughts; we must preserve a balanced judgment. It is easy for the Christian to be carried away with this, that, or the next sudden enthusiasm and to become readily intoxicated with the latest fashion and the newest craze.

    He tells us to set our hope on the grace which is going to be given to the faithful when Jesus Christ comes: It is the great characteristic of the Christian that he lives in hope; and because he lives in hope he can endure the trials of the present. Any man can endure struggle and effort and toil, if he is certain that it is all leading somewhere.

    My Friends, the best is always still to come. We can live with gratitude for all the mercies of the past, with resolution to meet the challenge of the present and with the certain hope that in Christ the best is yet to come.

Amen!

Reading: Devotional Scripture

Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Failed Love Shall Rise Again

Mark 14:72  

"And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind 

the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow 

twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he

 thought thereon, he wept" 

    That had to be the worst day of Peter's life, when he recalled what Jesus had said to him earlier, that day. Jesus predicts Peter's denial in (v-30), "And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice."  When Jesus foretold this tragic failure of loyalty, Peter could not believe that it would happen.  Peter, like all of us, this is one time he got too sure. He had forgotten the traps that life can lay for the best of men. He had forgotten that the best of men can step on a slippery place and fall. He had forgotten his own human weakness and the strength of the devil's temptations. But there is one thing to be remembered about Peter, "his heart was in the right place." 
    My Friends, Peter who never broke a promise, who never was disloyal in thought or action to a pledge. Peter loved Jesus, and even if his love failed, it rose again. What a lesson for all people! If we fail God or make a mistake, hurt a brother or sister in Christ, we must acknowledge our actions and ask God for forgiveness, and though our love might have failed, it shall rise again. 
Amen!

Reading: Mark 14:66-72
Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You 

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Thoughts That Comforts The Soul

Psalms 94:18-19 

"When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, 

held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts 

within me thy comforts delight my soul." 

    The comforts that we get from God; are His promises believing and hoping in Him and the comforts of His presence. When God draws near to our souls and shines into them we know that He is near. The comforts we get from the Lord Jesus Christ; are thinking of His person, His blood, His righteousness, His intercession, His exaltation, His glory, His second coming, our meeting Him, and then ourselves becoming Christ like.  

    We have the comforts of the Holy spirit, "The Comforter"  when He opens the Scriptures to us, and speaks to us, shining in the grace of God in our hearts enabling us to see His work and to see in it God's, eternal love to us.  However, not opening the book of life and showing us our names, but doing something that makes us almost as joyful as though the book were opened to us; "showing us the hand of God in our own souls.  Making us feel His grasp of love, and feel that it is a grasp which He will never loosen. 

    My Friends, Let's stop for just one moment, and ponder on the last sentence in this devotional. "We have a Loving God that guides us with one hand and holds us with His other hand; We are in the hands of  an Almighty God!"  
Amen!!

Reading: Psalms 94:1-23)

Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Know And Speak The Truth

John 3:33-34  

"He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God:

 for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." 

    If we want information, we have to go to the person who possesses that information. If we want information about a family, we get it first hand from a member of that family. If we want information about a town we will get it  from someone who comes from that town. So, If we want information about God, we will get it only from the Son of God; and if we want information about heaven and heaven's life, we will get it only from Him who comes from heaven. Let me make it very plain here. Jesus alone knows God, He alone can give us the facts about God, and these facts are the Gospel. 
   God poured out the Spirit in full measure, keeping nothing back. The full measure of the Spirit was reserved for God's own chosen one. The Spirit of God had two functions. First, the Spirit revealed God's truth to men; and, second, the Spirit enabled men to recognize and understand that truth when it came to them. The Spirit was on Jesus in the completest possible way, and in truth we can say that He perfectly knew and perfectly understood the truth of God. To put that another way; to listen to Jesus, is to listen to the very voice of God. 
   My Friends, Choose today whom you will serve!  "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Josh. 24:15). All life comes before a man at the crossroads. What matters is a man's reaction to Christ. If that reaction be love and longing, that man will know life. If it be indifference or hostility, that man will know death. It is not that God sends His wrath upon him; it is that he brings that wrath upon himself.
Amen!

Reading: John 3:31-36
HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry 

   

Life Needs Purpose

2 Corinthians 8:12-13  

"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. or I mean not that other men 

be eased, and ye burdened:" 

     A purpose driven life will give you and others around you equality. Someone once said, "I feel like a failure because I'm struggling to become something, and I don't even know what that is. All I know is how to get by, and if someday I discover my purpose, I'll feel I'm beginning To live." 

    Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning life has no hope. In the Bible, many different people expressed this hopelessness. Isaiah complained; "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God," (Is. 49:4). Job said, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope," (Job 7:6). The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.

    If you want your life to have impact "Focus It." You were not put on earth to be remembered. You were put on earth to prepare for eternity.  What do you think your family and friends would say is your driving force in your life? What would you say is your driving force in life?

    My Friends, It is impossible to do everything people want you to do. You have just enough time to do God's will. A purpose driven life will give you and others around you equality. "But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:  As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack," (2 Cor 8:14-15).

Amen!

Reading: Devotional Scripture
Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr. 

The Cross Life Ministry