Visiting speaker Lic. John Pyles examines a tale of two churches in the city of Philadelphia – the church of God in Philadelphia in contrast to the synagogue of Satan in the same city. Even in the midst of the hour of temptation, the Philadelphian church would still be kept as safe and sound because they kept the word of God’s patience by Jesus Christ.
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“And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.” (Gen. 42:36)
When we endure tragedy, we have a tendency to develop a “woe is me attitude”. It is very easy in the heat of a trial to let our mind run away and begin to think the entire world is “against” us and quickly end up very depressed. Jacob has a little pity party here himself where he declares “all these things are against me”. Granted, Jacob had endured a lot of heartache in his life, some due to his own sins, some due to the deception of others, and now due to his estranged son’s demands. However, Jacob was much more blessed than he realized in this moment. All things were not against him. Finally, we see the answer of the New Testament, if God be for us, who can be against us? Even if the entire world and every event in our life opposes against us, God is still for us in eternal salvation and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Message delivered by Elder David Wise at Laodicea PBC in Thaxton, MS on 1/31/2021. The only source of glory for the child of God should be in the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is the only means of our eternal salvation. We did not do anything to add to or take away from Jesus’ work on the cross by our actions but our salvation and our glory is solely in Jesus Christ for our eternal salvation. Thus, we should glorify Jesus Christ alone for our salvation that he secured on the cross of Calvary.
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We see a great example in the life of Esther of the virtuous woman who displays a meek and quiet spirit. Esther did not seek to try to bring attention to herself; on the contrary, she deflected the attention. God saw fit to exalt Esther for “such a time as this” due to her humble, meek, quiet spirit, but still was courageous and bold to save the Jews from extermination. We need to follow Esther and Mordecai’s example and quietly, meekly, and humbly serve the Lord where we have been placed in the current time.
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Message delivered by Elder David Wise at Tyler PBC in Tyler, TX on 1/24/2021. All of Christianity hinges on one event – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It’s because Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead that we have a hope of eternal life and a hope of the resurrection of the dead. We don’t sorrow as others that have no hope when loved ones pass away, but we joyfully anticipate the second coming of Jesus Christ and the final resurrection of the dead and glorification of the elect.
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What are the righteous supposed to do when we see the foundations of truth crumbling and being destroyed around us? We are not to run away, retreat, and flee as a bird to our mountain. No, the righteous should be bold and strong in the midst of an ungodly culture. We trust in God, knowing that God’s throne is in heaven, his sovereignty is unquestioned, and we can rest in God’s protection of his people who live righteously in the middle of an ungodly culture.
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It’s an alarming trend in Christianity today, that the church is ever looking more and more like the world, in some cases almost indistinguishable from the world. The church of God is called to be the salt of the earth and a city set on a hill. We are called to stand out in this world, and for our salt to preserve the culture around us. When the church abdicates it’s responsibility to “shake” out salt and “shine” out the light of the world, the culture decays around us, which is what we are seeing. The church needs to recommit to “shake and shine” to glorify our God in this world.
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“13) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:13-16)
When we consider the steady decline to ungodliness in our culture, it is easy to blame everyone else instead of truly examining ourselves in the church. I believe the steady decline in morality around us is a direct reflection of the impact of the church as salt and light on the culture around us. If our culture is decaying around us, it is because the salt of the church is not preserving the culture. If darkness is prevailing, it is because the light of the world is not shining forth properly and have put our candlestick under a bushel. When you go to the doctor, you don’t blame him for the reality of your diagnosis. You should want your physician to tell you the truth of what is wrong with you so you can remedy the problem. You also don’t put your head in the sand and ignore the doctor’s counsel and diagnosis – you are having these symptoms, so therefore, you have this problem. We must consider the church’s salt and light effect in the culture around us that is rapidly deteriorating.
We see in the life of Queen Esther how God is oftentimes working behind the scenes in our lives, even when we don’t know how or what God is up to. Every day our actions impact the lives of others, and we never know to what degree we are put in positions to bless others. Such as Esther, we don’t know if we are “come to the kingdom for such a time as this”? Therefore, we trust God to providentially guide and direct our steps in our lives and pray for us to be a blessing to others by God’s guiding unseen hand.
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