Notes taken from “Deine Zeugnisse – mein ewiges Erbe” by Alfred Christlieb, page 49.

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“Great hearts can only be made by great troubles.” – Spurgeon

There are two kinds of enemies.

There are enemies on the outside and there are enemies on the inside.

MOSES KILLED THE EGYPTIAN  (Exodus 2:12)

But about the enemies in his own heart he did nothing about.

THERE WAS ANGER IN HIS HEART.

Moses must have fallen into a rage and killed the man in a fit of temper. I remember reading that if people are making you angry that means that you are giving them control over you. Moses lost his temper. Is there not a saying that you can lose everything, except your temper?

THERE WAS IMPATIENCE IN HIS HEART.

Not long ago I learned that patience means to remain under the burden. I know that: “Lord, give me patience, but hurry,”  was written on a church sign. We need patience. “Patience, the ability to count down before blasting off.”

THERE WAS AMBITION IN HIS HEART

THERE WAS ARROGANCE AND PRIDE IN HIS HEART

“Great hearts can only be made by great troubles.” – Spurgeon

You must be familiar with the proverb: “Pride comes before the fall.”

Just to mention four of our enemies.

Let us remember:

Enemies on the inside are more dangerous than the enemies on the outside. If Moses would have fought the enemies on the inside he probably would not have killed the Egyptian.

He turned the order of God upside down in killing the man.

AT THE BEACH

To be known and knowing the people in your community is very important for doing business.

That’s what I have been told long ago and I have experienced it myself. A still vivid situation from some time ago popped into my head only today while walking.

You don’t get very far with people who don’t know you. But it is completely different with people you know.

If it is already so important in ordinary life to be known and to know the persons in your town, how much more important is it, when it comes to our spiritual life?

How encouraging it is to remember the promise in the Bible in Second Timothy 2:19, where it says, “‘THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS,'” especially when you deal with people you don’t know and people who don’t know you, and you don’t get anywhere with your requests.

Let us remember that our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ decides our eternal destiny.

THE CROSS

“Consequently,

Ephesians 2:19:20

Intr.:

you are

A.  no longer

a.  foreigners and

b.  aliens,

B.  but

a.  fellow citizens with God’s people and

b.  members of God’s household,

End:

built on the  foundation of the apostles and prophets, …”

THE CROSS

“Thus says the Lord:

Jeremiah 21:8

Intr.:

Behold,  I set before you

A.  the way of life and

B.  the way of death.”

End:

“Fostering relationships with nature,” is the article in the paper called. (Northern Advocate, Friday, February 12, 2016)

Reading that I am wide awake and I am going to tell you why.

BAY OF ISLANDS:

The Collins Concise Dictionary tells me this about nature:

There is the physical life that is controlled by man, and there is the physical life that is not controlled by man. I am learning that the whole system of existence, forces, and events of all physical life that is not controlled by man is called Nature. Plant and animal life is also called Nature.

Yes, I am all for “fostering relationships with nature,” but  I am more for fostering a relationship with the creator of nature.

What does it say in the first book of the Bible at the beginning? There we read, “IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.”

Uncle Ernie, who was one of my teachers at Bible school – he is now with the Lord – used to tell stories in his sermons.

The following illustrates what happens when we try to be someone we are not:

A man in California was looking for a job and inquired at a zoo. He was told that the gorilla of the zoo had died and needed to be replaced. He was asked, “Are you willing to take the role of the gorilla?”  “Sure,” the man said and put on the gorilla costume.

He scratched himself as all apes do, and swung himself  from one branch to the other.

But one day he lost his balance and ended up in the enclosure of the lions.

The lion hissed at him and the gorilla cried, “Help me! Help me!” Then the lion said, “Shut up, or both of us will be without a job.”

We are only sinners, who are saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I surely like that image!

Auckland Harbour

“If you alter the course of ship by even one degree, you end up in a different place.

By changing the course of a young person’s life by even one degree, they too will set off confidently, on a different voyage.” – Tessa Duder

That makes me think of the almost 25 years in Kaikohe, where we lived and where I taught the Bible not only in Kaikohe, but also in the surrounding schools.

We had also seminars, mainly in Kerikeri, to train people to go into the schools with the Bible.