Al's Devotional

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.  But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.  If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.  Joh 15:18 -22   [see John 15:9-16:4]   The besetting weakness of modern Christianity is sentimentality. That is, the naïve belief that all people, given a fair chance, would be saints; the pathetic illusion that in God's world good will triumph without struggle, without cost; the unr...

Dear All, A Blessed sister of the Lord told me that Isaiah is considered the 5th Gospel.  How true that is. ~Al Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.  Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;  For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.  Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.  For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Isr...

Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me.  Joh 14:1   The disciples had been like lambs carried in the bosom of a loving shepherd. They were now about to be left by Him, and would be among the wolves and the terrors of the snowstorm. Frequently after conversion God, who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, gives a period of repose; but for all of us there will come a time of trouble. Albeit that bark so lately launched upon a glassy sea has all her streamers flying, and rejoices in a favorable wind, let her captain remember that the sea is treacherous and that the stoutest vessel may find it more than difficult to outride a hurricane. But without due trial where would be our experience, and without the experience where increase of faith and triumph of love? We have each   1. A share of home trials. 2. Trials arising from the Church of God. In the best-ordered Church it must needs be that offences come. 3. Worst of...

Beloved, Two offerings this morning. The theme for these times is, Let not your heart be troubled, John 14:1.  This is a time of impending trouble, and the discourses here are precious to help toward these times. The first offering is by Bishop Beveridge, the second I will send out, is by C.H. Spurgeon. God Bless, and may you be edified in His Spirit. ~Al   Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me . Joh n 14:1   Trouble and its cordial   I. GOD'S MOST FAITHFUL SERVANTS ARE SUBJECT TO TROUBLES OF HEART.   1. What troubles? (1) Inward, arising from (a) Sin (Psa 51:4-8). (b) Corruption (Rom 7:24). (2) Outward, which are (a) Spiritual: Christ's absence. (b) Temporal: outward afflictions (Lam 1:4). 2. The reason. (1) Weakness of faith. (2) Imperfection of other graces.   II. FAITH IN GOD AND CHRIST IS THE BEST CORDIAL TO A TROUBLED HEART. 1. It is the surest ...

Beloved, You may have gathered that I read a great deal.  I am reading about prayer, and I thought I would pass on a few quotes that are golden. Blessings, ~Al If you cannot come with a broken heart, come for a broken heart.   If you cannot come with faith, come for faith.   If you cannot come repenting, come and ask the Lord to give you repentance.   Come empty-handed, bankrupt, ruined, condemned, and you will find rest.   ( Spurgeon )   The book of Acts is filled with prayer meetings; every forward thrust the first church made was immersed in prayer.   Take another look at the church at Pentecost.   They prayed ten days and preached ten minutes and three thousand people were saved.   Today we pray ten minutes and preach ten days and are ecstatic if anyone was saved. ( Ronald Dunn )   Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray…. To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak...

Beloved, It would seem to me that the whole of what the Bible is about is the reconciliation of man to God.  The most important part of that reconciliation is the ability to come before God in prayer.  I don't think that we can grasp how great an honor, and how powerful a weapon in a fallen world that prayer can be.  We cannot preach against sin from a logical point of view, because those that are in sin are separated  from the Spirit of God because of sin.  Fallen man will always justify his actions through reason.  We have to reach a lost world on a spiritual basis, and we have been given the tools to do just that. Enclosed are some very important quotes on prayer, by men that have invoked God unto victory throughout the world. ~Al Most churches think their members are gathered into one simply to take care of and build up each other. They know not that God rules the world by the prayers of His saints; that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquere...