Blog Archives

God’s Comfort in Grief

By John Thiel, mp3, pdf

Scripture reading: Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

What is grieving? What does it mean to suffer grief? What actually is it in experience? The dictionary brings forth this definition: an abject depravity of comfort and consolation. This is what grief is. Nothing comforts you because the sensations that come across the chest, across the soul, are connected with something, someone that we have lost. Some internal ideal that gave us motive for living has been shattered in our experience. Your life support, that which has made your life worth living, has been shattered—that creates grief. Read the rest of this entry

The Shepherd of the Everlasting Covenant

By John Thiel, mp3, pdf

Scripture reading: Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Wandering Sheep

God has likened His people to sheep. Do you like the idea that you and I are sheep? What do we know of sheep? They need to be fenced in, or they need a shepherd, someone that they can follow. The quality of a sheep is that it will follow the shepherd. We are living today in a time when sheep are fenced and sheep are driven by dogs and motorbikes and such like, and the sheep are jostled and pushed about. Or you see them in the big trucks with the legs sticking out, all uncomfortable. The lesson to be learned from sheep is very difficult to pick up today, because we don’t see them with shepherds. But Jesus was giving a story of a shepherd with his sheep as an object lesson for us. Read the rest of this entry

What Is Righteousness By Faith?

By John Thiel, mp3

Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

We want to consider an experience, and it is to be researched not merely as a subject of theory, but as something in which our experience is brought into focus. This experience is described in the words of Apostle Paul:

Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: Read the rest of this entry

8. The Delusion of Finding Fault

By John Thiel, Removing Delusions and Fallacies Series, mp3

Scripture reading: Psalm 15:1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 3 [He that] backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

We need the Lord, don’t we? So very much, and especially as we discover the sad delusions that have operated in our lives in the past and that God calls upon us to put away. One of the sources of decay in church fellowship is identified in the Spirit of Prophecy as the spirit of fault-finding. This creates a tremendous stress in the relationships in God’s family, which is still in need of being perfected. In my search to expose the delusions that have to be put away, this is one of those that came to my attention.

Let those who have been deluded give up all their fallacies. {20MR 307.5} Read the rest of this entry

Are You Narrow-Minded?

By John Thiel

What does it mean to totally give over to God and His way?We have touched on this in the past but we need to be reminded of it frequently.The question is – what really is Gods way when we completely surrender ourselves to Him? Read the rest of this entry

The Strife of Tongues

By John Thiel

To provoke worship of our heavenly father, we consider Psalms.  Consider the person who wrote this Psalm.  You know all about him don’t you?  Notice what he says as he contemplates his Lord and Father in Heaven:

David

Psalm 31:19 [Oh] how great [is] thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; [which] thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Read the rest of this entry

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