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Proverb 17 (NKJV) The LORD Tests Hearts 01 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, 00 Than a house full of feasting with strife. 02 A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame, 00 And will share an inheritance among the brothers. 03 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, 00 But the LORD tests the hearts. 04 An evildoer gives heed to false lips; 00 A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. 05 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; 00 He who is glad at calamity will not...

In a sense we are fortunate that we cannot see God. If for one second the veil were removed and we caught a brief glimpse of the face of God, we would perish instantly. His effulgence is so brilliant, His glory so dazzling, that in our present corrupted state we could not bear the sight of Him. He remains invisible both as a curse and as an act of protecting grace. As long as we remain infected by sin we are doomed to wander in His world sightless with respect to Him. We may be comforted by His Word and...

"You are . . . a people for God's own possession" (1 Pet. 2:9). Since God paid the price to redeem you, you belong to Him. When Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me" (John 10:14), He stated a truth that has been especially dear to me since the early years of my theological education. One of the pleasant memories from my seminary days is sitting in chapel and singing the hymn by the nineteenth-century lyricist Wade Robinson "I Am His and He Is Mine." I may never fully comprehend...

“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22). The answers to believers’ prayers bring assurance of salvation. Another reliable way to know if you are a Christian is if God answers your prayers. The apostle John gives us the infallible reasoning for this statement. First, you can know your prayers will be answered if you keep His commandments (1 John 3:22). And second, John says the only way you can obey God’s commandments is if you belong to Him (v. 24). Therefore,...

July 17, 2017 Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 1:8-14, 22A new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.He said to his subjects, "Look how numerous and powerfulthe people of the children of Israel are growing, more so than we ourselves!Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase;otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemiesto fight against us, and so leave our country." Accordingly, taskmasters were set over the children of Israelto oppress them with forced labor.Thus they had to build for Pharaohthe supply...

Proverb 16 (NKJV) Wisdom Is Better Than Gold 01 The preparations of the heart belong to man, 00 But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 02 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, 00 But the LORD weighs the spirits. 03 Commit your works to the LORD, 00 And your thoughts will be established. 04 The LORD has made all for Himself, 00 Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom. 05 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; 00 Though they join forces, none will go...

"You are . . . a holy nation" (1 Pet. 2:9). Holiness involves the decreasing frequency of sin and the increasing frequency of righteousness. Christians are a holy nation—a people set apart from sin and hell to an intimate relationship with God. Originally Israel was God's holy nation, but by unbelief she forfeited that privilege. Now the church, which consists of both Jew and Gentile, is His unique people, and will remain so until the nation of Israel repents and receives her Messiah at His return (Zech. 12:10). Biblical holiness (sanctification) is often misunderstood, but it needn't be. When the...

“The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10). Loving other Christians gives assurance to your own faith. Loving fellow Christians is instinctive for genuine believers. Paul told the Thessalonians, “Now as to the love of the brethren . . . you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9). He further encouraged them to “excel still more” in love (v. 10) because there is always room for believers to love one another more completely. Nevertheless, if we are truly saved we will...

July 16, 2017 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Is 55:10-11Thus says the LORD:Just as from the heavensthe rain and snow come downand do not return theretill they have watered the earth,making it fertile and fruitful,giving seed to the one who sowsand bread to the one who eats,so shall my word bethat goes forth from my mouth;my word shall not return to me void,but shall do my will,achieving the end for which I sent it. Responsorial Psalm Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14R. (Lk 8:8) The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.You have visited...

Monks from the Valaam Monastery chant the Agni Parthene

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.1 Peter 5:8-9“Drink and get drunk on the “new wine of the Spirit.”” (Rodney Howard-Browne The Toronto Curse, Sydney Allen Hunter, 1996)“I’m just the Holy Ghost bartender,” he informed us. “I just serve the new wine and tell them to come drink.” (“An Evening with Rodney Howard-Browne” (from the Newswatch column of the Christian Research Journal, Winter 1995, page 43)...

In Proverb 15, Solomon tells us how the peace may be kept, that we may know how in our places to keep it; it is by soft words. If wrath be risen like a threatening cloud, pregnant with storms and thunder, a soft answer will disperse it and turn it away. When men are provoked, speak gently to them, and give them good words, and they will be pacified, as the Ephraimites were by Gideon's mildness (Judges 8:1-3); whereas, upon a likeoccasion, by Jephthah's roughness, they were exasperated, and the consequences were bad, (Judges 12:1-3). Reason will be better...

You are . . . a royal priesthood" (1 Pet. 2:9). Christians serve the King and will someday reign with Him in His Kingdom. In Exodus 19:5-6 God says to Israel, "If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples . . . and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." They were to be both priests and royalty, but they violated the covenant and forfeited those privileges. Now, according to Peter, Christians are the royal priesthood of God. The Greek...

“No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). A decreasing pattern of sin in a believer’s life means his faith is genuine. A sinful life pattern is incompatible with salvation. If you could continue in the same sinful pattern after being saved from sin, that would mean salvation is ineffective. Therefore, 1 John 3 deals with the saving work of Christ and reveals just how effective it is. Verse 5 says Christ “appeared in order to take away sins.” If...

July 15, 2017 Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 Gn 49:29-32; 50:15-26aJacob gave his sons this charge:"Since I am about to be taken to my people,bury me with my fathers in the cave that liesin the field of Ephron the Hittite,the cave in the field of Machpelah,facing on Mamre, in the land of Canaan,the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittitefor a burial ground.There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried,and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah,and there, too, I buried Leah–the field and the cave in itthat had been purchased...

"You are a chosen race" (1 Pet. 2:9). Election is the spiritual privilege from which all others flow. Unlike those who are destined to destruction because of their rejection of Christ (1 Pet. 2:8), Christians are an elect race of people, bound together by God's redeeming grace. That's cause for great celebration! First Peter 2:9 is an allusion to Deuteronomy 7:6-9, which says, "You are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the...

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). True Christians long for the return of their King. The words of the old hymn, “This world is not my home,” express the attitude of every true child of God. True Christians have a hope in their heart, a hope focused on the...

Hertz unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second, 1928, named in reference to German physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894). Related: Hertzian. Hertz Name Meaning German and Dutch: from a personal name derived from a short form of the various Germanic compound names with the first element hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. German: nickname for a stout-hearted or kind-hearted individual, from Middle High German herze ‘heart’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Herz ‘heart’, Yiddish harts. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Herts, which is from Middle High German hir(t)z ‘deer’, ‘hart’ (see Hirsch). Dutch: variant of Hirsch. Danish and...

Today's commentary is short and to the point. It's about anger and how so often it gets the better of us all. As Christians we are to be in control of our faculties at all times, yet we are all guilty of losing control at times. Proverbs 14:29 tells us to be patient and understanding, because a quick-tempered is a sign of foolishness. A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly. Proverbs 14:29 We all have the power to chose how we will react in any given situation. When we are expecting something and it...

Our God remains incomprehensible and retains His simplicity. He tells us in His Word that He is not a God of confusion but of order. He is not at war with Himself. He is altogether good, altogether holy, and altogether sovereign. This we must affirm to maintain a biblical concept of divine sovereignty. Yet we must always balance this understanding with a clear understanding that God always exercises His power and authority according to His holy character. He chooses what He chooses according to His own good pleasure. It is His pleasure that He does. He chooses what is pleasing...