My Utmost for His Highest in Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kingdom "Living Your Theology” by Oswald Chambers for Saturday, 27 August 2016

My Utmost for His Highest in Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kingdom "Living Your Theology” by Oswald Chambers for Saturday, 27 August 2016

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you…[John 12:35]
Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. Continually bring the truth out into your real life, working it out into every area, or else even the light that you possess will itself prove to be a curse.
The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the prideful self-satisfaction of a past experience, but is not working that experience out in his everyday life. If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it shows in your life. Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent or self-gratifying; that belief came from the pit of hell itself, regardless of how beautiful it may sound.
Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common everyday relationships. Our Lord said, “…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). In other words, you must be more moral than the most moral person you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.[The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R]
Bible in One Year: Psalms 120-122; 1 Corinthians 9
Psalms 120:1(0) A song of ascents:
(1) I called to Adonai in my distress,
and he answered me.
2 Rescue me, Adonai, from lips that tell lies,
from a tongue full of deceit.
3 What has he in store for you, deceitful tongue?
What more will he do to you?
4 A warrior’s sharp arrows,
with red-hot coals from a broom tree.
5 How wretched I am, that I’m an alien in Meshekh,
that I must live among the tents of Keidar!
6 I have had to live far too long
with those who hate peace.
7 I am all for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.
121:(0) A song of ascents:
(1) If I raise my eyes to the hills,
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from Adonai,
the maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip —
your guardian is not asleep.
4 No, the guardian of Isra’el
never slumbers or sleeps.
5 Adonai is your guardian; at your right hand
Adonai provides you with shade —
6 the sun can’t strike you during the day
or even the moon at night.
7 Adonai will guard you against all harm;
he will guard your life.
8 Adonai will guard your coming and going
from now on and forever.
122:(0) A song of ascents. By David:
(1) I was glad when they said to me,
“The house of Adonai! Let’s go!”
2 Our feet were already standing
at your gates, Yerushalayim.
3 Yerushalayim, built as a city
fostering friendship and unity.
4 The tribes have gone up there, the tribes of Adonai,
as a witness to Isra’el,
to give thanks to the name of Adonai.
5 For there the thrones of justice were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for shalom in Yerushalayim;
may those who love you prosper.
7 May shalom be within your ramparts,
prosperity in your palaces.
8 For the sake of my family and friends, I say,
“Shalom be within you!”
9 For the sake of the house of Adonai our God,
I will seek your well-being.
1 Corinthians 9:1 Am I not a free man? Am I not an emissary of the Messiah? Haven’t I seen Yeshua our Lord? And aren’t you yourselves the result of my work for the Lord? 2 Even if to others I am not an emissary, at least I am to you; for you are living proof that I am the Lord’s emissary. 3 That is my defense when people put me under examination.
4 Don’t we have the right to be given food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take along with us a believing wife, as do the other emissaries, also the Lord’s brothers and Kefa? 6 Or are Bar-Nabba and I the only ones required to go on working for our living? 7 Did you ever hear of a soldier paying his own expenses? or of a farmer planting a vineyard without eating its grapes? Who shepherds a flock without drinking some of the milk? 8 What I am saying is not based merely on human authority, because the Torah says the same thing — 9 for in the Torah of Moshe it is written, “You are not to put a muzzle on an ox when it is treading out the grain.”[1 Corinthians 9:9 Deuteronomy 25:4] If God is concerned about cattle, 10 all the more does he say this for our sakes. Yes, it was written for us, meaning that he who plows and he who threshes should work expecting to get a share of the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others are sharing in this right to be supported by you, don’t we have a greater claim to it?
But we don’t make use of this right. Rather, we put up with all kinds of things so as not to impede in any way the Good News about the Messiah. 13 Don’t you know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple, and those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrifices offered there? 14 In the same way, the Lord directed that those who proclaim the Good News should get their living from the Good News.
15 But I have not made use of any of these rights. Nor am I writing now to secure them for myself, for I would rather die than be deprived of my ground for boasting! 16 For I can’t boast merely because I proclaim the Good News — this I do from inner compulsion: woe is me if I don’t proclaim the Good News! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it unwillingly, I still do it, simply because I’ve been entrusted with a job. 18 So then, what is my reward? Just this: that in proclaiming the Good News I can make it available free of charge, without making use of the rights to which it entitles me.
19 For although I am a free man, not bound to do anyone’s bidding, I have made myself a slave to all in order to win as many people as possible. 20 That is, with Jews, what I did was put myself in the position of a Jew, in order to win Jews. With people in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah, I put myself in the position of someone under such legalism, in order to win those under this legalism, even though I myself am not in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah. 21 With those who live outside the framework of Torah, I put myself in the position of someone outside the Torah in order to win those outside the Torah — although I myself am not outside the framework of God’s Torah but within the framework of Torah as upheld by the Messiah. 22 With the “weak” I became “weak,” in order to win the “weak.” With all kinds of people I have become all kinds of things, so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them.
23 But I do it all because of the rewards promised by the Good News, so that I may share in them along with the others who come to trust. 24 Don’t you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one wins the prize? So then, run to win! 25 Now every athlete in training submits himself to strict discipline, and he does it just to win a laurel wreath that will soon wither away. But we do it to win a crown that will last forever. 26 Accordingly, I don’t run aimlessly but straight for the finish line; I don’t shadow-box but try to make every punch count. 27 I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that, after proclaiming the Good News to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
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