Young People’s Blog

First Day of the Week

This is the day the New Testament refers to eight times as “the first day of the week” (Matthew 8:21; Mark 16:2; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1; John 20:19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). It is also called “the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10).

The references listed from the gospels show that it was on this day the Lord rose from the dead. In other words it was a day of victory and triumph over sin, death, and Satan.

Read Acts 10:7-12, and you will see that this day was very special to the early believers. It was a day when they met to remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread, and a day when they enjoyed the ministry of the Apostle Paul, as well as happy fellowship with their fellow-believers.

It is also to be a day when money is set aside and a collection taken for various needs among the Lord’s people as indicated by the verse in 1 Corinthians 16.

From Revelation chapter 1 we learn that the Apostle John was “In the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” and as a result heard the voice of the Lord and was given a wonderful revelation.

What does this day mean to you, and what will you do today?

Not to Condemn

“For God sent not His Son into the world
to condemn the world; but that the world
through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).

“For the Son of Man is not come to destroy
men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:56).

Jesus Christ came not to condemn you but to save you, knowing your name, knowing all about you, knowing your weight right now, knowing your age, knowing what you do, knowing where you live, knowing what you ate for supper and what you will eat for breakfast, where you will sleep tonight, how much your clothing cost, who your parents were. He knows you individually as though there were not another person in the entire world. He died for you as certainly as if you had been the only lost one. He knows the worst about you and is the One who loves you the most.

Most people, if they knew all about you, probably wouldn’t want to be around you very long. But the Lord Jesus loves the sinner, desires to remove all their guilt and erase all their sin through the work of Calvary, and invites the vilest of humanity, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

Priorities

“Seek those things which are above” (Colossians 3:1).

Everyone is in a hurry; time is so short, and there is so much to do. Our day is so full that Christians often run the risk of neglecting reading the Bible and praying. In the morning we mustn’t be late, and in the evening we are so tired! In this way weeks can pass without our having regular contact with the Lord.

If the start of the day is devoted to Him, the hours that follow will probably be as well. But if we allow these privileged moments to pass by, the whole day might be lost for the Lord. Let’s stop making excuses and rather put our priorities right: then we can face the day peacefully while experiencing fellowship with the Lord.

By neglecting reading the Word of God we lose out. Perhaps we try to make up for it with what the world has to offer in the way of pleasure, but that doesn’t meet the need.

Prayer is more an attitude than an activity. It expresses our relationship with God — a relationship of faith and love. A Christian once said: “A moment spent with God in prayer eclipses by far the pleasures that this earth offers.”

Is that your experience?

Stand Alone — Part 3

Here is what the New Testament has to say about Enoch’s life and walk of faith. “Enoch … had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Better than all the world has to offer, is the knowledge of pleasing God. Enoch had to bear witness against a wicked world. In a day when men lived to between eight and nine hundred years old, his life was a relatively short one. “And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). However, short his life was, his record stands, “that he pleased God.”

If the Christian tries to make the best of both worlds … in other words, to stand for truth and yet to cultivate the approval of the ungodly … he will find that his testimony has lost its power and the world itself does not respect him.

A wall poster I once saw, expressed it this way:

WANTED TODAY:

Men and women who will obey their convictions

of truth and duty at the cost of fortunes and friends

and life itself!

“The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17).

Stand Alone — Part 2

Of the lonely way His disciples should walk, the Lord said: “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). Of their treatment by the many who walk in the broad way, He said: “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” (John 15:19).

Multitudes now, both of believers and unbelievers, applaud the courage and fortitude of the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and martyrs, but condemn as stubbornness and foolishness, faithfulness to the truth in this day and age.

Is there a young person who is anxious to walk with God, yet fearful of losing some imaginary advantage or position, and who wonders if it might not be possible to go just so far, and make all right later? Take courage. Follow the example of Enoch. “Enoch walked with God … three hundred years” (Genesis 5:22). Better to walk alone with God, than hand and hand with a world that hates Him and despises His followers.

Stand alone — Part 1

It is human to stand with the crowd; it is divine to stand alone. It is man-like to follow the people, to drift with the tide; it is God-like to follow a principle and to go against the tide. It is natural to compromise conscience and follow the social and religious fashion for the sake of gain or pleasure; it is divine to sacrifice both on the altar of truth and duty.

“No man stood with me, but all men forsook me” (2 Timothy 4:16), the battle-scarred Apostle Paul wrote long ago, in describing his first appearance before Nero to answer for his life, for believing and teaching contrary to the Roman world.

Truth has been out of fashion since the fall of Adam.

Noah built and voyaged alone. His neighbors laughed at his strangeness and died in style.

Abraham wandered and worshiped alone. Sodomites perhaps smiled at this simple shepherd, followed the fashion, and fed the flames.

Daniel dined and prayed alone.

Elijah sacrificed and witnessed alone.

Jeremiah prophesied and wept alone.

Jesus loved and died alone.

Dear Young Christian:

Here I am sitting in the mall parking lot waiting for my wife. As I sit here and watch the people going in with empty carts and coming out with full ones, I am reminded of a Scripture regarding purchasing and selling. “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15).

When was the last time we prayed and asked the Lord’s will as to whether we should go to the mall or do some shopping? It seems like a trivial thing, but the above verses show that we should seek His mind in even the simplest everyday things of life. Yes, even going to the store to buy something. Have a good week, and don’t forget to read your Bible and pray.

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you. Send your comments or questions to [email protected]

His Banner

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love” (Song of Solomon 2:4).

We sometime make banners that announce happy occasions. For instance: “Happy Birthday” or “Welcome Home,” or “Just Married,” or other joyous sentiments. Our verse today spreads a banner over a special guest of honor at a banquet. It has one word on it, and simply reads, LOVE.

That’s what each of us experiences as the Lord Jesus brings us into HIS BANQUETING HOUSE. There is only one place where there is perfect love. That’s the Lord’s banqueting house at His table. What a privilege it is to be invited, and what a blessing to sit down in His presence. In the previous verse the invited guest said: “I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste” (Song of Solomon 2:3).

Today we need to be reminded of the cost of our invitation. It cost God the giving of His Son, and it cost the Lord Jesus the giving of His life and the shedding of His blood. Our invitation to His table, with His banner — LOVE — over us has been very costly!

Blackbeard

“In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments”
(Luke 16:23).

Edward Teach was known as Blackbeard. He was the most well-known pirate in Bahamian history and caused terror in and around those islands for several years. He cared for no one but himself, and with cutlasses and pistols slung about him, which he did not hesitate to use, he resembled a walking arsenal. His long black beard was twisted with ribbons and turned about his ears. He was no legend, but a real man who died in a violent naval battle in 1718.

One day he said to some of his men, “Let us make a hell of our own and see how long we can bear it.” They went below, closed the hatches, and set on fire several pots of brimstone. One by one, close to suffocation, they escaped to the upper deck. Blackbeard held out the longest and was pleased that he was better able to live in hell than the others.

We can hardly imagine such a thing, yet there are many who are rushing on to the “lake of fire” with no thought of its reality. Hell is nothing to joke about! It is a real place, and those who reject the Savior of sinners will end up there. Not just for a time, but for eternity. Where will you be then?

Monthly Question Page

Q. When those in places of authority make a wrong judgment, should I submit?

A. God has set up different levels of authority for the good and blessing of man on the earth. For example, parental authority; the man as head of the home; in the workplace; in government; administration in the church of God; etc. Our responsibility when we come under authority is to submit. This does not mean authority is always right or even carried out in the right way or with the right attitude: or even that I necessarily agree with it. The Bible says: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake” (1 Peter 2:13). Submission is not a sign of weakness but spiritual energy, and often takes real grace, and patience.

There is however, one qualification when it comes to submission. “We ought to obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). The disciples had been instructed by the Lord to preach the gospel. When they were forbidden by the council to do so, they appealed to a higher authority — the Lord Himself. In other words, we must bow to earthly authority at all cost, except when it goes against the authority of the Lord and His Word. Submission is always “In the Lord.”

Do you have a question? Email us at [email protected]