Testimony | THE BIBLE VIEW

The BIBLE VIEW #890 — Christian Example

In This Issue:
It Could Have Been Me
A Child of God Should Be…
I Am A Soldier

Volume: 890 January 1, 20239
Theme: Christian Example

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It Could Have Been Me
Bill Brinkworth

Thank you, Lord. I am grateful for your mercy, love, and all the “second, third… hundredth…” chances you have given me.

I was saved. So many had the opportunity, did not trust Christ as their Saviour, and sooner than they expected, they died. As far as anyone knows, they are in Hell! It could be me that died lost!
I did many terrible things, and many horrible events happened to me, but I did not die. It could have been me that perished because of my foolishness! God protected me so that I could get saved and serve Him. So many did fewer dumb things than I did and perished.
I am glad after I got saved that I took my salvation seriously. I studied the Bible, attended church, did my best to obey what God showed me to do, and served Him with all my heart. So many also got saved, did nothing for the Lord, died, and now they must surely be regretting their mistakes.
I am overwhelmed that God gave me opportunities and used me to do His will. There are many more intelligent, talented people that could have done so much for Him but did not. They wasted much of their life when they could have done great things for the Lord and society. It could have been me that was useless to the cause of Christ.
I am so appreciative that I learned proper biblical doctrines. God allowed me to have excellent Bible preachers, teachers, and friends. So many, brighter than I, believed unbiblical teachings, followed the wrong doctrines and did not please the Lord. Because of their ignorance of His truths, they were, often unknowingly, disobedient to His Word. It could have been me that followed the wrong Spirit and false teachings.

My realizations are not meant as boastings. I recall that God even used a donkey to do His bidding by talking to a man of God (Number 22:28). So, if He can use a donkey, He can certainly use me. We both were willing, and you?

“He that turneth from the road to rescue another, turneth toward his goal; he shall arrive by the footpath of mercy; God will be his guide.” — Henry VanDyke

A Child of God Should Be…
Bill Brinkworth

Christians are often the only source the unsaved see that glorifies our God, His will, and His way. Godly men and women should represent Him by living differently than those not born again.

Here, in this study on the “man of God,” men, and in most cases women, can see how their lifestyle should be. A saved person should be:

A Christ-like example.
“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:11
“That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” II Timothy 3:17

A blessing to others, as was Moses.
“And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.” Deuteronomy 33:1

A praying person and a leader, as was Moses.
“A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” Psalm 90:1
“Pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17

Honorable, knows the mind of God, is known from afar, and someone to go to when there’s a problem, as was Samuel.
“And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.” I Samuel 9:6

Able to “hear” and be obedient to God, as was a man of God during Jeroboam’s day.
“And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.” I King 13:1
“The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.” I King 13:5

Speaks and knows the truth, as did Elijah.
“And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.” I Kings 17:24

Speaks for God.
“And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.” I Kings 20:28

Trusts God, as did Elijah.
“And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty… 14 Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight….” II Kings 1:10-14

Obeys God’s commandments (“law”), as did Solomon.
“And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.” II Chronicles 8:14

Able to discern what to do in many situations.
“But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim.” II Chronicles 25:7

Chastised by the Lord when necessary.
“And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.” I Kings 13:26

“If you want your neighbor to see what the Christ spirit will do for him, let him see what it has done for you.” — H. Beecher

I Am A Soldier
Author Unknown

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” II Timothy 2:3

I am a soldier in the army of my God. The Lord Jesus Christ is my commanding officer. The Holy Bible is my code of conduct. Faith, prayer, and God’s Word are my weapons of warfare. I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity, and tested by fire.

I am a volunteer in His army, and I have enlisted for eternity. I will either retire at the rapture or die in His army, but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or be pushed out. I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable. If my God needs me, I am there. If He needs me in the Sunday school to teach the children or work with the youth, if He needs me to work with the adults, He can use me because I am there.

I am a soldier! I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up, or pepped up. I am a soldier!

No one has to call me, remind me, write me, visit me, entice me, or lure me. I am a soldier! I’m not a wimp. I am in place, saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name, and building His kingdom. No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy, or give me handouts. I do not need to be cuddled, coddled, cradled, cared for, or be catered to. I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around, and I cannot be discouraged enough to cause me to quit.

When Jesus called me into this army, I had nothing. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out ahead. If I win, my God is the reason, and He will continue to supply all my needs.

I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph. I can do all things through Christ. The devil cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me, and Hell cannot handle me. I am a soldier! Even death cannot destroy me.

When my commander calls me from His battlefield, He will promote me to captain and then allow me to rule with Him. I am a soldier in His army, and I am marching and claiming the victory. I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier marching Heaven bound. Here I stand! Will you stand with me?

“Loyalty that will do anything, that will endure anything, that will make the whole being consecrate to Him, is what Christ wants. Anything else is not worthy of Him. — Burdett Hart

The BIBLE VIEW#889 — Christian Examples

In This Issue:
Wet Wood
The Keeper’s Light
Gone and Missed
Bad Choice
Start Doing

Volume: 889 December 19, 2022
Theme: Christian Example

Wet Wood
Bill Brinkworth

Like many, we try to avoid using the house furnace to heat our house in the winter and try to heat it as much as possible with our wood stove.

Every summer, I cut, split, and stack wood for winter’s use. In the cold months, I use the oak that was split back in July. It burns hot, starts quickly, and does a wonderful job of heating the house. It seems, however, that I never split enough.

In early fall, I continue to split more, but it has not dried enough when I use it in December or January. Yes, it burns, but the heat is half as much as seasoned wood produces. It needs more attention, or it will go out. As it burns, it is not hard to hear the water still in the wood, bubbling and sizzling.

As I was burning the wetter wood at the end of this season, I thought about how much it was like many Christians. Because of their involvement in sin, lack of spiritual growth, or decisions to not give their utmost to the Highest, they never totally achieve God’s full potential for them.

Yes, they had gotten saved, but that is about where it ends. Unfaithfully, they attend church or start reading their Bible, but soon their attempts fizzle out. If someone visits them, they may go to church that one time.

It seems they are high-maintenance Christians. They require a lot of attention to keep living the way they should. They’re like the wet wood; they do not burn hot for the Lord. They constantly need “stoking.”

Like the sap-soaked green wood, it will not be long until their little light flickers out. They will not lose their salvation, but it will not be long until their church pew is empty, or they will be one of the countless that are saved but not doing anything with their salvation.

What a waste of a precious, spiritual life they are. God had such grand plans for them. It is a shame their light is close to flickering out; if they would only “dry out.” No one can do it for them. They have to do it for themselves.

They must decide on whom they will serve and how fervently. It is they that have to obey the commands God has already laid on their hearts through reading Scripture or convictions laid there from a Sunday sermon. The choice must be theirs. This world desperately needs seasoned, mature Christians to warm this dying, cold world with fervent, godly heat!

“To walk on water, you first have to get out of the boat!.” — Author Unknown

The Keeper’s Light
Author Unknown

A traveler once, visiting the lighthouse at Calais, said to the keeper, “What if one of your lights should go out at night?”

“Never. Impossible!” the lighthouse keeper cried. “Sir, yonder are ships sailing to all parts of the world. If tonight one of my burners were out, in six months, I will hear from America, or India, saying that on such a night the lights at Calais lighthouse gave no warning, and some vessel had been wrecked. Ah, sir! Sometimes I feel, when I look upon my lights, as if the eyes of the entire world were fixed upon me. Go out! Burn dim! Never! Impossible!”

What a lesson to the Christian! It is not just good intentions that make the Christian a spiritual lighthouse for the world. Let then his example be full, bright, and clear. The moment he neglects it, and leaves his “lamps” untrimmed, some poor soul, struggling amid the waves of temptation, will be dashed upon the rocks of destruction for lack of a good, Christian testimony to draw them to safety.

“If you want your neighbor to see what the Christ spirit will do for him, let him see what it has done for you.” — H. Beecher

Gone and Missed
T. Cuyler – edited

We missed him when he was gone. When he went home to Glory, he left something more than a tomb behind him. He left a goodly heritage of holy deeds. There is a fragrant perfume yet lingering about his precious memory; a trail of light that followed his luminous pathway has not yet died away from his saddened disappearance from this earth.

He was a legible Christian. There was no mistaking him. He never stood upon debatable ground. He never required one to search the church records to see if he was only a professor of “religion.” We felt and saw his “religion.”

You might have followed him by the fragrance of his Christ-like deeds of well-doing. You might enter the house of sorrow and see that he had been there by the weeping eyes once more dried and the broken hearts he encouraged. You might enter an abode of poverty and know that he had been there by the plentiful stores he had left behind. If you saw a group of children gathered by the wayside, you might have conjectured that he was there already giving out packages of little booklets and New Testaments. We all felt him in every good enterprise: in the prayer circle, Sunday school, and church. His mark was left pretty much everywhere.

But now there is a great blank in our meetings and gatherings. We wait in vain for his beseeching, tremulous voice that well we knew had the ear and heart of God. The teachers’ prayer meeting is not the same now that he is gone. The little Bible class that met at Widow Mear’s house is now without a shepherd.

It was a little time since a long procession wound its way, with many weeping eyes out of the village churchyard. That grave, beside which you may sometimes see an aged woman in black bending over it, had a stone with a touching date engraved on it. It reads, “aged twenty-four years.” His slight form and boyish expression made him look younger than that, but his testimony and work for the Lord surpassed most of those that were older than 60 years.

When it is our time to go to Glory, will we leave such a testimony behind?

“The path may lead, but examples draw.” — H. G. Bohn

Bad Choice
F. W. Robertson- edited

Lot chose wisely by the world’s standards. Well, if this world be all, he got rich soil, became a prince, and had kings for neighbors. It was nothing to Lot that “the men of the land were sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” It was more important to him that the land was well-watered everywhere.

But his wife became addicted to her city’s glitter and enticements, and his children were tainted with ineradicable corruption. Warnings from God finally got him and his family to leave. All they gained for their time in that community was left behind. It was a wasted time for Lot and his family.

Lot’s wife looked back with lingering regret upon their splendid home and was turned into encrusting salt. His children carried with them into a new life the plague-spot of sin they “caught” from their exposure while living in the city devoted to wicked living. All that he had built in their life in Sodom was buried by the wrath of God. The remainder of his life was spent in shame. He did not make a good choice of friends and lifestyle after all.

“Where one man reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me.” — D. L. Moody

Start Doing
Harry Todd

He that goes forth weeping,
Bearing precious seed.
Shall doubtless come rejoicing,
Bringing sheaves, indeed.

But too many Christians
Are standing idle today,
Telling others to take it easy
Instead of telling them “The Way.”

Christ commands us, “Go,”
And the rich man in Hell
Still echoes, “I have five brethren,
Won’t someone go and tell!”

James said to be not only hearers,
But be ye doers too,
You’ve heard many times,
When are you going to do?

We are saved to serve;
There is a job to do,
A few are serving Christ,
What excuse have you?

Christ is coming soon,
To catch His bride away.
Now it is the time to work,
Christians, start today!

The BIBLE VIEW #873 — Your Testimony

In This Issue:
He Says He’s a Soldier
What Others See
“It Will Always Shine!”

Volume: 873 August 29, 2022
Theme: Testimony

Theme: Drifting Away

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He Says He’s a Soldier
Bill Brinkworth

“You’re sure you’re a soldier?” I queried.

“Yes, sir,” quipped the slovenly dressed young man in civilian clothes.

“Where’s your uniform?”

“Well,” he explained, “I don’t wanna be like everyone else. I never even bought one.”

“Hmm,” I scratched my head. “If you’re a soldier, certainly you must have read the soldiers’ training manual.”

“No, never read it at all.”

“You’re a soldier, don’t have a uniform, and never even read the training manual?” I was really perplexed now. “Certainly, you’ve attended boot camp?”

“No, never had the time. I always had something to do when the Army wanted me to go.”

“And you’re sure you’re a United States Army soldier?”

“Yes, sir. I’m very proud to serve my country. Whenever they need me, they can count on me,” was his proud answer.

“I’m a little confused. You say you’re a soldier but never wore the uniform, read any procedure manuals, or attended training. Did you ever fight in any battles?”

“Oh, no. They wouldn’t let me because I never attended boot camp. But when they have a war, I’ll be there.”

“Hmmm.” I just had to ask, “Well, what makes you so sure you’re a soldier?”

“I must admit, it seems strange that I haven’t done things most soldiers do. But, you see, my father was in the service. His father was also in the Army, and I believe even his father was. So everyone just knows I’m a soldier, too.”

This fictitious scenario is echoed thousands of times through a similar testimony of professing Christians. They claim they are a child of God, but do not think, believe, dress, or behave like one. They never read God’s training manual, the Bible, never faithfully attend church, and are not observed doing anything spiritual. They are in the battle and have lost, but they do not know it has even started.

God’s Word clearly teaches one way to be saved. It is not my method or yours that will get one into Heaven. It is His Heaven, and there is only one way there; His way.

That way is to know we are sinners, as Romans 3:23 clarifies: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Because of our sin, none of us has pleased God, and an eternal punishment awaits them. Romans 6:23 states: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

There is good news, however. Although we are sinners and heading for Hell, Christ died for our sins and paid for them (Romans 5:8). The proper way to get to Heaven is to accept His payment for all our iniquities. After believing that, we have God’s promise that we will go to Heaven: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).” That is God’s way to be with Him forever.

Being a Christian will soon be a public affair. People will see that the Holy Spirit has made some changes in one’s life. Family and friends will see moral practices replacing old wicked routines and habits. It will be evident where the Christian will be on Sunday. His Bible will also no longer be dusty.

It will no longer be a guessing game to determine if one is a Christian when one is genuinely saved. The changes in his life and lifestyle will make it clear that he is “born again.” He will be proud to be enlisted in God’s army and will make it evident by looking and acting like a real Christian soldier.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

What Others See
Bill Brinkworth

One of the most valuable assets a Christian can have is his testimony. What others think of him is often what they see him do, how he reacts in certain situations, and how they believe a Christian should live (although their view may not always be accurate). Paul gave some advice in Ephesians 4 on how to preserve that testimony. Some of his advice included:

Do not live like the rest of the world and put the wrong value on things that are really unimportant (Eph. 4:17-18).
Do not lust after things of this world and be consumed with greed for them (Eph. 4:19).
Do not let your conversation with others be about lust for this world’s things (Eph. 4:22).
Live a righteous life and strive to be a good example (Eph. 4:24).
Let your conversation be honest and do not lie (Eph. 4:25).
If you get angry, get it right with those involved before the sun goes down (Eph. 4:26).
Do not get close to sin and allow the devil to destroy your testimony (Eph. 4:27).
Do not steal, but work hard for what you want (Eph. 4:28).
Be careful of the words you utter, making sure what you say helps others (Eph. 4:29).
Do not sadden the indwelling Holy Spirit by sinning (Eph. 4:30).
Do not allow the sins of bitterness, violence, anger, and evil speaking to be part of your life (Eph. 4:31).
Be kind to others (Eph. 4:32).

As hard as we try, some will always see our example as wrong, no matter how we adhere to the above advice and other godly principles. Although it is impossible to please all the people all the time, we have a responsibility to have the best testimony possible.

Our example is not so much about what others think about us, but what others think about Christ by our example. We are often all the unsaved will ever see about Christ. Will they determine they do not want to be a Christian because of what they observed in our behavior, or will they consider being one because of how we live our lives?

“Your walk talks louder than your talk talks.”

“It Will Always Shine!”
Author Unknown

A traveler once visiting the lighthouse at Calais said to the keeper, “What if one of your lights should go out at night?”

“Never! Impossible!” he exclaimed. “Sir, yonder are the ships sailing to all parts of the world. If tonight one of my burners went out, in six months, I would hear from America, or India, saying that on such a night, the lights at Calais lighthouse gave no warning, and some vessel had been wrecked. Lives could be lost because of my neglect. Ah sir, I sometimes feel, when I look upon my lights, as if the eyes of the entire world are fixed upon me. Go out! Burn dim? Never! Impossible!”

What a lesson that man’s commitment and fervor should be to the Christian! The Christian must remember he is a spiritual lighthouse for the world to observe. Let then his “light” be full, bright, and clear. The moment he neglects it and leaves his “lamps” untrimmed, some poor soul, struggling amid the waves of temptation, for lack of a beacon of example to light his way, may be dashed upon the rocks of destruction.

“I have ever deemed it more honorable and more profitable to set a good example than to follow a bad one.” — Thomas Jefferson