Beautiful Witness from the 1st or 2nd Centuries

Letter to Diognetus - See more at: http://www.christian-history.org/letter-to-diognetus.html#sthash.jCSZVJlV.dpuf

Be sure you read Chapter 9 at least.  One of the most beautiful presentation of the work of Christ in
the history of the church.  We do not know either Diognetus or the author for certain, but God
preserved this letter from the 1st or 2nd Century.

The Power of God.

"That your faith may stand.  Not in the wisdom of words, but by the power of God."

Without the word of God, signs and miracles are useless.  Physical and historical "facts" are even
worth less.  Nebuchadnezzar had marvelous dreams, but Daniel had to tell them what they meant by
the word of the Lord.

Jesus both taught and did signs and wonders; He "did" and "taught" [Acts 1:1].  After His
resurrection He showed himself alive by many infallible proofs.  For forty days He appeared many
tmes to his disciples and spoke things about the kngdom of God.

He did not leave us Comfortless, but by His Spirit ordained the apostles to bear witness and to teach
the world and establish His church, which is built upon the doctrines of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Himself being the chief stone of the corner.

Jesus said to His Apostles that just as the Father had sent Him, so He was sending His apostles. 
Those who rejected their teachings were rejecting Him.  If people heard and believed the apostles
doctrine they were hearing Him and would be saved.

I John 1 affirms this.  The apostles saw and heard and touched and felt the Word of Life.  We don't,
but we read the things that they wrote, which were written so we could fellowship [believe the same
things] that the apostles believed, and in having fellowship with the apostles, we would have
fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.  There is no other way. 

We must come the way that He ordained, or we cannot come at all.  He will not jump to our tune for
He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Acts 10: 39  And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in
Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
40  Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly;
41  Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink
with him after he rose from the dead.
42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of
God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
43  To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins.
44  While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Those who heard the word received the Holy Ghost.  This is the only way He comes, by the
preaching of the Gospel.

You have doubts and fears.  Don't go ploughing through rocks and bones and Higgs Bosun.  Go to a
church where the Gospel of the Apostles is preached.  Go read the words of the Apostles and
Prophets: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and the ohers: faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
Word of God.  It comes no other way, for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  The
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to we who are saved it is the power of
God.

Isa 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else.

Ps 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Meditation and Prayer on Psalm 13

Dear Father in Heaven. Why this unrest in my heart, Dear Lord? It seems that You are hiding Your face 

from me? That You have forgotten me. It seems that You never give rest.

I take counsel in my soul. Is that the reason I have sorrow in my heart daily? I worry about the lost young 

men that You have brought into my life. They neglect the way that God has provided for them to escape 

temptation, and I fear for them. The lure of materialism and skepticism is very great. How evil it is, and how 

evil will be the results in their own soul. 

You have said that we must not take counsel in our own souls, for in Jesus alone is wisdom and 

righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. Oh, that I might remember this. Is it true that Your face is 

not hidden from me, but that my face is turn from You? Is this the reason for the sorrow and distress n my 

heart and Satan gains advantage over me, and takes away my joy? Surely that is the case.

It cannot be that You are the cause of the unrest in my soul; it is the result of inquiring of my own soul instead 

of inquiring of You, O Precious Father.  From You I have heard the joyful sound.  Ps 16:11 Thou wilt show 

me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

I will turn to You, O Lord. O Precious Father, have mercy on my infirmity and show that you give attention 

to me and hear me, O Lord my God. I will pray to You, and not take counsel in my own soul. I will trust in 

Your mercy. You purchased me with the blood of Christ and all my ways are in Your hands. You order my 

steps in Your mercy and Your Holy Spirit leads me by the hand, for You are my Father and nothing evil can 

oppress me. I will rejoice in Your salvation. 

How lonely, O Lord, it is with just me and my heart. The enemy oppresses me and I am filled with fear.
The enemies of God rage against those that seek righteousness and think to overcome them. When Your 

people are moved from You, their enemies rejoice. 

But consider this, O My Precious Father, if You do not give me light, I will sleep the sleep of death, and evil 

men will rejoice.

But I will trust You, O Lord, for Your mercy endures forever. You have preserved me in days gone by and 

You do rejoice my heart again and drive away the devils of doubt and fear. You have dealt bountifully with 

me, above all that I could ask or think. I will rejoice in my heart in Your salvation.

Therefore will I sing unto the Lord.

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Psalm 13

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Two Ways to Die Before Your Time

15  All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and
there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

16  Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
{destroy…: Heb. be desolate?}

17  Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? {before…:
Heb. not in thy time?}

There are two ways to die before your time.  You can accelerate the day of your death by playing the fool
and throwing yourself into wickedness.  "Live fast and die young," is the way the world puts it.  Sometimes a
man is like a meteor that flashes across the sky and  burns out with ashes falling upon the earth.  He tempts
God and throwing his wickedness into His Face and defies man and his order.  He dies young.

There is another way to die before your time and it is more like the first than you might think.  You can
accelerate the day of your death by playing the fool and being too righteous and too wise.  Many a man has
chosen to die upon a hill that was not worth defending.  Jesus put it this way, "Do not strain out the gnats and
swallow the camels."

The history of the world is filled with the sad stories of those who died for nothing, who threw their lives
away on trifles.  Along side of the glorious history of the martyrs who counted the Lord Jesus as worthy of
the sacrifice of their lives is the sad history of those who threw their lives away on error or trifles, on heresies
and foolish opinions.  Dying for a cause does not necessarily make you a heroic martyr; it may mean you are
a stubborn and arrogant fool.

It is better to die for something than to live for nothing; it is tragic if you both live and die for nothing.