Andrew Murray
And God Created Woman
Difference between Anabaptists and Evangelicals
Mysteries of the Kingdom of God
Anabaptist
Voice
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Sermons by Eli Hofer
03/14/01
08/22/01
08/11/02
The Writings of Ulrich Stadler
Volume 1
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The Anabaptist Voice
11/05/2008
Warm greeting to you, dear
friend,
We are told that the countryside up north is now beautiful with the
colored leaves that God has made for us to enjoy. Our friend Nancy Garlock
wrote to us from New York state and our friends Stephanie Reedy, Sarah Hofer and
Herb Walter called us from Washington state to let us know how everything is.
It is wonderful to get in touch with dear friends.
Here in Tucson,
there are no colored leaves yet. The temperature is wonderful, in the 70s
during the day with beautiful sunshine. It was quite cold, 45 degrees this
morning.
We are enjoying the b
eautiful
sunsets as we go for walks outside. Here is a photo of Michi and Naomi admiring
the fruit trees in the patio of a school last Sunday morning.
Michi and Naomi
went to the weekly ladies worship meeting at Linda Dowdle’s house on Monday.
Again, they felt the presence of the Lord and they were glad. On the way out
Naomi fell, which
scared some of the women there. But Naomi is just fine. She falls once in a
while, so Michi thought nothing about it, but later both Linda and Sharon
Shanton asked about how
Naomi was doing. Then Michi started to think. Naomi is well, because God is
taking care of her. She could have broken her bones as she has
osteoporosis. Thank
you, Lord. We are loved. We are cared for in the wonderful love of our
Heavenly Father.
Naomi went to the hospital on Wednesday this week to have an examination
to see if her ulcer was healed. Praise God, it
is!
Don and Michi are doing well, also under the grace of our Heavenly
Father. Now, Don is wearing new glasses after his cataract surgery. He is
surprised that everything is so much clearer. Here is a photo of Michi and Don
taken 40 years ago on the island of Antigua where Don worked as the telemetry
engineer at the Apollo ground station for the Apollo XI moon landing project.
Michi is still working on the Anabaptist songbook. Sometimes she checks
with Die Quelle or
Hutterite Hymnal that her son Patrick gave her. She wants to include songs
familiar to the Hutterites with the melody that they are used to. Yesterday she
found a familiar melody but could not remember the name of song. So she hummed
the melody and Naomi could recognize it. Praise God!
This past week we received the sad news that Rocky Beal, the oldest son
of our friends Roger and Ann Beal, died last Saturday due to cancer that he had
been struggling with for several years. We are praying for his family.
We learned this week that Patrick and his family and David are coming to
visit at the end of December. Praise God for that, too. It will be wonderful.
Is Obedience to the Commands of Jesus really Necessary for Salvation?
The Anabaptists will say ‘yes’ but many Christians will say ‘no’. Who is
right? Does it matter? Yes, for if those who say ‘no’ are wrong, then they are
in danger of living their eternal life in the terrible, everlasting fires of
hell.
But those Christians will say, “We’re saved by faith and not by works!”,
quoting part of the teaching of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2 which also says
that we are saved to do good works.
Jesus said, “For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
John said, “He who believes in the Son has
eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the
wrath of God
abides on him.” (John 3:36)
The Greek word “Apeitheoô” in the above verse can be translated as “does
not obey” or as “does not believe”. It is used 16 times in the New Testament, 9
times as disbelieve and 7 times as disobey.
When Jesus said, “Why call Me ‘Lord, Lord’
and not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46), He is speaking to those who say
that they believe Him but will not try to obey all of His commandments (as
recorded in the four gospels). So they don’t believe Him enough to want to try
to obey all what He said.
We pray that out
of His glorious riches the Lord God may strengthen you, dear friend, with power
through his Spirit in your inner being, with Christ dwelling
in your hearts through faith. (Eph. 3:16-17)
Your Anabaptist brother and sisters in Christ,
Don, Michi and Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org
"This is how we love God - by obeying His commands. And His commands are not
burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory
that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world?
He who honors Jesus as the Son of God." (1 John 5:3-5)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Luke 14
A short Anabaptist sermon
In Thy Presence is fullness of Joy; at Thy right Hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)
Beloved brothers and sisters! Man was created by our heavenly Father for
eternal and new-springing joy; and now, after the fall, when through
disobedience he has departed from his blessed Creator, man now must struggle
with sin and sadness during his time on earth. However man still has that
desire to experience joy. And the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is
that God wants to bring us back to that joyful experience of His presence in our
lives.
The good news is that Jesus wants to fill us with this joy again (John
15:11, 16:22, 24, 17:13), the heavenly kind of joy that no one can take away
from us. Notice how Paul and Silas were singing with joy in prison even after
being severely flogged. (Acts 16:25)
Peter wrote about the joy of the Lord that comes with being right with
God, “Though you have not seen Jesus, you love Him; and even though you do not
see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy.” (1 Peter 1:8)
“You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has
set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." (Heb 1:9)
The apostle Paul tells us that when we are right with God, we have peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 14:17)
Jesus said that when we live according to His teachings, His joy will be
in us and our joy will be complete! (John 15:11)
To receive this joy, people have to do certain things. First, they must
recognize the existence of that eternal joy that our heavenly Father wants us to
have. Second, they must decide to seek that joy, and third, they must do what
is necessary to obtain that joy. Recognize, decide and do! It is that simple!
In chapter 14 of the gospel of Luke Jesus teaches us three of the things
that people do in order to obtain that wonderful joy that He wants to give.
Love God Above All Things
In Luke 14:26 Jesus teaches us that His people learn to love Him more
than they love their parents, more than they love their wife or husband, more
than they love their children, their brothers and sisters, and even more than
they love their lives. (Luke 14:26, Mt 10:37)
Deny Our Carnal Nature
In Luke 14:27, Jesus teaches us that His people learn to deny their
carnal nature, reject the world and all of its lures. (Luke 14:27, also Luke
9:23, Mt 10:38, 16:24, Mark 8:34) In Luke 9:23, Jesus said that we must take up
our cross daily. The apostle John teaches us, “Do not love the world or
anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his
eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from
the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will
of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
Serve Only God
In Luke 14:33, Jesus teaches us that His people learn to give up all of
their worldly possessions. (Luke 14:33, 12:33, Mt 19:21) He said that people
can not serve both God and worldly wealth. (Mt 6:19-24) In the example given
us by the early church, His people had given up their private possessions,
sharing all things in common with their brothers and sisters in Christ. (Acts
2:44-47, Acts 4:32-5:11)
If we want to honestly sing “The Joy of The Lord is Our Strength” then
we have to seriously consider obeying the Lord in these three areas.
As we bring every element of our being, working from the inside out,
into harmony with the will of God and the kingdom of God, we experience more and
more the wonderful joy of the Lord that our heavenly Father desires for His
children.
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