Andrew Murray
And God Created Woman
Difference between Anabaptists and Evangelicals
Kingdom
Mysteries
Part 1
Part 2
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Voice
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Sermons by Eli Hofer
03/14/01
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The Writings of Ulrich Stadler
Volume 1
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The Anabaptist Voice
07/29/2009
Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of
God: Love, Joy and Peace in Jesus.
Dear friends in
Christ,
We pray you are well under the wonderful grace and love of our
Heavenly Father. It has been hot these days here in Arizona, about 100
degrees. Inside the garage is over 100 degrees most of the days. When Michi
bakes bread, she lets the dough rise in the garage.
Today is our daughter-in-law Arlene’s birthday and tomorrow is our
grandson Titus’ birthday. Happy Birthday to you both. May our Heavenly Father
protect you, guide you and bless you.
We are all fine. Praise the Lord. We are enjoying the wild birds,
lizards and bunnies in our backyard. They are so cute, especially the bunnies.
Here is a photo of some wild baby bobcats playing in a neighbor’s pool. Naomi
is writing children’s stories these days. She is crocheting and cooking lunch,
besides going to physical therapy twice a week and also goes to visit her friend
Mary most every week. Her physical therapy was on Monday mornings so Michi and
Naomi missed going to the weekly Monday morning ladies worship meeting at Linda
Dowdle’s house.
Our Anabaptist Songbook is almost done. We still need to work on the
copyright permissions and that is a big job. The Plough Publishing of the
Bruderhof community in New York state gave us permission to include their songs
without any charge. Praise God. One company wants us to pay $225.00 for using
seven of their songs.
Don and Michi have been reading William Law’s books “A Serious Call to a
Devote and Holy Life” and “The Power of the Spirit”. This has helped us to
realize our need to be closer to the Lord and always be thankful.
Advice for a Young Married Couple
Our article last week title
d
“And God Created Women” prompted a young man in France who receives our weekly
newsletter to write and ask for marriage advice.
Don and Michi have been married for fifty years. They feel that they
have a wonderful marriage, one of the best ones that they know about. It is a
gift from God to them, and they thank Him daily for blessing their marriage.
Here is a photo of the breakfast that Michi made for Don on Monday: strawberry
jam on wiped cream on top of waffles plus scrambled eggs. What a good wife Don
has!
Their marriage is based on mutual admiration, respect and daily prayer.
They pray for each other when they wake up in the mornings and just before going
to sleep in the evenings. We pray before and after each meal, read a chapter of
Psalms or Proverbs aloud at the noon meal and have a family church meeting
before the evening meal. There we sing, pray and study the Bible together.
We frequently are reminded of the apostle Peter’s teaching that husbands
are to be kind and patient with their wives so that their prayers are heard. (1
Peter 3:7) Don sometimes claims that God is on the wife’s side…
Dialogue on the Hutterite Social Network
Don spends some time each day on the Hutterite Social Network (www.HutteriteNetwork.com)
which now has about 2,500 members. The stated purpose of this Social Network is
for Hutterites, ex-Hutterites and those interested in the culture to interact
with each other. Some of the most active members on the discussion forums are
ex-Hutterites who are strong believers in the idea of ‘once saved always
saved’. This idea is, of course, quite opposite of the Anabaptist beliefs, the
beliefs that those ex-Hutterites were raised with. Two of the ex-Hutterite
members this week demanded that Don be removed from the Hutterite Social Network
because he keeps on insisting that a Christian is a person who acknowledges
Christ by living in accordance with His teachings and commands. This seems to
be contrary to the beliefs of the ‘once saved always saved’ people.
The Concept of Being a Church
One of the discussions on the Hutterite Social Network included the
concept of being a church. In the beginning of Christianity the concept of
being a church was described in Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-5:11. They were
seeking to live as taught by Jesus, seeking to help others live that way,
welcoming all who desired to live as Jesus taught, sharing life together, loving
one another, living together with all things in common, meeting together daily,
all were one in heart and mind.
However, as time went by that concept of being a church sort of died
out. There are few today who hold that same vision about being a church as did
the first century Christians.
A Sermon Posted Recently on the Hutterite Social Network by a Hutterite
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles
7:14). Much of society is praying. That is a beautiful start to recovery from
the chaos of destruction. It gives God recognition, as the much needed Source
of help. But is prayer alone sufficient? This verse tells us not only to pray,
but also to humble ourselves before God, to seek His face, and to turn from our
sin. Then he will fill our hearts with healing peace and forgiveness. Merely
praying is not enough. Surrender and obedience to Jesus Christ must follow in
true humility. This is a very personal matter and must be done on an individual
basis by every person.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor 13:14)
Your brother and sisters in Christ,
Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy (plus son Mike in the photo)
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org
Jesus said, “People will know that you are my disciples
by your love for one another.” (John 13:35)
---------------------------------------
A Great Rebellion Against God
It must be your great desire that God's will may be done by you on
earth, as it is done in heaven. It must be the settled purpose and intention of
your heart to will nothing, design nothing, do nothing, but so far as there is
reason to believe that it is the will of God.
It is as great rebellion against God to think that your will may ever rightly differ from His as it would be to boast in His universe that you have not received the power of willing from Him. You are therefore to consider yourself as a being that has no other business in the world but to be that which God requires you to be; to have no desires, to seek no self ends, but to fill that place and act that part which the divine pleasure has ordained. To think that you are your own, or at your own disposal, is as absurd as to think that you created yourself. It is as plain and necessary a first principle to believe that you are thus God's, and are to act and suffer all in a thankful resignation to His pleasure, as to believe that in Him you live and move and have your being.
Now
this is the Christian's true state with relation to God, since one cannot be
said so much as to believe in Him unless one believes Him to be of infinite love
and wisdom. When a man has that confident inner assurance that God's will for
his life is the design of an infinite wisdom and love, it will be as necessary,
while in the possession of this faith, to be thankful and pleased with
everything that God chooses as it would be to wish his own happiness. For what
more could be asked than that every circumstance of life be the choice of an
infinite wisdom and love? Whenever a man allows himself to have anxieties,
fears, or complaints, he must consider his behavior as either a denial of the
wisdom of God or as a confession that he is out of His will. To be always in a
thankful state of heart before God is not to be considered a high plane
of spirituality but rather the normal attitude of one who believes that
"all things work together for good to them that love God, who are the called
according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28). If one cannot thank and praise God as
well in calamities and sufferings as in prosperity and happiness, how can such
an attitude be called a real trust in God at all? For to thank God only for
pleasant incidents in life is no more a proper act of piety than to believe only
what can be verified with the senses would be an act of faith.
(From The Power of the Spirit, page 22,
by William Law 1686 - 1761)
Our Salvation is in the Life of Jesus Christ in Us
Every society of Christians which rejects the present operations of the Holy Spirit can produce nothing better than a religion of self-effort, despite its great zeal for all sound Scripture doctrines. Moreover, a fleshly, earthly, overbearing pride in their own definitions and doctrines of words will by degrees creep up to the same height among such Christians, and become that same carnal wisdom, doing those very same things which they decry in pompous hypocrites. Nor can it possibly be otherwise.
A letter-learned zeal has but one nature wherever it is, and can only do that for Christians which it did for Jews. Images of wood and day will only be exchanged for images of doctrines. Grace, works, imputed sin, imputed righteousness, and election will all have their worshipping advocates, dividing the body of Christ in their very zeal to defend their own good opinions about Scripture doctrines. And so great will be the blindness thus generated that every kind of gossip, slander, and hatred will be pursued by brother against brother, all of it done in the name of Him who prayed that we might be one.
This
must be the case throughout all Christendom until men and churches firmly adhere
to this one Scripture truth: that our salvation is in the life of Jesus
Christ in us.
(From The Power of the Spirit, page 30,
by William Law 1686 - 1761)