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#31/ 01-Jan-2001

          P O S I T I V E     W O R D S
               Editor: Peter Wade

       ----- http://www.peterwade.com/ -----
   ... helping you discover who you really are!

       A NEW MILLENNIUM! A POWERFUL TIME FOR
             NEW CREATIONS IN CHRIST!

IN THIS ISSUE...
	1. New this month
	2. Songs I Remember
	3. Positive Words for Today
	4. Searchlights from the Word
	5. Bible Study Outlines

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1.   n e w   t h i s   m o n t h
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FOR YOU TO LISTEN ...
   "YOU CAN BEGIN AGAIN", a New Years' teaching by Peter Wade
(audio, 24:47). Are you glad last year is over? Would you like to
get back some excitement and enthusiasm in your Christian life?
Then this special teaching by Peter Wade is just what you need.
Listen to the complete teaching at
< http://www.peterwade.com/modules.php?name=zina >

FOR YOU TO READ ...
   "SOME MIGHTY FACTS" by E.W. Kenyon
"There are some things Eternal Life has given us. If we realized
what we were in Christ and knew that we had the ability to be
what God says we are, our lives would be transformed in a week."
< http://www.peterwade.com/articles/kenyon/mighty.shtml >
   "THE PRESENT REST OF BELIEVERS" by A.T. Pierson
Hebrews chapter 4 -- The emphasis of this whole passage is on the
present rest of God's saints, another of the high privileges to
which God invites believers. 
< http://www.peterwade.com/articles/pierson/presrest.shtml >
   PLUS... 5 articles by Peter Wade we suggest you should read as
you start a new year and a new millenium.

For advanced Bible students...
   "The Great Cloud of Witnesses" by E.W. Bullinger
We continue with another excerpt from E.W. Bullinger's study of
Hebrews chapter 11. From chapter 1 of the book, "Abel's Faith:
The Witness God Bore" -- The first lesson mankind must learn in
their relationship with God.
< http://www.peterwade.com/articles/bullingr/cloud07.shtml >.

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2.   s o n g s   I   r e m e m b e r
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This month's song (No. 2 in Alexander's Hymns) was brought back
to my memory by our good friend Elizabeth Campbell. The words
were written by Civilla Martin, the wife of a Baptist evangelist.
She was unable to accompany him to a service one Sunday in 1904,
due to ill health, and her husband was thinking of cancelling his
trip. However, their son said, "Father, don't you think that if
God wants you to preach today, He will take care of Mother while
you're away?" When he returned home after the service, Civilla
was writing the now well-known words, and her husband composed
the music for them. In the same year, she also wrote the song
"His Eye is On the Sparrow".

   Be not dismayed what e're betide, 
   God will take care of you!
   Beneath His wings of love abide, 
   God will take care of you!

     Chorus: God will take care of you! 
     Through every day, o'er all the way;
     He will take care of you; God will take care of you!

   Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
   God will take care of you!
   When dangers fierce your path assail,
   God will take care of you!

   All you may need He will provide, 
   God will take care of you!
   Trust Him, and you will be satisfied, 
   God will take care of you!

   Lonely or sad, from friends apart, 
   God will take care of you!
   He will give peace to your aching heart, 
   God will take care of you!

   No matter what may be the test,
   God will take care of you!
   Lean, weary one, upon His breast, 
   God will take care of you!

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3.   p o s i t i v e   w o r d s   f o r   t o d a y
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                GOD FREELY OFFERS GUIDANCE

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what
God has prepared for those who love him... but God has revealed
it to us by his Spirit" (I Corinthians 2:9-10).

The fourth step to receiving guidance from God is to renew your
mind to the truth that guidance IS available for YOU. "The secret
things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong
to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the
words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). It is written in our
verse for today: "... God has revealed it to us by his Spirit" 
(I Corinthians 2:9-10).
   God is sovereign and no believer can force Him to reveal
anything He does not want revealed. However, from the scripture
above we see that God will not withhold information or guidance
that is for my good. He wants me to enjoy a more than abundant
life. He wants me to meet the needs of humanity, and without His
guidance I will not be able to fulfill His will for me
effectively.
   I believe God freely offers His guidance many more times than
I perceive it. If I have not received God's guidance, it's
probably because I failed to get quiet, or I had my mind on many
other things, or for some other reason.
   I need to watch for, expect and perceive God's guidance
throughout my day. Indeed, to look for it in the small things of
life, and then when I have a situation that looms large on the
horizon, I will have confidence that God has guidance for me to
cope with that situation. (From "You Are A New Creation", Chapter
4, adapted by Hildy Matthews.)

AFFIRMATION: I renew my mind to God's willingness to give me
guidance and I search His Word for statements and examples that
demonstrate guidance.

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              THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS for our
             *** AUSTRALIAN BIBLE CONFERENCE ***
                JANUARY 5-11, 2001 (Fri-Thur) 

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4.   s e a r c h l i g h t s   f r o m   t h e   W o r d
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G. Campbell Morgan was a well-known preacher and writer of over
60 books from the first half of the 20th century. In this spot
each issue we reproduce a comment from one verse in every chapter
of the Bible. We continue with Paul's second letter to the
Thessalonians.

"The mystery of lawlessness doth already work; only there is One
that restraineth now" (II Thessalonians 2:7)

Many opinions have been held concerning what Paul meant here by
"the mystery of lawlessness," and to whom he referred when he
wrote of "One that restraineth." The difficulty has been largely
created by the view that he was thinking of something and someone
peculiar to the times in which he wrote. The context shows that
he was looking forward to the day of the Lord at the consummation
of the present age, to the Parousia, or Presence of Christ, and
especially to the Apocalypse aspect of it, in which the "Man of
sin" having been also revealed, should be slain. With that in
view, he wrote these words, and they naturally apply to the whole
age to be so consummated. 
  During that age -- this age in which we live, "the mystery of
lawlessness" the principle of evil, which at last will be
unveiled in the person of the Man of Sin, is already working. But
it is also true that, during the same age, there is One Who
restrains that working, holds it in check, prevents its final
development, and He will continue to do so, until He is taken out
of the way. The reference unquestionably is to the Holy Spirit,
Who by His work of convincing the world of sin, of righteousness,
of judgment, makes impossible the out-working of lawlessness to
its final issues. The time will come when the restraining
influence will be removed, so that the mystery of lawlessness may
be wrought out to its final expression, and that, in order that
it may be destroyed by the unveiling of the Lord.
 
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5.   B i b l e   s t u d y   o u t l i n e s
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These Bible Study outlines come from the excellent book by F.E.
Marsh, "1,000 Bible Study Outlines". GET YOUR COPY before this book goes out of print!

CHRIST AND THE INNESS OF THINGS 
Christ ever taught the inness of things.
1. To Nicodemus it was inward life -- John iii. 7.
2. To the woman of Samaria, inward supply -— John iv. 14.
3. To Saul of Tarsus, inward light -— Acts xxvi. 13-19.
4. To the demoniac, inward liberty -— Mark v. 15.
5. To the palsied man, inward blessing -— Mark ii. 5, 9.
6. To Simon the Pharisee, inward love -- Luke vii. 47.
7. To the Pharisees, inward cleansing -— Matt. xxiii. 25, 26.

CHRIST CAUSES THE LAME TO WALK (Matt. xv. 31)
How many people are walking by the aid of spiritual crutches. The
crutches of self-help, the crutches of dependence upon others,
the crutches of worldly means, and the crutches of carnal reason.
The Lord can make us —-
1. "Walk in newness of life" (Rom. vi. 4).
2. To walk "by faith" (II Cor. v. 7).
3. To walk "in the Spirit" (Gal. v. 16).
4. To walk "in love" (Eph. v. 2).
5. To walk "in wisdom" (Col. iv. 5).
6. To walk "in the truth" (III John 4).
7. To walk "after His commandments" (II John 6).

CHRISTIANITY -— WHAT IS IT? 
"There is a tremendous lot of I-anity, but very little
Christ-ianity." That leads one to ask the question, "What is
Christianity?" There is only one answer -— "Christ."
1. Christ in the glory of His relationship -— Matt. xvi. 16.
2. Christ in the glow of His Love —- II Cor. v. 14; Gal. ii. 20.
3. Christ in the reality of His Humanity -— I Tim. ii. 5.
4. Christ in the sufficiency of His Death -— Heb. ix. 14, 28.
5. Christ in the indwelling of His Spirit —- Eph. iii. 17.
6. Christ in the beauty of His Character —- Heb. vii. 26.
7. Christ in the hope of His Glory -— Col. i. 27.

CHRIST DECLARED GOD -- "He hath declared Him" John i.18
There was One who did tell us about God, and who did not forget,
and that One was Christ. He did not forget -—
1. God’s Will, but delighted to do it -— Heb. x.7; Psa. xl.8.
2. God’s Word, but made it known -— John xvii. 8.
3. God’s Ways, but walked in them -— Acts ii. 22; x. 38.
4. God’s Work, but fulfilled it -— John xvii. 4; xix. 30.
5. God’s Worth, but revealed it —- John iii. 16.

"CHRIST" IN EPHESIANS V
1. CHRIST -— in the sacrifice of His atonement. "Christ... hath
given Himself for us" (2).
2. CHRIST -— in the wealth of His Kingdom. "Kingdom of
Christ" (5).
3. CHRIST -— in the light of His grace. "Christ shall give
thee light" (14).
4. CHRIST -— in the authority of His headship. "Christ is the
Head" (23).
5. CHRIST -— in the dominion of His claims. "Church is subject
unto Christ" (24).
6. CHRIST -— in the purpose of His love. "Christ also loved
the Church" (25).
7. CHRIST -— in the care of His attention. "As Christ also
the Church" (29, R.V.).

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THANKS for reading Positive Words. Please share it with a
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(c) 2001 Peter Wade
http://www.peterwade.com/