ANGUISH

Isaiah 53, but first I’d like to read in Luke 22:44,
“And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” 

There is a song which reads...
    "May I be willing Lord, to bear daily my cross for Thee;
     even Thy cup of grief to share; Thou hast borne all for me.
     Lest I forget Gethsemane;
     Lest I forget Thine agony;
     Lest I forget Thy love for me;
     Lead me to Calvary."

And Psalm 22:14-17, which prophesy Jesus was so aware of, says...
I am poured out like water; all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaw; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.

SALVATION

Why is there this need for salvation... and from what?

The greatest danger we face in life is the holy wrath of God against our sin. But the glory of the gospel is that the One from whom we need to be saved is the very One who saves us.
   ~ R. C. Sproul 

For a great many people, this “concept” of needing salvation is very alien and inconceivable because they perceive nothing wrong or dangerous in their lives and have limited awareness, if any, of eternity or spiritual matters.
But as an example of impending danger... if a jet taking off from the airport were losing altitude and heading straight for you in your house, you would need to be saved, but you wouldn't know it unless someone came running in there and shouted what was about to happen. So one can see that "feeling" safe is no proof that one is safe at all.
Man desperately needs salvation but does not feel the danger at all.

Knowing God – Learn of Jesus

John 6:51, 53-58...
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
Verse 60... This was a hard saying for many who heard Him.

Our Only and All-Sufficient Portion!

"Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind; and there was nothing to be gained under the sun!" Ecclesiastes 2:11

Our Creator God

Shared July 9, 2023 at Breaking of Bread Service, Wellspring Bible Fellowship

I read Psalm 104 - again. It is an amazing psalm to read and meditate on again and again, as well as all of the Word of God.
 
We worship the Creator God of Psalm 104. The world does not know the God of Psalm 104. Their god is the creature and not the Creator.
 
We are literally surrounded with the work of His Will, by His Word and His Hands; ...a glorious picture of God as Creator and a sweeping view of the world God made. Nothing anywhere is untouched by His creation and wisdom. Because He wants us to see and take pleasure in Him, He not only creates, but He speaks through His creation.
Rom. 1:19-20 says, What may be known of God is clearly seen, for God has made it evident. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are seen and understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Persistent Friend

Luke 11:5-9

5 And He (Jesus) said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves.
6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him.
7 And he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you.
8 But I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Scofield's Notes on New Testament Epistles

Introduction to the Epistles of Paul 

The Epistles of the Apostle Paul have a very distinctive character. All Scripture, up to the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion, looks forward to the cross, and has primarily in view Israel, and the blessing of the earth through the Messianic kingdom. But "hid in God" Eph 3:9 was an unrevealed fact--the interval of time between the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and His return in glory; and an unrevealed purpose-- the outcalling of the ecclesia, the church which is Christ's body. In Matt. 16, our Lord announced that purpose, but wholly without explanation as to how, when, or of what materials, that church should be built, or what should be its position, relationships, privileges, or duties.

All this precisely constitutes the scope of the Epistles of Paul. They develop the doctrine of the church.