“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you
I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you.” Genesis 12:3
A Famine
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land –
not a famine of food or thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.”
Amos 8: 11,12
“The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced.
They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.” Micah 3:7
Feast Of Fat Things
It is true; the word is preached to all the world, to gather in the children of God’s purpose that are scattered up and down in the world {John 11:52}
and to leave the rest inexcusable;
but the prime end and aim of the Lord Christ thereby is to gather in those heirs of salvation unto the enjoyment of that feast of fat things which he has prepared for them in his house. …
John Owen (1616 – 1683)
from Communion with the Triune God p.346
edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,
but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Matthew 16: 15,16
In the Deep
Others went out on the sea in ships;
they were merchants on the mighty waters.
They saw the works of the Lord,
his wonderful deeds in the deep. Psalm 107: 23, 24
Let not my faith be wrecked amid storms and shoals; Bring me to harbour with flying pennants, hull unbreached, cargo unspoiled. 
I ask great things, expect great things, shall receive
great things. I venture on thee wholly, fully, my wind, sunshine,
anchor, defence. The voyage is long, the waves high, the storms pitiless, but my helm is held steady, thy Word secures safe passage,
thy grace wafts me onward, my haven guaranteed….Help me, protect me in the moving sea until I reach the shore of unceasing praise.
Valley of Vision p. 202 & 203
_.
The Decline and Fall of Rome
The historian Gibbon concluded that there were five reasons for
the decline and fall of Rome. Gibbon was not a Christian, but here
is why he says Rome fell:
1.) The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home,
which is the basis of human society.
2.) Higher and higher taxes; the spending of public money for
free bread and circuses for the populace.
3.) The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, more immoral.
4.) The building of great armaments when the great enemy was
within; the decay of individual responsibility.
5.) The decay of religion, fading into mere form, losing touch with
life, losing power to guide the people.
From Thru The Bible Vol III on Zephaniah by Vernon McGee (1904-1988)
“…He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with His sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord – with the first of them and with the last – I am he.” Isaiah 41: 2b-4
A very diverse religion
Christianity is a very diverse religion, containing
elements meant to satisfy every part of our make-up.
We have minds, and Christianity has food for our minds.
It is a thinking man’s religion.
Christianity takes us to the very beginning of creation and
introduces us to God who is
all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-wise.
It provides us with the most profound of all analysis
of man’s nature and condition – made in the image of God,
yet tragically marred by rebellion against God and resulting
accumulation of wickedness.
Christianity reveals God’s amazing provision for salvation through
the work of Jesus Christ, and it stretches our minds beyond the past
and present to the future, where we view the ransomed saints of God in
God’s presence in great glory.
These doctrines challenge our minds and reward diligent study.
James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000)
A Mark, The Mark, That Mark
I believe that for a nation and for an
individual it is possible to continue in
sin until you cross over a mark. I do not
know where the mark is – I don’t pretend 
to be able to say when this takes place – but there is such a place. When you pass over that mark, it is not that the grace of God cannot reach you but that you cannot reach God for the simple reason that you have come to the place where you are hardened and in a state of unbelief which cannot be changed. This can be true of a nation, and it can be true of an individual.
J.Vernon McGee (1904-1988)
