Genesis 49:3-18

For the Samaritans, the center of worship was on Mt. Gerizim. For the Jews, Jerusalem was the place on earth where God had placed His Name. But Jesus announced a new order to the woman of Samaria, "…the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him."

There is no longer a single place on earth which is designated for worship. In our dispensation, a Holy Person has taken the place of a holy...

We learn first from this verse that Christ is the gathering center for His people. We don't gather to a denomination, a church, a building or a great preacher but Christ alone. "Unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Genesis 49:10). "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice" (Psalms 50:5).

A second lesson is that we must go to Him outside...

When Jesus spoke these words, He was referring to a meeting of the church convened to deal with a sinning member who refuses to repent. Other efforts to handle the offender have failed and now he is brought before the church. If he still refuses to repent; he must be disfellowshipped. The Lord Jesus promises His presence at such a meeting called to deal with a matter of church discipline.

But the verse surely has a wider application. It is true wherever and whenever two or three are...

These words are found in Jacob's blessing of his sons. When he thought of the cruelty which Simeon and Levi showed to the men of Shechem, he said, "O my soul, come not thou into their secret."

I would like to borrow the words and use them in a broader sense. There are secrets connected with sin which it is better never to know.

Temptation puts on its best face and suggests that we can never be happy until we have been initiated into its mysteries. It offers thrills, physical...

Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: my Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. § Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are:...

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. § All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.“Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. § Aaron held his peace. § It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall...