^{"THE BANQUETING TABLE"}

Psalm 42:11

^{Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.}

^{Psalms 30
5} Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Revelation 21:4

⁴ God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away.

 Song of Solomon 2:16

¹⁶ [She said distinctly] My beloved is mine and I am his!

 Song of Solomon 2:4

⁴ He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love [for love waved as a protecting and comforting banner over my head when I was near him].

 

Deuteronomy 31:6-8

⁶ Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you.

⁷ Be strong, courageous, and firm, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to possess it.
⁸ It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit—depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm.

Deuteronomy 32:10-14
¹⁰ He found him in a desert land, in the howling void of the wilderness; He kept circling around him, He scanned him [penetratingly], He kept him as the pupil of His eye.¹¹ As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions.¹² So the Lord alone led him; there was no foreign god with Him.¹³ He made Israel ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the increase of the field; and He made him suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock,¹⁴ Butter and curds of the herd and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, with the finest of the wheat; and you drank wine of the blood of the grape.

Deuteronomy 6:23

²³ And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in to give us the land which He swore to give our fathers.

 

Psalm 6:8

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.

 ^{Psalm 119:97-105}

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.

 ⁹⁸ You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies, for [Your words] are ever before me.
 ⁹⁹ I have better understanding and deeper insight than all my teachers, because Your testimonies are my meditation.
 ¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged, because I keep Your precepts [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].
 ¹⁰¹ I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Your word [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].
 ¹⁰² I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, for You Yourself have taught me.
 ¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
 ¹⁰⁴ Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
 ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

 

Zephaniah 3

 

¹⁷ The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.

O eyes that are red with weeping, cease your scalding flow, for in a little while ye shall know no more tears! None can wipe tears away like the God of love, but He is coming to do it. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Come, Lord, and tarry not; for now both men and women must weep!

 

 

<sup>"GREATER LOVE"


JOHN 15

13</sup> No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.

DEAR BROTHERS; THERE IS NO DARKNESS, PRINCIPALITY, OR POWERS OF DEMONS, THAT CAN EVER UNDERSTAND, NOR EVER STOP THE POWER OF THIS TRUTH. ITS TRANSFORMING FORCE TURNS OUR WEAKEST MOMENTS, OUR TRIALS AND TRAGEDY INTO "RESURRECTION VICTORY."

¹⁴ You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.

¹⁵ I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

¹⁶ You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as ^[b]presenting all that I Am], He may give it to you.

¹⁷ This is what I command you: that you love one another.

<sup>ACTS 2

"WHAT SHALL WE DO?"



4</sup> For David did not ascend into the heavens; yet he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand and share My throne

³⁵ Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.

³⁶ Therefore let the whole house of Israel recognize beyond all doubt and acknowledge assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ (the Messiah)—this Jesus Whom you crucified.

³⁷ Now when they heard this they were stung (cut) to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles (special messengers), Brethren, what shall we do?

³⁸ And Peter answered them, Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹ For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is to and for you and your children, and to and for all that are far away, [even] to and for as many as the Lord our God invites and bids to come to Himself.

⁴⁰ And [Peter] ^[i]solemnly and earnestly witnessed (testified) and admonished (exhorted) with much more continuous speaking and warned (reproved, advised, encouraged) them, saying, Be saved from this crooked (perverse, wicked, unjust) generation.

<sup>1 KINGS 18

" A CLOUD AS SMALL AS A MAN'S HAND"


1</sup> And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.

⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees

⁴³ And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. Elijah said, Go again seven times.

⁴⁴ And at the seventh time the servant said, A cloud as small as a man’s hand is arising out of the sea. And Elijah said, Go up, say to Ahab, Hitch your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.

⁴⁵ In a little while, the heavens were black with wind-swept clouds, and there was a great rain. And Ahab went to Jezreel.

James 5:17

 

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.

 

^{James 5:18}

¹⁸ And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual].

LUKE 11

⁵ And He said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and will say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread],

⁶ For a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come, and I have nothing to put before him;

⁷ And he from within will answer, Do not disturb me; the door is now closed, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and supply you [with anything]?

⁸ I tell you, although he will not get up and supply him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence and insistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ So I say to you, Ask and ^[b]keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and ^[c]keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and ^[d]keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you.

¹⁰ For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.

¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?

¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

¹³ If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!

 

 

TODAY DO YOU NEED TO SEE A SIGN? THE SIZE OF A MAN'S HAND?REMEMBER, FIRST CAME THE SOUND, THEN THE SIGN. "TO THEM THAT HAVE AN EAR TO HEAR, LET THEM HEAR WANT THE SPIRIT IS SAYING."

 

"AND THERE WAS A GREAT RAIN!"

Psalm 42

"WHY ARE YOU CAST DOWN?"

¹ As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.

² My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?

³ My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, Where is your God?

⁴ These things I [earnestly] remember and pour myself out within me: how I went slowly before the throng and led them in procession to the house of God [like a bandmaster before his band, timing the steps to the sound of music and the chant of song], with the voice of shouting and praise, a throng keeping festival.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.

⁶ O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You from the land of the Jordan [River] and the [summits of Mount] Hermon, from the little mountain Mizar.

⁷ [Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have gone over me.

⁸ Yet the Lord will command His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I will say to God my Rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

¹⁰ As with a sword [crushing] in my bones, my enemies taunt and reproach me, while they say continually to me, Where is your God?

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

 

SORROW CAN BE GREATLY ALLEVIATED IF WE GIVE SERIOUS THOUGHT TO THE WORD. WHEN YOU HAVE LEARNED THIS LESSON, YOU WILL HAVE LEARNED THE ART OF COMFORTING OTHERS.  SELAH.

 

 

 

 

 

Luke 8

"LAMPSTAND"

 

8 Soon afterward, [Jesus] went on through towns and villages, preaching and bringing the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom of God. And the Twelve [apostles] were with Him,

 

² And also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had been expelled;

 

³ And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager; and Susanna; and many others, who ministered to and provided for^]Him and them out of their property and personal belongings.

 

⁴ And when a very great throng was gathering together and people from town after town kept coming to Jesus, He said in a parable:

 

⁵ A sower went out to sow seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the traveled path and was trodden underfoot, and the birds of the air ate it up.

 

⁶ And some [seed] fell on the rock, and as soon as it sprouted, it withered away because it had no moisture.

 

⁷ And other [seed] fell in the midst of the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it [off].

 

 

⁸ And some seed fell into good soil, and grew up and yielded a crop a hundred times [as great]. As He said these things, He called out, He who has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him consider and understand by hearing!

 

⁹ And when His disciples asked Him the meaning of this parable,

 

¹⁰ He said to them, To you it has been given to [come progressively to] know (to recognize and understand more strongly and clearly) the mysteries and secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that, [though] looking, they may not see; and hearing, they may not comprehend.

 

¹¹ Now the meaning of the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God.

 

¹² Those along the traveled road are the people who have heard; then the devil comes and carries away the message out of their hearts, that they may not believe (^[c]acknowledge Me as their Savior and devote themselves to Me) and be saved [here and hereafter].

 

¹³ And those upon the rock [are the people] who, when they hear [the Word], receive and welcome it with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation fall away (withdraw and stand aloof).

 

¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, these are [the people] who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked and suffocated with the anxieties and cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not ripen (come to maturity and perfection).

 

¹⁵ But as for that [seed] in the good soil, these are [the people] who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in a just (noble, virtuous) and worthy heart, and steadily bring forth fruit with patience.

 

¹⁶ No one after he has lighted a lamp covers it with a vessel or puts it under a [dining table] couch; but he puts it on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.

 

¹⁷ For there is nothing hidden that shall not be disclosed, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come out into the open.

 

¹⁸ Be careful therefore how you listen. For to him who has [spiritual knowledge] will more be given; and from him who does not have [spiritual knowledge], even what he thinks and guesses and^]supposes that he has will be taken away.

1 John 1

"THEY SAW; THEY HEARD; THEY TOUCHED"

 

1 [We are writing] about the Word of Life [in] Him Who existed from the beginning, Whom we have heard, Whom we have seen with our [own] eyes, Whom we have gazed upon [for ourselves] and have touched with our [own] hands.

 

² And the Life an aspect of His being] was revealed (made manifest, demonstrated), and we saw [as eyewitnesses] and are testifying to and declare to you the Life, the eternal Life [in Him] Who already existed with the Father and Who [actually] was made visible (was revealed) to us [His followers].

 

³ What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

 

⁴ And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].

 

 

Luke 7

 

¹⁹ And John summoned to him a certain two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord, saying, Are You He Who is to come, or shall we [continue to] look for another?

²⁰ So the men came to Jesus and said, John the Baptist sent us to You to ask, Are You the One Who is to come, or shall we [continue to] look for another?

²¹ In that very hour Jesus was healing many [people] of sicknesses and distressing bodily plagues and evil spirits, and to many who were blind He gave a free, gracious, joy-giving gift of] sight.

²² So He replied to them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news (the Gospel) preached to them.

²³ And blessed (happy—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from outward conditions—and to be envied) is he who takes no offense in Me and who is not hurt or resentful or annoyed or repelled or made to stumble [whatever may occur].


Halelujah!  They saw!  What do you see?