Viewing the gift of life as a critical assignment from God at
the strategic moment in which we live.
And of the children of Issachar,
which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what
Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all
their brethren were at their commandment.
1 Chronicles 12:32
- Serious; important; that is, really intent or engaged;
whence the phrase, in earnest. To be in earnest, is
to be really urging or stretching towards an object; in tent
on a pursuit. Hence from fixed attention, comes the sense of
seriousness in the pursuit, as opposed to trifling
or jest. Are you in earnest or in jest?
- Webster's, 1st ed., 1828
Romans 8:19 For the earnest
expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the
sons of God.
Philippians 1:20 according to my earnest
expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with
all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in
my body, whether by life or by death.
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must
give the more earnest
heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
James 5:17 Elijah was a man with
a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly
that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three
years and six months.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, earnestly
desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was
very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I
found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly
for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
The apostle is intensely personal in his address. This verse
is not spoken to us all in the mass, but to some one in
particular. It is always a very happy sign when a man begins to
think of himself as an individual, and when the expostulations
and invitations of the gospel are seen by him to be directed to
himself personally. I will give nothing for that indirect,
essay-like preaching which is as the sheet lightning of summer,
dazzling for the moment, and flaming over a broad expanse, but
altogether harmless, since no bolt is launched from it, and its
ineffectual fires leave no trace behind. I will give nothing for
that kind of hearing which consists in the word being heard by
everybody in general, and by no one in particular.
"Earnest
Expostulation"
A Sermon (No. 1714) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, April 1st,
1883, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
Newington
And we know that all things work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are the called according to His
purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren.
-- Romans 8:28-29
I have remembered Thy Name, O LORD, in the night, and have
kept Thy Law.
-- Psalm 119:55
This isn't that New Age
"Positive Thinking" stuff, is it??
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