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<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">“<b>TWO
ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Jim
& Marie Watt</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Tel:
<a href="tel:253-517-9195" target="_blank">253-517-9195</a> - Email:
<a href="mailto:jmbetter@gmail.com" target="_blank">jmbetter@gmail.com</a></b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Web:
<a href="http://www.2rbetter.org/" target="_blank">www.2rbetter.org</a></b></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">March 2, 2013</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
<br></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
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</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>SEP
13 - HOSEA 11-14 - ISRAEL SHALL BE RESTORED: GOD IS LOVE</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>1.
11:8 (11:1-11, ESV) ISRAEL: MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT. <font size="3">“How
can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How
can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart
recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
we see judgment and mercy seeking balance in Your heart. We see Your
bowels of compassion yearning over us in our rebellion. </span><b><i>Hallowed
be your :name.</i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>2.
11:12 (11:12-12:1) ISRAEL: CONTRASTED WITH JUDAH. <font size="3">“Ephraim
has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but
Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Thank
God for Your </span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">remnant</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">,
Father! We would praise You for the 7000 who would not bow to Baal in
Elijah’s day. O we would be part of Your present day remnant, and
gladden Your heart! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Your
:kingdom come.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">3.
12:3-5 (12:2-8) ISRAEL: POWER FOR TRANSFORMATION. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“In
the womb he (Jacob) took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood
he strove with God. </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">4
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">He
strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He
met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us - </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">5
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">the
LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Jehovah
Father, like Jacob, our trust is in you! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Your
:will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">4.
12:10 (12:9-14) ISRAEL: THOUGH UNWORTHY, YET TO BE CONVERTED! </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“I
spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through
the prophets gave parables.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Yes
Father, You have given Your people Your true and t</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">ri</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">ed
Word. All the faithfulness of Your Name backs Your Word! We trust
You and what You have spoken. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
:daily :bread Give us this day!</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">5.
13:4 (13:1-8) ISRAEL: SIN AND JUDGMENT. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“But
I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but
me, and besides me there is no savior.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Your
judgments are faithful, O Father! We submit to Your righteousness.
Take not Your hand off our lives! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And
forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">6.
13:10-11 (13:9-16) ISRAEL: JUDGMENT AND DESOLATION PRECEDES
REDEMPTION. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“Where
now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your
rulers - those of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’? </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">11
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">I gave
you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Morning
follows night. Your wrath Father, lasts but a season. Joy then comes
in the morning. You are no respecter of persons - who restored
Israel. You will restore us also.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><i><b><span style="text-decoration:none">And
bring us not into temptation.</span></b></i></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">7.
14:4 (14:1-9) ISRAEL: RETURN AND RESTORATION. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“I
will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has
turned from them.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">O
what grace! O what a God we love and serve! Father, like Mary
Magdalene of old, we lavish upon You our thanksgiving, worship and
praise! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">But
deliver us from the evil </span></i><span style="text-decoration:none">one!</span></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><u><b>NOTE</b></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>:
13:14 (13:9-16) ISRAEL: GOD’S PROMISE OF REDEMPTION. </b></span><b><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“Shall
I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from
Death? O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes. </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">What
more can we say than what we have said? There is </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">none</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
like You, Father, and we worship You in Christ!</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">C.H.
Spurgeon Quotes: “We Err On Both Sides” - </span></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Brethren,
we have two faults. We do not think God to be so great as he is, and
we do not think God can be so little as he can be. We err on both
sides, and neither know his height of glory nor his depth of grace.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
Psalm for the Day: </span><span style="text-decoration:none">73:16-17
(73) GOD IS MY STRENGTH AND PORTION FOREVER. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“But
when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome
task, </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">17
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">until
I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.”
</span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
You have made us the wisdom of God in Jesus (1 COR 1:30). We bless
You for our inheritance from You in Him. By this wisdom, we
understand Your purposes in part, and the </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">truth</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
of the principle above! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Hallowed
be your :name!</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">Subject:
</span></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Curiously
enough, this Seventy-Third Psalm corresponds in subject with the
Thirty-Seventh: it will help the memory of the young to notice the
reverse figures. The theme is that ancient stumbling-block of good
men, which Job’s friends could not get over; viz., the present
prosperity of wicked men and the sorrows of the godly. Heathen
philosophers have puzzled themselves about this, while to believers
it has too often been a temptation.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:1.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Truly God is
good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Whatever
may or may not be the truth about mysterious and inscrutable things,
there are certainties somewhere; experience has placed some tangible
facts within our grasp; let us, then, cling to these, and they will
prevent our being carried away by these hurricanes of infidelity
which still come from the wilderness, and like whirlwinds, smite the
four corners of our house and threaten to overthrow it.
O my God, however puzzled I may be, let me never think ill of
You. If I cannot understand You, let me never cease to believe in
You. It must be so; it cannot be otherwise; You are good to those
whom You have made good; and where You have renewed the heart, You
will not leave it to its enemies.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:2.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">My feet were
almost gone. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Errors
of heart and head soon affect the conduct. There is an intimate
connection between his heart and the feet. Asaph could barely stand,
his uprightness was going, his knees were bowing like a falling wall.
When men doubt the righteousness of God, their own integrity begins
to waver.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:3.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">For I was
envious at the foolish. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">It
is a pitiful thing that an heir of heaven should have to confess, “I
was envious,” but worse still that he should have to put it, “I
was envious at the foolish.” Yet this acknowledgement is, we fear,
due from most of us.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:12.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Behold these
are the ungodly, who prosper in the world.</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Look!
See! Consider! Here is the s</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">t</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">anding
enigma! The crux of Providence! The stumbling-block of faith! Here
are the unjust rewarded and indulged, and that not for a day or an
hour, but in perpetuity. From their youth up these men, who deserve
perdition, revel in prosperity. They deserve to be hung in chains,
and chains are hung about their necks; they are worthy to be chased
from the world, and yet the world becomes all their own. Poor,
purblind sense cries, “Behold this! Wonder and be amazed, and make
this square with providential justice, if you can.” </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">They
increase in riches</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">;
or, strength. Both wealth and health are their dowry. No bad debts
and bankruptcies weigh them down, but robbery and usury pile up their
substance. Money runs to money; gold pieces fly in flocks; the rich
grow richer; the proud grow prouder. Lord, how is this? Your poor
servants who become yet poorer and groan under their burdens, and
made to wonder at Your mysterious ways.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:17.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Then I
understood their end</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">.
No envy gnaws now at his heart, but a holy horror both of their
impending doom, and of their present guilt fills his soul. He recoils
from being dealt with in the same manner as the proud sinners, whom
he just now regarded with admiration.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:18.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">You cast
them down into destruction. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Eternal
punishment will be all the more terrible in contrast with the former
prosperity of those who are ripening for it. Taken as a whole, the
case of the ungodly is horrible throughout; and their worldly joy
instead of diminishing the horror, actually renders the effect the
more awful, even as the vivid lightning amid the storm does not
brighten but intensify the thick darkness which lowers around. The
ascent to the fatal gallows of Haman was an essential ingredient in
the terror of the sentence - “hang him on it.” If the wicked had
not been raised so high they could not have fallen so low.
</span></span></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:22.
The original has in it no word of comparison; it ought to be rather
translated, </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">I
was a very beast before You, </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">and
we are told that the Hebrew word being in the plural number, gives it
a peculiar emphasis, indicating some monstrous or astonishing beast.
It is the word used by Job which is interpreted “behemoth.”
“I was a very monster before You,” not only a beast, but one of
the most brutish of all beasts, one of the most stubborn and
intractable of all beasts. I think no man can go much lower than this
in humble confession. This is a description of human nature and of
the old man in the renewed saint which is not to be excelled.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">73:27.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">For, lo,
they that are from You shall perish. You have destroyed all them that
go a whoring from You. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Mere
heathens, who are far from God, perish in due season; but those who,
being His professed people, act unfaithfully to their profession,
shall come under active condemnation, and be crushed beneath His
wrath. We read examples of this in Israel’s history; may we never
create fresh instances in our own persons. </span></span><b><span style="text-decoration:none">(From
“The Treasury of David” by C.H. Spurgeon, abridged by D.O.
Fuller)</span></b></font></font></p>
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