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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 26, 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>OCT
4 - 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-5:11 - A LIFE OF COMFORT AND CHALLENGE</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.
4:13-14, (NNT) THE DEAD IN CHRIST: THEIR STATUS. <font size="3">“But
we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning the</font><font size="3"><i>m</i></font><font size="3"><span style="font-style:normal">
that are asleep; that you sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no
hope. </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="font-style:normal">14
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-style:normal">For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose, even so them also </span></font><font size="3"><i>that</i></font><font size="3"><span style="font-style:normal">
are fallen asleep will God :through Jesus bring with him.” </span></font></b><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal">Your
Kingdom Father, is one of certainty, comfort and enjoyment. It is a
joy both inward and outward in the Holy Spirit. </span></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.
4:15-16 (4:15-18) THE COMING OF THE LORD. <font size="3">“For this
we say to you by </font><font size="3"><i>the</i></font><font size="3">
Lord’s word, that we that are alive, that are left unto the
presence of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen
asleep. </font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1">16 </font><font size="3">For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with an
archangel’s voice, and with God’s trump: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first;”</font></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Father,
we bless You for Your promise to the righteous dead. <i><b>Your
:kingdom come.</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;font-weight:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>3.
5:1-2 (5:1-3) TIMES AND SEASONS. </b><font size="3"><b>“But
concerning the times and the season, brethren, you have no need that
</b></font><font size="3"><i><b>anything</b></i></font><font size="3"><b>
be written you. </b></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><b>2
</b></font><font size="3"><b>For yourselves know perfectly that </b></font><font size="3"><i><b>the</b></i></font><font size="3"><b>
Lord’s day comes as a thief in the night.” </b></font>Father,
make us like spiritual Issachars (1 Chronicles 12:32). May we know
clearly <u>Your</u><span style="text-decoration:none"> times and
seasons. May we walk carefully in </span><u>Your</u><span style="text-decoration:none">
ways! </span><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>Your :will be
done, As in heaven, </b></span></i><i><u><b>so</b></u></i><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>
on earth!</b></span></i></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>4.
5:4-5 (5:4-7) SONS OF LIGHT: WHAT CHARACTERIZES THEM! </b></span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>“</b></span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>But
you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you
as thieves </b></span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>5
</b></span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>for
you are all sons of light, and sons of day: we are not of night, nor
of darkness.” </b></span></font><span style="text-decoration:none">Forgive
us Father, that we do not grow into the maturity of Sonship, and as
</span><u>young men</u><span style="text-decoration:none"> become
strong, the word of God abiding in us, and overcoming the evil one (1
John 1:14). Bring us into the tenth city gate of Naphtali (GEN 49,
REV 21), the gate of wrestling overcomers! </span><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>Our
:daily :bread Give us this day.</b></span></i></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>5.
5:8. SONS OF THE DAY: THEIR ARMOR. </b></span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>“But
let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on a breastplate
of faith and love; and for a helmet, salvation’s hope.” </b></span></font><span style="text-decoration:none">Father,
we receive Your exhortation through Your apostle Paul. We thank You
for the wisdom, safety and comfort of it. </span><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>And
forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.</b></span></i></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>6.
5:9-10. SALVATION VERSUS WRATH: OUR DESTINY. </b></span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>“For
:God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto </b></span></font><font size="3"><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>the</b></span></i></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>
obtaining of salvation through our :Lord Jesus Christ, </b></span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>10
</b></span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>who
died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together
with him.” </b></span></font><span style="text-decoration:none">Father,
we see how You cause us to overcome in Christ, and how to be
victorious over Satan. It is all through the “finished atoning
work” of Calvary! </span><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>And
bring us not into temptation!</b></span></i></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>7.
5:11. THIS TRUTH: A SOURCE OF COMFORT. </b></span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>“</b></span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>Wherefore
exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also you do.”
</b></span></font><span style="text-decoration:none">We reason
together from Your word Father, and sense the same encouragement from
these truths as did the Thessalonians. Yes, Your Word is true. Yes,
we stand upon its promises. Yes, You back Your Word! </span><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>But
deliver us from the evil </b></span></i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>one!</b></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><u><b>NOTE</b></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>:
4:17-18 (4:15-18) THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER! </b></span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>“Then
we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught
up in clouds, to meet the Lord into </b></span></font><font size="3"><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>the</b></span></i></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>
air. and so shall we ever be with </b></span></font><font size="3"><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>the</b></span></i></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>
Lord. </b></span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>18
</b></span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>Wherefore
comfort one another with these :words.” </b></span></font><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
dead in You Father, are as safe and secure as we are! One day we with
them look forward to a glad reunion!</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight: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: “False Profession” - </span></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Let
them get home to their knees and pray God to give them manliness
enough at least to be damned honestly, and not go down to perdition
wearing the name of Christian when Christians they are not.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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: 94:1-2 (94, ESV) </span><span style="text-decoration:none">THE
LORD WILL NOT FORSAKE HIS PEOPLE. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“O
LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">2
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">Rise
up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!
</span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Jehovah
Father, You are the One Who righteously punishes the wicked and
chastises Your sons. There is no respect of persons with You.
Righteous are You in </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">all</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
Your ways! </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;text-decoration:none" 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">:
The writer sees evil-doers in power and smarts under their
oppression. His sense of the divine sovereignty, of which he had been
singing in the previous Psalm, leads him to appeal to God as the
great Judge of the earth; this he does with much vehemence and
importunity, evidently tingling under the lash of the oppressor.
Confident in God’s existence, and assured of His personal
observation of the doings of men, the Psalmist rebukes his atheistic
adversaries and proclaims his triumph in his God: he also interprets
the severe dispensation of Providence to be in very deed most
instructive </span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">chastisements,
and so he counts those happy who endure them. </span></span><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
</span></span></font><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">The
Psalm is another pathetic form of the old enigma: “Wherefore do the
wicked prosper?” It is another instance of a good man perplexed by
the prosperity of the ungodly, cheering his heart by remembering that
there is, after all, a King in heaven, by Whom all things are
overruled for good.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:1.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">O Lord God,
to Whom vengeance belongs; O God, to Whom vengeance belongs, show
Yourself</span></i></b><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">:
</span></span></i><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">or,
God of retributions, Jehovah, God of retributions, shine forth! A
very natural prayer when innocence is trampled down and wickedness
exalted on high. If the execution of justice be a right thing - and
who can deny the fact? - then it must be a very proper thing to
desire it; not out of private revenge, in which case a man would
hardly dare to appeal to God, but out of sympathy with right, and
pity for those who are made wrongfully to suffer.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:4.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">How long
shall they utter and speak hard things? </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">The
ungodly are not content with deeds of injustice, but they add hard
speeches, boasting, threatening, and insulting over the saints. Will
the Lord forever endure this? Will He leave His own children much
longer to be the prey of their enemies? Will not the insolent
speeches of His adversaries and theirs at last provoke His justice to
interfere? Words often wound more than swords; they are as hard
to the heart as stones to the flesh; and these are poured forth by
the ungodly in redundance, for such is the force of the word
translated </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">utter</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">;
and they use them so commonly that they become their common speech
(they utter and speak them) - will this always be endured?</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:8.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Understand,
you brutish among the people. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">When
a man has done with God, he has done with his manhood, and has fallen
to the level of the ox and the ass, yes, beneath them, for “the ox
knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.” Instead of being
humbled in the presence of scientific infidels, we ought to pity
them; they affect to look down upon us, but we have far more cause to
look down upon them.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:9.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">He that
planted the ear, shall He not hear? </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">He
fashioned that marvelous organ and fixed it in the most convenient
place near to the brain, and is He deaf Himself? Is He capable of
such design and invention, and yet can He not discern what is done in
the world which He made? He made you hear; can He not Himself hear?
Unanswerable question! It overwhelms the skeptic and covers his
confusion.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:10.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">He that
teaches man knowledge, </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">and
then it comes to a pause, which the translators have supplied with
the words, </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">“shall
not He know?” </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">but
no such words are in the original, where the sentence comes </span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">to
an abrupt end, as if the inference were too natural to need to be
stated and the writer had lost patience with the brutish men which
whom he had argued. The earnest believer often feels as if he
could say, “Go to, you are not worth arguing with! If you were
reasonable men, these things would be too obvious to need to be
stated in your hearing. I forbear.” Man’s knowledge comes from
God. Science in its first principles was taught to our progenitor
Adam, and all after advances have been due to divine aid; does not
the Author and Revealer of all knowledge Himself know?</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:12.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Blessed is
the man whom You chasten, O Lord. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">The
Psalmist’s mind is growing quiet. He no longer complains to God or
argues with men but tunes his harp to softer melodies, for his faith
perceives that with the most afflicted believer all is well.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:16.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Who will
rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me
against the workers of iniquity? </span></i></b><i><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
</span></span></i><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Where
are the Luthers and our Calvins? A false charity has enfeebled the
most of the valiant men of Israel. Our John Knox would be worth a
min</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">
at this hour, but where is he? Our grand consolation is that the God
of Knox and Luther is yet with us and in due time will call out His
chosen champions.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" 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">94:21.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And condemn
the innocent blood. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">They
are great at slander and false accusation, nor do they stick at
murder; no crime is too great for them, if only they can trample on
the servants of the Lord. This description is historically true in
reference to persecuting times; it has been fulfilled in England, and
may be again if popery is to advance in future time at the same rate
as in the past few years. </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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