The Voice of Truth International Volume Eighty-Four Oh, Father, Give Us.... Oh, Father, The Give us eyes to see The vastness of horizons oice of Truth You would open up before us; Give us strength International To walk the nearer plains, V The endurance To scale the mountain peaks That bring new vistas into sight; Give us songs Worthy of the singing On brilliant days When everywhere is sunshine And skies so blue The heart must ache in gratitude To be alive; Give us, within ourselves, Capacity for love Volume 84 For all mankind, That we may radiate Your love “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” And be Your greatest gift — except Your Son — To dying man. — Betty Burton Choate Cover 84.indd 1 4/17/15 9:12 PM Acknowledgement /RXLVH%XIILQJWRQ Oh, Lord, I want to thank YOU For the source of prayer That such an one, as I, May kneel before Your throne And always find YOU there. Like now, in the still of night With no one else around, I can reach heavenward Where I know YOU will be found. Oh, Lord, I have nobody On whom I can depend, But YOU, my true, my faithful and trusted Friend. So, Lord, help me To touch someone Who is alone like me, Then by some simple act of love I may grow more like Thee. inside front cover84LER.indd 1 4/11/2015 11:56:44 PM Donnie Barnes http://www.biblecharts.org Donnie Barnes http://www.biblecharts.org The Voice of Truth International Staff: Please send articles for publication Editor: Byron Nichols and changes of address to Byron Nichols in Associate Editors: Jerry Bates Louis Rushmore Springfield, with both old and new address- es, so that our records can be corrected. Layout Editors: Betty Burton Choate Bonnie Rushmore Staff Writers: Typesetting: Gay Nichols George Akpabli Gary C. Hampton Computer Consultant: Bradley S. Choate Felix O. 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Editorial Jars of Clay Byron Nichols The use of illustrations and word pictures can put life into what might oth- erwise be a very mediocre presentation, whether spoken or written. It is noteworthy that God’s “presen- tation,” His written Word, is full of il- lustrations and word pictures. The title above is just one example of the Lord’s handiwork. Before actually dealing with this bibli- cal phrase, “jars of clay”, I believe it will be helpful for us to look at some introductory matters. We should all marvel that Almighty God can and is so willing to condescend, to bend over so far to lift us up! Notice how Paul described this remarkable reality in Roman 8:16,17 – “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are chil- dren of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” It is through obedient faith in Jesus and the Father that we experience a new birth – a spiritual birth – and thus become children of God. What an incredible gift! We must understand that this matchless gift brings with it a great responsibility, the responsibility to make known to others that they too can have this same gift! This brings us now back to our title, “Jars of Clay”. Paul begins 2 Corinthians chapter 4 by speaking about the Gospel and its significance. Then in verse 7, he says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (ESV). (Several other translations say “earthen vessels” instead of “jars of clay.”) What is Paul saying? He is obviously not intending for his readers to take those words literally, so what is his point in using these words? He is saying that God decided to put the Gospel, the only thing in the world that can save man from his sins, into these “earthen vessels”, these “jars of 4 clay”. His readers in the first century could readily understand his usage of these words since jars of clay were very much a common part of everyday life at that time. Those pieces of pottery were used for containers for many things. It was also common for such containers to sometimes have flaws and imperfections, but they were still useful for their intended purposes. We can easily see that WE are the “jars of clay”, that WE are the receptacles for the contents, which in this case are the inspired words of the Gospel. Why did God make this choice? The answer is clearly seen in verse 7, “…to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” God wants us to understand that the power is not in man, but in Him. Thus, He likens us to fragile pieces of pottery. There is no glory attached to an ordinary container that has little value or beauty. Most of us don’t have much trouble qualifying for this, do we? However, a very common container can have in it a priceless treasure, and God’s children indeed have the only treasure that can save the world! By entrusting the Gospel to His “jars of clay”, God is proving to all who will take notice that it doesn’t take someone who is what we might typically call “special” to convey God’s message to man. It is apparent that Paul was correct when he said in Romans 1:16 that the Gospel “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” We learn from 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This all comes about as a result of the power of that which is contained in the “jars of clay” – the Gospel that is stored in God’s containers, those of us who are Christians, His children and servants, His bearers of the Good News. In spite of the fact that an obedient believer becomes a “new creature”, this new creature (creation) is subject to imperfection, he/she still has blemishes and flaws. Remember that Paul, as great and dedicated as he was, had to try to cope with what he described for us as his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). God’s response to Paul’s pleas to remove whatever that troublesome problem was not what Paul was seeking, but he came to accept the wisdom of God in the matter as the Lord assured him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (verse 9). God used the weakness of one as great as Paul to emphasize His own strength. The Lord succeeded in helping Paul to see and then teach others that the power is most definitely in the message, not in “the jars of clay”! V 5 Associate Editorial Run with Endurance Jerry Bates It is easy to become discouraged while living the Christian life. Worldly pleasures, social pressures and physical afflictions all cause us to want to quit. However, we must not quit, because if we do, we lose everything for which we have labored. Becoming discouraged is nothing new, because some of the greatest men mentioned in the Bible became discouraged, such as Elijah and Jeremiah. Each wanted to quit serving God. How can we prevent becoming discouraged? In Hebrews 12:1-2, the writer gives some very encouraging words to anyone who might be tempted to quit. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Firstly, the writer tells us to put away some things.