Orange Moon Friday, May 15, 2026 “The Savior and the Scriptures"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

    “The Savior and the Scriptures"       

     

     The supremacy of the Savior and the supremacy of the Scriptures guides born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ as we seek to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).

     The living Word, the Lord Jesus, and the written Word, the Bible, form and inform our knowledge of God and the relationship with Himself to which He calls us.  We are creatures  - “new creatures” - of both heart and mind (II Corinthians 5:17).  We know Somebody. We believe something.  

    “The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).

    “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).

    We cannot begin to adequately comprehend even the first word of the Bible apart from God’s personal influence administered by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 2:11).  Nor can we properly and personally relate to our Heavenly Father apart from the teaching and influence of Scripture.  “In Thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9).  The glory of the Savior illuminates the written Word of God, even as the glory of the Scriptures enables our personal response to Him in truth and reality (Psalm 36:9).    

    Our calling involves the expectant faith that the living and true God will lead us in personal fellowship with Himself through the Holy Spirit who dwells so near to us that He dwells within us (I Corinthians 3:16).  He will also lead us to His Word, that we might be confident our experience of Him is guided by the doctrinal truth that ensures the God we know is, in fact, the God of truth and reality.  The supremacy of the Savior, the living Lord Jesus, and the supremacy of the Scriptures, the written words of God, lead us in a life of the personal and the principle for which our hearts and minds exist.

“I am… the Truth.”

(John 14:6)

“Thy Word is truth.”

(John 17:17)

Weekly Memory Verse

    By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.
(John 13:35)

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Orange Moon Wednesday, May 14, 2026 "As For Me"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

    “As For Me"       

     

     "When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that Thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:13-16).

    It gets personal, doesn't it?  That is, the life of faith and faithfulness to which our Heavenly Father calls us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

    "Who do you say that I am?"  The question begins our Christian life when the Christ of history becomes the Christ of our story.  We must personally respond to the Holy Spirit's application of the Biblical Gospel to our hearts and minds.  "Ye must be born again" declared the Lord Jesus to devout, but needy Nicodemus (John 3:7).  Nicodemus came to the Lord speaking in corporate terms: "We know that Thou art a teacher come from God" (John 3:2).  The Lord Jesus, however, made it personal to Nicodemus: "You must be born again."  This applies to all who truly come to know the Lord's saving grace.   The Christ who "died for all" must become known, trusted, and embraced as the Christ who died for me (II Corinthians 5:15).

   The same personal faith applies to the living of our Christian lives subsequent to the new birth.   We pray and respond to Scripture accordingly:

    "Am I trusting God and submitted to His glory, will, and eternal purpose in Christ regarding the matter at hand?   Is the matter one of merely knowing truth to be true, absolutely vital as that is?  Or have I crossed over by faith, communing with God so that  the Christ of history becomes the Christ of the particular issue at hand?"  

    We answer this question again and again throughout our Christian life.  This presents the wonderful opportunity of consistently relating to God regarding His promise and provision in Christ.  Great responsibility also challenges us as our personal appropriation of God's grace regarding the matter at hand prepares us to honor Him and encourage others to personally seek Him.   Only thereby do we know Christ  in the only terms that satisfy the heart of God, while filling our own hearts with His realized presence, peace, and power.  The Psalmist joined Joshua in his own expression of “As for me.”  May we follow in the light of Scriptural truth made personal...

"As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness."

(Psalm 17:15)

Weekly Memory Verse

    By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.
(John 13:35)

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Orange Moon Wednesday, May 13, 2026 “Good News From a Far Country”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

“Good News From a Far Country”

    “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country” (Proverbs 25:25).

    The news is indeed good from the “far country” of the throne of grace as this day begins.  The tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ remains empty, He continues to occupy His Heavenly throne, and no foe can or will usurp His Lordship.

    “He is not here, for He is risen, as He said” (Matthew 28:6).

    “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1)

    “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:21).

    Come what may, either in our personal lives or the world at large, the greater truths that relate to our risen Lord Jesus occupy the primary place in our hearts and lives.  We may not always remember the truth, and reminders will often be required for every believer in this present world that “lieth in wickedness” (I John 5:19).  However, the eternally abiding fact of Christ’s person and work applies to every moment, circumstance, condition, and situation.  He is who He is.  He is what He is.  He is where He is.  Amid triumph, tragedy, or the mundane, the Lordship of our risen and seated Savior serves as reality and “good news from a far country.”

    The Scriptures, read, pondered, and remembered, bear witness to such blessed truth.  Never does the Word of God sugarcoat the immense challenge of living in a fallen world.  “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).  Never, however, does it fail to bear witness that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).  It cannot be otherwise, considering who, what, and where our Lord is as the crucified, risen, ascended, and reigning Christ.  Let us apply the truth to the blessings, challenges, and moments of our present lives, and indeed, of this moment.  The news is good from Mount Calvary, the empty tomb, the throne of grace, and the heart of the risen Lord Jesus.  As it will forever be for those who have trusted our Savior is who He is, and is where and what He is.

Sometimes it seems that the enemy of our soul wins

over and over and over again.

But if we could see the Truth much more clearly, my friend,

we'd see Christ triumph over death, hell, and sin,

over and over and over again…

Over and over and over again.

The tomb is empty, the throne above occupied.

For Christ is risen again, from death glorified.

So remember when hot, stinging tears fill your eyes,

the triumph He's shone so many times in our lives,

over and over and over again…

over and over and over again.

Forever draws nigh, we will be with Him there soon, my friend.

The trials of this life will be gone when we're with Him in Heaven.

Glories we'll see, majesty without end, 

that sing the glad hymn, Christ is risen again,

over and over and over again…

over and over and over again.

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.”

(II Corinthians 2:14)

Weekly Memory Verse

    By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.
(John 13:35)

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