Cherish YOUR own breakthroughs on the great I Am’s ever-presence & power to solve all problems!
Sunday, June 27th, 2021
By Warren Huff (with insights from Cobbey Crisler)
DON’T MISS the Lesson PATTERN! And, cherish YOUR own breakthroughs on the great I Am’s ever-presence & power to solve all problems!
insights from Cobbey Crisler and others from the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“God”
for Sunday, July 4, 2021
shared by Warren Huff
CedarS Executive Director Emeritus warren@cedarscamps.org
DON’T MISS HOW THE GOLDEN TEXT (I Chron. 29:11) OUTLINES SECTIONS 1 – 6:
[These words, or a form of them, are featured at least 5 times in each section!]
“Thine, O Lord, is the greatness [1st section], (great, or greatness, is used 9+ times)
and the power [2nd s.], (13+ uses!)
and the glory [3rd s.], (5+ uses)
and the victory [4th s.], (6+ uses)
and the majesty [5th s.]: …(5+ uses)
thine is the kingdom… [6th s.] (6+ uses)
See KEN COOPER POEMS in the Christian Science Sentinel – “I AM THAT I AM” and “No Problem”. Plus enjoy “The Widow of Nain”, — a YouTube video narrated by Ken’s wife, Sue, related to Jesus raising her son from the dead in Luke 7:11-16/citation B19. These offerings bring extra inspiration to this week’s Bible Lesson.
[Ken wrote:] “If one were asked what is the most important word in the English language, what would the answer be? Looking on Google, “the” comes first, but looked at in its widest sense, the most important word I would suggest is “GOD”, for God is all there is. Mary Baker Eddy defines God as “The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.” (SH Cit:1). This covers everything! When you have defined(discovered!) God, there is, and can be, nothing else.
“On a similar tack, the word “INFINITE” is the only single word necessary to accompany what God is, for if God is not infinite , He / She is not God: As God is Mind, how can Mind, indeed anyone of the seven synonyms, not be everywhere? Mary Baker Eddy states: “Divine metaphysics, as revealed to spiritual understanding, shows clearly that all is Mind, and that Mind is God, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, — that is, all power, all presence, all Science.” (SH 275:20–23). This is the essence of God the essence of “I AM THAT I AM” (Bible citation B1 . There is no “I WAS “ or “WILL BE”. There is only the reality of NOW.
“The moment we accept that God is infinite, we accept what we have in the last reference of this week’s lesson, – the maximum (and minimum) of good “the maximum of good is the infinite God, and His idea, the All-in-all.” There is nothing else, nowhere else. Recognition of this fact is The Comforter referred to last week, and if a third most important word could be added to “GOD” and “INFINITE” it would surely be “LOVE”.
“When we have God, who is INFINITE LOVE, what more can we want besides, what else is there to reflect. My Sentinel-shared poem for this week (one of two) is “I AM THAT I AM”, the description of God that God gave to Moses, and stands for all time. God is the Word, ever-speaking to us all, Love reflected in love, all there is to see. What a joy to know that Perfect God means perfect man! This is the ultimate. (S&H citation S11)
“God is infinite light, and we reflect Love’s light. All the healings of Jesus reveal his understanding that in light there is no darkness. Whatever the problem, palsy, leprosy, death, we see that no darkness can interfere with the flow of light and love. The result is that in God the warmth of Love brings perfect Mother-comfort to man, resulting in rejoicing, the proof of healing.
“The poem also indicates the infinity of Truth, and the necessary absence of Truth’s opposite, – error, disease, sin, sickness and death. When we speak the Truth we have the power of infinity behind us, the re-iteration of the Word. No exceptions. The infinity of God is the nothingness of anything else, God is the only reality, the only measure of what is..
“This links to the second Sentinel poem “No Problem”. Another interesting thought is “What you see is what you get”. When you define life as based on matter, matter is what you will see, although it is a lie. The solution to any problem is found in the infinity of Mind. As Mind knows All, there is never a problem, for Mind has answered it before it states its empty case. All is Mind, held in the kingdom of Mind, the only consciousness. Once we have accepted “I AM THAT I AM” there is and can be no problem.
“When Jesus saw “The Widow of Nain”, his love was immediately reaching out to her, and she felt it! “He had compassion on her, and said unto her weep not.” (Bible citation B19). The poem shows her evident despair transformed into joy by the love of Jesus. Jesus never saw a dead body, and in his love for the widow we see “The divinity of the Christ (was) made manifest in the humanity of Jesus.” SH 25:31), – the unwavering knowledge of Perfect God and perfect man. The poem includes the words:
“Weep not!” This message is so strong,
For good is true and doubting wrong!
“Who can doubt, when “I AM THAT I AM” is right now, and being spoken to us all.
“PDF versions of “The Widow of Nain, – Weep Not” in color and B&W can be found at the top of this week’s metaphysical article.
“The full range of Ken’s videos can be found on YouTube Ken G Cooper Poetry Ken’s email address is kengcooper@btinternet.com ”
ELEVATE MANHOOD TO ETERNALITY AS AN “I AM” EXPRESSION OF THE GREAT “I AM” GOD!
Cobbey Crisler referring to the significance of citation B1/ Exodus 3:14
[Cobbey:] Stephen was drawing God’s design as he saw it, that silver, if not golden, thread through the scriptures. Starting with Abraham and working through to Moses in Acts 7, verse 32, notice that he selects for his example Moses’s beautiful view of God when “he stopped and looked to see why the bush was burning.” (See below, paraphrased)
Acts 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
Ex 3:2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
That’s a very important intersection for mankind because between Genesis and Exodus, there may be maybe nearly 400 years of silence between Joseph and Moses.
What caused the silence? Wasn’t God revealing? Wasn’t God communicating? Well, where did the fault lie? … Since communication has that prefix co, the fault lies either with the source or the receiver. And we almost find an abrupt change as Moses becomes a receiver. And it took him some while before he became a receiver.
And there he was in the mostly unlikely place in the middle of Sinai, and here is a bush burning. But somehow it wasn’t consumed. If that were happening in the middle of Times Square the local commuters and pedestrians would merely rustle their “Wall Street Journals” and walk on by,
But Moses stops to find out why. That makes him an inquirer and immediately casts him as an important scientific observer in the history of humanity. That’s scientific inquiry, isn’t it? He wants to know why that the bush hasn’t burned.
And, at that moment, he receives communication. And he receives one of the greatest breakthroughs about God, one that every one of us must have today before we can progress in any comprehension of the Godhead, I AM.
Why is that such a breakthrough? Because here those children of Israel for nearly 400 years in bondage had been worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who lived hundreds of years before. After many centuries of long, tired prayers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and nothing happening currently, what happens to any concept of God as I AM? It really becomes you’re worshipping not an I AM God, but what? an I WAS God.
And that’s a God who is dead. And not too long ago, “Time” magazine, on their cover, brought that back again. That’s a I WAS God. Here the tremendous pushing aside, waiting for the receiver, Moses, to get that point: “I AM, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and I AM has sent me unto you.” (See below, Partial)
I’m still I AM. I’m not a God of the past.
Ex 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Citation B1/Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Now, what’s so beautiful about that is that Jesus took the statement a little further later in the gospels. He said that that’s the proof that there’s a resurrection, that man is eternal. You remember that in his argument with the Sadducees? He made the point that since God said, “I AM the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” what did that do for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?” (See above, Partial)
If “I AM the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac…” where are Isaac and Jacob? (Ex 3:6 partial)
They are still living. So, you see, Jesus elevated manhood to eternality just as Moses saw, in the revelation from God, that God was eternal and always I AM.
Jesus added that God was now revealing that makes man eternal. Now, what does that do to church and the concept of man working together cooperatively? An immense breakthrough!”
“After the Master What? – The Book of Acts,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
“CHERISH NOTHING WHICH HINDERS (Y)our HIGHEST SELFHOOD”
and the “Ten Specs” for YOU from “Spirit, the great architect,” (citation S3/SH 68:2)
[Warren:] When I was studying for my architectural licensing exam many years ago, the following citation from Mary Baker Eddy was in the Christian Science Bible Lesson and stood out to me.
“Sometime we shall learn how “Spirit, the great architect,” has created men and women in Science. We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood.” (cit. S5/68:4-6)
I reasoned that architects communicate their design intentions not only with drawings (and sometimes models), but also with written documents, called specifications. The ten categories of architectural “specs” spell out quality standards for each stage of every project and for every building component in order to guarantee the highest quality and longevity of their creations. I asked God, “what are Your “specs” for ‘our highest selfhood’ as your creation?” Right away the answer came—the Ten Commandments, of course. I had fun then, and ever since, discovering the valuable connections between the ten categories of specifications (specs) that architects write to guarantee the quality and longevity of their work and the Ten Commandments provided by God to guarantee that we live up to “our highest selfhood.” This gave me a whole new take on the Commandments. No longer were they seen as ten, dictatorial restrictions to LIMIT us, but as ten ways established by God to protect, heal and BLESS us. I hope you enjoy finding and applying the fun links between these Ten Specs, the Ten Commandments and healings in your own life and in others.
The ten God’s-eye views of the spiritual you — in the Download pdf —were written by “*the finger of God” to bring health to your body by looking AWAY from it to God, instead of looking AT the body or TO it, as if it were in control. (*Deut. 9:10, Luke 11:20) In these powerful, Ten-Commandments views of the real you, you can see how they work as your Divine Identity Protection Plan—set-up and upheld by “Spirit, the great architect.” (S&H 68)
… (For all Ten “Specs” see a Downloadable PDF above.)
LIKE JESUS, STICK WITH THE ONLY REAL POWER, THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT!
Cobbey Crisler on Luke 4:14/cit. B9
“Luke indicates that he understands that this Jesus’ period of temptations in the wilderness has been a power test for Jesus. In Verse 14 he uses that word, “Jesus returned” not in any form of power that Satan had tried to impose upon him [“to take personal power, political power, and priestly power”]. But rather, “in the power of the Spirit into Galilee”— [“in the law that relates man directly to God, the source of the only power there is.]
We find that Jesus’ radical challenge to the human mind is such that this devil is absolutely removed from his mentality, shown never to have been a part of it. Normalcy, dignity of manhood, are restored.
No one had witnessed such authority before, where the word is followed by the deed. Just like creation where God said (in Genesis 1:3), “Let there be, and there was.” There is no lapse between promise and fulfillment from God’s point of view. Breathing in the Holy Ghost is our way of imaging forth God’s authority on-earthas-in-heaven, imaging forth that “Let there be Light.”
“Let there be health is our breathing in the divine fact that the Holy Ghost is inspiring us to feel. Our utilization of that fact is like our breathing out, giving out what we’ve taken in. It becomes “and there was light” or health. Just as natural as that. Breathing in, “Let there be,” and breathing out, “and there was.”
…
Like Jesus, stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit! When Jesus had finished 40 days of “sheltering in place” in the wilderness, he “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee… and… their synagogues (churches) and laid his hands on everyone (at least symbolically) and healed them.” (Luke 4:14…, B18) Let us, like Jesus, as we come out of our wilderness, waiting experiences, stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit!
[Cobbey Crisler on Luke 4:14… (B9)] “Luke indicates that he understands that this [Jesus’ period of temptations in the wilderness has been a power test for Jesus. In Verse 14 he uses that word, “Jesus returned” not in any form of power that Satan had tried to impose upon him [“to take personal power, political power, and priestly power”]. But rather, “in the power of the Spirit into Galilee”— [“in the law that relates man directly to God, the source of the only power there is.]
“Luke the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
LIKE JESUS, RECOGNIZE AND UTILIZE THE HEALING VALUE OF GOOD CHEER AND FORGIVENESS!
Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 9:2-8, cit. B10:
“Verse 2, Chapter 9: ‘We have a man in bed with the palsy.” Can you imagine Jesus going by a man who had been that long without moving and telling him to “be of good cheer”? But there’s nothing Jesus said that he didn’t discern was needed. What that man needed, more than physical movement, was to be of good cheer. Jesus said, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Jesus knew at a glance the whole history of a case.”
(Verse 3). The scribes say, “This man blasphemes.” In order to get the healing, he has to eliminate the theological obstruction to healing first.
(Verse 5). He says, “What is easier? To say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?”
(Verse 6). “Because the Son of man does have power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and he goes.”
“The Book of Matthew, A Tax Collector’s Account, Auditing the Master,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
LIKE JESUS, ASK QUESTIONS OF YOUR PASTORS WHILE INCREASING IN FAVOR AND LOVE FOR GOD AND LOVE FOR MAN
Cobbey Crisler on Luke 2:40-52/cit. B13—Jesus in the temple at age 12:
“We’re told in verse 40 that the child “grew and waxed strong in spirit.” The next thing and the last thing we know and learn about Jesus in the infancy period concludes Chapter 2. Jesus is in the temple discussing with those rabbis who were schooled in every single literal word of the law. We find in verse 46 that Jesus is not only listening to them, but he is asking them questions. That is the rabbinical method. Rabbis did that among themselves. They did that with their students.
“For them to hear a twelve-year-old boy utilizing the rabbinical method, brilliantly dealing with Scriptural exegesis, must have fascinated them, to say the least. For three days this phenomenon was observed. During that period of time his parents were searching in vain for him. They had already gone out of Jerusalem, “a day’s journey,” according to verse 44. They looked for him, couldn’t find him, had to come back. That’s another day. The third day, apparently, is when they locate him in the temple.
His human parent would they ask him where he’d been and why (Verse 48). Didn’t he realize the effect that it had on his parents? This is the first public pronouncement we hear from Jesus’ lips (in Verse 49), “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Notice his definition of his father’s business has something to do with church, because that’s where he is, in the temple. (It reminds us of Samuel who was also dedicated to the temple and was about his father’s business.) But do even his human parents comprehend what he is saying?
It says in Verse 50, “No, they didn’t understand what he meant.” They would have understood it in the ordinary sense. If he were about his human father’s business, he would be a carpenter. An apprentice working with his father like many young boys did, learned their father’s trade. They certainly failed to understand what he was doing in the temple as far as carpentry is concerned.
“Verse 51 shows us that, despite that awareness and foresight of that twelve-year-old boy, he, nevertheless, went home and fulfilled his role as a small boy until he came to maturity.
“Jesus’ opening statement you notice relates himself to God, Father-son relationship, something that he recognized that early.
“Verse 52 (cit. B13) tells us “Jesus increased in wisdom and vigor, and in favour,” or grace, “with God and man.” Kay Kyser, CSB once pointed out in a talk that when it states that Jesus increased in favor with God and man, that it implies quite strongly that he grew in both of the two great Commandments that he later gives us, love for God and love for man.”
“Luke the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
START WITH GOD TO GIVE THANKS AS DID 1 OF THE 10 LEPERS JESUS HEALED
See a CSJ article about Luke 17:12-16/cit. B14
To view what this healing could mean to you, click on this Christian Science Journal webpage address: https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2pl5ue2yiyk?s=e
Giving thanks starts with God
By Phil Davis
August 07, 2012
[Here are some excerpts:] “I was at a recent Wednesday evening testimony meeting at my Christian Science branch church, listening to the gospel narrative of Jesus’ healing the ten lepers (citation B15, Luke 17:12–19). A corresponding citation from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy was also read. It says:
“Of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God thanks,—that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle which had healed him” (S&H, p. 94).
… if God did it, if He is responsible for it, then give Him the credit!
BE RECEPTIVE TO GOD’S UNFORGETTABLE, LIFE-SAVING POWER! SEE RESURRECTION OF ALL KINDS! Cobbey Crisler on Luke 7:11-16 (B16) – Nain widow’s dead son raised
“Were it not for Luke, we would not have had preserved for us one of three recorded times that Jesus raised someone from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). There is a significant fact about the accounts of raising the dead in the Bible. They are not all in the New Testament. The significance is that not all healings made a sufficient impact at the time to have impressed upon human memory the location where it occurred. This is why you will find statements mentioning when Jesus went to a particular village.
However, in every case of raising the dead, from the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament, the human mind was startled by seeing what it accepted as the impossible, occur. This is what is in common about Zarephath. Shunem, Nain, Capernaum. Bethany, Jerusalem, Joppa, and Troas. They didn’t forget where it happened. The details of the healing are particularly sharp.
In this case we have a city called Nain, probably a village as it is today. There is still an ancient cemetery outside the gate. There was a lonely widow at the head of this procession. Jesus, detecting thought again, saw her entire situation at one glance. He came to her and said, “Weep not” (Verse 13). He dealt with the heavy weight of grief on thought, touched the coffin (Verse 14), strictly forbidden under Jewish law, and then said, “Young man.”
Notice the radical nature of what Jesus said. The only one supposedly there who could not hear was the one Jesus addressed. He must have expected that man’s faculty of hearing to be normal. “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” He doesn’t help him either.
Dominion over death is part of that unqualified dominion God gave to man. As a matter of fact, dominion, as a word, as a concept, simply can’t be qualified. If it is, you no longer have dominion. (Verse 15,) “He that was dead sat up, and began to speak. He delivered him to his mother. “
Also, it might be interesting for you to recall that of the three times Jesus raised the dead, womanhood played a prominent role every time. It was Jesus’ compassion and awareness of the thought of this woman that lead him to raise her son. In the case of Lazarus (John 11:1-46), Mary and Martha urgently had requested Jesus to come. In the case of Jairus it was his twelve-year-old daughter (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-56).
These things don’t just happen. If Jesus is dealing with mentality, if he is requiring much out of the patient’s thought, then there must be a receptivity in order to get a result.
I think that we can derive a certain conclusion about the receptivity of womanhood, especially on the subject of resurrection. For if you move ahead a few chapters in your thought right now, you will recall there was no man anywhere near the tomb, including those who are reputed to have been Jesus’ closest disciples. But the women were there and receptive to resurrection.”
“Luke, the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
TALK OF “TENDER MERCIES” & QUIT FOCUSING ON NEGATIVITY:
Cherish “… his tender mercies … over all his works.” (Ps. 145:9-11/cit. B26)
Enjoy a serenade of “Tender Mercies” by two Christian Science Practitioners! See and hear Craig Ghislin, CS, and David Price, CS, two of CedarS Met contributors, singing a guitar duet of “Tender Mercies” on the back porch of our new Care House where they were serving.
[Click on either: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PToeaQ_CWLE&feature=youtu.be
or on the eighth of several short videos on CedarS website at: https://www.cedarscamps.org/videos/]
By accentuating the harmony, positivity and blessings that flow from receiving God’s “tender mercies,” we can and should eliminate the curses of strife and negativity that daily news and ads play up, especially in weeks before an election.
(Ps. 145:10/cit. B26) “All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee”—as two of them do in the “Tender Mercies” duet from CedarS new Care House.
Cobbey Crisler points out in the next verses that we should encourage one another to share examples of God’s power, to stop focusing thought on strife and to quit talking about illnesses (and viruses)!
Cobbey Crisler on Ps. 145:11/cit. B26
“Psalm 145, Verse 11. A receptive, spiritually-educated, human race going to God with total commitment for the answer to all ills will no longer talk about illnesses. “They shall speak of the glory of God’s kingdom, and talk of thy power.“’
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
- THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO EITHER PLEDGED OR SENT FUNDS TO HELP CEDARS BUY a Pomme De Terre LAKEFRONT PROPERTY (0.7 acres) with a small house and Corps of Engineers lake access as a HOMEBASE for SKI CAMP and WATERSKIING ACTIVITIES FOR ALL OUR PROGRAMS.
- TO “SEAL THE DEAL” and MAKE a FEW NEEDED UPGRADES BEFORE 20 SKI CAMPERS and staff EAT THERE IN 2 WEEKS, WE NEED “JUST” $129,500 MORE!
- YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT (of ANY amount, towards this opportunity, or FOR OPERATIONS,) IS DEEPLY APPRECIATED and WILL ADD UP to LIFETIME, DIFFERENCE-MAKING BLESSINGS FOR MANY!
- You can call or text me (Warren Huff) at 314-378-2574 with your pledge or intent to have an online gift be applied to meet this time-sensitive need to bring about a lifelong legacy.
