"You see I have told you".

(Matthew 28:7) …See, I have told you."

The word “love” is often thrown around rather easily; statements like “I love you” which in many cases, evidently only ever lasts for a season, here today and then gone tomorrow appears to be the order of the day, proving that “love “ hasn’t truly been understood by the masses. Once again I observe the norm and not the exception and it’s this phenomenon that I wish to explore.

The quote, “blood is thicker than water” obviously carries a lot of weight behind it. A solid infrastructure is often easily witnessed amongst tight knit families and yet we all have our limits, which if reached, can often jam up the flow of that bond. We all seem to have a natural tendency to go so far but no further. Our levels of tolerance are pushed and then reset and pushed again and somewhere amongst the miss-mash of it all, relationships can be fragmented and destroyed; Pride is often the final straw which breaks the camels back. Our understanding of love has been so distorted that we often reason with a misconception of what we believe love should look like.

The greatest act of love was this; "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) – God sent the darling of heaven to die for His enemies, you and me! We were hostile towards God, until the day arrived where we fell in love with the Lord Jesus. Unpack that action; God sending His Son to die for His enemies and it will soon become obvious how great a love God has shown mankind.

Most have the capacity to love when they are treated with respect and cherished the way they would like to be prized. This is one of the reasons the world so easily falls in and out of love, when their partner no longer does it for them, the way they expect it to be done, they move on to their next proposition and the hunt is on for “new love”. Words like “I have found my soul mate”, until they are no longer what you thought they were and therefore you must have been mistaken; so the circle of life, within the realm of the pursuit of love continues.

We have books written on the subject and varying voice giving their opinions on the theme and even now I am amongst that number. However what I have learnt is my opinion does not count for much in the bigger scheme of things, but what does count is the WORD OF GOD! Whenever we need to have our bearings realigned or trim our sails to stay the course, we needn’t look further than the Word of God! Amazingly there are recorded accounts of people, angels and even the Lord Himself making these types of statements; “See, I have told you.” – The implications behind the final authority of the Bible carries with it tremendous strength and backing. God has ordained what has been penned and He has given us all we need to know for this life and the life to come. It’s as if HE is saying, look no further; see I have told you! 

Without arriving at that place, a habitation of faith and trust in what has been penned you will always second guess most things in life. It like a man who builds his house on the sand, and the storms comes and washes his house away. Whilst his neighbour builds his house upon a solid foundation, THE WORD OF GOD and when the different trails throughout his lifetime present themselves, his house stands and he is kept safe from the doubt and the clanging voices of society. Lots of noise without any eternal substance attached, causing panic and doubt, a playground of lies from the devil and his workers. He has always and will continue to challenge the Word of God as the final authority. We will find ourselves in one of two camps, believing and trusting in the Word or in the other doubting and second guessing it at every conflicting opportunity.       

God has not only given His children a guarantee, in and through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but He infused the Word into our world. The Word of God became flesh, Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God; “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:12-14) - The same Power used to create the universe, THE WORD OF GOD, became a man and then lived and died to give mankind a way out, a way of escape to avoid the WRATH of God, which is an eternal judgement, which is yet to play out. Do you understand? “You see I have told you.”

God Spoke creation into being, mankind’s sin separated themselves from God and their sinful behaviour began to dominate their lifestyles. It soon became very obvious that the relationship between God and man had become disconnected. Mankind’s sinful behaviour became so rife that God destroyed the earth with a flood. Through the chapters of time, some four thousand years into the history of mankind God took pity on the world having mercy on them and giving them a way out of the condemnation that faced the world, we are taught that “we were condemned already”; the verdict had already been passed. We are guilty of our own sin and our breach against the laws of God. We all deserved eternal death because of it! Some may find that truth hard to swallow, but be that as it may, it’s not what happened; the LOVE OF GOD was unleashed; God gave us His only begotten Son to break the shackles of sin and to repair the damaged done by Eve which Adam embraced; an action that drove a wedge between God and them. This needed repair if we would escape God’s wrath. Hence the main scene of “the Love of God” introduced into the world just over two thousand years ago and the offer of that love is still available to whoever will cry out unto Jesus. Seeking His forgiveness and embracing His love. This is what the WORD declares; “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."” (Romans 10:13)

      

The obvious cry would have been “an eye for an eye” but God’s love supersedes that type of behaviour in this particular instance; God’s love does have its limitations when it come to the sinful behaviours of mankind; reject His offer in and through the finished work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and you will not be covered by that love, but rather face the judgement of God. Examine the rest of the text if you do not believe what I say. “You see I have told you.”

Signing off

Tyrone

Did you Know?

Many things in life are often missed, but when uncovered and seen for what they are, it only then becomes obvious. Let’s use a magic trick as an example, the trickery is kept hidden from the public’s eye, and as long as the mystery stays hidden the onlookers will be impressed, but reveal the magic in the trick and then we end up asking ourselves, “How did we miss that?”

We have all seen an inscribed piece of paper stuck to the back of someone’s shirt; a prank keeping that person out of the loop as the perpetrator looks to involve the onlookers at their expense. As the duped individual you can sense that something isn’t right but until you realise that the word “dunce” has been plastered all over you back you are kept guessing to what is going on.

Until the world hears the word of God spoken audibly and in person they will remain in the dark to the purpose of life and our existence which is not here today and gone tomorrow, eternity is our lot in life. We may live in a flesh and blood body, which no one will ever dispute, how could we? But eternity remains hidden from the masses with Satan the magician keeping their minds at bay with the glitter and gold of all his worldly lures occupying their undivided attentions. He is the greatest magician of all time; do not be fooled, even though the majority of society throughout the globe has been bamboozled, his day will finally arrive, but until then God’s mercies shine brightly in and through His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks with a still small voice, and I have heard His whisper, have you?

In Him the trickery of Satan will and has been exposed; it is therefore imperative that we cry out unto Him, for He alone has the power to save you from the rut and the entwined web of great deception. GOD HAS SPOKEN IN AND THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! Have you come face to face with him? Have you been caressed by the brushes of His mercies?

There is a day just over the horizon where we all shall stand before Him on Judgement Day with no one escaping their fate. Either heaven with all its glory will be our reward or the Lake of Fire will be our lot stretching across the span of eternity. Thankfully our fate does not pivot on our abilities but rather the Lord Jesus’ achievements. There is mercy on offer for all who would cry out unto Him. Miss this opportunity whilst alive on earth and that is it, a missed opportunity, never to be repeated. The question we should all be pursuing, have we met Him as the merciful forgiver of our iniquities? Has His love melted our hearts? Is He the priority of all our attentions or does some other pressing issue still look for dominance in our lives? Are we still driven by money, happiness, love, power and achievement in the temporal things of life, which will eventually all come to its end?

I suppose I would agree with the statement we find rolling off the tongues of many; “until we realise that we have a problem we cannot be helped.” An alcoholic will not seek out help until they acknowledge their need for help and likewise a sinner must firstly own their sin before they will have the need to seek out God forgiveness. Until we understand that we are sinners and need forgiveness, we have no need for repair! We all have a serious problem, the “Great Magician” have cast his spell over the multitudes, resulting with an ability for us to hide from ourselves, to keep all our sin with all its entourage at bay whilst casting stone at others. We love to highlight the sins of others but our own sin is off limits. This in itself should be an obvious “red flag” highlight our need for forgiveness. I speak as a man caught up in the dreamlike enchantment of Satan’s trickery leaving most oblivious to the lures of his deception. The Lord Jesus has conquered him and He alone has the power to break his spell. This is one of the reasons why there is no other way whereby a person can be saved. The Lord Jesus has to break the spell, He is the One who has to give us sight and all the other voices of this world which draw us into alternatives of reaching heaven and escaping the judgement of God is nothing more that another fraudulent spell. And yet there are those amongst us who are being saved daily, praise the name of Jesus, praise His glorious name; thank you Lord Jesus for saving me and opening my eyes.      

It’s only once Christ opens our eyes to the meaning and the real purpose of life, that the smokescreen of deception will be revealed. It’s only then that our eyes will be opened and our brains will then begin to fire the correct triggers freeing us from the bondage of sin, praise God for His never ending mercies.  

As Christians there are varying obstacles that we battle with after salvation. The old mans nature still looking to live. However there is one thing a Christian will never dispute; Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life and nobody will come into the presents of God the Father any other way. This is not up for debate! It is obvious! But until the grace of God shone into my heart I was oblivious to the certainty of that truth. I needed to be “born again” to have that truth exposed, which happened many years ago. But until that event took place in my life, even as a traditional catholic I thought I sort of understood, but was living under the spell of “delusion”.

The truth sets us free; it unlocks the mind from a place of entrapment to a place of freedom. Justification is an arch-enemy which keeps us in rebellion against God. “Free the nipple” is the flavour of the month, a women’s movement to shock the world into debate about equality. GOD HAS SPOKEN! And his words carry such power and authority with even the darkness responded to His voice. He said let there be light and what happened, out of darkness the light shone, the power of God who can comprehend it? I can, for I have caught a glimpse of that light, and He has opened my eyes to many truths that had once kept me in darkness. Has He done the same for you? Can you relate to the pestering soul that would not leave the Lord Jesus alone until he received mercy, there is much we can learn from those who were once blind but now they cry out, I can see!

Signing off

Tyrone

Uncovering true faith

Faith is a very interesting topic, I’m not sure I understand it as I ort; its one thing to theoretically understand, but quite another to live the theory. We must live what we preach or maybe a better way of saying that is to live what we represent. As Christians we all have the Spirit of God who indwells us, feeds our hope and drive us towards our glorious God and Father seeking out His mercies which are never ending. It’s the work of the Spirit that enables us to cry “Abba Father”! – Please Daddy help me! I can assure you its not some seven step program that helps us achieve this, although many propagate this idea. That’s the carnal way of life, mans intervention to achieve their desire results. We are naturally inclined to be instinctively bent towards that way of thinking. Faith drives us from that philosophy. I refer to those who are truly born again and have faith in the finished work of the cross; whereas many other religions seem to piggyback on the natural strength of humanism; religions that use what comes naturally as a tool to further their quest to deceive, which can all be summed up under the heading of “dead works”, efforts made on behalf of an individual to find favour from God outside of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice, the One who died for me, He died so that I could find forgiveness for my sin and there is nothing else that will reconcile me back to a Sovereign God, the only true God! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

Every Christian believes in their glorious God and Father as the “way, the truth and the life.” This is an undisputable fact; however I would dare to suggest that not many of us live by faith the way we should. We are so calculating when it comes to our lives that we make sure we are taken care of and then the rest follows, tithing and the like is a true test of faith and I have erred repeatedly in this area of my life; its one thing to give from our surplus but quite another to give from a position of weakness; its here were we are great with our reasoning on why we shouldn’t. Faith always finds a way to keep us committed to the task at hand, when actioned correctly. It relies on a greater power that supersedes our natural abilities. Here is the biblical definition of faith; “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) – Our natural minds hates to operate under these conditions, it logically does not make sense. It declares that when we reason like this we are foolish and unwise. If I don’t have enough, how can I then give away what I do not have and so on? Faith operates outside of the realm of our control, which is why we are called to walk by faith; it glorifies God and nullifies our efforts. God is not willing to share His glory with another, period! Why should the created look for dominance over the creator? This is what has been penned on God's requirement with our faith towards His abilities and not our own; “but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:38-39) - Its faith in Christ which justifies us and nothing else.   

Faith demands a loyalty to our God and Father which in turn glorifies Him and not us. We can have no influence on the supernatural, which is God’s domain. We can however be use by God as a vessel to channel faith. We must all seriously seek out true understanding on the issue of faith in our lives. Especially as creation begins to croak with groans of the anticipation of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ for the second time; “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1Corinthians 15:51-53) – We believe this day will arrive, there is no doubt about it in the mind of the Christian, and yet our daily application to faith in our lives suffers want; we battle to institute God’s ability to house, clothe and feed us just as the Lord Jesus taught exposing the lack of faith He witnessed whilst on earth; we cannot serve both God and mammon, these types of motivations looks to keep us in control and it is a ploy used by the enemy to kindle our faith in Christ. It’s as simple as that.

Look back on your lives and examine the times of despair and see how you have been rescued from them and with a little consideration it will soon become obvious that our heavenly Father looks out for us, praise His glorious name, Amen!

Its time to finally put this topic to bed and look to God for His grace to apply myself correctly in this area of my life and I would encourage all to do the same.

Signing off

Tyrone

For your consideration

As a man who has been on both side of the fence concerning doctrinal truth when it comes to Calvin’s theology of election as opposed to Armenian’s theology of free choice. I have notice a weakness in both camps…

“John Calvin was a famous French theologian and a major leader of the Protestant Reformation. He helped popularize the belief in the sovereignty of God in all areas of life, as well as the doctrine of predestination. The theological approach advanced by Calvin has come to be known as 'Calvinism'.” I also believe in predestination, for when I look in the mirror I realise that I have nothing in myself that would coil God into action, nothing I possess to sanction his favour into finding a reason to save me. There is absolutely no merit in me outside of the Spirit of God in me, which drives me towards the will and purposes of God. For when I have been left to my own devises I have failed dismally. Therefore it can only ever be the Christ in me that now drives me towards the will of God in my life. Which leaves me with this conclusion; if God didn’t choose to save me I would never have been saved (election in accordance with His will); I owe Him everything! There is nothing I can lay claim too earning His favour which fits with the text that He has excluded boasting in any believer’s life; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)   

God’s mercy covers us because He is merciful and not the other way around.  We have been saved by grace; HIS MERCY is on show and not our so called achievements. People gravitate towards their own brilliance when they see mankind’s achievements on display, its part of our makeup. This is why sport around the globe is so popular. Everyone loves a hero. My focus is drawn to the perfect sacrifice of my Saviour, the One who died on my behalf as He paid the price for my sin. It’s imperative that we understand this and make it our own.

However, the irony of Calvinistic institutions is that they are big on theological degrees and you will have to look far and hard to find a pastor without a doctorate ministry preaching from the pulpit. I am not saying that it never happens, but it is rather the exception; men’s achievements to do God’s bidding. The focus is the degree and the title. Whereas we are taught that God gives gifts to men, once again the focus should be on Him and not men; “grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.  Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men."” (Ephesians 4:7-8) – A gift is something given, it is never worked for. Let me make it very clear, I am not suggesting that once a man has received his gifting from God that He does not have a responsibility to hone and shape that gift whilst sitting at the feet of Jesus in his closet. That is an obvious necessity if he is to grow in his gifting.   

Whereas many Armenian institutions do not insist on degrees in order to oversee local churches or preach from the pulpit and yet they contend that we have the ability to chose God. Which in turn leaves the door open for pride to rear its head, how one may ask? There is a shift to self and away from the Sovereignty of God; they find merit in themselves as they believe that they themselves have chosen God, leaving them with a sense of pride as they compare themselves to the ones who haven’t chosen God. It will never be admitted, but strip it down and consider if what I say has any merit and then make up your own minds. When it comes to the body (the members of the church) exercising their gifting, some Armenian churches are far wiser, they do it better and with a greater liberty in praising our God and Father. Their eyes have been opened to taking steps of faith as the Holy Spirit leads and directs them and equips them with the will to cry out “pick me”. This may be hard for some to comprehend but for those who know what I am talking about it will be easily understood.

These are just some of my thoughts on how we need to shut the door to pride as we run into the arms of God as we seek out His favour with grace as our reward.

Signing off

Tyrone