Honesty!

Honesty is a luxury that not many of us are privy too. Sure, we all experience honesty when it suits and it is comfortable for all to stomach, but what of so many brutal truths that are easily overlook until it is to late to make amends. Hindsight is what they call a perfect science; it is easy to speak after the fact. But what if time had no effect on your being? In other words you were an eternal being and not subject to time; you operated outside the limits of time. Life teaches us that we all have a lifespan and then we die, which is obviously true, that fact is undeniable. However, we all have an eternal part to our being; it is known as our soul. Our spirits will live or die forever, this is a fact that so many overlook, hoping that all will turn out tolerable, regardless of the way we live here on earth. Talk about the foolishness of an ostrich, how it hides its face from predators with its body in full view with the mentality that because it can’t see the hunter, it will be safe, have you ever heard the expression; “bury your head in the sand like an ostrich?” There is no doubt that society has been programmed by the enemies of the cross to avoid this topic at all costs. One of the most powerful of all reason is to get people to avoid diving into the subject of judgement and eternal life. None of us by default have any excellence in us, God is good, He is brilliant and He alone is righteous within Himself. He always does the right thing. Can we say the same? I know that some of you may now be looking for “straw men” (objections to override my point) to prove me wrong. Things like rape, hunger and brutal murders cannot be allowed by a God of love. To you I say, you obviously have not read much of the Bible. God will always rally in commitment for a people that love him, with faith an overarching ally, but disregard his voice at your own peril. People that turn their backs on God will face His judgement, whether living on earth or in eternity, this fact remains true.

Why did Abraham’s seed, the son of promise, eventually end up in slavery? In a nutshell they began to serve other gods and disregarded His law. For every action there is an opposite reaction, bow the knee to Jesus and you will be saved, refuse and suffer the consequences, the Lake of Fire will be your eternal home.

The Jews have always been God’s chosen people and it started with Abraham. However, as a nation they rejected their Messiah and this is what they cried out when Pontius Pilate gave them a choice to free Jesus; Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" And he said, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified!" So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:22-25) – How much misery have the Jews been put through as a people after the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus? The account is endless! Thankfully God has showed mercy to many Jews and some have also been saved and confess Jesus Christ as their true Messiah.   

  

This is a brutal truth that needs to be proclaimed from the rooftops and yet so few are willing to put themselves out for the sake of others. The Lord Jesus is a perfect example, a man who knew no sin, he live a life of sinless perfection and yet was moved with such compassion that he was willing to bleed and die on a cruel Roman cross, he gave up his own life, no man took it from him. The reason was so that some may be saved from themselves and escape God’s eternal judgment. But this compassion will only ever be realised once we bend the knee.

How often have you heard people at funerals say that the parted are in a better place, when all they ever did, whilst on earth, was slam the gospel and blasphemed the name of Jesus? Really, they are in a better place, hell a place of torment! Let us not be like the ostrich but be wise in our understanding and call on the name of Jesus and find forgiveness from Him for our sins, only then will we understand the deeper truths of life. Only then will we have eyes to truly see...

Signing off

Tyrone

Commitment!

I could look to many forerunners through the ages to draw on as a model example to follow, I suppose this is one of the reasons the Bible has been penned, to help the Christian through their first transition stage; a life on earth and having to contend with a flesh and blood body that by default has been riddled with a sinful nature. Sadly our own deceit often wins the day as it looks for justification and places us in the category of “the good person”. This is why it is easier for a wicket man to find repentance that a self-righteous individual. It’s only the sick that seek out medical aid. This is what the Lord Jesus had to say on the topic; “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32)  

With that now clearly understood and as I have journeyed through life with rebellion as a companion, it is easy for me to understand my need for a Saviour and even with Him mercifully saving my soul 30 years ago, I have been somewhat of a troubled child, but praise God for His commitment as I can honestly confess that transformation has and is still a process that by the good graces of God my Father keeps me focused. Sure there are still some battles that I end up losing, however although the independent skirmish may be lost the war has already been won. God accepted the Lord Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice when he hung and died on that cruel Roman cross two thousand years ago. The door to heaven is now open to all those who cry out to Jesus asking for His forgiveness for their sins, it really is as simple as that! Heaven is my eternal home and once I breathe my last here on earth my eyes to the spiritual world will be opened and I will see my Father and Saviour face to face, praise their names. How a part of me longs for that day, even so come quickly Lord Jesus, Amen and Amen!

As for the self righteous individual, the one who is better that the rest, the one who believes they deserves more than their neighbour, they are in trouble, they do not see their sin for what it is and sadly have no need to be saved. We are all on the same journey, birth, life, death and then eternity where time will liquefy as we have come to understand it and no one will escape that reality, the only question we need to ask ourselves, “is where do we fit in?” It is only repentance and a cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ that opens our eyes to the truth of it all. Even a sincere cry to help our unbelief is better than no cry at all.

I have heard testimony of individuals who have been at their wits ends and believed that their destiny was hell, behind closed doors they confessed their particular dilemma hoping to be heard but unsure of it all, and today I personally know some of these people who confidently confess Jesus as Lord, God mercifully took pity on their souls and open their eyes to a reality of heaven and His rule, praise God for His compassion. There are others I know who once confessed believing in the gospel but the pressures of life and the “now” has left them in a very dangerous place with eternity a very distant after thought. Father God, even now, I pray for these individuals, if it pleases you and the plea I have for them, please bring them to their senses.

Jacob is a man that teaches us many things about the blessings of life and that they can never be without their own struggles. It is God who allows these difficulties to befall us so that we may appreciate Him. His ingenious characteristics working beyond the reason of our limited understanding as He works out all things for our good. And yes, even the atrocities of life and all the terror we witness that we cannot quite reconcile with a loving God, he is in control of it all. Its only when we believe that we are on His level that we find difficulty with it all.   

Jacob was a help for his uncle Laban, he was a shepherd and he toiled night and day to win his wife. It took twenty years of what must have been years filled with its own challenges. Imagine the frostbite at night or the wild beasts looking to ravage his flock. What of the thieves, the serve sun beating down on him and the lack of water affecting his parched throat. Did he ever throw in the towel? We have the answer, he was eventually rewarded with the love of his life and Rachel became his wife. The ends will always justify the means when we remain faithful to that holy call God has place upon the believer’s life. Just like Jacob who was given a new name, Israel fed and toiled for his sheep, so too does our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ intercede for His flock, He does not rest and all who rely on His finished work will reap their reward. We too will receive our new names when we get home and what a day that shall be!

Signing off

Tyrone

Why Faith?

Historically we know that in the beginning God created Adam and Eve, they fell from His grace and were banished from the Garden of Eden; Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel and we also know that Cain killed Abel. God then witnesses the constant sinful nature of mankind begin to spiral out of control as they put the creator on the back-burner and so God eventually decides to destroys his creation and all inhabiting it, and only eight souls are saved. Noah builds an Ark which in turn saves his family and the animals selected by God He wanted saving. Once Noah completes the task at hand God commands the heavens to open their bellies and they drop rain. The great flood ensures what God commissions it to do, destruction of all outside the Ark. All of creation obeys the voice of God except the rebellious. 

We then move down the genealogy of mankind and we will pick it up with Abram, who God gives a new name, Abraham, known and recorded as the father of faith. God singles out a man to begin a relationship built on a completely different fundamental that Adam and Eve faced, faith and not sight was now the playing field for mankind, Wow! I hope that thought grips you as much as it has me. Not to say that visually the heavens where open to them, but they certainly understood that God was real. Adam interacted with God and there can be no doubt that that was a completely different time and somewhat foreign to the world thereafter.   

Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the day and interacted with God, there was no questioning His existence. Today everyone is opinionated about God and what that is for them on an independent level, simple put they place him into a box that suits their sins and their desires. However a new precept was introduced down the line, faith the glue for true believers to engage with the creator of the universe. Lucifer and a third of the fallen angels never needed faith to believe. They once cohabited heaven with God, Abraham on the other hand wrestled with the concept of Idols (dead gods) which his father and the land he lived in at the time where obsessed with. Historically we learn that he smashed all his fathers’ idols and was hunted to be killed (the book of Jasher). God then sends him to a far away land and he packs up and leaves without hesitation; ABRAHAM THE FATHER OF FAITH! Noah was also a man of faith and he came before Abraham, but it was only with Abraham that God makes a covenant with a sect of people, the Jews and promises him to look out for them. Throughout the ages many of his descendants also disappoint the great I AM. Thankfully God’s promises are not dependent on our ability to uphold our part of the deal, where we are found wanting God remains faithful, He cannot deny himself.

An individual cannot realise salvation without faith. However, untried faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain weak so long as it is without trials. Who else was tested like Abraham, there are no doubt many men and woman of faith penned throughout the scriptures, but none of them where asked to sacrifice their son, the son of promise. Abraham the father of faith! Do not think for a single iota that if we want to prove our love to our Father, the God of the universe that we will be without trials and the deeper we look to take that relationship the harder the trial. Can the olive produce its oil without the pressure of two stones grinding down on it?

Faith does not require logical reason as some may imply, all it is, is a dependency on God’s ability to steer the ship and be content with the His ability to keep us safe, especially through the storms of life. As the beating waves smash into the hull of our lives, with the creaking mask under the pressure of the torrid wind tearing into our main sail, the quandary of life and death tugging away at our minds; do we cry, “drop the sail” of do we push through to safety trusting in our God? It’s only the trials of life that proves who we all are when it comes to faith.

If even the winds and the seas obey the voice of our great Saviour, why do we worry? Sadly we have a fallen fleshy body that always looks to pull us towards independence. The greater our faith the harder it must be tested so that we may be sure of its substance; the louder the call, the greater the need for a fuller measure of faith.

“Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone

Realignment

Regardless of the arena where our voices are heard and where we stand up to be counted; to be fashionably “current” is important. Imagine a businessman in the eighteen hundreds dressed to the hilt with his fancy attire looking to strike up an agreement with a computer geek of the twenty first century, a casually dressed millionaire in his slops and t-shirt. The deal would have had immense strain placed upon it before negotiations even began. Perceptions and preconceived ideological conditions establish who we are as individuals. As diverse as we all are, God remains the same yesterday, today and forever, He is constant, praise His name!

For us to handle scripture in a day like today we too must look for the clues that are relevant. The Word of God is not bound by time, whereas style is linked to time. Fashion must never dictate, the Word (Bible) must always take pre-eminence if we are to survive and end up on the right side of God’s judgments. Let me be clear, scripture in its entirety is relevant if we dissect the words within the verses that are on the pages with precision no differently to a homicide detective searching out clues within a crime scene; carefully paying attention to the obvious as well as the hidden detail. Some will be better than others in reading and interpreting scripture, no differently to the varying measures of talents across every other area of our lives. It is also obvious that we will play different roles within the body of Christ (the church, and on a local and universal scale). Therefore it would be impossible to continuously walk on our hands as feet where given to us by God for walking and yet hands are also crucial for our realities. The Apostle James says it like this; “let not many of your become teachers as you will receive a stricter judgement.” All where never meant to be teachers, but all are capable of an intermit relationship with God, that is, if we are born again and new creatures in Christ. Then and only then will we have eyes to see spiritual truths.

The voice of reasoning, which on the surface is exactly that, reasonable. Logic and common sense teach us to live in a certain manner. However when we strip it down it is the opposite of faith, which God requires from His children; “but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrew 10:38)  - “reasoning” in that sense is in direct opposition to the voice of God and is driven by the devil and his followers. When the Lord Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the gospel what was his instruction in spite of their initial obvious understanding of planning for their trip? Thoughts like; food, a weapon for self defence, a change of clothing and money for the trip…

This was the instruction; “These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.”” In that sense God does not need help from men to do His bidding , He is the great “I AM”, this is were I believe so many of us get it wrong, we bring God down to our level instead of the other way around. True faith allows us to operate in the correct realm, GODS DOMAIN!

It is imperative to trim our sails and to check our bearing if we are to make it to our final destination, heaven with all its glory!

Let us all remember that if we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord of our lives, we most certainly belong to the household of God and we shall be saved on that day, and yet when we flip the coin we see that God is not happy with those who draw back…

”Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 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 10:35-39)

Are we numbered amongst the latter or have we fallen asleep? Is it time to trim your sails, I have made up my mind, my sails need constant trimming. Give me strength Father God in the mighty name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour to see the wood from the trees and to discern your will for my life and not to over emphasis the carnal wants in my life. Teach me to live by faith, Amen and Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone