Prelims

God gives mankind a certain amount of time to live and we can average it out to around seventy years and yet for some a lot less time is afforded them. This morning I will be attending a funeral of one of our boys aged just seventeen that we ministered to on a Thursday night. Praise God for the opportunity He afforded Mark and me. As slight as it may have been, the privilege of playing our parts in his life may just have been the thrust he needed to respond to the glorious message of the Gospel. It is only God who saves but He has chosen the gospel message to spark individuals into action. I am confident that the Lord Jesus Christ had an influence on his life. At a tender age of seventeen he has move from this realm to the next, he is now in the spiritual realm and in one of two places, hell the holding cell awaiting his eternal judgment or heaven awaiting the Lord Jesus’ second return where he will receive his glorified body; a topic for another day. This is what the Bible teaches; there is no other in-between state; we will either died and open our eyes in heaven or hell, Period! Never assume that you will have another day to put things right, as it may never arrive. Today is the day of salvation and life is filled with ignorance, God has spoken; “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Act 17:30-31) – The Lord Jesus died for sinners and not the self-righteous and God the Father confirmed this to the world by raising Him from the dead. However without repentance heaven will allude the sinner. 

Regardless of our allotted time, it is imperative that we call upon the name of the Lord Jesus to save us from our sins and the looming horrific judgment that God has in store for those who reject his grace. As for the Christian this is our time and we have to learn the lessons God wants us to learn, no differently to a father training his son up to the best of his ability as he looks out for his well-being, which is driven by love. God’s love is far greater. The enemy on the other hand feeds us with alternatives, like qualifications, self-worth and power in whatever form that may come within our given circles and obviously gratification of our flesh, lures that promise satisfaction and yet they are so temporal and can never be totally quenched. Have you not lived long enough to understand this? It’s one thing to struggle with a particular sin but quite another thing altogether when you do not see it as such and excuse it away as the niceties’ or necessities of life.

As for Kobus I am confident as I can be, God knows! That he is now in heaven, he heard the gospel and responded favourably to it.

Let us not say tomorrow we will right our wrongs, for tomorrow may never arrive. “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3)

Signing off

Tyrone

Sounds

The effects that sounds have on us is rather enthralling, even Hollywood worked this out some years ago. The right type of jingle can instil terror, joy or even sadness; music an extremely powerful tool in the hands of those you know how to work it.

Then we have the sounds of nature which have a calming effect on those who are fortunate enough to find themselves amongst an array of early morning bird calls. - The list is endless; God has given us an ability capable of helping us evaluate and then capture so much information through our ears. Just one of the five senses that we so often take for granted. However, these sense thrive within our earthly make up and we process everything through our human intellect and as great and brilliant as that is, it will always miss the voice of God because He is SPIRIT!

Our brains are most certainly capable of understanding that God exists, but who, how and where will always elude us. Creation proves HIS existence; but until we come face to face with our God or hear his small still voice whisper into our ear we will remain opinionated on so many different levels. To hear the voice of God we must be plugged into the source. No differently to the beginning of time when GOD spoke and creation sprung to life. Without God’s intervention in our lives we will never be saved; He is the ONE who initiates the process, without Him we will remain oblivious to His brilliance. With that established we must now seek out the truth and the Holy Bible is the platform from where He has chosen to speak. The words pen in this magnificent book is ink on paper, however it’s as good as if God’s voice penned the words. Obviously that thought is rather irrational when we view it through the eyes of common sense, but we are instructed to put on the mind of Christ, which is a spiritual discipline and then a miracle occurs, we are born again and a spiritual faculty is added to your senses. God gives us understanding, He opens our eyes and our ears to His World.

Examine those who now claim Christianity to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth, those whom you know on a personal level. How did they once view life, where they energized differently, and if the change is obvious, why? Could it just be that God has opened their eyes to His world and they now see it and because of it seem somewhat obsessed? Many who claim Christianity as a way of life have faulted in many areas of their lives, I know as I am amongst the chief of sinners, however because of my many mistakes should I now deny what I know to be true? Absolutely not! I have repented and I will by the grace of God press on to the high call of God in my life. I have understood the magnitude of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf. How far am I willing to take it, even death will not keep me from calling upon the name of Jesus, He is the love of my life.

Sadly there will always be the liar and the thief pretending to something they could never be, ministers of the light! Money preachers who pretend to be an ambassador for Christ, when in fact they are in it to win it, money, money and then more money. They will not escape, judgement is just over the horizon.

Obviously unless an individual is born again these wonderful truths that I am now privy too will elude the shunner. Those who consider this concept a fairy-tale will never understand what I am talking about, but for those who have stepped out in faith and called on the Lord Jesus Christ to open their spiritual eyes will understand.

What is it that keeps us from stepping out in faith, the most obvious of answers in my opinion would be that we gravitate towards a mentality that society on a whole does its utmost to keep alive in our lives, which is; “self-acceptance” a notion that we deserve so many things that in fact when examined without any emotion attached to it, I find that we live with a delusional mind-set as the norm. We live for the here and now, what will soon follow is ignored. Judgement is coming, but only for those who reject the Lord's mercy.

With a clear conscience I have voiced what I know to be truth, my prayer is that it will strike a nerve that will drive you towards repentance, calling upon the name of Jesus to quicken your understanding to these truths.

Signing off

Tyrone

Mighty to save...

As individuals we all have our crosses too bear and that in itself is no easy feat. So long as we can always remember these two points it will be well with our souls; “Jesus in my place” and “not my will but thine be done”. There is obviously a lot tied up into those two statements. However unpack them directly into your lives and you will remain in the light where no darkness will ever have total dominion over you. Sure there will be times where we will lose our way but the Spirit within us will bring us to a place of repentance, which thankfully is provided for us by the power of God the HOLY SPIRIT working in us. God has saved us in and through the perfect sacrifice of His beloved Son’s faultless sacrifice as He hung and died a brutal death upon a cruel Roman cross on the hill, Golgotha. HE is might to save…

"Mighty to save." (Isaiah 63; 1)

“By the words "to save" we understand the whole of the great work of salvation, from the first holy desire onward to complete sanctification. The words are multum in parro: indeed, here is all mercy in one word. Christ is not only "mighty to save" those who repent, but he is able to make men repent. He will carry those to heaven who believe; but he is, moreover, mighty to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is mighty to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the despiser of his name to bend the knee before him. Nay, this is not all the meaning, for the divine power is equally seen in the after-work. The life of a believer is a series of miracles wrought by "the Mighty God." The bush burns, but is not consumed. He is mighty to keep his people holy after he has made them so, and to preserve them in his fear and love until he consummates their spiritual existence in heaven. Christ's might doth not lie in making a believer and then leaving him to shift for himself; but he who begins the good work carries it on; he who imparts the first germ of life in the dead soul, prolongs the divine existence, and strengthens it until it bursts asunder every bond of sin, and the soul leaps from earth, perfected in glory. Believer, here is encouragement. Art thou praying for some beloved one? Oh, give not up thy prayers, for Christ is "mighty to save." You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but your Lord is Almighty. Lay hold on that mighty arm, and rouse it to put forth its strength. Does your own case trouble you? Fear not, for his strength is sufficient for you. Whether to begin with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is "mighty to save;" the best proof of which lies in the fact that he has saved you. What a thousand mercies that you have not found him mighty to destroy! (Charles Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone