Concepts

It’s one thing to read and be instructed to “put on the mind of Christ” and yet sometimes we are not sure what that actually means. We look to give some of our forbidden practice a pass. We confuse sin with licence and vice-versa. At times we are caught in deep waters and then” James explains that “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways”. So, although it appears as if we have certain areas of our lives tired down, we can only ever be classify as unstable. That is quite an indictment and yet we must own it if that is our story. Paul is more gracious with his instruction, he affords the Christian the ability to learn what it means to put on the “mind of Christ”. His instruction reads; “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2) – Life is a testing ground for one particular purpose and that is to discern the will of God for our lives, period! It’s when we look for wiggle room that we begin to sink into the marsh of life. Our consciousness has an awareness to it that now needs to appropriate truth to it; it needs to please God in order to find rest.      

   

We must foundationally understand what it means to “put on the mind of Christ”. The very first brick that needs to be laid, is God first. Praise and honour by us to Him is critical. “Hallowed be thy name” should be the first thing that comes out of our mouth in the morning. Then we need to consider how we can find His will in our particular situation throughout the day. It’s all about pleasing Him, which must become our main objective. How are we to do that? What type of actions must follow? Whatever we find to do that is noble, we must do it as inconspicuously as possible, for when we do it to be seen by others it is neither valued nor rewarded by God our Father; “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4)

Why did the Lord Jesus have to give these types of instructions? It’s obvious that our sinful natures dictates different types of patterns when it comes to our behaviour. It’s the voice of God that helps us realign our attitudes to that which pleases our Heavenly Father. Nevertheless this is a process and we must learn to work out that behavioural patterns for our lives, right from wrong but not as the world dictates, far from it. We must learn to put on the mind of Christ and the only way to be sure we are on the right track is to explore the Word of God, to find the hidden treasures that will help us find grace to please our heavenly Father. Really, when we strip it down what else is there?

Another topical truth bearing its fruit on a mammoth scale, organisations and individuals looking to save our planet without due benevolence given to the creator; “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:25) - Get this wrong and the consequences will be dire. God has spoken and He will destroy heaven and earth, his creation! And all because of mankind’s rebellion against Him. To resist the will of God is foolishness of the highest order. However, God has graciously made a way for all to seek out His support in this life and the life to come, and make no mistake there is another life still to come, it was never only ever meant to be about the here and now. Before the beginning of time God instituted His plan and it is now unfolding before our own eyes.

Call upon the name of Jesus Christ the Lord will an earnest plea and all will be revealed to you, your eyes will be open to the truth of God’s existence. It’s not as if creation itself has not proved His being, for it has, so we are all without excuse. However the love of God has chosen to exhibit His splendour by giving the world’s inhabitants an out which will escape His wrath and once again make no mistake it is coming. God sent His only begotten Son to die so that those who find repentance in Him can escape that wrath. True love encapsulated with mercy, how great is my God? Praise His name now and forever more, Amen and Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

Why... "born again"?

(John 3:3) Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Unless a man is born again he cannot see nor enter the kingdom of heaven is where the human race now finds themselves but how did we arrival at such a pitiful place and with so many cluelessly oblivious to the truth of it all? So many second guessing even God’s existence.

Here then is an allegory which could make it easier to understand for those willing to listen, consider, process and then act upon…

There was a man from another world who understood the beauty of all things; Utopia, a land which had the best of fruits, a place where the lion lay down with the lamb. It was a world far too beautiful to accurately describe, it was unadulterated magnificence. Thorns were unheard of, blemishes foreign to any of it fruits and sheer joy was an emotion that flooded the soul. Peace was an undertone that filled his environment. It was an acreage embodied with pure bliss and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the center of it all. He was the one who created it and all He required was obedience.

And then one day an enemy from another world saw his opportunity. Someone who knew the truth, at least in part, he was an individual with great power, cunning and full of sin. An evil being who had already rebelled against God, a traitor who had been banished from heaven, who once held a position of power.

There is only One Master and Chief and the sooner we learn that the simpler our lives will become. He rebelled against God, disobeyed a direct command resulting in a twisted objective to defy God His creator and get this man to follow him. However Adam was not so easily fooled and so he devised a cunning plan targeting that which Adam held closest to his heart, his wife Eve, she was the apple of his eye and so this cunning creature, later to be recognized as Satan approached with lies and beguiled her inquiring mind into believing that he had a better life for her, unbeknown to her, she was drawn into his cunning scheme, the art of deception had ensnared her and she tried something forbidden. On the surface what he had to say seemed harmless enough, but once she indulged in the prohibited, her eyes were opened to a world of terror, filled with death and then it was too late, the door to their wonderful world was closed forever. A new facet to their understanding was quickened. Suspicion, malice, guile, envy, were just some of the fruits they could now actually comprehend. Her defiance had unlocked that door for all who would follow, her offspring would now be born as sinners and by nature bear its fruit with sin at the center of it all.

    

God was furious with their rebellion, questioning why he had formed them and their disobedience came at great cost; they were banished from their blissful country and into a world filled with treachery. Monsters and vile beasts surrounded them on every side. They were now on the run, seeking the preservation of life, hiding in caves and eating fruit full of worms. Death had become part of their survival! They now had to track and kill live venison to sustain their family. They hunted and were also hunted. The utopia on what was once peaceful had long been forgotten. Pain and suffering had become a way of life with death continually knocking at their door. And then Adam died, his life had come to an end. Death! The reality of their mutiny. The curse of death lives on and all because of our great grandparents rebellion.

If you think you know better, then by all means ignore God’s voice, but don’t be surprised when you face a similar fate. God has spoken and those who find the grace to heed His voice will be richly rewarded. Jesus has paid that price and He has broken the curse, God in the flesh died in the place of sinners reversing the curse placed upon mankind. It not as if once we are saved, “born again” that we become perfect in character, far from it, but no differently to a baby who enters our world learning what is needed for survival, the Christian also must endure many hardships along the way as they learnt to put on the mind of Christ. However although each Christian differs in growth and maturity, one thing is certain we can all see into heaven through the eyes of faith. Without true repentance for our sin, we may look heavenward but all we will ever see is the vast universe, pondering what is out there. Fabricating our own lies to suit our lifestyles.   

Being “born again” gives us eyes to see the truth. It’s God Himself who opens our eyes to know the truth. A second chance is what we have been given and there most certainly won’t be a third.

Here is the instruction: Acknowledge your sins, confess them, cry out to Jesus Christ the Lord as you seek out His forgiveness for you rebellion against His Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, confess Him as Lord, believing that God the Father raised him from the dead. Cry out to Him and He will react, of this I am convinced. 

These are the actions that quickens our Spirit and our understanding springs to life, this is how a person is “born again”. It establishes an honest relationship with God, His door is now open to our voice. Our grasp on who God is, is now quickened, we understand that we have found what we have always been looking for and we are given a peace where faith instills a confidence into our soul. Finally we know that all will be well. We were once the enemy of God but now we have been recruited into his fold, praise the name of JESUS CHRIST my LORD! We are now children of God and we must look to please our Father by uncovering His will, and not our selfish wants for our lives.

Signing off

Tyrone

The last man standing

“The last man standing” mentality seems to be something that is drilled into us from a very young age. It draws strength from conforming to a worldly mind-set and then parents gloat about their kid’s achievements. The pressure is brutal! Everyone trying to outdo the other is a heavy burden where only the strong will survive, let alone be the last man standing. If this be our plight, lets us rather channel our energies correctly, not pleasing the world, but our heavenly Father.

We are to be turn from that way of thinking and put on the mind of Christ; here is the instruction…

"And be not conformed to this world." — Rom_12:2

“If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian-you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Here Spurgeon gives us great insight to what hat we should be wearing as we conform to the image of Christ, a help to understand the dangers when turning a blind eye to our own lusts. Wanting the certainty of heaven with all its glory and then allowing every carnal whim to be satisfied. The cry went out many years ago and I now echo it; “choose this day whom you will serve” and this is an examination we are to have alone and in our closet. The beauty of Christ’s sacrifice affords the Christian a personal relationship with their God. With constant dialogue throughout the day. It’s not as if we have a set time when we commune with our God, the way religion has impressed its ideology upon the world. Big majestic buildings with their priests as the answer. NO! We have the ability to cry “ABBA FATHER”, Jesus Christ my Lord has accomplished that on my behalf. Aww, how I love Him. And yet my actions tell the story, we cannot escape that truth. The Lord Jesus was very clear with his instruction; “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:13)

Although this analogy is very specific as it highlights money and everything that that entails, it’s the principle I wish to drive home, which is Spurgeons point; “Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.”

Signing off

Tyrone

Meditation

Looking to Jesus the finisher of the faith; the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He was there when the world was created and He will be there when it shall be destroyed. He has paid the ransom for all who will call upon Him. He is the only one with the keys for the escape pod. In fact He is the escape pod, He is the KEY! Without his affirmation on your behalf your end will be tragic. These are the facts as God has ordained it. “For all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved”. (Romans 10:13)

Consider the dietician, what is his purpose? Surely he is to help those willing to listen, to get the best nutrients into their bodies, which in turn would achieve their objective, a healthier lifestyle!

As for the Christian we need a similar practice…

“I will meditate in thy precepts." — Psa_119:15

There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on his Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in thy precepts." (Charles Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone

Irony

Irony is what I witnessed last night as the world flocks to cheat death. Carte Blanche an awarding winning news channel ran a piece on scientists studying the brain of a worm and making a digital clone of it and then mimicking its exact functions through a Lego Robot. Their goal to clone the human brain making a digital print of it, with the hope of that particular brain living on forever. Immortality from the thoughts of a corrupt and tainted individual. It’s as if every effort is being made with sin looking to live on, which will never happen as God has spoken and condemned it. It will live for a season and then termination will happen. So much wasted energy, if only we would just read the script and understand our role in HIS production.

Why a worn and not a human brain one may ask? They cannot gather all the relevant data as the human brain is far too intricate. Their objective; looking to slow down the process of all sicknesses as the overarching goal. Obviously classifying the aging process as a disease. The smarter people think they are the louder the laugh can be heard from heaven; he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying…

God has spoken! Put him first and it will be well with our souls, but to try and outsmart Him is a fool’s errand. Eternity is a truth that will are all part of, it’s a slice of God’s design, and for those trying to cheat death, will be taken by it. Not once but twice; “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14)  

Look at the history of mankind how their lifespan has been shorten, it’s not because of Global warming or some poor dietary choices that has reduced the years we get to live in our carnal bodies. It simply because of God’s intervention. The creator dictates the outcome of His creation. There is no other hidden clues that we need to be exploring; Honour God, put him first in your lives, seek out his righteousness in and through the finished work of the cross. Acknowledge your sin, all of it, confess it, seek out God’s forgiveness and then call upon the name of Jesus Christ the Lord; believe that God raised him from the dead and then confess him as Lord and your eyes will be opened, enabling you to look into heaven through the eyes of faith. God will open them, He will do the work and you will be able to cry out in full assurance; “I once was blind but now I can see”.

The question we may find ourselves asking, is why? It’s always “why” in one form of another if we not in sync with the voice of God. Our sole objection in this life is to fear God and to seek out his righteousness on a daily basis, we will not always live victoriously, however because Jesus died in my place my sin has been paid for. He has taken the punishment for it and if that doesn’t melt a person’s heart I don’t think anything can. I know who I am and for God to offer me forgiveness is astronomical and beautiful all at the same time, THANK YOU JESUS FOR SAVING MY SOUL!

“The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.” (Genesis 5:4-5) - Why did God shorten the lifespan of mankind? The answer is a simple one; “Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” (Genesis 6:3)  -That’s when we have the first recorded intervention of God shortening the lifespan of his creation. But we still need to know why? “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

The fruits of sin will live on until it won’t.

Reject God, worship the creature above the Creator which is now very obvious to see the world embracing with open arms and this will be your end; “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Revelations 20:11-12) – You will stand naked and ashamed before a holy God for not embracing that wonderful lifeline, the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the just recompense for your own sin. I implore you, call upon the name of Jesus while he can still be found.    

Remember the thought of Gods opinion when it comes to the worldly wise; “Claiming to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:22)

Here is the encouragement I leave for all; “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

Signing off

Tyrone