Christ Has Spoken!

(Matthew 24:11) “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.”

It is a terrible thing when we try and shift gears with a car that has a slipping clutch, it makes a grating noise and trouble will soon be paying us a visit if drastic measures are not taken and soon. The vehicle will no longer serve its purpose, and another mode of transportation will soon be sort out as the original mode of transport would have run its course and need repairs, more specifically a new clutch and possibly a new gear box. We (Christians) must be on guard against apathy in our daily walks. Life tends to fly-by and before long we are asking ourselves, “When last did I fall on my knees and have a soul searching session with my Saviour”? Have I regularly serviced my soul with His Spirit and with His Word to steer the rudder of life, have I gazed with earnestly under the “bonnet” of my life to ensure that I do not get caught sleeping when I should clearly be awake. For many years I have heard Christians of all shapes and sizes tell me that the Lord is coming soon, even I have been amongst that number. The truth, no matter how you choose to reason it out, the return of the Lord Jesus to earth is sooner now than it has ever been; tomorrow will be sooner still, if God would tarry just a day longer. The only reason he has not yet returned is there are still those to be saved. That is the pinnacle of God’s reasoning as His mercy continues to tarry and give mankind an opportunity to turn to Him, for them to repent and believe on the finished work of the Lord Jesus. But there is a day coming when the archangel will blow a trumpet. Then it will be as it was in the days of Noah. Did you know that it had never rain up until then; the ground was water from below; “and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—“ (Genesis 2:6)

Try and picture the reactions from those upon the earth as they saw in their minds eye a madman building a boat and warning people that the judgement of God was coming and on top of that water would fall from the sky. People must have jeered mocking them and calling them simple, but ultimately who had the last laugh, not that anyone would have laughed it was a serious encounter, God judged the world and sinner for their sin by water and only eight souls where saved in the days of Noah. That thought should rock us to the core, yes God is long suffering and full of mercy but He also has a side to Him that says enough is enough and when that time is up He will give a command to the archangel to blow the trumpet; “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.” (1Corinthians 15:52)

Trumpets depict salvation for some and judgment for others, the archangel blows a trumpet that ultimately culminates the entire hope of the Christian faith, and hope will no longer be hope as she would have arrived for the believer. What a day that will be!

As strange as that may sound to some, this is the hope of every true believer; the Lord Jesus is coming back to earth to fetch His church and then God will pour out His judgement on the earth like never before and this time fire will be one of His weapons of choice. We may have to endure some hardship, some struggles and some ridicule but it will be worth it all, one day we will see our Saviour’s soon return and it may be sooner than you think!

I will now show you why God loves His children so! He has given us so much of Himself, we Have His Spirit that lives within us, we have the gifts that He has freely given to us individually and they do differ one from another, all will have a part to play in one form or another in the church, this is His design!

However there are many voices that have already put up their hand to be noticed, they have much to say and want to be heard. How do we know if they speak on behalf of God or not, in fact how do you know I am not a fraud? We have been given the greatness of safeguards, the glorious Word of God. If I had to say that God has spoken directly to me and what He has had to say goes against what has been written, then He would be a liar and we know that it is impossible for God to lie; “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie,” (Hebrews 6:18)

It would then make me a liar and in turn a false prophet, it is not hard to reason out. God has spoken through His Son and His words have been penned for all to use as a road map, if skilfully used we will not get lost along the way. Remember to “KISS”, keep it simple stupid! This is an old selling slogan, but apt when used wisely if we can view the bible with a childlike simplicity. We must become like little children and begin to believe what is written with childlike faith. Have you ever watched a son with his father as they play and the father puts him on a ledge as says jump, the danger of being hurt is real, if his father had to move out the way and or fumbled in the catch, the child would suffer injury. But no thought is given to the potential danger, only trust form child to father is on display, in fact the kid often ends up saying, “more!” with absolute glee written all over his face as the sunlight glints off his teeth. Why do we then look outside of what has already been written to find extra confirmation, we should not and must not look beyond the bounds of scripture, be warned, for when we do we will enter into error.

What does the Word tell us about this upcoming event, “the rapture”, the return of our Saviour to earth? Let us look at but a few warning to help us remain alert... lastly, the gospel will and must be preached throughout the whole world before the end will come. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)

Has the gospel reached the entire globe, has every nation heard about the Lord Jesus? My answer would be if not every nation it must be just about there. It does not say every person but every nation. The bushman have heard and I know this as I was amongst a team that paid some of them a visit in Botswana and some confess Jesus as Lord. I am not to sure how much they understand, but God knows! The mercy of God extending His hand to the most primitive of people as they to could say, I believe! Ghumtai is the brother’s name, pray for him and his family. You then make a decision on where you think we stand with regard to the gospel message being preached worldwide.

We are warned that the day and time of His return is not for us to know, but the sign of the times we must be on the lookout for and understand. Only a fool does not set up sentinels to be on the lookout for the enemy in hostile territory. Likewise if we ignore the sign of the times we will be caught offgaurd. So what must we be on the lookout for? It is observable, that what Christ said to his disciples tends to be a warning more than to satisfy their curiosity; and in like fashion we should also look to be warned rather than to be intrigued by the subject. It must more prepare us for the events that should happen than to give a distinct idea of the events themselves. Keeping that in mind let us look at some warnings; “And Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray.” (Matthew 24:4)

Deception is the Lords first and main concern, this then must mean that many will try and distort this message. There will be wars and rumours of wars, but we must not let that alarms us, it has happen and will continue to happen. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places; do you see any of that happening? Obviously you do as God cannot lie and He had told us that it will take place and it is taking place. I love the analogy the Lord Jesus gives; He uses a pregnant woman and the contractions she has prior to birth which warns her that her time is near. “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)

With what we see happening around us in the world, is the time near?

As we lack time to discuss all these warnings in detail let me highlight the Lords greatest concern, He warns against deception more than once.

Deception against what we should ask? Many will lie, tricking believers for their own gain. In other words they have another agenda and that is to make money out of the gospel, they preach Christ for their bellies sake. Nevertheless they will stand as we all will stand and have to give God an account of our lives.

The Lord is deeply concerned about these liars, not that he gives them much thought their days we soon be numbered, but he has an unfathomable concern for His sheep; these men and woman will scatter the fold and cause some panic.

“And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” (Matthew 24:11)

It says many not a couple, be sober be vigilant for your adversary goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Yes they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. How will you tell the counterfeit from those that are real, simply, THE WORD OF GOD!

Now many say we will have already be rapture by the time of the great tribulation, it may well be true, but then again I cannot say that with any certainty, but God knows. All I know is we must heed the warning as our Saviour has given them to us...

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:21-27)

We have been warned and told what to lookout for, if we ignore our saviour warning, it will be to our detriment.

Give us eyes to see Father as we want you’re name to be glorified in and through whatever it is you have in store for your children, if it is grace we need help in time of need, let us be bold to ask for it.

Signing off

Tyrone

When We find No Rest!

(Psalms 22:2) “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.”

Amazingly in this verse we see David in distress and in anguish, but although we see Him crying by day with the turmoil of his newly born son, a son through deceit and trickery, an act of sin, in his moment of weakness as lust drove him to act unwisely where he summoned Bathsheba to his quarters, a married woman. In fact, a married woman whose husband (Uriah) was fighting for David and Israel, so committed was he that he was willing to die for the cause, he was a loyal man, but David was drawn so deep into the error of his way that he eventually had the man killed to cover up his sin. No matter where we go or how we try and hide our sin, it will be exposed either in this life or the next. Unless we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus and we find forgiveness for our sin, then we will no longer be accountable for all our sin. To think of where my sin began and where would it end outside of Christ, is far too over bearing for me to even contemplate. O wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death? “Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!” With such an amazing offer of free grace, why will people not cry out to Him? And yet so many reject this salvation message! “Can you hear my cry my great God?” I know I am heard and only because of my great Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord. Thank you my sweet King for dying in my stead, I am so unworthy of salvation and yet you chose to die on a cross for me, thank you my great Shepherd. Whenever I was lost and rebellious in my wondering in the wilderness of deceit and treachery, you found me, for this I will be forever thankful, you have done more for me than most, I have been unruly and disobedient so often in my life and yet you never discarded me on the rubbish dump. My fate should be hell and yet my hope is heaven. I challenge all outside of Christ, who can say they serve a God like I serve, He is righteous, He is always faithful even when I was not, He is slow to anger and full of mercy and He lovingly teaches obedience even if it has been very painful at times throughout life’s journey, He cares for me and for all who cry out to Him. David felt much pain for his wrong doing with a woman many years ago, he lost a son and had a man killed all because of his passion and lust for what his eyes had to have, the “lust of the eyes” rampant and on a charge like a bull without any thought given to who will be hurt along the way. With sin there are always causalities! Here again we see a typical example of God’s grace and mercy merited out on David, yet there where consequences to His sin. That good old cliché rings true, with every action there must be a reaction. We will find forgiveness for sin if we earnestly seek it from God above, in and through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. There will however still be consequences, we see that in the story of David, in fact the sword did not leave his house as result of his sin and His own son ended up dead while trying to overthrow him and his kingdom. Stephen you can read the full account of what took place in and through that incident in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.

I wonder, when I find no peaceful rest during sleep is it a consequence of the sin in my life and a reaction to all my disobedience through life? When I dream of lions on the prowl looking to hunt me down, is it a result of folly and bad pronouncements in times past? It may well be! David fasted for seven days on account of His wrong-doing and for seven nights lay on the ground as torment and sleep eluded him as he look for healing for his dying son. Forgiveness was never in question for Him as it will never be in question for all who truly repent and believe on the Lord Jesus, but we must never take sin lightly as it is an offence to God. Such an offence that He had to deal with it once and for all by sending His own Son to die for it. God himself died for man’s sin! Let us never undermine our sin; sin is a serious offence before God. Sin must force us to repent and find forgiveness; we must never take it lightly in our lives!

The Lord Jesus hung upon a tree for my sin and for yours, even despite the fact that He knew no sin, not once in His life did He ever break one of God’s laws, a man without sin and yet he cried out; “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34)

David suffered the consequence of His sin, I suffer the consequence of my sin but the Lord had no sin and yet He suffered on our behalf for sin, may this thought grip your hearts as it now grips mine, it was a phenomenal feat the work of Calvary, how will one escape judgement if we neglect so great a salvation, we will not escape! Fire and brimstone will be our end for all eternity, but the grace of God is still available to all who will repent, there is a day coming when this offer will no longer be on the table, but today it is still on offer for all who would turn to Him in repentance. I plead with you, repent and be saved while the daylight still shines.

We see a withdrawal of God’s favour because of sin in the life of David; I must however emphasis forgiveness is ours to be had for sin because of what the Lord Jesus accomplished on Calvary, but consequences are real and evident in the lives of believers throughout history, David lost his son’s, Samson lost his eyes and I am HIV positive... please do not think for a minute that I would want to compare myself with these two great men of God, there is no comparison, all I have venture to do is highlight the consequence of sin in my life and our lives. We must learn not to grumble because of our bad choices along life journey.

Matthew Henry has this to say on the topic; “A sad complaint of God's withdrawings, this may be applied to David, or any other child of God, in the want of the tokens of his favour, pressed with the burden of his displeasure, roaring under it, as one overwhelmed with grief and terror, crying earnestly for relief, and, in this case, apprehending himself forsaken of God, unhelped, unheard, yet calling him, again and again, “My God,” and continuing to cry day and night to him and earnestly desiring his gracious returns. Note, (1.) Spiritual desertions are the saints' sorest afflictions; when their evidences are clouded, divine consolations suspended, their communion with God interrupted, and the terrors of God set in array against them, how sad are their spirits, and how sapless all their comforts! (2.) Even their complaint of these burdens is a good sign of spiritual life and spiritual senses exercised. To cry out, “My God, why am I sick? Why am I poor?” would give cause to suspect discontent and worldliness. But, Why has though forsaken me? is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God's favour. (3.) When we are lamenting God's withdrawings, yet still we must call him our God, and continue to call upon him as ours. When we want the faith of assurance we must live by a faith of adherence. “However it be, yet God is good, and he is mine; though he slay me, yet I trust in him; though he do not answer me immediately, I will continue praying and waiting; though he be silent, I will not be silent.”

May his teaching help us in time of need...!

Signing off

Tyrone

Be Sober, Be Vigilant!

(2Corinthians 2:11) “So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

It is nights like last night that helps me remember that without salvation and the protection of our great God that we would be left to the dogs and the bulls of Bashan and be ripped to shreds. Have you ever stopped to consider the spiritual warfare, which rages on in the heavens; how it unfolds and although the devil has been defeated on Calvary, he is still a player of substantial influence in that unseen territory. I agree that he needs permission for all that He does, He always has and for many years to come will still need permission until he is chained for a thousand years in the bottomless pit and then he will be let loose and roar once again deceiving as he is prone to do for a short while until he will ultimately be cast into the lake of fire; “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

The devil’s destiny with all his allies will suffer torment for all eternity for their defilement to God and for the blood of the saints that they have feasted upon. But as his time is not yet ended, he persistently endeavours to get the child of God stumble. Whatever God hates he loves! “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

These are the areas he often will look to trip up the child of God, be on guard against this.

“Those things which God hates it is no thanks to us to hate in others, but we must hate them in ourselves. 1. Haughtiness, conceitedness of ourselves, and contempt of others - a proud look. There are seven things that God hates, and pride is the first, because it is at the bottom of much sin and gives rise to it. God sees the pride in the heart and hates it there; but, when it prevails to that degree that the show of men's countenance witnesses against them that they overvalue themselves and undervalue all about them, this is in a special manner hateful to him, for then pride is proud of itself and sets shame at defiance. 2. Falsehood, and fraud, and dissimulation. Next to a proud look nothing is more an abomination to God than a lying tongue; nothing more sacred than truth, nor more necessary to conversation than speaking truth. God and all good men hate and abhor lying. 3. Cruelty and blood-thirstiness. The devil was, from the beginning, a liar and a murderer (Joh_8:44), and therefore, as a lying tongue, so hands that shed innocent blood are hateful to God, because they have in them the devil's image and do him service. 4. Subtlety in the contrivance of sin, wisdom to do evil, a heart that designs and a head thatdevises wicked imaginations, that is acquainted with the depths of Satan and knows how to carry on a covetous, envious, revengeful plot, most effectually. The more there is of craft and management in sin the more it is an abomination to God. 5. Vigour and diligence in the prosecution of sin - feet that are swift in running to mischief, as if they were afraid of losing time or were impatient of delay in a thing they are so greedy of. The policy and vigilance, the eagerness and industry, of sinners, in their sinful pursuits, may shame us who go about that which is good so awkwardly and so coldly. 6. False-witness bearing, which is one of the greatest mischiefs that the wicked imagination can devise, and against which there is least fence. There cannot be a greater affront to God (to whom in an oath appeal is made) nor a greater injury to our neighbour (all whose interests in this world, even the dearest, lie open to an attack of this kind) than knowingly to give in a false testimony. There are seven things which God hates, and lying involves two of them; he hates it, and doubly hates it. 7. Making mischief between relations and neighbours, and using all wicked means possible, not only to alienate their affections one from another, but to irritate their passions one against another. The God of love and peace hates him that sows discord among brethren, for he delights in concord. Those that by tale-bearing and slandering, by carrying ill-natured stories, aggravating everything that is said and done, and suggesting jealousies and evil surmises, blow the coals of contention, are but preparing for themselves a fire of the same nature.” (Matthew Henry)

Our bodies need rest and sleep to help rejuvenate our cells and help us function with some form of normality. If the body is derived of sleep, it cannot repair itself and sluggishness becomes part of my mornings, it takes me at least half an hour to begin to function with any constituent normality. A good soldier is fed the right balance when it comes to food and sleep, give him to much and he will become lazy, give him to little and he will have to draw unnecessarily from the bodies recourses leaving him short of his optimum fighting capabilities. Obviously, when we walk in the spirit and with deliberation go out to deny our flesh these necessities, food and sleep, we will enter a realm of strength in the spirit. Fasting and prayer has their place in a believer’s life. Do you remember what the Lord Jesus was doing prior to being tempted of the devil? That’s right he had been fasting for forty days and nights. It is important to see that He was not only fasting throughout the days but also throughout the night; He fasted day and night for forty days! The bible then tells us that He was hungry. He was in a state of weakness, His brain was receiving signals that it needed to eat or He would surely die. He was hungry for food, His body needed sustenance but there was something He held with higher regard, He proves this to us by His response to the devil. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Everything about the Lord seemed to be balanced and well thought out, but that would surely go without saying. Bread is important to sustain the body, but the Word of God is of far more importance and it must be view as such. We must begin to reason with the correct understanding; by default we eat when we are hungry and even sometimes when we are not. Have you placed as much emphasis on the Word of God as you do on food? I know I haven’t, but I should as my life depends on it. The Lord Jesus was full of understanding, He is teaching us through His spirit and his Word to reason with His understanding, and may we have an earnest desire to learn from him!

It is nights like last night, where war raged on in my dreams, as restlessness paid me a visit and I tossed and turn looking to my Saviour to help in time of need. He is faithful, and always proves His faithfulness, some nights are worse than others but He is my safeguard, in Him will I trust! I cannot with any certainty explain why I have nights like I do, but I am convinced that the Lord Jesus is teaching me to become more dependent upon Him and not to try get through these nights on my own ability. It is not about me squaring up to my opponent and saying “let’s get it on”, like I may of done as a as a young teen. The battleground is with the unseen enemy and yet he has a phenomenal influence on our lives. Winston Churchill was a great leader as he would anticipate his opponent’s next move. He made it His business to study His foe. It would be wise of us to study our adversary. Before we can do battle and come out as victors, we must understand our enemy. Come on brethren; let us stand as men for the days of childishness have run their course. Firstly we must not be under any delusion that we do not have an enemy and then secondly we must understand his tactics and how he lures us to walk in sin. Sin is a state of unbelief, which leaves us doubting our salvation. Faith is a gift of God; daily, we need to fall to our knees, asking for more faith and in doing that we must take the Word of God more seriously than we take our daily bread. Let us not be ignorant of the devil’s devises! Look at what James instructs us to do; “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

We must always under trial submit ourselves to God, because if we don’t then the opposite will happen, the devil will not have any reason to flee from us.

Michael the archangel teaches us the greatest of lessons; “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." (Jude 1:9)

We must always remember that it is only through the victory of our Saviour the Lord Jesus that we have victory over the devil and all his demons. That seems like an obvious statement, but we are reminded to remember this more than once in scripture and I believe the reason for this is that we tend to forget this simple truth.

We must remember to put on the whole armour of God; “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)

Study the Word, understand your opponent and remember who it is that has had the victory and stand in Him. There is nothing he can do to the children of God without permission and he is working within the Sovereignty of God’s rule for our well being. But let us not be ignorant of his devices; “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (2Corinthians 2:11)

How I long to kneel in the presence of my Saviour, until then!

Signing off

Tyrone

A happy God!

(Psalms45:8) “Whereby they have made thee glad.”

This morning as I sit in my chair in front of my keyboard, with sleepy eyes with my mind slowly kicking into gear as I contemplate what subject to pen this morning. As I look for a thought that would dominate my mind, as I look to my dreams and my thoughts throughout the night, as I probe and pull looking for the direction my thoughts will take, I keep coming back to a song that even now rings true to my ears, “when I think of the goodness of Jesus when I think of what He has done for me, my very soul cries out hallelujah, praise God for saving me.” I am often in a state of happiness and my joy is full when I remember Calvary, and even more so when I am reminded that Calvary was for me! Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour hung and bled on a tree for so many and I was amongst the number, He died for Tyrone; yes He died and suffered for me! He gave so much of Himself, in fact He could not have given more, it cost Him His life, separation from His Father as He hung on a cruel Roman tree as He was judged for the sins of the world (all those who through the ages would repent and believe, from the very first to the very last). So much of Him was given and even now He cries out, “just a little longer and the trump of God will sound” and my mind repeatedly echo’s these words to itself, “whosoever will to the Lord may come He will not turn one away. Jesus Jesus, heals the broken hearted Jesus heals the broken hearted he will not turn one away”.

We have so much to be grateful for, my list is full of immense gratitude, it would conclude in that, I owe Him my life, my body and soul belongs to my God, not because He could claim it and do whatever He chooses with it, as He has it in His power as God to do whatever He chooses. Yet, I willingly give Him of myself as He has freely given me all in Himself, in and through His Son, my Saviour; this is why I now have eyes which can see. The gift of God is so beautiful to behold, and yet not everyone can echo these words. “O how I love you Lord!” If only we could see into the hidden realm of the spirit world, we would then see how much we are loved. How God gives His angels charge over His children, how they also work together for our salvation and to His glory.

All of God’s children are the benefactors of God’s mercy and His grace; we all at times derive much joy and immense satisfaction knowing that one day we will be like our glorious Saviour, complete in so many ways! But how often do we give thought to the joy the only true awesome omnipresent holy and righteous God derives from His children. “For the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:12)

I will suggest saying that He loves and delights to dwell in the house of His people. What? God delights to dwell with me as useless and fickle as I can be at times. “Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, "Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!" (Psalms 35:27)

“The great God has pleasure in this prosperity of good people, not only of his family, the church in general, but of every particular servant in his family. He has pleasure in the prosperity both of their temporal and of their spiritual affairs, and delights not in their griefs; for he does not afflict willingly; and we ought therefore to have pleasure in their prosperity, and not to envy it.” M Henry

I would like to explore more of these thoughts, but as I now begin to habitually develope a pattern of running late for various engagements I will leave you with some of Charles Spurgeon, thoughts so that I may make the golf course on time. It is not the golf engagement that is of importance but rather the message I deliver if I am habitually late for an engagement.

“And who are thus privileged to make the Saviour glad? His church-his people. But is it possible? He makes us glad, but how can we make him glad? By our love. Ah! we think it so cold, so faint; and so, indeed, we must sorrowfully confess it to be, but it is very sweet to Christ. Hear his own eulogy of that love in the golden Canticle: “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine!” See, loving heart, how he delights in you. When you lean your head on his bosom, you not only receive, but you give him joy; when you gaze with love upon his all-glorious face, you not only obtain comfort, but impart delight. Our praise, too, gives him joy-not the song of the lips alone, but the melody of the heart’s deep gratitude. Our gifts, too, are very pleasant to him; he loves to see us lay our time, our talents, our substance upon the altar, not for the value of what we give, but for the sake of the motive from which the gift springs. To him the lowly offerings of his saints are more acceptable than the thousands of gold and silver. Holiness is like frankincense and myrrh to him. Forgive your enemy, and you make Christ glad; distribute of your substance to the poor, and he rejoices; be the means of saving souls, and you give him to see of the travail of his soul; proclaim his gospel, and you are a sweet savour unto him; go among the ignorant and lift up the cross, and you have given him honour. It is in your power even now to break the alabaster box, and pour the precious oil of joy upon his head, as did the woman of old, whose memorial is to this day set forth wherever the gospel is preached. Will you be backward then? Will you not perfume your beloved Lord with the myrrh and aloes, and cassia, of your heart’s praise? Yes, ye ivory palaces, ye shall hear the songs of the saints!" C.H.Spurgeon

So with those thoughts...

Signing off

Tyrone

Life in the Spirit.

(1Peter 3:18) “Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

“Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” Being made alive in the spirit, but wasn’t He always alive, If He is God, which He is, He then has no beginning; He was never created! He is part of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), so then how was it that He died and was made alive in the spirit?

He is the first fruit of our salvation, to all who believe. He has lead the way by example, He is the greatest of leaders, His motto was never, “do because I say so”, No, He encourages us to follow His example by leading with the actual doing of it. He died in the flesh and on the third day He rose again, He committed Himself to His Father, the Righteous Judge. He trusted Him as He wants us to trust Him. Nothing is expected of us that the Lord Himself has not experienced. He may not have known what it is like to sin as He never sinned, but He suffered for sin in our place, He most definitely knew what it felt like to suffer, and in fact no man ever suffered or will suffer as much as He suffered for the sake of righteousness, the truth be told, He was given into the hands of His enemies. "Now was that scripture fulfilled God hath turned me over into the hands of the wicked;" and no angel is sent from heaven to deliver Him, no friend on earth raised up to appear for Him.

The example of Christ is proposed as an argument for patience under sufferings; Jesus Christ himself was not exempted from sufferings in this life, though He had no guilt of His own and could have declined all suffering if He had pleased. The reason or commendable cause of Christ's suffering was the sins of men: Christ suffered for sins and yet He never sinned, I hope this grips our heart, can you ever remember being blamed for something you never did? It must have happened somewhere in your life. Do you remember how violated you felt, well this was possibly an everyday experience for the Lord Jesus, that was His life and how it played out. The sufferings of Christ were a true and proper punishment; this punishment was suffered to compensate and to make atonement for sin; and it extends to all sin. In the case of our Lord's suffering, it was the just that suffered for the unjust; He substituted Himself in our room and stead, and bore our iniquities. He that knew no sin suffered instead of those that knew no righteousness. This is a phenomenal thought I hope its grips our hearts! The merit and perfection of Christ's sacrifice were such that for Him to suffer once was enough. Prior to this the legal sacrifices were repeated from day to day, and from year to year; but the sacrifice of Christ, once offered, purged away sin, “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:27)

Obviously God has always purposed all things He has chosen to do, it is not random, He is full of wisdom and He will silence all His critics, those who appear to be wise, yet have become fools as they think they have the answer to life but will be proved wrong on Judgment Day.

The blessed end or design of our Lord's sufferings was to bring us to God, to reconcile us to God, to give us access to the Father, to render us and our services acceptable, and to bring us to eternal glory, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18)

It is very clear and we could make reference too many other scriptures to verify the truth of the Lord Jesus’ purpose here on earth. The issue and event of Christ's suffering, as to Himself, were these, He was put to death in his human nature, but He was quickened and raised again by the Spirit. Here comes the point... Now, if Christ was not exempted from sufferings, why should Christians expect it? If He suffered, to make amends for sins, why should not we be content when our sufferings are only for trial and correction, but not for punishment? If He, though perfectly just, why should we not, who are all criminals? If He once suffered, and then entered into glory, shall not we be patient under trouble, since it will be but a little time and we shall follow him to glory? If He suffered, to bring us to God, shall not we submit to difficulties, since they are of so much use to quicken us in our return to God, and in the performance of our duty to Him?

We must grasp the truth and purpose of suffering, they have a specific purpose for us in our lives, and they are there to cause us to flee to our Saviour in time of need. They will help fuel our hope, which is heaven and an eternity in the presence of God, where we will receive a body that will be incorruptible and will never age as this fleshly body of ours does. It will take on the attributes of the Lord Jesus, we shall be like Him. To what degree and how that will look, time will tell. I know this that all those who endure unto the end, will be like Him!

Suffering then is needful for all of us, it is an aid to help us flee to the cross and to remember our hope in Him. It is through death and suffering that we are made alive in the spirit; “Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

Signing off

Tyrone

"Much of the above text comes from Matthew Henry..."

Eve's Deception!

(1Timothy 2:14) “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”

Suffering is part of everyday life for both the believer as well as the unbeliever. We all suffer because of “sins fruit” which is ultimately death. Where did this all start for mankind? Well historically, it was around six thousand years ago that this happened, mankind lived without the “knowledge of good and evil”, they were oblivious to it, they lived in a state of fellowship with God, Adam probably walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. I make that supposition on the basis that God walked in His garden that He had just created and when He walked with Adam living in the same garden, they would have often crossed paths and had fellowship, in fact after they had sinned and eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil whilst God was walking in the garden they had to hide themselves to avoid an encounter.

“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)

How our minds endeavour to depict that scene of God walking in the garden may differ from person to person, but all I can tell you is that is exactly what happened. This awesome almighty omnipresent only true God somehow and in some form walked with a man in a garden called Eden and they spoke as friends would speak as they had fellowship. Yet their fellowship was never about death as death was a foreign subject to Adam. He understood no shame as he was not yet alive to the “knowledge of good and evil”. If fact they (Adam and Eve) walked around naked without any further thought to their nakedness. Until Eve was lured into a trap by the serpent; the tempter, and that was the devil, in the shape and likeness of a serpent. When we think serpent, our minds automatically associate that with a snake that wriggles on its belly as the slimy creature it now is. We very seldom give much thought to its existence prior to the fall of mankind in the area of sin as they became sinners. It is certain; it was the devil that beguiled Eve. “The devil and Satan is the old serpent a malignant spirit, by creation an angel of light and an immediate attendant upon God's throne, but by sin became an apostate from his first state and a rebel against God's crown and dignity.” He now in the form of a serpent comes to beguile Eve, his intention to deceive her, to get her to believe a lie! Let us consider that event, let us try and unpack what it must have looked like. The Word gives us some clues to how the serpent may have made his entry, it would have been spectacular, and does not the lure of sin always look spectacular on the outside? It is like a plump rosy apple but once you bite into it, you end up with a mouth full of worms. They were originally unseen to the naked eye but yet very much alive inside the “apple of life”. We must remember that Eve was unaware of what the devils intention was, she was blind to the concept of good and evil, her understanding had not yet been awakened too it. He appears as an angel of light, maybe this is how he chosen to tempt Eve, what we do know is the devil appeared in the likeness of a serpent. Whether it was only the visible shape and appearance of a serpent or whether it was a real living serpent, actuated and possessed by the devil, is not certain. The devil chose to act his part in a serpent, maybe because it is an erroneous creature, has a mottled skin, and then went erect like the king cobra rears up prior to its strike. It may have had legs and even possibly wings, I make such a bold statement, because once the serpent received its curse from God it began to slither on its belly and eat dust all the days of its life, not before that! Punishment never improves one condition but it makes it more difficult to endure. I like to think that perhaps it was a flying serpent, which seemed to come from on high as a messenger from the upper world, one of the seraphim; for the fiery serpents were flying, reference to fiery serpents is found in the book of (Isaiah 14:29). Either way, his entrance would have been grand! He had one intention and that was to beguile Eve! For the sake of time we are unable to unpack the rest of the immense detail we could yet uncover in this encounter, but life itself should have taught us many lessons around our own experience in this area of life, sin and its lure! The serpent achieved his objective and he deceived Eve. Somewhere along their discourse Eve believed Satan and forgot what God had told them, which if they ate from that tree, they would surely die! She was deceived into believing a lie, let us think about that statement; in other words she believed what she was doing was now the right thing to do. Satan had lied and he hid the truth from her. Deceive means; to mislead or deliberately hide the truth from somebody.

So maybe just maybe we should pay attention to the Apostle Pauls instruction to Timothy, maybe we should all forget our pride and our self-worth and our arrogance and remember that God is true and that every man is a liar. Just maybe, Paul was not a dictator who had it in for woman, but rather a watchman that God himself had appointed. He obviously loved God’s children with such love that he was willing to protect them with the truth regardless of his popularity being tainted. When he instructs me through his pen and on behalf of God, I better pay attention or it will be to my own peril. So when he said, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” It was not because he felt threatened by woman or that they did not have anything to give from a spiritual stand point, he makes it quite clear why he makes such a statement, it is to protect the bride of Christ, the church.

He wants us to understand what happened in the Garden of Eden and what we must learn from that encounter, we must not make the same mistake. This encounter between Eve and Satan back in the garden was all Satan’s manipulation, Eve had nothing to do with his manipulation, she was the innocent bystander until she was deceived and entered into that which was forbidden. She then was guilty of transgression and was punished for it, which is why child birth is painful. I trust you see the pattern; she was lured into doing something that was forbidden. She did not deliberately go out of her way to defile God, as she was deceived, in other words she believed a lie to be true. Adam on the other hand made a conscious decision because of his love for Eve, which he must of placed above his love for God. He was not deluded or deceived! Tragic, but the weakness of many men, woman! And the weakness of woman, deception! That is why we must guard our hearts and cling to God’s Word with all we have, so when we read verses like this as hard as they may be to accept for some, it is written to protect us.

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” (1Timothy 2:12-14)

It has nothing to do with the customs of their times as I have heard some say, it was the time of Roman rule; reference is clearly made to the Garden of Eden. It is important to understand why scripture sometimes make such hard statements for us to swallow at times; there is always a reason for what is penned. Father be merciful I pray that we will have eyes to see and that the pride of life will be kept at bay even now; however one thing I am convinced of, your sheep will hear your voice. Help us find grace to overcome, we all have our cross to bear, one in this area and another in that. I ask for your name sake!

All honour praise and glory belongs to our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah God, the only true and living God, the Triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

With shouts of acclamation I say praise the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, yes sing praises to Jesus Christ our King for He alone is worthy of all praise, praise Him all you saint and again I say praise Him, hallelujah, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

The Second Death!

(Revelation 2:11) “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

How our mindset changes as we get older, it happens or should happen as we mature and become more responsible in life, whatever that may look like for you, it should happen that we all mature with the choices we make in life as we get older. The body ages and theirs cells begin to die as old age begins to wear us down until it finally claims our last breathe. The process of life for all, nobody will escape the first death, unless the rapture claims your body prior to death, but that is another topic for another day. Besides that, we must all die the first death, but did you know there is a second death that many will be a part of and there are also yet many that will escape the “Second Death”, I wonder which camp you will be in? I am persuaded that I will not face the second death, because I have been given sight to see, I have found repentance in and through the only One who has the power to exempt all He has chosen, excusing them from facing death for a second time. The thought of dying once should be enough for all of us. Look at how we live lives and how every single one of us looks to prolong the inevitable, death! We buy face creams that are absorbedly priced to keep the wrinkles away from our eyes as we look to keep the elasticity of a youthful skin for as long as possible. We buy vitamin supplement that will keep us young or so the marketers in the advertising industry tells us. We need complements that boast our self-worth, complements like, “he looks great for his age”, or “I want to look like that when I am seventy”, the list goes on, but the long and the short of it, is we will all die and we all know it. Deep down absolutely no one, regardless of how foolish their outlook on life maybe, everyone acknowledges that death must confront us all. That is why we all look for answers in some times very strange places, horoscopes are popular, in fact they are such a hit that newspapers, magazines and even applications for facebook and the like carry horoscope predictions. We want gratification now and yet we still look to cover our bases after death, we take out Life Cover for our wives, children and loved ones, but our minds constantly tick over in our subconscious as we keep asking ourselves, what after death? There are many voices out there but their can only be one truth, do not make the mistake that so many will make; their philosophy that there are many roads that lead to China, that may be true about life and the everyday choices we are permitted to make, however there is only one road to heaven and that is through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only God (Jesus Christ) who in the flesh dwelt amongst people on earth and then He went to the cross to die for the sins of mankind, no one else has paid that price and as we are all sinners we will end up in hell; for the penalty of sin is death in hell! If you are without sin then you are safe, you needn’t worried, I on the other hand have many sins that I need to find forgiveness for, for if I do not find forgiveness I will certainly end up in hell, I deserve hell as sin has lead me astray and far from God. I thank God for His beloved Son, Jesus Christ the Lord, my Lord as I have found forgiveness through Him. The call has gone out to all, “whosoever will to the Lord may come He will not turn one away, Jesus, Jesus He’ll not turn one away.” A song I still sing, I sing it even now in anticipation that someone somewhere across the ocean may call out to Jesus and find life and escape the second death.

I do not often make comparisons like this but with this ideology spreading like wildfire; even atheists will eventually grasp some form of the “New Age” movement and find solace there.

NAM	CHRISTIANITY
God is an impersonal force.	God is personal. He is our Heavenly Father who loves us.
God is all and all is God. He is part of creation, as are all of us.	God is the Almighty Creator of the universe and all within it. Man is finite, and one of God’s creations.
There is no sin, only misunderstanding of truth.	Rebellion from God is sin. All have sinned, and all must be saved to escape the “second death”.
Man saves himself.	Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Only through faith in Him may man be saved.
Heaven and Hell do not exist. They are states of mind.	The Bible clearly teachers that there is a literal Heaven, and a literal Hell.
Jesus is a man who exemplified “Christ Consciousness, and the divinity that is man.	Jesus is the Son of God, and is part of the triune nature of God.

Sourced from Contender Ministries, with some of my own thoughts added into the chart.

What then is the “second death” and where can we find reference made to it?

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” (Revelation 2:11)

With the second death will come "hurt", how a person can feel pain if there is no life in them is beyond our reasoning, stab a dead man as see if he cries out in pain, he obviously won’t! This death then speaks about death that has feelings attached to it.

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)

Here we see that whoever is part of the first resurrection will not be harmed by the second death. In other words all who repent and find forgiveness in and through the Lord Jesus Christ will escape the power of the second death.

And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14)

All who end up in hell will ultimately end up as partakers of the second death, which is a place of torment, a conscious awareness of pain as those that find themselves in the lake of fire will wail and gnash their teeth in anguish.

But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

It is clear that all sinners, even those who have ever lied only once and have not found forgiveness, repenting in and through the person, the Lord Jesus Christ will end up in this lake that burns with fire and brimstone.

The bible has spoken and that is what it has to say about the second death, do you believe what it says or will you ignore its warning?

Signing off

Tyrone