Wind!

(Genesis 8:1) “…God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;”

The wind is obvious to all, it cannot be missed! Yet we do not know where it comes from, or where it starts and we have no idea where it will end. Yet God in His Sovereign plan with creation included the wind, and we see that He uses it at times to bring healing and at times to bring judgment. However, we see after the flood when God had judged the world by water He brought a wind to clean up all that was submerged. We also see that the Lord Jesus makes reference to the spiritual birth as a wind when addressing a religious man who thought He was saved but yet was not and still needed salvation. He likens our regeneration to the wind and how it is available for all to witness and yet it only affects some of us as we see His glory and our eyes are opened to see heaven for the first time, heaven’s door is visible and we suddenly have an urgency to enter through that door, even though we may have been brought up in a church going household. We were dead in our trespass and sins until the Lord Jesus said come forth and we saw our sin and our need for a Saviour. We then fell to our knees in repentance and called out to the One who was able to save, praise the name above every other name, praise the One who knew no sin yet the One who died for sinners, yes there was a day when we came face to face with our Saviour, ALL THOSE WHO NOW BELIEVE, God the Spirit has always been around probing the heart of sinners just like the wind, but I recall that day very clearly when that breeze blew and touched my life and opened my eyes to the need of a Saviour and then it happened. If you have been fingered by Him, do you remember that familiarity, are you grateful to your first love? Do you recall what He has done for you, I do and am thankful! Maybe not nearly thankful enough but my love for Him is growing on a daily basis, for this I am thankful. I trust you relationship is fresh and you have embraced Him today, if not then remember He say “Come”, He is not harsh and unapproachable, as I have been with people in my life at times, please forgive me Lord. If sin keeps you from Him it is simple, repent and ask Him for forgiveness, He will forgive you, just turn to Him, He is willing and able.

I have been surrounded by wind on my bike and it has got me thinking, hence me considering the importance of it.

Everything in life in one form or other points to our creator, it declares His majesty, His brilliance and reveals a portion of God’s never ending attributes. They are so vast and have such depths that we could never explore all of His Elements, but that doesn’t mean we must not try! Read the Psalms they filled with glimpses of who He is. God is love, which is not just a casual statement, HE IS LOVE! His character is full of love, yes we see judgments and destruction by God where He brutally destroys the enemy’s who oppose His people. Love has to protect their own. Yet with all His power, consider how a God with the ability to do whatever He chooses, then selects to send His Son to die for those who are His enemies, if that does not floor any doubt that God is Love, then you must not be able to reason soundly. Look at this verse that Paul uses to illustrate this very point; (Romans 5:6-8) “For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

So to all of you who are battling to see your hope clearly, but you look forward to one day that you will make it to heaven to ever be with the Lord Jesus, remember this, that if God sent His son to die for you while you were His enemy, how much more will He save you by His life, if you belong to Him He will not give up on you, He will get you home. Believe it as it is true.

Signing off

Tyrone

Come!

(Matthew 11:28) “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Christians have such a great shepherd, He is tender hearted and willing to carry if need be and he does go after His lost sheep, He is not lazy and slack with His commission of ushering many into the kingdom of God, into the street of Gold. He will accomplish all that the Father has requested from Him. Not only will He accomplish it all, but He will do it without spot or blemish, He will achieve what no one else can, as He is the Good Shepherd.

When I consider the demand of the law and the harshness of the Mosaic Law and all its intricacies I see a lot of doing, and yet I see the gentleness of our Saviour as He says, “Come.” When I look at other religions, even those that proclaim to fly the Christian banner, but they do not! I see a lot of self justification as people blindly endeavor to earn salvation by doing things, and yet Jesus says “Come.”

Do you see what a wonderful Saviour we have, I’ve said it before and I will say it again, it is not only the strong that will survive, praise God for the strong in faith, we need everyone of them, but no matter who you are or where you find yourself in this raging battle of unseen forces at war over your soul, remember that the Lord Jesus has already overcome, it is finished. I realize that it is hard to accept it is finished as we are still breathing and we are subjected to time. But it is over and done with the Lord Jesus declared that very truth before He breathed His last on that cruel tree, He cried clearly and precisely, “it is finished.” When I contemplate this truth a great swelling hope captivates me as I want to run and shout it to all and then I remember that I am in a room with no one around and so I settle and cried thank you to my God and Father for his love toward me in sending His Son to die for me. Even with all the ongoing struggles I face each and every day, I am not driven by a God who demands results from me, he says, “Come.” How I begin like never before to love this place of rest, thank you Jesus for beckoning me to, “Come.”

So wherever you may be this morning; whether you are in a valley or on a mountain top, remember to “Come.” “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” May your rest be sweet in Him, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

Jesus Only!

(Genesis 35:2) “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.”

The more I confront people with the Lord Jesus as the way, the truth and the life the more I realise how a social gospel begins more than ever to appeal to so many. Comments like it’s all the same God, it doesn’t matter what we call Him. It matters to such an extent that God Himself has infactically told us that He will not share His glory with another! Why would or why should He, there is no other God beside Him! This social tolerance that now will grow and begin to raise her voice with a vigorous determination is at the door waiting for the opportune time to make her grand entrance. She will cut an oppose all who will not tolerate the acceptance of all religions. If any religion discounts the work that our Glorious Saviour paid so dearly with His own life to save sinner, who where prior to salvation the enemies of God but now have enlisted in God’s army, we must, at all costs defend that selfless act of the Lord Jesus and we cannot and I will not accept any compromise on that truth. All have an opportunity to turn to Jesus repent and be saved, but they must come through the gate of Calvary, no other way will God accept! My encouragement for us all is to be gentle as doves but as wise as serpents, as the enemy is seeking to destroy the faith of the weak. But our Saviour will carry us through as He is willing and able, praise His name. However we must never succumb to the norm and demands placed on true believers to tolerate lies and accept them. There is only one way to heaven and God the Father and that is through his precious Son. His name is Jesus, not Mohammad, Buddha or the Dali Lama. The reason is very simple; all the other gods people worship never claimed that they died for sinner. It was the man Jesus who paid the price for sin by never sinning and yet He died for sinners. I appeal to you in love, as this reality will begin to become more taxing even to people living in democratic governments. We must be bold to confess our Saviour before all, especially those who oppose; it may even free them to believe. Everyone believes in something, even the atheist’s believe, they claim to believe nothing, which is not possible for we have been created with a searching soul. We must confess our Lord before men and He assures us that He will then confess us before His Father. (Matthew 10:32) “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” I do understand that we do not all have the same function in the body of Christ, so for some it is a lot easier to declare our allegiance to Him before others. But I am praying even now, that you may even if with stammer lips, but with confidence make it clear to others, if and when the occasion presents itself to confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and for boldness to make no exceptions by entertaining foreign gods.

He is the Way, the Truth and the life...

There is no other way to God the Father, no other sacrifice will ever be accepted, you can sell all you have and give it to the poor and it will still keep you out of heaven if you come in the name of another god. Jesus Christ the Lord is the only sacrifice God has and will ever receive, thank you Lord Jesus for dying for me, when I behold the magnitude of your glory, although it has been veiled so that I only get glimpses of you glory, tears of gratitude and joy floods my soul.

“God’s got an army marching through this land with healing in their hand,” is the word of a song. I would like to change it slightly and say, God has got an army marching through this land and we have truth in our hands. Lets us be bold with it and declared to every lost religion that Jesus is able to save, but it must be on His terms! They must, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.”

Signing off

Tyrone

Christ Only!

(1Corinthians 15:2) “By which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain.”

It is one thing to doubt our salvation because of our own short comings, because we find volatility a constant enemy. But must never find an excused in doubting our Saviour as the only Way, the only Truth and the most certainly the only one who can provide us with eternal life. If this comes into regular question then we must consider if we are truly saved. Salvation is a gift of God and we cannot earn it but we may seek it out, we have the opportunity to cry out onto God and wrestle with Him in earnestness to find His favour. But we must never lose sight of how it is we will find His support, it will only and always be through His Glorious Son, Jesus Christ the Lord, there can be and there will be no other way to find His goodwill. Therefore if you doubt His existence then I can assure you need salvation, I would encourage you to call out and repent of you unbelief, confess your sin to the Lord Jesus, step out in faith, trusting that God will do a work in you. When He acts it will be certain, how I love His ability to change people hearts and their perceptions. One day you think you understand and argue your point with others and the next day you humble find yourself sitting at the feet of Jesus and your perceptions have taken on a makeover as you now believe the truth and are no longer deceived with a lie. Thank you Jesus for your amazing act on Calvary and all that necessitates. Please be merciful for all those who struggle to see you as the truth, the way and the life.

For all of us who have seen and now understand that there can be no other way to the Father but by the Son, let us hold fast to the word that was preach and saved us. It was by the power of the Spirit, but it was through the preaching of the Word that cause life to revive us. Paul uses a strong tone in encouragement and instructs us to “hold fast” but we are to hold onto the Word which was preached, we must never forget the importance of sound doctrine. We must never make an allowance for any other god or anything that opposes the Word who is the Lord Jesus; (John 1:1) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We must remember not to give even an inch on this truth, never! It is so vital, it will carry us well into eternity and it will affect family and friends who have not yet bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus, it must as He has the power to quicken the dead to life. (John 1:12) “But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:” Therefore we must only preach and share what is true to others if we accommodate anything outside of Christ it will never be able to produce life, the sooner we learn this lesson, the more affective we will be as witnessing Christians. Paul puts it this way, (1Corinithians 2:2) “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

May your day be filled with boldness to declare your commitment unto the King of Kings, may your witness bring forth fruit to the Glory of our King.

Signing off

Tyrone

Take Courage!

(Jude 1:22-23) “And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

I must openly confess how I begin like never before to hate, yes hate, the fruit of my flesh as it persistently looks to produce sinful fruit against every good intention I may have to put it to death. This constant war we fight of the spirit which is good and holy, against the fallen flesh that can do nothing but sin. That however does not mean that we must to be slaves to sin, because we are now under the law of sin and death. We are now under the law of grace. (Romans 8:2) “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” What sin does is weakens my faith and therefore gets me to doubt my salvation. We must never accept sin in our lives, we must never condone it, the war and the battle against sin must be a constant resolve to put it away, whatever it may be. Our lives must constantly be full of repentance and humility before our gracious heavenly Father, if we sin and fall and we repent He is just and faithful and will forgive us of our sin. (1John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So my beloved sister if you find that life is squeezing so tightly that you find that you doubt you very own salvation, please remember it is not about what you have achieved but what Christ Himself did on that cruel Roman cross, He died for many and you where in His thoughts when the onslaught of the wicked one was upon Him. He was remembering the weak in faith, because not all will be strong, it was never meant to be that way. The weaker a believer is the more He needs to be carried, may we all remember what Peter so boldly taught “God resists the proud but He does give grace to the humble” and it is grace we all need to get us home. So be of good cheer, we have a Saviour who not only has the ability to get us to our heavenly quarters but is willing to achieve the very objective. He will accomplish what He has set out to do, and that is to present a spotless bride unto Himself before His Father in heaven. If you believe in your hearth that Jesus died for you and you believe that He rose from the dead and you confess this openly with your mouth, the bible very clearly teaches that you will be saved. Take courage all you that find doubt a constant companion, my great Saviour has conqueror every doubt they could throw at Him, He even had to confront His own Father turning His back on Him because of sin, our sin! He cried, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Look to Him if you suffer from doubt as He knows exactly what turmoil you are in, trust Him, He has overcome, He was victorious so you will also be victorious, even if you are unable to see it now. Call out to Him with all your entire being and He will restore your faith and strengthen you; He has the power to accomplish exactly that.

If we look back in history and use the bible as our reference, it does not surprise me that mankind has the same struggles from generation to generation. The dynamics of life take on a slightly different perspective, today we drive cars and are bombarded with marketing like never before, but the same enemy raged then as he does now. Sin is his weapon and to get us to fall into sin is his main objective. This truth must resonate deep within our minds and we must not glibly put it in the back of our psyche. We must constantly remember to wield the shield of faith and lunge with the sword of the spirit. We must believe God and His willingness to save all His children, do not believe the lies from the Father of lies, He was a liar from the beginning and He will continue to lie seeking out His own will, the will that defiantly resists all that God is and stands for. We are at war, so I encourage all of you who are somewhat bruise to lock hands with a brother or sister that will point you to Christ, we need each other, this is God’s design, the body of Christ is where we will be strengthened, so make sure at every possible opportunity you look to find yourself in fellowship with other believers and not with the enemy (unbelieving friends) that will feed you doubt. Avoid at all costs anything that will defile and stain the flesh with sin.

May God our ever knowing, ever powerful, the One who is full of mercy and grace hear our cry and He Himself pour in the oil and the wine to repair whatever needs repairing, so that we may serve Him with a clear conscience.

To Him be glory forever and ever Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

Loves Attributes.

(1Corinthians 13:1) “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

There are two parts that need to be considered with this verse, the first is to contemplate the tongues of men and of angels; in other words the languages of men and of angels. Secondly that without love I will be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, I will be piercing yet without any sweet melody. This morning I will leave you with what I believe Paul taught on this subject, I will try not to get side tracked, as I want us to consider love this morning. For me his teaching is clear, so much time and debate across Christian circles and from their pulpits have cause stumbling blocks to hinder sweet fellowship around our Saviour. He teachers that we must not forbid brothers to speak with other languages, (1Corinthians 14:39) “so, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.” Yet, it must be done with order, (1Corinthians 14:27) “If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.” The gift of tongues is orderly or at least should be! For someone to say that they have no control over the gift is contrary to scripture; (1Corinthians 14:32) “and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.” That simply means if I have the gift of speaking in tongues I also have the power to speak where and when I choose, I will not find I have no control over it. I may well have a great urge to use the gift as I am prompted by the Spirit to burst forth, but I will never be forced in that sense. However not everyone will speak with tongues to prove that they have received the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Spirit (Ghost) is different to receiving Him as a believer. In other words when God quickens someone who was dead and brings them to life they in turn receive the Holy Spirit. The point is that I do not hold to the premise that we must speak in tongues to prove we have received the Holy Ghost, but we must speak in tongues to claim the gift of tongues, that is one of the nine gifts of the Spirit. (1Corinthians 12:30) “Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” I trust you see the difference!

Be that as it may, regardless of where you may stand on this particular subject, I want us not to be so obsessed with a particular subject that it causes blindness that hinders our love one for another. Without love we are just hot air, sure I understand and agree that love and truth hold hands and will never be separated, as they complement one another. Love has a face that is beautiful to behold, it is hard to resist even if we are bitter. Consider a man at the feet of Jesus when He hung upon the cruel Roman cross as He cursed and mocked the King of glory, picture the Lord looking into the mockers eyes and crying out to His father, “Forgive him Father as he does not know what he is doing.” What would that cruel sinful man have left in him to continue with his railing accusations? We all have a conscience and although habitual sin will sear and dampen it, it nevertheless with never be totally extinguished. How often we forget our Saviour’s act of love when we are hard pressed by others even when we are in the right. This is what a Christians walk is all about, we need to lay our lived down for one another. We must never compromise truth, that would not be love, but in gentleness we must endeavour to win the gainsayer. Sight for every believer rest at the feet of almighty God and He will determine who is given repentance and who will not receive it. “God does resist the proud but gives grace to the humble.” We must never lose sight of the fact; we are what we are because of God’s grace and His mercy toward us. There is a great temptation amongst every believer, whether young or old to want to glory as if we are better than our brother, as many do have a cleaner track record. Praise God for them! But if we lose sight of the truth in this regard we may find the tumble painful. Paul reasons like this... (1Corinthians 4:7) “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” Love will acknowledge God’s mercy and grace in and through all. Let us look at her beauty; (1Corinthians 13:4-8) “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. May our God and Father grant us such love that we will never compromise His truth for error but that we would find such compassion deep within our hearts for the lost that all loves glorious attributes may become part of our characteristics in our endeavours to correct where needed and to “keep ourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” (Jude 1:21)

May the love of God silence every doubt that raises its head as we remember our Lords broken body and His shed blood on our behalf, bless His glorious name, Yes I say BLESS HIM, Amen.

Signing off

Tyrone

God's Test.

(Deuteronomy 13:3) “You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

How we love to hear good news, especially if we are the benefactors of that tiding. People play the lotto hoping for a life changing win, they seek out personal opinion hoping for information that will tickle their ears, we are at times drawn to seeking out such information and it will often be at the expense of God’s will for our lives. Yet at times we must confront this testing! It is God who tests, look at our text it tells us that people in authority (prophets) and dreamers (people who like to fortune tell) will at times tell you things that tickle the ear and it will be sweet to hear, but it will be contrary to God’s Word, what are we to do? The answer is a clear one; we must align all with scripture and sound doctrine. Why is this so important, you may ask? After all what harm does a little bit of positive news bring? It may be harmless, unless it is God who is testing your hearts and souls. Will we treasure Him before everything else is the question? I will remind you that God has spoken clearly and that no new revelation is required; Will we be satisfied with what we have received or not! Wherever we may find ourselves in life, rich or poor, sick or healthy, married or single it does not change what we have received in Him, our glorious Saviour.

Let us mull over what God has done for us! We were at one stage in our lives enemies of the cross, we were all on our way to hell and rightly so, and all because of the sin that ruled our lives. Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God became a man and lived without sin and then died for sin, so that all who would believe on Him could go free. We do not understand the magnitude of what this means if we even dare to give an ear to personal prophecy and read too much into dreams. We have received so much; we are now children of the only true and living God. Why are we not content with what we have in Him? I do not include all in this statement as I do not know your hearts but God does, so if you are clear in this matter may the Lord continue to bless and keep you. I on the other hand am guilty at times looking for an out to the trails of life, I must confess that I may even be tempted with my mind wondering with what someone once said to me through some premonition or a dream I once had. Be careful I say it could just be God testing our hearts. If He tests me I want to please Him by bring glory to His name, silencing the critics. Enough though much damage has been done by choices in my life, there will come a time when we all have to stand up and be countered. The shaking has begun! But then again God has always tested His people to see where their allegiance lies. He weathered them back in the days of Moses as He will need to weather us today to see if we will truly trust Him. Remember their rebellion back then; (Hebrews 3:8) “do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.” We need to be tested so that we can be strengthened by its trial; (James 1:3) “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Let us no longer run and look to the beggarly (the crumbs of blessings) elements but let us embrace our hope and let us be reminded of that great hope; We will one day forever be like our Saviour, we will be sons of God and He will be our God for eternity, not just a couple of years that some small worldly blessing may carry, there is no comparison, and we must not lose sight of our eternal hope. It is our hope that will feed and drive us to lay down our lives for one another. Look at the words of our beloved brother Paul who endure such hardship in bringing us God’s truth through his teachings that can now be found in this beloved book, the bible. Here is just one of His great encouragements to us as believers; (Romans 8:18) “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Let us with that in mind remember why we need testing, may God give us strength to resist foolish and vain babblings as all they will do is lead to more ungodliness, even if what is said appears to be from a godly source.

I tell you why I think this point I make is important, we are warned and I believe the caution is because God loves us so much that He wants to enlighten us to the future by using His Word He tells us that in the lasts days many will come to deceive, so we know now, let us not be caught off guard. How will the deception come? We are clearly told what to be on the lookout for; (2Timothy 4:3-5) “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering...”

It is obvious then hold fast to sound doctrine, be content with where you find yourself and remember to embrace your hope. May we remember to pray fervently for one another as the prayer of a righteous man will achieve much! We must also remember that we are righteous because of what Christ achieved on Calvary and not on what we accomplish. We stand justified because of His blood that was shed for us, all who believe.

Signing off

Tyrone

Stand-In

My days have been rather challenging of late and so I have left you in far better hands than myself... If you are interested in why I am posting my blog with C.H.Spurgeon, look at my other blog tyronektm690.blogspot.com

“So shall we ever be with the Lord.”

- 1Th_4:17

Even the sweetest visits from Christ, how short they are-and how transitory! One moment our eyes see him, and we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, but again a little time and we do not see him, for our beloved withdraws himself from us; like a roe or a young hart he leaps over the mountains of division; he is gone to the land of spices, and feeds no more among the lilies.

“If to-day he deigns to bless us

With a sense of pardoned sin,

He to-morrow may distress us,

Make us feel the plague within.”

Oh, how sweet the prospect of the time when we shall not behold him at a distance, but see him face to face: when he shall not be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night, but shall eternally enfold us in the bosom of his glory. We shall not see him for a little season, but

“Millions of years our wondering eyes,

Shall o’er our Saviour’s beauties rove;

And myriad ages we’ll adore,

The wonders of his love.”

In heaven there shall be no interruptions from care or sin; no weeping shall dim our eyes; no earthly business shall distract our happy thoughts; we shall have nothing to hinder us from gazing for ever on the Sun of Righteousness with unwearied eyes. Oh, if it be so sweet to see him now and then, how sweet to gaze on that blessed face for aye, and never have a cloud rolling between, and never have to turn one’s eyes away to look on a world of weariness and woe! Blest day, when wilt thou dawn? Rise, O unsetting sun! The joys of sense may leave us as soon as they will, for this shall make glorious amends. If to die is but to enter into uninterrupted communion with Jesus, then death is indeed gain, and the black drop is swallowed up in a sea of victory.

C.H.Spurgeon

Patience

How vast are God’s way, they far above our ways, we cannot even begin to at times contemplate His brilliance. Let me not speak for you; let me rather confess that I can’t! What I have in mind this morning; is when we seek God’s face but we seem to get a negative response, hence the word seem! For I do not believe that God can be negative as He is Light and by negative I mean He will never work and allow things to berate out in opposition to His will. We will often need to wait for prayer to be answered.

“Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day-he had to wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophenicia was answered not a word for a long while. Paul besought the Lord thrice that “the thorn in the flesh” might be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but instead thereof a promise that God’s grace should be sufficient for him. If thou hast been knocking at the gate of mercy, and hast received no answer, shall I tell thee why the mighty Maker hath not opened the door and let thee in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to himself for thus keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show his power and his sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold.” C.H.Spurgeon

We plan and pray but often the opposite seems to happen, that does not mean we are not being heard! Often it is because we are heard that God works with His children to will and do according to His good pleasure which is often contrary to our wills. But we must begin to learn to align our wills with His. This is a process that will continue until He comes to take us home or when we breathe our last. I am now due to unforeseen complications on my touring trip back in Bloemfontein, 270km further back than I was yesterday. Yet through it all with the bike not running and trying to fix it with my limited mechanical knowledge to no avail. I realize that if I had not broken down I would not have found the kindness of a total stranger and his help overnight. I hope that my witness spoke to Him of Christ’s saving grace and who knows where that will lead. My prayer remains the same, to draw every closer to my Saviour along this trip; I am confident this prayer will and is being answered. May the Lord open our eyes so that we may see with understanding. Remember all our prayers are filed in heaven and if not immediately answer they are not forgotten. Let not despair shut our mouths, but may we continue with earnest to offer up supplications to our heavenly Father in and through His Son our Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Signing off

Tyrone

Is that all I ask?

“To be like Jesus all I ask is to be like Him”, this comes from a song I sang years back, but it is quite a statement. When I consider His accomplishments, and there is so many that the bible tells us that if all His good deeds had been recorded all the books in the world would not be able to contain His accomplishments here on earth. Let that sink in, contemplate who this man was, and who it was that came to earth, born of a virgin and then died for the sins of mankind, who by default all because of Adam’s sin where and are still born as sinners. He never ever sinned, not once. Yes He was God in the flesh, he was subject to the volatility of the flesh, and He went through puberty like every other boy. If He stubbed his toe he would have felt the pain and so on.

I am obviously able to understand the body and its ailments, however the Lord Jesus was never born into sin as the seed that conceived Him was from God and not fallen man. He did however come from an ancestry that was promised to Abraham and we see that He came out of the lineage of Boaz, Ruth’s Husband, they had a Son Obed and then He has a son Jesse and then came David, who eventually became king. And Jesus was born to Mary down that line of parentage. So He was born through the lineage as the bible had predicted, yet without mans seed affecting His righteousness in sin. God impregnated Mary, a virgin woman with His seed and a child was born to her. She was his mother and it is right to say that she was the mother of Jesus the man but could never be the mother of God as God has neither beginning nor end; we must understand this error, as it is claimed in some religion circles even today. Mary is worship as the mother of God. God has no mother, for someone to have a mother it means that they must have a beginning they must be born or created: God was never born nor created! Jesus on the other hand was born as a child, God in the flesh, so His carnal life had a beginning, that is true but His spiritual life has always been. He is God! So God became a man, yet he never ever sinned, nonetheless He was tempted in every point like we are; now that is an amazing statement from the writer of Hebrews. (Hebrews 4:15) “For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Consider this man Jesus, what a man He was! He had faith so that He could walk on water; ah, you may say that as God He can do anything, well said, but remember He also understood the weakness of the flesh and all its potential hang-ups. It would be a good exercise to ponder some of His exploits and challenges, think about His life on earth and then stand back with your mouth ajar, gob smacked by the man Jesus, bless His name!

What a great Saviour, thank you Jesus for dying for me.

“So all I ask is to be like Jesus”, is that all Mr. Songwriter! The truth is that we will be like Him, when we see Him as He is we will receive a body Like His, what a day that will be. I move my arm as I type and I feel the twitch of tennis elbow, my leg is stiff from my fall yesterday and my body aches just from the ridding my motorbike. A day will come where there will be no more pain, this is a fact my beloved family in Christ, we will be changed, “it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” There is a day coming in the not too distant future when we all that believe and confess Jesus as Lord will receive a body like His, we will forever live in His presence with God as our Father, even so come quickly Lord Jesus!

Signing off

Tyrone

Bethlehem

(Matthew 2:1) “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem…”

This is my first post away from the comforts of my own home. I am in Bethlehem, a town that carries the same name as the town that had so many good beginnings for others in biblical times. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, although we are never taught to remember His birth in God’s canon, which is a tradition that crept in somewhere in history along this ongoing spiritual battle, as Satan endeavors relentlessly to discredit Christ’s work on Calvary. How you may ask? What on earth does father christmas have to do with the birth of Christ, get the picture! If we go back to the origin of this Christmas celebration it originated from pagan religion. However, our Saviour’s work is finished and it will accomplish what it has set out to achieve, I am grateful for this truth. Naomi and Ruth found a good new beginning in Bethlehem and David also had part to play in that town; (John 7:42) Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

I was drawn to start my trip with Bethlehem as a starting point; I also hope it may have good beginnings for me. I do not want to enter into the realm of superstition but am hopeful to come away from my travelling rest, well nourished in Christ.

Consider the account of Ruth, here was a desperate situation and such faithfulness shown by her to her mother-in-law Naomi, that it does not surprise me when I see examples like this that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confined the wise. (1Corinthians 1:20) “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

When we look to examples like we find in the book of Ruth it is very encouraging to know that we have a God who will never forsake His children, He only wants what is best for us. We must trust and obey; it can get rather tiring at times along this sand beaten road toward the Celestial City, but the road has be travel and defeated, Christ has conquered! Think of a runner running a marathon, whilst in the race and on the road with the end in sight he plods along with one intention and that is to finish. This race will eventually end; there will come a day when we will no longer have to fight temptation and the wickedness of sin. A day, when we will finally look into our Saviour’s eyes, and what a date that will be! Even so with that thought fresh in my mind, even so, come quickly my King. However while there is still hope for others let us remember to share our hope with them, never thinking that a person will not respond, God is ever gracious and full of mercy and it is now the time where His mercy is available to the whosoever. His judgment has not yet arrived! So tell others about this glorious Saviour of ours, it may just be the day that God chooses to open someone’s eyes. Be merciful Father I pray and bring me across the path of whoever you wish me to speak to about the amazing accomplishments of your Son, my Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Bethlehem is also a town teething with bird life; however the ring is somewhat different with a rooster claiming dominance.

Signing off

Tyrone

The Word is True!

(Romans 10:11) For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

I am forced to think about my own failure in life when I read this verse, completely opposite to the victory that Christ will achieve in so many failed individuals who now are believers. It is all about Him and not about us! He is the alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I have to deal with so much disappointment that I reflect upon and often, yet I am sanctified by the blood of the Lamb, in spite of my disillusionments. How we all often need reassuring, without my Saviour’s bold comfort I would be of all men most miserable. Thank you Lord Jesus for this great truth that helps me understands my position in you. I know that I will not be put to shame. My mind is flooded with accusations and doubt wants its part, but “Let God be true and every man a liar!” The Word of God, the bible must have access to my thought process even to the expense of my emotions. I must not place my emotional state above the truth of God’s word. This text is a perfect example of a fact that will happen for all who have been sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ. “Everyone who believes in Him...” we see that without exception, everyone (every person) that believes in Christ,”...will not be put to shame.” Shame is something we regret. By we are told that we will have no regret! Thank you Lord Jesus for this great encourage and the truth that I belong to you and I must not dwell on my failures but remember your victory. May all who proclaim the name of Jesus find grace and strength in and through our great High Priest to walk with this mindset and not to find that we are still conformed to this world and all its lies? I believe this is what Paul refers to in Romans; (Romans 12:2) “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.” He is telling us to believe scripture and when we are instructed by it, to walk under its teaching. If we find this hard to do, then we must ask God to forgive us for our unbelief and He will be just to restore us in love. This is what we should ask and pray for, and then we will be confident in receiving God’s blessing. We will receive because we are aligning our wills with His Word and when we do this, our Father is well please! Help us Father find your will for our lives, Amen

Signing off

Tyrone

Hope For Some Not All!

(Timothy 2:13) “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

In this world of ours there are so many suggestions to differing solutions. There is an opinion for almost anything. We love to speak with an authoritative tone even when we have very little knowledge on a particular issue. This however is just a fact of life and we will more often than not have an opinion as we all in one form or another demand the right to be heard. But that is not true for all on the above statement; “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Not everyone can say that they wait with anticipation for the day when Jesus Christ will appear and come to take the church as His bride. That day will be glorious to behold, but only for some! Will it be glorious for you? No matter what opinion you hold to on this fact, God has determined it and that day will come as a thief in the night. He has announced it for all with eyes to see and its truth can be found in the pages of the bible. It saddens my heart to think about how lost so many are, but then I am reminded of how lost I once was. “While there is breathe there is hope!” We must always remember this truth! Only once we breathe our last, will we be subject to the judgement of God; (Hebrews 9:27) “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” You see we all must stand before the judgement seat of God and we will appear alone without the beliefs of others helping our sentence. What have you done with Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf? It will no longer matter what other have done or said, it will come down to what you did with the Lord Jesus. We all have heard, I have not found anybody of late that has not heard of how the Lord Jesus became a man, God in the flesh and came to die in the place of sinner for their sin. We all deserve death and hell but God who is rich in mercy poured out his love to sinners that while they were yet enemies He sent His only begotten Son to die and pay the price for their sin. Almost all have heard the truth of the glorious gospel, the coming of our Bridegroom must be close, our King, the king of kings, the great I Am will return soon to rapture all those who have repented as sinners and turned to received God’s provision for forgiveness of their sins in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Just a reminder that no other religion will save you as it was the person of Jesus Christ that came and lived on earth as a man, without sin and then die in the place of sinners. This is why true Christianity is an exclusive religion. This is why the bible is able to make bold statements like; (John 10:9) “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

This verse is exclusive and only in and through the Lord Jesus as the door can a man enter in and be saved, and once he is save he will find pasture. What a beautiful field this meadow is! But it is only beautiful if you are entitled to the nourishment it provides. You must be born again! Why? Well just like your natural birth had a beginning, your spiritual journey also needs a beginning. You may have gone to church as a youth, you may have even been baptised as a baby. This does not begin your spiritual journey as a factual truth; it may have given you awareness about spiritual things. You could possibly liken many people's understanding of religion to a vaccination. A vaccination is a minute amount of a particular disease that they administer to someone so that they are infected with the ailment, yet they are given just enough so that their body can build antibodies to the particular threat and not get the illness. This is exactly what many religions end up accomplishing, they give you a little bit of truth with a lot of error, just enough to keep your conscience satisfied but not enough to be saved by the actual truth of God’s Word. You remain dead in your trespass and sins until you repent and believe on the Lord Jesus in full. (Rom 10:9-11) “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." This is when your eyes are opened and this is what it means to be born again. I grew up in the catholic faith as my late nonna (grandmother) was Italian and a devout catholic, yet I remained dead in my trespasses and sins until I was a man and force to make my own pronouncement on what Christ sacrifice meant to me? At the Age of twenty two He found me and I found life and was born again and now because of that encounter I am able to see. I pray that you will receive sight to see whoever you may be. If you say I do see, then praise God for His unfathomable mercies and we can say with assurance that we are “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Even so come quickly Lord Jesus!

Signing off

Tyrone

PS (please forgive me if I am unable to blog as regularly and timely as I have been, as my trip may start today. I have titled it "My Soul Seeking Adventure", that does not mean I am looking for a new truth just a deeper understanding... :-)) You can follow my travels if you like on http://tyronektm690.blogspot.com/

The Plans of a Man.

(Proverbs 16:9) “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”

It is that time of the year again, the countdown to 2010 has begun and many are planning their year-end break. I am also in the throes of venturing off into the sunset as I head south east into unvisited terrain, undetected to me at least. I have almost prepared my KTM 690 for our adventure, the saddlebags, long range tanks and my cameras all hazard box is in place. If it was not for the hole in my radiator I would be preparing to leave this morning. Hopefully, Lord willing I will get that seen to today so that I can then be on my way. Here is a classic example on how we should view daily living; look at our text, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” I could of been on my way today but I am not going to be able to leave now as I encountered an unexpected problem. We must always remember that we belong to the Lord and that He directs our steps. Lord willing I will do such and such! When we say we will do this and that, do we not speak brashly? We think we have everything under control, but examine your life and how it pans out, has it not gone against your bold words at times. I love the way the saints of old used to speak as if it was daily dialect, they would say, “Lord willing” almost with every sentence. Plan by all means but remember we need to tackle only one day at a time, we need to deal with our daily challenges, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. The words to a gospel song come to mind, “One day at a time sweet Jesus is all I ask of you.”

Holiday and rest is a vital part of our existence, it has been instituted by God and therefore sanctioned by Him. It is good to rest; (Genesis 2:2) “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.” The fourth commandment instructs us, (Exodus 20:8) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” And how were they to do that? It tells us later on in the chapter; “but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.”

I personally feel that we should keep the principle of the Sabbath alive to our daily living. Why? Well there is a greater principle than just the keeping the law. The law is a teacher to prove to us that we need a Saviour; we are unable to keep the law because of sin and our fallen state as sinners. But the rest that God shows us, in resting on the Sabbath, speaks about our hope and ultimately our eternal rest as believers. So, when we remember the Sabbath and rest one day out of the week, it should remind us of our rest that will finally be ours in the New Jerusalem, thus igniting our hope to encourage us to lay down our lives for one another. It will set fire to our hope and drive us to find grace so that we may present our bodies a living sacrifice. So then rest is good, but where we often make our mistake is how we chose to rest. We often as believers rest in the wrong places and expose ourselves to unrighteousness as we think it is just a holiday and we need to recharge, so it doesn’t matter if we drop our guard a little. It matters! That is exactly the time the devil and his warriors are most active. We must remember to put on the armour of God even in our rest. Although God has sanctioned rest, we must in our respite be vigilant, how are we to do that you may ask? I believe we must resolve to set aside a time, preferably the morning to devote our thoughts to prayer and a quite time in God’s word. We should easily be able to do this as we now have a new routine outside of our normal work schedule. This must be a time predetermine otherwise we may never get to it. We must also “consider the lilies”, we can and must enjoy our rest and God’s creation, and this in turn will get us to marvel at our great Creators awesome power and majesty as He spoke the creation into subsistence. Rest means exactly that, so find rest in all that is good, enjoy your break, but always remember true rest will only come from the one who has the ability to give rest, Jehovah, the only true living God. If we remember Him in our rest, surely He will remember to give us rest!

Signing off

Tyrone

Ps I have posted a new website/blog for my “Ktm soul searching adventure”. That should get underway, Lord willing by tomorrow. I will endeavour to keep the post updated but obviously as I may be out of range, I will, when possible post to that blog.

http://tyronektm690.blogspot.com.

The Perfect Husband!

(Song of Solomon 4:7) “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.”

This is some statement, and hard for my mind to process. Naturally it is foreign to my understanding as I see many flaws when I look in the mirror, but only because I am carnal and sold under sin. The Lord Jesus will present His bride (church) without spot or blemish on that day. So then when I consider this fact and I look at my life what do others conclude? I see that I am constantly at war with my conscience; (Hebrews 9:14) “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

This is why scripture is of utmost importance as it is a compass for our lives, what we must believe and how we are to think as Christians. We are new creatures in Christ, if the spirit of Christ dwells in us. If this is true we need to use the bible to keep out the confusion and the lies. Even if we think with a different mindset to scripture we must never place feelings or emotions above the truth of scripture. (Romans 3:4) “By no means! Let God be true though everyone were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."

Look at how Christ views His bride in the Song of Solomon; “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.” But there seem to be many, my God! When I look in the mirror I realise that I am miles off Christ’s example, O how I long be to be more like Him! Yet although this is true as I look at my life and the mistakes I have made, and when I look around at others I see similar fruit, but then I am reminded that it is not my sacrifice that God our Father has received. It was never any of our sacrifices that please God and they never will in that sense. He was well please in His beloved Son. (Matthew 17:5) "...This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Once again we are reminded of Christ perfect work on Calvary, His sacrifice time-honoured by the only true God, His father. I love you Lord Jesus, no matter wherever our minds look to deceive us, by luring us into believing a liar, you are quick through your word to bring understanding. My soul loves it when I see Jesus high and lifted up. Lift Him even higher I pray!

Look at this verse, “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.” What? Excuse me; your church is all together lovely! Look at our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus He does not make mention of the flaws in the church, in fact He says there is no flaw in her. What husband is able to overlook his wife’s imperfections, he will possibly accept them by not be able to ignore them. The Lord our great husband, not only accept but He sees no flaw. He does not say He will remove the spots one by one and deal with the blemishes as and when He sees fit to do it. In the law, any animal that had a spot or blemish was unfit for sacrifice; (Leviticus 1:10) “If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish.” “If he had said there is no hideous scar, no horrible deformity, no deadly ulcer, we might even then have marvelled; but when he testifies that she is free from the slightest spot, all these other forms of defilement are included, and the depth of wonder is increased. If he had but promised to remove all spots by-and-by, we should have had eternal reason for joy; but when he speaks of it as already done, who can restrain the most intense emotions of satisfaction and delight”

What really amazes me is that Christ does not quarrel with His wife, she often wanders from him, and grieves his Holy Spirit, but he does not allow her faults to affect his love. “He sometimes chides, but it is always in the tenderest manner, with the kindest intentions: it is “my love” even then.” How great is our God, how vast His amazing love, my lips can barely start to declare the abundance of His never-ending love. When I look at my husband’s example and then look at mine as a husband, I am left gutted! Yet, there is still hope for me, thank you Jesus. “There is no remembrance of our follies, he does not cherish ill thoughts of us, but he pardons and loves as well after the offence as before it. It is well for us it is so, for if Jesus were as mindful of injuries as we are, how could he commune with us? Many a time a believer will put himself out of humour with the Lord for some slight turn in providence, but our precious Husband knows our silly hearts too well to take any offence at our ill manners.”

It was only Christ sacrifice that the Father accepted. It will never be any other sacrifice, may we never forget this. May this truth drive us to love one another and lay our lives down for each other. God grant us grace for today, so that our lives would speak of our Saviour love, amen.

Signing off

Tyrone

A Reminder!

(Genesis 15:1) "...Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."

How often do I disregard the wiles of the enemy, I need to be constantly reminded that all those enlisted in the army of the King of Kings and who has a general that goes by the name of "Lion-Lamb" must remain fit, alert and on the lookout for the enemy. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (Ephesians 6:12) “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This text tells us that we must not be lost in the mundane cares of this life, blaming our siblings in the Lord for the difficulties they may bring upon us. Our battle goes far deeper than the surface. There is a war that rages violently and we are the target. All those who have enlisted have been singled out. Let us not lose sight of this fact! With that understanding we are then able to view the trials of life with a different perspective. It will help us deal with issues with a level of maturity as we are no longer caught off guard. Knowledge is a wonderful gift from God. Yesterday was World Aids Day and I was privileged enough to address five Companies on what it means to live with HIV. There is a lot of information on the subject and people have been warned about its dangers and so they have been told! They have received the information, what they do with it now is entirely up to them. Will they make that knowledge their own? In like manner, will we take lessons from God’s Word and with the awareness we receive from God the Holy Spirit, will we embrace it and use it to help us in time of need. Will we? We must! I have encounter HIV suffers who have heard about the dangers of HIV but never taken the virus seriously, to their damage, they are no longer with us. So it is obvious, if we have medication that will keep us alive from a deadly virus, then we must adhere to its protocol and if we don’t, well then we must not be surprised if death is prominent. The brilliance and the beauty of our position in the Lord are extremely unique. We stand enlisted in God’s army with Christ as our righteousness, please let that sink in! He has defeated the devil but now the devil rages against us so that we will look outside our covering in Christ and he does this by enticing us with the cares of life, he distracts our attention. Be alert and do not be easily diverted. We are of the family of Abram, we have been adopted into his promise; "...Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." If we are part of this family then we are entitled to our inheritance in the life to come, but we must remain faithful unto the end. In order to remain faithful we must have knowledge and make it our own and then call upon it when need. Simple enough, but we are so often distracted, I am so often distracted. We must however grow-up and begin to stand against the schemes of the devil. We would not be told to put on the armour of God if it wasn’t needed, it is needed! (Ephesians 6:13) “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” Have you ever considered why we need a shield? In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, as it is one of the biggest threat to our existence as Christians, when we walk in unbelief. It will eventually lead to disobedience and then the threat of not entering into heaven becomes a real one. We must remember that it is Christ who was the victor on Calvary’s cross. We are sanctified by Him and not by our own efforts. Because of His victory, we must walk as He walks in triumph, remembering that our conquests solely depend in Him and nothing else. Move away from this mindset and the enemy has lured us in to believing a lie. In Christ alone I stand! But I must find grace on a daily basis to be reminded of this truth, and when grace is my portion I am able to wield this shield with skill and when the fiery darts are violently fired at me I am able to stand using the shield of faith to defend myself. Christ is exalted, He is magnified and the enemy is silenced.

May our confidence remain solely upon the finished work of our magnificent Saviour, the one and only Christ Jesus our Lord, the One who is now seated at the right hand of the Father who makes intersession, day and night, for His sheep? He is the great shepherd, may we never wander so far that He is out of sight. May we have our eyes fix on Him and may we learn from Him. We love you lord Jesus; give us courage to confess you before men. As you have taught us if we confess you before men you will confess us before your Father. How I long for that day!

Signing off

Tyrone

The Perfect Sacrifice

(Hebrew 10:12) “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

I love the sound of birds in full song as the sun is yet to break the horizon. They seem so full of life and their melody so sweet to the ear. I wonder how sweet the fruit of my life is to our Heavenly Father. I wonder when I cry out to Him is it sugary to His ear. It will be saccharine when I consider His grandeur, His will and when I present my body as a living sacrifice. However when I am all about self and no longer thankful for my Saviours forfeit here on earth, then I must be rather unsavoury. If likened to a bird in the early hours of the morning, I would probably fly with the noisy and aggravating birds that cry in the early hours of the morning waking people up before the buzz of their alarm clocks, leaving them rather irritated and not thankful.

When I look into the mirror, it then dawns on me, why and what it meant for Jesus Christ to be sent from God the Father to die on a cruel cross and pay the price for sin.

With great reverence I want us to try and put ourselves in God’s shoes this morning and try reason from His point of view. I realise this is almost impossible as He is so far above us in every way, but let us just consider his dealings with man. He created Adam after His likeness an in His image. The creator the one in control, the designer with the final say had a plan and he gave Adam instruction. Which Adam followed for a time until sin entered in and he disobeyed. Death then became a reality to them as their son eventually killed his brother, Cain killed Able! God then witnesses a somewhat horrific role that sin and death play on His creation. In fact man becomes so sinful that He determines to destroy them. Let us think about our Fathers emotions at this point in time; (Genesis 6:5-7) “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. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." Even the animals would now pay for mans sin.

I do realise it is hard for us to think as God thinks but let us try to understand how He was feeling in this place in history. What if I had the capabilities to design something that would aid me in daily living, let’s say I could design a robot; this robot would tend for me, clean and cook. On completion of the project I started it up and find instead of cleaning it make a mess and when it cooked it burnt everything. I do not think for one second that I would leave it to its own devises; I would unplug it and end its life right there and then. I may try and fix it but if it was unfixable I would destroy it, I am convinced of that. Thank God, that Noah found favour in His eyes and through him and his offspring the world was re-populated.

Then Moses has his encounter with God in the Wilderness and he is singled out to rescue the children of Israel out of slavery, in Egypt, on God’s command. The means in which God chooses to rescue them is a graphical display of His awesome power. Plague after plague depicts His sovereignty and His ability to shape and mould even peoples heart for His good pleasure; (Exodus 9:12) “But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses.” God in total control, even if you think He is not, He was and always will be in control. Moses is given the law of God. The Ten Commandments and is instructed to command his people to follow it. They follow well at times and terribly in other periods. A sin offering is required by the law for the forgiveness of sins. I want us to consider what this entailed. When a sin was committed then a sin offering was require to cover that sin an animal was to be sacrificed. An animal had to bleed to cover God’s requirement as He cannot bare sin, and is an offense to Him. Think about this ritual and the logistics it brought with it. It had to be repeated over and over and often for the same sin. Think of God’s patience in and through it all. Eventually, although the law is good and was instituted to teach us that we are sinful by nature and we cannot because of Adam’s fall keep God’s law, the law taught us that we needed a Saviour, we cannot save ourselves and need help and that is why God sent His Son to pay the price for sin. God is Love and this proves it! When the Lord Jesus cried out, “it is finished” that is exactly what He meant. The battle had been won, no more need to offer daily sacrifices so that we could find our acceptance before a holy God. “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” No longer does God require an ongoing sacrifice that is why I am able to commune with the only true living God, because I am covered and acceptable in the beloved all because of His sacrifice. God no longer looks at my sin but accepts me, because Jesus became a curse on my behalf so that I can go free. This is important to understand; if I sin and feel that because of my sin I am not worthy of God’s acceptance, then I undermine Christ’s work on Calvary, I am received because He was able not because I am able. The danger we as humans face in this truth is that we might feel that because we have been freed that we can continue in sin that grace may abound. The truth never changes; we should and will not have this attitude if we understand the magnitude of what it meant for Christ to die for me. But in theory, my sin has no bearing on my acceptance into God’s presence, I am only ever accepted because God the Father was happy with His Son’s sacrifice and sees His righteousness and not my sin. I trust we understand this truth. May we find liberty in serving our God as we have been freed from the law of sin and death? The war rages on but with correct thinking we can march on joyously to the Celestial City. Remembering the hope that is set before us, and may it squeeze ever so tightly that we must be reminded to breathe.

Signing off

Tyrone