Obedience is better than sacrifice

(Hebrews 5:8) “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”

Obedience is better than sacrifice; it’s only when we find tractability to the call of God in our lives that we will truly benefit.

Not to say that sacrifice does not have its place in God’s economy, it obviously does, but obedience out shines sacrifice. When we look to unearth any truth from God’s Word we must always land upon the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the pivot of all things; He is the Rock, the Christians Rock! Sacrifice was introduce into the Torah (the five books of Moses) and in fact, later we learn that sacrifice was a teacher which ultimately leads us to Christ, the law teaches us that we are rotten to the core and that we need a Saviour. It reveals how far we have fallen when we mirror ourselves against the Lord Jesus Christ. My comparison does not look at a Sovereign God per say, but rather it guises at Christ the man. He kept the law in its entirety, he walked a perfect sinless life, and we haven’t! Nevertheless as he hung upon the cross charged for an offence he never committed, these were some of his dying words; And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) – Even in the final stages of his painful death his thoughts were about forgiveness and mercy; you can look as far as you like through the pages of history and you will not find another like him, God in the flesh, God became a man and lived amongst mankind and paid the price for their sin, WOW!

We on the other hand look to find justification by sacrifice rather than through obedience, it is a natural tendency with society with mankind looking to establish “good works”, which in fact in God’s economy is dead. It is so far removed from His righteousness that those types of works are classified as “filthy rags”; bandages used in binding diseased leapers. God has made a way for us to find His favour and that is in and through His beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ; He is the only “way” we will find God and build a relationship with Him; He is the only “truth” and anyone who tells you that there is another way to heaven, is A LIAR! And although we may feel that we live, we shall all taste death as we know it but to avoid the second death and to find “life” we must be born again; simply put, we must turn to Christ by owning our own sin and repenting of our unbelief whilst asking the Lord Jesus to open our eyes to His truth and when that happens, that is the greatest gift of all. You cannot fake belief!

We must stop trying to earn our own salvation and turn to Christ as we seek out His forgiveness by placing Him first in our lives. The Christian faces a danger which is this; we sometimes fall into one of the fleshes traps and think we can manage our account with God by keeping the law, His law! That is an impossible request because we are sinners by nature. We stray from this truth; we are saved by grace through faith which is a gift from God. It’s not the keeping of the law which saves us, but once we have been saved by the finished work of the cross we can revert back to our own abilities as we look for self justification in doing what is right in accordance with the law. In other words salvation begins with the Spirit (Christ) and it must end with Him as our head. We must never lose our dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The unbeliever does not believe this and trusts that if they are good enough they will gain entry into heaven, they are wrong! Here are two impossible verses and a hard to swallow, but impossible to overlook until we have been regenerated by the Spirit of God; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)   

We need to asks ourselves why and then find the reasons for this truth so that we may benefit from our findings. Once again we could dig deep and unearth the truth behind this as we study the Greek words originally penned on this topic, and there is much to-do on it.  However the point I look to unearth when writing this blog is to find an answer to a thought that the Holy Spirit has placed upon my mind. If what I pen leaves you wanting more, remember to look deeper into the scriptures, confirming the answers with your own study. The thoughts I am given are not contrived, but positioned into my mind and this normally happens when I stir in the mornings. I then look for confirmation in unpacking that though with God leading and the Bible as my guide. There is nothing cultish about it, it is just a guy looking for answers concerning his well-being and if I can help others along the way, then I am content…    

Although Christianity is a collective religion, it most certainly stems from an individuals encounter with Christ. It is imperative that we all realise that regardless of the predicaments we find ourselves in, we must all come to a place of obedience. Some areas in our lives remain alive and well even through we know that they should have died a long time ago. If we do not embrace this truth we will not grow in grace and truth the way we should. The real test is this, will we remain true to our heavenly Father without the frills of this world engulfing our ecospheres? What about our health and the times when we never seem to get through the gnawing results of fatigue due to some ailment holding us back, which we can never seem to put our finger on. Whatever our circumstances they have been tailor made to teach us to learn obedience to our heavenly Father. We may find some discipline when it comes to sacrifice as we learn to apply certain remedies to our walks which turns out to be helps. But as good as some of those disciplines may be, they will never keep us from the ultimate test, facing death as a Christian or when a believer is required to bury their child. This world as we know it has its purpose and when we strip it down it is a vessel that through suffering teaches us to cry out to God seeking out His grace and this will only truly happen when we are in need. Without necessity we have no reason to call out, we are self-sufficient and endeavour to prove that we can handle life by ourselves. 

Many things are beyond our control, it is those things that drive us in understanding our need for a Saviour, and it’s those very things that teach us obedience. There is an undisputable truth which when overlooked robs us of our peace. As a man, if the Lord Jesus had to learn obedience through suffering, what chance do we have in shirking that reality? It is obvious, the higher the calling, the greater the suffering. It is our suffering which glorifies our great God, in spite of the hardships people witness if and when they witness the obedience of the saints it’s these actions that silences the gainsayer.

Suffering is the enemy of the flesh, but a brother of the Spirit. Let me leave you with this encouragement “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” This life is only preparation for the live to come, let us never loose sight of that truth. Some will be resurrected to eternal life whilst other will spend eternity in hell. This is a truth that cannot be overlooked if we are honest with the information gleaned from the Bible.

Signing off

Tyrone

God is Sovereign

(Ephesians 1:9)  “… Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ”

It would be good for mankind to understand that God is Sovereign. For when we apply that correctly within the bounds of our own worlds, the peace of God begins to shadow our lives. We must find it in our minds to believe that whatever God has resolved to do, will come to pass; do you believe this? This is the question that we often wrestle with when we are unhappy with certain outcomes that do not go according to plan, especially with the issues of life that leave us deflated instead of exalted. This is an undeniable fact that the angles in heaven have already reconciled. They have witness the Sovereignty of God and it has been settled in their minds.  God has His plan for mankind and the universe, which shall come to pass. Just because we cannot reconcile most of what He has planned in a perverse and wicked generation does not mean that He isn’t in complete control. All this proves is that we do not completely govern our destinies.

We question so many unappealing things we witness; the sex trade, drugs, poverty, same sex marriages, hatred, and the well-being of our planet and yet as hard as we try to make a difference all we prove is that we are not in control. For if we were our world would be far healthier that it actually is. What about diseases and how we continually strive to find remedies and then what about death? For how long have mankind looked to short-circuit or even escape death. The Egyptians and the Pharaohs mummified their bodies in the hope of being resurrected. Once we understand our desperate state it will aid us in crying out to someone sovereign to rescue us and help us understand so many of the unanswered question we fight with. This is why faith is imperative in a believer’s life; it proves God’s sovereignty, regardless of the doubters around us. We have seen the light, our eyes have been open to the fact the Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. It all begins with that realisation! Once that truth has been triggered the rest will follow; call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, once you have been saved you will begin to see the brilliance of God and how His sovereignty reins over all things, even when we see negativity within our life-cycles, we are able to see beyond the veil of uncertainty, knowing that it will all work our favourably for the Christian. Our God is in control and He always will be, HE IS SOVEREIGN!

We only have to read the Bible to understand the Sovereignty of God at play. As a rule books are good, we have all heard the phrase; “the pen is mightier than the sword”, but the Bible is better, it helps and gives us insight into the Sovereignty of God and it reveals His attributes, which we need in order to develop our relationship with Him. 

With this understanding, the next questioned we need to ask ourselves is how does our will fit into the overarching Sovereignty of God and this is where we get a glimmer of the brilliance of God if we would dare to seek it out. I suppose the hardest issue of all, is to reconcile “free will” within the bounds of what God has afforded us within the choices we are capable of making. There is much to consider, but in order to simplify it, let us remain on point. It is obvious that we are permitted to make our own choices but only within the limits of our lot in life. Let me explain. Throughout our lives we make certain decision, in fact it is an untiring manifestation of our brain working overtime, we are constantly making decisions. I punch the key board and my mind seeks out certain words to finish the sentence. I then need coffee, do I maker it or not? I am constantly making decisions, but my world is limited. I cannot gain command of the HIV virus that lives and looks to destroy my immune system, it has its objective and I am incapable of overcoming it without medicine or God’s intervention over it. God could command it to flee from me and it would! We have limitations and He has none! However, seeking out the kingdom of God and His righteousness will be what brings about peace in our lives. Chaos can often lead us to the calm. Doubt the Sovereignty of God and you will never understand the essence of what I have penned.

The world is in a place of denial, many believe in evolution (a pattern formed by a series of movements to the exclusion of a Sovereign God) and this mind-set will be a key factor in bringing about the destruction of this world as we know it. God will not share His glory with another and why would He? He alone is Sovereign and the rest of the echoes throughout the ages which contradict that truth have all been lies. Deceit tripped up Eve in the beginning and deceit will be the demise of mankind at the end of this world as we know it.

Signing off

Tyrone

Xmas?

We are well aware of certain truths in our lives when it comes to sin and our weakness concerning things we should or shouldn’t do. And on a day like today, we may take many things for granted; many have be conditioned to expect gifts from certain individuals, kids demand their presents, whilst others may petition for Christmas trees with their decorations and sadly some may even deal the Father Christmas card as the highlight of the day. We have all been tainted with the brush of the festive season in one form or another and it may just be time to trim our sails in this area of our lives.

The world celebrates the birth of Christ, now whether today is the actual day he was born or not is irrelevant; the truth of the matter is that God sent His son, born through the womb of a virgin. It was a miraculous conception with no intervention from mankind; God so willed it and it happened! The truth according to scripture and there are not many who dispute this fact. The majority of the world’s population accept the birth of Christ. The historians concede that the birth of Christ is a fact, however not many treasure it the way they should, God laid down His life and took on a flesh and blood body and went through all the same growth phases we have and others will still go through as they grow up into men.

There are some traits that God will never relinquish and one of them is that He will not share his glory with a liar. Neither will he ever accept those who challenge His Sovereignty. With this said, did you know that our God is a jealous God and He will not share His glory with another? “(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)” Exodus 34:14 - Satan knows this and therefore will always position himself to distract and shift our attention from our focus around our God and Father’s will for our life, that’s just the way it is. This is why we should never place our wants above the instructions found in the Bible. It is hard enough trying to understand what has been penned at times whilst we find a way in making those teachings our own. But never overlook the enemy’s objective. From the beginning Satan has always challenged God and His Word and is still looking to get mankind to do the same thing, all it takes is a twist on what is actually true, which in turn distorts and ends up achieving an objective that robs the individual of the blessings of God.

Today is a day that is easily recognized as such a ploy if we would only be truthful with ourselves. It should be all about Christ and His birth, but examine the shift; it is about us and what we will get from others and this is drummed into us from an early age. We have been conditioned; many even teach their children that Santa is real. What chance does your child have to sand upon truth if you cannot even give them that truth?

When I examine the account of the birth of Jesus we see the “wise men” (will we be wise?) bringing gifts to the new born king, from them to Him and not from them to each other. It was all about Christ and His birth. Can you see the twist that has crept into society? Take it even further; bring in a new character that will entice the self in oneself and who better than Father Christmas the man who brings gifts, not to the king, but to the people. We are conditioned by default to make life all about ourselves, it just the way it is, and even when we give to others what I find drives us is the way that makes us feel and the way others perceive us. I may be wrong; you make up your own minds; as for me and my family we will not be drawn into the hype of Christmas as it is a day that has been so distorted with a smear Campaign of falsities that I have had enough to last me ten lifetimes.

My stance may seem harsh, but it has been examined, I have considered it in depth and have arrived here. There were some great kings in the time of the kings, but most of them where extremely evil. Nevertheless even some of the good kings refused to break down the altars in the high places and with this God was not pleased. Read it for yourself in the book of Kings.

Regardless of where you stand on Christmas, there are more pressing issues and therefore let me leave you with this glorious invitation; “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."” (Romans 10:13)

Signing off

Tyrone   

               

An eternal consideration

What would spring to mind if I asked you what scared you the most? When a government official or a celeb is caught with their hand in the “cookie jar” it is often the “bread and butter” by which the media captivates their audience and keeps them afloat in a very competitive arena. Any hidden agenda of those in the public's’ eye, if caught in a shamefulness act draws get curiosity. Society is naturally careworn to the downfall of their demise and the closer we get to the vortex of where that happens, the further we gravitate into the whirlpool of these types of devastation's, in essence it is no different to a addict needing their fix.

This is the way we have been conditioned but it is never pleasant when we find ourselves in the hot seat. We all carry guilt for many things throughout our lifetimes and the sooner we confront our fears the better. We love to accuse others so that we can excuse ourselves. The Lord Jesus uses a very serious account to illustrate this point; “The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"” (John 8:3-10)  

  

We are all guilty of sin! I would have to visit a metal asylum to find someone who wouldn’t concur with my assumption concerning this truth, or engage with someone so deceived that they would lie to keep their sins hidden. However, it is a scary thing when we find ourselves caught out trying to cover up a lie in our lives. But I tell you an even greater truth; “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) – We must all realise that this day will come for all of us. No one from the greatest to the smallest will slip through the cracks of God’s glorious hands; we will all stand before Him. Regardless on how ones minds look to escape this reality as it looks for wiggle room, no differently to the Pharaohs looking to escape dead as they went to great lengths to have those still alive to embalm their dead bodies in the hope that one day they could be brought back to life. Today they are as dead as they were way back then; death a result we will all need to face. However it is the second death we need to avoid. All the Egyptian magic in the world couldn’t change this truth and all they achieved were to give treasure hunters an opportunity to uncover their graves.

Once we are freed from the guilt of our sin, life then takes on a totally different perspective, or it should. There is no doubt that newly saved Christians most certainly does an about turn, this is an obvious phenomenon that is impossible to avoid. It will leave many having to realign their compasses in most areas of their lives. For me some of the change, although it was the work of the Spirit in my life seemed to be a natural change. It took very little effort if any at all. However over time due to misunderstanding the work of the Spirit in my life it became a grind and as a young man having to work in the secular world seemed like such a waste of time and energy. All I wanted to do was share the gospel. This is then my reckoning; Faith is the pivot for the Christian, the kernel for everything we do, whereas the natural man under the curse of sin is driven by his own efforts. Sadly as Christians we often loose our bearing of where, what and how from there on in.

Here is the only guideline for the Christian, we must comply with the Word of God and we must forget all the other voices that look to trip us up. “Jesus in my place” must become the “all” in our lives as it will eventually pay dividends that will bear eternal results. One day our God and Father will welcome us in to His kingdom not as slaves or servants but as sons of God; what a hope we have! Praise His glorious name now and forever more, Amen and Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

"You see I have told you".

(Matthew 28:7) …See, I have told you."

The word “love” is often thrown around rather easily; statements like “I love you” which in many cases, evidently only ever lasts for a season, here today and then gone tomorrow appears to be the order of the day, proving that “love “ hasn’t truly been understood by the masses. Once again I observe the norm and not the exception and it’s this phenomenon that I wish to explore.

The quote, “blood is thicker than water” obviously carries a lot of weight behind it. A solid infrastructure is often easily witnessed amongst tight knit families and yet we all have our limits, which if reached, can often jam up the flow of that bond. We all seem to have a natural tendency to go so far but no further. Our levels of tolerance are pushed and then reset and pushed again and somewhere amongst the miss-mash of it all, relationships can be fragmented and destroyed; Pride is often the final straw which breaks the camels back. Our understanding of love has been so distorted that we often reason with a misconception of what we believe love should look like.

The greatest act of love was this; "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) – God sent the darling of heaven to die for His enemies, you and me! We were hostile towards God, until the day arrived where we fell in love with the Lord Jesus. Unpack that action; God sending His Son to die for His enemies and it will soon become obvious how great a love God has shown mankind.

Most have the capacity to love when they are treated with respect and cherished the way they would like to be prized. This is one of the reasons the world so easily falls in and out of love, when their partner no longer does it for them, the way they expect it to be done, they move on to their next proposition and the hunt is on for “new love”. Words like “I have found my soul mate”, until they are no longer what you thought they were and therefore you must have been mistaken; so the circle of life, within the realm of the pursuit of love continues.

We have books written on the subject and varying voice giving their opinions on the theme and even now I am amongst that number. However what I have learnt is my opinion does not count for much in the bigger scheme of things, but what does count is the WORD OF GOD! Whenever we need to have our bearings realigned or trim our sails to stay the course, we needn’t look further than the Word of God! Amazingly there are recorded accounts of people, angels and even the Lord Himself making these types of statements; “See, I have told you.” – The implications behind the final authority of the Bible carries with it tremendous strength and backing. God has ordained what has been penned and He has given us all we need to know for this life and the life to come. It’s as if HE is saying, look no further; see I have told you! 

Without arriving at that place, a habitation of faith and trust in what has been penned you will always second guess most things in life. It like a man who builds his house on the sand, and the storms comes and washes his house away. Whilst his neighbour builds his house upon a solid foundation, THE WORD OF GOD and when the different trails throughout his lifetime present themselves, his house stands and he is kept safe from the doubt and the clanging voices of society. Lots of noise without any eternal substance attached, causing panic and doubt, a playground of lies from the devil and his workers. He has always and will continue to challenge the Word of God as the final authority. We will find ourselves in one of two camps, believing and trusting in the Word or in the other doubting and second guessing it at every conflicting opportunity.       

God has not only given His children a guarantee, in and through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but He infused the Word into our world. The Word of God became flesh, Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God; “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:12-14) - The same Power used to create the universe, THE WORD OF GOD, became a man and then lived and died to give mankind a way out, a way of escape to avoid the WRATH of God, which is an eternal judgement, which is yet to play out. Do you understand? “You see I have told you.”

God Spoke creation into being, mankind’s sin separated themselves from God and their sinful behaviour began to dominate their lifestyles. It soon became very obvious that the relationship between God and man had become disconnected. Mankind’s sinful behaviour became so rife that God destroyed the earth with a flood. Through the chapters of time, some four thousand years into the history of mankind God took pity on the world having mercy on them and giving them a way out of the condemnation that faced the world, we are taught that “we were condemned already”; the verdict had already been passed. We are guilty of our own sin and our breach against the laws of God. We all deserved eternal death because of it! Some may find that truth hard to swallow, but be that as it may, it’s not what happened; the LOVE OF GOD was unleashed; God gave us His only begotten Son to break the shackles of sin and to repair the damaged done by Eve which Adam embraced; an action that drove a wedge between God and them. This needed repair if we would escape God’s wrath. Hence the main scene of “the Love of God” introduced into the world just over two thousand years ago and the offer of that love is still available to whoever will cry out unto Jesus. Seeking His forgiveness and embracing His love. This is what the WORD declares; “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."” (Romans 10:13)

      

The obvious cry would have been “an eye for an eye” but God’s love supersedes that type of behaviour in this particular instance; God’s love does have its limitations when it come to the sinful behaviours of mankind; reject His offer in and through the finished work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and you will not be covered by that love, but rather face the judgement of God. Examine the rest of the text if you do not believe what I say. “You see I have told you.”

Signing off

Tyrone

Did you Know?

Many things in life are often missed, but when uncovered and seen for what they are, it only then becomes obvious. Let’s use a magic trick as an example, the trickery is kept hidden from the public’s eye, and as long as the mystery stays hidden the onlookers will be impressed, but reveal the magic in the trick and then we end up asking ourselves, “How did we miss that?”

We have all seen an inscribed piece of paper stuck to the back of someone’s shirt; a prank keeping that person out of the loop as the perpetrator looks to involve the onlookers at their expense. As the duped individual you can sense that something isn’t right but until you realise that the word “dunce” has been plastered all over you back you are kept guessing to what is going on.

Until the world hears the word of God spoken audibly and in person they will remain in the dark to the purpose of life and our existence which is not here today and gone tomorrow, eternity is our lot in life. We may live in a flesh and blood body, which no one will ever dispute, how could we? But eternity remains hidden from the masses with Satan the magician keeping their minds at bay with the glitter and gold of all his worldly lures occupying their undivided attentions. He is the greatest magician of all time; do not be fooled, even though the majority of society throughout the globe has been bamboozled, his day will finally arrive, but until then God’s mercies shine brightly in and through His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks with a still small voice, and I have heard His whisper, have you?

In Him the trickery of Satan will and has been exposed; it is therefore imperative that we cry out unto Him, for He alone has the power to save you from the rut and the entwined web of great deception. GOD HAS SPOKEN IN AND THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! Have you come face to face with him? Have you been caressed by the brushes of His mercies?

There is a day just over the horizon where we all shall stand before Him on Judgement Day with no one escaping their fate. Either heaven with all its glory will be our reward or the Lake of Fire will be our lot stretching across the span of eternity. Thankfully our fate does not pivot on our abilities but rather the Lord Jesus’ achievements. There is mercy on offer for all who would cry out unto Him. Miss this opportunity whilst alive on earth and that is it, a missed opportunity, never to be repeated. The question we should all be pursuing, have we met Him as the merciful forgiver of our iniquities? Has His love melted our hearts? Is He the priority of all our attentions or does some other pressing issue still look for dominance in our lives? Are we still driven by money, happiness, love, power and achievement in the temporal things of life, which will eventually all come to its end?

I suppose I would agree with the statement we find rolling off the tongues of many; “until we realise that we have a problem we cannot be helped.” An alcoholic will not seek out help until they acknowledge their need for help and likewise a sinner must firstly own their sin before they will have the need to seek out God forgiveness. Until we understand that we are sinners and need forgiveness, we have no need for repair! We all have a serious problem, the “Great Magician” have cast his spell over the multitudes, resulting with an ability for us to hide from ourselves, to keep all our sin with all its entourage at bay whilst casting stone at others. We love to highlight the sins of others but our own sin is off limits. This in itself should be an obvious “red flag” highlight our need for forgiveness. I speak as a man caught up in the dreamlike enchantment of Satan’s trickery leaving most oblivious to the lures of his deception. The Lord Jesus has conquered him and He alone has the power to break his spell. This is one of the reasons why there is no other way whereby a person can be saved. The Lord Jesus has to break the spell, He is the One who has to give us sight and all the other voices of this world which draw us into alternatives of reaching heaven and escaping the judgement of God is nothing more that another fraudulent spell. And yet there are those amongst us who are being saved daily, praise the name of Jesus, praise His glorious name; thank you Lord Jesus for saving me and opening my eyes.      

It’s only once Christ opens our eyes to the meaning and the real purpose of life, that the smokescreen of deception will be revealed. It’s only then that our eyes will be opened and our brains will then begin to fire the correct triggers freeing us from the bondage of sin, praise God for His never ending mercies.  

As Christians there are varying obstacles that we battle with after salvation. The old mans nature still looking to live. However there is one thing a Christian will never dispute; Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life and nobody will come into the presents of God the Father any other way. This is not up for debate! It is obvious! But until the grace of God shone into my heart I was oblivious to the certainty of that truth. I needed to be “born again” to have that truth exposed, which happened many years ago. But until that event took place in my life, even as a traditional catholic I thought I sort of understood, but was living under the spell of “delusion”.

The truth sets us free; it unlocks the mind from a place of entrapment to a place of freedom. Justification is an arch-enemy which keeps us in rebellion against God. “Free the nipple” is the flavour of the month, a women’s movement to shock the world into debate about equality. GOD HAS SPOKEN! And his words carry such power and authority with even the darkness responded to His voice. He said let there be light and what happened, out of darkness the light shone, the power of God who can comprehend it? I can, for I have caught a glimpse of that light, and He has opened my eyes to many truths that had once kept me in darkness. Has He done the same for you? Can you relate to the pestering soul that would not leave the Lord Jesus alone until he received mercy, there is much we can learn from those who were once blind but now they cry out, I can see!

Signing off

Tyrone

Uncovering true faith

Faith is a very interesting topic, I’m not sure I understand it as I ort; its one thing to theoretically understand, but quite another to live the theory. We must live what we preach or maybe a better way of saying that is to live what we represent. As Christians we all have the Spirit of God who indwells us, feeds our hope and drive us towards our glorious God and Father seeking out His mercies which are never ending. It’s the work of the Spirit that enables us to cry “Abba Father”! – Please Daddy help me! I can assure you its not some seven step program that helps us achieve this, although many propagate this idea. That’s the carnal way of life, mans intervention to achieve their desire results. We are naturally inclined to be instinctively bent towards that way of thinking. Faith drives us from that philosophy. I refer to those who are truly born again and have faith in the finished work of the cross; whereas many other religions seem to piggyback on the natural strength of humanism; religions that use what comes naturally as a tool to further their quest to deceive, which can all be summed up under the heading of “dead works”, efforts made on behalf of an individual to find favour from God outside of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice, the One who died for me, He died so that I could find forgiveness for my sin and there is nothing else that will reconcile me back to a Sovereign God, the only true God! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

Every Christian believes in their glorious God and Father as the “way, the truth and the life.” This is an undisputable fact; however I would dare to suggest that not many of us live by faith the way we should. We are so calculating when it comes to our lives that we make sure we are taken care of and then the rest follows, tithing and the like is a true test of faith and I have erred repeatedly in this area of my life; its one thing to give from our surplus but quite another to give from a position of weakness; its here were we are great with our reasoning on why we shouldn’t. Faith always finds a way to keep us committed to the task at hand, when actioned correctly. It relies on a greater power that supersedes our natural abilities. Here is the biblical definition of faith; “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) – Our natural minds hates to operate under these conditions, it logically does not make sense. It declares that when we reason like this we are foolish and unwise. If I don’t have enough, how can I then give away what I do not have and so on? Faith operates outside of the realm of our control, which is why we are called to walk by faith; it glorifies God and nullifies our efforts. God is not willing to share His glory with another, period! Why should the created look for dominance over the creator? This is what has been penned on God's requirement with our faith towards His abilities and not our own; “but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:38-39) - Its faith in Christ which justifies us and nothing else.   

Faith demands a loyalty to our God and Father which in turn glorifies Him and not us. We can have no influence on the supernatural, which is God’s domain. We can however be use by God as a vessel to channel faith. We must all seriously seek out true understanding on the issue of faith in our lives. Especially as creation begins to croak with groans of the anticipation of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ for the second time; “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1Corinthians 15:51-53) – We believe this day will arrive, there is no doubt about it in the mind of the Christian, and yet our daily application to faith in our lives suffers want; we battle to institute God’s ability to house, clothe and feed us just as the Lord Jesus taught exposing the lack of faith He witnessed whilst on earth; we cannot serve both God and mammon, these types of motivations looks to keep us in control and it is a ploy used by the enemy to kindle our faith in Christ. It’s as simple as that.

Look back on your lives and examine the times of despair and see how you have been rescued from them and with a little consideration it will soon become obvious that our heavenly Father looks out for us, praise His glorious name, Amen!

Its time to finally put this topic to bed and look to God for His grace to apply myself correctly in this area of my life and I would encourage all to do the same.

Signing off

Tyrone

For your consideration

As a man who has been on both side of the fence concerning doctrinal truth when it comes to Calvin’s theology of election as opposed to Armenian’s theology of free choice. I have notice a weakness in both camps…

“John Calvin was a famous French theologian and a major leader of the Protestant Reformation. He helped popularize the belief in the sovereignty of God in all areas of life, as well as the doctrine of predestination. The theological approach advanced by Calvin has come to be known as 'Calvinism'.” I also believe in predestination, for when I look in the mirror I realise that I have nothing in myself that would coil God into action, nothing I possess to sanction his favour into finding a reason to save me. There is absolutely no merit in me outside of the Spirit of God in me, which drives me towards the will and purposes of God. For when I have been left to my own devises I have failed dismally. Therefore it can only ever be the Christ in me that now drives me towards the will of God in my life. Which leaves me with this conclusion; if God didn’t choose to save me I would never have been saved (election in accordance with His will); I owe Him everything! There is nothing I can lay claim too earning His favour which fits with the text that He has excluded boasting in any believer’s life; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)   

God’s mercy covers us because He is merciful and not the other way around.  We have been saved by grace; HIS MERCY is on show and not our so called achievements. People gravitate towards their own brilliance when they see mankind’s achievements on display, its part of our makeup. This is why sport around the globe is so popular. Everyone loves a hero. My focus is drawn to the perfect sacrifice of my Saviour, the One who died on my behalf as He paid the price for my sin. It’s imperative that we understand this and make it our own.

However, the irony of Calvinistic institutions is that they are big on theological degrees and you will have to look far and hard to find a pastor without a doctorate ministry preaching from the pulpit. I am not saying that it never happens, but it is rather the exception; men’s achievements to do God’s bidding. The focus is the degree and the title. Whereas we are taught that God gives gifts to men, once again the focus should be on Him and not men; “grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.  Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men."” (Ephesians 4:7-8) – A gift is something given, it is never worked for. Let me make it very clear, I am not suggesting that once a man has received his gifting from God that He does not have a responsibility to hone and shape that gift whilst sitting at the feet of Jesus in his closet. That is an obvious necessity if he is to grow in his gifting.   

Whereas many Armenian institutions do not insist on degrees in order to oversee local churches or preach from the pulpit and yet they contend that we have the ability to chose God. Which in turn leaves the door open for pride to rear its head, how one may ask? There is a shift to self and away from the Sovereignty of God; they find merit in themselves as they believe that they themselves have chosen God, leaving them with a sense of pride as they compare themselves to the ones who haven’t chosen God. It will never be admitted, but strip it down and consider if what I say has any merit and then make up your own minds. When it comes to the body (the members of the church) exercising their gifting, some Armenian churches are far wiser, they do it better and with a greater liberty in praising our God and Father. Their eyes have been opened to taking steps of faith as the Holy Spirit leads and directs them and equips them with the will to cry out “pick me”. This may be hard for some to comprehend but for those who know what I am talking about it will be easily understood.

These are just some of my thoughts on how we need to shut the door to pride as we run into the arms of God as we seek out His favour with grace as our reward.

Signing off

Tyrone   

Humility

By now it should be obvious that humility is a requirement needed in the Christian’s armoury which needs to be drawn upon regularly, for it pleases our heavenly Father when we are humble. But we must not mistake humility for weakness; it is strength in faith. It drives us towards our dependency upon our God and Father and away for our independence where we rely on our own abilities to get it done. The part which needs working out is God’s stamp of approval on what should or shouldn’t be done. We need to prove what is acceptable before our Holy Father, its through trial and error where this will be realized. But a good place to start would be to follow David’s example throughout his lifetime, whether he was tending the sheep, fighting off lions and bears, hiding in caves or sitting on his throne, his life was habitually about the will of God. He also had his weaknesses but who hasn’t got flaws; our failings teach us a lot about ourselves. When we stumble and fall we learn to appreciate the value of mercy in our lives. It’s God alone who has the power to forgive our transgressions which will keep us out of hell. But we need to learn this lesson well in every area of our lives. We need God’s mercy and He has offered it to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son.

If our focus is anything outside of the finished work of the cross it will be hard to find approval in what we do, we may be praised by men but not by God. Everything we are is because of our Saviours sacrifice and when we move from that mind-set we begin to skirt on the edge of that dark precipice which we could fall from. There are many lures which parole the gaping mouth of that abyss. And the attraction named “pride” has trapped many. But it can be avoided if we know what we need to be done. For example, we must first seek God’s will for our lives and the rest will follow the way it should. But when our eyes shift from our Saviours sacrifice and onto our own merits, we now open the trap door to pride and if not corrected we are not far from a fall. It then becomes our story and not HIS. God was “well pleased” with Christ’s obedience; let us never forget that in lieu of anyone of our achievements.  

Miraculously as I now reach the age of 51 and I flip through the chapters of my life, this is what I have learnt. Many proverbs now ring true to my ear; “a dog returning to its vomit”, although this obviously speaks of my sin concerning the obvious, things like wine, women and song; repeatedly erring in those areas of my life, with many other things interwoven into that equation whilst growing up. In hindsight, a journey I needed, to see the wood from the trees but not with Pride as my brother, but rather learning to understand Grace as she taught me a better way, God using His unmerited favour to shape my understanding. Pride does not acknowledge Grace but pats oneself on the back as it blows its own trumpet, crying out, “look at me, I was like that but now I am like this.” Pride is impossible to avoid when our gaze shifts from God’s mercy onto ourselves. The more I give this thought and the longer I look into the mirror the more I am convinced about this truth; “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

Signing off

Tyrone

The goodness of Jesus

When I consider the goodness of Jesus and what He has done for me in light of the failures throughout my lifetime as I sit and contemplate why it is that I am still loved by Him, I am blown away. But why am I still loved by God even though I don’t deserve to be? It’s the Christ in me, the hope which consistently drives me towards repentance and humility when it is needed to find favour from God as the Spirit of God leads me into His truth. It’s not my natural abilities that drive me to be humble before an awesome God. This type of understanding that some may be driven by, is the lie of pseudo-religions.

Humility must be a priority when approaching the throne of God which must always be accompanied with repentance, with the echo of one of the greatest songs ever written and with the melody of “Amazing grace” ringing in our ears. Pride drives us to a place of self-worth, with a mind-set that wills us to believe that we can outdo the next, and if we don’t we have failed and we must be better next time. But God requires a person to be humble and to own their sin without blaming someone or something else. And yet with this said; it is always the goodness of God that leads a person to a place of repentance. Without the Spirit’s intervention in our lives we will never find true repentance. It’s God who initiated our rescue in sending the Lord Jesus to die in our place. But this must be realised if we are to find forgiveness.

Faith is an essential ingredient which we need in order to believe in the only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Which in turn gives us the ability to trust our God and Father to get us through whatever is needed alone life’s journey. A crucial tutor which lead us and prepares us for our hope in Christ which will at the end of our journey here on earth be objectified with heaven as our eternal home. Faith then will no longer be needed for we will see God in person and understand the fullness of who He is, praise God and Amen!

I do believe the law with all its instructions proves to us that there is much to consider when arriving at a verdict. However to cut through the lies and the trickery of our own minds is an obstacle that needs overcoming. The deeper the realisation of a person’s predicament becomes the more desperate they will be to find rescue from themselves. Until we reach this place in our lives sin holds us in bondage with its ability to disguise our wickedness as acceptable, with thoughts and statements like these; “I’m a good person and I am not as bad as that individual.” With so many saving the planet but ignoring the brilliance of the creator; as the World Powers gain momentum in their unity but ignores the true purpose of God. Strip what I say down and it will soon be easy to understand, the majority of the worlds population serves the creature (creation) and not the creator. God will have the final say!          

We can learn from a man like John Newton. Here was a man who penned words to a song from personal experience. A former slave trader penned the stanzas to a hymn that is estimated to be sung more than ten million times annually and has appeared on over eleven thousand albums. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me”, is this your understanding of yourself outside of Christ or do you feel that you had or have some merit within yourself to warrant His consideration to save you? Until we arrive at a place of absolute worthlessness as we stand before almighty God we may very well miss that chance encounter to find the true meaning of life.

Signing off

Tyrone  

Questions that need to be answered

Here is a question for you, is it sheer determination and will power that will get us to heaven or is it simply Christ in us, the hope of glory? Some radicals believe that if they strap a bomb to themselves and blow up others in the name of Allah that they will have a grand entrance into heaven, their entrance shall be remarkable but it won’t be into paradise. Whilst other religious fanatics have agendas that determine where they will end up depending on how faithful they have been to a set of ordinances, a life filled with work based obligations in order to enjoy a rich reward in heaven; theologically this is simply known as “dead works”. But in order to understand this we need to have the mind of Christ, if not, it will be missed. What of the evolutionists that state categorically that the big bang is indeed a fact and can be scientifically proved? Creation must have been a remarkable exploit as God spoke it into being, was there a big bag, an explosion? There could well of been, I cannot say with any certainty, but one thing I am sure of, God spoke and it happened.

I see a similar tend with science as I do with the endeavour of those looking to save the planet; both schools look to creation for their answers, with many discounting their creator. Then we have the hypo-charismatic, the one who comes to Christ looking for “faith- handouts”. Those who believe that Christianity is the vessel which will transport them from rags to riches and I am not making reference to the spiritual reality of that truth which will be ours when we get to heaven, but rather in the precise sense, receiving gain here and now; with this type of mentality; all one needs is enough faith, or rather sheer determination dressed as faith; a lot of mumbo-jumbo ruling their world.

There are many schools of thought which governs individual’s lives. It is impossible to be neutral in this regard. So the crunch question I have is why are there some who understand and not others? Is it what we do or what God does for us? Without rehashing sin and its origin, all I need to say is it sin which keeps us from freeing our understanding. No matter how you dress it, it blinds us to the truth and until the scales from our eyes are removed we will continue to grope in the dark. Without God’s mercy in our lives we would all be lost in a world of pain, grappling at straws, running around like chickens without heads.

The wisdom of this world is laughed at by God and he will not tolerate fools. And yet we have all been fools somewhere along life’s journey, blind to God’s truth, “Jesus in my place” and then God has mercy on our souls and opened our eyes to the meaning of it all. The Lord Jesus the first of many sons, wow! With this understanding our minds must shift gears, it has too. If not, we haven’t really understood anything.

True Christianity can be easily tested; ask yourself, why have I turned to Christ? If your answer falls outside of the fact, that you are a sinner, guilty as charged and that the Lord Jesus Christ died in your place. He took the punishment that you deserved. If we are not in that category, we need God to expose the rot in our minds and turn us in repentance towards Him with no added motive, except to be forgiven for our sin and our rebellion against a HOLY God. I understand that God is far greater than any wiles of the devil or the schemes of men; at times He restrains even the greatest of schemes and turns them to His advantage; it here that we witness His majestic brilliance personified as He silences the gainsayer, saving some of them; “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (1Corinthians 1:21)   

However, even the true Christian, gifted with the mind of Christ battles to let go of this type of mental assurance, the “I” in our worlds. Everything in our lives points us towards these types of mind-sets, the harder we work the more we shall achieve and many get lost in that web of deceit; sadly these are the things we teach our children from a tender age instead of pointing them to Christ’s sacrifice for their sin. Faith on the other hand trusts God for deliverance. Not only with our daily struggles, but it is certainly the catalyst that will drive us towards heaven with all its glory. The enemy of faith is sin which in turn robs us of the assurance we have in the finished work of the cross. When we do what we believe should be done we are confident towards God and the calling which He has placed on our lives, but when we stumble and fall, what then? This is where we are weakened and where we learn the most, at the feet of Jesus.

Here is a conclusion that we cannot afford to miss; God has great compassion towards the humble, but He resists the proud. We have a natural tendency to become filled with pride when we outdo the person next to us. It is something that continuously needs to be checked in our lives.

As schooled as David was, it is obvious that he understood the work of God in his life as the most important factor throughout his lifetime. Could this have been the reason why God had this to say about him, “he is a man after my own heart”? And yet David understood that if God didn’t change him, he couldn’t change himself. David needed Gods voice to ring clear in his ears prior to entering the battles of life. How do we compare? We need to be continually reminded that we are but clay in the potter’s hands. We need to constantly cry out to the One who has the power to change us, we must cry out to our heavenly Father, “Abba Father, renew a right spirit within me”. In other words please change who I am, remove the arrogance that looks to dominate. This is a type of prayer that I believe James refers to in accordance to the will of God. It’s not about our lusts, but its all about change and conformity into the Lord Jesus’ character. God favours these types of prayers and He will grant them because it will always be in accordance to His will if we look to be changed into our Saviours character.        

The next hurdle that rears its head is “balance”; we are taught that “balance” is healthy. Too much of something causes distortion; eat too much starch and we will soon become unproportioned. Go to gym and only ever train a single muscle group and we will look odd. Our minds have been geared to believe these laws as conclusive. It’s the world we live in. Sadly we do not leave this type of reasoning behind after our eyes have been opened to heaven. But thankfully, Christianity may begin on earth but is will last into eternity, with the only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as our Father forever and ever, Amen!

Salvation begun with the mercy of God and it will remain that way for all eternity, we having nothing to boast about and yet there is so much bragging, even when played down with modesty. David understood this, because God gave him his understanding, may God teach us this lesson well and also give us understanding. He is the potter we are but clay in His hands. How does choice then play out? If we are programmed right we will chose right. It’s a virus that looks to get software to make bad choices and play up. “If God is for us who can be against us?”

Once our minds are spiritually opened to our heavenly calling, once we are born again, chaos infiltrates the things we once believed. Change becomes the order of the day. We stop drinking and swearing, just to mention the obvious. But what about a persons work ethic and many other areas of our lives? In short, when we understand that we had been destined to hell because of our sin our lifestyles begin to change. Without sound doctrine and God’s intervention in our lives, which moulds us into Christ’s image we will continue to make similar mistakes which may leave us looking different on the outside, whilst been driven to be Christian like in character and ambitious with parallel intentions without an inward change. Leaving us filled with pride as we outdo the person next to us. We forget that it is the Christ in us who has caused the change. We become knockoffs of the original and hypocrisy is our lot in life until God opens our eyes to our error, praise His name, Amen!      

It’s the goodness of God that leads a person to salvation in true repentance and let us never overlook that truth, for when we do, pride is not far from us and we know what will follow, the resistance of God in our lives. Grace is what is needed to combat the filth of this world; therefore we must be kept humble. Thank you Abba Father for you persistent work in our lives, thank you for you intercession my great Saviour and thank you Holy Spirit for your comfort and the way you constantly remind us about your truth.

Signing off

Tyrone