Splish-splash

When I turn on the radio all I hear is crackle, a squelch of garbage as it pollutes and populates the listener’s brain. Climbing into my car I turn the key and then I scan through the various channels waiting for something to catch my attention and only then will I lock in the receiver station. Over time my desired needs have certainly shifted in regards to what I will and won’t listen to. I no longer am draw to the music channels that once drove me as I am now far more interested with the intentions and drives of those around me. Talk radio is where I normally land. God created us with a desire to communicate. In the beginning, whenever that was in relation to our understanding of the calendar, on the “sixth day”, approximately roundabout six thousand years ago God created man with a coherent desire to interact; this was such an obvious consideration that God acted on His observation; “The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:20)  

The Bibles genealogy gives us an understanding of mankind’s history. However there are those that insist that we (mankind) were around much longer than that. Whose voice will you believe? This is the root of where we will all land in eternity. Depending on what source we look to draw from, either way, it will drive us towards a certain end. Regardless of the opinionated voices out there, myself included, God will have the final say and you better believe it! Regardless of peoples assumption pertaining to God’s eternal plan, those persuasion will never influence the final outcome, heaven or the Lake of Fire! So very little thought is given for the will of God and His purpose that it’s beginning to sicken me deep within the recesses of my soul with a nauseating thought of the blind leading the blind and both then falling into the ditch.

In the “beginning”, God instituted His brilliance through creation with an accompanying command; “go forth and multiply” under the banner of marriage. However not only is marriage becoming a thing of the past but the way in which God’s command has been negated as the world now allows same sex marriages and the like; men with men and woman with woman, with Hollywood shaping our minds and perceptions on the matter as normality. I see the similarities of Sodom and Gomorrah now becoming a way of life for so many. And we all know what happened to that city and its inhabitants, the wrath of God found them out! Although I have highlighted a particular topic and only because it is current, there are others exclusion that are ignore across the board when it comes to the will of God. It is obvious that mankind professing to be wise have in fact shown themselves as fools. It would also be foolish of me to exalt myself above others when in fact I too have made countless mistakes throughout my lifetime; however the key to our blunders and how to handle them is confession and seeking out God’s forgiveness for our folly and not to turn a blind eye to the error of our ways. Repentance is to turn from sin and towards a merciful Father. God is merciful, “for all those who cry out unto the Lord will be saved”, but there will come a day when that door will be shut and then all havoc will unfold, as God’s wrath and His judgement is poured out upon all of His enemies; history has given us an indication of God's wrath, just look at what happened to the Egyptians, those who opposed God and Moses. The final outcome will eventually result in the earth destruction. Another typical clue that should be easy for the Christian to understand, the world trying to save the planet to the exclusion of God purposes in their lives; serving the creature (planet and all that God has created) but denying its creator.        

There is a lot of negativity I have honed in on, or so it may seem for some, but only for those who do not treasure the Bible, however every thought which I have penned is true in accordance with the written Word. The only decision you have to make is whose voice will you obey; God the creator of the universe or those who oppose Him, the created. We will all make our decisions; I have made mine and through this blog have recorded what I believe and where I stand. We all make judgments through our lifetimes on every facet in our lives. Some good while others are appalling and yet if we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ it will end well for us. From kinder garden to a retirement home we will be drawn into factions that complement our particular persuasions. Birds of a feather flock together and yet at times we often see differing species habituating the same area. Heaven will only be habituated with believers in Christ! The unbeliever will spend perpetuity in a smouldering blaze of torment for eternity.

Everyone has their own agenda’s and only those whom we find with like minds will be drawn to us. Cliques and splits throughout society is a very common scenario. Nevertheless I am still drawn to so much of the opinionated trifle that is aired over the radio and I find myself eating with both hands. This is where politics draws its strength from, parties find like minded people with promise of change attached to their voices and this draws in their supporters, like a fish to a baited hook. Sadly many parties are more talk than action and this leaves their supporters with complaints and hence the talk radio stations are kept alive.

And then I read and spend time in the written Word of God, the Bible and I am settled and reminded of the hope I have in Christ, praise His name now and forever more, Amen and Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

Under threat

(Matthew 7:15)  "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Livestock is often under threat from predators and so it’s up to the gatekeeper or their enclosure to keep them safe. But the hunter has their own objective and this is to hunt and destroy. Not all predator kill to survive, they eradicate because it’s who they are.  

As some of you may already know that I used to breed chickens as I was doing whatever I could to put food on the table, selling off the eggs. I build pens that allow the chickens to free range. About a month into my venture I started loosing chickens to a predator, at first I thought it was domestic cats causing the damage, I was wrong and later found out that it was a predator know mas a Genet; a species on the extinction list. Firstly why would such a beautiful wild animal be close to extension? The answer is an obvious one; farmers of old would make it their business to exterminate them as they viewed them as vermin. The reason for this was the destruction a single Genet would cause was unprecedented. In a single night I could lose up to twelve hens. I would not have minded if I lost a chicken or two in a fortnight. But because they just killed for the sake of it, without eating the chickens, this then became a serious problem. Jackals cause a similar problem, when speaking to a farmer friend of mine, he informed me that when a jackal got into a sheep’s pen it would kill a number lambs and only eat a small portion of the animal and then move onto the next. A Genet is worse it would only eat the brain of some of the hens leaving a trajectory of devastation. This then forced me to fully enclose the coops; it was for their protection as I was their protector. The Genet is such a sleigh animal that it took me weeks to keep it out of their enclosure. By this time I had lost close to 50 chickens and none of my chicks survived.

In like manner the Christian has many enemies that look to break down their faith. They will attack the Word of God with the intention of uprooting the babes in Christ. Therefore the point I stressed yesterday was that it is our responsibility to study the Word of God and be equip to handle the rot. How will we achieve this? Read, read and read! When the Bible is understood correctly it will equip us to handle the fiery darts of the evil one. However if we do not know our Bibles we will be ill equipped to defend what is precious to us as Christians.

Sure we have men that have been skilled in God’s Word that will help guard against the onslaught. But as mankind is the most intellect of all of God’s creation many will dress up in sheep’s clothing pretending to be sheep when in fact they are wolves. We must make it our business to study the Word of God (the Bible) to quench the twaddle. The more we read and study the Bible the better off we will be.

Read, read and read!

Signing off

Tyrone

Seeking out rescue!

(Jeremiah 29:13)  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

There is an up side to being in exile, it gives an individual an opportunity to turn the corner and cry out unto the Lord from the bottom of their hearts. But until then their journey with God we remain in the doldrums. The beauty of our heavenly Fathers corrections in our lives brings us to the point of repentance. Disciple is often what we need to turn the corner. But we must pay attention to God’s instruction when it is implemented and if ignored it will be at our own peril. We will remain in the “slough of despond” for as long as it is needed for us to come to our senses.

“God’s people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins. God has punished them already in the person of Christ, their substitute. But yet, while the Christian cannot be condemned, he can be chastised. Punishment is laid on a man in anger, God strikes him in wrath. But when he afflicts his child, chastisement is applied in love. The rod has been baptised in deep affection before it is laid on the believers back.” (Charles Spurgeon)    

When Israel did not please the Lord this was their state; “because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"” (Jeremiah 29:23) – Up and until they hit the wall, just as we have to hit the divider in our lives to realise that the way we have been living our lives has not please our God. Sin is the thing that keeps our relationship away from the mercies of God. Repent turn that corner, cry unto God with your whole heart and He will come to your rescue. Once we rectify our wrongs, we will soar up on the wings of eagles. It is important for all to realise the requirement needed in our lives to turn the bend. In order for the Christian to crack their lives around we must acknowledge our sin before a Holy God. We cannot accept God to come to our aid if we continue to ignore this reality in our lives. Adultery in any form will never please our Father.

We cannot live like the world and expect rescue without His rod of correction in our lives. I have never learnt as much without the rod of God's love in my life.

God is for his children and once we grasp the error of our ways it will be a very sweet victory. Repent and call upon the name of the Lord and it will be well with your soul, but until then do not expect rescue and only the constant crack of the whip ringing in our ears. 

Signing off

Tyrone

But we have the mind of Christ

(1Corinthians 2:16)  "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”

                                                                                                 

A moon suit is needed to explore the moon, a heat shield when re-entering the earths orbit and a decompression chamber for deep sea divers once they surface. Just one of many scientific proves that we have been locked into, regulations that govern us. Its easy to relate to the obvious, not much thought is needed for us to remedy whatever is needed at any given time. We have instincts build into us that are rather remarkable, reflexes; adrenaline and the like spring into action where and when it is needed to get us out of a pickle. What about light and darkness in relation to what is good or evil, all the opposites in our lives that we instinctively act upon; parading the good and hiding the evil. How often have you found yourself saying, “I never thought it would be him?” Be that as it may, our perception of what is good is thwarted in comparison to God’s goodness and until this penny drops into our lives we will never grasp the magnitude of HIS GOODNESS.

Our natural understanding of what is actually good started wrong and therefore will always end on the incorrect side of that which is holy. We do not like to see our judgments like that, who would? It all goes back to the beginning to the tree of “the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL”. Sin hijacked our minds into a skewed perception of being able to differentiate correctly and because of it we have so many differing opinions on various matters. USA has different by-laws in differing States on the same laws, why? This proves my point! God is never double minded on anything; He is holy and perfect and will never change His mind on a matter. He has no need too. Perfection never needs tweaking.

This is why it is imperative for us to understand our need for the Word of God to mould our lives. But for something to shape us we must understand it. Are you reading your Bible? If not my encouragement would be for you to start, books can be good but the Bible is way better. It’s only the Christian who has been given the mind of Christ and His awareness is found between the pages of scripture. Read, read and read!

Signing off

Tyrone

As sleep eludes

As sleep eludes I am once again excited with the quite time the Lord has afforded me. It is with anticipation that I pensively sit at my desk in the still of the night waiting to hear from the love of my life, even Jesus the one who died and set me free from so much folly. It has been a long and tiresome journey, with innumerable mistakes along the way and yet He was always had my back, Wow! We all have a tendency to find someone to share our lives with, I will look no further, I have arrived, and my mind is settled and found its rest. He is sweeter than honey; Jesus is the love of my life! I can with assurance say that I love Him and yet when I consider how I got here; the conclusion is obvious; I love HIM because he first loved me. He died for me knowing the beginning from the end; this is a thought that blows my mind into orbit. He accepted my cry of repentance some thirty years ago knowing that I would stray so far from His light, and yet there was no reservation to His embrace. Who acts like that? Who has that type of heart? Jesus Christ my LORD is the love of my life.

With that thought now settled and a tear trickling down my cheek, with my mind gently muddling over some others thoughts as they pass through my reasoning. Faith and the measure of my application to it, has now caught my attention. Can faith be measured? I think it can be, and not with hocus-pocus blind faith by turning to a tree and crying out, “die tree” as we test our gifting of faith. It’s far simpler than that, what value do we place upon the Word of God in our lives is the question that needs answering. Are we constant worriers even when we have been given clear instruction with an assurance attached to it? - "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25-34)   

Does the worry of daily concern overshadow the voice of God?

Finally what equips us to walk by faith, as it is a gift from God? When will God add to the measure of our faith, it only ever happens when I (we) pay special attention to His voice, the written Word of God! We must not miss the finer detail and the thrust behind the instruction. We can’t take some of the message which twinsets our carnalities and ignore the rest hoping to be truly blessed. This is what I am learning; faith goes hand in hand with righteousness; God’s righteousness! His will and not our wants must be what drive our resolves.

Signing off

Tyrone

Persistence

Persistence is a quality we all desire in our lives; we need to have that box ticked, but only if our determination lands on the right side of God’s righteousness, otherwise what we once considered as a plus to our lives, in fact, is extremely negative and a trait which will continue to breakdown and destroy our goal of walking in our Saviours footsteps. If we put other gods before our great God, it is a form of idolatry that gets in the way and destruction will be our lot in life. It’s not as if I bow before a golden calf. But it’s the underlying idolizations of our lives that rob us of so much peace. "Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.” (Exodus 22:20) – Our Father is a jealous God; He most certainly will not share us with another. Where the believer, or in their case the Jew saved out of slavery began to neglect God’s commands it resulted in punishment. This was obviously a consequence to any neglect to the voice of GOD in a person’s life and in this particular instruction they were commanded not to make a sacrifice to any other gods. We know longer live a life of physical sacrifice for the second covenant which now covers the Christians is grander than the first. “Jesus in my place”! However this does not exclude the principles of the law in our lives. The entirety of the law is a teacher to lead us to Christ. The Law of God is filled with grand enlightenment as it gives us insight into the character of God. It shows us His love as well as His wrath.   

Our mind naturally defects towards self preservation as it looks for all sorts of reasons to satisfy our quandaries when things are not going so well. We love to find solutions that will aid in our struggle. The conclusion is simple, we must learn to put the Word of God first in our lives and then seek out grace to have our minds renewed to avoid the damage we so often face.

Some may conclude that their lives are blissful with very little destruction attached to it, if that be the case, I would be worried. If your life is blessed and it excludes God direction in it (it has no regard for His righteousness) and you claim Christianity as your own but see no apparent discipline attached to you life, you may name to be amongst the Christian number when in fact there could be nothing further from the truth. God fathers his children like no other, of this I am persuaded. God’s character never changes; He is the same yesterday, today, as He will be tomorrow and into eternity. Righteousness will always accompany the Christian. And when it is lacking in our lives, destruction will be evident. Apart from me having to be taught the lesson time and again; who’s to say that my experience entitles me to this assumption. It doesn’t! If I cannot back it up by the Word of God, it has no real bearing and it will not change our lives, it’s as simple as that! Experience can never overshadow the Word of God, but when experience is highlighted by the Word of God then we must pay attention to the whispering voice behind it all. – Here is the proof; “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:6-8) - Without our Fathers discipline in our lives we will never share in His holiness; “Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:9-11) 

Our natural tenacity will never land on the right side of God’s righteousness; as our flesh is naturally tainted by sin. It’s like trying to put a shoe on the wrong foot, at first glance it may be missed by the onlooker but as soon as any attention is given to that particular area, it becomes an obvious conclusion.

Just as mathematics of physics has certain binding laws attached to their formulations, so is this principle relevant to the flesh and the spirit. Although the flesh houses the Spirit of God, it can never influence it. That which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit remains spirit. However the mind is the link between the two. Therefore as Christians we must understand the different roles both play in our lives to become effective in righteousness.

This is the Apostle Paul's conclusion on the matter when it comes to the different influences our mind and our flesh has on our lives; “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:25) – At salvation we where given a new heart. The Christian now has the capacity to apply their minds to the will of God. Prior to salvation this was impossible. However this is a process, we must learn to let go of our independence which the flesh demands from us. It is a natural default. We must put on the mind of Christ, putting the Word of God first in our lives if we are to learn this lesson well. Even the Lord Jesus had to fight the urges of His flesh, even though his flesh was never tainted by sin. This is the account recorded for us in the Garden of Gethsemane. A time when his flesh looked to shirk the call place on His life by His Father; His will (flesh) looked for and out but his mind was conditioned to go the way of God. – “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."” (Matthew 26:39) – Our flesh will always look for the easy out; it is its default position. The Spirit will always pursue God’s righteousness and as Christians we have been given the mind of Christ, we now understand God’s command opposed to the pull of our natures, if not then we will be surrounding by destruction until this is learnt. We must learn to apply “not my will but thine be done” to our lives. This will take a lifetime but it will be worth it all as it will stand us in good stead for eternity.  

Destruction is a necessary tool needed to change a rebellious Christian’s mind-set. Thank God for the love He has for his children. He does what ever is needed to teach and help us turn that corner; praise His name, Amen and Amen!

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Signing off

Tyrone

Re-evaluating where we stand

(1John 4:1) “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

The question so many ask is how can I be sure that this thought is from God or not simply a vain imagination? Far too many people within Christian circles claim that the voice of God speaks through them and babes in Christ are often influenced by those voices. Whilst the unbeliever slates the Gospel message because of the madness witnessed. Do not be fooled, the gospel is rejected only because men love darkness more than light, and they avoid coming to the light so that their sin is not exposed.

It is imperative that we base everything we do on the instructions found in the Bible; if and when we are prompted to act let its always be in accordance with the Word of God and make sure it is always done decently and in order and without reigning down confusion. God is most certainly not a God of misunderstanding and the spirit of misconception reigns outside of His kingdom. Sanity must always ride on the back of the fruits of the Spirit, even when we are laughed at.

The Word of God must always come first; then we must remember to exegete (interpret) correctly. We cannot open a bible and point at a verse and then claim it as if God has spoken directly to us. This would be a foolish way to conduct our lives.

If I am struggling financially and times are tough I cannot claim a portion of a verse and then apply faith to it expecting results or claim someone else’s providence as my own. If we take a verse out of context, we must be careful not to fall into this trap.

Here is an example…

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:33-34)

   

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:33-34)

I trust you see the difference…

With this in mind let us understand a deeper truth…  

(Matthew 19:30) “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

To understand this there must be a shift in our reckoning; our minds must shift gears, moving from the natural into spiritual overdrive and without that transformation there will be no revolution in a believer’s life. A revolt for the WORD OF GOD should begin to dictate. If not we must examine if we be in the faith? Its one thing to say we believe but quite another to live as one who truly believes. When we examine our lives, which I am in the throes of doing and as I look through the looking glass of time; 30 years to be exact! And I see snippets of positive influence, the time when my ministry had a constructive affect on others, I realise that those were the times in my life where my mind was in SPIRITUAL OVERDRIVE. It’s God in us that equips the believer to bring about this change, that is a given, but we have been instruction as children of God to put on the mind of Christ, in others words; we must purposely learn how to do this. Some will be better at it than others, why? God knows! However this does not free me to find an excuse for my rebellion when it rears its head.

The Apostle Paul was very clear on this; “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)

For the slow learner like me, it does not excuse the many mistakes I have made along the way. But praise the name of Jesus and the fortitude of my heavenly Father for His endurance in my life. The times where I had lost my way is simple to understand, it was always a shift from the spiritual back to the natural. What is the lesson then? We must always remain in the Spirit, trusting the Word of God above the whole enchilada of everything else to be fruitful. We must learn to surrender to God; this is how we lay a good foundation in our lives. If we have lost our way, pruning will be required, it will be painful and have its effect on our lives, we will be under strain no differently to a tree that is clipped, but is will bring forth fruit in its season, praise God!

If the required trimming is ignored do not expect any change. Please do not mistake financial gain for blessings from God if we are not chasing His righteousness in our lives as it is probably just another lure distracting us from His truth.  

Signing off

Tyrone

Is the alarm set?

(Jeremiah 16:20) “Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!”

One great troubling sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the spiritual Israel of today is vexed with a predisposition to the same foolishness. Personalities of the day struggle in various forms to keep idolatry at bay with our carnal natures setting up altars wherever it can find space for them. Our favourite pass times are often the cause of much sin in our lives and we are not exempt from the folly of it all. The Lord is saddened when He sees our affection to them above measure; they will and do hinder our growth in Him. If Christians desire to grow spikes to stuff their sleepless pillows, let them be taken by their desires. If this is our pattern then we must all be willing to except the fate of our folly, are we? Or do we hastily mutter when things do not plan out to our liking? May God help me (us) to recognise the filth of it all and then to act in accordance with His good pleasure. 

A little leaven leavens the entire lump, so as soon as we allow just a little idolatry into our lives, we may just as well swallow it all, our lusts (the natural offspring of a carnal and corrupt mind) feeding fuel to the fire. It only takes a minuscule amount of yeast to empower bread to rise.    

It is truly said that they are harmless and yet objects of our foolish love are often taken by them, the solace which they yield us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give us in the hour of trouble is fruitless. When the chips are down our cry goes out to our God and not some lifeless entity that can only ever tickle our selfish pleasures. There is no enduring substance to idolization of any kind, even nature with all of its creatures fall into the box marked “temporal”. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the WORD OF GOD will endure forever, Amen and Amen! Why, then, are we so absorbed with vanities? “We pity the poor heathen who adore a god of stone, and yet worship our gods of gold. Where is the gigantic superiority between a god of flesh and one of wood?" The principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case, only that in ours the crime is more intensified because we have more light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils, inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn unto idols. Lord purge us all from fruitlessness is my prayer.

It is time to stand up and be counter, the hour is near and the trump of God is about to sound, are our ears tuned for the trump of God or will we try and play catch up like the five foolish virgins?

The instruction is simple; all those who confess Jesus as Lord, dress for battle, put off the rags of the feeble empty promises of this world, get into line for our Commander is about to cry out, “forward march”. It may even result in death or imprisonment, so be it! The faithful we will reign and rule with Him for all eternity, all glory belongs to our King, bless His name and may our heavenly Father give us the resolve to see things for what they are and to act accordingly.

Signing off

Tyrone

The gifts of God

“The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11: 29) 

“Now from all this he infers that certainly God had great mercy in store for that people, something answerable to the extent of these rich promises: and he proves his inference (Rom 11:29) by this truth: For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Repentance is sometimes taken for a change of mind, and so God never repents, for he is in one mind and who can turn him? Sometimes for a change of way, and that is here understood, intimating the constancy and unchangeableness of that love of God which is founded in election. Those gifts and callings are immutable; whom he so loves, he loves to the end. We find God repenting that he had given man a being (Gen 6:6), It repented the Lord that he had made man), and repenting that he had given a man honour and power (1Sa 15:11), It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king); but we never find God repenting that he had given a man grace, or effectually called him; those gifts and callings are without repentance.” (Matthew Henry) 

Salvation is always linked to someone else’s merits. I what you to think about this; do not leave this thought unexplored. It is imperative that we grasp it with all we have, if we are to be free to serve the living God, putting pride on the backburner pleasing our heavenly Father.

Let us work through this…

After falling through a crevasse on Everest a man finds himself lost and disorientated. The treacherous fall had shattered both his femurs leaving him exactly where he had collapsed with no chance of self-rescue. It was forty below and it wouldn’t be long before his body total shut down killing him on the spot. If rescue does not arrive soon he will surely die! Due to the extremities, his immobile condition and the fact that all his climbing gear had landed two hundred feet below him. He could not save himself! He was in dire need of rescue or he would die.

There was another man exploring the Colorado Mountains, he was agile and he liked the idea of exploring alone. He normally only ventured out for a couple of hours at a time and then he would return back to basecamp where he had parked his car. In the heat of the day he came across a trickery crossing that had disaster written all over it, but as he was up for the challenge, not much thought was given to the danger he faced and before he knew it he also found himself caught in a crevasse with his arm wedged between to boulders. As the sun baked down on him and with only half a bottle of water left, dehydration was a real concern. No matter how he tried to free himself he was trapped. For two days he spent most of his time yelling out for help but to no avail, he was stranded, trapped and alone. Although there were obvious differences between both men’s scenarios, the observable difference besides the weather conditions was that the man in Colorado had not broken a bone. But both were trapped!

The first man was extremely weak and now had a thin transparent membrane lining his chest wall which doubled back covering his lungs, thereby forming a continuous sac enclosing the narrow pleural cavity effect his breathing, it wouldn’t be long now. But just before he gave up the ghost rescue miraculously appeared as a salvage team descended down the cavity and save him in the nick of time. His rescue was a merciful act that had saved his life and without it he would have surely died.

The other man was in a quandary and no rescue team was looking for him, no one knew where he was, he was alone. What was he to do? Dehydration had set it and he had to act radically if he had any chance of survival. Remembering that he had a compact knife in his pocket he reached for it and with his belt now tightly bound around his arm just above his elbow restricting the blood flow he began to saw away at his arm. It was his only hope of escape. After much determination his job was complete and he was free with this trapped arm still wedged between the rocks he managed to free himself and with the little strength he had left he climbed out of the crevasse and began to make his way back to basecamp. On returning he climbed into his vehicle and made his way to the nearest hospital. He survived the ordeal. He had saved himself and as his story circulated he received the praise. He had saved himself.

What is the moral behind both these accounts? One man had been rescue by another whilst the other had saved himself. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about rescue and until we understand that we cannot save ourselves we will always look for self recognition; with independence driving us to a point of survival.

Let me use a final example that Ray comfort used in his book, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” to get this very important point across…

John Wesley said to a friend, in writing to a young evangelist, “Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace.” And you say, “90 percent law and 10 percent grace? Pretty heavy. Couldn’t it be 50-50.” Think of it like this. I’m a doctor; you’re a patient. You have a terminal disease. I have a cure, but it’s absolutely essential that you are totally committed to this cure; if you’re not 100 percent committed, it will not work. How am I going to handle it? Probably like this.

“Come in here. Sit down. I’ve some very serious news for you: you have a terminal disease.” I see you begin to shake. I think to myself, “Good. He’s beginning to see the seriousness of this situation.” I bring out charts; I bring out x-rays. I show you the poison seeping through your system. I speak to you for ten whole minutes about this terrible disease. How long, then, do you think I’m going to have to talk about the cure? Not long at all. You’re sitting there trembling after ten minutes, I say, “By the way, here’s the cure.” You grab it and gulp it down. Your knowledge of the disease and its horrific consequence has made you desire the cure.

You see, before I was a Christian, I had as much desire for righteousness as a four-year-old boy has for the word “bath.” What’s the point? See, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” How many non-Christians do you know who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The Bible says, “There is none who seek after God” (Rom. 3:11). It says they love the darkness, they hate the light; neither will they come to the light least there deeds be exposed (John 3:19–20). The only thing they drink in is iniquity like water (Job 15:16). But the night I was confronted with the spiritual nature of God’s law and understood that God requires truth in the inward parts (Ps. 51:6), that He saw my thought-life and considered lust to be the same as adultery, hatred the same as murder, I began to say, “I can see I’m condemned. What must I do to be made right?” I began to thirst for righteousness. The law put salt on my tongue. It was a schoolmaster to bring me to Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said, “They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law.” D.L. Moody, John Bunyan, John Newton, who wrote “Amazing Grace” (and if anyone had a grip on grace it was Newton), he said that “the correct understanding of the harmony between law and grace is to preserve oneself from being entangled by errors on the right hand and on the left.” And Charles Finney said, “Evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel.” He said, “To overlook this in instructing souls are almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts.”

Saints, the first thing David Wilkerson said to me when he called me on his car phone was, “I thought I was the only one who didn’t believe in follow-up.” Now, I believe in feeding a new convert; I believe in nurturing him. I believe in discipling him—biblical and most necessary. But I don’t believe in following him. I can’t find it in Scripture. The Ethiopian eunuch was left without follow-up. How could he survive? All he had was God and the Scriptures. You see, follow-up…now let me explain follow-up for those of you who don’t know. Follow-up is when we get decisions, either through crusades or local church, and we take laborers from the harvest field, which are few as it is, and give them this disheartening task of running after these decisions to make sure they’re going on with God. What it is is a sad admission of the amount of confidence we have in the power of our message and in the keeping power of God. If God has saved them, God will keep them. If they’re born of God, they’ll never die. If He’s begun a good work in them, He’ll complete it to that day (Philip. 1:6); if He’s the author of their faith, He’ll be the finisher of their faith (Heb. 12:2). He’s able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25). He’s able to keep them from falling and present them faultless before the presence and glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). Jesus said, “No one will pluck you from my father’s hand” (John 10:29).

Signing off

Tyrone

Let go and let God...

We all have perceptions and arrive at conclusions in accordance with the way we as individuals think on a particular subject. We have an assessment to most things in life, and when we land on neutral ground we have shown our hand. However we are often blinded to the bigger scheme of things, the deeper unseen truths that is as real as the setting of the sun. When we do not listen to that small still voice which whispers into our ear, which steers us towards a deeper understanding, which if allowed, often lands on a tile which fills in the blanks. Listen me must! Perceptions and clarifications never land on a full stop. Accept when it comes to God, nothing of value can be added to His Character, He is perfect! However there is always more for us to learn when it comes to the goodness and brilliance of our God.

The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in unearthing God’s genius and so when we shut Him out, it is at our own peril. A thought, a notion or a prompting to do something for someone and even ourselves at times may often be triggered and sadly we disregarded it as not that important.

Was it not a though we acted upon when responded auspiciously to the glorious Gospel message? An event which changed our lives; a prompting, that showed us our sin and our need for a Saviour; I remember the day I understood that God cared for me, and quickened my mind to understand that He had saved my soul. There is no way I deserved His favour and yet I found it, thank you my heavenly Father! There was absolutely no good thing in me that drove God to choose me to be saved and yet I find myself amongst His number. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch (rubbish) like me”. God is all-powerful! The universe and all of creations bows before Him. He has it in His power to do whatever He pleases within the realm of His character. Sin has no part to play in His makeup, praise His name! Lying comes easily to us but it is impossible for God to lie, think on that! “So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18)   

How far apart our characters actually are and yet He chose to make a way for me to have a relationship with Him; the Love of God personified in my life and all because of the Lord Jesus’ faithfulness to the cross of Calvary and all which that entailed, WOW! And to be blown even further into orbit, He made this decision prior to the foundations of the worlds coming into existence, even in spite of so many sinful slip-ups along the way.

I am in the process of re-evaluating my life over the last thirty years as I re-examine the many blunders I have made and why. It is becoming extremely clear that as much as I would want to search out some positive contribution that I made and influence God’s decision to save me, it does not exist. Outside of His love, goodness, mercy and grace I would still be dead in my trespasses and sins, no differently to a bat in a dark dingy muggy cave blind to its surroundings. God shone his light into my life and only because He decided to do it can I cry out “I can see, I can see!” If you are one that believes God saw some good in you prior to salvation you are terribly mistaken. We are righteous on the merits of what the Lord Jesus did on our behalf, He took our sin upon Himself and for this reason and this purpose alone God now loves us.   

The sooner we learn this lesson the better; we are all cogs in His hands and we need to understand our minuscule roles and become pliable clay in the potters hands, for when we rest there it will change us and the lives of those we come into contact with. Imagine if our lives could resemble a steering wheel, a slight tweak to the left and the vehicle moves in that direction, whilst we keep the car on the road with God navigating our lives we remain nontoxic and we keep those travelling with us safe. If we ignore the rule of the road (God's rule) it will be at our own peril. Who played the biggest role in the gospel message, obviously the foundation was laid by our great Saviour, but it would have to be the Apostles. They left everything behind and yet so many of us battle to put off the luxuries that this life has to offer. No wonder we are so ineffective. It’s all about being in control of our little worlds, this must change! If not it will cost us and those we have an effect on.

Signing off

Tyrone

The struggle of Christianity...

When I consider the cross and the effect the Lord Jesus has had on my life, I often find myself getting lost in my fight, but what I had come to notice is that a man like Charles Surgeon’s, although at times may have fixated on his life and his struggle, the substance of his diary entries did not have that focus but clearly shifted to the Word of God and Christ’s tussles. It was positioned on Christ’s brawl as the pinnacle of all things and not his own moves to appease His God. This is where the power of salvation rests. We often feel forsaken and then forget to reflect on what Christ actual endured. It ends on being about us and not Him. Let us seek out God’s grace to rectify our wrongs. Our struggle is but a pinch on what Christ actually endured. When we are freed from inward focus we become far more effective.   

Observe…

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

- Psalm 22:1

“We here behold the Saviour in the depth of his sorrows. No other place so well shows the griefs of Christ as Calvary, and no other moment at Calvary is so full of agony as that in which his cry rends the air-”My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” At this moment physical weakness was united with acute mental torture from the shame and ignominy through which he had to pass; and to make his grief culminate with emphasis, he suffered spiritual agony surpassing all expression, resulting from the departure of his Father’s presence. This was the black midnight of his horror; then it was that he descended the abyss of suffering. No man can enter into the full meaning of these words. Some of us think at times that we could cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There are seasons when the brightness of our Father’s smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us. It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ’s case it was a real forsaking. We grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father’s love; but the real turning away of God’s face from his Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused him?

In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in his case, it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away from him for a season. O thou poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God’s face, but art now in darkness, remember that he has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when he shines forth in all the lustre of his grace; but since even the thought that he has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the woe of the Saviour have been when he exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”” (Charles Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone

Judge not!

(Matthew 7:1)  “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

A little leaven leavens the entire lump; Judgement can become an infectious leaven if not checked. But it does not stand alone; the point of yeast is that not much is needed to influence the entire loaf of bread. Just the slightest habitual sin in our lives that we have never been able to shirk works its way into our survival and has the desired effect of handicapping those caught in entrapment. If and when it is exposed even more damage is done. We must learn to take our eyes off one another’s faults and focus on the Lord Jesus’ achievements. He alone was the spotless Lamb and without His sacrifice we would all be found wanting, there would be no exception. The sooner that becomes our reality the freer we will find ourselves to serve Him. It is an obvious conclusion that sin needs to be dealt their blows; we cannot excuse our sinful behaviour as acceptable. However I believe we have often forgotten from whence we have fallen when it comes to pointing out the sins of others and excusing ourselves for the sake of making ourselves feel better about ourselves.   

But what I find rather intriguing is how often those closest to us come against any progression we make as Christians, as they look to breakdown and not encourage. There could be numerous reasons why this happens, and we may be guilty of exactly the same mistake when dealing with others, in fact I am convinced that we have mostly erred in this area of our lives. We know that the devil goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour and I know he likes to sow discord amongst family and friends and even brothers/sisters in the Lord. Our character (old nature) is still something we all need to work through in our lives; sometimes we walk victoriously, whilst other times we fall privy to it; outbursts, anger, pride and the like. Nevertheless although we can never commend these traits we must accept the fact that we are still living in bodies that have a fallen nature. It is true that we no longer should be slaves to it. It is also true that we should no longer habitually practice what we once were slave too i.e. sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. If we look honestly at the list, we will all realise that we fall privy to some of those traps at times. We must however seek out grace to overcome, but if we fall, we have a high Priest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities and we are encouraged to repent and seek out God’s forgiveness as He is a forgiving God, He will forgive our sin: - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9)

But forgiveness is a two sided street; it is not a one-way! We pray “forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us”, let us be sure not to miss that crucial bit of information. Let us take to heart the purpose of a day like today, “Good Friday” the day the man Jesus died so that we could go free, it was a day filled with forgiveness. He took the punishment of sinful men and women and yet he had no sin, phenomenal! And so He taught, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

Signing off

Tyrone 

The Brilliance of God!

The brilliance of God; who will ever be capable of working Him out?

We like to believe that as children of God we have a good measure of that genius, however we are clueless when it comes to the depths of who He is. Paul explains it like this; “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1Corinthians 13:12)  

The depths of that statement is far reaching, pride often drives us to believe that we know more they we do in many facets of our lives. We are in fact clueless when it comes to the bigger scheme of things, until God opens our eyes to His existence we remain in darkness. The Lord Jesus put it like this to a man that by position and title claimed to understand who God was and what He demanded from His creation. Obviously, he too was clueless. Here is the account of their conversation; “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."” (John 3:1-3)

In order to explain something or someone in detail, sight is crucial. Otherwise we are left to our imaginations. Can a murderer be condemned of that crime by an eye witness if they are blind? It would be far harder to condemn him using the other senses. Imagine a blind witness before a jury with the strength of their testimony hinging on smell; “I smelt him enter the room”.  Sight is the key! It is the strength of the eye witnesses that brings quick and concise justice to a particular perpetrator. Obviously other evidence has its place, but an eye witness is the strongest witness of all! Did you know that there were many eye-witnesses that saw the resurrected body of the Lord Jesus?

The point here is that until we are born again, we may think we feel and sense God in our lives, when in fact we are far from Him. Religion is not enough! Nicodemus was a religious man and yet he struggled to receive the Lords instruction, why? He was blind! Not physically blind but spiritually blind. Here is the proof; “Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” (John 3:9-10) - He believed in the God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob and yet he understood very little about God and His character. Saul a murderer of the early Christian who eventually became Paul the Apostle was another who by example and in typology gives us insight to his blindness and then sight is given to him to see God for who He is. And yet in his blindness he thought he could see, how many people have you met like that? The Christian sees only because we understand that we too were once blind but now through conviction and repentance are given sight to see.

The point Paul makes is that although we can now see, we see through a dark blurry glass when it come to God. We most certainly see enough to motivate us to serve God, to love Him and to be driven to seek out Christ and heaven as our final reward. However we have barely scratched the surface when it comes to the only true God and His genius. So much about Him has been kept from us.

Our lives are filled with so many unanswered questions; this is only a transition phase and this is where faith is required to help fuel our onward stride toward God and His righteousness, which is a gift from God.

The long and the short of it all, is whatever the struggle is, it will be worth it all, of this I am completely persuaded. This will eventually be our reward, so digest these words and use them to motivate us towards good works; “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Signing off

Tyrone