The Revelation

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me,

It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Ecclesiaates 12

"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.

And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

Being in the right place

This is one of those posts that you know you just have to make and relate to none other than yourself. In this case ME

 

"And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem." 2 Samuel 11:1

"But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD." 2 Samuel 11:27^b

 

The first time that the passage came up in discussion was on Saturday with a friend. I was not so sure on how the story began  I was clear on what David did about his desire for Bathsheba and also the major consequences of the action.

Then on Sunday for the evening service the story was about being in the right place and the same passage was the focus of the sermon. I knew then that I had to be wary of where I chose to go or how to decide on what to do.

So how did David end up in the mess that brought the hand of God upon him?

He tarried still in Jerusalem whilst the people went to war. As king, his place was at the battlefront leading his people.

But for some reason he stayed behind and chose to walk on the roof of his house.

When he stayed behind is when he gave in to sin and this one sin led to many more. When you look at the whole picture he broke four of the ten commandments.

Breaking four commandments just becoz of one thing which in when looked at seems to be minor

Next time when you choose not to do something that is your duty, ask yourself ‘am I in the right place at this time? Am I not in a place that will expose me to temptation that I may find myself succumbing to as I consider it minor?”

Be in the right place - always.

Their gods and my God

I was chaffed when the preacher went through the passage in the post before this.
It reminded me of Paul. He’s one person I’m growing to love as I read the Bible word by word.
Here Elijah showed the power of his God in broad daylight.
What got to me is the fundamentals that he addressed.
He asks why the people have two allegiances when it comes to their faith
That’s about being lukewarm
Where do we stand?
HE challenges the said gods to show their stuff
That’s the beauty of God
He will not let you down
He delivers as long as you stand by Him and put ALL your faith on HIM
Not some of it,
Not 90%
Not 99%
ALL 100% of it
Eh also shows the problem with the other said gods
They’re not omnipresent
In fact, they’re not omni-anything!
Another thing also comes out,
The way of worship or asking for your god to move for you
The prophets of baal had very vigorous ways of doing things and prayer
They had to do a lot of things in other for anything that they ask to be done for them
For my God all I have to do is ask and believe on Him
All that’s required is faith

1 Kings 18:21-40

"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD And with the stones he built an altar in came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there."

All things

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
1 Corinthians 9:22-23

Romans 11:16-36

Far be it from me that I knowingly not fulfil promises.
Case in point is a post of 21 verses
I realise it's quite a lot of verses to go through
I will do my best in highlighting what I believe to be the juicier flesh of the whole body
Firstly, it’s addressing those who abide in Christ.
I should not look down on those who once were of the house I now call mine. They have what one may call the legal right to come into that house once again- their parent still identifies with them. They share the same DNA. Yes they may have been cut off but it will be much easier for them to trace back their roots and come into that house again. You only stay there due to your faith. How more able are you to keep up with the demands of the house owner than the ones who grew up in that house.
Yes stay there with fear for you are but a grafted-in branch. If you were to err would the house owner be willing to overlook the fact that you were not born in that house?
Look at what happened to those who misbehaved who were born in that house. Stand firm on your faith and not look down on those who’ve fallen off- they are not fallen forever- they are waiting for the appointed time for them to be grafted back in.
The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Never say because one has not been saved they cannot tell you what is right from wrong. Gifts from God are not on merit- His grace.
Yes we can only wonder at His ways.
His mind truly is unsearchable. The one thing we can all agree on without dispute is that He loves us. Still He loves us in spite of what we are today or where we were yesterday.
He loves us still. Amen.

The Pursuit of God

I only got to know of A.W. Tozer when I came across his book 'The Pursuit of God" and read it.
I have some quotes of his that I'm sharing.

Ultimately Abraham discovered that only God matters….
Abraham was completely satisfied with God’s friendship. He becomes to us a faithful example in his willingness to put God first. With Abraham, only God mattered…
In Abraham’s encounter with God he learned why he was here upon earth. He was to Glorify God in all things and to continually worship… (Men who met God, 29, 30).

Sometimes I go to God and say, "God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth, I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already. " God’s already put me so far in de4bt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn’t pay Him for what He’s done for me. (Worship: The Missing Jewel, 24).

In my opinion, the great single need of the moment is that light-hearted superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple. The holy art of worship seems to have passed away like the Shekinah glory from the tabernacle. As a result, we are left to our own devices and forced to make up the lack of spontaneous worship by bringing in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold the attention of the church people. (Keys To The Deeper Life, 87 & 88).

But a man who has passed the veil and looked even briefly upon the holy face of Isaiah’s God can never be irreverent again. There will be a reverence in his spirit and instead of boasting, he will cover his feet modestly. (The Tozer Pulpit, Volume 1 Book 1 57,58).


Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but 1 do come. Please root from my heart all those things which 1 have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter avid dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' Name, Amen. In Pursuit of God


And I pray that this weekend's praise, worship and service brings to a point where you'll agree with him when he said,
"There is a point in true worship where the mind may cease to understand and goes over to a kind of delightful astonishment---probably to what Carlyle described as "transcendent wonder," a degree of wonder without limit and beyond expression!…."

Love

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. ROMANS 13:8-10

Isn’t it beautiful how simple things become when we love one another?
How you’re going to love thy neighbour is as thyself
This automatically means we do love ourselves to begin with
So who is thy neighbour?
We all are

So why are so you still indebted to many?