OBEDIENCE

What is Your Life

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James 4:13-15. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” NKJV.
Psalms 90:12. So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
2 Corinthians 5:10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Colossians 3:1-3. Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

At the centre of the short passage from James is a question that every believer in the Lord Jesus needs to answer. For what is your life? As we attempt to provide an answer to this all important question we must not delude ourselves or others. This is a very personal and direct question and it is a question that demands an answer from every human being. If we asked it of five people we might receive five different answers. However, the real answer to this question is provided by what we spend the greatest amount of our time doing and who most benefits from our activities and actions.

 “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. God has given every one of us a will to decide how we shall live our life. How easy it can be to simply weigh our choices, try to make good decisions and hope that they will receive God’s blessing. Yet the message of these verses is very clear. Our response to all our choices and decisions ought to be “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” read more

OVERCOMING

All Things New

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2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Revelation 21:5. And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

When our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell for Satan’s lie, sin and death reigned over all created things. Even the galaxies are terminal – in countless eons they too must all be gone. But when the Lord Jesus died, the works of the devil were destroyed so that when God’s great recovery plan shall have been completed, and time shall be no more, perfection and permanence will characterise all things as they were in the beginning. Satan and his fallen angels, together with death and Hades, will no longer have any place for them except in the lake of fire which will burn eternally. ‘….the old things passed away; behold, new things have come’.

God made the greatest sacrifice that could be offered when He gave His one and only Son. The purpose of this sacrifice was that what Satan had debased and ruined might be restored to perfection and newness. Within this mighty achievement and victory of the Lord Jesus the way was opened for man to repent and believe the good news and find entrance into the kingdom of heaven. So that all who had become corrupted by Satan’s lie might be recovered to be sons of God: For remember that Adam is referred to as ‘the son of God’ at his creation. Luke 3:38. Through the cross all the redeemed, united together as perfected ones, will become the centrepiece of a new creation in Christ, the new Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Work Out Your Salvation

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Romans 5:1-2. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
John 16:13-14. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Believers in the Lord Jesus look back with great joy and appreciation to the date or the time when they first encountered the resurrected Christ as their real and personal Saviour. Many will affirm that it was the greatest day of their life and no wonder. The verses in Romans 5 capture the essence of this life transforming experience so aptly, ‘having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Yet so many, through lack of understanding, have camped out on those two verses without comprehending the words ‘we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand’ which informs us  that our life transforming event was the entry point into a lifelong journey of faith. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

One Flock with One Shepherd

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John 11:49-52. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
John 10:16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”
Ephesians 2:14-16 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

Can the high priest Caiaphas have known the real significance of the words he was given to prophesy? Almost certainly he did not. His prophecy was incomplete however, for the Holy Spirit through the apostle John added these words, ‘and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

There exist countless divisions within the Christian church on earth today. Will it then be impossible for those who have believed unto salvation to ‘become one flock with one shepherd’ until eternity future, or is this Satan’s gigantic lie? read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

In Your Presence

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2 Thessalonians 1:1-2. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalms 16:11. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. NKJV.

The opening greeting of the first and second letters to the assembly in Thessalonica, from ‘Paul and Silvanus and Timothy’ is identical apart from one word. At the opening of 1 Thessalonians it reads ‘in God the Father’ as opposed to ‘in God our Father’ in 2 Thessalonians. But it is the great significance carried by these opening statements that is vital to our understanding. What Paul is conveying to us is that the one and indivisible body of Christ, His church, does not have its real location in this world. It is located, not simply in heaven, but now and forever ‘in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.

We may perhaps tend to think of the presence of God in terms of it descending mysteriously upon us as we meet together, or in our hope that it may. However, the Holy Spirit assures us in the verses quoted above that His people, as a unified and indivisible company, are already located in the Person and presence of God. The assurance is given us in John chapter 3 that, at the instant of being born anew of the Spirit of God, each one who believes enters into the kingdom of heaven and, thus, has forever been afforded a new habitation. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

When You Meet Together

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1 Corinthians 14:26. Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize what I am saying. When you meet, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in an unknown language, while another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must be useful to all and build them up in the Lord. NLT
Colossians 3:16. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
1 Corinthians 14:31-32. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted….

If these Scriptures don’t describe typical meetings that you or I are attending today it should come as no surprise. Central within almost all church communities today is a leader or leaders to whom others must defer and submit.  This seems to be an essential feature even of meetings conducted in private homes.

The Corinthian believers to whom Paul was writing included many who had come from very loose and unruly backgrounds; see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Yet Paul could describe their meetings as permitting and enjoying great freedom in the Spirit. At first sight does that not seem to have been risky? Where was the safeguard against those who were not speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit? read more

OBEDIENCE

Narrow is the Way

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Matthew 7:13-14. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

This well-known parable of Jesus is so short in length yet so significant in substance. Perhaps the most striking aspect of it is to be found in the last few words which concern the small constricted gate and the narrow way. Jesus told His hearers, ‘there are few who find it’.

Matthew chapters 5 through 7 contain the longest recorded unbroken discourse of Jesus in the Bible. Those gathered immediately around Him at the time were His dear disciples, yet there were many others also there who also listened to His words with amazement. In these three chapters there are many revelations of heavenly wisdom from which countless numbers have received great benefit since His words were spoken. Almost hidden among these many treasures of wisdom are verses 13 and 14 of chapter 7. This short parable stands unique. There is no other like it. Though brief, it possesses a profound and vital message to all who seek Jesus with all their heart and choose to follow Him fully. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

According to the Pattern

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Hebrews 8:5. ‘Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’”
Exodus 39:32. Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did.
1 John 3:2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him….

God is absolutely precise in all He does and in all that is worthy to represent Him. Near enough is never good enough with God. All who love the Lord Jesus have been given the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit to live forever within each one, that He may enable us to live our life in accordance with God’s standard. God’s pattern for each one of us is Jesus. 1 John 3:2 assures us that ‘we will be like Him’.

On Mount Sinai Moses was given by God an exact design of a tabernacle in which His presence would reside in the central place among His people. This tabernacle was, in its design and in all its organization and operation, full of expressions of God’s nature, plans and purposes. Moses, in absolute faithfulness, oversaw that the tabernacle was constructed and that it operated in accordance with God’s intentions. read more

OBEDIENCE

Your Will be Done

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Luke 11:1-4. It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, ” When you pray, say: ‘ Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. ‘Give us each day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
Matthew 6:9-13 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done , On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’”

“Lord, teach us to pray….” One of His disciples requested of Jesus that He provide guidance as to how he and his fellow disciples should pray. The prayer Jesus gave them was not only for them, but for all who will become His disciples, right up to the present.

Respect for ‘our Father who is in heaven’ is to be shown by reverencing His holy name. To use the name of God, or Jesus, emptily or casually is to dishonour He who is the giver of everything and the great creator. The second commandment given to Moses puts it this way. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” read more