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Give unto God for your benefit

Acts 5:4 - Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold,
was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine
heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

God alone is our provider. People above us in our work are just vessels so
also when we work we become vessels through whom God provides us and our
families; we or the people we work for are not our providers, God alone is.
When we do not provide for ourselves and everything we have comes from God
then why does God want us to give unto Him?

We as Christians are called to be led by the spirit and not by our flesh.
We are called to overcome the flesh which is the carnal nature / sin nature
that leads us to sin.

Jesus became a sacrifice for us and took away our sins as we believe in His
sacrifice, but He did not take away the sin nature. To deal with the sin
nature He gave us His Spirit and it is by the Spirit of God working in us
we overcome the sin nature.

When Lucifer fell and became evil the first thing that bought him down was
greed. It is written he decorated himself with precious gems. We need to
understand Heaven is a spiritual place and not an earthly place to have
earthly gems, so also Lucifer was not a man of flesh but a Cherub who is a
spirit being far more complex and powerful than an Angel. We also need to
note everything in Heaven is good even the so called gems symbolize good
precious things. So when greed led Lucifer to have good things without
reason of use, these good things started to have a bad effect on him and
greed took birth.

Everything in this world is good and that is what God said in the start
after He created it. But we should know when and how and how much of these
good things to use. When we desire to hold on to things even though we do
not have need for it that is when greed starts to work on us.

God gave us the statute of tithing to help us overcome this greed nature.
Most people think they do a favour to God and His people when they tithe,
they do not realize they are doing themselves a favour when they tithe.

We people need to realize tithing is just a step to giving unto the Lord.
Most of the people in the early Church were Jews and as Jews they
religiously tithed. So tithing was never an issue for them but as
Christians after receiving the Holy Spirit they grew in the Holy Spirit,
and the Holy Spirit led them from tithing unto giving.

We read in the chapter before (4) from verse 32 onwards, each Believer gave
everything that was extra. Each one was led by the Lord to decide how much
was needed by them and their families. We also see some who had dedicated
their lives fully unto the Lord's work gave everything. That did not mean
they did a greater giving than the others. Each one gave as they were led
by the Lord, none gave more or else (even though what they gave differed),
they all gave abiding to the Lord (Holy Spirit); therefore even though some
gave more or less yet all gave equally according to what the Lord gave them.

We read Annanias and Sapphira were led by the Lord to give a certain part
of their holding but they did not fully give. They held back a part of that
extra which they were supposed to give. Peter was made aware by the Holy
Spirit of the deed of Annanias and Sapphira. That is why Peter tells them,
were not these things theirs before they decided to give and when they
decided to abide to giving unto the Lord, he asked them why did the hold
back part of what they were instructed to give? Had they not given then
they would have been in a better position but when said yes to give and did
not do it fully they were mocking God as to be a man who could be cheated
even though they saw the glory of God among the people. That is why this
deed of theirs angered God so much that judgment came instantly on them and
they both died. When God's glory is greater, God's judgment is also harsher.

The one teaching Jesus gave that caused the most ruffles amongst His own
disciples was the fact that it was almost impossible for a rich man to go
to Heaven. No other teaching caused so much reaction on the disciples like
this one did. Even when He said one would have to eat His flesh to have
eternal life the disciples did not react much, the Jews did.

When Jesus said it is impossible for rich to enter Heaven it does not mean
Christians from poor countries will have better chances to go to Heaven and
people from countries would not.

We read in Acts they all did not give a fixed amount, but each gave
according to what the Lord led them to give. Nor did all keep a fixed value
of things, each one was led to keep what they needed and the extra they
sold and gave unto the Lord. One may not be rich and still be rich by their
greed and desires. Money is not evil but greed for money is. Having money
for your need is not evil but having more than what one needs is greed and
evil. We cannot stay we are stocking for a rainy day, there is a limit to
that stocking and beyond that it shows lack of trust in God.

I am sure today if someone teaches on giving unto the Lord, most of his
church would be empty. People struggle to tithe; giving unto the Lord is a
too far a thing for them to even imagine.

Let us realize when we give unto the Lord, God is not benefited in any way.
The most benefited person is we, ourselves. We all are not called to give
everything, we should be led by the Lord as to know how much we need and
what is that extra we need to give.

I have seen Preachers misuse Luke 6:38 for tithing, if they read 2 lines
above they will realize Jesus was talking not of tithing but showing mercy
unto others. Jesus says in those scriptures the mercy we give unto others,
a far greater mercy, pressed down, running over, shaken together will be
given unto us.

In Malachi God challenges man to tithe and He assures us, when we do that
our vessels / store house will never be wanting, they will in fact
overflow. Note one thing He does not says He will expand the vessels to
hold more, No. What we need He will provide and He will give us extra when
should overflow unto others. But we Christians all the time try to expand
our vessels, enlarge our desires more and more, try to hold as much we can
and that is when we become rich and loose the chance to go to Heaven. We
land up with being blessed here on earth but forsake our chance to go to
Heaven.

Let us remember greed is the most difficult worm of Satan to overcome. God
does not ask us to immediately overcome it. He understands our weakness
thus tells us to start by giving 10percent of our income unto His cause
(work of His Kingdom). As we become honest to Him in this small thing and
grow in His Spirit, we learn to have better relationship with Him and then
He teaches to give unto Him and overcome greed.

I would like to again remind, when we give more than others that does not
make us better than others or holier. It is the Lord who give and He who
asks of us, we just abide. So none of us become greater or smaller by what
we give for all are equal when we abide by the Lord. It is the Lord who
enables us to do little or greater for His Kingdom.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You called us to overcome the darkness that Satan and his angels
spread when they went against your desires. Lord, You know how difficult it
is for man to overcome greed that is why You set stages for man to overcome
unlike for other things. When Abraham tithed even though he gave 10 percent
to Melchizedek, yet he did not take more than what his people consumed. He
gave away everything else. Lord, our spirit is strong but our flesh is
weak. We pray Lord we be honest in our giving and we grow to overcome our
flesh...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 4:33-37; 5:1-11

33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the
things that were sold,

35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made
unto every man according as he had need.

36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being
interpreted, The son of consolation, ) a Levite, and of the country of
Cyprus,

37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the
apostles' feet.

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a
possession,

2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and
brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the
Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it
not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?
thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and
great fear came on all them that heard these things.

6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried
him.

7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not
knowing what was done, came in.

8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so
much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to
tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried
thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost:
and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth,
buried her by her husband.

11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard
these things.

Genesis 14:14-24

14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth
his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued
as far as Dan.

15 And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and
smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of
Damascus.

16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother
Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the
slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of
Shaveh (the same is the King's Vale).

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was
priest of God Most High.

19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
possessor of heaven and earth:

20 and blessed be God Most High, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy
hand. And he gave him a tenth of all.

21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take
the goods to thyself.

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand unto
Jehovah, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

23 that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught that is
thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

24 save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the
men that went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

Malachi 3:8-10

8 Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed
thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with the curse; for ye rob me, even this whole nation.

10 Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food
in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will
not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it.

Luke 6:36-38

36 Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

37 And judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and ye
shall not be condemned: release, and ye shall be released:

38 give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with
what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.

Matthew 19:23-26

23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich
man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who
then can be saved?

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible;
but with God all things are possible.

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Disagreement between Men of God

Acts 15:36-40

36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit
our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and
see how they do.

37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.

38 But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them
from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.

39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed
He
is always projected as a person full of compassion, love, mercy, patience,
knowledge among other things, but like in today's message we see Paul has a
very serious argument with Barnabas and it get so serious that they decide
to go different ways.

We need to remember Barnabas was the man who helped build Paul in his
initial days he was a mentor for Paul. Barnabas was the one who stuck with
him when the other Apostles were afraid of Paul. He accompanied Paul to
Jerusalem and broke the ice between the other Apostles and Paul. So should
not have Paul been grateful to Barnabas? Barnabas was an Apostle before
Paul so being first shouldn' t have Paul listened to him?

A tiff with Barnabas is not the only incident recorded in the NT. Paul also
had tiffs with Peter on at least 2 occasions which caused Paul to openly in
public rebuke Peter and also the tiff of Paul with the Church of
Corinthian. The last one worked on Paul so much so that he was nearly on
the verge of death. A man who could bring dead people to life by just
holding them was himself helpless.

In Acts 19 Paul spent 3 months arguing with the Jews every Sabbath in the
Synagogues.

If Paul was alive today some people could have accused him of being
quarreler, especially with Pastors it is a taboo to go against one's
mentor, but that is not what we see Paul as. When we look at all what Paul
did, he worked for unification and goodness of the people and the Kingdom
of God. But this aspect which is highlighted of Paul cannot be ignored and
we need to understand why Paul did these things.

In today's message we see the cause of discontent between Paul and Barnabas
was John who was called Mark. This Mark is the one who was assigned by the
Apostles to record the teachings of Jesus (Gospel of Mark).

When we compare the Gospel of Mark to Matthew and Luke we see is very short
(Mark wrote up to 16:8 and verses 9-20 were added by someone else). Even
the few points / incidents recorded by Mark are very brief and do not give
a proper dimension of the event. It is only when we compared the same event
in the other Gospels we get a clear understanding.

Paul had no problem with the quality of work of Mark but there was one
point Paul could not digest of Mark. According to Paul the Gospel of Mark
was incomplete for Mark had not recorded the witnessing of the resurrection
of Jesus. Mark stopped with the body of Jesus being put in the tomb and on
the third day the body being missing even though it was well guarded.

We need to understand the one thing that Christianity is based on is the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. If one takes away the resurrection, there is
no Christianity. That is the reason Mohammad tried his best to deceive
people to believe Jesus did not die just to disapprove Jesus' resurrection.
In the one/two ayah or scripture in the Quran against Jesus' resurrection,
his lie stands exposed. In it he records the Jews as saying, they neither
killed the Apostle of Allah (Allah referring to God and the Apostle of God
referring to Jesus Christ) nor did they crucify him.

First thing one should realize the Jews hated Jesus and they consider Him
as a false Prophet. They believe He is now in hell suffering for His
heresy. So there is no way any true Jew will call Jesus an Apostle of God
or Messenger of God. It shows how Mohammad made-up his stories to deceive
people into accepting him and the true representative of God. He did that
even to the other pagans by accepting / acknowledging their 3 goddesses
till they accepted him in their midst (at that time he did not have a
strong army to fight them and take them by force). Later he claims Satan
temped him to say the words and they are called the Satanic verses and have
been edited out of the new Qurans.

We Christians need to realize the importance of Jesus' resurrection like
Paul did and thus he did not compromise with Barnabas who was supporting
Mark. Paul wanted Mark to complete the Gospel and no leave it half way.
Even with Peter the incidents where Paul rebuked Peter were on serious
points where Peter was misleading people.

Both Barnabas and Peter were giving importance to relationship and were
compromising with Holy things of God for the things of man. They did not
fear God but feared disappointing man. Paul loved man but when men having
knowledge of God yet went against God then Paul did not spare them. At one
place Paul says he handed over unto Satan some believers who were
blaspheming God. He meant he disconnected his relationship with them and
thus took out the hedge of protection that was on him and extended unto
them by considering them brethren. Being out of God's protection they would
get sense through the things they would experience and thus repent.

At times when people who go against the Holy things of God and lead people
away from God, we need to put our foot down and take up the matter with
them. We need not confront everyone in the open but should try our best to
handle the matter as discreetly as possible. But if need be we should not
fear to bring it out in the open.

We need to also note even though Paul had a tiff with Barnabas or Peter,
Paul did not let that affect his relationship with them. Paul desired to
send the message down the line but he also made up in his relationship with
them. We see Peter crediting Paul for greater understanding of scriptures
than himself. We also see Barnabas and Mark being back into Paul's team.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray that your people know the purpose of being Christian. That
they know it is not about them but about You, that without You there is no
us. Lord, we pray people do not compromise You and the Truth for
relationships. That they love one another but above all love You. That even
if they have disagreement, the disagreement be focused on the issue and on
the persons. That oneness remains both in You and among your people...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen...

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 9:26-27

26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the
disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a
disciple.

27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared
unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to
him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

Galatians - 2:11-16

11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face,
because he was to be blamed.

12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles:
but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them
which were of the circumcision.

13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas
also was carried away with their dissimulation.

14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of
the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest
after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou
the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Acts 19:8 - And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space
of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom
of God.

2 Timothy 4:11 - Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee:
for he is profitable to me for the ministry.

1 Timothy 1:20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered
unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

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God desires to save

Jonah 1:1,2 - Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai,
saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for
their wickedness is come up before me.

We read in the book of Jonah how the Lord sends Jonah to give the people of
Nineveh the message of repentance and how they receive it and are saved. We
also read how Jonah who did not desire them to be saved but desired they be
punished for they were the most brutal lot of people at that time. Then
Jonah is taken there against his wish but later half-heartedly does the job
of telling them the warning hoping they would not listen but when they
listen to his message and repent, Jonah is disappointed.

We see the Lord sends Jonah on the mission to save the people of Nineveh
and we read the Lord had given them a period of 40 days to change.

Let us note what were they people of Nineveh being saved from?

Today's message says the deeds of the people of Nineveh had come before the
Lord and the anger of God was going to come on these people but before the
anger of God falls on the people God desired to give them another chance so
send His messenger Jonah to them.

We all need to note God desires to save people however bad or evil they may
seem to the world, yet God does not close the door and tries one more time.
But we also need to note God does not wait forever or goes on and on
tolerating our evil forever. He sets a time for each one of us and the time
is not the same for all. The time is according to our hearts. In that
period of time if we fail to turn back or repent from our ways we had it.

Most people think of God as a punching bag, whom they can go on hurting
again and again endlessly. They forget God describes Himself as slow to
anger. Slow does not mean never angry. It means God waits patiently and for
a stipulated period of time and when the time ends He acts on his anger.

Christians do not realize Jesus came not to save us from Satan but from God
Himself. God has given mankind a stipulated time to change and come back to
Him before He enacts on His anger and consumes all. Satan took us from God
and wants to make sure we are consumed by God's wrath because he knows he
will be consumed when his period ends. He does not desire we be blessed in
the Lord with the things he and his lot lost.

We should realize even though we proclaim 'God is Good' yet the one being
we all need to fear is God and no one else. We do not need to fear Satan or
anyone else for they are nothing before the anger of God. The Bible says
resist Satan and his ways but does not say fear him. As much God loves us
that much He also hates evil. He gave His only Son to suffer for us and to
save us. He risked His all for us. Then imagine how terrible would His
anger be?

To those who repent from their evil ways and believe in Jesus, to them He
time and again says 'do not fear'. He does that because in the Garden of
Gethsemane Jesus drank the cup of the wrath of God on our behalf. He was
forsaken by His Father because of us. He went to Hell because of our sins
which were on Him even though He never sinned. It was only because Hell
could not keep a righteous person that He rose again (came up - since Hell
is spiritually below, not physically). And we who are in Him (who are
called righteous not by our doing but by His doings), are also saved from
Hell because of Him.

Let us not take Jesus or God for granted. We are given a period of time
like the people of Nineveh. Let us repent from our evil ways and turn back
to God before the anger of God falls on us.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray You save your people from You. That they do not receive of
your wrath. That they repent from their evil ways and come to You. That
they realize their time is not forever. You are slow to anger but keep
record of our every doing when we are not in Christ. We pray they turn away
from their evil and take refuge in Christ and be saved...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 8:28-29

28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the
Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the
tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee,
Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Exodus 34:6-7

6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD
God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering [slow to anger], and abundant in
goodness and truth,

7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children, and upon the children' s children, unto the
third and to the fourth generation.


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Providing things good in the sight of God and also man
2 Corinthians 8:21 - Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

One of the greatest reasons why our Church suffers is because people do not grow more than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord also says, "my people are destroyed due to lack of knowledge".

Last Sunday I was teaching on Acts 20 at my Bible class and that chapter gives a very beautiful picture to understand today's message.

Gospel means Good News and here in this chapter the Gospel is very simply defined as 'repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ'. It means to believe in the salvation made available through Jesus Christ, but to know the value of this salvation we need to first know who we are (sinners) and that God hates sin and thus as sinners we are punished and will perish.


To give the Gospel one needs anything from a few minutes to a few hours, max a few days. But here we read Paul spent almost 3 years in Asia (a region in ancient Europe & East Europe). These 3 years surely Paul was not teaching them just the Gospel. We read later Paul was worried knowing that on his leaving some people he calls 'savage wolves' would come to deceive them with perverse teachings so as to draw them away from the Truth and thus cause them to perish. He says not only people from outside but people from within them will deceive them with things of the flesh. But Paul says he was satisfied for these 3 years he did teach them with great pain on how to discern the good from the bad and right from the wrong.


We also read Paul did not teach them everything but all that was necessary for he later says if they fall even after this, their blood would not be on his hands for all that was necessary was taught to them.


In our Churches we are all given the Gospel of Jesus Christ but very few Churches teach its congregation to discern. They are not taught to discern right from wrong and good from bad. It is when people are taught to discern and when they exercise discernment that they grow and mature as Christians.


When you hear great famous preachers preaching, one who has good knowledge and understanding of scriptures see them get away with murder in broad day light. The crowd is so mesmerised with the show put around these preachers or people are blinded with one point how to receive their blessing or their healing that they do not see anything else. They follow the preacher like cattle.


Most preachers bring people to God but do not strengthen them sufficient that they remain in God. What is worse, the preachers themselves are not spiritually strong enough to remain in God that is why sometimes we see even great preachers fall to deceit of other religions, or the most common one they fall for is the things of the flesh. They become famous more because of their gifts not because of their spiritual maturity or understanding of Heavenly things.


We who are ministering to others are not called to hit people with the Bible, nor called to just give track sheets, a flyer of the Good News. We are called not only to bring people to God by giving the Gospel but also build them such that they remain in God. To do the later we need to make sure after they accept the Gospel, they are baptized in the Holy Spirit and the foundation of the Word of God and basic understanding of the Kingdom of God is clear.

Whatever we teach should be good not only to man but also according to God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray those who have taken up your burden to give your salvation unto man do not stop at just giving the Gospel, that they baptize them in the Father (baptism of repentance), in the Son (baptism of faith) and the Holy Spirit (baptism of the Holy Spirit) and then teach them. Your burden is heavy for them because they do not follow your guidelines or your Spirit. Lord, we pray your Church grows strong in knowledge and understanding and learns to discern...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Corinthians 8:16-21

16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.

17 For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you.

18 And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches;

19 And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:

20 Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us:

21 Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

Matthew 28:19 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

Acts 20:18-21, 26-32

18 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,

19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:

20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,

21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.

27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Hosea 4:6a - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge,

Hebrews 5:14 - But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

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The Reformation
2 Chronicles 15: 16,17 - And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the
king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a
grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook
Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless
the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

In the Old Testament we see waves of reformation happening not once, twice
but thrice before Jesus came and by His Spirit caused the greatest
reformation.

In the books of Kings and Chronicles we read of people like Aza, Hezekiah
and Josiah who repented the way of the spiritual life of the Israelite
people and the things they did with regards to worship. They found people
were worshiping other things while they were also worshipping God. They had
contaminated their belief with the beliefs from other religions and thus
imported gods and practices into their worship towards Jehovah.

In today's message we read of Asa the young king who was the first
reformist and the thing he did. We see one thing common through all the
reformists that they all rooted themselves to the Law and Commandment of
God. Thy all solely depended on scriptures and it was the holy scriptures
and their relationship with God that cause them to see the mockery people
were doing towards God and in His name.
The people during their time and also during the time of Jesus were not
totally against God they all called themselves worshippers of God but they
were doing something else while they were worshipped God. During the times
of the 3 kings we see two common things one was a goddess that was
worshipped along with Jehovah and second they worshipped in high places.
Worshipping in high places did not specifically means God did not want them
to build a place of worship on a hill or mountain but symbolically meant
their worship was more a blasphemy and less an acknowledgment, praise or
thanksgiving to God. In their so called worship they were mocking the
things holy unto God.

During the time of Jesus they did not have the goddess factor but the
worship in high place was there and these they called traditions. Jesus
became their enemy because He spoke against and even broke their religious
traditions. The bases on which Jesus like the other 3 kings founded their
fight against the so called worshippers of God were the Holy Scriptures.

Unlike the 3 kings who did good in the eyes of God yet they compromised at
some place and thus continued things like worshipping God in high places
among the people of God. Josiah stood tall among the 3 and other than
stopping the people from worshipping the goddess he also stopped them from
worshipping the dead.

During 1500AD we saw another reformation that took place. At that time too
the people who gave importance to scriptures saw the Christians worshipping
the goddess Ashtoreth the Queen of Heaven in the name of Mary the mother of
Jesus and also worshipping the dead. This caused the Jewish disciples who
followed Jesus, led by the Spirit of Lord to separate themselves and caused
them to be recognised as Christians and not Jews.

Like the reformation which happened during the time of the kings so also
what happened around 1500AD was not a complete reformation. Many of the
worships in high places were compromised and these practices are seen even
today among Believers.

We need a reformation like that which Jesus led His disciples to. He built
them in knowledge of scriptures and got them later to separate themselves
spiritually from the beliefs and practices of the Jews. They did not call
themselves by a name but the people gave them names for they found them
different from the rest of the Jews and other people. We too do not need to
break away from so called Christian by forming another group or Church. We
need to be like the disciples, they by their belief, way of life and the
power of God working through them made the people to see them different
from the main stream believers.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, your people do not need another religion or denomination they need
You, your Word and your Spirit. Time and again your people have been
deceived to do the same spiritual fornication. They are made to spiritually
prostitute themselves by their worship of the strange woman goddess
Ashtoreth the Queen of Heaven in her different forms. They are made to
worship the dead and blasphemy You in their practices called worship by
them. They time and again have shown the stiff neck, fleshy nature and
hatred against the things of your Kingdom. They prefer things of darkness
and reject the things of Light. Lord we pray a spiritual reformation that
the world will see You in them and know You through them...
This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.
[Reference Scriptures]

Proverbs 2:1-22

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with
thee;

2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to
understanding;

3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for
understanding;

4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid
treasures;

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge
of God.

6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and
understanding.

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them
that walk uprightly.

8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea,
every good path.

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto
thy soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that
speaketh froward things;

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which
flattereth with her words;

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of
her God.

18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths
of life.

20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the
righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain
in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors
shall be rooted out of it.

Proverbs 5:1-13

1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is
smoother than oil:

4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that
thou canst not know them.

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of
my mouth.

8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the
house of a stranger;

11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to
them that instructed me!


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Bringing Dagon down

1 Samuel 5:3 - And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold,
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And
they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

Dagon was the principle god of the Philistines. It had top half the body of
a man (a king) and the lower half the body of a fish. The word dag means
fish. This god was a god of the seas. There were and are various versions
or forms of Dagon. The Syrians had a female version of Dagon with the upper
half body of a female. Similarly the Greeks and others had similar avatars
of this amphibious god. Even the Hindus have an god equivalent of Dagon.
Vishnu's first incarnation was Matsya the fish and they have a picture of
Vishnu and the lower part the fish Matsya, same as Dagon.

Like Ashtoreth this god has also been part, parcel tagging alone with the
Israelites / Jews throughout Biblical records.

The Temple Samson bought down was of Dagon. When Jonah went to Nineveh,
when he came out of the fish's mouth they thought him to be Dagon therefore
did not harm him and immediately abided to what he said since they were
worshippers of Dagon. For them it was their god telling them about a God
greater than him, they thus repented from their evil ways. They were among
the most brutal races in Biblical history. They would skin people alive and
perform child sacrifice for their god Dagon.

This god is the god or ruler of the seas and in the Bible 'sea' symbolizes
people. Stephen accused the Jews of worshipping Moloch and Remphan. Moloch
means king and Remphan means star, the Old Testament does not record the
Israelites worshipping these gods in the desert or otherwise yet Stephen
accuses them of doing so.

Stephen was not wrong. They were symbolic worshiping these gods and not
them as an idol but by the things they did. Other than the god of fertility
(they did this by a calf this was equivalent to star / Remphan) they also
worshipped Moses as their god (Moloch). That is why they killed Stephen
after they accused him of blasphemy against Moses and then God. Moses was
before God for them and blasphemy can be done only God and against a human.
So by their accusing blasphemy against Moses they proved they worshipped
Moses. That is why even thou they never understood the words of Moses yet
they followed it to the letter, blindly. That is also why God hid the body
of Moses when Moses died.

In the book of Revelation (chp 17 & 18) we see the Mystery Babylon, The
Mother of Harlots rules over all the nations and the leaders of the nations
are subjected to her. Later the Lord causes her to be bought down.

In today's message we read the first time the god Dagon fell before the Ark
the people picked it up and made it stand again. The second time Dagon did
not just fall but it was beheaded.

The Lord is telling us the Mystery Babylon when it fell in 1500AD it stood
up again and continued its whoredom with the things precious to God. This
time again this Babylon will fall and this time it will not be able to
stand again for first its head would be separated from its body.

Today we read the leader of this false church is being loved by all and the
Times magazine had its cover picture of him as a person loved by the
nations. If people understand Catholicism they will know it stand on 3
pillars, one is scriptures and the other two are traditions and church
authority. The latter is over the prior. Traditions overrule scriptures;
that is why we find the loaf of bread which Jesus broke was replaced with
wafer in 1200AD, was called Eucharist and this was made a tradition. Why
did they want to replace bread with wafer and make it a tradition and then
clam it came from the Apostles is a mystery. We also see the Pope has
authority to change scriptures and also make, remove or change traditions.
We see they changed the Ten Commandments erasing the second and splitting
the last into two. We also read of how the Popes are adding, removing and
changing traditions.

What we see this Pope is doing now is unthinkable by traditional orthodox
Catholics. This Pope is shuffling the authority and making changes in the
rights of the Cardinals; the power house of the Catholic Church and no one
messes with them and remains. We have seen before Popes who tried that were
killed or over thrown. These were done in the dark ages when people would
kill and get away, but in this modern age one cannot think of doing such a
thing and that too to a spiritual leader and getting away with it.

So we will soon see something great like a volcano coming out this deep
bubbling mountain. And that eruption will cause this Mystery Babylon to
fall once again and this time the head will be knocked out.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we are during the greatest time when the Mystery Babylon will fall and
the blood of the martyrs revenged. We are at the time when all the
denominations will come together and come together with one mind and one
understanding let by one Shepherd and that Shepherd is not a man but You.
Lord we pray You be gloried and claim the harvest that comes due to the
fall of this false Church...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Samuel 5:2-7

2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house
of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took
Dagon, and set him in his place again.

4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head
of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold;
only the stump of Dagon was left to him.

5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's
house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed
them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.

7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the
God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and
upon Dagon our god.

Acts 7:39-43

39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in
their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses,
which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the
idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it
is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye
offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in
the wilderness?

43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god
Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon.

Acts 7:11 - Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

Revelation 18:1-8

1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having
great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of
every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her
delicacies.

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of
her plagues.

5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her
iniquities.

6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double
according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much
torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and
am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and
famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord
God who judgeth her.


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It is not about us or how powerful God is, it is about His Word

Jeremiah 36:26 - But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and
Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch
the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.

In today’s message we read when the king tried to harm Jeremiah and Baruch
and the Lord hides them. We also read similar situations in the Gospels
when Jews were about to harm Jesus, He escapes through the crowd unharmed
or hides from the crowd.

When we look at the great miracles in the Bible where God levelled armies
and cities one may ask why did the Almighty want to hide anyone? Why did He
not show His might and destroy the enemy and show how great He is. Jesus
had authority He could cause fire from Heaven to fall on those who came to
attack Him and consume them all like it happened with Sodom and Gomorra, or
even get them diseased of bitten by snakes coming out of the ground like it
happened with the Israelites, or even an Angle killing them all like it
happened at the time of David. But He did not, He preferred hiding or
escaping.

The God we worship is an Omnipotent God and man is not even dust before
Him. It would not take a second for God to crush evil man and show how
powerful He is but He does not. God does hate evil and cannot stand evil
yet He tolerates evil man. Why does God do that?

We can understand this from the turn of events in today’s message. We read
when prophets like Jeremiah spoke the Word from the Lord people like Baruch
would note them down either immediately or later. Rarely did the Prophet or
Man of God himself write (Moses did most of the time). The original scroll
was later copied manually letter to letter and that is how others would get
a copy of it. For this job too there were people trained. Today we have
many copies of these manuscripts (manual copies of the scriptures) and
therefore a confirmation of the text in the Bible. These texts are so
accurately written and the mistakes that exist between them are mostly
spelling mistake.

The king was very angry when he read a scroll of Jeremiah which was the
original and only scroll (a part and not the whole book of Jeremiah). The
king did not like what was written in the scroll and cut the scroll and
burned it. The king did not fear that the text on the scroll was from the
Lord and that he was going not against Jeremiah but against God.

We see later the Lord again tells Jeremiah to note down the same words
which were in the previous scroll and then adds to the text what the Lord
would do to the king and his generation. God did not say okay the king
destroyed it so let bygones be bygone, we will write something new. Instead
God had the same identical text, word to word rewritten. He did add but did
not remove or replace.

We need to understand the whole of the Bible is inspired by God and is for
the benefit of man to understand the salvation of man in Jesus Christ. It
is to confirm, correct and reinforce one in his or her faith in Jesus
Christ. Paul in his second letter to Timothy states all scriptures, not the
New Testament only or the Gospels only but includes the Old Testament also
(by that time the whole New Testament was not ready but the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark and Luke were but John may have not been complete).

If we look at scriptures books like Kings, Chronicles, Proverbs give us an
understanding of scriptures or are records of the events confirming the
prophesies or how God worked among the people. The Bible (books) is a
collection of Prophetic Word, teachings and records / testimonies.

When Paul taught the people about Jesus the people of Berea confirmed what
Paul taught by looking up the scriptures (Old Testament). Jesus also spoke
that Moses and the Prophets wrote about Him and He fulfilled all that is
written by them. Acts like Chronicles and Kings are recordings, the
Epistles so also the book of Revelation give an understanding of the Word
fulfilled in Jesus and which was already given. If one checks the book of
Revelation every scripture would have a cross reference to either Moses or
the Prophets or the Words of Jesus.

In the Quran we find Allah is unlike God. When there is a problem with any
scripture Muhammad is instructed to replace it with another scripture. This
scripture is not the same but a different scripture. We see this Allah
behaves like a man who makes mistakes or lack understanding or is not
omnipresent (in time and space) and is not omnipotent. That is why the
Muslims claim that the Torah, Psalms and Gospel are God’s Word but yet are
insufficient, incomplete or corrupted. When we look at God in the Bible He
did not say He made a mistake in what He said in the Books of Moses or
Psalms or the Prophets, but rather confirms them through Jesus. We see the
Word is one and complete.

I wrote in my previous message the Angels called the Word of God as Word of
Life. We need to understand the purpose of the Word. It is given by God for
the salvation of mankind. It is to give life to man not just temporary
natural life but eternal spiritual life also. God tolerates things and is
slow to anger so that His Word completes what it is sent to and returns to
Him fulfilled, doing its job.

In the Kingdom of God it is not about you or me. It is not about how many
miracles we perform or how many healing we do or how many problems we
solve. It is not about showing how great God is or how powerful He is. It
is not about sell Christianity or making God or Jesus Christ famous like a
brand name. The Word of God is given for the salvation of man; therefore
the Kingdom of God is all about saving mankind. It is about getting
prophesies fulfilled and the people which the Word has been sent to save,
getting them saved. It is all about the Word. It is the fulfilled Word that
will bring glory to God and to us in God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray your people understand the purpose of your Word. That they
know the life it can bring to them. Lord, we pray people do not do things
according to their understanding but fulfil the Word as Jesus Christ did as
man on earth...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Timothy 3:15-16

15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Isaiah 45:23 - I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in
righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.

Isaiah 55:11 - So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it
shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Quran Su 16:101 - when we substitute one revelation for another,-- and
Allah knows best what he reveals in stages,-- they say, "thou art but a
forger" : but most of them understand not.

Quran Su 2:106 - none of our revelations do we abrogate or cause to be
forgotten, but we substitute something better or similar: knowest thou not
that Allah hath power over all things?


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The Word of God

Luke 20:14 - But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among
themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the
inheritance may be ours.

In Luke 20 Jesus gave the Jews who questioned His authority the parable of
the vine grows (v9-v16). In the parable a man gives his vineyard to the
tillers and goes on a long journey. At the season he sends his servant to
get the yield of the land and the tillers assault the servant and send him
back empty handed. The master then sends another servant and that servant
too is treated shamefully and sent back empty handed. Then again the master
sends a third servant and that servant too is wounded and driven away. The
fourth time the master sends not his servant but his son thinking they will
respect him. But the tillers this time just wound the son but killed him
hoping they would inherit the vineyard. Then Jesus asks the Jews would not
the master when he comes destroy the tillers of the vineyard and give the
vineyard to others?

I was meditating on this parable and have heard others preach on it and
they implied the vineyard as the Kingdom of God, but in my heart I did not
accept this understanding. Important aspects we need to note is the master
sends 3 servants before he sent his son and then after taking the vineyard
from the tillers he gives the vineyard to others.

When we look at the Bible we see this parable come true with the Word of
God. If we look at the Old Testament it is largely divided into 3 parts
Moses (Pentateuch) , David (Psalms) and the Prophets (books of the
Prophets), then came Jesus (Gospels) NT before the Word was taken from the
Jews and given to the Gentiles.

The Word of God was given unto the Jews (the children of Abraham). Frist
came the servant Moses and the Jews made the Law given through Moses in to
traditions of man and was called the Law of Moses. They did not keep the
Law of God but kept the Law of Moses which was nothing but traditions of
man. They did the same with the book of Psalms and the books of the
Prophets. These books too they did not understand nor live it in their
lives.

Later the Lord sent His Son who was the perfect manifestation of the Word
in the flesh. Him these Jews did not accept but killed Him. The Jews always
believed that God was their property and the Word of God was given unto
them alone. No one other than a Jew would have rights to scriptures or the
Word of God.

Jesus then says those who go against the Word will be broken into pieces
and against whom the Word goes would be made dust.

Jesus was the Word manifested in the flesh. His Word was rejected and today
His Word has become the corner stone for mankind. Any person who is part of
the Kingdom of God has only one corner stone to which he or she has to
align their lives and that stone is the Word of God and we can see this
Word as a living example in Jesus Christ.

The Hebrew words translated as word and connected to God are the words
'dabar&# 39;, 'imrah&# 39;, 'emer' and 'peh' . Each one gives different rendering to
the aspect of the communication. One means talk, promise, command another
broadcast (comes from the root meaning to scatter to all corners) like an
announcement, proclamation and another expression or thoughts. When the
Angels referred to the Word of God they called it the Words of Life (Acts
5:20). In the book of Moses it is also called the Book of Covenant / Law
and in the book of Prophets it is called just Book or Instructions.

When Jesus said eat my flesh, He did not refer to His human flesh. It is
only by our understanding of the Hebrew word 'basar&# 39; which means flesh and
its root meaning which is tithing or preaching then we will know what Jesus
meant. We may break bread physically in remembrance of Jesus Christ, but
unless we do not eat (make part of us) His message we will not have life in
us.

It is only when we understand the Hebrew words used, understand the books
in the Bible and why man is different from other creatures, how the image
of God is in us and the difference of the Word of God is in us and in the
man Jesus Christ then only we will know how Jesus is a perfect
manifestation of the Word. Then only will we have the real understanding of
John 1:1-5.

The Word of God is also referred to as Manna (meaning what it is). The Jews
never understood the Word of God but were possessive of it and since they
had no understanding of it they abused the Word and did traditions in the
name of keeping the Word.

When God gave them Manna to eat, unless the Manna was processed they were
not to eat it. The communication given by the Lord needs to be processed in
us and only when it is processed in us will it becomes a source of life.
Jesus called the processed Word of God in us as Rivers of Living Water.

The Bible is like Manna many read it but do not understand it. When I
started reading it, it was like a history book for me. It was only when I
was baptized in the Holy Spirit the words of the Bible became Life in me
and the Word became a Living Word. It is the Holy Spirit Who helps us
process the Word and He brings us to the true understanding of the Word of
God and makes it Word of Life in us.

Let us not be like the Jews hardening our hearts and not giving the yield
of the Word. By our believing in Jesus Christ we are given the Holy Spirit.
Let us let the Holy Spirit work in us and process the Word in us such that
out of our bellies flow Rivers of Living Water that gives life unto others
also.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray people do not eat Manna as the Jews ate the seeds that fell
from the sky. Lord, we pray your people know the value of your Word and how
it can transform us and bring live in us. That they know your Word is
Life...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 20:9-16

Acts 5:20 - Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words
of this life.

John 4:10 - Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of
God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have
asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

John 7:38 - He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Matthew 7:13-14

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the
way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it.

John 6:58 - This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your
fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall
live for ever.

John 1:1-5

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that
was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John 6:51 - I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man
eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

John 6:53 - Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no
life in you.


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The Lord roars out of Zion

Joel 3:16 - The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be
the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

It sometime pains me when I see people follow the Bible without
understanding. Some days back I had a heated argument with a brother who
insisted the Gospel should be simple and we should not complicate it by
getting into deep study of it.

People do not know the difference between Gospel and Word of God. The
Gospel is indeed very simple but the Word of God isn't. Jesus instructed us
to go to the whole world and preach the Gospel and those who accept the
Gospel, to baptise them and those who are baptize to them we teach the Word
of God.

One needs to understand no one can understand the Word of God without being
baptized. This baptism does not mean only baptism in Jesus Christ means
both baptism of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Without believing in
Jesus we cannot receive the Holy Spirit and without our baptism in Holy
Spirit we will not be able to understand the Word of God. Initially we may
need a person to guide them in the foundation and the ways in which to
study the Word since we start to learn to communicate with the Holy Spirit
but then it ultimately is the Holy Spirit and no one else who can teach us
the correct way to understand scripture.

Jesus taught His disciples; even though there is no human teacher better
than Jesus yet the disciples could not understand Him. They came to really
understand Him only when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Giving the Gospel is feeding the lambs (we), when we gets baptised in the
Holy Spirit is the time we start to mature in Christ and that time the
sheep (we) needs tending and then later comes feeding the sheep. (John
21:15-17)

Baptism also does not mean we receive the full Holy Spirit. Other than
Christ none of us have the complete of the Holy Spirit. Bible states the 7
Spirits and what we all receive when believe in Jesus Christ, is the
promise of the Holy Spirit. It is only when we claim the promise by
surrendering to the Holy Spirit we are baptised in the Holy Spirit and we
receive a token of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth starts working
in us and opening scriptures to our understanding. It is then we start to
grow in the Holy Spirit and start to get more of the Spirit of Truth and
also the other Spirits.

We see many Christians foolishly project Jesus Christ as lion and some go
to the extent to claim He would come as an actual lion to rule the world.
It sometimes sounds Christian have started become like some of the oriental
religions which believe in animal spirits.

Let us look at today's scripture it talks of the Lord will roar from Zion
but His voice will be heard from Jerusalem. We have many scriptures (like
the very next) which also show Zion is a mountain.

If one looks up the Bible Zion was the name David gave to Jerusalem when he
invaded it. Zion means fortified city and the interesting part is at that
time Jerusalem did not have the wall around it. It was later Solomon build
the wall around Jerusalem. For David the city was already walled for the
Lord was the wall of the city. Solomon was bless with wisdom but yet lacked
understanding of spiritual things which David possessed.

Similarly Jesus Christ s / Lord is called the Lion of Judah not because the
lion is a fearless creature. I tell people think such things how lions
fears hyenas and wild dogs or even wild buffaloes. It is only when we
understand the symbolism of the Lion we understand why the Lord is called
Lion of Judah.

Lion symbolizes Righteousness and the Lord Jesus Christ is the
Righteousness of the His people who come to Him. However good we may be
still we all lack before God and our righteousness is like rags before Him
yet we are all saved and by faith called righteous because after judgement
where Jesus checks if the Truth is in us, He will cover us with His
Righteousness. That means it will no longer be our works or doing that
saves us but what Christ did that saves us. We receive the Truth by the
working of the Holy Spirit and Righteousness (which is also symbolized by
Blood) from the Son. Righteousness and Truth are the Fruits of the Holy
Spirit which Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden and due to which they
(all of us who were in them) became corrupt and were hence thrown out. It
is by our receiving these lost Fruits of the Holy Spirit that we are able
to return to the Garden of Eden / Paradise.

Zion, Jerusalem, Judah, Israel, Samaria, Egypt etc. are symbolic
representations of the various spiritual stages we go through. We grow
from hope to faith and from faith to authority. Jesus came to give
authority to those who hope in Him and have faith in Him. Authority is the
fullness of faith, for it does not mean just having faith but means
exercising it.

Zion is the city where the people of God who have authority dwell. It is
the city where people who are of fullness of faith dwell. From these people
the Lord says He will roar. The word translated as roar symbolizes conquer.
This world will become the Lord's when we come in fullness of faith and
become people of authority.

Let us glorify God and bring His Kingdom in glory here on earth by building
each other in faith so that one day some among us will have authority in
God. That the Lord will roar through them and the world will tremble before
Him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You came as man and died as a sacrifice to wash away our sins
although knowing that we would still continue to sin for the sin nature is
still in us. But your sacrifice was not in vain. By your sacrifice You made
available to us your Holy Spirit. It is by the working of the Holy Spirit
we overcome the sin nature and grow in Him and become Sons (Princes) of God
having authority in You our King. Lord, help all those who believe in You
and are not baptized in the Holy Spirit to be baptized and receive the Holy
Spirit. We pray Lord your Spirit works in them and help them grow in You.
That they may one day grow to have authority in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Samuel 5:7 - Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is
the city of David.

1 Chronicles 11:5 - And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt
not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the
city of David.

Joel 3:17-21

17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy
mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass
through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop
down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of
Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house
of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness,
for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed
innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to
generation.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD
dwelleth in Zion.

Mark 16:15-16

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall be damned.

Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me
in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Galatians 3:14 - That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.

Colossians 1:19 - For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell;

Ephesians 1:13 - In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

John 21:15-17

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou
knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed <1006> my lambs.

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith
unto him, Feed [tend] <4165> my sheep.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?
And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I
love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed <1006> my sheep.

John 14:16-17

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with
you, and shall be in you.

1 John 2:27 - But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in
you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Ephesians 3:5 - Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of
men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit;

1 Corinthians 13:9-10

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part
shall be done away.

John 16:13-15

13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it
unto you.

15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he
shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

John 1:12 - But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Ephesians 5:9 - (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness [Holiness
which we get from the Father] and righteousness [from the Son] and truth
[from the Holy Spirit]

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Fasting

Isaiah 58: 5-7

5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his
soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and
ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the
LORD?

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free,
and that ye break every yoke?

7 - Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor
that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover
him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Many people have a very wrong idea of fasting. They, like the Muslims think
of it like a penance and they will impress God with it. The day they fast
they think their prayers are confirmed.

In Isaiah 58 the Lord exposes the wrong thoughts in the minds of people
with regards to fasting...

1) They feel God sees them or take greater notice of them when they fast
(v3)

2) They feel fasting makes them humble before God (v3)

3) They feel the fast confirms their prayers and gets them their blessings
(v3)

4) They feel all the efforts they put will be paid (v3)

This is what many preachers preach of fasting even today. That is why
fasting does little change to people since they do not know the purpose of
fasting. Fasting has great power and that power works not on God but on the
person fasting, it causes the person to change from inside.

The Lord in verses 5,6 and 7 tells us its purpose and way to fasting:-

1) "A day for a man to afflict [be occupied with] his soul" - fasting
requires us to be occupied with our inner man. It means to give attention
to what we are inside.

2) "to bow down his head as a bulrush [insignificant] " - means to humble
himself and know who he is and how insignificant he is without God choosing
him. In the Bible Lord calls man a worm, a mere insect yet He chose this
lowly being to be a part of Him and to be glorifies in Him.

3) "and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him" - means to repent, to
reassess one's way of life and correct the wrong doings in one's life. It
requires one to know how our sins and sinful ways would lead us to vanity
and destruction.

4) "to loose the bands of wickedness," - requires us to change our wicked
ways and give them up. Fasting should change us from within. It is actually
not the fast but the building of our determination to change during fasting
(period of reassessment) that changes us.

5) "to undo the heavy burdens, " - The Hebrew word translated as burden
means bands or yoke or (mental or spiritual) slavery. It also means a
bundle of hyssops. Incidentally hyssop symbolizes faith but a bundle of
here hyssop does not mean greater faith but means ungodly beliefs. Faith is
singular for it means believing in God and His Word which never changes;
therefore believing in anything that is changing while believing in the
unchangeable is disbelief or bundle of hyssops. We are burden because we
have ungodly beliefs in other words faithlessness in us and faithlessness
causes worries. During fasting we are to cast away our ungodly beliefs or
worldly thoughts and solely trust God. Jesus said "come to me all who are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Before saying this Jesus told them
who He is and what His authority is. He is telling us we have many beliefs
and worries and works because we do not know Him and His authority. He
asked us to give up on the worldly thinking and take up our mission in Him
and He says it is light. Not that the mission is light (in fact it is just
humanly impossible) but becomes light because He has given us a Helper.

6) "and to let the oppressed [brokenness] go free, - it requires us to
overcome worldly sorrow and incompleteness. The Hebrew word translated as
free literately symbolizes someone been set free of ones taxes, that is the
kind of release we should have.

7) "and that ye break every yoke [pole or bar of yoke]" - we have seen
movies where a captive has a long rod or pole put on his shoulders with his
two hands tied around it at either ends. It is to bind the hands of the
person. Hands symbolize work or deeds. The Lord is saying our fast should
free us from the yoke of our works. Works can be a bondage for us if we
believe in our works. It does not mean we do not need to do good works, but
it says we should never think our works saves us. Good works are required
of us bit do not save us. That is why in verse 7 we see an example of the
things we are required to do as we fast. That does not mean only during
fasting. It means fasting should be like an ignition for us to do good
works while keeping in mind it is required of us but does not save us.
Wrong works or evil works can un-save us but good works do not save us.

When we see these points put by the Lord in Isaiah 58 we see fasting is
less towards God and more towards ourselves. Fasting is what sets us on
track and clears the wrong things in us. Fasting helps us build ourselves
in the Lord, it helps us build faith and helps us separate ourselves from
worldly things. True fasting change us. During fasting one does not
necessarily require to refrain from food and water only; during fasting one
can refrain from anything that gets one to do the things listed above.
Daniel fasted even though he ate and drank but that fast transformed him.

Without doing the above points, fasting can do the opposite effects on us.
It can make us self-righteous, proud before God; it can also make us think
great in the works of the flesh.

[Prayer Started]

Lord, we pray You teach us and guide us to fast correctly. Help us not be
self-righteous and depend on the works of our hands. Help us to be
transformed from inside...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 11:27-30

27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the
Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

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The Righteous shall possess the Land

Obadiah 1:19 - And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and
they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of
Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

Abraham was promised the land from the river of Egypt unto the river
Euphrates. The land of the various tribes like the Hittites, Amorites,
Canaanites etc. and we see Abraham got none of that, even today the Jews
have not had that land during any period in the pass. They are still
struggling and lost millions of lives fighting for the earthly land. Yet we
see Abraham was satisfied in the Lord and did not pursue any land.

Jews and even many Christians still hope that one day the Jews will have
the promise fulfilled and they will get the land earmarked in Genesis
15:18-21. I have last time pointed out that the Lord stated this land to be
a land where milk and honey flows! Does it sound like a fairy-tale land;
does a land give milk and honey? Abraham took along with him to the land
the cattle that produced the milk. His cattle were not starving before and
if one sees the geographical and agricultural stats of the land he was in
and went to there was not a sky and land difference between them. No doubt
it was better but not something to die for.

When Jesus came He did not pursue any land, nor people of a land. He
commissioned His disciples to every part of the world and not only the
Jewish territory or the Middle-East.

God is God of the world and not just of the Jews. He created the whole
universe and all the beings within. He is mindful of all the beings He
created. The Angels called the Bible the book of Life and not Book of the
Jews. We all know we will all are one day going to die and will leave this
earth, this world and this body of flesh. Are we going to dwell on this
earth as spirits to possess a land? Why did God promise a land? Even during
the time of David when he ruled over the maximum territory as an Israelite
king yet he did not possess all the land earmarked by the Lord but made
peace deals with the people of some of the lands.

One would be amazed when one studies Bible scriptures with its true
understanding God really and truly did not promise a land but something
else and Abraham being aware of it in Christ was satisfied to receive it.

Today's message talks of the south possessing the mount of Esau, the plains
of the Philistines, the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria. This
prophecy is yet not fulfilled and where are the south (Jews) to fulfil this
prophecy. Some people think the Jews will come back is power to fulfil it.
They should realize if that was so, then neither the Holy Spirit nor Jesus
would lead His disciples to come out from among the Jews and be called
Christians. We Christians would have still being Jews possibly another sect
like the many sects that exist among them.

God is not a liar nor impotent to fulfil His Word. The time for this
prophecy is at hand. The prophecy truly says the righteous will possess the
land and the land that they will possess is the souls of the Muslims,
people who pursue worldly progress (like name, fame, power etc.),
prosperity Gospel seekers and the Catholics.

Like I pointed in my previous message we are in the Church of Sardis, the
period of evangelizing when the Church will spread to the far corners of
the world. We are in the time of harvest. God is preparing the hearts of
the people for us to reach out to and bring them to Him. We do not have to
be afraid of these people or worry if they would come to the Lord or no. We
should imitate the Israelite at war in the Old Testament, when the Lord
told them the enemy was given unto them and the victory was theirs, they
did not bother what was the ratio between them and the enemy. They did not
bother it they were 1 to a 1000 or 10000. They just went into the battle
and the Lord did fulfil His promise.

Today we may live in a country having maximum numbers of unbelievers, the
Lord is telling us He has given these souls unto us and we just need to
reach out to them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We just need to trust
the Lord, identify people if the person falls in these 4 categories and if
they do then just go for them for the victory is ours. If one analyses
people outside these 4 categories are like living dead spirits that have no
purpose in life and live just to die. The Gospel is only for people who
love life (even if their actions show otherwise).

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we thank You for bringing us into the this world at the time of
harvest. We thank You for all the efforts our brethren before us have done
and the seeds they have sowed among the people so that we can bring these
seeds to life by spreading your Gospel and bring these souls to You. Help
us Lord to discern the people and to identify your people from among the
children of Satan that do not know You and hate You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Genesis 15:18-21

18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy
seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river,
the river Euphrates:

19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the
Jebusites.

Exodus 3:7-8

7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which
are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for
I know their sorrows;

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and
to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land
flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the
Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the
Jebusites.

Exodus 13:5 - And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land
of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and
the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing
with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.

Exodus 33:3 - Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up
in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume
thee in the way.

Leviticus 20:24 - But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land,
and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk
and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other
people.

Jeremiah 11:5 - That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your
fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this
day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

John 8:56 - Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and
was glad.

Psalms 37:29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for
ever.

Isaiah 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit
the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I
may be glorified.


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Can wisdom profit you? Can you profit God?

Job 22:2 - Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be
profitable unto himself?

When I got this scripture it took me aback for a moment, what kind of
question is this 'can a wise profit himself?' We all know wisdom is very
important and it is only through wisdom we can thoroughly be profitable.

But yet we know the Bible does not put anything without reason or
foolishly. It is only when we put along the other question do we understand
the truth the scripture is trying to bring out.

The other question is 'can we as humans profit God? God who has created us
by His breathe and moulded in His image but is now corrupted. Can such a
corrupt being without power and without any ability to live by himself
without God's help be of any profit to God?

We need to first understand wisdom. To understand wisdom we need to be
clear the difference between knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

Knowledge is the data or information that we receive. When we read (i.e.
the Bible) or hear people or see things or even smell or taste or touch we
receive knowledge.

Understanding is what we derive from the knowledge we have. Without
knowledge we cannot have understanding.

Wisdom on the other hand is the ability to derive the right understanding
from knowledge. Wisdom can come in 2 ways, one as a gift and the other by
experience (our experience and from the experiences of others).

i.e. The raw ingredients used in the food is 'knowledge&# 39;, the cooked food
is 'understanding& #39;, and 'wisdom&# 39; is the processing of the food like
cutting, heating, stirring etc...

So we see without wisdom we cannot get understanding from knowledge, and to
get it only when we use wisdom not just have. Today's message is telling us
without using wisdom how can wisdom profit a wise man. We may be very wise
but unless we use that wisdom how are we to be profitable as wise people.
In the same way man by himself cannot be of any profit to God unless man is
used by God.

Does God who is almighty need the help of man? No.

When we understand wisdom, which when used generates understanding, and
this understanding increases and betters our knowledge and also increases
our wisdom. So we see the more we increase in knowledge and use wisdom we
grow in understanding and wisdom.

The same way when man is used by God, it actually helps man himself, and
helps him to grow. God does not need us to be used by Him. We need to
understand it is for our own reason and profit that we be used by God and
for God, since by this we ourselves are benefited.

Many people do God's work thinking they are doing a favour to God. They do
not understand they are doing not God a favour but God is doing a favour
using them, for this only helps themselves and no one else. That is why
Jesus said when we become His disciples and when we know the Truth, then
the Truth will set us free. People skip the discipleship, they think by
studying the Bible they will be set free which means overcome.

People actually become spiritually worse when they study the Bible and do
not follow it. Bible study is just knowledge and without experiencing it
they do not get wisdom and thus no understanding. Then this knowledge
without becoming understanding starts to do things like puffing up the
person or hardening his conscience.

Thus coming to God and not being used by Him will also make us worse people
than what we were before coming to God. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and not
the other people for the Pharisees knew God, studied scriptures but never
understood them nor did they want to be used by God, they hid behind a wall
called traditions, this led them to be hardened inside and caused them to
be dead in conscience, in guilt; they could kill or stone people and not
feel anything.

Today's message is very clearly telling us, we need to understand God has
called us to Him for a mission and unless we submit to that mission we are
going to be destroyed, we will be worse than when we came to Him. And by
taking up the mission we are not going to do God a favour but ourselves a
favour. We should thank God to find us worthy to be used by Him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, many do your mission thinking they are doing You a favour and thus
think they put You in debt and expect things or worldly blessings from You.
They do not realize that being called to the mission itself is an blessing
and how much they need to thank You for it. Lord, we pray sense into those
people and also we pray for mercy for those people who are meaningless
'Christians&# 39; sans mission...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Corinthians 7:22 - For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is
the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is
Christ's servant.

Ephesians 6:5-9

5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the
flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart;

7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:

8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he
receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening:
knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of
persons with him.

Luke 17:7-10

7 But who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that
will say unto him, when he is come in from the field, Come straightway and
sit down to meat;

8 and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and
gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward
thou shalt eat and drink?

9 Doth he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded?

10 Even so ye also, when ye shall have done all the things that are
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which
it was our duty to do.

John 8:31-32

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in
my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Mark 7:8-9, 13-15

8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men,
as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that
ye may keep your own tradition.

13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye
have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

14 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them,
Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile
him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the
man.

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Drought in the land
Jeremiah 14:9 - Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man
that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are
called by thy name; leave us not.

We know there is a great drought in Maharashtra India and places are not
getting water for days and weeks. This was the same situation for the
people of Judah during the time of Jeremiah and when we read chapter 14 we
see the people preaching another God and another message of Him. The land
was full of prophets who preached pleasing messages which the Lord had not
said. And we see the Lord got angry with them and caused drought in the
land. This drought was so terrible that people were on the verge of death.

All most all the preachers you meet today are become like the prophets
during the time of Jeremiah. They all want to preach a 'blessed&# 39; message.
They want to tell everybody how good God is and how merciful He is,
everything else of the Lord they stack away to be hidden or ignored by the
people. That is why the lives of the people do not change only they get
into religious rituals. Even their prayers become a ritual, they can pray
for hours and hours and it comes natural, out of habit for them.

God is telling the people stop prophesying water or solutions to the
drought. The Lord is telling the leaders preach the Lord in the Bible and
not a lord of their dreams.

Just a day or two back someone posted a message about the disciples of
Jesus which was false so I commented with the truth and I had people
commenting back saying why I was making weak the testimony of Jesus.

People have made the Bible like a Hindi film story they add mirch-masala
into it to make it look dramatic, simple to understand and pleasing to the
human mind.

Please, God does not need our editorial skills. It is God's Word for the
salvation of man and not for the entertainment of man. What it is, it is
and should be that way; it should not be added to or subtracted from.

We see in Jeremiah chapter 14 at the end when the people prayed for peace
with the Lord they were saved. Let us too correct ourselves and pray for
peace with God so that this drought ceases to exist.

One may think will it rain or how will the water come? How or how much, is
not what we need to worry, when the Lord gives even the ground will open
and gush out water that meets our need.

Today I encourage my brethren living in Maharashtra and other places
experiencing drought or natural calamities to walk the path of the Lord as
the Lord has set it, that they do not create an easy side path, that they
repent from their ways and ask for peace with the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You are our Creator and Provider, You alone are Father. Lord, we pray
for the people who are experiencing drought in Maharashtra and other
places. We pray your peace into their lives, we pray your forgiveness and
mercy. Lord, we pray the souls not be crushed in your wrath. We pray that
they receive their provision of water...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Jeremiah 14

Key scriptures

Jeremiah 14:2-3, 11-16, 19-22

2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the
ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to
the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they
were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.

11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.

12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt
offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them
by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

13 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall
not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you
assured peace in this place.

14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I
sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they
prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and
the deceit of their heart.

15 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in
my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be
in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets
of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none
to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I
will pour their wickedness upon them.

19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast
thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and
there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our
fathers: for we have sinned against thee.

21 Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy
glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.

22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain?
or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore
we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things

Revelation 22:19 - And if any man shall take away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of
life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in
this book.


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Prince of Tyre will come to ruin

Ezekiel 28:8 - They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die
the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

In the Bible the Hebrew word Tyre is translated as rock just as the Greek
word Petros is also translated as rock. Both these words if checked
correctly do not mean rock but mean stone like the Aramaic word 'Cephas&# 39;.
The Hebrew word that is used for rock and which symbolizes the Lord is the
word 'tsuwr&# 39; (pronounced tsoor). Similarly the Greek word for rock is
Petra. In Hebrew even the word 'cela' used for cliff is also translated as
rock.

God is not an object to be called a rock yet we see in Paul's letter to the
Corinthians he calls Christ as the rock that followed them. In the Old
Testament we do not read of any rock following the Israelites. Muhammad did
not read the Bible fully or understand it thus in the Quran came up with a
concept of walking / running rock like his flying carpet (of Solomon).

Rock (huge rock) is used symbolically for the Lord / Truth since they are
unmoveable and forever (according to the understanding of the people living
at that time). Both the Son and the Spirit (Christ - since the word means
Spirit on the man Jesus) were symbolized as rock, the Son being the first
rock which was allowed to be bruised for water but the second rock (Holy
Spirit) when bruised, Moses was punished and not forgiven (this was done
for us to understand if we grieve the Holy Spirit we would not be forgiven
and would not enter Heaven even if we are saved from Hell).

A stone as we see here is used for Satan not because he is smaller than the
Lord. Here too it is used symbolic to its physical characteristics. A stone
is small part of the rock and symbolizes little truth; it easily moves
around and is not fixed like a huge rock.

Satan is a master liar, he is too smart to not fully lie; he never tells a
full lie for he knows he would get exposed therefore tells half or little
truths. Simon was nick named Peter / Cephas because he had the habit to
speak out even though he had little knowledge or little understanding on a
matter.

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus was telling Simon even though you have little
understanding yet the Truth you spoke is on which His Church (congregation)
will be build. And we see that we all who do not have the full
understanding of scriptures even after 2000 years of Jesus yet the Truth
that Jesus is Christ, Son of God holds us together in the Lord.

In Ezekiel chapter 28 the Lord exposes the deceiver which even today people
have not registered into their understanding. They all think Satan means a
single being, they do not realize the word is plural. From Moses to
Revelation the Bible talks of 2, the young lion (acts like a lion) and the
serpent, the beast and the dragon, the prince of Tyre and the king of Tyre.
People also have the misunderstanding that Satan wanted to be like God in
Heaven. Satan (plural) was a Cherub, a being thousands of times greater and
mightier than an Angel and each are in charge of an army of Angels. Satan
the dragon was not man to think of being God. If we read Ezekiel 28
correctly it was the prince of Tyre who wants to be god and not the king.
And that too he does not want to be god in Heaven but god among the people
(sea).

Lucifer (meaning light bearer) (king of Tyre) let greed fill him by his
amassing for himself the precious things of Heaven even when he did not
have use of it. When he had much, pride came into him and then came deceit.
He led the other Cherub and the Angels under them to go against the plan of
God (cause darkness). This is when God made man to deal with them. There
were 6 Cherubs, 2 fell and thus 4 are shown in the Bible near the Mercy
Seat (Throne of the Son) that is why Revelation talks of on a third fell by
the tail of the dragon.

The king of Tyre (the dragon or serpent) was put in Hell in the start to be
released at the end and amongst us is the prince of Tyre (the beast or
young lion) and the fallen angels (whose powers were taken away during
Noah's flood). The beast rules on behalf of the dragon and we see in
Revelation 17 it is written one who was there and was not and only those
who have wisdom will know.

We are also given the place where this beast rules from (not physically)
and that is given as the place where Antipas was martyred, which is
Pergamos which is the name of third Church in the line of seven churches in
Revelation 2 and 3.

These are the seven churches are the seven stages of the Church. When we go
through the history of the Churches we see the first stage of the Church
was the Church of the Apostles (Church of Ephesus meaning permitted) (33AD
to 300AD), then came the Catholic Church (Church of Smyrna meaning myrrh a
poison) (300AD to 1500AD) which was called the dark age of the Church. The
Roman Catholic Church we know of today took root after 1500AD when the
Catholicism doctrine was fully defined at the Council of Trent (1545AD to
1565AD). Then came the Protestant Church (Church of Thyatira meaning odour
of affliction) (1520AD to 1700AD) which later evolved to the existing
Believer Church (Church of Sardis meaning red one / symbolising
evangelistic Church) (1700AD onwards till date). Still two Churches are to
come before the coming of Jesus Christ - Church of Philadelphia meaning
brotherly love / the Church when the world sees God's glory and the Church
of Laodiceans meaning justice / when justice will come on the people / when
Jesus comes to judge.

So we see the place Pergamos from which Satan the beast rules is the RC
Church we know. If we study history it was the Catholic Church which gave
birth to Islam directly / indirectly and these religions together rule the
world as the beast wanted. It was the Catholic Church which persecuted
Christians more than any other religion including Jews and Muslims. America
was formed due to Christians fleeing the atrocities of the Catholic Church.

The Lord in today's message is telling the beast / prince of Tyre that time
has come when He will bring people against it and against it beauty. They
will expose it by the sword (Word). They will bring it to ruin as written
in Revelation 17 & 18. The cause of its ruin will be the image (Mother Mary
who apparently has nothing to do with the mother of Jesus) which it has
caused people to worship like the image caused King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon to be bought to ruin. Sadly the repentance of this church too will
be too late like the repentance of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
who later died in the wilderness eating grass.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, the maximum numbers of anointed one were murdered by the church which
came by your name. All of these souls of martyrs cry for justice. Lord we
know the Day is at hand when You will deal with this Babylon. Lord, we pray
these warnings cause your people who are still under the deceit of this
lady be set free and come to You and be saved from being party to her
punishment.. .

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures

Ezekiel 28

Isaiah 14:12-17

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art
thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God [the other Cherub]: I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most
High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee,
saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake
kingdoms;

17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof;
that opened not the house of his prisoners?

Revelation 17:8-9

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the
bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the
foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not,
and yet is.

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

Revelation 2 & 3

Revelation 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where
Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my
faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was
slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Revelation 17 & 18

Revelation 18:4 - And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out
of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues.

Revelation 2:20-25

20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou
sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach
and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things
sacrificed unto idols.

21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall
know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give
unto every one of you according to your works.

24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not
this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak;
I will put upon you none other burden.

25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.

Revelation 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,
and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which
was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.


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What is worship?

Daniel 2:46 - Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and
worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and
sweet odours unto him.

We read in Daniel 2:46 the king worshipped Daniel but we see the king in
the next line was acknowledging the God of Daniel as God. So was the king
worshipping Daniel or the God of God? Surely the king was not worshipping
Daniel but the God of Daniel yet it is written in verse 46 the king
worshipped Daniel.

The Aramaic word used there is 'cegid&# 39;- which means 'to prostrate oneself,
do homage, worship' . It simply means the king humbled himself and lay
prostrate before Daniel acknowledging Daniel's God and not Daniel. We also
see the king offered oblations and sweet odours to Daniel. So the king was
physically and mentally worshipping Daniel while spiritually worshipping
Daniel's God.

When you speak to a Catholic about their worship of Mary, saints or the
pope they would flatly say they do not worship then. Yet one would see they
do lots of things before their idols or pictures. Do they not do what the
king did to Daniel?

When I ask Catholics what difference is there between their worship towards
God and their worship towards Mary, dead saints, people or relics? And none
have been able to convince me or themselves about the difference, for their
words and actions do not match.

They lay prostrate, bow, offer oblation (candles, flowers, prayers etc.)
and sweet odour (incense) unto the statues, pictures and objects, the very
same that King Nebuchadnezzar did to Daniel and we see the very next
chapter the king makes an image of himself to be worshipped.

People do not understand worshipping idols is just the external show or the
decoy and the real thing is these people are trying to play god. They are
challenging God therefore do not fear to play with or ignore His Word.

They know it is wrong therefore intentionally edited the Ten Commandments
and removed the second Commandment which restricts man from making an idol
of any being in Heaven, on earth (alive) or under the earth (dead) and
worshipping it. Worship means not to bow before it, offer candles, sweets,
flowers, prayers, incense or any kind of physical, vocal, or spiritual
offering. We may not be acknowledging the object but yet we are worshipping
the object by our actions and that is forbidden. The Greek word goes to
greater extending in defining worship. It includes things like kissing the
hand which Catholics do to their priests, bishops, cardinals and to the
pope(s).

Catholics need to open their eyes to what their actions mean and not try to
fool themselves or God.

Leviticus 26:1 does not even take the word worship the scripture tells us
not to make any idol and bow before it. It talks of just physical action or
mental reaction.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, people have been deceived in your name. They are made to hate You by
doing idol worship. They make idols for worship in your name and in name of
people from the Word and they bring You to anger with their idolatry. Lord,
we pray that their hearts not be hardened and they open their eyes and come
to senses. That they repent and come to You and worship You in spirit and
truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Daniel 2:46-48

46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel,
and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.

47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your
God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets,
seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.

48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts,
and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the
governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

Exodus 20:4-5

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth:

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Leviticus 26:1 - Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear
you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your
land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to
worship him.

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth.


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Cry from the pit (the sign of Jonah)

Lamentation 3:55, 56 - I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low
dungeon [pit]. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my
breathing, at my cry.

Some days back some people were discussing with me about Jonah, did he die?
Did he go to hell as the Jews believe and was bought out from hell on the
third day? Was the sign of Jonah the proof of Jesus' resurrection from hell?

First thing we need to know that man was cursed to hell by God when man
sinned. Hell is not what the Catholic Church projects and what many
Believers continue to believe. Hell is an endless pit that does not mean
someone tried to measure it. Hell is just a place of complete solitude, it
is a prison where even though many are and one can experience their
presence yet one will not see or contact another. It is not a place of fire
that burns people. Hell is a spirit place, the Hell fire is not outside but
within. The (unforgiven) sins that one has committed while alive
(naturally) is what burns in that soul when in hell. It is not a place
where Satan and his goons rule but a place where the Angels of God are in
control. Man was condemned to this place are he sinned to spend the rest of
his spirit life there (which is about 3 thousand years). Man who does not
believe in the Lord (and His Christ) goes there to until his spirit dies.
You may ask how I knew a human spirit lives for 3 thousand years; simple
firstly man is not God to have life eternally. Only God the Father and Son
have the ability to live eternally. To live eternally man needs access to
the Tree of Life which is in Heaven. Coming to the 3 thousand years there
many proofs in the Bible for this, I will take up a few here.

Firstly if Jonah had gone to hell then how did he come back?

Jesus knew some of the Jews believed that Jonah had died and gone to hell
and had returned back. That is why Jesus was very clear when He said like
Jonah was for 3 days in the fish’s belly (not hell) so would the evil and
adulterous man who does not repent would be. When He said 3 days and 3
nights He meant 3 complete days. This did not mean 24 hours day but was
symbolic since the word means period of time like Genesis 1 days. Remember
Moses and the Prophets wrote the books before and the Jews fashioned their
thinking and not the other way around.

Jesus was clear the sign of Jonah was for the evil and adulterous people
and not to the ones who repent. He adds there that the people of Nineveh
would rise and condemn these people on Judgement Day because they repented
when the Word was given unto them.

We need to understand Jesus came in to the world at the right time. He came
within 3000years from the Covenant made with Noah to fulfil it, and came
before 3000years when the world ends so that all the souls who believe in
Him are asleep are saved.

Jesus did not need 3 earth days to come back from hell for hell does not go
by time factor as we do. Jesus' resurrection on the 3rd day was symbolic
(not after 3 days but on the 3rd day, before it ended). It was a promise
that He would come before the world ends to judge and save His people. That
is why He said to those hearing and believing Him at that time that they
would see His coming again and not see death (spirit death).

In the book of Daniel it is clearly written all prophecies would be
fulfilled time, time and half. Jesus also said the end would not come until
all prophecies were fulfilled.

If we read Jonah's prayer accurately he speaks about parts of his body. And
that in the fish’s belly the water (liquid) was over his head. That meant
there was an air gap in the belly above the water (liquid).

By the sign of Jonah Jesus was telling them (the evil and spiritually
adulterous people), that He would not save them. We also see in Revelation
that hell (those souls who still are in hell at that time meaning all those
after Jesus came as man and rejected Him) and those judged meaning those
who believed in Jesus and not abided by God's Word, would be put in the
Lake of Sulphur which is actually worse than Hell.

In today's message we see Jeremiah had an experience like Jonah and said he
was suffering like he was in the lowest pit meaning hell when he was put in
a dungeon all chained up. People try to picture Jeremiah put in a gutter
like place. One should remember the place where Jeremiah was put and the
time when he lived the place did not have any gutter system.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, this evil and adulterous world does not know the suffering they will
go through when they leave this world. If only they knew like You put in
the parable of Lazarus and the rich man they all would repent. But Lord,
You have sent your messengers and they do not abide by the words of your
messengers. You gave us your Word and they reject it or have manipulated
with it to fool themselves only. Lord we pray your people receive your Word
and repent. That they see Christ and realize what is expected of them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Jonah 2:1-9

1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,

2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he
heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the
floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple.

5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me
round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was
about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD
my God.

7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came
in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will
pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Matthew 12:38-41

38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying,
Master, we would see a sign from thee.

39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign
of the prophet Jonas:

40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so
shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth.

41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and
shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and,
behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Matthew 16:28 - Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which
shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his
kingdom.

John 8:51 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he
shall never see death.

1 Peter 3:18-22

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and
authorities and powers being made subject unto him.


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Repentance
Jonah 3:5 - So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast,
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

A few days back someone bought my attention to differences in various Bible
translations. I was aware of the variation in translation due to lack of
understanding of scripture. Also I was aware of a handful scriptures
differences between 2 root manuscripts where some words / sentences are
added or missing for example the scripture Matthew 17:21 is there in some
early manuscripts and not there in the others. These few 'questionable&# 39;
scripture actually do little difference to the Christian belief, if fact
they help us understand things better.

But there was one interesting variation between the standard Bibles and the
RSV, which is the topic of our today's message. In Matthew 9:13 we see the
RSV Bible choses to omit the word 'repentance&# 39;. We may think this is not a
very important factor, but in today's message we see repentance saved a
whole city.

The Lord did come to call sinners but unless the sinner repents the sinner
cannot come to the Lord. The Hebrew word translated as sackcloth in today's
message comes from the root word which means 'to run through and fro'.
Putting on sackcloth in other words meant a person reassessing one's life
and bringing it to a proper course.

People have a wrong idea of repentance and think repentance means being
sorry. Being sorry does not require one to run through and fro one's life.
Being sorry is the first, half part of repentance; repentance requires one
to correct the areas one is sorry for.

Repentance is the most important part of being Christian and without
repentance no one can become a Christian. Unless we do not accept we are
sinners we cannot come to Christ. We need to run through and fro our lives
and be aware of the areas where we need to change and then only we can call
it true repentance.

John the Baptist was very famous for bringing people to repentance. The
baptism of water (John the Baptist promoted) is symbolic to the baptism of
repentance (historically it started during the times of Maccabees but was
done with those select few who pursued higher scriptural study /
discipleship, John got the common man to do it; there were also other types
of baptism the Jews did like in sand, which were more dangerous). John also
confessed that Jesus (the one who came after him) would baptise them in the
Holy Spirit.

Unless we take the baptism of repentance we cannot receive the baptism of
the Holy Spirit. Symbolic immersing in water encourages us and reminds us
of our baptism, but if we do not have repentance inside us the immersing
become a ritual and does the opposite of what it was meant for.

The Baptism of Water is also called the Baptism in Jesus Christ because
unless we do not see the perfect image of God in Christ it is difficult to
know all the areas where we need to repent. To change we all need a
benchmark and our benchmark is Christ.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit is when we surrender to the Holy Spirit asking
Him to do the changes in those areas where we need change. In Baptism of
Water we may have the natural immersing in water but in Baptism of the Holy
Spirit it is purely spiritual. But the interesting part is there is an
immediate confirmation when a person is baptised in the Holy Spirit unlike
in Baptism of Water there is not external confirmation if the person was
truly baptised or not. Bible says the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit
were seen in all those who were baptised in the Holy Spirit.

When we repent there will be no external, immediate effects seen. It will
take a long time to know if and how much one is immersed in repentance.
Jesus said even if we are as hard as stone, but if we repent God can bring
life in us. Jesus also said very clearly unless we are not baptized in
water (repentance / in Christ) and in the Holy Spirit we will not enter
Heaven.

We may be called Christians and may do all the rituals as Christians, we
may even do the work of God, of evangelising, of healing people in the name
of Jesus yet we will not go to Heaven. For that we need to be baptised in
Water and Spirit.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we are sinners and when we see You manifested perfectly in Christ we
know how much we deep in sins. Lord, we are filled with malaise, deceit,
stubbornness, stiff-necked, full of lust and formication. Lord, we know how
much we are in darkness when we see the light in You. Lord, we ask You come
in all the areas of darkness in us. We ask your light to repel the darkness
in us and let your Spirit dwell in us so that darkness never comes again in
us...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 17:21 - Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Matthew 9:13 [NKJV-AV] - But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have
mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.

Matthew 9:13 [RSV] - go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not
sacrifice.&# 39; for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Mark 2:17 - When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole
have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Mark 1:4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins.

Matthew 3:11 - I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Luke 7:29 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified
God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

Luke 3:8 - Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not
to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto
you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Mark 11:29-33

29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one
question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these
things.

30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.

31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From
heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?

32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men
counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.

33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus
answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do
these things.

John 4:1-2

1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made
and baptized more disciples than John,

2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 4:4-6

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of
your calling;

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
all.

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Taking on the wise and faithless of the world

John 9:11 - He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and
anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash:
and I went and washed, and I received sight.

The initial times when I really started trying to understand scriptures
while reading them, this particular scripture did intrigue me. My question
was why did Jesus take spit and dust from the ground to make a paste to
apply on the eyes of the blind man to make him see. Also this was not the
only weird healing that Jesus did in this way in this town. In Mark 8:23 in
this same town Jesus heals another blind man by taking him out of town far
from the crowd Jesus applies His spit on to his eyes and then asks him if
he could see. He says he could see somewhat and then again Jesus touches
his eyes and then this man's sight is fully restored. Here Jesus looked
like a struggling healer. Did not Jesus have authority to heal him
instantly and did He need to apply spit? Also Jesus knew when He would tell
him not to let anyone He would go out and tell even more.

There are 3 healings recording in the Bible where Jesus used spit to heal,
2 in the town of Bethsaida and 1 in Decapolis (which was a town mostly full
of Greeks). In both these places Jesus performed great miracles yet these
people failed to believe in Jesus. They did get fascinated for a while when
the miracles were performed but soon they went back to square one state of
unbelief.

We can understand the miracle in today’s message by the traditions of the
people who dwelled in that region. There were 2 fluids out of man which
according to traditions when put on another person was like condemning or
damning that soul, one was spit and other urine.

We can see this tradition also in Islam about 600 years later; spitting on
a person or urinating on a person according to their belief would cause
that soul to go to hell. Even if one's own urine by mistake fell on one's
self it was considered a serious matter that is why Mohammad while
urinating would scout down like a woman and urinate in a bowl, just to
avoid his own urine from making him impure by mistake [recorded in the
Hadiths and other religious books of the Muslims]. It was another fact that
for the others he did tell them that his urine if consumed would heal them
from diseases, but for himself he was scared of it!

We need to understand Islam is a concoction of mainly (pro and anti)
Judaism, Christianity (mainly Catholicism) and Sabian teachings and
beliefs. It is also infused a lot with the traditions that existed at that
time.

Jesus did such miracles in these places where people thought themselves to
be very wise, where their wisdom and traditions prevented them from
accepting God and Him.

This place Bethsaida and its people were named by Jesus as condemned worse
than the people of Tyre and Sidon (they too did change when the disciples
preached there). All these condemned cities are today just ruins.

One thing I have learned through my experience that at times God play jokes
on the wise in their own wisdom and smartness and that time they are very
disastrous ones.

God is telling us our worldly wisdom and traditions are laughed at by God
and those who live by it will be made fools when the time comes.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray You mould our hearts that we seek You and the knowledge of
your Kingdom more than the knowledge of this world. Lord let not our hearts
be hardened or puffed by the knowledge and traditions of this world...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 9:6-14

6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the
spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam [pool near Bethsaida],
(which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed,
and came seeing.

8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was
blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?

9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and
anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash:
and I went and washed, and I received sight.

12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his
eyes.

Mark 8:22-25

22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and
besought him to touch him.

23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and
when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if
he saw ought.

24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up:
and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

Luke 10:13-16

13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty
works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they
had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than
for you.

15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down
to hell.

16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me;
and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

Matthew 11:20-26

20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works
were done, because they repented not:

21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty
works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at
the day of judgment, than for you.

23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought
down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had
been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of
Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Matthew 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye
shall receive the greater damnation.

Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Matthew 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall
swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold
of the temple, he is a debtor!

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay
tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters
of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and
not to leave the other undone.

Matthew 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full
of extortion and excess.

Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are
like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are
within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Matthew 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye
build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the
righteous,

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We are a family when...

Mark 3:34,35 - And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and
said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of
God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Death is a decider of life. It is at the death of a person people wake up
and give a thought to their own lives. When a person dies he or she is no
longer the person we knew but is a spirit being. When we die we too become
a spirit being. The relationship we shared as earthly beings is no longer
the relationship we share as spirit beings.

In today's message we see Jesus was upset with His earthly family when His
mother and His brothers came searching for Him to know of His wellbeing
because they had heard that He was attacked by an unclean spirit. It is at
these upset times Jesus gave hard truths. Like here He wakes us up to know
our real family.

Notice Jesus uses the words brother, sister and mother only and not father.
The disciples used the word brethren for all believers. Brother and sister
is the male and female gender of the same word which means offspring of the
same parent.

But I was curious since long to know why Jesus used the word 'mother&# 39; here.
Can any person become His spiritual mother?

Jesus said 'call no one (human) your Father for there is just one Father in
Heaven'. It was not to do with earthly relationships for that would go
against the Commandment to 'honour your father and mother' and Jesus did
not change any Commandment. Jesus used the Greek word in the meaning of
creator or provider. Jesus said do not claim any person to be our creator
nor our provider. Our parents do not create us God did, our parents are
just a vessel through whom the Lord has bought us into this earthly world
and our earthly life is just a mission through which we can go back to our
Creator to dwell permanently. While we dwell here we are also called bring
others to Him.

The Greek word translated as mother is a metaphor for the word motherland
or the land which brings fourth. We know a land does not give birth to
seeds but is just an instrument to sustain the life of the seed. We do not
give birth to people naturally or spiritually, we just are instruments to
help sustain the life of people. We can be instruments to make them healthy
or corrupt them or choke them naturally and spiritually. We can be fertile
land that helps life or a desert or destroys life.

We Christians by our faith will be saved. Christians are called just not to
be saved but also to save others, and if we fail in that task we will still
be saved but our reward in Heaven would be affected by the results of our
work here.

We Christians are a family when we are in Christ for Christ is the
manifestation of the Will of God and as a family we are to reach out to
each other.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray your people be not lost in their earthly live which is a very
small part of their life but think and give importance to their spirit life
which is Heavenly. Lord we pray people give as much importance to the
Heavenly family as they give to their earthly family. That they reach out
and comfort their spiritual brothers and sisters. That they mother those
who are small in spirit and yet not come to You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Mark 3:28-35

28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men,
and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:

29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never
forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without,
sent unto him, calling him.

32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy
mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold
my mother and my brethren!

35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my
sister, and mother.

Matthew 23:9 - And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your
Father, which is in heaven.

Ephesians 3:14-15

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

1 Corinthians 3:12-15

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's
work of what sort it is.

14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive
a reward.

15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself
shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

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The world worships the golden image

Daniel 3:7 - Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of
the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all
the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the
golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

One needs to give attention to the silent features of the Bible to
understand things in a better perspective. For example the languages used
to write the scriptures and their properties are very important to get the
correct rendering and understanding of scriptures. Daniel shows this in his
book. As he was meditating on the scriptures of Jeremiah and other Prophets
of his time, the Lord was opening them up and giving him an understanding
of them through visions. This he documented in 2 languages, half in Aramaic
(chapters 1-7) and other half in Hebrew (8-12); the understanding of the
prophecies also are classified according the 2 languages.

The kingdoms and prophecies given in Aramaic are more worldly, and those
given in Hebrew are more spiritual. For example the little horn in chapter
7 speaks of the kingdom that still exist but under a religious cover. As
given in Daniel all the historical facts of this kingdom match perfectly
showing the prophecy fulfilling to the T.

After the Roman Empire fell, 10 kingdoms (horns) came up in Europe.

The little horn is 'little&# 39; kingdom.

We see this little horn did uproot 3 kingdoms of Ostrogoths, Vandals, and
Heruli.

The head of this kingdom was a man unlike others and spoke unlike others
for the head was religious figure and he spoke unlike others.

He speaks great words, in other words he speaks blasphemy like being god on
earth, having authority over Heavenly beings.

He wears out the saints (people of God).

This kingdom lasts for more than 2000 years (until a time and time(s) and
the dividing of time).

You may say why are we talking about this kingdom in today's message?

You will be surprised that the image promoted by this kingdom has been in
existence since history. If one studies the different religions recorded
one will find many clues and common elements which are prominent or silent
among all these religions.

For example the element of 'All Seeing Eye' is there in most religions
right from ancient religions to the current religions like Hinduism. Even
in Islam if one turns the stone at the Kaaba by 90 degrees and you get an
'eye' . This same symbol is also in the monuments of the little horn within
paints or as prominent design in religious objects. Similarly are many
other common factors like 'mother&# 39; / 'devi maa' (either man or object) or
the star (sun) and crescent moon / god in a womb, between all other
religions which show there is not much different between each other.

People mistake that Satan who was a cherub wanted to be God. He was having
wisdom more than humans and not that foolish like man to think such a
thing. Scriptures specify what king of god he wanted to be and it says he
wanted to be god over the people (Ezekiel 28:2 'midst of the seas'). Bible
also says Satan fears God and trembles, but due to his hardened heart he
still does not change his ways. So we see even though we see many religions
yet he rule over them all.

What we see in the Bible as the story of King Nebuchadnezzar is the shadow
of the Babylon the Great (out of anger God selected him, blessed him and
when he lifted himself above God, God bought him down). It is when this
Babylon will manifest with great glory the image (a woman, as we see it
happening) that will cause the fall of this kingdom (as noted in
Revelation). The kingdom will go bankrupt and will flee Europe and will
take refuge in a former communist country.

Today's message talks of the times we are in, where people bow down to the
golden image not only among the so called Christians but across most
religions. We Christians are called to be like Daniel and his friends
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refuged even unto the point of death.
The Lord was with them and by the power of God they were safe.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You are a Jealous God and You will not share your glory with anyone
or thing. Satan knowing his destiny want to destroy us also there wants us
to worship him as god so that we come under your wrath and be destroyed.
Lord, we pray people's eyes be opened and they be saved from being
destroyed...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Daniel 7:23-27

23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth,
and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:
and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings.

25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear
out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and
they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing
of time.

26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to
consume and to destroy it unto the end.

27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under
the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most
High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall
serve and obey him.

Ezekiel 28:1-3

1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in
the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God,
though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can
hide from thee:

2 Corinthians 11:14-15

14 And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.

15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves
as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

Revelation 12:9 - And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he
that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was
cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.

Leviticus 26: 1 - Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear
you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your
land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.


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Be sober by controlling your desires
Jeremiah 35:4-7

4 And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the
sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber
of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum,
the keeper of the door:

5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of
wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine.

6 But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our
father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your
sons for ever:

7 Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have
any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days
in the land where ye be strangers.

Last Monday I was teaching at a House Church about wine and I started by
telling them there is no scripture in the Bible which forbids man from
drinking wine. This statement took them aback for these people lived in the
poorest bracket of society and alcohol was the second factor after poverty
that destroys their families.

But then I showed them scriptures like Habakkuk 2:5 which tell us the
destructions wine (alcohol) causes to one's being. I also explained them
the different types of wine (states or types of wines) which are consumable
according to scriptures, in what quantities and for what reasons.

Two days back when I posted about controlling the desires of food, many did
not like it and I got lots of negative response from people. Yesterday the
Lord did not give me any message to send, but today He gave us a beautiful
example in the Bible connected to the last message, which we can meditate
on.

The example of the Rechabites is one of the most beautiful examples of
being sober in life. These people were told by their fathers they are not
citizens of the land and were just passing through so did not build
permanent houses and thus lived in tents. They also told about the dangers
of giving into the desires of the flesh so were commanded to totally
refrain from consuming wine.

The Hebrew word used here for wine is Yayin which specified a mild to
medium fermented wine. It is the same wine which Noah drank and which Lots
was given by his daughters. In Noah case even though he was drunk he was
conscience and in case of Lots he was not, and we know what happened
thereafter. It was also the same wine [Yayin] which Melchizedek bought
along with bread. The wine is not the problem but its alcoholic
concentration is.

God does not say we should not enjoy life but warns us not to allow
enjoyment blind us and thus destroy us. We should be aware of our spiritual
strength and weakness and thus discern what we consume. We should avoid
that which will harm us specially those which we have little control over.

Paul states even before we put on the spiritual armour of faith, hope and
love we need to first live a sober life. A Christian cannot be a Christian
if he or she has given unto to the desires of the flesh. Even the desire of
the palate which looks harmless is the start cause of destruction for the
spiritual lives of many. For loss of discernment in just one area will soon
spread to the other areas of our spiritual lives and soon we will be slaves
to our carnal nature, our old man.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we prayer your people realize that they are just passing through this
world and that they do not overweight themselves with the desires of the
things of this world, such that they refuse the Kingdom or lose the Kingdom
of God and desire this world. Lord, we pray for a release from the bondages
of gluttony and of the desires to please the palate. Help us Lord to live a
sober live like how Daniel did, even though he lived in a palace surrounded
by best foods of the world he chose to consumer the food consumed by the
poorest of his people so that his heart does not keep away from his people.
Lord, we know You have greater thing in Heaven for us which eyes cannot see
and mind imagine, let us not lose them for these worthless things...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine:
and he was the priest of the most high God.

Habakkuk 2:5 - Yea also, because he transgresseth [deceived] by wine, he is
a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and
is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations
[ungodly people], and heapeth unto him all people [people like himself]:

1 Thessalonians 5:8 - But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on
the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Titus 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in
charity, in patience.

Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their
husbands, to love their children,

Titus 2:6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober,
and watch unto prayer.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

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Obesity has no place in God's Kingdom

Isaiah 10:16 - Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his
fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the
burning of a fire.

During the time of Ezekiel when the Lord had to take names of certain
people as examples of being righteous He did not take the names of people
like Moses, David nor Abraham, not even Elijah or Jeremiah. It may surprise
people that God chose to take names like Noah, Job and Daniel (not once but
twice).

We may think we become great in God's Kingdom by doing great miracles,
healings, or works among the people.

We need to wake up; we need to realize these things happen not by our power
or ability but by the Power of God through us. So how is God going to be
impressed with things that we do by His Power?

If we look at Noah for 100 years he worked tirelessly on a ship (Ark) in a
desert kind of surrounding. People must have laughed at him day in and out
yet he did not stop. What we see is his persistent dedication to God earned
him great respect.

Job even though was greatly blessed with things of the world feared God
greatly. When we went through a test that nearly took his life he did not
give up on God. Even after losing everything, when his own wife and closest
friend the last of what remained, became his worst critics yet he did not
give up on God. His trust and willingness to be corrected earned him
respect from God.

Daniel was captured and taken to Babylon as a slave and then given the
highest status in the Kingdom after the King himself. Yet we see Daniel
refused the pleasures of the palace. He lived a sober life because he
feared these things would take him away from God. Another person like him
was Joseph and we see Joseph refused to return to his people at the end and
stayed back in Egypt, thus he was replace by his son in the 12 tribes.
Daniel learning from this great mistake of Joseph did not want to forget
his roots, his people and his God. God was pleased with him and thus
respected him.

All three showed an unwavering commitment to God. God is pleased more with
what we do with our efforts not whit what we do with His Power.

We can choose to be people's heroes or be heroes of God. To be heroes of
God one needs to work inside.

In today's message the Lord is talking of making fat people lean. Obesity
is a weakness of the flesh or problem of the spirit. The second one can be
serious but the first if not controlled will lead to the second.

Someone told me a few days back the best food is see (not sea) food. We
people are so weak in the flesh and slaves to the craving of the desires of
our tongues. If we can control our tongues (not only what we speak but also
its desire of taste) then we will preserve our life.

Some doctors put obesity can be caused by the dysfunction of the thyroid
(TSH concentration) while some put the dysfunction as not the cause but the
consequence of obesity. Obesity is not about eating more but about eating
senselessly. It is about not looking at what we eat and how much our body
requires. If our body usage (metabolism) is less than we should eat less
food that do not digest and are converted to fat (storage). Like we are
called to discern what we accept spiritually we also are called to discern
the natural intake. A weak body can affect our spiritual balance. A strong
(healthy) body will help us have a healthy mind and thus a healthy spirit.

Paul advices us to live a sober life, not giving unto the pleasures of the
flesh, or be drunk in desires of the flesh. Let us control the input and
not struggle later to get it out.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You have called us to be soldiers always on battle, protecting things
that are precious in your eyes. Lord, You have said our body is your Temple
wherein You dwell. Lord we prayer we know how to respect our bodies and not
abuse it by our lack of control of our desires. Lord, help us to discern
what we eat and consume what is necessary. Help us keep a healthy body
along with a healthy mind and spirit...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Ezekiel 14:14 - Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,
they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the
Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 14:20 - Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith
the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but
deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

1 Peter 3:10 - For he that will love life, and see good days, let him
refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
(Psalms 34:13)

Proverbs 15:4 - A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness
therein is a breach in the spirit.

Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they
that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

1 Thessalonians 5:5-8

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are
not of the night, nor of darkness.

6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night.

8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of
faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.


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It is all about fullness of the Spirit in the body

Ezekiel 41:12 - Now the building that was before the separate place
[division] at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the
wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length
thereof ninety cubits.

Yesterday in the evening I was attending a Resurrection Day celebration (it
was more of an outreach of a Church of a slum area) in south Mumbai. I was
in conversation there with an Evangelist and a Pastor and there was one
point we believed strongly that people do not give importance to build
relation with the Holy Spirit and do not surrender to be moulded by Him,
this factor alone has caused great problems to the Body of Christ.

I do not say we do not have anointed people leading the Church, we do have.
But the problem lies is even these people have restricted the Holy Spirit
to certain parts of their life or their Ministry. Most people have put 'No
Entry' boards for the Holy Spirit in areas like understanding of
scriptures.

But of late I do see some hope like it happened yesterday. I was so happy
to see in my Church (where I fellowship) not one person wishing another
'Happy Easter', each and every person from the kids to the adults were
wishing each other Happy Resurrection Day, just 3 years back this was not
the case. I saw our Church was coming together in one according at least on
some grounds. This coming together in one accord will surely see the glory
of God.

We need to understand when a writer sits to write a novel he or she does
have the whole book in his or her mind, with every detail word scripted
mentally. What the writer has mentally is the basics, the story line
summarized. They include mainly the main characters, the starting and the
ending parts of story and also the important part which is the climax
portion of the story.

If we see our knowledge and understanding of the Bible starts also in the
same manner. All we need to know in the beginning is the who is the Bible
about, who are the main characters, what happened in the start, what will
happen at the end and how the change happened. If we have these points
clear and correct, then we are on the right tract, all other stages are
just the secondary processes of our growing in knowledge and understanding
of the Bible.

Although Jesus the man showed us how to understand the Bible yet He is not
the one who takes us through the stages of knowing the Word of God, but it
is the Holy Spirit. We need to understand it is the Holy Spirit who is the
Author of the Word of God and it is only by Him that we can understand the
Word of God.

When Jesus resurrected He said He would not leave us alone and gave us His
Spirit. He did not give us a spirit of a man (ghost) but the Spirit of God
for in spirit He was not man but God. His Spirit is also the Father's Sprit
since their Spirit is still same even though the Son was declared from
within the Father as an individual being their Spirit did not divide. That
is the reason the Son cannot be separated from the Father.

The difference between us and Jesus the man is not much but just 2 points.

1) Jesus was born without sin while we may have been born with sin but are
without (forgiven) when we are bornagain.

2) Jesus had the fullness of the Holy Spirit dwelling in Him (all 7 Spirits
of the Holy Spirit), while we are start with the Spirit of Truth when we
believe and surrender to the Holy Spirit on receiving the promise of the
Holy Spirit after believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
and forgiveness of sin through His sacrifice. Once we are bornagain and
grow in the Holy Spirit receiving more of Him we become more and more like
Jesus and thus become more and more into Sons of God.

Today's message like I said before is part of the 3 chapters which tell us
details of the inner-man, the Temple within us.

Without going into the details (Bible Numerics and Bible Image Study) the
message tells us after the crossing over from the divide at the end of
living a life of unrighteousness we will find ourselves becoming Sons of
God having the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The main part and clue or key
the scripture gives us towards fulfilling this process is discernment. Paul
also says we remain babies in the Lord because we do not discern.
Discernment is like biting into what we receive, it is only when a child
starts to bite, he or she starts developing teeth which help further to
bite better. In the start he or she have milk teeth which not very strong
but latter they too fall and then comes the real strong teeth. The same
happens to us spiritually in our walk with the Lord.

Most of the Church is filled with people without teeth or with just milk
teeth. They do not allow the Holy Spirit to renew their minds and mostly
root themselves with human teachings.

Let us start to look at everything and discern everything, soon we will
have teeth that will make it easier to discern and thus we will less get
deceived. To do this we need to let the Holy Spirit take charge of us, so
let us fully surrender to Him and His Word.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You came as man and paid the price for our sins so that we could
receive the Holy Spirit. You forgive us of our sins even though You knew we
would sin later. But You knew by your Spirit we will overcome the nature of
sin and thus be freed from sin. Lord, help us know the importance of
surrendering to your Spirit and letting your Spirit work in us. Holy Spirit
we surrender to You. Lord, take charge of us and renew us in very area that
needs your healing touch...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 20:21-22

21 Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father
hath sent me, even so send I you.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Spirit:

John 14:11-20

11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else
believe me for the very works' sake.

12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that
I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I
go unto my Father.

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with
you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:
because I live, ye shall live also.

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I
in you.

Acts 2:17 - And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will
pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men
shall dream dreams:

John 15:26-27

26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he
shall testify of me:

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the
beginning.

John 16:7-11

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go
away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I
depart, I will send him unto you.

8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment:

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Colossians 1:12-20

12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to
reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in
earth, or things in heaven.

Colossians 2:9 - For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Ephesians 3:19 - And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Hebrews 5:13-14

13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of
righteousness: for he is a babe.

14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who
by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

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Let not this great day go futile

Zephaniah 1:7,8 - Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the
day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath
bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S
sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all
such as are clothed with strange apparel.

In the Bible we read in many places the term Day of the Lord, they do not
specify to a particular 24 hour day. The term day also means a period of
time. The Day of Lord specifies to a period and that too not just one
period but in fact 2 periods. There is the Day of the Lord which specifies
to the Day of the Lord's wrath, when He pours His anger and then there is
the other Day of the Lord which refers to the Day of Judgement when all
from Noah to the end days who have believed in the Lord will stand before
Him to be judged.

In today's message the Day of the Lord refers to the Day of Judgement when
we all will stand before the Judgement Seat (does not refer to a worldly
seat) from which the son of man Jesus Christ will judge us. Today's message
talks of us being quiet before the Judgement Seat for we will not have the
opportunity to speak a word because all we do and say in life will be like
an open book, for all is recorded not only in Heaven but also in our
hearts. Thus we will not have any say since we will be holding a copy of
what is written in the Lord's book by which we are judged.

The message says it is by the sacrifice that all the guests stand before
Him. Today we celebrate Resurrection Day and today is one of the most
important day for us Christians, for it is this day by which we are saved
from Hell. It is because of this day that all who believe in Jesus Christ
are spared from Hell as He broken the curse of Hell by His resurrection.
Just when He died He took all the sins of those who believe in Him on
Himself and due to that He was forsaken by the Father, thus on His death He
went to Hell. But since there was no sin in Him Hell could not keep Him,
therefore He came back from Hell (rose again). Now all those who believed
in Him are also free from Hell and thus all the guests which today's
message speaks of are Christians.

But in today's message the Lord speaks of two types of guests, one who wear
the bridegroom&# 39;s given robes and those who wear strange robes.

We as Christians who believe in Christ do not get a ticket to Heaven but
only those among us who are wearing the robe of the Bridegroom do. Jesus
explained this same message in His parable of the wedding of the King's son.

Many Christian have an understanding that is contrary to the understanding
of Word of God. Just because people quote scriptures it does not means
people speak God's Word. We need to understand the scripture and confirm
that understanding, meaning look up for other scripture that confirm the
same understanding. Confirming does not only mean to see for another YES
but also means to see in any say a NO. If even one scripture says a NO we
need to forsake that understanding.

Today is one of the most important day for us Christians. It is by this day
we are saved from Hell. It is by this day we stand before the Lord to be
judged by Him. The Lord is telling us let us not let this great day go
futile just because we are careless, stubborn or lazy. These 3 factors are
the ones kill Christians all other factors are taken care of. Even
inability in body and mind are taken care of but these 3 factors are the
ones take kill us.

Let us not be lazy, suborn or careless let us make it a point to confirm
all our understanding with the Word of God so that we are not caught with a
strange understanding on Judgement Day. God will not judge us so much for
the sins we have done out of weakness of our flesh but more by the
understanding of His Word we hold. The Greek word translated as 'doeth&# 39; in
Matthew 7:21 also means 'to bear'. To get the right understanding it does
not mean only to learn scriptures but also live them through the Power of
the Holy Spirit. Jesus also said when we are His disciple we will know the
Truth and the Truth shall set us free.

I pray that we do not make futile this great sacrifice of the Lord and we
rise to the Truth and right understanding of the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You did make available a great sacrifice and by your sacrifice we are
saved from Hell. Lord, we pray we do not make this sacrifice futile in our
lives by our laziness, our stubbornness and carelessness for the Kingdom of
God and its Truth...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Isaiah 2:12 - For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that
is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be
brought low:

Isaiah 34:8 - For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of
recompences for the controversy of Zion.

Joel 2:1 - Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the
LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Joel 2:11 - And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his
camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day
of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joel 2:31 - The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Amos 5:18 - Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it
for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

Matthew 7:21 - Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which
is in heaven.

John 8:31-32

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in
my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Matthew 22:11-14

11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which
had not on a wedding garment:

12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a
wedding garment? And he was speechless.

13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take
him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.

14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Happy Resurrection Day to you and all your family members

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Sing a New Song unto the Lord

Psalms 149: 1 - Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his
praise in the congregation of saints.

The scriptures concerning sing a new song unto the Lord is what people take
very passionately and then they try and try. We find people if not singing
a new song modifying words in old songs or playing an old song in different
ways.

The cult I spoke of WMSCOG printed a song book titled New Song Book which
is exclusive to their congregation. They claimed their congregation of
144000 would be the saved congregation but incidentally they now a 200000
plus strong congregation, would like to know who among them would not be
saved and why. People do not know what the term new song refers to
therefore try all kind of things.

When I was meditating on some scriptures like ones one where Jesus sings
hymns only once. God is not human to have ears to be pleased with music for
He sees the heart and knows our communication even before we speak it out.

I was asking the Lord why Jesus did not sing hymns often, for He did pray
often and do all other things that pleased the Father. Then the Lord
opened my mind to understand songs and why we worship in songs and what it
means to sing a new song every time. This understanding showed me how to
truly worship the Lord.

Let me give a demonstration of this by example.

Say I am making a prayer to the Lord in words as follow:-

Lord, You are seated high above. Yet Lord You are not far from your people.
When your people sing praise unto You and when they abide by your Law
nothing can keep your people far from You.

Now the same prayer I make into a poem

Thou O Lord are seated high above

Yet Lord You are not far from your people

Nothing, nothing, nothing can come in between

When praise in on the lips and Law in the hearts of your people

What the poem does is, adds or increases the emotion factor to the words.
Now if we sing these same words with music we find an explosion of the
emotions. What happens is what we meant is words is now strongly meant in
song. All that song does is puts the heart ahead of the mind in
communication. Worship in hymns is necessary for us because we are far from
God and our desire to be closer to Him can not be fulfilled just by our
minds. It is by our hearts (including our minds / understanding) we come
close to God. Thus we see Jesus sang hymns only during the weakest time on
His life just before He was to be our sacrifice. During the other times He
was one with the Father therefore did not need to sing hymns but just words.

Song has 3 factors to it words, music and emotions. A new song would mean a
change between in any one of the 3 factors. That is why we see in Heaven
even though the Heavenly Body sings only the words 'Holy, Holy, Holy' all
time long yet every time they sing it is a new song. Every time they say
the words they do it with a new understanding and with greater feeling.

The Hebrew 'rinnah&# 39; word translated as 'song' actually means 'ringing cry'.
Giving more emphasises to the emotions than the verbal communication.

Another thing-

Thou O Lord are seated high above and O Lord thou are seated high
above

Do not make a new song for they mean the same even thou the sequence of
words may be different.

Let our songs be not a wise playing of words but be a new understanding and
a new level of emotions coming from within us for the Lord. Our dancing
should be an expression of our emotions, our dance steps do not please God
but the expressions do.

Worship takes us into the Gates of the Lord; worship does bring us closer
to the Lord, to experience a thicker glory of Him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we live because we worship You since worship and grace keeps us in
your presence and does not let your wrath consume us. Lord, let our worship
not be just intellectual words but a worship that comes from our hearts.
Thus Lord help us keep a clean and holy heart that is not burdened by the
worries and desires of this world but beats only for You and cries only for
You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 26:30 - And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the
mount of Olives.

Psalms 32:7 - Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from
trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

Ephesians 5:19 - Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:2 - Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there
this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter
in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Isaiah 23:16 - Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been
forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be
remembered.

Amos 5:10-24

10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that
speaketh uprightly.

11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from
him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not
dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink
wine of them.

12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they
afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the
gate from their right.

13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an
evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of
hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate:
it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of
Joseph.

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing
shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas!
alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are
skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee,
saith the LORD.

18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for
you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the
house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very
dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn
assemblies.

22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not
accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the
melody of thy viols.

24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty
stream.

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This is the House of the LORD God

1 Chronicle 22: 1 - Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and
this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.

Some time back as I was teaching Acts chapter 15 I came across a very
interesting scripture (verse 16) in which the Lord speaks through Peter.
Peter quotes Isaiah 16:5 in which the Lord says He will establish the
throne of David and says He will sit upon it in truth. He then specifies
where the throne is and says it is in the tabernacle of David. This is the
place where I was a little surprised. Moses made a tabernacle and Solomon
and other Israelite kings build the temple but David neither build a
physical tabernacle nor build a temple. So what tabernacle of David the
Lord was referring to?

In 1 Chronicles chapter 23 to 27 we see David did build a Tabernacle and it
was not a structure or monument but a Tabernacle of people. If one has the
understanding of the things of Heaven we see David had set the people of
Israel according to the structure of Beings in Heaven.

In Acts 15:16 the word translated 'return&# 39; also means 'to turn upside down'
and when one puts that meaning it gives the right understanding to the
words of Peter. It means God is going to renew, a Church (congregation) of
people into a Church of Spirit filled people.

**

Time and again we see people of God are building a Church but not according
to God but according to their understanding. The Church the Apostles build
was corrupted with the teachings of Nicolas a Jewish heretic who became a
Christian and then started infusing the Jewish heretic teachings into
Christianity. It was he who bought the concept of Mother of God into
Christianity. His followers were called Nicolaitans. The hierarchy of
priests or Church leaders followed by the Catholic Church is from the
teachings of Nicholas. The surprising thing is even the structure most
Believer Churches follow is not totally Biblical and carried from the
Catholic Church.

When we read Acts and the Epistles we see the Church was not headed by
either one person (Peter) or by the twelve Apostles but initially by three
John, James and Peter. That is why we see Jesus gave extra attention to
these three when He taught them. Later these three were joined by Paul and
Barnabas. The five overlooked the administration of the Church globally
only because they were the most mature among the others in these matters.
It was not that they knew the most or were gifted the most.

The Church is a Body and the structure is according to the callings and
sadly we do not see this in our Churches today. In the Old Testament even
the priests were answerable to the Prophets, but in the New Testament we
see the Prophets became answerable to the Apostles, Apostles not because of
the twelve but because of their calling. All twelve chosen by Jesus had the
calling of Apostleship and Jesus knew the right way of building the Church
not because He was God who came as man but because He as man had the right
understanding of scriptures and of the Kingdom of God through the help of
the Holy Spirit.

The letters to the seven Churches in Revelation 2 and 3 actually talk of
the seven phases the Church of God goes through and it is only in the sixth
stage we see the glorious Church of God (the sage we will soon move to). It
is at this stage the Church functions according to the way God designed it,
the way it is in Heaven, having power and authority.

In today's message the Lord is telling us He is going to start this
rebuilding of the Church. Some months back I had a chat with a senior
Pastor on the topic of callings and how we do not see that in Churches. He
did give me ear and in the coming weeks I saw that he listened and was
giving opportunity to people in the Church and these first timers preached
with a fire that shook the congregation.

It is time people of God give thought to the calling they have in Christ
according to Seven Spirits of the Holy Spirit as given in Isaiah 11:2 (the
six callings and Christ the Head). The six callings are Apostle, Prophet,
Teacher, Evangelist, Administrator (Pastor) and Healer. This same design is
what we see in the image we humans are physically made in, our external
structure and the internal organs of our body.

The Lord is telling us the Church the Body of Christ is the Throne through
which the Lord [The Spirit of Christ] will rule His people giving
judgement, ordinance and teaching of the way of the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray the coming soon of the Church in glory as You set it. We pray
for a change in hearts of the leaders of the Church, that they come out of
the deceit that has been shadowing your people. That they do according to
your Word and according to Heavenly things...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 15:16 - After this I will turn upside down, and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins
thereof, and I will set it up:

Isaiah 16:5 - And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall
sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking
judgment [ordinance], and hasting righteousness.

Revelation 2:6, 12-17

6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which
I also hate.

12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he
which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is:
and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those
days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where
Satan dwelleth.

14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that
hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock
before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to
commit fornication.

15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which
thing I hate.

16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth.

17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna,
and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which
no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Isaiah 11: 2 And the spirit of the LORD [1] shall rest upon him, the spirit
of wisdom [2] and understanding [3], the spirit of counsel [4] and
might[5], the spirit of knowledge[6] and of the fear of the LORD[7];

Galatians 2:9 - And when James, Cephas [Peter], and John, who seemed to be
pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and
Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen,
and they unto the circumcision.

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God is looking for Sons of Thunder

Mark 3:17 - And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James;
and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:

In the Bible names are meaningful and even the nick names were given with
reason. Nicknames were mostly given to those who had common names. Jesus
too gave nicknames to people but mostly with a purpose connected to the
character or his relationship with that person.

Thomas was called Didymus which means two fold or twain or twin because he
showed a dual character of immense faith and also of faithlessness and that
too in a matter of seconds.

Jesus called Simon by the nick name Cephas which is an Aramaic word for
stone (Peter was the Greek translation of the Aramaic word). John's Gospel
is very specific and clear to note this fact. The word Cephas symbolizes a
person with half knowledge and we see Simon showed that character
throughout the Gospels where he puts his foot in his mouth many a times.

We see Jesus called them names even before they started being part of His
ministry and exhibiting that character. Similarly we see in today's message
John and James were called Boanerges which means sons of thunder. The name
may sound like they were some Roman gods but the word thunder here
symbolizes zeal. When Jesus met them He could see the zeal in them for the
Kingdom of God.

If we look at scriptures we see they were the closest relatives of Jesus
after His own family His mother, brothers and sisters. John the Baptist was
not Jesus' first cousin but was son of Mary's cousin Elizabeth, while John
and James were sons of her actual sister Salome whom Jesus also called by
His mother's name Mary because He respected her and Mary Magdalene (who was
also an aged woman) as He did His mother, He never differentiated between
them.

We see among the 12, Jesus gave more priority to Peter, James and John not
because He love them more (Jesus loved all His disciples the same for He
had the nature of God in Him), like God Jesus also had favour on some
people more than the others not because of His relationship but because of
their mission or purpose in God's Kingdom.

James, John and Peter were selected to head the Church and this is what we
see Paul testifies in his letter to Galatians. This core group was later
expanded by the joining of Barnabas and Paul.

The selection of the 12 was not to do with running or heading the Church
but was symbolic like the 12 tribes of Israel. Similar to the tribes when
Levi and Joseph were removed from the list, they were replaced with the two
sons of Joseph. After they entered the Promised Land they were not called
by their tribe names but by the place they dwelled or their belief. The
people of Judah who followed Judaism were called Jews. The believing people
of Samaria were also mostly decedents of Israel but were not called Jews
but were called Samaritans. They did not follow Judaism for they were a
different sect and fought many (temple) battles with the Jews but they too
worshipped Jehovah. By the parable of Good Samaritan Jesus showed
understandings do not matter much but the nature that is in us is what
matters more. We are brethren not just because we believe in Christ but
more because we follow Christ.

We see in scriptures people who had zeal for the Kingdom of God were used
by God greatly. God is looking for people who are crazy for Him, not just
in understand or have knowledge of the Bible. Even if they lack
understanding like Peter did, God will open their minds and change them and
make them wise and bold as Peter was after Pentecost. He wants people like
Jeremiah who had a fire in his bones [which symbolises nature] for God and
His Kingdom or as Paul had even before he came to know the Truth.

Today God is throwing the doors open for all those who want to be used for
the glory of God. He is saying all they need is to have a passion, a crazy,
a thirst, a commitment to saves souls, for the purpose of the Kingdom of
God on earth is all about saving souls and bringing them to God. They do
not need any ability in mind or body like skill or good education or a
strong body. God is saying He will provide all that they need all they need
is zeal.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, people look at serving You with what they have, they do not realize
all that they need to have is just a zeal, a passion to save souls, all
other things You provide. Since they try to serve You with what they have
they soon lose the purpose of serving You and land up serving themselves.
Lord, we pray a great fire in the bones of your people, a crazy for your
Kingdom such that the world can't hold or control them...

This pray we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 1:42 - And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is
by interpretation, A stone.

Matthew 4:18 - And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren,
Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the
sea; for they were fishers.

Luke 6:14 - Simon, (whom he also [apparently] named Peter,) and Andrew his
brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

John 11:16 - Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his
fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

Luke 1:36 - And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a
son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called
barren.

John 19:25 - Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his
mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas [Zebedee was a nickname of
Cleophas], and Mary Magdalene.

Mark 15:40 - There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses [Mary the
mother of Jesus, on His death was referred by her other sons but after His
resurrection was again called mother of Jesus for she was mother of the man
Jesus], and Salome [her sister whom Jesus called Mary];

Galatians 2:9 and when they perceived the grace that was given unto me,
James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me
and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the
Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision;

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The children without a Father

Zechariah 9:6.7 - And a bastard [illegitimate child] shall dwell in Ashdod
[Power], and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines [immigrants] . And
I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations
[idolatries] from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall
be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah [praise], and Ekron
[immigration] as a Jebusite [former name for Jerusalem].

This Sunday I am meeting a group of people affiliated to a Korean cult by
the name World Mission Society Church Of God (WMSCOG) and they call
themselves Christians. These people believe their spiritual leader Ahn
Sahng-hong who was born Buddhist, later baptised in Seventh Day Adventist
(another cult church) was pastor there; they consider him as the second
coming Jesus Christ. They call him 'god' - Holy Spirit (although on his
tombstone he called himself Prophet Elijah) and his wife (who is alive) as
'mother god', 'heavenly mother' and 'mother Jerusalem' since she was his
bride. The best part of this insanity is that they quote scriptures from
the Bible to prove their belief.

One of the craziest believes I learned of them is that they claim to know
the secret message what was written on the behind of the two Ten
Commandment tables which God gave Moses (while the Word of God says the
tables carried the Ten Commandments on both the sides). They believe the
secret message inscribed was the 7 thunders of Revelation and these 7
thunders symbolize the 7 (Jewish) feasts which they leader fulfilled in
bring back.

This group at 3 occasion' s prophesised doomsday which failed (like
Jehovah' s Witnesses) yet their members continue to believe in the teachings
of this 'church&# 39;. If I share more, those who are Word rooted will have
their heads spinning. I did not know to laugh or cry when I was studying
about this group, the only thing I can do is pray sense for them.

It is only when insanity manifests at great levels people realize,
otherwise when it is in lesser amounts people continue to believe in them.
Today the largest Christian group is nothing less than this cult they too
are children of a 'heavenly mother', who have forgotten their Heavenly
Father and the words of His Son. In today's message the Lord calls such
children as illegitimate children. He says in today's message He will take
out the life out of the words of their leader and will cause them to
disperse in 3 directions. The good part of this message is that God will
save some of them from the deceit they are in.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray for your people who still are under the deceit of insanity.
Lord, we pray they see importance of holding on to your Word which is lamp
unto our lives and light unto our future. Lord, we pray You quicken your
Word into our lives...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Exodus 24:12 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount,
and be there: and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the
commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.

Exodus 32:15-16
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of
the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on
the one side and on the other were they written.

16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of
God, graven upon the tables.

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Guard your senses
Ezekiel 40:28,29 - And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate:
and he measured the south gate according to these measures; And the little
chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according
to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof
round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

In the Bible Peter asked Jesus how many times are we expected to forgive a
person and Jesus told him seventy times seven. Most people understand this
as an infinite number (since they consider 7 as a cardinal number) and
therefore conclude that we should always forgive people. But that is not
the right understanding.

There are times in the Bible the Apostles and even Jesus gave up on people
and we see all cases they do so up on to a common reason. Jesus never said
all sins will be forgiven and all will be saved.

We as Christians are not called to be perpetual punching bags but are
called to be cushions of love. We are told to what extend we should go and
at what stage we should put our foot down and let God deal with people.

It is by the study of Bible Numerics we get the right understanding of what
Jesus said. The number 7 is the number which symbolizes the Holy Spirit,
Who is with us. Through His instruction Jesus told us we should forgive
people not by our strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit, but in the
same instruction He also told us when we should stop forgiving people and
should step back and let God deal with people. We should remember we really
are not the people who do the forgiving but as representatives of God we
can be in the way or be the way for people to receive forgiveness.

Jesus tell us we should forgive people for all the things they do against
us or even what they do against God but when they sin or blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit, it is time we stop forgiving and step back. We should
forgive 70 times 7 (power of the Holy Spirit) but when the cross 7 (Holy
Spirit) we should let God deal with them.

In today's message too we see a blend of Bible Numerics and Bible Image
Study.

The temple written in Ezekiel 40, 41 and 42 talk of the inner-man (soul).
The design and measurements given give great detailed instructions of how
we should live our lives and how we can overcome and be like Jesus.

Today's message instructs about being alert at all times. We are spirit
being living in this natural world and our spirit is connected to this
world through our inner-man and our inner man connects to this world
through our 5 senses. What we see, hear, feel, smell and taste is what gets
into us from this world. In the Bible God tells us not to be like pigs
which consume everything that even from far looks edible. The Bible tells
us to discern ever thing that enters us through our senses.

Regarding things of this world which do not build us spiritually we may
look but we should not see, we may hear but should not listen, we may touch
but should not feel, we may smell but should not let the scent set in us
and we may taste but should not let the flavour drive us. We are spirit
being driven by our spirit not by our senses. We may live in this world but
should not let the world live in us. We become righteousness when we master
the art of controlling our senses and discerning all that enters us
according to the Word of God by the help of the Holy Spirit (Spirit of
Truth).

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You made us in your image but sin corrupted us. Lord by your
sacrifice forgive us of our sins but the world does not leave us and tries
to corrupt us again. You gave us your Spirit so that with the help of the
Holy Spirit we will discern all things that enters us through our senses
and defiles us. Help us Lord to control our senses and while living in this
world let us not let the world live in us...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 17:4 - And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven
times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

Matthew 18:21-22

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but,
Until seventy times seven.

Matthew 12:31 - Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall
not be forgiven unto men.

Acts 18:4-6

4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews
and the Greeks.

5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed
in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment,
and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from
henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

Matthew 13:22 - He also that received seed among the thorns is he that
heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of
riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Luke 6:8-10

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely:
for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the
children of light.

9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting
habitations.

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much:
and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

John 12:25 - He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his
life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

John 15:19 - If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you.
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Why do we need children?

1 Samuel 1:8 - Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest
thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I
better to thee than ten sons?

Almost every week someone or the other is have talks on marriage. People
love when someone talks about how love should bind couples in marriages.
They speak of the commitment one should have to the other, sacrificing for
each other, in short they see marriage as relationship between a man and
woman.

When I looked at marriage in the Bible I was surprised to learn something
totally different to what the world, including preachers in the Church
preach about marriage. People including preachers put love as the
foundation of marriage and then because they lack understanding of love,
they put romance as love. They then think affection between a husband and
wife is highest priority of love.

In my previous messages I have not taken this topic head-on. I always tried
to induce slowly the values of marriage. In the Bible marriage is not more
about the couple that come in commitment to each other, marriage is more
about their commitment than about the people who commit. Love without
purpose is not the love which God talks of, that is why many translations
translate agape as charity more than love and agapao as love.

As Christians we are called to love (agape) everyone in the Christian
Family (brethren). This love is like the love which Christ demonstrated for
us. Now unless someone can love more than Christ’s love, there is no
difference between the love one has for his wife or her husband than the
love one has for his or her brethren.

When Adam took Eve as his wife he called her Woman, a man (human) with a
womb and mother of his generations. Marriage is more to do with children
than with the people who come together in marriage. The purpose of marriage
is more about the souls that are bought than the souls that bring them.

Romance is marriage is allowed like sex in marriage is allowed. God made
the reproductive organs for reproduction but man put importance to pleasure
than the purpose they are made for. Marriage happens when the two come to
know each other and not when they make a commitment to each other, it
happens when they demonstrate the commitment fulfilling the purpose of
marriage.

People should also not think marriage is all about reproduction. Marriage
is not only about bringing souls but also bringing up souls. It is about
nurturing the children in body, mind and spirit, making them a strong part
of the Body of Christ.

I pray to see the day when the bridegroom will take vows at marriage with
words ‘would you (husband) take (wife) to be the mother of your children.
To love them, nurture them and bring them up in the Lord’, and the same
told also to the bride.

A marriage without children in the Bible is considered a cursed marriage.
It demonstrated the wrath of God, such that He closed the womb. The best
gift a man can have is to receive a godly child, a child is different than
a child of God or child of the flesh. A godly child has great purpose in
the plans God has from the Church in other words is a Man or Woman of God.

We need to understand in this world we are just playing a role as husband
and wife. In Heaven we are neither husbands nor wives to anyone, we will
all be of the same gender (not earthly gender) called Sons of God. Jesus
said we would be like the Angels not given in marriage. Even our children
and grandchildren would be our brethren for us, for us as spirit beings we
will have only Father - God. There is no difference between the children we
bring out of our flesh and those that we bring of spirit. That is why Jesus
said any person who abides by the Will of His Father is His mother, sister
and brother.

Marriage in short is a statute to learn and understand things that are
Heavenly. Marriage is not only between humans but true marriage is only
between Believers (children of God) everything else is consensual
agreements. Marriage is not a commandment but more a part of our role and
purpose (if it is else is a way to escape temptation). That is why Paul
says those who are not called for marriage and have the grace to overcome
the weakness of the flesh should not get marriage. Our spiritual role and
purpose in this world is top priority above all other things we have in
this world and that role is to build the Body of Christ; marriage and
everything else comes second.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray that You open the minds of your people to understand their
purpose in this world, that they understand life is much more than the time
we spend in this body of flesh. Lord your people have made this flesh which
is a prison to their soul and spirit as their world, their mind and spirit
is restricted to the things of the flesh. Lord, we pray your people may
understand Love the way You demonstrated it and thus understand the Wedding
that awaits us in Heaven...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Genesis 2:18-24

18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I
will make him an help meet for him.

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and
every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call
them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name
thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to
every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for
him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman,
and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the
mother of all living.

Matthew 22:23-30

23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no
resurrection, and asked him,

24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his
brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had
married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his
brother:

26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

27 And last of all the woman died also.

28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for
they all had her.

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the
scriptures, nor the power of God.

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Matthew 1:24-25 (Joseph became Jesus’ legal father after He was born and
not at the time of His birth)

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had
bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he
called his name JESUS.

Matthew 12:50 - For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in
heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

The Hebrew word translated as wife also means woman. In Greek it also has
root mean ‘be fulfilled’.

Matthew 19:12 - For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their
mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men:
and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. (Eunuch
meaning official of high status represents here anointed Men of God
emphasizing some are born Men of God, some are made by men and some make
themselves one).
Read 1 Corinthian 7

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