R.D SOUZA Saved by faith

Carnal mind a weak spirit

Luke 24:39, 40 - Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And
when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

When Jesus resurrected the Apostles and those with them hesitated to
believe He had risen and when Jesus appeared in the midst of them they
thought He was a spirit. But Jesus showed them His wounds and yet they did
not believe He then asked them if they had food and when He ate they
settled down.

Our last message we read about Jews thinking that we will be having earthly
family in Heaven and this thinking continues even among Christians.

When Christians Apologist debate with Muslims the first thing Muslims say
“how Jesus can be God for He ate and went to toilet, does God do toilet?”
Some may think they make sense but what is funny is when we look at their
version of Paradise. Each man who enters Paradise gets 72 voluptuous
heavenly virgins who eat drink but do not urinate or defecate. These women
satisfy the pleasures of the man and serve him wine day and night while
sitting in a garden. But their book does not talk of the men (and earthly
women if at all they go to paradise) if they defecate or not after eating
and drinking and where do they defecate in paradise.

It is carnal mentality to think if a being is human they eat and defecate.
They also assume if man goes to Heaven then Heaven has to be like earth
(this world).

The Jews were educated (part of their religious needs) but to some extend
their minds too were as narrow-minded as Muslims. The Apostles at this time
still in their Jewish mentality thought Jesus appeared as a spirit being,
so when Jesus appeared, knowing what was going on their minds showed them
His the wounds on hands and feet but even after seeing/touching they still
doubted and only when He ate they believed.

Lack of understanding of spirit world and being locked within a carnal mind
has made man not to understand the promises of the Kingdom of God and
because man lacks understanding he or she does not pursue Heaven with
persistence and with diligence.

Let us not be like in the state the Apostles were before they were baptized
in the Holy Spirit. Let us free our minds from worldly thinking and renew
it according to the Word of God and by the Spirit of God. If our minds are
not rooted well then there is very less changes that God will reveal
precious things of His Kingdom to us for these things are more precious
than gold and jewels of this world. Jesus said He will not throw pearls to
pigs and swine (carnal people who do not discern).

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, it is the mind that connects our body to our spirit and a weak mind
lacking Truth causes the spirit to be weak. Lord we pray You strengthen our
minds. Help us flush the rubbish understanding of this world and renew our
minds according to the Truth so that we be strong in spirit...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 24:34-45

33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found
the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of
them in breaking of bread.

36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and
saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen
a spirit.

38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise
in your hearts?

39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see;
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto
them, Have ye here any meat?

42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.

43 And he took it, and did eat before them.

44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms,
concerning me.

45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures,

Matthew 7:6 - Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your
pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and
turn and rend you.

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Namesake or Dead Christians

Acts 7:51 - Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do 
always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Some days back I was talking to a person about the Word of God and 
Christ and the importance of abiding in His Word. She was a Catholic who 
claimed to love God. But this lady just did not want to listen to me for 
she was of the thought I was going to convert her, bring her out of the 
Catholic Church. She told me 'anything happens I will die Catholic'. 
When I tried to probe to her reason, she shared her past that she was in 
great problem at some time in her life and through some people praying 
for her and her regular attending Mass she had come out of her depression.

The Israelites loved God and called themselves 'God's People'. They 
would die in the name of being 'God's People'. But when we read 
scripture we see God Himself through the Prophets rebuked them for being 
far from God and of being stiff-necked.

We read in today's message Stephen filled with the Holy Spirit (so much 
that his face changed / lighted as a face of an Angel) spoke in a 
summarized note on how the Israelites resisted God and the Kingdom of 
God. All they wanted of God was to deliver them from the worldly 
problems, the very little that they received from God made them very 
happy and proud. This pride in fact made them to harden their hearts 
more towards God thinking that 'they had God'.

I know of another elderly Catholic woman, who is very religious and 
daily goes to Mass even with the great physical problems she has. Her 
son is a Believer and does a lot of Bible study so in the house he has 
lots of Bible related study books. Whenever his mother has people from 
her church coming over like priest or nuns his mother covers his books 
with newspapers. She has lots of pictures and statutes of Catholic 
religious figures in the house which she puts flowers and kisses but 
when it comes to the Word of God she shuts herself up. She kisses her 
Catholic Bible but hates the Bibles her son has even to the verge of 
threatening to throw them away.

In today's message Stephen used 2 terms, one is stiff-necked and other 
uncircumcised in heart and ears. Stiff-necked like I explained 
previously is a term used for a person holding hard to a doctrine and 
thinking he or she knows all, and that there is nothing more to hear. 
Paul who knew so much confessed he knew very little of that which is to 
be known. Paul also did not say he did not know anything, he confronted 
people and their wrong understanding yet in his heart he knew what he 
knew was very little and there was much to learn. Being humble means to 
be aware what one is and one's limitation. The only person whom we 
cannot attribute the term humility is God in His divine nature (for is 
Almighty). It was when a part of Him (Son) became man that the term 
'humble'(humbled Himself) became attached to Him since the word humble 
can be broken into the words 'hum'-an and being a-'ble'as a human. In 
other words any person who is not humble thinks he or she is God. So any 
person who thinks he or she has not more to learn or understand of the 
Kingdom of God has but him or herself in the place of God.

The term heart and ear used in today's message refers to the soul and 
faculty to understand (since on hearing most of the understanding 
comes). So uncircumcised heart or ear means a soul that has no control 
on its pleasures or a person who does not have discernment and is 
pleased is any and every things it comes across. People who love to hear 
smooth things or things that do not require them to give up on their 
pleasures or desires of this world (lust for material things) or of the 
carnal self (greed, pride, vanity etc.) are called spiritually 
uncircumcised.

In today's message the Lord is telling us through the words of Stephen 
the cause of these people becoming stiff-necked or spiritually 
uncircumcised is all because they resist the Holy Spirit. These people 
may be 'Christians'and may also may have been baptized in Jesus Christ 
(made Him their Lord and Savior) yet because they are not baptized in 
the Holy Spirit or not abiding in Him after receiving Him become 
namesake Christians or dead Christians.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray your people who have become stiff-necked and uncircumcised 
in heart like the Jews that they stop their religion and religious 
practices and start to build a day to day relationship with You. May 
they experience the Living Word and know the Author of the Word in 
person. Holy Spirit we ask You Father to break down the barriers that 
these people have built, work in them and make them into living and 
witnessing Christians...

This prayer we make in Jesus'Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 6:8-15; 7:1-54

Exodus 32:9-10

9And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it 
is a stiffnecked people:

10Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, 
and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

Exodus 33:2-3

2And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the 
Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, 
and the Jebusite:

3Unto 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.

Exodus 34:9And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, 
let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; 
and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

Deuteronomy 10:16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be 
no more stiffnecked.

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Rising up

Matthew 22:30 - For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given
in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

After reading today’s message some may wonder why I put a title of rising
up for today’s message. People have the thinking the term resurrection
means to come back from the dead.

Today morning (this is yesterday’s message took time to edit and shorten
it) I was posting one of my old messages on one of pages which has a large
number of people subscribed to it and on randomly picking one I got my old
message titled ‘Understanding Resurrection’ send on 21st March 2011 and
after that I asked the Lord for today’s message and I got this.

The Greek word ‘anastasis’ comes from the word ‘anistemi’ which is made of
2 words ‘ana’ and ‘histemi’.

It is the words ‘anastasis’ and ‘anistemi’ which is translated as
resurrection. The root word simply means to ‘stand up’ or ‘arise’ for the
word ‘ana’ means ‘each’ and ‘histemi’ means ‘to stand’ or ‘establish’.

People do not understand life, therefore do not understand resurrection.
‘Dead’ as we understand in this world is not the end of life, for our body
dies or perishes but our spirit continues to live so in the first death we
really do not die.

We see may people do not fear bodily death for they are ignorant of human
life therefore we find so many people suicide or live a sinful life without
fear of God or judgment. When a person understands spiritual death one will
have the fear of God in them. What will interest people to know is that our
spirit in either situations, believing or unbelieving does not terminate in
between its spirit life span meaning we all live at least a minimum
lifespan (which is in thousands of years the term which God gave our
spirits when He created us in the beginning).

In the beginning we read of people who lived for nearly thousand years but
as sin increased God reduced the period of the (our) spirit dwelling in the
body to about 120 years. Hell is a prison where the spirit of an unbeliever
is held till it perishes in other words finishing its spirit life span
(second, final and real death). The suffering or burning (also described as
‘living worms’) in Hell are the sins that exist in that soul and until that
soul finishes it spirit life term in Hell it suffers its sins. Eternal
life is available to us when we have access to and eat of the Tree of Life
which gives a renewal of life. We eat of it only as and when we near the
end of our spirit life span (that is why Adam did not touch the Tree of
Life even though he had access to it in Eden and was not restricted by God).

Jesus by His resurrection (rising from Hell) confirmed all mankind will not
perish and by our faith we now have a hope of eternal life (provided we
keep the Word).

I would not say ‘it amuses me’ when I hear the crazy perception of Heaven
by most Christians for I only feel sad of their ignorance. Many actually
think Heaven will have streets of gold, golden mansions and jewels
everywhere, for their mind is filled with worldly understanding. They are
so carnal in their thinking that they make God to look like an old man with
a long beard (because of the term ‘ancient’) but with a strong body (for
the ‘almighty’ element). They also think Jesus will continue to be
humanlike and sit on a chair (throne) in Heaven. They do not understand
these are all figurative terms.

God (part of Him let full in Himself) humbled Himself for a purpose and
after finishing the purpose He returns to His glory. But these people do
not want Him to return to His glory therefore keep Him human even after He
achieved his purpose (like Judas did not want Jesus to be our sacrifice).
They also think they will still be humans after entering Heaven for they do
not know the true meaning of the term ‘Sons of God’.

Jesus says in today’s message we will not marry nor get married, for Heaven
will not have genders like we have on earth since all will be ‘Sons of God’
like Angels. Bible also tells us the process to become ‘Sons of God’
(irrespective of our earthly gender) starts not after we die but while we
are alive, and this process is worked in us by the Holy Spirit. He is our
resurrection power that works in us while we are yet alive, even though the
results are apparent only after our earthly death. Paul also clarifies some
(very few) of us (those found during the coming of Christ) will not even
see worldly death (first death) but will be directly transformed (raptured)
into spirit beings (Angels - Sons of God).

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we pray your people understand the gift of life and the things of the
spirit world. Lord we pray your people do not live for today but live for
the day when they will enter Heaven, their true home and enjoy life to its
fullness. We pray they will not be deceived with lies and thus lose focus
of their goal...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
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:

Romans 8:14 - For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God.

John 17:5 - And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Revelation 20:11-15
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books
were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell
delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall
asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are
alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede
them that are fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first;
17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be
caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever
be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Revelation 1:7 - Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see
him, and they that pierced him [those already dead]; and all the tribes of
the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

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Oneness with one mind and one mouth

Romans 15: 6,7 - That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, 
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one 
another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

When one understands the mission of Paul as stated by the Lord in Acts 
9:15 then one would be able to understand the tone and depth of Paul's 
letters.

Paul knew a lot more than what is written in his letter and we see this 
in many letters he was tempted to speak out but he refrained for the 
betterment of those whom he was ministering.

When the Lord started teaching me the first thing He did was instruct me 
to not go out to minister until my basics was clears. For almost a year 
I spend something like closed door study with the Lord and when He told 
me to go out and preach I immediately saw results. My calling being of a 
Teacher I was taught like Daniel was, so day by day I used to get 
revelations directly from Him (through vision and dreams) of His Word 
and revelation unlike any person would imagine. But in the start I did 
make mistakes for when I would get any revelation like would be on top 
of the world and this revelation I would share with people around me. 
They being not of the same level of spiritual understand as me I saw I 
was hurting them more than building them. The problem was in the matter 
but in the delivery of the matter.

Jesus as man was full of wisdom and knew a lot but when He taught He did 
throw all that He knew at them. He went about step by step in educating 
them about the Kingdom of God knowing His limitation as man and knowing 
His purpose and a timeline of things.

I will amuse you when I tell you those who lack knowledge of things make 
the maximum noise and try to show others that they know all. And this I 
saw in myself as I was growing in the Lord. As one grows in discernment 
and more understanding one know when, where and to whom one needs to 
give understanding. This you will see in Jesus with the people He spoke 
basics, with His disciple He did stage by stage teaching but when it 
came to the Pharisees and Sadducees when they questioned Him He 
questioned them back. He discerned their intention so shook their 
understanding more than trying to build them.

In today's message Paul give a gem of advice on how to come to that 
oneness. He tells us to start with our understanding and what we speak. 
He means to tell us to be aware of the understanding of the people 
before us and come to their level and speak to them at their level and 
start building them from their level. Most to us speak for our level 
even though we are aware of the level of understanding of the person 
before us is way below. Even the other situation is very common in fact 
more often, where a person knows little yet tries to teach the person 
before him or her things of the Kingdom of God. The reason is they do 
this is they lack discernment or are hearing their flesh and thinking 
it's the Spirit of God speaking to them.

There are some myths that people believe in when they need to erase:

1) It is not necessary because one has being working longer in the 
Kingdom of God they would know more of the Kingdom of God.

2) It is not necessary because one has more anointing they would know 
more of the Kingdom of God.

3) It is not necessary because one has more great knowledge of 
scriptures, gone to Bible College and knows the Bible languages they 
would know more of the Kingdom of God. They surely would be in better 
position to discern but knowledge, wisdom and understanding are different.

4) Having a higher Calling does not mean their understanding would be 
more. Understand Callings are to with the 7 Spirit/s (6+1 – 6 Callings & 
Christ the Head) of God. Even though all receive the Spirit of Wisdom 
(Truth), yet it is more associated with the calling of the Teacher than 
other. That is why James (the bother of Jesus) who wrote the letter of 
James and was a Teacher advised not to boast or dream to be a Teacher 
for the way they are taught by the Lord is not something any person 
would desire.

Let us discern people and their level when we it comes to speaking and 
giving understanding of the Kingdom of God. When we do that we will see 
the bonds in the Body becoming stronger and stronger day by day.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people grow in discernment, that they see and 
understand each other so as to try and build each other. May the words 
they speak edify, let the words not please nor harm even though it may 
be true. You Lord do not throw all understanding in one day at us but 
know what, when and how to give it to us. You know the Word can kill us 
if our hearts are hardened so You first work in us and slowly give us 
understanding. We pray we imitate You when we deal with others...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Romans 15:1-7

1We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and 
not to please ourselves.

2Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.

3For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The 
reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

4For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our 
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might 
have hope.

5Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one 
toward another according to Christ Jesus:

6That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ.

7Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the 
glory of God.

Acts 9:15But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen 
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the 
children of Israel:

Isaiah 11:2 - And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit 
of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit 
of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

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Social service and Christianity

Acts 6:1-10

Christianity in India has been existent since 52AD and surprisingly even 
today it has been considered a foreign (western) religion. If we see the 
very early Indian Christians were never differentiated from others, the 
clothes they wore or way they lived would not be differentiated from the 
other Indians. Christianity in India took a western outlook only after 
the British and Portuguese (Catholic roots) came into India. 
Christianity was never tradition rooted (clothes, outlook, ornaments, 
routine etc.) in the start therefore the people mixed well with others 
unlike we see this in Judaism. Judaism has its roots in India from 
500-600BC but because of it strong traditional culture its people always 
stand out in any community. It is only among the non-orthodox Jews who 
do not go by the letter we find they mix well into society. Muslims too 
having to follow their traditions and culture by the letter always stand 
out from among any society.

What we see in India Christianity degraded and of late has come back to 
mature. You may wonder at this comment of mine, this you would know from 
today's message.

We see in today's message early Christians were guided by the Apostles 
who were very much in the Lord and were led by the Spirit of God. We see 
in this incident which was the first revolt or fight among Christians 
happen because they grouped themselves according to their cultural 
roots. To meet their daily food requirements the Apostles ran a kitchen 
service and these people started fighting due to cultural racism. Since 
they were people in need the Apostles had to run this service but we see 
the Apostles did not want to put aside the more important work they were 
called for by looking after the physical needs of the people, they 
preferred concentrating on meeting the more urgent spiritual needs.

In India after the death of the Apostle Thomas, there were 7 large 
Churches that started in the south. The early Christians concentrated on 
evangelism they gave the Gospel and saved souls. Later on the coming of 
the Roman Catholic Church and Word of God being taken away from the 
people we see the growth of Christianity has been stagnant or minuscule, 
the reason of this being the concentration of this Church on social 
service (works).

Social service is very important, like James says if I love my brother 
and do not clothe/feed him when he is naked/hungry then my love is a 
lie. But Christianity is more about saving souls and not about helping 
people live well in this world. It is about preparing them to enter the 
next real world.

There is a phrase which states teach the hungry to fish and he will not 
go hungry. We like foolish people have been feeding the hungry all our 
lives but did not bring them to know their God who is their provider. We 
see Jesus pushed His disciples to learn this by sending 70 of them out 
on a mission without any resource on themselves, not even water. They 
had just the clothes on their body, a pair of sandals that they had worn 
and a rod in their hands. And we read they were provided for their every 
need. It is also written they saw great wonders happening during this 
mission.

We see in today's message the Apostles gave the task of social service 
to the younger, maturing Christians so that they learn to grow in love 
for the people and grow in faith. But these people while serving the 
people also concentrated on spiritual things and started to evangelize 
more powerfully.

In India Christians are just 4 percent of the population but they do 
almost 40percent of social service in various areas of society. Since 
these people do not concentrate on spiritual growth, spiritual maturity 
has always been lacked among Indian Christians that is why Christianity 
never took off in India.

We Christians are not saved by good works or works of righteousness but 
are saved by works of faith after we come into the grace of Jesus 
Christ. Only when we are in the Lord can we show the light through the 
things we do being led by the Spirit of God.

Let us not be deceived by following worldly understanding or ways but 
follow the ways of the Lord which are life and eternal. What is written 
in the Word of God is valid even today in this modern age, only if we 
understand it well.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, your people are deceived to become religious or worldly righteous 
people. Even though they are far from the understanding of your Kingdom 
they think they can do good works. They think the works that they do 
will manifest You and your Kingdom. Instead of drawing the people to You 
they draw people to themselves and make people in to human worshipers. 
Lord we pray for wisdom to your people that they understand their 
priorities well...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 6:1-10

1And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, 
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because 
their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

2Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and 
said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve 
tables.

3Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, 
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

4But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry 
of the word.

5And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a 
man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and 
Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

6Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid 
their hands on them.

7And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples 
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were 
obedient to the faith.

8And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles 
among the people.

9Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the 
synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of 
them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

10And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he 
spake.

Romans 3:27 - Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of 
works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

James 2:22 - Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works 
was faith made perfect?

James 2:26 - For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith 
without works is dead also.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 - Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, 
and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in 
the sight of God and our Father;

2 Thessalonians 1:11 - Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our 
God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good 
pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:

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Price for the riches of Nineveh

Nahum 2:8 - But Nineveh of old like a pool of water: 
yet they shall flee away. Stand [endure], stand [endure]; but none shall 
look back [turn].

Just today morning as I was checking my mails I saw this mail from an 
online store from which I bought some products before, they had a great 
offer for 49inch LED television which really tempted me. Many years back 
I had a 29inch tube television, then I went for a 32inch LED television 
and just some months back there was a great sale online and since I was 
getting a crazy offer I bought a 40inch LED television at 2/3 its normal 
price and I was very happy until I saw this offers for 49inch. All this 
happened before I got this message today.

You may wonder why I am telling you about all this. Today's message is 
connected to this that is why I am sharing this.

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrians. The word Assyria in Hebrew 
means 'step' and comes from the word meaning 'to be blessed', it 
symbolizes worldly prosperity. It's capital Nineveh in Greek means 
'offspring of ease' and in Hebrew means 'abode of Ninus'. Legendary 
Ninus was the person to whom things like taming wild horses for human to 
ride is attributed to. Horses in the Bible symbolize prosperity (moving 
from one phase to another). Using dogs for hunting is also attributed to 
this person Ninus. Dogs symbolize social (worldly) relationships and 
using dogs to hunting in other words means using social connections for 
one's worldly desires (carnal / fleshy desires).

In today's message the Lord is very clear in His message; He says those 
who run after worldly blessings will have to spiritually pay a great price.

Whenever I preach about the relationship between being Christian and 
being rich, people do not like it. We as Christians are assured our 
needs in this world will and are already provided by the Lord. We are 
called to desire abundance, but not of this world but of the Kingdom of 
God. There are very few places where Jesus was blunt and this was one of 
those places where He said it will be impossible for a rich man to enter 
the Kingdom of God. It is only through God's working in him that he may 
enter the Kingdom of God.

Understand if you are given more there is more responsibility on you to 
give more. The moment you start hoarding for yourself and taking 
pleasure in it, that very moment you have created an obstacle between 
you and the Kingdom of God.

We see Churches today are filled with people who come not for God but 
more for being blessed. Surely a person who lacks (not poor) in this 
world is under curse or does not know God but the one having abundance 
in this world is tested or does not know God. Either lacking or 
abundance is not desirable for a Christian. A perfect Christian is a 
person whose every need is met by the Hand of God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, the Israelites suffered the most at the hands of the Assyrians. 
They desired worldly blessings and had to pay a great price for it. 
Today also we see most of the Christians run after prosperity and that 
is why they are name sake Christians or are manipulative Christian, they 
do not fear to twist scriptures to justify their greed. Lord we read it 
was greed that bought a great Chrub like Lucifer to move from light into 
darkness. Lord we pray your people who are blessed may learn to give to 
your Kingdom. May they know tithing is for those who are not baptized in 
your Holy Spirit or have no communication with your Spirit. Lord we pray 
they learn to give according to your Spirit leading them; that they 
learn to hear your Spirit prompting...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Nahum 2:8-13

8But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. 
Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.

9Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none 
end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.

10She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the 
knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of 
them all gather blackness.

11Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young 
lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, 
and none made them afraid?

12The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for 
his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

13Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn 
her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: 
and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy 
messengers shall no more be heard.

Matthew 19:23-30

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

24And 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.

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

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

27Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, 
and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

28And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have 
followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the 
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
twelve tribes of Israel.

29And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or 
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, 
shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

30But many that are first [chief] shall be last [lowest]; and the last 
[lowest] shall be first [chief].

Luke 6:20 - And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, 
Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Mark 4:18-19

18And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

19And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the 
lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh 
unfruitful.

Luke 16:11 - If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous 
mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

1 Timothy 6:17-19

17Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, 
nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us 
richly all things to enjoy;

18That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to 
distribute, willing to communicate;

19Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time 
to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Repentance - former and later

Jonah 3:6 - For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from 
his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with 
sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

When we read today's scripture we feel great that the king repented and 
thus saved the kingdom from the disaster, for the Lord had given them a 
time within which had they not repented they would be destroyed.

What we need to take note is, what he did as a sign of repentance - he 
removed his royal robe, wore a robe of sackcloth and he sat in ashes. 
Now understand that Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrians and their 
beliefs were no way near the beliefs of the Israelites, but yet we see 
when he repented he did the same things which an Israelite would do.

One would say this was standard signs of mourning. If you read in 
scriptures there were other signs of grieving done by the pagan like 
using sharp instruments like knives and lancets to cut themselves till 
they bleed and this is recorded in the book of Kings. This we see 
certain sects of Muslims do even today during their grieving period 
called Muharram. People may say there is nothing wrong in doing the 
first type of repentance but not the second because it is bloody.

We see the Catholics start their period of repentance period called Lent 
with self-reflection, fasting and penance and they start this period by 
putting ash on their heads (on their fore-heads) and that too after a 
carnal feasting (which they official do not endorse but unofficially 
support).

If one studies the Bible or goes through history you will understand, 
what evil they did before is the evil that people still do even today, 
only the packaging has changed and the quantity varies.

Before sin came in man even though he was in the flesh yet flesh had no 
hold of him and he had access to the Tree of Life which was in Garden of 
Eden (Paradise) of which he could eat as and when he needed for a 
renewal of life thus live eternally (it is not once eaten forever one 
would live as people think). But when sin came he was restricted in the 
flesh (Jesus showed He overcame the flesh by His transfiguration) and 
God had cursed man to perish (spiritual death) by saying he was made of 
dust (earth) and would at the end go to dust (and not ash). People think 
God was talking of ash so say 'from ash you came unto ash you go'. If 
they were to go by scripture they should have put mud on their head and 
said 'from mud you came unto mud you go'. But surely children of 
disobedience will go to ashes.

The Lord came as man not to save our bodies but to save us which dwell 
in these bodies. When we who are saved in Jesus Christ die our bodies 
perish to dust but we do not for we do not go to Hell where the soul and 
spirit perishes after serving its term. Jesus did not sin at all that is 
why He alone resurrected in body and He will be the only one. He was 
born without sin but we are born-again (in spirit) with sins forgiven 
therefore we do not resurrect in our flesh.

Like an infant does not need to be taught jealousy so also no human 
needs to know his or her soul will perish when they die (no doubt some 
religions deceive them to believe that they will incarnate to another 
form of life). Putting ash on oneself is a sign that shows doom is upon 
them and thus was a natural sign of hopelessness. But after hope came 
through Jesus Christ we do not read of Christians in the Bible putting 
ash on themselves for that would be a sign of rejecting the Savior.

In Greek the word for repentance is 'metanoia' and it comes from 2 words 
which mean 'after' + 'understanding'. People mistake repentance to being 
sorry. Repentance is about correction and not about being sorry. 
Forgiveness is about being sorry and making up but repentance is about 
knowing one is wrong and about correcting one's self.

In the days before Christ people did not know the way so they were 
hopeless and thus put ash on themselves or sat in ash, but we Christians 
know the way and our repentance is more of surrendering to the Spirit of 
God to change us and bring us to the right path. Fasting is to do with 
increasing faith and help us to suppress our flesh and tune to our 
spirit more but unless we do not surrender to the Spirit of God it does 
not count as repentance.

The word ashes in its actual understanding occurs only once in 2 Peter 
2:6. The word translated as ashes in Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13 and 
Hebrews 9:13 talks of sacrificial ash taken from the sacrificial burning.

In today's message the Lord is telling us not to behave like those who 
do not know Him or are have not received His Spirit. We Christians who 
are baptized in Christ have received the promise of the Holy Spirit. So 
if you are not baptized in the Holy Spirit you need to remember you have 
the promise so when you claim that promise you will receive and be 
baptized. So we Christians should not be doing the things the former 
people did. They were more in the flesh but we are more in the spirit so 
let us stop the former and do the later.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, there are many who state they know You but are far from your 
Kingdom. They do things of darkness even though they call themselves 
children of light. Lord we are privileged to be born in this time, to 
know You and receive You. Lord we pray we live like your children and be 
light unto others...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Kings 18:28 - And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their 
manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

Genesis 2:7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 3:19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou 
return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou 
art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Matthew 11:21Woe 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.

Luke 10:13Woe 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.

Hebrews 9:13For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an 
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

2 Peter 2:6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes 
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those 
that after should live ungodly;

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Did Jesus lie - 3 days or more or less

Matthew 27:63 - Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he
was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

Soon we would be entering one of the most holy periods for Christians which
is the Lord’s Passover. What is most saddening is Believer Christians are
misled and made to follow something else or believe in something else due
to their following the traditions of the Catholic Church instead of the
Bible.

Catholics will celebrate Palm Sunday next Sunday, then Maundy Wednesday,
Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and then Easter. If one studies
scriptures one would find none of them go alone with what the Bible says.
One may ask where they got their dates and some case events from and you
will have many proposed pagan sources and pagan celebrations, and it
including 40 days so called lent period that they celebrate before Good
Friday and after Carnival (CARN-al fest-IVAL).

For example Jesus celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Last Supper)
which was a week long period and starts on a Sabbath (Saturday). He was
arrested in the night (late evening) on that day when He went with His
disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. He was under arrest for 5 days
fulfilling the law of the Passover Lamb. During this time He suffered both
in the hands of the Jewish authorities as well as Roman authorities. He was
crucified on Thursday evening, died and resurrected on mid Sunday which was
the third day.

The traditions of the Catholic Church has so much influence on Christians
that even the translators were filled with presumptions while translating.
We see in today’s scripture the word translated as ‘after’ is the Greek
word ‘meta’. Now the word can be rendered into English in multiple words
and we see the Bible translated it as - with (345 times), after (88 times),
among (5 times), hereafter + ‘theses things’ (4 times), afterward + ‘theses
things’ (4 times), against (4 times)

It primarily can be used in 3 ways

1) amidst, among

2) (with accusative) into the middle

3) association, fellowship, participation with, after

We see in the first and second case it is used when something is in the
middle of a process. This we see in other scriptures which state He
resurrected ON the third day and NOT AFTER 3 days.

There are many who debate on - did Jesus resurrect on the third day or
after 3 days. The bone of content is the ‘sign of Jonah’. The biggest
problem with this misunderstanding is first the lack of knowledge of
understanding of the feasts as given in the book of Moses, secondly they
read part scripture and thus assume things and lastly they do not put all
connected scriptures into prospective.

Firstly Jesus said the sign of Jonah was for the ‘wicked’ and not for the
people of God. God forbidden if Jesus resurrected on the third day none of
us, right from Noah until the end would survive to enter the Kingdom of God
(Heaven). You may wonder what has that to do with Jesus’s resurrection.

You need to realize time (solar / lunar time and time in general) is a
factor here in this world. In the spiritual world where a person is
ageless time varies according to every individual, according to their heart
(inner man) condition. That is why Paul many a times used the ‘Now’ with
promises or faith and theologians thought it was his style of writing.

Jesus went to Hell because our sins were on Him but He could not be kept
there for there was no sin in Him. Also Hell is not a place ruled by Satan
(the ‘dragon’) even though He is bonded there. Hell is prison in control of
the Angels of God (there is no place other than a harden heart where Satan
rules - man was given dominance of this world and due to sin in man Satan
dominates it).

There was no time factor that can be measured as in earthly time as to how
much time Jesus was there in Hell, but on earth He did resurrect on the
third day as a sign of when He would come back.

If one studies spirit life of man one would know the importance of this
sign (spirit man can live eternal only if he has the access to the Tree of
Life which is in Heaven). It was sign confirming to us before mankind
perishes He would come to take us to Heaven (from Noah and the other souls
who sleep to the last Believer alive who is transformed from flesh to
spirit).

There was a Catholic priest who debated with me with regards to the Feast
of the Unleavened Bread of how it was incorrectly reported in the Gospel(s)
since Matthew, Mark and Luke record the Passover week overlapping the Feast
of Unleavened Bread and John who goes according to book of Moses and thus
states the feast was to start after the Passover. If you study the Gospel
according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, they are very similar unlike that of
John since Matthew, Mark and Luke as witness (direct and indirect)
recordings of what happened while John is more a autobiography of Jesus
(even though he witnessed) therefore it has more deeper insight in it than
the other books. History states when Jews were in Babylon they overlapped
the 2 weeks into one week since they did not have the freedom to exercise
their festivals freely for 2 weeks under Babylonian captivity.

Easter is a pagan festival (a festival to do with the birth of goddess
Ashtoreth - the Queen of Heaven) which falls on the same day as
Resurrection Sunday. Let us Christians not celebrate the pagan festival but
celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection. This day is also called the day of the
Peace / Wave Sacrifice where man made peace with God and God accepted it.

Like Paul says we now can approach the Throne of God with boldness, without
fear for now that peace has been made and this is all because of
Resurrection Sunday.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Jesus your people are deceived to not know the power of your
Resurrection and the things You have done for them through your Passover
(Death and Resurrection). Lord we pray the eyes of your people open and
they understand the things You have made available and have overcome for
them. Let them know the hope that came with your birth as man became
reality and a confirmation by your resurrection...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Exodus 12:3-6

3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day
of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the
house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his
neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls;
every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall
take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and
the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening.

Mark 14:1 After two days was the feast of the Passover [week], and of
unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they
might take him by craft, and put him to death.

Matthew 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the
disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare
for thee to eat the passover?

Matthew 12:39-40

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.

Matthew 16:4 - A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and
there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
And he left them, and departed.

Matthew 16:21 - From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his
disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised
again the third day.

Matthew 17:23 - And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be
raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Matthew 27:64 - Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the
third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say
unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be
worse than the first.

Luke 13:32 - And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I
cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I
shall be perfected.

Luke 24:46 - And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

Acts 10:40 - Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;

1 Corinthians 15:4 - And that he was buried, and that he rose again the
third day according to the scriptures:
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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

When demons speak

Mark 5:12 - And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the 
swine, that we may enter into them.

We read in today's message when the demons (word used here is 'devils') 
saw Jesus approaching them they knew the body which they were dwelling 
in they would have to leave. They also knew Jesus being Son of God (as 
man and not to misunderstood with God the Son) had the power to send 
them to Hell where they would not come out and where they would suffer 
terribly. So they plead Him to let them dwell in the swine that were 
around. They knew Jesus came to save mankind (humans) so may not 
restrict them from entering an animal. You know the story after that.

People think in the scripture the term devils or demons speaks of evil 
spirits. No doubt they were evil spirits or fallen angels whose powers 
are taken away but the Greek word used here is daimon from which we get 
the English word demon, this word actually means an inferior / small god 
or goddesses.

If one studies various religions one would see the term god/God used for 
3 categories of individuals. The word God is used for the Creator. We 
also have the term 'gods' used for humans as in the term man-god (in 
Hindi they use the word Bhagwan this is not to be mistaken with 'Man of 
God' but is actually a deity status in human form). This is not 
restricted to pagan religions but also in many 'Christian' religions we 
find this concept. In some 'Christian' religion we have human beings 
given this status, not only those who are dead, and some even while they 
are alive that is why they pray to them. The third category of gods is 
those of whom today's scripture talks of - the demons.

Demons are worshiped in many religions as gods and Bible says even 
Believers are not spared if we understand what demons are. Those who do 
deliverance know spirits from their nature and thus take their name and 
cast them away. Bible says when Christian Believers put things like lust 
or hatred or vanity/foolishness (that too is a spirit which blinds 
wisdom) among others above God then they have made this spirit into gods 
in their lives. They spend most of their time praying to them, this 
praying does not necessary mean bowing to but even communicating or 
thinking of them day in/ day out is praying (which means communication 
from the heart).

In today's message the Lord warns us Believers of demons speaking to us 
and this happens when we start to communicate to them or think of them 
over a long period of time. It could be a simple thing like hatred or 
revenge or lust of flesh / material pleasure or even a thing like 
depression.

The Lord is warning us not to let demons speak to us but to stop 
immediately from giving them time or attention and this we can do by 
diverting our time and energy in something productive.

So today if someone has hurt you or tempted you directly or indirectly, 
do not give time thinking of it for it will become a god for you so take 
authority and get out of it and spend your time in a something productive.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, evil spirits become gods in our lives by tempting us to desire 
things of the flesh or they also become gods by hurting the human part 
of us. Lord we pray we realize the danger of making these gods in our 
lives and we pray your people come out of this trap...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Romans 2:22 - Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost 
thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

1 Corinthians 10:6-11

6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust 
after evil things, as they also lusted.

7Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The 
people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell 
in one day three and twenty thousand.

9Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were 
destroyed of serpents.

10Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed 
of the destroyer.

11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are 
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1 Thessalonians 4:4-8

4That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in 
sanctification and honour;

5Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:

6That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because 
that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you 
and testified.

7For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

8He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also 
given unto us his holy Spirit.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Remember you the words

Jude 1:17 - But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of
the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

This letter of Jude is among the oldest books (after book of Revelation) in
the Bible. It was written around the period 66AD - 88AD. This Jude was not
Jude the Apostle but is believed to be the brother of Jesus (youngest son
of Mary) who was called Juda/Judas in the Gospels (Mt 13:55, Mk 6:3).

We see Jude speaks of the Apostles in the past tense for all of them ceased
to exist at the time of writing this letter. What is also interesting to
note is that Jude advices to follow all that the Apostles spoke. If one
studies how the Bible came into existence one would understand the depth of
Jude’s words.

The Old Testament came to us from the Jews so all the books that were
accepted as canon (official scripture) is part of our Bible. The Catholics
tried to add some books in 1400AD to the Old Testament so as to justify
their traditions which were contrary or not given in the Bible. These books
which are called Apocrypha (hidden) were used as study books early church
fathers but were never taken as canon because there were some issues in
them. We also see either the 28 books (except for the book of Ester) of the
Old Testament have some or other reference in the teachings of Jesus or the
Apostles or their authors are named. With regards to the New Testament
books there is no difference of opinion between the Believer Churches, the
Catholic Churches or the Orthodox Churches.

People have no knowledge or have a wrong understanding of how the New
Testament came into existence. People think the Catholic Church had a hand
in the composition of the New Testament. They lack knowledge that the
Catholic Church came into existence only after 300AD, before that there was
no formal / administrative ‘Church’. Christians were persecuted and killed
for their faith so people would meet in houses and in secret. Especially in
Roman the Christians all ran away for those found were killed in arenas by
lions or crucified or burned to death by fire or in boiling oil yet the
Bible existed during this period.

The Gospels and few of the epistles (letters) were circulated by the
Apostles themselves and we find this mentioned in the letters themselves.
If we study the manuscripts we find all Christian documents found in the
1st century are part of the Bible. What we see by this is that, the early
Christians were very clear of their belief and everything they spoke was
Word of God. They were so separated from the teachings of the world that
their spoken words or written letters did not need to be scrutinized or
edited. They discerned the false teachers / preachers and named them openly.

But today if one is rooted in the Word of God one would see the opposite.
One has to really search for Word of God even in teaching of very famous
preachers or teachers of the Word, the situation is even worse in Churches.
The Pastors are so filled with Bible college teachings which has secular
roots that you see they bridge the understanding of the Kingdom of God with
the understanding of the world. People like to hear smooth things, things
that they have heard before and that which will not impact their core
nature very much.

One should remember the world hates God and there can never be a bridge
between the Kingdom of God and the worldly system. This corruption started
in 300AD and peaked in 1400-1600AD. Unless one comes out of this worldly
understandings and sticks to the verbatim understanding of scriptures one
will never know if they are going to God or going against God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, scriptures say your Word existed from the beginning and was true from
the beginning. Your Word which is instructions of Life came through your
anointed ones and was completed in Jesus Christ. The early Church confirmed
this Word in their letters and their testimonies. They knew the Word and
thus what they spoke was totally in line with the Word. Lord today your
people are taught many things which are not your Word and are made to
believe these are from You. Lord we pray You open their eyes and remove
your people from this deceit...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Mt 13:55 - Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary?
and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

Mk 6:3 - Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James,
and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?
And they were offended at him.

Revelation 22:16-20

16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the
churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and
morning star.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely.

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of
this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him
the plagues that are written in this book:

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.

20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Psalms 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy
righteous judgments endureth for ever.

Revelation 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning
of the creation of God;

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The Wounds

John 20:20 - And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and 
his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

Soon we will be celebrating the Passover of the Lord and even unto this 
day most Christians have no idea of the Lord's suffering.

Some may say are people foolish that they cannot read and understand?

Some may say why would the Lord hide such an important fact from His 
people?

Then there are others who would go to the extent to say if it is not 
written it is not necessary so we do not need to know?

The answer is in today's message.

We see Jesus showed His disciples His hands and His side to show them 
his wounds so as to prove to them it was Him and He had overcome death. 
Were these the only wounds Jesus was inflicted with? What about the 
wounds caused by the crown of thorns that pierced His head?

We need to read Psalms 22 and Isaiah 52 which talks of the Lord 
suffering for it shows He was wounded so much that He was not recognized 
as a human. People forget the Jews were under the rule of the Romans, 
according to the Jewish religious freedom they were limited in the 
punishment they would meant out on any person. As per their custom they 
were allowed to whip a person 39 whips (40 - 1) and had to set the 
person free. This whip was a standard whip.

Death penalty was not in the hands of the Jewish authorities but only in 
the hands of the Roman authorities. After the Jewish whipping the Romans 
first tried whip Jesus to death by giving Him about 100 slashes with 
whips which had from 9 to 13 strands with various small objects like 
metal pieces and bones tied to its ends, these objects would rip apart 
the flesh of the person. There was not one person who did all whipping 
but there were 3 persons who took turn after turn to whip Him. These 
people were like modern hangmen who worked once a while and the Romans 
would greatly reward the person if the criminal (here Jesus) would die 
at his whip. So these people would whip with all their might taking all 
the time they needed but after Jesus survived this whipping they feared 
Him and wanted to set Him free. But on the insisting of the Jews and 
fear of communal riots they crucified Him. From His arrest to His 
crucifixion He was totally 5 days (Sat night to Thurs evening) in their 
custody thus fulfilling the Pascal Lamb according to the book of Moses.

But we see after resurrection Jesus returned in the flesh (since His 
flesh did not see corruption but we do not resurrect in the flesh) and 
He had to show His wounds on His hands and on His side for confirmation.

One may wonder why all the details of the suffering of Jesus are not 
written in the New Testament and the little we know also comes from the 
Old Testament and not the New Testament.

Like in the book of Moses the blood of the Pascal Lamb was applied on 
the outside, on the door post for the Angel of death of the Lord to see 
and pass, and not for the people inside to see. Similarly the suffering 
of Christ is not for us but for God to see for it was to God a payment 
for ours sins. But we need to be at least aware that Jesus suffered for 
us and know the sacrifice was made of us so that we claim our blessing.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You suffered for our sins and paid the price so that we are 
blessed in You. Lord Jesus there is no way we can thank You for the 
sacrifice You made for us, but we pray we do not let this sacrifice to 
perish in our lives, that we bring the pass your purpose in our lives 
and give glory unto You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Psalms 22

Isaiah 52

Exodus 12:3-7

3Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day 
of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the 
house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

4And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his 
neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the 
souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall 
take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and 
the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the 
evening.

7And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts 
and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

Acts 2:30-31

30Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath 
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would 
raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his 
soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

1 Corinthians 15:50 - Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood 
cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit 
incorruption.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Marriage business

Romans 7:3 - So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to
another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead,
she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be
married to another man.

Yesterday there was this news from Indonesia which was viral on the
Internet. It was about a woman who was selling her house and she had
something unique to offer. She stated if the person who bought the house
pays the price she asked then she was willing to marry the person. So she
came with the house like the furniture. This woman who is a TV host
justified this decision due to her previous numerous failures to find a
good soul mate, for her this was a good way a soul mate. Now what was her
criterion for the soul mate? Only one, that the person was rich and could
afford her price.

We may have ill opinion of her but if we look at others in this world the
story is the same, only thing is she was candid in public.

People getting married on one hand are looking for persons with high
education, good job, a rich family etc. and on the other hand we have
people who look for cool dudes or beautiful girls, fashion or looks. These
marriages are based on lust of the flesh or worldly things yet they use the
term soul mates. How many checked with the ‘soul’ factor for that mate. As
a Christian how many have asked the Lord about the person being the right
person for them.

Christians lack understanding of marriage and this is because they lack
relationship with the Lord and knowledge of what their relationship should
be.

Marriage is not a law but a statute and is made to understand the Heavenly
relationship with the Lord else we would have been reproducing like
animals. If we do not follow this statute with honesty we will never know
true man and God relationship nor who or what we are going to be in Heaven
and what our relationship is going to be with the Lord there.

Paul does not use the term Jesus (the man) as the Head of the Church but
uses the term Christ as it Head and he also relates marriage as a Church,
thus putting Christ as Head also of an marriage. If we understand Church we
will understand marriage and if we understand marriage we will understand
Church.

If in Church we do not choose any deity as God then how can we select any
person to be soul mate? If we cannot change Gods (for there is only one)
then how can there be many soul mates?

Before the people of God did not have the Spirit of God thus there was no
true Church that is why people were allowed to have more than one wives
(polygamous relationship) but later after the Spirit of God was given to
the people (at Pentecost) we see without any ‘Command’ from God they
automatically started talking of monogamous relationship.

The Lord is asking us to introspect our relationship as married people and
also asking people who are thinking of marriage to understand what marriage
is and not make it a business deal. Business is done for money and marriage
is not business which is done according to worldly basis, for lust of the
flesh or things (money, fleshy love/ romance, worldly power/status/fear
etc.)

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You called the first union (coming to know each other) between a
person who knew You and his woman as marriage. Marriage is a covenant You
made and thus marriage is only between Believers, the people of the world
make contracts and these contract are made based on worldly factors. Lord
we pray your children do not define their relationship like the pagans of
this world do but do based on principles defined by You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 19:8-12

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts
suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for
fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso
marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife,
it is not good to marry.

11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to
whom it is given.

12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s
womb: and there are some eunuchs [officials], 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

Mark 12:25 - For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry,
nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

1 Corinthians 7:6-16

Ephesians 5:21-33

21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of
the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in every thing.

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it;

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word,

27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish.

28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth
his wife loveth himself.

29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth
it, even as the Lord the church:

30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be
joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even
as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

To eat or not to eat

Acts 11:5-7

5I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A 
certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from 
heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:

6Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw 
fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, 
and fowls of the air.

7And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.

In India in the state I live which is Maharashtra, a law has been passed 
to ban killing and eating of beef (cow or bullock) this has disturbed 
many meat eaters. There are some who feel being vegetarian is good for 
health so they feel this law is good. But as a Christian does this law 
affect my practice of Christianity. You may feel this is a funny 
question to ask, what has diet to do with being Christian.

If one reads Genesis when God created man and woman they were vegetarian 
and were told to eat only of the plants and of the trees, in fact the 
first profession of man was farming. We do not read any place in Genesis 
1 to 3 man being told to kill and eat by the Lord, but we see in chapter 
4 man is consuming animal specially livestock. So when and where did man 
learn to kill and eat meat.

We see when man sinned God covered them with skin of animal before 
banning man’s access to Eden. To cover man with animal skin God had to 
kill an animal and that animal flesh was not wasted, man was made them 
to consume this animal and this was that first meat meal which man 
consumed and man learned from this that the animal was for consumption. 
Adam shared this experience with his sons and they started to breed 
livestock for food. We see Abel understood more than Adam or Cain 
understood for when God asked for a sacrifice Abel knew what God wanted. 
Abel knew why God killed the animal and covered his parents with its 
skin, God could have made a covering with plants like we make clothes 
today but God covered them with the skin of the animal He killed. God by 
doing this executed the first sacrifice. The animal took the wrath of 
their sin and the skin of the sacrifice was a covering to save man from 
the wrath of God. God showed man to sacrifice an animal so that man 
practices this and one day the ultimate sacrifice would be made of the 
Son so as to cleanse man completely of sin.

We humans are non-veg because we are sinners and we need to learn to 
accept the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Eating meat is necessary 
because if we do not eat meat then there is no way we can understand the 
term sacrifice nor know what accepting a sacrifice means. It does not 
mean if I do not eat meat I will not be a Christian. Paul says eating or 
not eating meat is according to one’s faith. It requires strong faith to 
eat meat and as one grows in faith and understanding one would not 
hesitate to eat meat. In the start we eat meat for ourselves later we 
eat for others who are weak in faith and for others to understand 
sacrifice.

Ideally we are called to eat the flesh of the animals which were 
selected for sacrifice - livestock (goats, sheep, cows, bullocks) and 
birds. But we see Peter struggled when it came to other animals for he 
did not know the true understanding of why God called some animals as 
unclean.

When I inquired with the Lord, He opened my mind to the spiritual 
meaning of some unclean animals showing it was not the animal which was 
unclean but what they symbolized that was unclean. Some days back a 
Brother in the Lord who is also a well-known Apologist at a meeting 
about Islam and Christianity quoted text from Jewish scholars with 
regards to the symbolic understanding of each criteria which God stated 
as an animal being unclean. Even they knew that it was not the animal 
which was unclean for anything like Jesus said eaten goes out as excreta 
and does not defile a person’s inner-man, but things that come out of 
the heart of the person that can defile him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You are Spirit and Heaven is a Spirit place. Lord, You made us in 
the flesh and allowed sin to enter us so that we overcome sin and be 
able to overcome evil that is Satan and his evil army. Lord, You made 
the sacrament of sacrifice so man would understand the consequence of 
sin and by sacrifice You made a way for man to be saved from sin. Lord 
we thank You for the sacrament of sacrifice. We pray Lord those who are 
weak in faith will grow and overcome and know all that You created is 
good and has a purpose in your plan for the salvation of mankind...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 11:5-10

5I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A 
certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from 
heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:

6Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw 
fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, 
and fowls of the air.

7And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.

8But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any 
time entered into my mouth.

9But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, 
that call not thou common.

10And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.

Genesis 2:15-16

15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to 
dress it and to keep it.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the 
garden thou mayest freely eat:

Genesis 3:21 - Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make 
coats of skins, and clothed them.

Genesis 4:1-5

1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and 
said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

2And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, 
but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit 
of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat 
thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very 
wroth, and his countenance fell.

John 6:53Then 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.

Roman 14:17-23

17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

18For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and 
approved of men.

19Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and 
things wherewith one may edify another.

20For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but 
it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

21It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing 
whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

22Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that 
condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

23And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of 
faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Mark 7:15 - 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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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Desire spiritual gifts especially prophesy

1 Corinthians 14:1 - Follow after charity [love], and desire spiritual
gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

Someone had sent me a message on Whatsapp some time back stating every
verse in the Bible is a medicine and the Bible as a whole is a medical
store for all sicknesses.

Why am I bringing this up in today’s message? To understand prophesy you
need to understand this.

We need to be very clear any and everything that is concerning the
salvation of mankind in whole and in detail is already in the Bible, so no
one can and should add or remove things concerning salvation of mankind. So
when we prophecy things concerning salvation we do not state anything new
but state that which is in the Bible. The gift of prophesy would more be
stated as knowing which medicine [prophecy] from the medical store [Bile]
to use and when to use [state] it.

There are also things like personal prophecies [regarding oneself or a
small group of people or a country] which are like home medicine which the
Spirit of God will open unto you as and when time comes but theses too will
not go against Biblical prophecies.

Paul tells us to follow / pursue / run after love / charity but also pursue
spiritual gift and amongst the gifts primarily pursue the gift of prophesy.
A Christian is a person of God and God without power is no God so also a
Christian without power is no Christian. Spiritual gifts enable a Christian
to demonstrate the power of God. Among all these Paul says the gift of
prophesy is the strongest and that is something which is very true. The
gift of prophesy is more towards Believers and not towards unbelievers for
it helps build the Body of Christ therefore very important.

It is very important that the fruit of love is there in us before we pursue
spiritual gifts for without love these gifts can be misused and will land
up harming more than doing good (specially to the person who holds it, for
God does not take back what He gives thus He causes the gifts to destroy
the person who misuses it).

There were times which the Lord spoke to me on matters concerning people or
events and I have seem they shake people more than things like healing or
other spiritual gifts. To have the gift of prophesy one needs to have a
good knowledge of scriptures. At times I state to people about things to
happen on global level for I have quite a clear idea of timeline of events
in the Bible, it demonstrates to Believers that we indeed believe the true
God; it strengthens their faith.

The gift of prophesy is useful during times when people lack clear
understanding of scriptures for Bible says there will be a time when we
will not prophesy at all for all will have a clear understanding of
scriptures and if any person prophecies he or she will be put out of the
Kingdom of God or lose ability to go to Heaven (spiritual death).

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we understand the importance of spiritual gifts and pursue
them, but at the same time without love these gifts can be destructive.
Lord we pray we grow in love and also grow in spiritual gifts. Your Word
says when we ask these gifts from You, You eagerly give us for You desire
to give good things to us. Lord we pray we grow more and more in the gift
of prophesy so as to guide mankind towards You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Joel 2:28 “And it shall come to pass afterward,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

1 Corinthians 14:22 - Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for
unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.

Revelation 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book
[plural] 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.

Jeremiah 11:21-23

21 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek
your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will
die by our hand”—

22 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The
young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die
by famine,

23 and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men
of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”

Jeremiah 14:15 - Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who
prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and
famine shall not come upon this land’: By sword and famine those prophets
shall be consumed.

Jeremiah 23:16 - Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words
of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They
speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.

Zechariah 13:1-5

1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I
will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more
be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to
pass out of the land.

3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his
father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not
live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and
his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.

4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be
ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall
they wear a rough garment to deceive:

5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me
to keep cattle from my youth.

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Church help and obligation

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!

In top companies today even though they pay big packages here in India, yet
when they take freshers out of colleges they make them sign bonds to work
for a minimum number of years and even take a large amount as guarantee,
which gets forfeit if they break the bond.

You may wonder why I am talking of this in today’s message. Today’s message
may seem something else but actually is about this.

To understand this message properly we need to understand 3 words used here
- swear, gold and debtor.

The word ‘swear’ means a promise or vow or oath or affirmation. This means
it varies from assurance to oath.

The word ‘gold’ does mean precious metal but in Greek it comes from the
root word which means to receive. That is why Jesus uses the word ‘debtor’
over here which means someone in debt or someone who owes, for He did not
specify the metal but more towards receiving.

Here we see Jesus was not talking of vain mentioning of a shrine or the
Church when people express awe or any strong reaction. Jesus was speaking
here to the Jews and not to pagans so He did not talk of pagan shrines or
idols here nor referred to the Commandment ‘thou shall not take the Name of
the Lord thy God in vain’ for He does not say the word 'sinner' but the
word 'debtor'. Also note He was talking to mote of the leaders of the
Jewish Church (the scribes and Pharisees).

This message is not only for Jews but also for Christian and is very valid
for Churches today. We see Church leaders have great hold on people of the
Church specially those who are receiving financial help or any kind of help
from the Church or its members. I have seen these people are unable to make
their own decision and they would never cancel or postpone their daily
routine activities of the Church even if there is an important work
connected to the Kingdom of God and its people.

The word kingdom refers to the ruler and his or her rule. Here we see
people are not obligated to the Kingdom of God but are obligated to the
leaders of the Church or the institution for the Church leaders or the
institution has taken the place of God in their lives.

The Lord is expressing woe in other words grief to people who lose the
purpose and lift the means over the purpose. Means to achieve something is
very important but then the purpose is more important than the means. That
does not mean that people can compromise the means to get the purpose, here
the Lord refers to the Body of Christ thus we cannot use unholy means to
achieve the purpose.

We need to know our purpose and reschedule our priorities and importance
when it comes to serving the Kingdom of God. We need to understand the
things that come from the Body is coming from Him who is its Head and not
the members of the Body, therefore our obligation is to Him alone and not
to its members or the temporary leaders He has appointed.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, the Church is called your Bride and also your Body, we pray your
people understand this and know there is not difference between the 2. We
pray the leaders understand that they are not the head of this Body but You
alone are the Head. We pray Lord your people know that they are just the
vessel and You alone are the provider and it is only when they acknowledge
You as their provider they will stop lacking in their receiving...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 23:15-24

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.

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 [receiving] of
the temple, he is a debtor!

17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold [receiving], or
the temple that sanctifieth the gold [receiving]?

18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever
sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that
sanctifieth the gift?

20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all
things thereon.

21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that
dwelleth therein.

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and
by him that sitteth thereon.

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.

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Hate and love a part of being Christian

Amos 5:15 - 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.

Since yesterday evening I had two crazy experiences or I would say I 
have being igniting the inside out of people. Yesterday and today I had 
encounters with 2 elderly men which is connected to the message today 
and lets us understand it well.

Yesterday I was talking to one very elderly person who was complaining 
of many ailments. While I was talking of his ailments he was listening 
to me very keenly (which he rarely does) but the moment I quoted 
scripture he immediately removed his hearing aid and started complaining 
about it. I waited but he did not want to put it back. He fidgeted with 
it for quite a while and I waited very patiently and at the end he kept 
it before him and kept looking at it and I was looking at him. He 
realized I caught his mischief and he smiled but did not put it back for 
he was Catholic to the core.

Today in the early morning as I went to drop my mother I met another 
Catholic elderly person who was walking with earphones in both his ears. 
I though he was going to his church so I called out to him to give him a 
lift in my car, but even after calling him loudly many a times he did 
not respond so I wave my hand and he responded to me and I told him 
smilingly to keep one ear free when he is walking in the street (he was 
actually walking on the road which was dangerous). But I was in for a 
big surprise for he just snapped at me angrily saying as a Man of God I 
should not judge people. I was shocked for it was months since I met him 
(though I meet his wife many a time and she is a Believer) and I do not 
remember correcting him or ministering him for I knew he was not willing 
to listen.

In today's message the word translated as evil also means wickedness and 
mischief. We also need to remember among the twelve sons of Jacob it was 
Joseph alone who did not return to the Promised Land for he opted to 
stay back in Egypt, only his bones did, similarly we see among the 
twelve disciples of Jesus only one of them got counted out from 
receiving the Holy Spirit (who enables us to enter the true Promised 
Land - Heaven).

In today's message the Lord tells us we are called to hate and also 
love. We are called to hate evil, wickedness and mischief as we are 
called to love goodness, holiness and agreement (peace between God and 
man).

We see many people call themselves 'Christians' for they think loving 
God and religion makes them Christian. No person can be a Christian 
unless he or she hates and love, and that too hates evil, wickedness and 
mischief but loves goodness. If we do not hate we will never overcome 
and if we do not overcome and we will never be His true disciples for He 
overcame.

Both the people I spoke of are gem of people according to worldly 
standards. They have always helped people and I have never heard of them 
hurting any person. Both have great respect in society and all people 
will speak very well of them. Both of them know who I am and how my 
words disturb them inside when I quote the relevant scriptures to them. 
Both we see love goodness but do not hate evil, wickedness and mischief 
therefore evil has become a part of them with a cover of goodness over 
them. They fail to understand God does see the outside but sees the inside.

Evil is one thing that rarely shows on the outside unless a person is 
overflowing with evil. Mostly evil will be inside and a cover of 
goodness will be on the outside. Unless we do not hate evil we will not 
be able to remove it from within us.

Let us remember a Christian is a soldier from within first and his first 
battle field is himself. It is only when he starts to have victory 
within him, will he be able to help others to have victory. Jesus said 
He overcame therefore we can always look for help from Him. If we to 
want to be like Him and help others, let us too overcome.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, when You created us we were made in your Image and there was no 
restriction for us to enter Heaven. But sin corrupted us and we were 
restricted in this flesh so we cannot enter Heaven. Lord Jesus You can 
as man but You overcame and proved this to us by your transfiguration 
and your resurrection. Lord You are love and You show patience but that 
does not mean You tolerate evil. When You came You said You did not come 
to judge but You warned the next time You come You will judge all 
mankind and you judgment will be harsh and true. Lord help to realize 
unless we do not hate evil we will not overcome it and we will not be 
able to part of You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Amos 5:14-18

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

15Hate 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.

16Therefore 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.

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

18Woe 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.

John 16:33 - I have said these things to you, that in me you may have 
peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have 
overcome the world."

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Being one, staying one

Philippians 2:3 - Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Yesterday we had received Philippians 2:2 which tells us how to become one
and today we received Philippians 2:3 which tells us how to stay one.

Yesterday we saw to become one we need to walk, work or move in our
thinking in our attitude on the 3 factors like a group of soldiers on a
parade. If we look at each soldier even if they are dressed in the same
uniform yet each is would be different, in looks, or in height, or in built
etc. but when they march lifting their hands and legs to that same height,
keeping the same body position they look as one body.

In today’s message the Lord wants us to understand how to keep the sync and
the rhythm with others, like a person in the parade drill.

There are some words which Paul points out to in today’s scriptures -
strive, vainglory, lowliness of mind and esteem others better than oneself

Getting to the Greek words that are translated to these and their root will
give us better understanding of what Paul advised.

The Greek word ‘eritheia’ is translated as strife in other words
contention. It comes from the root word ‘erethizo’ which also means to
provoke. So the word does not necessary mean to fight or anger someone but
means to get adverse reaction. So Paul tells us to moderate ourselves in
our thinking, in our lifestyle, in our behavior when we interact with
others as a body.

The Greek word ‘kenodoxia’ is translated as vainglory also means empty
pride. Pride in simple words means being someone that one isn’t and
reacting from that position. One can have faith or can aim to be someone
but that does not mean we start behaving with others as if we already are.
To build faith we are called to believe and receive but this exercise is
towards ourselves and not towards others.

The Greek word ‘tapeinophrosune’ translated here as humility is made of 2
words one which means ‘to be humble’ and the other ‘to understanding’.
Being humble does not mean to think less of one’s self; being humble means
to know one’s limitations. Humility in other words means to understand we
are limited and there is much more than us, so based on this understanding
we interact with others.

The Greek word ‘hegeomai’ translated as esteem actually means to lead. Thus
we see the words ‘esteem other better than themselves’ actually means to
lead others to a better or higher position than ourselves. It is about
lifting people up without lowering ourselves.

So we see like in a parade a person needs to be aware of one’s limitation
and the limitation of others but still need to meet the minimum requirement
so that all their hands and feet are lifted to the same level and to the
same timing. The timing is all according to the beat of the drum. They keep
practicing on these factors so to be perfect. So also our fellowship with
others should be with consideration with our limitations and other’s
limitations while keeping with the Law of God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, everything You made here is so as to understand things which are
hidden. Lord, You desire us to be one and learn to be one for in Heaven we
will be one in You. Lord we pray we understand ourselves and understand
others so that we work together as one body, a body that grows together and
glorifies You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 17:9-11

9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me; for they are thine.

10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I
come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name which thou hast
given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Romans 12:3-8

3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but
so to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a
measure of faith.

4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have
not the same office:

5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one
of another.

6 And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us,
whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;

7 or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth,
to his teaching;

8 or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting: he that giveth, let him do it
with liberality; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy,
with cheerfulness.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Being one

Philippians 2:2 - Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the 
same love, of one accord, of one mind.

Just 2 days back a young pastor had visited my place and we had a long 
talk of the things that are happening in the Churches today and also of 
other religions and their effect on our churches. There were some areas 
we had differing viewpoints but one of the main issues we both agreed on 
totally and that was that Churches' growth were affected because 
Christians were not of one mind, one understanding and of one vision 
(purpose).

We have heard many preachers talk about being one but they fail to 
specify what this oneness is and how this oneness is to be achieved.

People think they need to be thinking on the same track, believing the 
same, do the same things to be one, which we know is impossible for any 
2 humans to do all these. Even if you find 2 persons looking alike in 
every possible way yet, inside they would not be alike. Even if we look 
at the Apostles they too were not all on the same ground every time, 
they did have differences between them and also they did things 
differently, yet we see many a time they came together with one mind and 
one understanding.

In today's message Paul writes to the Philippi Church of being one but 
he specifies how this oneness can be achieved and on what grounds. Paul 
says they be likeminded (2 Greek words are used here 'autos' which here 
means 'same' and 'phroneo' which means 'thinking'). So we see it is not 
about what they are that is same but the process that they take 
(thinking) which is the same. Now we note Paul talks of 3 important 
factors that bring this thinking to oneness.

1) Love - the Greek word used here is 'agape' which means love but 
defined as 'God kind of love' because true love builds that is why we 
see in some translations it is also translated as 'charity' and not 
love. Being of one love or one charity means working towards the same 
aim of building and prospering the person or purpose without any 
self-interest.

2) Accord - the Greek word used here is 'sumpsuchos' which is made of 2 
words 'sun' which means 'with' or 'accompanying', and the word 'psuche' 
which means 'soul'. Soul is unique to each person so no 2 persons can 
have the same soul. Paul does not talk of them changing the person 
inside to be same but talks about putting on the nature and character of 
a common person so that they are of one soul. It is about being the same 
person or behaving like the same person (here refers to Christ).

3) Mind - the Greek word comes from the root word 'phren' which means 
understanding. We all have different intellectual power and ability and 
knowledge so it is impossible for 2 persons to be of the same equal 
mind. Here it refers to the common understanding between people and not 
all being same. This is one great problem because of which people pull 
each other down in Churches. If anyone knows more, then they are termed 
as heretics or having false doctrine. People need to understand if the 
basic fundamental belief is accepted then everything else should be 
discussed and debated until the difference is cleared. It is only when 
we do that our common understanding grows and we become more and more 
one in mind.

Let us know we all are different and yet we are called to be one. So let 
us not target to change people to be like us or we become like someone 
else.

To be one we need to be of one purpose love / charity which builds, we 
need to imitate Christ and behave like Him in that situation, we need to 
find the common platform of our understanding and work from that platform.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray You teach us to be one so that we are blessed more and more 
in You. Teach us to know to love like You loved. Lord Jesus teach us to 
be like You and imitate You in situations. Lord help to find the common 
understanding among ourselves so that with that common understanding we 
move ahead in things that are common between us. Lord, may we be one 
like You are one...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Philippians 2:1-8

1If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of 
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

2Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of 
one accord, of one mind.

3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of 
mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things 
of others.

5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Acts 2:41-47

41So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added 
that day about three thousand souls.

42And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, 
to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being 
done through the apostles.

44And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and 
distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in 
their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added 
to their number day by day those who were being saved.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Love of man or love of God

Acts 5: 8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land 
for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

The story of Ananias and Sapphira is similar to the story of Adam and 
Eve; you may wonder what I am trying to say, let me explain.

When Adam and Eve were made and were without sin they had access to the 
Garden of Eden / Paradise and were blessed in every way, so much so they 
were like (same as) Sons of God (Angels). God told Adam directly and Eve 
(through him) not to eat of the Tree of Good and Bad which was in 
Paradise. God was testing man to see if he trusted Him or not. God knew 
the result and yet allowed it for God had greater plans for man for we 
see through man evil is overcome and later in book of Revelation there 
is no Tree of Good and Bad in Paradise.

Man knew all that God created was good for everything that God created 
He said it is good, so man by eating of the tree was keen to know 'the 
bad'.

If we see the only thing bad that existed at that time was Satan who had 
gone against the plans of God (light) and bought darkness into 
existence. So we see indirectly by eating of the Tree of Good and Bad 
(doubt) man wanted to know Satan. Man was innocent of Satan but God the 
Son knew for the Angels were part of His Heavenly Body (the Divine 
Heavenly Temple), so by eating of the tree man came to know corruption. 
Man was lower than the Angels for even though he in spirit was like the 
Angels but existent in the body of flesh, so when he became corrupt 
(lost the Image of God / Son-ship) he got restricted in the body of 
flesh and was restricted from access to the Tree of Life so that he does 
not live forever in that corrupt body (by transfiguration Jesus showed 
He was not restricted to the flesh and He had overcome the flesh).

We see Adam knew God had forbidden him to eat of the Tree of Good and 
Bad and he had instructed Eve on this. But when Eve became shaky, Adam 
due to his love for Eve did not rebuke her but gave into her weakness. 
In today's message we see the same situation between Ananias and 
Sapphira who for the 'love' between each other compromised with God and 
since God had given much to them spiritually therefore their judgment 
came quickly and hard.

Our previous message was about loving our neighbor but today God says 
this love should not be misled love (lust or passion or appeasement). 
True love builds and edifies but misled love being not based on truth 
may please but eventually leads to destruction or vanity (futility).

We see in the Bible Lexicon the Greek word 'Agape' is defined as 'God 
kind of love' and 'Agapao' is define as human love, anyonewho knows 
basic Greek will tell you both these words are the same only one is a 
conjugation of another (Agape means 'love' and Agapao means 'I love'). 
Before the Lord came as man, man did not know true love, it was through 
Jesus alone mankind came to know the meaning of true love.

Let us understand by pleasing people we do not truly love them. If we 
love them our words and actions should edify them. It does not mean we 
need to rebuke people left and right. We see Jesus knew much but was 
patient and slow by slow, step by step started building His disciples. 
He knew all what He did as man would not be complete and it was only via 
the Holy Spirit they would be truly built.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, man did not know love until You came as man and showed us the true 
meaning of love. Lord we pray we do fool ourselves by pleasing people 
thinking we are expressing love. Lord, guide us in all understanding of 
the truth so that we know true love for without knowledge and 
understanding we cannot really love others. Lord, let us know even 
whatsoever we do is not sufficient and it is only through your Spirit we 
can truly love others. Holy Spirit, correct us in our relationship with 
others and teach us to truly love others...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 5:8-10

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

9Then 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.

10Then 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.

Genesis 1:31 - And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it 
was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:16-17

16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the 
garden thou mayest freely eat:

17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat 
of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 3:1-7, 16-17, 22-23

1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the 
LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye 
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the 
trees of the garden:

3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God 
hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall 
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was 
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she 
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband 
with her; and he did eat.

7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were 
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy 
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire 
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of 
thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, 
Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow 
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know 
good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the 
tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till 
the ground from whence he was taken.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

The Royal Law - love thy neighbor as thyself

James 2:8 - If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

The best way to know the person's understanding is to observe what the 
person does. People may speak many things and we may assume many things 
from their words but when we observe what they do we come to know 
exactly what they have understood of the words they spoke.

Jesus advised to hear the Pharisees but not to do what they did. Jesus 
knew these people called themselves as learned men of the scriptures but 
yet they had no understanding of them.

Today's message talks of the royal Law 'love thy neighbor as you love 
yourself' and to understand what the word neighbor means we need to 
reflect on the parable of good Samaritan and observe the life of Jesus 
and the Apostles as recorded in the Bible.

The term Jews means people who are from Judah. This term came into 
existence after Israel was split into southern Israel called Judah and 
northern Israel called Israel. The people of Judah considered themselves 
true Israelites, their capital city was Jerusalem. The people of 
Northern Israel had Samaria as their capital city and were thus termed 
as Samarians. They too considered themselves as the true Israelites 
(God's promise people) thus there was a perpetual fight between the Jews 
and the Samarians. When these regions came under the rule of the Romans 
people were not classified according to place of dwelling but known as 
Jews or Samarians according to the traditions they followed. So we see 
both were Israelites but were separated by their traditions and this 
difference was not small, history records they fought in temples and 
even killed each other many a times.

In the parable Jesus shows how a person who was a Samarian, who was 
considered an enemy was the one who went out of his way to help a Jew 
who was robbed, beaten and left to die on the road. There were many 
other Jews who passed including religious people they all noticed yet 
did nothing.

We also see Jesus and the Apostles were never oriented to any region, or 
race or people on any religion. They spoke to all kinds of people and 
ministered to everyone. Jesus did less of reaching out to other people 
because the promise of God was first given to the Israelites (Hebrew 
speaking people) and since they rejected it was given to the remaining 
people of the world (Hellen / Greek speaking people –because Greek was a 
global language then like English is today).

The Greek word 'plesion' and Hebrew word 'shaken' translated as neighbor 
means near. In OT the term inhabitant is also used for the word 
'shaken', in Greek it was also referred to someone close like a friend. 
But we see in the NT, according to Jesus and the Apostles they did not 
measure nearness by place, race or religion (traditions) of the persons. 
They were spiritual men so they measured all things in spiritual terms.

The world is full of people although all are created by God yet all are 
not His, only a few are. Those who are His are called His sheep and 
those who say they believe in Him and called themselves as His are the 
goats. The difference between the sheep and goats is that the goats do 
not abide in His Word, for them Christianity is a religion and thus they 
do traditions and rituals in the name of Christianity. Those who are His 
sheep have a relationship and it is these who are His family and also 
the only ones that will enter Heaven on Judgment Day.

Today's message calls the Law 'Love your neighbor as yourself' as the 
royal Law because it summarises almost all the Commandments of God and 
the mission of every Christian in these few words. Jesus said to love 
our enemies but said to His disciples (neighbors) 'love each other as I 
have loved you'.

We as Christians as called to love everyone in this world but those who 
are of the Lord we are to love with all our hearts and our lives like 
Jesus did, that is why it sates as we love ourselves. Everyone knows how 
one tries to protect one's life and one's wellbeing and this should be 
our attitude towards another Believer or lost sheep (even if he or she 
has not yet come to know the Lord). When we do this we not only show 
love to the Heavenly family but also acknowledge our love to the Head of 
the Family that is God thus we keep the 2 Laws Jesus spoke of and 
indirectly all the Laws given inthe Bible.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You are love for man did not know love until You came as man and 
manifested the true meaning of love. If it was not for your love man 
would have no hope. Lord, we who have received your love even though we 
do not deserve it; help us share this love unto others especially those 
who are of the Heavenly family. Lord, we pray our eyes open to see the 
great and mighty family we belong to, let our love for our family 
members grow more and more...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 10:29-37

29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my 
neighbour?

30And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to 
Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and 
wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he 
saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on 
him, and passed by on the other side.

33But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when 
he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and 
set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave 
them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever 
thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that 
fell among the thieves?

37And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, 
Go, and do thou likewise.

John 6:46-49

46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye 
not believe me?

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, 
because ye are not of God.

48Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou 
art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

49Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do 
dishonour me.

John 13:34-35

34A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have 
loved you, that ye also love one another.

35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love 
one to another.

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Let your light shine

John 21:1 - After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the 
disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.

In today's message the Greek word translated as shewed is the word 
'phaneroo' which means to make evidence or manifest.

We see Jesus made evident His resurrection by meeting people; the New 
Testament talks of many people other than His close disciples who became 
witness to His resurrection.

Today if you are blessed as a Christian and have experienced the power 
and glory of God in your life the Lord is asking you what are you doing 
about it. The Lord is saying are you meeting people and letting your 
testimony be known to people. Are you letting the Lord be glorified for 
what He has done or doing in your life.

When we give glorify to God for things that He has done we will surely 
see more coming our way for our God is a God who prospers and grows from 
glory to glory so He will do greater things.

A Christian without a testimony is like a candle that is not burning, 
life without purpose. If you have had an encounter with the Lord surely 
you would have experienced His power. Bible says at the end His people 
overcame evil and came to Him by His sacrifice, the power of His Word 
and their testimony. Everything else His does, He provides, the only 
thing that is ours is our testimony, so you can understand how powerful 
our testimony is.

Our testimony is powerful like the resurrection of Jesus Christ gave 
boldness to His disciples who had returned to their back way of life. 
But when they encountered Him again and again they received boldness, so 
also our testimony will give boldness unto others to proclaim the 
Kingdom of God. So let us not testify not just once but again and again.

Do not let your light covered instead lift it high for all people to see 
and the Lord be glorified.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You are Almighty God and nothing is impossible for You. We do not 
experience your power regularly because we do not lift You up in our 
lives. Lord we pray You give us boldness to share our testimony unto 
others so that they too know You and be encouraged. Lord your Kingdom 
some and more and more turn to life, unto light...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Prayer Starter]

Matthew 5:14-15

14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be 
hid.

15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a 
candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Revelation 12:11 - And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and 
by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the 
death.

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Learning from examples

2 Timothy 3:14

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been
assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

Human by nature has a desire to learn and grow in knowledge. Some may call
is curiosity and others may survival instinct that makes man to learn and
grow. Most of this learning is to do with the wellbeing of man in this
world, we as Christians know this world is temporary and the real world is
the spirit world. The time we spend here is like days and the time we will
spend in the real world will be like years or eras comparatively, so some
take it very serious to learn and grow in understanding of the world we
will enter into.

For Paul, Timothy was like a son who later grew in spirit and was called a
colleague by him. In today's message we read how Timothy was guided by Paul.

Paul says to Timothy it is good to learn from people but learn from those
who themselves have become an example. In the world one may be filled with
lots of knowledge and understanding and no one may not know but in the
Kingdom of God knowledge and understanding is like vitamin, proteins,
carbohydrates, minerals, etc. that build the spiritual body. There is no
way a person can say he or she has great knowledge and understanding of the
Kingdom of God and you do not see this manifest in their life or in
situations around them.

For a Christian his or her walk of faith starts with hope and then become
trust and this trust become faith and this faith finally blossoms into
authority. We know any person of authority would not live under bondage or
under suppression; he or she would have control of things and over
situations.

If we call ourselves Christians we need to look into the spiritual mirror
and see are we growing spiritually? If we are taking guidance from people
who put themselves as our spiritual leaders, let us see if it shows in
their lives, the way they live it, in their situations, in their
relationship with the Lord.

If a person says they love God, but if this loves does not show in their
relationship with God or in their doing God's work or towards God's people
then that person is a hypocrite. It is like a lean person with most of his
bones visible calling himself a bodybuilder, yet we have people who think
his muscles may be hidden somewhere.

No person becomes a Christian by doing good work like social work, helping
the poor, sick or people in need. A person becomes a Christian by faith,
doing the works of faith and such a person becomes instrument to do good
works, reaching to those in need or those suffering.

Let us look are our perfect example Jesus. He did not take the hungry or
sick home to tend to their needs and suffering, He multiplied bread and
fish and feed them, He healed the sick and those vexed with evil spirits
and sent them back. He taught them how He did it and told them they would
go far greater things then Him. He was a man of authority.

We have the Apostles to also look at who did the mission the Lord had set
them to but they did not ignore the physical needs of the poor and needy.
We see there in no scripture that talks of Paul doing social work. The
Apostles gave those who were growing in spiritual understanding or maturing
spiritually to do this work, they themselves did not divert their precious
time to social work.

So let us not look up to people doing good works as our spiritual guides
but look at people who manifest the love of God, the knowledge and wisdom
of God, the power and authority of the Lord in short the Fruits of the
Spirit.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, there are many who call themselves leaders and shepherds of your
Kingdom even though they do not know You or have any understanding of your
Kingdom. They are like the officials (eunuchs) You warned of, people who
made themselves officials. They call themselves your representatives even
though You do not know them. There are also many who are still lambs and
are yet trying to lead others. Lord we pray your people discern the leaders
and do not perish due to this mistake...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Timothy 3:14-17

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been
assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

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:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works.

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.

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 23:23 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.

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The beggar at the temple

Acts 3:2 - And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom
they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask
alms of them that entered into the temple;

This miracle of Peter and John healing the lame man in the Name of Jesus is
preached very often to demonstrate the power in the Name of Jesus.

When I read the Greek text of this scripture I was taken back. The word
translated as lame is the word ‘huparcho’ which has nothing to do with
medical disability or being lame but simply means ‘to be’ or ‘being’. This
Greek word in its exact form exist 15 times in the new testament but only
here it is translated as lame and all other places it is translated as ‘
being’. The Greek word for disability is ‘anaperos’ which is translated as
maimed in Luke 14:13.

Now when someone sees this it may seem did the translators is trying to
misinterpret or hype the situation, but when we read the whole text keeping
in mind the true meaning we see what actually happened and what did the
power in the Name of Jesus really do.

The Greek text simple says there was man who from childhood was carried and
made to sit at the gate of the temple to beg for alms. The scripture says
from his childhood he was always carried and he had never walked. The
scripture does not say he legs were physically deformed or he was maimed in
any way. It simply says he never walked and never used his legs from
childhood. The Bible also documents that everyone around who knew him knew
of his ‘disability’ and thus they were amazed at the miracle.

This miracle is not a healing in sense of medical healing for if one reads
carefully verse 7 it says the man received strength in ankle bones (joints)
and his feet (leg muscles). This miracle was a mental healing, a healing of
the mind. This man was made to think he was unable to walk from childhood.
He may have had some weakness but by being carried daily he had mentally
accepted he was disable and this even those around him accepted.

When Peter and John saw him they did not see any physical or medical
disability in him but saw a mental disability in him so in the Name of
Jesus they rebuked the mental disability and thus healed him.

We as Christians are given spiritual authority in 3 areas one is healing
the sick, second healing the weak and third casting away demons.

Physical sickness is the external manifestation of the spiritual
dis-functioning and has to do more with the physical body. We as Christians
are given the spiritual authority to speak to sickness and command them to
be removed. As our faith grows with our understanding, we will find more
and more success in exerting this authority.

Weaknesses are mental sickness or disability which may or may not show
externally / physically. It is a mental block that is created due to lack
of understanding or faith. Due to situations or incidents that have
transpired in the person’s live the person starts to believe in things and
creates a mental block and thus disable / deprive one’s selves of what God
has blessed him or her with. We have the authority to remove weaknesses and
strengthen people mentally and physically by removing the spiritual
blockage.

Casting of demons is also the authority we are given for God has taken away
the power of the fallen angels and thus superseded us over them. Once we
know our authority they start to fear us. It is doubt in us that kills our
authority and gives them power over us.

In today’s message we see Peter and John healed the person who did not know
the ability he had and due to the circumstances he was put in by birth he
behaved like a crippled person and became one.

We may not be like that beggar crippled but we do behave like him in
various situations. We depend on others to carry us through our personal
situation not knowing God has blessed us the ability to do far exceeding to
what we can imagine.

Let us take authority and rebuke our weaknesses and rebuke the weaknesses
in others and let the glory of God shine in us and in others.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You have given us authority to heal sicknesses, remove weaknesses and
cast away demons. We thank You Lord for this authority. We pray we believe
and not let doubt stop us or restrain us from exercising this authority...

We make this prayer in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the
lame, the blind:

Acts 3:1-11

1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of
prayer, being the ninth hour.

2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they
laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms
of them that entered into the temple;
3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I
thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately
his feet and ankle bones received strength.

8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the
temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:

10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate
of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which
had happened unto him.

11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the
people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s,
greatly wondering.

Matthew 10:1 - And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he
gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all
manner of sickness and all manner of disease [weaknesses].

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Laying of hands

Acts 4:30 - By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and 
wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

When I was in the Catholic Church laying of hands for healing was 
forbidden to the lay-members, even priest did not have the freedom to do 
it unless given permission by the bishop of that diocese and for 
deliverance things were even worse. I have seen many active priests 
doing deliverance being put out of commission because they started 
attracting the masses to themselves. What the Church did not understand 
instead of focusing on the priest they should focus on the problem that 
its congregation was filled with spirit issues. After charismatic 
movement spread through the Catholic Church it has been a little lenient 
in this matter out of fear of its people going against it.

I remember Catholic priests & preachers cautioning that by laying of 
hands the evil spirit in that person may attack you like some contagious 
infections. Their understanding was based on a scripture which they 
misunderstood. Evil spirits do not need touch to hold on to people, it 
needs a hardened heart. Paul does caution Timothy of not being eager to 
lay hands on any person but they do not understand why. Paul did not 
caution Timothy for laying hands for healing but for anointing someone 
(imparting of the Holy Spirit). This you can find in the letter to 
Hebrews laying of hands (imparting of the Holy Spirit) being one of the 
principle beliefs of a Christian along with [water] baptism, 
resurrection and judgment day after accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and 
Savior.

One can lay hands for 2 reasons one for anointing a person / imparting 
of the Holy Spirit (one can also receive the Holy Spirit directly 
without laying of hands) and the other is to encourage a person. Laying 
of hands for healing comes in the second part for it is not necessary to 
lay hands to heal, all one needs is authority to heal but by laying of 
hands one encourages the faith of the sick person. Touch is an important 
and quickest way of encouraging a person that is why hugging a grieving 
person consoles the person quickly.

We should remember laying of hands is for a person of faith or one who 
is baptized in the Holy Spirit and when the person is baptized in the 
Holy Spirit the one who is in him or her is greater than the one who is 
in the world (including evil spirits). One should always remember God 
has put us above evil spirits and thus we have the authority to cast 
them away. We also have the ability to impart the Holy Spirit and 
spiritual gifts by laying of hands but for this we should have spiritual 
discernment.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You have given us power to speak to sicknesses and weaknesses, to 
command them to be removed and You also gave us authority over evil 
spirits to cast them away. Lord we thank You for the authority and we 
pray our faith grows more and more such that our authority is perfected 
and we too see times when none go back unhealed and undelivered...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Timothy 5:21-22

21I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect 
angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before 
another, doing nothing by partiality.

22Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: 
keep thyself pure.

Hebrews 6:1-5

1Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go 
on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from 
dead works, and of faith toward God,

2Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of 
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

3And this will we do, if God permit.

4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have 
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

5And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

Luke 9:1-2

1Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and 
authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.

2And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick [weak].

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Working together for the Body of Christ

Luke the physician, who documented the teachings and life of Jesus in 
The Gospel according to Luke, also documented the happenings of the 
early Church in the book of Acts. He was part of Paul's team always 
accompanying him everywhere he went. By the details Luke provides about 
other people like John and Peter it shows Luke interacted with them and 
that the Apostles were very close to each other even though they worked 
in different parts of the world and groups of people.

Last Sunday I had the privilege to preach at a life Church. I used the 
word life not because it was its name but because I saw the congregation 
alive having passion for Christ in their hearts. My topic was too deep 
even for most theologians yet they sat without dosing or yawning for 
more than an hour. What was interesting was this congregation met in a 
hall which is owned by a trust mostly of Hindu members (many years back 
I saw a statute of their elephant god there but of late I did not see 
it). The more interesting fact is in this hall more than one 
congregation met led by different Pastors that too immediately after the 
first finished. This could not be dreamt of when one knows how Pastors 
are possessive of their congregation. They will smile at each other and 
greet each other at meeting but inside they are like business rivals. 
This was possible in the church I visited because the Pastors are like 
brothers to each other.

We see in today's churches if a Pastor knows one of his members is also 
going to another church or attending any program of another church they 
will advise the member against it. They may even take a delegation to 
the house of that member to pressure that member. I heard some go to the 
extent of even threatening their members. They will not try to find if 
their members are being blessed or not. They also do not realize in the 
Bible it was the Lord who added people to the churches only when they 
walked in His way or did right in His sight.

The Apostles had their own groups, missions and congregations yet they 
lived like brothers and interacted with each other, updating each other 
of the happenings. They had a clear understanding of the purpose of 
their work in the Lord. They also had great faith and did not need to do 
works of the flesh or schemed against each other to meet their worldly 
needs. They lived a sober life so they had needs in this world but not 
desires of this world and by their faith in the Lord, they did receive 
their every need.

Let us learn from them of doing our individual mission and also doing 
the collective mission in harmony and oneness in Christ.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray the people You have set to lead your people understand that 
the sheep belong to You and they are just care takers, You alone are the 
true shepherd. They realize they are not to led the sheep but led them 
to You and it is You who ultimately leads them. Lord we pray they work 
as one as You are one...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 2:44-47

44And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as 
every man had need.

46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking 
bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and 
singleness of heart,

47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord 
added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Acts 4:32-35

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one 
soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he 
possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

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

34Neither 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,

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

Acts 11:22-24

22Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which 
was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far 
as Antioch.

23Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and 
exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the 
Lord.

24For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and 
much people was added unto the Lord.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

To the children of Aholibah

Ezekiel 23:25 - And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall
deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and
thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy
daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

In the Bible in the book of Ezekiel chapter 23 the Lord speaks of Aholah
and Aholibah the 2 whore daughters of the woman who is in whoredom. The
Lord states the younger one is worse than the elder and her punishment is
even worse than that of the elder. This prophecy has partly come to pass
and we are in the time when the second part of this prophecy is happening.

To understand this prophecy we need to understand who this Aholah and
Aholibah are, and a great part of this prophecy having being fulfilled will
confirm the understanding. The type of brutality of punishment we see being
melted out to these two daughters is unimaginable.

The word Aholah means ‘her own tent’, the scripture also states she is
Samaria who is adulteress with Assyria, this does not point to the place
Samaria nor its people but what Samaria means and what Assyria means or
symbolizes. Samaria means ‘watch mountain’ and refers to the northern part
of Palestine which is a region of rocky mountains a range of mountains made
of small rocks or boulders.

The word Aholibah means ‘woman of the tent’, the scriptures tags this name
to Jerusalem and shows her as an adulteress woman of Jehovah and worse than
her elder sister Aholah.

In the Bible Truth is symbolized as one large rock as in like a cliff which
is unshakable. In the Bible we see the devil does not adhere to total false
but being a deceiver twists the truth that is why we see the term Tyre used
for him which means ‘small stone’. What the devil does is he uses doubt and
breaks the truth into little truth, thus giving us the feeling of being
right even though we are wrong.

The word Assyria means ‘step’ and symbolizes worldly prosperity. We see in
the Old Testament the Assyrians were cause of the greatest disasters and
suffering of the Israelites along with the Philistines (meaning ‘immigrant’
symbolizing an unsteady believer).

God made the covenant with Noah but the first congregation (Church) came
into existence via Abraham with the circumcising of the flesh. Technically
the first Church starts with Abraham since the promise of the seed (Jesus
Christ) was given unto him that is why he is called father of faith (the
faithful) and not only because his faith was made strong by his testimony.
The Jewish church sets it foundation in Moses, even though it lacks
understanding of the Mosaic Law, it has made the traditions into a law and
follows it.

The church of whoredom has 2 daughters and the first daughter is the Jewish
Church. The Jews are people who believe in works of righteousness and thus
called Aholah ‘her own tent’. This church is still waiting for its savior
and since it does not have a savior it depends on its own efforts to be
saved. We see the Jews are today also known for their success and
persistence to excel in any and every field. Even being a very small
community yet they have many Nobel laureate winners. 0.2% population (1 out
of 500) won 22% of all categories that is at least 22% of 850 laureate
winners were Jews. Overall, Jews have won a total of 41% of all the Nobel
Prizes in economics, 28% of medicine, 26% of Physics, 19% of Chemistry, 13%
of Literature and 9% of all peace awards.

If we look at the other side of the coin no human alive needs to be told of
the suffering this community went through in World War II at the hands of
the Nazis and in 70AD at the hands of the Romans and what it is going
through just for a land.

The second church called Aholibah is symbolized by Jerusalem. One should be
aware there are 2 Hebrew spellings or words which are translated as
Jerusalem one referring to the true Jerusalem (people who pursue peace of
God) and the false Jerusalem which pursue peace more with the world than
with God. What this scriptures states as Aholibah is explained in
Revelation as the Mystery Babylon and Mother of Harlots. This church shows
itself as a holy church dedicated to God and yet makes its people to
worship gods (popes & saints) and goddesses (a spirit who comes as Mary and
other women like Sister Fonseca among others). The name also states a woman
(‘Mother Mary’) is undisputed head of this church and Revelation calls her
‘Jezebel’.

Many years back when I read and understood this prophecy I wondered how
could something worse than that which happened to the Jews happen to her
younger sister the Catholic Church (including her sister Churches like the
orthodox churches for they are founded on Peter) that too in our times. But
today as to what is happening around we see the victims of this so called
‘persecution’ against Christianity are against the so called ‘Christians’
are mostly this Aholibah.

If one studies Islam one would find this religion is a byproduct of the
spread of Catholicism in the Middle East (that is why they put Mary as one
among the Trinity). Here we read the lovers (associates) of Aholibah will
be the persecutors of her which is what we see happening today.

Today’s message talks of things getting worse for this church(s), in many
scriptures the Lord promises revenge against the true Christians who were
killed and martyred by this church and is much more than any other religion
has. Scriptures also state one day it will be hardest hit when all the
finances of this church will be taken away and this church will leave its
headquarters in Rome and flee to one of the communist countries, at this is
the time almost all of its people will abandon it. Even after this, this
church will still survives till the end until one day someone kills its
Pope and become Pope to bring this church back to dominate the world and
this person is the false prophet.

Most Christians are focused on the evil outside but are blind to the
greater evil inside, the wolf that is dressed in sheep clothing and
devouring innocent people, spiritually killing them and sending them to
hell.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, since ages your people have been waiting for the fall of this woman
who is deceiving your people. Lord we pray the eyes of your people open and
they do not be party to the punishment mend out to this woman...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Ezekiel 23:1-33

Revelation 17; 18:1-20

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.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart

*Acts 7:51*"You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and 
ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your 
fathers did. (NAS)

When we used the words stiff-necked or uncircumcised in heart we think 
of the worse kind of people who are evil hearted and anti-Christ.

To understand what the Lord means by stiff-necked and uncircumcised in 
heart we need to go to the Greek words. The Greek word translated as 
stiff-necked is 'sklerotrachelos' which is a compound word of 2 words 
'skleros' which means stiff or hard (from which we get the English word 
skeleton) and the word 'trachelos' which means neck and comes from the 
root word 'trecho' which means to run or propagate a doctrine / 
understanding. Circumcision of the heart is a metaphor which means to 
cut of the worldly pleasure (relates to circumcision of the male organ), 
thus uncircumcised heart means a person full of worldly pleasures, 
totally in the flesh and has not surrendered to the Spirit.

When we get to the Greek words the picture changes like the term 
criminal does not necessary mean a terrorist or murderer but also 
include the thief who pickpockets, or the shoplifter and also one who 
trespasses into another's property.

When God used the word stiff-necked He points to people who are stubborn 
with an understanding and do not question their understanding. Our God 
who is an all knowing God yet welcomes people to debate with Him on His 
understanding and to prove Him wrong. If He can ask people to test Him 
then we who stick to our understanding and do not test it through 
scriptures and knowledge of the Kingdom of God actually think we are 
greater than God.

The other term uncircumcised refers to people who are so possessed by 
pleasures of this word that they are blinded by it and we see these 
people will justify this by every means.

When we look at these words in the sense the Lord used them we stop 
having that image of heathens or unbelievers but we see it includes a 
lot of Christians and partly us also. Just look around and you see 
Churches filled with stiff-necked people who are uncircumcised in heart, 
they go by doctrines of the preachers and do not test them through 
scriptures, they come to Church mainly for blessings in areas of 
finance, health, worldly relationships, housing etc...

There is a Church I been desiring to preach since I found people not 
giving the Word there at all, but every time the Lord restricted me, 
stating they are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart; at that time I 
thought the worse but today as I got this message and understood it 
clearly I would now know how to deal with this congregation when the 
time comes.

We need to break out of the thinking that 'we know' and always surrender 
our understanding to the Lord. We also need to remember we enjoy the 
pleasures of this world at a price, so let us try to stick to needs and 
not to desires, let our desires be more Heavenly and less worldly.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, when we are baptized in You the circumcising of our hearts just 
starts. Lord we pray our eyes be open and we understand the price we pay 
for the pleasures of this world. We also ask Lord for the grace to 
overcome the walls we have built around our understanding and thus 
created dark places in our life. Lord let your light shine on our 
understanding and open our eyes to see things hidden from man and keep 
growing in knowledge, wisdom and understanding...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

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Lord’s work not family business

Acts 15:37-41

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
asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto
Cyprus;

40 And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren
unto the grace of God.

41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.

In the book of Acts we see the author Luke has been honest to document the
truth so much so he also documents the dispute between the 2 great men of
the Church at that time. Paul and Barnabas were anointed men and Church
leaders who were like a tornado at that time moving through the heathen
(Gentile) world and brining people to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see even between theses 2 people there was a disagreement with
regards to Mark which was so sharp that it split the team. We see Luke
himself took sides with Paul and records what Paul did immediately after
that but not what Barnabas did.

What was the dispute between Paul and Barnabas? Why did Mark become such an
issue that Paul decide to leave the company of Barnabas but not take Mark
along?

When I was studying this I raised the question with the Lord and the Lord
directed me to what Mark did. Mark / Marcus (Roman/Greek name) whose Jewish
name was John was the first person commissioned by the Apostles to document
the teachings and Good News (Gospel) of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark in his
documenting the gospel had a mind of his own, his gospel is the shortest
and more like a summary compared to the other gospels. The contention
between Paul and Barnabas was not about the kind of job Mark did but about
the completion of the gospel.

The original Gospel according to Mark ended at 16:8 and the verses 16:9-20
were added by someone else later since Mark had left the Gospel there. Paul
had one contention against Mark and that was for not being clear about the
witnessing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul knew without the clear
message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Gospel fails. The Good News
is all about the hope of salvation, salvation of freedom from Hell and
salvation of resurrection of the dead and eternal life in Heaven, unless we
do not have the hope of both the mission of Jesus Christ fails.

Paul wanted Mark complete his Gospel therefore did not want to take him
along but Barnabas sided Mark for Mark was related to him.

We see today almost all Pastors / Preachers build their relatives like
siblings or wives to head churches/ministries after them due to the large
finances their organization handles and mainly their dependency on this
finance. Almost all ministries started by an individual that has grown big,
has the person thinking that its growth is all because of him or her,
therefore he or she demands a portion of its earnings.

Paul was a fulltime minister like the other Apostles yet he worked for his
own expenses and for the expenses of his team. He stated he had the right
to a portion of the collection but yet chose not to take.

Pastors and Preachers do have a right to a portion of the collection but
they need to understand the portion is not a percentage of the earning but
just what is necessary for their needs, not their desires. When they take
more than their needs they are not robing the Lord or the people who sow in
their ministry but robing themselves. You may wonder how?

When Pastors or Preachers take more than their needs from the collection
they en-cash their work in the Lord here on earth and thus loose the riches
that they could have had in Heaven. Like the Bible says in Heaven not to be
surprised when the first comes last and the last comes first.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray that the people You have anointed know the purpose and reason
You have called them. Let them understand their priorities and where they
should reap and where they should sow. Lord we pray that it does not become
too late for these anointed Men of God wake up and realize they are the
least in Heaven. Let them know their responsibility to their family and the
Heavenly Family...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Colossians 4:10 - Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus,
sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he
come unto you, receive him;)

Mark 16:1-20

Romans 15:26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a
certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 16:1-3

1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to
the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store,
as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

3 And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will
I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.

2 Corinthians 8:1-5;12-15

1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the
churches of Macedonia;

2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and
their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were
willing of themselves;

4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take
upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to
the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that
a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.

13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:

14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a
supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your
want: that there may be equality:

15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he
that had gathered little had no lack.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Praying in tongues and overcoming your mind

1 Corinthians 14:14,15 [KJV AV]- For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my
spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will
pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will
sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

We see people pray in ‘tongues’ and blabber words which make no sense in
known human communication and we see many a times the Spirit of God does
move through that person who is praying in tongues. Many people debate with
me with regards to praying in tongue they say it is not biblical and more
so influenced by other spirits or pagan beliefs. Today I like to share on
this message the Lord has given and I hope will put this question to rest.

Firstly the Greek noun translated as ‘tongues’ like in here is ‘glossa’
which means ‘tongue’ and here used as a common noun in singular form and
means ‘language’ and in other places where used in plural means ‘languages’.
The Greek word used here in simple words means speaking in a normal
language for the word ‘unknown’ is an added word. But in places where it is
used in plural like Acts 2:4 it says ‘other/another languages’ and in Mark
16:17 speaks ‘speak new languages’ not referring to new to the person but
new to mankind since speaks of all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Coming to what people do when they pray in ‘tongues’ is that wrong?

If you understand today’s scripture you will understand ‘tongues’.

Before I take that up we clear some basics. Language is audible or written
communicating which has structured words or sounds that refer to some thing
or some action. In some translation like NAS /NASB translates the word
instead of ‘understanding’ is translated as ‘mind’ for it refers to the
intellectual being.

NAS translates it as -

[NAS] 1 Corinthians 14:14 - For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but
my mind is unfruitful.

In other words the scripture means

1 Corinthians 14:14 - For if I pray in a language [and / also] my spirit
prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

We see Paul puts praying in a language and praying in spirit as an option
that means they both [also referring to verse 2] seem to go against each
other, oppose each other and do not stand on the same platform for one is
directed to man and the other towards God.

Man is so controlled by his or her intellectual being that even when he or
she tries to prays in spirit he or she lands up praying in his or her mind
in words which are not spoken but thought of, this itself defeats the
spirit from taking the lead. To suppress our minds from communicating the
Holy Spirit leads us to blabber senseless words which makes no sense as a
language and also does not let the mind to think intellectually thus lets
the spirit take total control. This process is called speaking in tongues.
We may intellectually find these sounds senseless but as we see in Acts at
Pentecost even though all were speaking in tongues in a great commotion yet
the people around from various regions or countries who had accepted
Judaism and moved to Jerusalem could understand in their own language of
origin. It was not that one was speaking in one language and another in
another language but all were blabbering in an unknown dialect yet the
people outside found the blabbering as words in the own language for the
Spirit was speaking to them not through audible words but directly to their
spirit and they though they heard it in the language of their origin.

Even my coming in the Lord had me to overcome my intellectual being for I
was a man of logic and reasoning, always wanted to find the scientific
reason to things. As I was led to pray in tongues I overcame my
intellectual being and also someone who was an unbeliever for whom I was
praying for got miraculously healed of cancer that too many, many miles
away, that too instantly.

This blabbering may seem senseless to the intellectual man but to the
spirit-man [man led by the Spirit] it makes sense and can be understood
thus just blabbering is not speaking in tongues for it needs to be led by
the spirit. We see in Acts 19:6 their blabbering was not senseless words
but prophecies. This ability to understand Paul says can be also got as a
gift of the Holy Spirit.

Praying in tongues requires us to overcome our intellectual being and for
those who are people of logical reasoning it becomes very difficult. Till
the time they do not surrender in spirit to the Lord they will not be able
to speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is not towards people but towards
God and the spirit-man so when we are in a congregation [specially with new
comers in the Lord] sharing or praying together or worshipping God it is
better to use earthly languages then to use tongues even though we may be
gifted in it since whatever we do should edify others [1 Corinthians
14:21-26].

People always ask me why Jesus never prayed in tongues. The season He did
not is because tongues is for overcoming the intellectual worldly being and
Jesus was perfect, He as man had overcome therefore we see He did not need
to pray in tongues like He did not sing hymns leaving for His weakest time
just before going to the Garden of Gethsemane [singing hymns or worshiping
bring us into presence of the Lord/Father and Jesus was always in presence
of the Father leaving for the time He drank of the cup of wrath/accepted
the cup at the last Supper].

Today the Lord is inviting people who cannot speak in tongues to surrender
in spirit to Him and overcome their intellectual person.

[Prayer Starter]

Father God, we are filled with worldly understanding which restricts our
spirit man from communicating with You or to exert the power we have in You
as Princes of the Kingdom of God [Israel]. Lord we pray we not only speak
in tongues but also receive the ability to understand tongues and grow to a
state that we would not need to speak in tongues but overcome the worldly
intellectual being in us completely...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen

[Reference Scriptures]

1Co 14:2 For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God;
for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.

1Co 14:19 however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind,
that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a
tongue.

Acts 2:3-8

3 And there appeared to them tongues [shaped of human organ / tongue] as of
fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation
under heaven.

6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were
bewildered, because they were each one hearing them speak in his own
language.

7 And they were amazed and marveled, saying, "Why, are not all these who
are speaking Galileans?

8 "And how is it that we each hear in our own language to which we were
born?

Mark 16:17 "And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My
name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came
on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

1 Corinthians 14:21-26

21 In the Law it is written, "By men of strange tongues and by the lips of
strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to
Me," says the Lord.

22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to
unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those
who believe.

23 If therefore the whole church should assemble together and all speak in
tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you
are mad?

24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is
convicted by all, he is called to account by all;

25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face
and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.

26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a
psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an
interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.


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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Do not turn back from the Lord, seek Him and know Him

Zephaniah 1:6 - And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that
have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

People have a very wrong concept of religion and that is why we have so
many religions. People think being good is sufficient and religions call us
to be a good person that is why what god and its origin do not matter as
long as they justify themselves as being a good person. If one travels from
region to region the definition of good changes because it is measured
according to people’s understanding, their culture and needs. People do not
know the meaning of good because they do not know God and have no knowledge
of Him.

Today’s message is not for the pagans (people of other religions) but to
people who call themselves Christians for the message says those who have
rejected or turned back. Many Christians accept Christ as their savior but
reject His teaching (which is His Father’s since He did as His Father
instructed). People fuse their pagan understanding with the Truth so that
they may live the hope of being saved and go to Heaven, yet please their
carnal flesh and overcome the conscience (guilt) by religious activity or
traditions. i.e. if they sin they want forgiveness without repentance
therefore form a ceremony by which they believe their sins are forgiven,
this allows them to continue doing what they do and yet feel they have been
washed clean inside. They have many sacraments to mask the hardness of
their heart and avoid true baptism in Christ and His Spirit.

The Lord tells them whatever they are doing today may fool themselves and
fool others but these things cannot fool Him and He will take account of
them on Judgment Day. If we read in verse 8 the Lord states He will punish
the princes / rulers (heads of these institutes), the king’s children (most
of them call their leader Pope (Papal meaning ‘holy father’ also they are
crowned as kings) and all who are clothed with strange apparels (false
doctrines or teachings which go against the Word of God). In verse 9 the
Hebrew word translated as threshold comes from the same root as serpent or
twist and symbolizes deceit. In verse 9 the Lord speaks of these same
people showing the hardness of their hearts, as people that leap (delight)
in deceit and fill their establishment (people) with cruelty and falsehood.

When we look at these people we may see peace loving and calm people but
when the Lord sees them He sees violence, hatred, deceit and cruelty that
are beyond measure. I have at times confronted some of these people dressed
in white robes and was surprised many of them knew what they were doing and
how they were destroying the lives of innocent people by misleading them in
the name of religion.

He will

The Lord also uses two terms – ‘the Day of the Lord’s sacrifice’ and ‘fish
gate’. Both talk of the Day of Judgment as Day, since the Lord sacrifice
since Christ became a sacrifice to save us from the wrath of the Father for
on Judgment Day mankind (the unsaved Christians) receives the wrath of the
Father which is worse than Hell and is termed as Lake of
fire/brimstone/sulphur, also the term ‘fish gate’ means gate of increase or
abundance which points to the moment just before mankind (saved Christian)
enter Heaven and inherit the promises in Heaven. In short the Lord is
stating these people will pay heavily on Judgment Day.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord You paid a heavy sacrifice to save mankind to save your people from
your wrath. But those who mock your sacrifice after accepting will
experience a greater wrath. Lord we pray this message reaches them and they
turn from their ways. We pray that they do not consider You and man who can
be deceived but realizes You are all knowing and all seeing Righteous God...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 19:16-17

16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing
shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but
one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Zephaniah 1:6-10

6 And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not
sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

7 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.

8 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.

9 In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold,
which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall
be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second,
and a great crashing from the hills.

Revelation 19:17-21

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather
yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the
flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them,
and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,
gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and
against his army.

20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought
miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark
of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast
alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were
filled with their flesh.

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